14 Chapter 13: Dark Shadows (2/2)

I watched in horror as Mo Ying gripped my foot with his bare hand. He crushed my foot with his fingers, causing me to yelp in pain, and then lifted me bodily off the ground. I dangled helplessly, but I tried to whirl around and kick with my other leg, only for him to casually parry my foot with his other hand. Before I knew what was going on, I received a blow in my chest, which caused me to almost black out.

”So this was what you lost to, Luo Zhe?”

Mo Ying's voice dripped with contempt as he turned toward the cowering middle school senior. Luo Zhe whimpered.

”Pathetic. This is just a normal Shadow Kick, a basic kicking technique from one of the level 1 martial arts that all Wu Ling Academy students have access to. Have you gotten so complacent with learning the Dark Shadow arts that you've neglected simple foundational skills? You let your guard down and mistakenly believed that this was a Heaven and Earth technique?”

”B…but…!”

”Silence.”

Mo Ying's cold voice cut Luo Zhe off, and he turned back to me.

”My apologies. It seems that you are telling the truth, after all. But just to make sure…”

He threw me toward one of his comrades. I spun about in the air haplessly, unable to control my momentum or trajectory, and crashed into the ground in an undignified manner. I tried to scramble to my feet, only to collapse as my limbs gave way under me.

”Kuh!”

”Du Xing. I'll be relying on you to pry the truth from his mind.”

”Understood.” The girl from earlier stepped forward. She leaned over and seized me by my hair, yanking my head up painfully. ”Give us the Heaven and Earth Formula.”

”I told you, I don't have it…”

Du Xing shook her head. ”I see you want to do this the hard way.”

I gritted my teeth. ”Why won't anyone believe me?! I really don't have any stupid Heaven and Earth Formula! Nobody taught me anything! Except Teacher Jiao!”

Du Xing ignored me and merely grabbed my head with both hands. Dark qi flowed out of her fingers and crept into my mind, their icy tendrils seeping under my skin and nudging my mind. My vision darkened as excruciating agony filled my world.

And I began to scream.

*

”How pathetic.”

Before I knew it, I found myself sitting in a dark space. Blinking and shaking my head in confusion, I struggled to stand.

”…who?”

I rubbed my eyes and glanced around. To my surprise, my glasses were back on my face. When did they…? I was pretty sure Mo Ying knocked them off earlier. Did somebody retrieve my glasses and returned them to me?

Scratching my head, I tried to piece my fuzzy memories together. Where was I? The last thing I remembered was getting attacked by the high school seniors from the Dark Shadow Sect. Mo Ying crushed me utterly, and then Du Xing did something weird to my head…

”I didn't teach you the Heaven and Earth Formula to lose to chumps like these.”

A dark silhouette emerged from the shadows and strolled toward me. I recognized the old man I saved from the accident. He was glaring at me as he strode forward, his expression grave and disapproving.

”Fuck you!” I shouted, unable to control my fury. ”What teach me the Heaven and Earth Formula?! You never taught me anything! Expressing your gratitude?! All you've caused me is suffering and pain! It's all your fault!”

The old man remained silent, staring at me accusingly. There was a flicker of puzzlement in his eyes, but I didn't care, unable to restrain my rage.

”This is all your fucking fault! Just because you showed up in the hospital, everyone thinks you taught me some stupid martial art I have never heard of before!” rummaging my pocket, I yanked out the Golden Dragon Medallion and threw it at the old man. ”And you can take that back! I don't want it! I don't know what the hell you're thinking, giving me something like this! Now everyone thinks I'm the new leader of your sect! Even though you never told me anything about your sect, or what this golden dragon medallion is! You never informed me about anything, and now I'm being chased around and attacked by bloody idiots who refuse to believe me!”

The old man shifted uncomfortably, his gaze wavering a little, but he persisted.

”Are you sure? I'm pretty sure I passed something to you…”

”Yeah, that stupid golden dragon medallion. You can have it back! I don't want anything to do with your sect! Hell, at least tell me what the medallion is supposed to be about before giving it to me! Had I known it would cause me so much trouble, I would never have accepted it!”

”No, I mean the Heaven and Earth Formula…”

”Have you gone senile, old man?” I snarled. ”You never mentioned anything about any Heaven and Earth Formula. I didn't even know you were a martial artist!”

The old man was backing away now, looking extremely bewildered. Despite still simmering in rage, I suddenly noticed that something was amiss.

”Wait, what's with that dumbfounded expression? You're the one who visited me and gave me this medallion. Why can't you remember what you told me?”

”Yes, I remember telling you about the Heaven and Earth Formula…”

”…you're a fake.”

I understood everything now. Pushing my glasses up my nose, I advanced onto the old man, my fury blazing bright.

”You're an illusion. You don't know what happened in the hospital. All you did was show up and thank me. If you were the real thing, you would have known that. Yet all you do is talk about some stupid Heaven and Earth Formula…I see. So you're some illusion conjured by Senior Du Xing in order to trick information out of me.”

”That's…” the old man no longer seemed sure of himself. For someone impersonating the Absolute One, he was cowering and backing away from me.

Yeah, this guy was definitely fake.

I leaped off the ground and kicked him, and the old man exploded into countless fragments.

*

”Aaaaaah!”

Du Xing staggered back after she released my head, blood dripping from her mouth as she suffered from the backlash from her technique. Or the backlash generated when I smashed her Dark Shadow Illusion into bits.

”Du Xing!” Mo Ying sprang forward and caught her before she could fall over. ”Are you all right?”

”…yes.” Du Xing shook her head, looking a little dazed and weakened. ”…the boy…he was telling the truth. The Absolute One really did not teach him anything.”

”What?!”

”Wait…” one of the other high school seniors from the Dark Shadow Sect spoke up. ”Are you sure? It looks like he broke your illusion. Maybe he was hiding the truth because he knew the whole thing was an illusion from the start.”

”No.” Du Xing was slowly recovering, and with Mo Ying's help, she was able to sit up. ”He only realized it was an illusion because he was telling the truth, and my illusion was forcibly trying to ask about things that the real Absolute One never talked about when he met the boy.”

”It seems we owe you an apology,” Mo Ying said as he turned to glare at me. I remained silent as I held his gaze. It was all I could do to stop myself from yelling at these bastard seniors.

They refused to believe me, beat me up, threw me into an illusion, caused me a lot of suffering, and they thought they could get away with a mere apology? Unfortunately, I was in no position to demand compensation.

The high school seniors outnumbered me, and even if they didn't, each one of them was several times stronger than me. There was no way I could do anything. If I tried to push my luck, they might beat me even more.

”Unfortunately, we can't let you live.”

”Huh?!” I blurted out, outraged. ”What the fuck?!”

”If we let you go, and this gets out, the Dark Shadow Sect will be in trouble. We'll have to silence you.”

Mo Ying wasted no time lunging forward to bury his fist in my body, presumably to destroy me in one blow. I tried to get up and evade, but my limbs refused to obey. Currently I was far too wounded to move, never mind dodge.

Mo Ying's fist never reached me.

Bam!

An explosion of qi billowed across the courtyard, sending clouds of dust and rock flying up and obscuring vision. Despite the expanding fumes, I could clearly see an outline of a teacher's silhouette between me and Mo Ying.

”Stop this at once.”

Teacher Jiao held Mo Ying's fist, having caught his shadow punch with his bare hand. He tightened his grip and a flash of pain raced across Mo Ying's face.

”Don't you think you're going too far, bullying a middle school student like this? Were you actually trying to murder him?”

”I…I wouldn't dare!” Mo Ying spluttered as he tried to retreat, but wasn't able to because Teacher Jiao was still gripping his fist tightly.

Liar! I thought vehemently. Just a few seconds ago, he was trying to silence me so that there would be no witnesses to his sect's brutal crimes.

”Really?” Teacher Jiao glared at him, but released his fist. ”I saw everything.”

Mo Ying's complexion was so pale it was almost as if he had seen a ghost. Or more accurately, he probably thought he saw the manifestation of the grim reaper himself. He staggered back, massaging his sore fist, then whirled around and fled. The rest of his sect followed closely, not daring to look back at the cold and furious figure of Teacher Jiao.

”Are you all right?”

”Yeah. Thank you, Teacher Jiao.”

I struggled to get up, only to collapse again. Teacher Jiao's scowl deepened as he stepped forward to help me up.

”Those disciples from the Dark Shadow Sect are really vicious…I'll talk to Xiao Zhang about this and have their sect censured. Don't worry about it.”

I nodded wearily, still engulfed in pain. Looking around, I managed to spot my glasses. Catching my glance, Teacher Jiao helpfully retrieved my half-broken glasses for me.

”We'll bring you to the infirmary and get you healed.” Teacher Jiao sighed as he supported me, throwing one of my arms around his shoulder. ”Come on, let's go. Teacher Yi Liao should still be in her office.”

Leaning on Teacher Jiao, I slowly limped in the direction of the infirmary.