Chapter 39: Word of Mouth
Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Word of Mouth
The pebble shot out as if fired from a powerful bow or heavy crossbow. It turned into a gray blur, crossing several meters in an instant, and struck the side of the red-haired young man’s weight-bearing ankle with absolute precision!
CRACK!
"Ahhh!"
The red-haired young man let out a bloodcurdling scream. The steel pipe fell to the ground with a loud CLANG. Losing his balance in an instant, he rolled on the floor, clutching his fractured, grotesquely deformed ankle as his entire body convulsed in agony.
The crowd was instantly thrown into a panic.
"This..."
"Fuck! What kind of monster is he?!"
However, before they could recover from their shock and decide whether to fight or flee, Fang Chen flicked his fingers again!
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
The sound of projectiles piercing the air rang out in rapid succession!
Those few "Celestial Kings" who had gotten up the fastest and revealed killing intent in their eyes didn’t even have time to react before they felt a piercing, excruciating pain in their leg bones!
The pebbles acted like sniper bullets, easily piercing through their flesh and shattering their legs!
"My leg!"
"Spare me! Ah!"
Screams and wails instantly blended together. More than half of the formerly aggressive "Twelve Celestial Kings" collapsed in an instant. Only a few who were slow to react or inherently hesitant remained standing. Their faces were deathly pale as they stood frozen in place, trembling all over.
Fang Chen looked at the crowd rolling on the ground, wailing and begging for mercy. He sighed softly, a trace of weariness in his tone.
"Originally, I didn’t plan on interfering in your petty bullshit.
"Unfortunately, your actions are simply too despicable to ignore."
Before his voice even faded, he suddenly executed his Body Technique!
The Perfection-level Gale Step Technique allowed him to cut into their ranks like a phantom. His legs whipped out, unparalleled in speed!
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Heavy, muffled impacts accompanied by agonized grunts echoed one after another.
Fang Chen’s toes kicked precisely at the Dantian in their abdomens, shattering their True Qi foundations to pieces!
"Ugh, ah..."
"No... my cultivation..."
The group’s faces instantly turned ashen, their eyes filled with despair and disbelief.
A crippled Dantian meant their True Qi would dissipate completely. They would never be able to cultivate again, entirely cut off from the Martial Dao!
Fang Chen withdrew his stance and stood tall, his cold gaze sweeping across the chaotic scene of groaning figures on the ground.
"People like you harbor wicked intentions, relying on martial prowess to bully others...
"There’s no need for you to be Martial Artists anymore."
The excruciating pain of pierced leg bones, intertwined with the despair of shattered Dantians and lost cultivation, quickly caused the "Celestial Kings" on the ground to pass out one after another amid their wails. Soon, only heavy panting and faint groans remained in the alleyway.
Fang Chen’s gaze slowly shifted to the three students at the very back—two boys and a girl—who had been cowering in the corner from the very beginning. By now, they were scared completely pale.
The reason he hadn’t struck these three was that from the moment he expanded his Perception, he hadn’t caught a single trace of killing intent from them.
Even during the chaotic group assault just moments ago, these three had only taken a few symbolic steps forward while their bodies honestly shrank backward. They had no intention of attacking whatsoever.
Fang Chen looked at them and said in an even voice, "I’ll give you one minute. Give me a reason not to cripple you."
The three were already terrified out of their wits. The pale-skinned, relatively handsome boy in the middle seemed to be the backbone of the trio.
His teeth chattered as his trembling voice rang out, "Fang... Fang, please spare us! The three of us... we were forced to come here by them! We’re not like them! Really! We never thought of fighting you!"
Fang Chen glanced at him, unmoved. "Forty seconds left."
The boy shuddered and sped up his words, almost on the verge of tears. "My name is Su Zhe! I’m from the Jinchuan Su Family! Even though... even though the current Su family can’t be considered very wealthy, we... we haven’t stooped so low as to rob our classmates!"
Trying to compose himself, he explained, "The three of us were truly forced into this! There are only twelve True Martial Realm Martial Artists in the school. Cao Xu brought the other eight to find us, just like... just like how they cornered you today! If we didn’t join them, we would be targeted, ostracized, and even secretly attacked by the nine of them!
"We figured... we’d pretend to play along for now. So we joined them, thinking at least we wouldn’t be bullied openly right away..."
He glanced at the unconscious Cao Xu and the others on the ground, hastily distancing himself from them. "Although we occasionally had to go along with them for group fights against people outside or from other schools, we really have never participated in bullying our own schoolmates or collecting protection money!
"We aren’t strapped for cash either! Today, we were completely dragged here just to fill up the numbers and boost their momentum! Fang, you... you believe us, right?"
"The Jinchuan Su Family?" Fang Chen slightly raised an eyebrow, seeming to search his memories. "I think I’ve heard of it. In the past, it was considered a ranked family in Jinchuan. While not top-tier, it was at least at the peak of the second-tier. Why would people from the Su family be afraid of these punks? Logically, they should be the ones afraid of you."
Upon hearing this, a hint of bitterness surfaced on Su Zhe’s face.
"Sigh, Fang, that’s all in the past. The current Su family... is having a hard time. We are long past our prime. Besides, these guys are all extremely arrogant. If they get into the Martial Arts Academy in the future, they’ll most likely go to a big city to develop. What does my little Su family amount to in their eyes?"
He lowered his voice, filled with helplessness. "Moreover, you know the laws of the Zhao Kingdom. A little friction and scuffling between students, no matter how big the commotion, will always be downplayed and handled leniently.
"But if I were to use my family’s power to deal with classmates, the nature of the matter would completely change! Not only would the Martial Arts Association issue a certain degree of punishment, but more importantly, it would leave a stain on my record. When it comes to competing for the family’s assets in the future, I wouldn’t have any weight to my words."
He sighed.
"Therefore, I preferred not to tear up all pretenses. Seeing as I’m a member of the Su family, even though they forced me to join them, they generally wouldn’t dare to offend me to the death, much less proactively lay a hand on me.
"To me, being able to rely on this tiny bit of face to peacefully muddle through this last month and smoothly participate in the martial exam is the greatest benefit. Once the world opens up after that, who will even know who?"
After hearing this, Fang Chen fell silent for a moment.
"Mhm." He eventually spoke in a detached tone. "You should be thankful that you didn’t step forward or attack just now. Otherwise, you’d already be cripples like them."
The three felt as if they had been granted a grand pardon. Almost collapsing to the floor, they bowed repeatedly, their voices trembling with the relief of surviving a disaster.
"Thank you! Thank you, Fang, for your clear judgment!"
"When the Martial Arts Association arrives tomorrow, we will definitely testify truthfully."
"We promise to follow your lead from now on, Fang!"
***
The next day, as soon as Fang Chen arrived at school, the people from the Martial Arts Association predictably showed up.
For conflicts and friction among True Martial Artists, the regular police generally didn’t want to get involved, nor could they manage it. The Martial Arts Association usually stepped in.
Those Nine Celestial Kings dragged their injured bodies and brought their families to cry and complain, claiming that Fang Chen had crippled them to establish his dominance.
However, the Steward of the Martial Arts Association, Liao Yong, was exactly the middle-aged Martial Artist who had previously given Fang Chen the "Finger-Tapping Divine Techniques" manual.
After just an hour of investigation, combined with the testimonies of Su Zhe and the others, the actions of these Nine Celestial Kings at Jinchuan Seventh University were made completely clear.
Especially when the students heard that these bullies had been crippled, they poured out all the grievances they had accumulated over the years.
Meanwhile, Fang Chen’s reputation only grew more sterling the deeper they investigated. Coupled with his meritorious performance at The Three Greats, the Martial Arts Association ultimately issued a disciplinary notice.
Fang Chen was commended school-wide for punishing evil and promoting good.
As for the other nine, because they harbored wicked intentions and possessed subpar skills, they were written into the school precepts as negative examples. Furthermore, they were ordered to compensate for the money they had extorted over the years.
***
Upon hearing the punishment results, Fang Chen almost burst out laughing. He thought, "This is the power of reputation. The Martial Arts Association and the school are both filled with people who support me. What are you going to use to sue me?"