Chapter 12: Fighting, and the Price
Pei Youguang pushed his way through the crowd, intending to take care of Xue Jing himself.
Although the pretty boy senior's combat strength was surprisingly strong and caught him off guard, Pei Youguang was confident that he was no match for him.
After all, he had trained in martial arts at a dojo and learned from a true master!
However, just as he stepped forward, before he could utter another threatening word, his vision suddenly darkened, and a searing pain shot through his left eye.
"Ahh!"
Pei Youguang clutched his left eye and screamed in agony as blood trickled through his fingers.
"You coward!" he shouted in anger.
It was then that Xue Jing took out a pebble the size of a quail egg from his pocket and casually tossed it, accurately hitting Pei Youguang's left eye with a critical weak point attack.
Enraged, Pei Youguang gritted his teeth against the pain in his eye and, opening only his right eye, lunged at Xue Jing.
He threw a backhand punch with incredible speed, but due to relying on only one eye, his sense of distance was off, and he not only missed the dodging Xue Jing but also ended up punching the wall.
"Bang!"
The brick wall cracked, a small hole appearing from the force of the punch. Seeing the power behind that punch, a spark of interest ignited in Xue Jing's eyes.
'Is this... martial arts?'
Xue Jing took two steps back and pulled out another pebble from his pocket. Pei Youguang, remembering the trauma of his injured left eye, instinctively covered his remaining right eye.
However, instead of throwing the stone, Xue Jing imitated the moves he had seen in martial arts videos and spun around, delivering a powerful whip kick aimed at Pei Youguang's head. Although Pei Youguang reacted quickly and tried to block, the force of the kick surprised him as it pushed down his arm and struck his head, sending him stumbling backward.
"He's trained in martial arts too?" Pei Youguang exclaimed, shocked at the power behind that kick.
"No, wait, it's not 'qi.' It's pure brute strength!"
That made even less sense.
'How can someone untrained in martial arts overpower my 'qi' with just brute force?!'
'Is this guy even a high school student?' Xue Jing was unaware of Pei Youguang's thoughts, otherwise, he would have teased him about the value of leg explosiveness that comes from "running."
Having landed a successful hit, Xue Jing pressed his advantage and closed in, raining punches and kicks on Pei Youguang.
Under the relentless assault, Pei Youguang struggled to catch his breath and couldn't muster his 'qi,' leaving him no choice but to passively take the beating while trying to block the attacks.
Xue Jing's punches and kicks flowed smoothly, and the more he fought, the more excited he became. He put into practice the fighting techniques he had diligently studied over the past month, and they came to him more and more naturally.
Pei Youguang's underlings stood stunned, witnessing their boss, Pei, in such a miserable state for the first time. He was being dominated and beaten like a ragdoll!
Not far away, Li Ge, who was recording the scene with his phone, was so excited that his hands shook, and he couldn't utter a word.
Lord Jing, Father Jing, God Jing!
No one knew how long it had been, but Xue Jing's punches and kicks, initially lacking in technique, suddenly clicked into place as he instinctively threw a perfectly executed right hook.
The angle of the punch was extremely tricky, slipping past Pei Youguang's defenses through a gap and landing squarely on his face.
Accompanied by the sound of cracking bones, Pei Youguang was lifted off his feet by the force of the hook and sent tumbling backward.
[Condition met. Skill unlocked: Fighting]
Xue Jing froze in his punching stance, staring at his fist.
His muscles twitched and writhed as if something was happening to his body at a fundamental level. They felt stronger, more flexible, and more responsive, as if he had shed a layer of heavy iron clothing, leaving him with a feeling of lightness and agility.
Not only that, but after straightening his body, countless crackling sounds of bones rubbing against each other rang out as his skeleton seemed to spontaneously adjust, causing him to grow slightly taller.
This was a transformation of his very bone structure, becoming thicker and harder, giving him a proportionally enhanced appearance as if he had been edited to be bigger and stronger.
"Brother Pei!" Several of his underlings cried out in shock as they saw Pei Youguang lying on the ground, his nose sunken into his face, looking utterly miserable.
Clang, clang. Everyone involuntarily dropped the weapons in their hands and looked at Xue Jing with fear.
Xue Jing closed his eyes and focused, sensing the changes in his body.
The scene fell silent for a moment.
After a while, Xue Jing opened his eyes, his gaze calm as he looked at Pei Youguang's underlings.
Those swept by his gaze felt like prey animals that had just been spotted by a top predator, their legs turning soft as they knelt on the ground.
"Xue...Senior Xue, we..." One of them stammered.
Before he could finish, Xue Jing interrupted, "Pick them up."
"Huh?" They looked at each other in confusion.
"I'm telling you to pick up your weapons." Xue Jing's tone was flat, and the students immediately felt a chill in their hearts. Like children suddenly intimidated by a stern father, they unconsciously picked up the weapons they had dropped.
"Attack me." He commanded.
"..." The students looked at each other, not daring to move.
"I'm only going to count to three." Xue Jing's eyes turned cold.
"One."
"Two."
"Ahhhh!!!" One of the students couldn't take the pressure and went crazy, brandishing the baseball bat in his hand and swinging it at Xue Jing.
Once someone took the lead, the others followed suit due to peer pressure, and they all charged at Xue Jing.
"Bang, bang, bang, bang."
The students fell to the ground like torn sacks, each of them with a sunken fist or footprint on their faces.
In the quiet alley, students in Fu High School uniforms lay twisted and broken, either passed out or moaning in pain with their hands covering their wounds. Only Xue Jing remained standing.
He had a cold and intellectual look on his face, without a single mark on his body from the fight. His clothes were slightly disheveled, and combined with the surrounding scene, he looked like a movie mobster in a suit—a mix of elegance and violence.
"..." Li Ge stared at the scene, stunned for a long time, before slowly coming back to his senses. He stopped the recording on his phone.
He walked up to Xue Jing and wanted to say something but didn't dare to speak up.
Xue Jing noticed his hesitation and smiled, "What do you think? Cool, right?"
His usual gentle tone softened the violent impression from earlier, and Li Ge's expression eased as he smiled, "Cool, so cool! Starting today, I'm your die-hard fan!"
Xue Jing patted him on the head, "Cut it out."
He reached for the phone, "Let me see how the recording turned out."
The video started from when Xue Jing entered the alley, and aside from the parts where Li Ge's hand shook due to excitement, the footage was clear.
He had also followed Xue Jing's instructions and turned off the audio recording, so only the visuals were captured.
When the video played the part where Xue Jing forced the students to pick up their weapons, without the audio, it looked like the students hadn't given up and were picking up their weapons to continue their attack.
Li Ge asked curiously, "Why did you do that?"
Xue Jing replied calmly, "In the laws of the nation, when faced with an opponent carrying a weapon and intending to commit violent crimes, the victim has the right to unlimited self-defense."
Li Ge scratched his head, "But didn't they surrender?"
"Their surrender has nothing to do with me."
Xue Jing seemed to be talking to Li Ge, but he was also musing to himself.
"People must pay the price for their mistakes."
...
(End of Chapter)
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