Chapter 27: Actually, He's the Fiercest
Translator: Strivon / Ash Editor: Geoffrey / Lancent
The voice was both sharp and piercing, like the cry of a bird of prey. It ripped through the just-congealed atmosphere within the gymnasium.
The students had just recovered with great difficulty back from their stunned state when they became seriously frightened once more.
No one expected that a person even more fierce and malicious than the Iron Beast would come the instant the Iron Beast had just left. Zhao Liang was a student of the Important Class. With an Actualization Quotient surpassing 60%, he was a cultivation genius. He was in a completely different world of existence when comparing the skies of the Important Class to the earth of the Common Class.
“This Li Yao, just which person did he offend? To cause Wei Tie and Zhao Liang to come bulldozing over searching for him?”
“We don’t know what methods he used to drive Wei Tie away just now. What's going to happen this time when he faces Zhao Liang?”
“You guys don’t even know. Man, last night Li Yao offended Helian Lie!”
“What? He’s the unfortunate bastard who offended Helian Lie? Then he’s done for!”
Whispering rose and fell like waves in the group of people. Everybody looked at Li Yao with expressions full of pity, as if he were a sick patient with his body fully cast in plaster.
While numerous students were making lamenting sounds, Li Yao walked very slowly over. He walked with great hesitation. From time to time, he would put a hand on a piece of training equipment to support himself. It seemed that he was somewhat scared to advance onward.
“So you are that Li Yao. You’re nothing special!” Zhao Liang observed Li Yao from head to toe for a long time. A cruel smile emerged on his malicious face. He said softly, “I have a combat technique problem that I don’t quite understand. I wish to exchange pointers with fellow student Li Yao. Come then!”
“So they’re actually going to duel!” Everyone tilted their heads and took a deep cold breath.
In Cultivation Era 40,000, Demon Beasts ran rampant. The flames of war burnt on. Humanity had adopted a culture of valiance. They held the philosophy of “Survival of the Fittest where the Weak are Prey to the Strong” in extreme revere. Private schools, such as Crimson Nimbus Second, followed this philosophy particularly closely and had the goal of producing cultivation geniuses. They did not prohibit students from dueling each other.
Besides, the schools had perfect medical treatment facilities that contained miracle cures that could bring people back from various near-death situations, and the students were even overseen by several of the greatest medical researchers. As long as someone didn’t die on the spot, they would quickly be restored back to be as good as before.
So, when hot-blooded youngsters full of vigor had some beef with each other, they would often exchange the words “exchanging some pointers” as the preamble to conducting a duel.
However, typically duels were conducted between two students with similar strength. A duel issued between Zhao Liang, an elite of the Important Class, and Li Yao, this riffraff of the Common Class, would be a great loss of reputation for Zhao Liang.
Zhao Liang would not have gone forward in this manner that would reduce his reputation were it not for the raging fury of Helian Lie. Helian Lie wanted to absolutely see Li Yao be beaten black and blue by the end of today, and Wei Yei had unexpectedly backed out at the key moment.
Therefore, Li Yao adopted a meek attitude. He said softly under his breath, “You are a great expert of the Important Class. I’m no match for you. I forfeit!” These words were felt by all the students of the Common Class and Zhao Liang to be an expected matter and a natural course of action. These words weren’t surprising at all.
A riffraff student of the Common Class under the provocation of an elite student of the Important Class could only surrender and beg for forgiveness. How could there ever be a second option?
Zhao Liang yawned and said somewhat impatiently, “So it turns out you’re this sensible. I’m also disinclined to take care of your sort of trash. Be good, go kneel down and let me break 10 of your bones. Then this matter will…”
The last word “will” had just been half spoken when Zhao Liang felt his tail bone turn cold. A chill rushed to his scalp. The only thing he felt was a strong gale assaulting his senses. He reached his hand out subconsciously to block it and heard only a “Bang.” A white mist had exploded in front of him. Countless dust-like pellets stabbed into his eyes. The scene in front of him suddenly turned snow white. The pain was incomparable. He could not see a damn thing!
“AHH!” Every student of the Common Class let out cries of surprise. They did not dare to believe in the scene they had just witnessed.
It was when Li Yao was cowering his head in forgiveness; his right hand had suddenly awakened and within his palm was gym chalk that was commonly used to increase friction for strength training which he grabbed at an unknown time. That chalk was now right in Zhao Liang’s eyes!
Zhao Liang lost his vision for an instant.
Li Yao used the opportunity to lift a 30 lb dumbbell with his foot. He smashed the dumbbell onto Zhao Liang’s skull!
“Boom!”
Zhao Liang was worthy of being an elite student with an Actualization Quotient of 60%. When the gym chalk entered his eyes, when he temporarily lost his vision for a moment, he was still able to maintain a high state of vigilance. He responded to Li Yao’s attack by using only the sound of the wind, crossing his two arms to block the dumbbell attack firmly!
But he had not expected that Li Yao would reach such a terrifying degree in strength. Even more than that, he had not foreseen that Li Yao would be so shameless and despicable as to use a dumbbell to attack. Under the bombardment of the great powerful energy, his pair of arms were smashed completely and snapped. The force was strong enough to even send his entire body flying dozens of meters away!
The numerous students of the Common Class went into states of astonishment once again. Only a small minority of students, the ones who were proficient in martial skill, had been able to see how much Zhao Liang wanted to use a soaring stylish method to dispel Li Yao’s offense and give birth to an exaggerated scene.
However, it did not matter what Zhao Liang’s intentions were. In the end, Li Yao sent Zhao Liang flying. Just this sole move was enough to send all of Crimson Nimbus Second into an uproar!
“*SPLAT!”
From over a dozen meters away, Zhao Liang spat a mouthful of blood. A flaming hot rage twined around his body. He knew that what had transpired today was like a large ship being capsized by force of a mere small steam. Things should have gone smoothly today, but everything had gone completely wrong instead. At this point, even if he beat this kid to the ground, he would still remain the laughingstock of the Important Class.
“Way too despicable! Way too shameless! You actually used gym powder and a dumbbell! But I'm afraid trash like you wouldn’t know that my greatest weapon is not actually my arms but my legs!”
Zhao Liang laughed hideously. He spread his fingers into a pair of pitchforks and stabbed his own eyes fiercely. Large drops of tears flowed from his eyes immediately, causing the gym chalk to be washed out of his eyes. Once again, a blurry image came into view before his eyes. His eyes locked in Li Yao’s direction.
“I'LL SLAUGHTER YOU!”
With a shriek, Zhao Liang’s pair of legs turned into a pair of bizarre serpents. He devoured a dozen meters of distance with only a single leap. His left leg stamped hard, producing wood splinters and fragments, and the power of his right knee was like a fierce tiger taking off like lightning!
The Thirteen Forces of the War Beasts technique with the greatest power was unleashed…Treading Tiger Strike!
It took no more than half-a-second to execute the leap and the knee strike. Li Yao simply wasn’t able to react in the least and wasn’t even able to adopt a defensive stance. Zhao Liang’s knee struck directly onto Li Yao’s sternum.
“AH!”
Quite a few female students let out cries of alarm and subconsciously closed their eyes. They could not bear to see the tragedy that was about to occur.
… When Zhao Liang was crying out tears to wash out gym chauk a dozen seconds ago, Li Yao had leisurely grabbed a 35 lb plate and stuffed it down his clothes to protect his chest. Everyone else had witnessed this scene very clearly.
“*CLANG!”
A sound like the ring of a monastery bell came from Li Yao’s sternum.
A stabbing pain of pins and needles could be felt around Zhao Liang’s kneecap.
Even though Zhao Liang’s kneecap was very hard, the hardness could not be compared to metal. The knee strike had been performed using his entire strength, resulting in his right knee shattering completely! Being smashed into fracturing!
A strong and experienced military soldier could’ve perhaps withstood this splintered knee fracture, bear through the pain, and still be able to maintain their combat strength. But no matter how vicious and fierce Zhao Liang was, he was still an ordinary high school student. A broken knee would cause him to lose his combat strength completely.
Zhao Liang screamed miserably over and over. He fell to the floor in shock. The pain caused him to start twitching.
Li Yao ripped open his school uniform, took out the iron plate, and discovered that there was a small crater in the center of the iron plate. It appeared that if he had not donned the iron plate guarding his chest, his sternum would have been completely shattered.
“This ‘Treading Tiger Strike’ move really is overpowering!” Li Yao raised his eyebrows as he praised his opponent. He sized up his opponent from left to right. He headed towards a barbell rack.
Li Yao stuck his left hand into his pocket. His right hand casually picked up plates and loaded both sides of a barbell with a great amount of weight. The barbell now weighed over a hundred pounds. He tried brandishing the barbell for a bit. “Whoosh whoosh” sounds permeated through the air, causing people’s scalps to turn numb.
Li Yao walked towards Zhao Liang dragging the barbell.
The half-bit of malice remaining on Zhao Liang’s face flew away and scattered from fear. Even his miserable shrieking was stiffly stifled in his throat, turning into sharp thin pleading words for forgiveness, “You. What are you up to? DON’T GET ANY CLOSER!”
“Little, Little devil. Calm down a bit! No need to create a big mess out of this!” Everyone was stunned and dumbstruck. Their scalps were numb. Only his bro for life Meng Jiang was able to eek out of the state of shock and alarm, dissuading Li Yao with stammers.
Li Yao was silent for a period of time. He turned around and returned the barbell back to the rack, “Okay. After all, we are all fellow students. I also do not wish to be too excessive…”
“That’s the right thing to do…You! what are you doing!” Meng Jiang had just let out a breath of relief when he suddenly saw Li Yao lift a somewhat lighter but at least 75 lb barbell. The lips Meng Jiang had just sealed had opened up once again. But this time, he did not know what he should say.
And this time Li Yao didn’t give him that chance to talk. He walked directly to the left side of Zhao Liang and raised the barbell up high, aiming at Zhao Liang’s undamaged left knee.
“You — you, don’t you know!? Senior Helian was the one who sent me here!” Zhao Liang let out cries of fear, curling his entire body, looking like a giant dying shrimp.
“And that matters how?” asked Li Yao.
The barbell tore through the air, exploding out with a strong gale of wind, ferociously smashing downwards.
“*SNAP!”
Zhao Liang’s pair of legs were bent in an unnatural position. He was in so much pain that he was frothing at the mouth and his eyeballs went completely white. He had gone completely into shock.