His chest drenched in blood, Evan lay sprawled on the ground. As he checked for other injuries, the guy felt pain shoot in his torso and figured he suffered from several broken ribs. Other parts of his body were also painful enough to paralyze him.
Not far behind the boy in blue who just assaulted Evan stood ten more aggressive-looking young men.
One, in particular, stood with his arms folded, his expression extremely arrogant. He stood staring at Evan, who was down on the ground and gave him a contemptuous smile, his lips thinned to emphasize coldness. The man was Matias.
Beside him was another man with shoulders wrapped in thick white gauze. Blood spots were evident on the dressing, and the pungent smell of liniment emanated from every part of his body. He was known as Bates.
Aside from them, a crowd of grunt disciples had formed a circle in the area to enjoy the drama unfolding. At least several hundred people were there at that moment.
Looking at Evan with quiet satisfaction was Bates. There was an evil smile in his eyes. The more severe Evan's injuries, the more pleased he felt.
"Jesse, what wrong have I done to you to deserve this?" Evan groaned.
Before asking the young man in anger, Evan had scrambled to his feet, resentment written all over his face.
The man facing Evan's wrath was Jesse Tan, a very loyal henchman of Matias.
His cultivation was at the third level of the Energy Gathering Realm, which was quite outstanding among grunt disciples.
Since he had Matias to back him up, Jesse often rode roughshod over others and was always used to getting his way. With his overbearing ways, no one dared to confront the guy.
"Have you ever done anything wrong against me? Of course not!
No grunt disciple has the guts to offend me except Brother Matias," Jesse scoffed.
He cast a malicious glance at Evan before continuing to speak.
"But you were hanging out with that blockhead, and that pissed me off," he explained. "So, I wanted to show you what a strong cultivator looks like, and what kind of man is truly worth your admiration.
All I did was to merely enlighten you. You should be thanking me for giving so much thought about you," Jesse grinned evilly.
As he said this, the man advanced menacingly towards Evan while cracking his knuckles to indicate he wasn't going to let the guy off the hook that easy.
"You should understand and appreciate my good intentions."
Jesse cackled while saying this, and looked quite pleased with himself.
However, Evan was far from pleased with the exchange.
Someone called out," You definitely need to teach him a good lesson to loosen the rocks in his head!"
"Why waste your breath to lecture a dumb ass like him? Only a good beating will work on him!" Another offered.
"Right! Just smack the guy already!"
Every young man behind Matias roared with brutal excitement, eager to witness a beating. But Matias didn't say a word. He simply stared at everyone condescendingly.
"See? It's a majority decision. You should have known better than to incur the wrath of the masses. Now, get ready to be beaten to a pulp, will you?"
Jesse shrugged in arrogance after demonstrating his proficiency in sarcasm.
He took everyone by surprise when he lunged towards Evan with great momentum and strength.
At his sudden move, Evan was gripped by both sorro
w and rage, since he was fully aware that he and Jesse were not equals in any case.
Suddenly, Evan let out a series of ear-splitting howls. "Aahhhhh...!"
It sounded like an injured animal in great pain, but wishing to take revenge on its attacker. Evan's neck and cheeks had turned crimson with anger.
"I'll take you down with me!" he growled.
Then he flung himself at Jesse with all the force he could muster to fight and get back at him.
The growl did get Jesse's attention, who was startled at the sound. The sight of a desperate Evan astounded him.
He quickly recovered from the shock and replaced it with a cold smile. 'With the huge gap between you and me, how can you possibly hope to take me down?' Jesse thought. He curled his lips to display a trace of contempt. Then, shutting his eyes briefly, he unleashed all the power of his vital energy.
"Boom!"
The sound of a clash had spectators holding their breath. Evan was thrown in the air, like a kite out of control, before landing several feet away, blood spilling out of his mouth.
Although Jesse knew he had defeated Evan, he discovered his arms started to throb after the collision. Shortly, both his extremities went numb.
"You filthy little scum!" he screamed at Evan.
He no longer looked playful. Evan's defiant attitude provoked him, and his face gradually turned grave.
Like a child, he stomped hard and made another lunge at Evan.
"Stop it!"
A girl yelled loud enough that Jesse froze in surprise. The next second, a lovely figure swooped in to shield Evan and quickly executed a counter-punch.
The blow caught Jesse, who staggered back three steps before he was able to regain his balance.
"Denali, what are you doing?" Jesse demanded.
His face had gone pale at the recognition.
Because he knew he did not dare upset the fierce young lady.
Not long after, two other beautiful girls made their way in. Like Denali, they were also grunt disciples, who immediately stood behind their friend.
"Janie, help me get him up!" Denali ordered one of the girls.
She was slim and exquisitely beautiful and wore a lovely red dress and the whole package she presented caught everyone's attention.
Many of the male grunt disciples couldn't tear their eyes from Janie and kept swallowing their desire.
"What are you doing?" Denali repeated Jesse's question.
"Well, I'm supposed to be asking you that," she retorted. "Jesse, we're all members of the same sect. We should be uniting as one. But what are you thinking by bullying Evan like this?" she demanded.
Her tone had a dangerous edge to it, while the eyes she fixed on Jesse held a hint of loathing.
Since Jesse enjoyed bullying other grunt disciples, Denali was never nice to him.
The girl she referred to as Janie hesitated for a second before going up to help Evan get to his feet.
Once he sensed Janie's soft and tender hands on his skin and inhaled her unique fragrance, Evan felt as if he were dreaming, drifting along with the clouds.
The poor guy had never been near a girl before. From childhood to adolescence, he had not exchanged a single word with the opposite sex.
He was overwhelmed by the sensation of being close to a female and felt himself panic even just looking at a girl approaching from a distance. He would lower his head and walk straight past the girl.