Chapter 48 - 48: A Strike

Yun Hao could hear the cheers of the students of the Academy as the bulky muscular… gorilla-like woman slowly approached him. If it wasn't for her licking her upper lip as she walked towards Yun Hao, then he probably wouldn't be as nervous.

Surely, she won't do anything to him in front of all these students, right?

Yun Hao then looked towards Song Jian, who was now talking with someone on the phone. If she was asking for help, then it better come fast before something drastic happens to him, he thought as he took in a big gulp as he once again focused his attention towards the approaching calamity.

Back in Tsinghai High school, the only bullying he experienced was his classmates' derogatory and insulting words, as well as being used as a bellboy. The obvious reason that it never got physical was that Yun Hao was stronger than most of them.

But now, he was about to be manhandled in front of a school he doesn't even attend.

"I actually have prior meetings I need to… go to," Yun Hao chuckled awkwardly as he scratched his chin, "As much as I would like to stay--"

"Now, now, young cultivator," Pan Jing once again blocked his path of escape as she stood in front of him. Afterward, she leaned in closer to Yun Hao, whispering into his ear with a seductive voice that doesn't match her muscular appearance, "This won't take long."

"What... are you planning to do to me?"

"Relax, I will just make sure that Liu Hannah gets--"

"I am not dating Liu Hannah!" Right now, Yun Hao was truly nervous. The woman in front of her was of the Master rank, 2 ranks ahead of him. His right arm was still healing from being hit by a Spirit-rank cultivator, and now this woman was practically telling him that he would be fighting with her, a Master-rank?

"My right arm is still healing from an injury," Yun Hao raised his right hand, which indeed was still obviously sore.

"Oh, you don't have to worry. We only need a demonstration of what you can do," Pan Jing let out a smile as she stepped back and turned towards the crowd of students, "Yun Hao has agreed to exchange pointers with us!"

Hearing their teacher's words, most of the students once again howled and cheered, grabbing their phones and either hitting the record button, or the "live" button on their WeLine App. Of course, one of the rules of the school was that there was absolutely no use of phones while in class, but Pan Jing didn't seem to mind right now. There were a handful of students, however, who were not seemingly being carried over by the other students' hype. Instead, they all looked at their Yun Hao with their eyes expressing different emotions.

One of them had her eyebrows furrowed, one had his eyebrows raised, and the rest held a certain curiosity within their eyes.

"What do you think, Xinyue?" One of the male students among the group of five spoke up.

"What's there to think?" The female student called Xinyue crossed her arms in response, tilting her head slightly upwards as she glared at Yun Hao, "He's just a baby cultivator."

"He's not just a baby cultivator, though." If Yun Hao was focusing on the group of students, he would clearly recognize the male student that just spoke, as he had already encountered him back in the Thousand Lanterns-- it was the 3-meter tall muscular man he bumped shoulders with. Well, Yun Hao's shoulder and the man's arm.

"I saw him taking down He Kang yesterday," the freakishly tall student continued to speak, "With one punch."

"Really? Isn't He Kang already at the Middle-stage of the Spirit Rank?" The male student who first spoke could not help but widen his eyes, "Video or it didn't happen, Bernard."

"I heard it too," the only other female student in the group spoke, flicking her blonde hair to the side, "But most importantly, why is he with Song Jian?" The female student then looked towards Song Jian, who was still trapped by an invisible barrier.

"Stop prying into other people's affairs, Wang Yan," Xinyue let out a scoff, "We're wasting our time here, let's just leave."

Xinyue then stepped away, glancing at Yun Hao for one last time before turning around. However, before she could even take 3 steps, she looked back towards her other classmates.

"What are you guys doing? Aren't you leaving?"

"...Why?" The other female student named Wang Yan blinked a couple of times as she looked at Xinyue, "You're not our leader or anything."

Seeing as the others weren't also moving, they were all in agreement.

"Tch," her eyes could not help but twitch as she once again quickly turned around to leave, stomping her way through the stairs. She also took a glance towards the trapped Song Jian before letting out a smirk.

"It suits you, being lower than me," Xinyue said as she was higher on the stairs, looking down on Song Jian. Song Jian, however, as if not hearing anything, completely ignored Xinyue and was just focusing on Yun Hao.

"..." Xinyue once again clicked her tongue as she finally made her way to the exit. But alas…

...It was locked.

"..." And so, Xinyue awkwardly made her way back to her circle of friends.

Back in the center of the stadium, Yun Hao was closely watching as Pang Jin was continuing to talk to her students, talking about exchanging pointers or whatnot. What does that even mean? Yun Hao thought.

"Since our lesson for today is how to distribute your qi to certain parts of your body. How would you guys like for Yun Hao to personally show us how he does it!?" Pan Jing continued to hype up her students, "I know most of you have watched the video, and you all know how special he is, right!?"

The students that were clearly interested were seated at the front, nodding their heads with every word their teacher was saying. Seeing this, Pan Jing's excitement went over the roof. This was her chance to get revenge on Liu Hannah, she thought.

She worked hard, if not more, to get fans in WeLine and InstaPound. But the ones that were following her were either just her students or people interested in fighting her. Just what was the difference between her and Liu Hannah!? She even dared to flaunt that she got a young, handsome, muscular guy!?

Her blood once again boiled just thinking about it. Perhaps it was a heaven-sent that the man in question was now right in front of her. She couldn't take it out on Liu Hannah as she was stronger than her, but she could certainly take Yun Hao.

"Come on then, Mr. Celebrity," Pan Jing clapped her hands, "Show us what you got…

...Hit me," Pan Jing then mockingly gestured to Yun Hao, waving her hand and pointing towards her cheek, "Show us how well you use your qi, we all saw how strong you are."

It was quite obvious what Pan Jing was trying to do, and Yun Hao knew it. It has only been around 3 days since he became a cultivator, he hasn't even gotten the chance to train and see what he could fully do. He planned to go to the Danger Zone soon to test it... but to think he was going to be challenged here and now.

"...You won't be fighting back?" Yun Hao squinted his eyes.

"Of course not," Pan Jing shook her head, "That would be bullying."

"...Alright," Yun Hao nodded his head as he got into his stance, "If you're going to penetrate, penetrate hard," he then whispered quietly to himself to hype himself up.

Afterward, he took in a long and deep breath as he tried to control his qi. As Liu Hannah initially explained, a cultivator would already know how to control their qi by instinct, and Yun Hao was not any different.

There was, however, a difference between controlling and mastering it. Yun Hao, sadly, did not even know the basics. But still, he could feel his body getting warmer as he tried to distribute his qi to the muscles that mattered.

"Ho?" Pan Jing could not help but raise an eyebrow as she sensed Yun Hao releasing his qi, and the only thing she could think of was how badly distributed they were. The other students could also sense it, as some of them started looking at each other.

"Here I come, Mr. Pan Jing."

"What do you mean Miste--"

"!!!"

Before Pan Jing could finish her words, the flow of Yun Hao's qi suddenly exploded as he rushed towards her. The distance between them wasn't too far, so it wasn't that weird that Yun Hao was able to instantly cover it.

'This is too fast for a Mortal Rank,' Pan Jing could not help but squint her eyes as they followed Yun Hao's fist, 'But still a Mortal Rank,' she thought as she just let Yun Hao's fist connect with her right cheek.

But then, as Yun Hao's fist was only an inch away from her face, Pan Jing could sense that Yun Hao's qi once again exploded, specifically the ones in his leg as he suddenly twisted his waist.

Pan Jing's eyes widened as she felt her body slightly shift to the side.

The students that were on the front row could not help but slightly flinch as a loud thunderous bang rippled towards them as Pan Jing stomped her foot on the platform to stop herself from being thrown away by the unexpected strength from Yun Hao's punch.

By the end of it, Yun Hao's distribution of his qi could still be considered rubbish. However, perhaps because of the sheer recklessness of his distribution, he was able to put in more power than usual. This was, however, dangerous and should only be used as a last resort, and everyone in the class knew that, except Yun Hao.

But since this was just a demonstration, it didn't really matter.

"...This bitch," Pan Jing could not help but quietly curse. Yun Hao was about to prepare another attack, but this time…

...Pan Jing threw a punch of her own, causing Yun Hao to roll several meters on the ground like a ragdoll, only stopping as his body embedded itself into the wall.

"...."