Chapter 4

Living for over two millennia, it was not as though he had never taken a dao companion. Yet... no matter how breathtaking a woman might be, after looking at her for long enough, she was just another face.

"Stop acting!"

Fang the Fatty looked at Ning Chen with utter contempt, then turned to chat with a tall guy sitting at the neighboring table. The tall guy was named Zhang Dachun. He came from the countryside and looked thoroughly honest and simple-minded. The moment he heard they could look at pictures of the campus belle, Zhang Dachun whipped out his phone and logged onto the campus forum.

"Is this the Xu Shuyan everyone's talking about? Wow, she really is gorgeous! Better-looking than any celebrity!" Zhang Dachun stared at the photo, his eyes practically popping out of his head.

"Celebrity? She wouldn't deign to be a celebrity. Have you ever heard of the Xu Group? Xu Shuyan's father is Xu Jingshan," Fang the Fatty said, pushing up his glasses.

"Xu Jingshan? That mega-entrepreneur who's always on TV?" Zhang Dachun was startled.

"The Xu Group is worth hundreds of billions. Xu Shuyan probably doesn't think much of being a celebrity," Fang the Fatty guessed.

"You're wrong."

Ning Chen suddenly chimed in. "Xu Shuyan's biggest dream is to become a celebrity. That woman isn't as aloof as you guys think; she's terribly vain."

*Chapter 8: Can You Suffer a Qi Deviation Just from Practicing Sparring?*

"..."

Fang the Fatty and Zhang Dachun froze simultaneously.

"Ning Chen, aren't you supposed to be uninterested in the campus belle?" Fang the Fatty asked.

"Yeah."

"Then how do you know Xu Shuyan wants to be a celebrity?" Fang the Fatty pressed.

"She came to school with me this morning, and she said it herself in the car," Ning Chen replied matter-of-factly.

"Good grief, what relation are you to her..." Fang the Fatty fought hard to hold back his laughter.

"We have no relation. We just know each other," Ning Chen added.

"Pfft—wake up, brother. High-society girls like Xu Shuyan aren't in our league," Zhang Dachun burst out laughing.

Ning Chen said nothing more. Students trickled into the classroom in increasing numbers, and Zhang Dachun and Fang the Fatty grew more and more animated in their discussion.

"I heard this Jiang Tang is Xu Shuyan's best friend. Holy crap, an angel's face with a devil's figure!" "Su Wanwan, the scholarship belle from the impoverished side of town, scored 718 on the science college entrance exam. Total brainiac." "Senior Wen Qinglan from the Traditional Martial Arts Club. I heard she passed the Martial Association exam and is a certified martial artist." "Cui Lingxiu from sophomore year—an exchange student from South Korea and a popular beauty live-streamer." "Senior Chu Mo who plays the violin... sigh, pretty, long legs, and a great name. Too bad her family name is Bear..."

After debating for a long time, Fang the Fatty and Zhang Dachun finally reached a consensus to cast their votes for Xu Shuyan. When it came to overall qualifications, Xu Shuyan undoubtedly outshone the other candidates for campus belle.

Before long, a group of people burst into the classroom. They looked aggressive and imposing. Leading them was a robust young man covered in rippling muscles. With his hands on his hips, he looked like trouble from the start.

"Brother Peng, it's him!"

A youth with cotton balls stuffed up his nostrils and a pair of shiners swept his gaze around the classroom before fixing it squarely on Ning Chen: "He's the one who beat me up like this!!"

An uproar swept through the classroom. Beating up an upperclassman? Did their Clinical Medicine Class Two really have such an arrogant freshman? All eyes landed on Ning Chen.

"It's him?" The pure-looking girl sitting in the front row lit up.

Meanwhile, Ning Chen had just reached the most exciting part of his web novel, and having his immersion shattered like this left him feeling rather annoyed.

As for Fang the Fatty and Zhang Dachun, they stared at him with looks of sheer terror. In their eyes, Ning Chen was just an introverted otaku addicted to web novels. Never in their wildest dreams did they expect him to be so daring—daring enough to beat up an upperclassman?

"Are you the son of a bitch named Ning Chen? I heard you've been running your mouth!"

The muscular youth strode down from the podium. He slammed a foot onto Ning Chen's desk with a resounding *bang!* The freshmen scrambled out of the way.

Zhang Dachun, who was quite sturdily built and possessed a strong sense of justice, spoke up: "Senior, what are you—"

*Crack!*

The muscular youth swung his hand and delivered a brutal slap across the face. Zhang Dachun, standing well over six feet tall, staggered violently and had to grab a desk to keep from falling.

"I'm Zhao Lipong from the Sparring Club! Piss off!"

As soon as those words left his mouth, the expressions of several freshmen from Qingda Affiliated High School shifted dramatically.

"Zhao Lipong! Core member of the Sparring Club, municipal sparring champion!" "What? Municipal sparring champion? Then isn't this Ning Chen dead meat?"

A cluster of students huddled together, gazing at Ning Chen with worry.

"Little fatty, you want a go too?"

After knocking down Zhang Dachun with a single slap, Zhao Lipong glared coldly at Fang the Fatty, who was trembling so hard he could barely stand. "N-No, no, no... Senior, I..."

*SLAP!*

Another heavy echo of a slap rang out. Fang the Fatty squeezed his eyes shut in terror, but no pain ever registered on his face.

An unbelievable scene unfolded before them. Liu Di, the vice president of the photography club, was lying on the ground with a bright red face, howling at the top of his lungs: "Zhao Lipong! Have you lost your fucking mind? Why did you hit me?!"

Liu Di spat out a mouthful of bloody water mixed with half a broken tooth.

"I... I don't know! It wasn't me..."

Zhao Lipong stared at his right hand, backing away step by step with the expression of a man who had just seen a ghost. The other members of the Sparring Club stared at one another in blank dismay. Had Brother Peng suffered a qi deviation from martial training and lost the ability to tell friend from foe?

"If it wasn't you, must it have been a ghost? Everyone saw you throw the punch."

Ning Chen was still seated at his desk. As he spoke, the index finger of his right hand, hidden beneath the desktop, gave a faint twitch.

"It really fucking wasn't me!!"

The moment Zhao Lipong finished roaring, he abruptly wound up his right arm and delivered a devastating hook straight to the face of Liu Di, who had just managed to climb back to his feet.

Liu Di's pitiful nose, which had only just stopped bleeding, took another direct hit.

*Splotch—splotch—*

The two cotton balls were blasted out by a fresh geyser of blood, and Liu Di collapsed stiffly to the floor, muttering, "Zhao Lipong, I'll skin your grandfather..."

"What the hell is going on?!" "Can you really suffer a qi deviation just from practicing sparring?"

Breaking down completely, Zhao Lipong started mercilessly slapping himself across the face.

*Slap! Slap! Slap!*

He struck himself hard enough to draw blood from the corners of his mouth.

Ning Chen shrugged, signaling that these beatings had nothing to do with him, and then helped Zhang Dachun up from the floor. Hm, this tall guy was worth keeping around. When trouble came knocking, he actually stepped up.

"Teacher, it's him! He's the one trying to beat up our classmates! Quick, help—uh?"

At that moment, the pure-looking girl led two teachers into the classroom, only to find Zhao Lipong frantically whaling on his own face with a look of utter breakdown and terror.

The pure-looking girl was completely bewildered. What on earth had happened here? The two teachers quickly ushered all the members of the Sparring Club away.

"Classmate, are you alright?"

The pure-looking girl approached Ning Chen.

"It's you?"

Taking a closer look, Ning Chen recognized her as the daughter of the barbecue restaurant owner from last night. Her name seemed to be Su Wanwan.

Su Wanwan's eyes danced with light as she prepared to strike up a conversation with Ning Chen, but their counselor suddenly walked in. She had no choice but to return to her seat.

The counselor, whose surname was Wang, offered Ning Chen a few words of comfort before announcing the arrangements for military training starting tomorrow. Once the briefing ended, Su Wanwan eagerly went looking for Ning Chen, only to find that he had already left.

"Excuse me, do either of you know where that classmate just went?" Su Wanwan asked Fang the Fatty and Zhang Dachun.

Fang the Fatty had never spoken to such a pretty girl before, and his face turned beet red. "N-N-No idea. Sh-Should be in the washroom, I guess."

Meanwhile, Zhang Dachun rubbed his cheek, silently marveling that Ning Chen hadn't been boasting—his traditional Chinese massage technique really was miraculous; a gentle rub and his face didn't hurt at all.

"Oh, I see. Thank you." A look of disappointment flickered across Su Wanwan's innocent face.

***

Ning Chen did not live on campus; he had not been assigned a dorm room, and naturally, he had no roommates. He found a quiet, secluded spot and spent his time leisurely reading web novels. In the evening, he headed to the off-campus food street for dinner.

Inside Li Mei's Barbecue Restaurant, a few fierce-looking thugs were cornering the mother and daughter, demanding Ning Chen's phone number. Half of these thugs had crooked mouths and wandering eyes, and their leader, Ma Kun, sported a pronounced pair of cross-eyes. The scene was utterly comical, but Li Mei and Su Wanwan couldn't find it in themselves to laugh.

"We really can't, Brother Kun. A customer's contact information is private; I can't give it to you." Li Mei pleaded, "Please, just let the two of us go."

"Privacy my ass! That little punk beat me up like that. If I don't finish him off, how am I supposed to show my face around here anymore?" Gnash-toothed and vicious, Ma Kun threatened, "Either you let me smash up this shop today, or you hand over that punk's phone number. Choose."

"He... actually, he's..." Su Wanwan was locked in a bitter internal struggle, torn over whether to expose Ning Chen's identity.

Then, Ning Chen's voice drifted in smoothly from the entrance of the shop.

"Looking for me?"

The thugs whipped around to see Ning Chen walking into the restaurant, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his athletic jacket, looking every bit the ordinary student.

"Good grief, you still have the guts to show your face?"

Ma Kun pointed at his crossed eyes. "The hospital couldn't even fix this mess. Tell me, was that your doing?!"

"Yeah, I did it. If you've got business, take it up with me."

Ning Chen admitted it straight up, then swept his gaze over them. "You guys can all come at once. Don't waste my time; I haven't had dinner yet."

*Chapter 9: I Come from the Chunyang Wuji Palace*

"Motherfucker! So arrogant? Waste him!"

Ma Kun pulled a telescopic baton from his waistband and charged forward with ten of his lackeys. Tables and chairs overturned inside the eatery, bowls and plates shattered, plunging the place into utter chaos.

"Ning Chen, stop trying to be a hero! Run!"

Driven by some unknown surge of courage, Su Wanwan screamed at the top of her lungs. These were ten thugs armed with weapons! How could any single person possibly fight them off?

Yet the next second, she witnessed a miracle.

With a single punch, Ning Chen dropped a thug. The baton struck his body with sickening thacks, but he didn't feel the slightest bit of pain. Within the span of two blinks, all ten thugs were sprawled across the floor, howling in agony.

"I'm from the Qingzhou University Sparring Club! My name is Zhao Lipong!" "Don't let me catch you guys on this street ever again, or every time I see you, I'll beat you!"

With that, Ning Chen delivered a flying kick that tossed them out the front door like garbage, then nonchalantly found a seat and ordered his meal.

Li Mei and Su Wanwan stood there, completely dumbfounded. The public order on Shuiyue Street was terrible, and they were no strangers to street brawls, but they had never in their lives witnessed someone this ferocious. A single person taking down ten! And he looked like he hadn't even broken a sweat.

Could he really be one of those martial artists people talked about online?

"Classmate, are you... are you alright? I thought I saw you get hit with a club just now," Su Wanwan stepped forward, her voice laced with concern.

"I'm fine," Ning Chen replied.

He could have dodged, certainly, but there was no need. Forget clubs; even bullets couldn't pierce his True Qi.

"Oh right, besides barbecue, your place does stir-fries too, right?" Ning Chen asked.

"..." Su Wanwan was momentarily speechless.

How could this guy act so utterly nonchalant about getting into a fight? What on earth was his background?

"Yes, we do! Yes!" Li Mei hurried over, beaming. "Young man, what would you like to eat? Auntie will cook it for you!"

"I'd like some dragon meat," Ning Chen blurted out.

"Huh?" Li Mei froze.

"I mean stir-fried beef with scallions," Ning Chen corrected himself.

"Alright, alright, alright! Auntie will go make it right now, right now!" Li Mei scurried into the kitchen, tossing a few pointed glances back at Su Wanwan as if hinting at something.

***

The thugs of Shuiyue Street were back in the hospital. But they refused to accept this defeat.

"Br-Brother Kun, how come that guy Zhao Lipong is so ridiculously strong? His fists felt like iron hammers; I probably won't be able to get out of bed for three months, ow, ow, ow..."

A punk with dyed green hair lay on a hospital bed while an orthopedic surgeon examined him. They were all familiar faces by now; the doctors and nurses were long past being surprised.

"Never figured that punk for such a tough nut to crack!"

Ma Kun's face was swollen into the shape of a pig's head, his cross-eyes burning with fury. "I reckon he studied martial arts at the Shaolin Temple—he's probably trained in the Iron Cloth technique!"

"Iron Cloth?"

The expressions of several punk lackeys shifted.

"Didn't you see us beat him with batons and he didn't even flinch? If that's not the Iron Cloth or Golden Bell Shield, what the hell is?!"

Ma Kun gritted his teeth. "No way, I've got to call Brother Xiao. We can't let this go."

With that, he immediately dialed his boss. Bai Xiao of Shuiyue Street.

"Useless trash! Absolute fucking trash!"

Upon hearing the ins and outs of the matter, Bai Xiao roared in rage, "You couldn't even handle a single student? I feed you lot for nothing!"

"Brother Xiao, it really wasn't our fault..."

Ma Kun felt deeply aggrieved. "That kid practices the Golden Bell Shield and Iron Cloth. I smacked him full force with a baton and he didn't even make a sound."

"Where is that kid right now? I'm sending Leopard and Wolf over," Bai Xiao said in a deep voice.

"Brother Leopard, Brother Wolf?"

Ma Kun was startled and stammered, "Br-Brother Xiao, isn't that a bit overkill? When it comes down to it, he's just a student..."

"What the fuck are you babbling for? Speak!"

From the other end of the line came Bai Xiao's roar, accompanied by the distressed whimpering of a woman.

"Yes, yes, yes..."

Ma Kun held the phone slightly further from his ear. "He's eating at Li Mei's Barbecue Restaurant. He probably hasn't left yet."

Bai Xiao hung up directly.

"Brother Xiao, to deal with a student, is it really necessary to send Leopard and Wolf?" "They're our gang's gold-medal enforcers."

In the dim lighting of a hotel suite, a seductive woman's voice drifted from the bedside.

"What do you know?"

Bai Xiao was a middle-aged man in his forties. Sitting on the bed with his legs spread, he let out a cold snort: "Shuiyue Street is a juicy piece of meat. How many gangs across Qingzhou are eyeing it like tigers eyeing their prey? Do you really think that kid is just a student?" "Anyone who thinks like that will never make it as a boss in this lifetime."

The woman was startled at first, then laughed knowingly. "Brother Xiao is wise, as always~"

***

At Li Mei's Barbecue Restaurant.

Su Wanwan finally couldn't hold it in any longer and asked, "How can you eat so much?"

Ning Chen had just shoved a plate of stir-fried rice noodles into his mouth. Chewing away, he replied, "Mind your own business. It's not like I'm not paying."

Su Wanwan: "..." "I didn't mean anything by it. If you eat like this, you're going to wreck your stomach."

Ning Chen grabbed another massive handful of beef skewers. "Ever heard of a professional competitive eater?"

Su Wanwan nodded.

Ning Chen: "Has nothing to do with me."

Dark lines covered Su Wanwan's forehead.

The stack of empty plates grew taller and taller. After racking up a bill of over a thousand yuan worth of food, Ning Chen finally stopped. If he kept eating, he'd be mistaken for a monster.

Just as he was reaching for his phone to scan the QR code to pay, Li Mei hurriedly stopped him. "Young man, thank you for your help these past couple of days. Consider this meal on the house, courtesy of Auntie."

"No need."

Ning Chen knew what Li Mei was thinking—nothing more than wanting him to act as their shield. He was a man who utterly despised trouble. If not for Li Mei's culinary skills, he would never have patronized this shop a second time.

He paid his tab and left. A trace of disappointment lingered on the faces of both mother and daughter.

Walking down the street, Ning Chen found himself pondering a problem. If he kept eating at this rate, the twenty thousand yuan living allowance his mother had given him would be gone in no time.

Where on earth could he rustle up some cash? Should he turn pebbles into gold and conjure up a mountain of wealth? Or forge Magic Tools and sell them at exorbitant prices? Or perhaps seek out some super-wealthy tycoons on death's door and cast spells to prolong their lives?

All of these options seemed to require the consumption of Spiritual Qi...

Ning Chen sighed, then suddenly made a sharp turn into a pitch-black alleyway.

"Where did he go?" "On the left, after him!"

Two men in black windbreakers followed close behind. As they entered the alley, Ning Chen's voice echoed immediately:

"Looking for me?"

"We actually got spotted!"

Hearing this, the two windbreaker-clad men exchanged a surprised glance.

"So you're Zhao Lipong, eh? To think you could track our movements—you really are a martial artist."

Ning Chen kept his hands in his pockets. "State your business. Who sent you?"

"Kid, that's our line!"

The windbreaker man on the left pulled back his hood, revealing a face covered in jagged knife scars. Had any gang members been present, they would have recognized him instantly.

Chen Zibao! One of Brother Xiao's two gold-medal enforcers!

"Sihai Gang, the Azure Dragon Society, the Tiger Sect—speak! Which side are you on?"

Chen Zibao drew a dagger from his breast pocket, the blade gleaming with a chilling light.

Ning Chen sighed first, then said with absolute earnestness: "I come from the Chunyang Wuji Palace."

"Chunyang Wuji... are you fucking telling me a fantasy novel?!" "You want to find out if I'll slaughter you right now?" Chen Zibao barked furiously, brandishing his blade.

"Bao, stop wasting time with him. Drag him back and beat the crap out of him—we'll see if his bones are harder than our clubs."

Chen Zibao's older brother, Chen Zilang, was also a ruthless figure with a heavily built physique. As he spoke, Chen Zilang lowered his center of gravity and shot forward like a sharp arrow.

*Whoosh—*

With a single glance, Ning Chen could tell that this windbreaker-wearing fellow's physical fitness was more than ten times that of an ordinary thug. Yet he was still a far cry from the minimum threshold of the Qi Refining Stage.

Ning Chen met him head-on with a kick!

Chen Zilang never expected Ning Chen to move so fast. The kick caught him squarely in the chest, snapping several ribs on the spot and sending a mouthful of fresh blood spraying into the air.

"Brother!"

Chen Zibao was utterly shocked. Brandishing his dagger, he charged forward wildly, "I'm going to take your life!"

Ning Chen neither dodged nor evaded. He reached out, snatched the dagger right out of Chen Zibao's grip, and kneaded it into a lump of iron sludge right before his eyes.

"You... you, you..."

Chen Zibao had never witnessed anything so terrifying in his life; he was frightened out of his wits.

"You're even less impressive than your brother."

Ning Chen said coldly, his right index finger giving a slight crook.

A semi-transparent thread of True Qi seeped from his fingertips, extending all the way to Chen Zilang, who lay writhing on the ground.

"This... what's... what's happening to me?!"

Chen Zilang scrambled up from the floor with stiff, jerky movements, discovering to his horror that his body was no longer listening to him.

"Brother? What's wrong with you?" "Bao, get back! I can't control myself! What the hell is going on?!"

Like a marionette on strings, Chen Zilang threw a punch while shouting, smashing Chen Zibao square in the face and sending his nosebleed flying.

*Bam, bam, crash!*

The two brothers tumbled together in a brawl, ruthlessly beating each other black and blue until they practically gave themselves concussions.

Ning Chen turned around and walked out of the alley, casually pulling out his phone to dial the police.

"Hello?" "I'd like to report a fight. People are brawling so viciously out here, it's terrifying..."

***

*Chapter 10: The Campus Belle's Nascent Soul Bodyguard?*

Sauntering all the way, he headed back to Rose Garden.