9 Troubles At The Restaurant.

Coming out of the Herb Shop, Xiao Ling closed the door behind him as he was back on the outside world on the street.

Taking a look around him and seeing that no one was looking in his direction, Xiao Ling focused on his soul and separated a part of it transforming it slightly into one gigantic room. Having done so, he moved his hand slightly and suddenly the bag of herbs he was holding disappeared along with the stack of money that he had gotten from old man Mo having been sent by him to that newly created part of his soul.

With his hands freed once more, Xiao Ling raised his head and looking at the sun and seeing that it had already moved from its place in the middle of the sky and was starting its journey to set.

'Look Like I had spent more time with Old Man Mo than I had expected.'

With his goal achieved for today, Xiao Ling decided to return back home and spend what remained of the day with his family.

And so With his course of action planned, Xiao Ling started heading back home.

As he headed home slowly, Xiao Ling once more expanded his soul sense across the city slightly to check if he was still being watched. Sensing nothing and that he was under no surveillance, He shook his head slightly.

'Hmmm, Looks like she is no longer watching me today. I think she had to return back to the main branch. Still, unless I'm imagining things, then her aura this morning was definitely stronger than what I remember from my past life.'

*Growl, Growl.*

With his mind slightly deep in thoughts, Xiao Ling continued his journey home only to be pulled back to reality when his stomach started to rumble and growl like some beast in hunger.

Taking a look at his stomach while smiling slightly relieved that no one had been near him to hear the sounds of his stomach, Xiao Ling Stooped his trip toward home and changed his course and started heading toward the commercial district.

It was already way past lunchtime and so he expected that his mother and sister would have already finished eating and so he decided to look for a restaurant and have a quick meal since he now has the money to do so.

As soon as Xiao Ling had reached the commercial district, He started to look at all the restaurants available one after the other. He completely ignored All the ones that appeared to be expensive and he also similarly ignored all the ones that seemed to have too many people around them as he preferred to eat in an actually quiet place and in peace. And so he continued to look At all of them one after the other.

After moving across a couple of dozen restaurants of differing types, Xiao Ling found himself standing in front of a small little door at the edge of the district that had a sign above it that said simply 'Restaurant'.

Seeing the sign and seeing that there was no one going into or out from the door, Xiao Ling smiled slightly and proceeded to push open the door and enter.

Unexpectedly, The inside of the restaurant was tidy and was properly lit.

Taking a look at the interior of the place, Xiao Ling saw that it had a couple of tables that were surrounded by chairs and of these dozen chairs and table, Only four were filled by two men and two average looking women who were all sitting together around one table.

"Welcome to our restaurant. Please take a seat wherever you want."

As soon as he had entered the restaurant, A warm and melodious voice welcomed Xiao Ling.

Moving his eyes from the group of four friends eating, Xiao Ling turned them to look at the source of the voice.

Upon landing his eyes on who had called him, Xiao Ling raised his eyebrows slightly in shock. The one who had called him was a beautiful girl with long brown hair tied in the style of a ponytail who had a warm and bright smile on her face and had mesmerizing innocent green eyes. In stark contrast to The Girl named Nuan he had seen earlier, The aura of this girl here was much warmer and welcoming.

'Now, How could this place only have four customers with such a beautiful and innocent waitress working here.'

Nodding his head, Xiao Ling proceeded to move to the table that was placed at the far end corner of the room before taking a seat there.

Raising his head to look at the cheerful girl who had followed him, Xiao Ling took another look at her and her body that was covered by simple clothing of one buttoned-up shirt and slightly worn-out jeans. Her body was as developed as the body Of little Che Che, which is something one rarely sees.

With the same innocent smile on her face as if she hadn't noticed Xiao Ling looking at her, The girl simply handed him a menu she was holding.

"Take a look and chose what you wish to order. While our selection may be limited since I'm the one who cooks everything, Bu, I'm pretty proud of my cooking abilities."

Taking a look at the menu, Xiao Ling saw that as she had said indeed, there weren't many dishes available on the menu, and after taking another look at what was available He decided to settle for something simple.

Pointing to the dished he wanted to get, Xiao Ling began speaking.

"If you are that confident, Then I will be having a bowl Noodles along with a plate of steamed Buns."

Nodding her head after hearing the words of Xiao Ling, The girl wrote what he had asked on a small piece of paper, and after taking the menu back from him, She turned around and headed to the back of the restaurant.

"One bowl of noodles and a plate of steamed buns coming right up."

Having been left behind, Xiao Ling took a deep breath before he started moving his eyes across the place. The inside of the restaurant was clean and tidy and except for the voices of the four people eating, It was completely quiet. Xiao Ling enjoyed this silence for it allowed him to think in peace.

After waiting for a couple of minutes and while being lost in his thoughts, The girl came back carrying a tray in her hands.

"One dish of noodles and a plate of steamed buns. Hope you enjoy your food."

Nodding his head, Xiao Ling took a look at the dishes that were steaming hot and immediately began eating.

'Hoh, This actually is not that bad.'

After taking a bite of the buns, Xiao Ling smiled slightly. While it wasn't on the level of his mother's nostalgic cooking, This food still had a simple and nice taste to it that he found himself enjoying. And the place was actually quite with no one to bother him, something that Xiao Ling enjoyed even more.

Seeing that Xiao Ling was enjoying the food, The girl smiled slightly. "Well then, I will be at the counter over there. If you need anything just call me."

Nodding his head, Xiao Ling turned his attention back to his food continuing to dig in. After finishing the plate of steamed buns, Xiao Ling turned his attention to the steaming bowl of noddles.

Having finished half of the bowl of noodles, Xiao Ling found himself truly enjoying the food and the quietness of the place and so he started considering ordering another serving.

As he was debating whether he should get another bowl of noddles or if he should be satisfied with only one and leave some space in his stomach for the dinner of his mother, The sound of the door of the restaurant getting pushed open pulled Xiao Ling back into the present.

Raising his eyes to look at who had entered, Xiao Ling sighed immediately upon seeing the group that had entered for he knew that trouble had arrived and he knew that he won't be able to continue his lunch in peace.

The group that had entered the restaurant consisted of four large guys who had bulging muscle and skin that was tanned from spending so much time in the sun whose clothing style and haircuts and even their smile screamed one thing. Thugs. The four of them looked like complete thugs.

As soon as they had entered, they looked around the restaurant, and upon seeing the group of two guys and two women eating together, the group of thugs moved over toward them.

As soon as they had reached them, one of the thugs slapped lightly the head of one of the guys. "Hey, get out of here immediately. We have some business to do here and you are no longer welcome here."

At first, it had seemed that the guy who had gotten slapped on the head had started getting angry and had wanted to say something, but as soon as he had turned around and looked at wh had hit him and at the other three guys standing with him, the words died in his throat before he stood up from his chair.

"We have already finished eating so let's just leave."

Saying so, The other guy and the two women that were sitting with him all nodded their heads and not wanting to anger the group of four thugs, they all stood up and proceeded to leave the restaurant as quickly as their feet would carry them. And they haven't even paid for their meal before leaving.

Seeing the group leave the lace as fast as their feet would take them, one of the thugs started laughing and snickering. "What a bunch of cowards."

"Did you expect anything else from spoiled little guys as those, Big Brother? I mean did you see the women they were with? Besides, they are at least smart not daring to anger us."

As the group of four thugs started laughing, one of them, The one who stood in the middle and looked like their leader based on his slightly better clothing and larger size shook his head slightly while smirking before he started looking around once more.

"Now, Just where is miss restaurant owner."

As he looked around, The eyes of the thug leader quickly locked onto the girl who was standing at the counter with an expression of slight anger and fear on her face.

"Ah, there she is."

The group four, once they had managed to locate the girl who apparently they had been looking for all, moved toward the counter where she was standing. As they neared her, The girl took a couple of steps backward before resolving herself and raising her voice slightly.

"What are you doing here? Didn't I say last time that you are no longer welcome here? Leave or else."

"Or else what, Litle girl?"

Reaching the counter, The apparent leader of the group stared at the girl who was standing behind it. "Besides, We don't want to cause any trouble. Simply pay us the protection money and we shall leave you alone."

The anger on the girl's face increased in intensity and only managed to calm her self after taking a couple of deep breaths.

"I'm not paying you anything. I don't have the money to do so, and even if I did, you won't be getting anything from me. Protection money? Protection from what? *Hmph*, You guys are simply thugs stealing from everyday people."

While the other three thugs appeared to be slightly offended by her words, The smile of leader didn't change at all as he continued to stare at her.

"Now Now, How could you say that, when we have allowed you to open a place here and have protected you from getting bothered by anyone. We simply ask for what we are owed. But, You said that you have no money?"

Pausing slightly to run his eyes over the curvy body of the girl, The leader's smile turned into a perverted and lustful one.

"We have given you ample time before time to gather what we are owed and we can wait no longer. But, If you truly can't pay then we may be able to reach a solution that doesn't involve you paying us with money."

Seeing the obvious way he was looking at her and along with the lecherous smile on his face, even a girl as innocent as her understood what he meant by his words and so she took a couple more steps while disgust and fear covered her face.

Seeing her expression, the smile of the leader increased even more in size as he licked his lips. "Now, there is no need to be afraid. We can just all enjoy our time together and you won't have to ever pay us anything anymore. Hehe, you will get to spend time with us four brothers and you won't have to be worried about anyone bothering you ever again. Isn't this truly me being kind to you?"

Saying so, The leader of the group of thugs began walking and approaching the counter, and as he did so, the girl started to shrink and walk back even more as her body started trembling slightly as she started to realize the situation she was in.

"Don't you dare come near me. I'm gonna scream if you dare come near me."

Having reached the counter, The leader started to move around it to reach the place where the girl had backed to, and as he did so, he smiled confidently after hearing her words. "Even if you scream, no one will come to help you. This is already an isolated corner and it's under our control, and no one dare interferes in the businesses of the Gang of the Black Tiger. And so even if you started screaming, all that will achieve is wasting your energy which you will need for us, four brothers."

The girl continues trying to get as far away from the thug that coming closer and closer to her until she found her back touching the wall of the restaurant at which point despair covered her face as she realized that she truly had no way to escape.

Seeing the look of despair n the girl's face and how she had been backed into the wall like a small mouse facing a big cat simply caused the smile on the face of the leader to become even more perverted as he began reaching with his hand toward her wanting to grab her.

"Hey, Big brother. It looks like there is someone who didn't hear us and dares to ignore us. Bastard is so arrogant he dares act as if we are not here."

But as his hand was reaching the body of the girl, The voice of one of his brothers stopped him and pulled his attention elsewhere.

Turning around, He saw his three other brothers looking in another direction with an angry expression on their faces. With his curiosity picked, He turned around leaving the girl confused with his sudden change and headed back to where they were standing to see what they were staring at that had caused them to be so angry.

Upon arriving at where the rest of his group had been standing, he moved his eyes to look at where they had been looking, a slightly hidden corner of the restaurant that was covered and didn't show unless you were looking at it from this place. And as soon as his eyes had reached that place, He finally understood what had angered his three brothers. For sitting in that corner was one normally dressed guy who wasn't paying any attention to them even as they were staring at him right now and was completely focused on eating his bowl of noodles.

Seeing this scene even he started to get as angry as his brothers. How dare some nobody act as if he didn't even see him and his brothers? How dare he ignore what they had said earlier about having everyone leave the place?

"Hey, you, Are you Deaf? Or maybe you have a death wish to ignore us the four brothers of the Gang Of The Black Tiger?"

As he said so, One of his brothers started to approach the guy sitting in the corner and even after he was standing right in front of his table, The guy simply continued to eat which only infuriated them more.

"Hey you, Don't you dare ignore us. You arrogant fool. Do you think that we won't beat you up and throw your corpse out into the river?"

Only after his brother had started banging on the table Did the guy finally raise his eyes from his bowl to look at them.

As he stooped eating and started to look at the group of four, starting from the guy that was right in front of him, Xiao Ling couldn't help but sigh. He knew from the moment that they had entered the restaurant, that they were gonna cause him trouble. And it looks like he had been correct in his guess. At the very least, he was able to finish his bowl of food.

Moving his eyes from one thug to the other, Xiao Ling simply shook his head. "Just leave and don't ever come back. I find myself enjoying this place and I'm in a good mood so as long as you just leave and never bother the girl over there I won't act and I shall allow you to leave this place in peace and we can all act as if nothing had ever happened here."

Hearing his words, All of the four thugs became even more infuriated than before, To the point that the one who had been standing before him even kicked his table causing it to drop to the side knocking the plate to the floor.

"What did you say? You dare talk to us in that way? You truly have a death wish. You will allow us to leave here? That is something that we would have said had you not angered us brothers so much. But it looks like we have no choice but to teach you a lesson here today."

Taking a look at the broken plates on the floor, Xiao Ling sighed and stood up slowly from his seat. He had expected this. He knew how close-minded and narrow-sighted arrogant people can be. He knew from experience gained over a life spanning hundreds of thousands of years that very few people will take his threat seriously and back off.

Upon seeing Xiao Ling stand up slowly and calmly, instead of starting to think about how can someone supposedly normal be so calm in a situation like this, The thugs' anger only increased clouding their already bad judgment even further.

Their anger had increased to the point that the one in front of Xiao Ling even stretched his hands and grabbed Xiao Ling by the shoulders intending on forcing him back to his seat thinking in his anger clouded mind that he may try to escape. But he found and to his shock, that no matter how hard and no matter how much of his strength he used, He couldn't even budge however slightly the guy standing in front of him.

Moving His eyes to the hands-on his shoulders, Xiao Ling once more took a deep breath before sighing once more.

After doing so, Xiao Ling moved his own hands and placed them on the outstretched hands of the thugs touching him.

Putting his fingers on the forearm of the thugs, Xiao Ling channeled a little bit of his soul energy into his body strengthening it temporarily, he squeezed down gingerly on the hands of the thugs.

*Craaaaaaaaack, Craaaaaaaaack.*

As soon as he had done so, the sickening sound of bones breaking echoed into all corners of the place.

"Huh?"

The thug who had been holding the shoulder of Xiao Ling stared at his hands that were bent at a weird angle while confusion covered his face. He didn't understand what had happened. One moment he had been holding the shoulders of this arrogant fool and now he was staring at his hands that were bent at a weird angle looking as if they had been broken...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...."

As he was still gawking at his hands, The pain finally caught up to him and he drooped to the ground letting a chilling scream escape his mouth.

While looking at the tall and muscular guy suffering down on the floor, Xiao Ling simply looked at him while shaking his head. He knew that this will only bring him more trouble and cause him even more of a headache, that they will come back with their friends and come looking for him, he knew from experience that they will come searching for him as soon as they have what they think is enough to deal with him. He knew that all of that will happen unless he kills them all here and now.

But, He couldn't do so. For while he felt that another meeting with miss policewoman was going to happen sooner rather than later, he didn't exactly want it to happen because she came looking to arrest him for murdering a couple of idiots. Besides, He hadn't yet established enough connections with powerful peoples in a high position that would make a thing like killing some randoms thugs disappear, and he had already given enough shocks to his mother and little sister and he didn't want to shock them even more with news of him killing someone. And, So he decided on doing the next best thing.

Beating the crap out of them and breaking their bones, hoping that this would teach them a lesson and that they won't come looking fr him later, though he doubted the latter.

Steeping over the body of the still convulsing thus wh had his arm broken, Xiao Ling headed toward the rest of the group who were staring in shock at him. "This is your last chance. Take your friend over there and leave this place."

The three thugs who were in a state of shock at seeing one of their brothers get his arms broken were pulled from their haze by the words of Xiao Ling. And as he had expected, Instead of realizing that they were facing something they could never hope to comprehend, they instead got even angrier and even killing intent started to fill their eyes.

"You bastard, You think you will get away with daring to put your hands on one of our brothers? You shall pay for this."

As he said so, The second largest thug jumped from his place with surprising speed for his size, Speed that surprised even Xiao Ling slightly, and as soon as he had reached Xiao Ling, The thug swung his big and heavy fist at the face of Xiao Ling.

*Dooooook.*

The fist of the thugs collided with the head of Xiao Ling who didn't move not one inch. The sound that resulted from the heavy fist touching the head of Xiao Ling was akin to the sound of a bag of meat colliding with a heavily fortified wall.

The thug stared with wide eyes at Xiao Ling whose head didn't even budge slightly. The thug couldn't believe what he was seeing. For while he wasn't as strong as his big brother, He was still confident in his strength and so seeing this small guy, or at least small compared to him, Take his full-powered punch head-on and not even move caused immense shock to fill his heart.

A shock that paralyzed him and froze him in his place.

Xiao Ling didn't bother with moving his eyes to look at the fist that was still touching his reinforced skull and he simply stretched his hand once more before putting it on the jaw of the frozen thug.

*Craaaaaaaaaaaaack.*

And once more, The sickening noise of bones breaking resounded in the place. And once more, The thug dropped to the floor clutching his broken jaw, but this time, this thug couldn't release his scream of agony as his jaw had been completely shattered.

Moving his eyes from the second thug laying on the floor, Xiao Ling turned to look at the leader of the group and raised one of his eyebrows upon looking at him. For the leader was now holding a long knife that he had pulled out from somewhere.

"I would take it that you still don't want to leave?"

The leader of the thugs didn't respond and his expression was completely focused as he looked at Xiao Ling with barely concealed hatred and killing intent.

*Woooooooosh.*

As Xiao Ling had been preparing himself for the attack of the thug leader, He couldn't help but open his eyes slightly in surprise as the thug leader had suddenly disappeared in front of him.

Spreading his soul senses quickly, Xiao Ling located the thug leader as he had reappeared behind him and was in the midst of swinging his knife aiming for the neck of Xiao Ling.

Having spread his soul energy, Xiao Ling now noticed the aura surrounding the thug leader and he couldn't help but be slightly shocked and confused.

For the aura that surrounded he thug leader, no matter how weak, was the aura of someone who had begun his training and cultivation.

Deciding to spend more time later thinking over how could some low life thug have had access to cultivations manuals and martial arts scrolls that showed him how to channel his aura into a weapon and instead focus on the knife that was heading toward his neck Xiao Ling couldn't help but click his tongue in annoyance slightly.

A blow from a cultivator, No matter how weak, using a knife that he had channeled his aura into, His body even if he reinforced it to its current limit, won't be able to withstand a blow like that.

And seeing as he had no time to try dodging, Xiao Ling decided to do something that he hadn't done since a long time ago.

Exert his will and Bend the laws of the world.

The thug leader watched with glee as his blade proceeded to pierce the neck of the arrogant fool who had dared to put his hands over his brothers and even after it had entered his neck, The thug leader continued pushing the blade deeper and deeper until it was completely inside.

With a smile on his face, The thug leader waited for the blood to start pouring from the neck of the arrogant fool and for him to fall to the ground realizing what a mistake he had made.

But, That never happened. Instead, Xiao Ling turned slowly toward the thug leader who was frozen in fear seeing a guy move while a knife was stuck in his neck while looking like there was no wrong with him.

Looking at the horrified Thug leader, Xiao Ling chuckled slightly in amusement while stretching his hand toward his chest.

Putting his hand on the chest of the Thug leader, Xiao Ling channeled a small bit of his soul aura into the body of the thug leader and immediately upon doing so, The thug leader started bleeding from all his opening on his face while drooping to the ground.

While this won't kill him it will at the very least cripple him for the next couple of months and he won't be ever able to continue practicing whatever martial arts or cultivation he was learning.

Turning away from the thug leader who was laying down on the floor having lost consciousness, Xiao Ling turned toward the last remaining thug.

The last thug was looking at Xiao Ling while his body was shaking looking like he might drop to the ground at any moment now.

Xiao Ling smiled slightly and moved his hand to point at the last remaining thug and as soon as he had seen the hand that had brought down all of his other three friends point at him, The last thug dropped down to the ground immediately and started to bow and bang his head against the floor repeatedly.

"I apologize. I apologize for what we said. Please spare me. I didn't know you were an expert. Please, I beg of you, I have a mother that needs me. I beg of you, Spare my life."

Xiao Ling simply chuckled while shaking his head. "Get up from the floor and get your friends out of here."

Raising his eyes from the floor, The thug stared at Xiao Ling who still had a knife stuck in his neck before nodding his head vigorously and proceeding to start gathering his three other thug friends to leave the place.

While the one with the broken jaw and the one with the broken hand were still awake, the leader had fallen unconscious and so had to be carried out.

As they started to leave, With the thug leader being carried by the thug who hadn't gotten injured while being followed by the other two, Xiao Ling suddenly called to them. "Don't you dare ever come cause any trouble in this place."

Xiao Ling didn't have to add any more threats in his words as all three still conscious thugs nodded their heads before hurrying to leave the restaurant and closing the door behind them.

After seeing that the thugs had all but left, Xiao Ling extended his hand and pulled out the knife lodged in his neck out and as he did so, not one drop of blood dropped and it looked as if the knife had never even entered truly the neck of Xiao Ling.

Staring at the knife in his hand, Xiao Ling started laughing. It had been a long time since he last did something like that For it had been a long time since he needed to do so. Bending the laws of the world so that the result of something changes. From the knife entering his neck and causing massive damage to his body, with his will over the world, he had managed to change that into the knife simply enter his neck and nothing happen.

"H.....H....HO.....How did you do that.....?"

As he was lost in his musing, The faint sound of a whisper pulled him back. Turning around, Xiao Ling saw the beautiful girl with the brown hair staring at him with wide eyes and a blush on her cheeks. It seems as if she had seen everything that had happened between Xiao Ling and the group of thugs.

Xiao Ling smiled slightly at her while rasing one of his eyebrows. "We don't yet even know the names of each other, yet you are already asking me to reveal to you my secrets? Don't you think our relationship is moving way too fast?"

The blush on the girl's face increased even more before she smiled playfully. "My Name is Li Bingbing. so now you know my name. Will you tell me how you did that?"

Laughing after hearing her words, Xiao Ling shook his head slightly. "And my name is Xiao Ling. And no, I still won't be telling you how I did what I did. If you want me to tell you, you will have to earn it."

Li Bingbing pouted slightly while smiling looking at Xiao Ling as curiosity filled her eyes. "Hmph, Then if you won't tell me, I will find out myself."

Smiling, Xiao Ling put the knife he was holding in the pocket of his jeans and immediately sent it from there to the storing space he had created in his soul.

With this done, Xiao Ling turned around and headed back to where he had been seating and began helping Li Bingbing clean the mess of broken plates.

"Hey, There is no need for you....."

As soon as Li Bingbing had started to protest, Xiao Ling simply pushed her to the side slightly before he bent down and helped her gather what remained of the broken plates.

After a couple of seconds spent in silent cleaning, The duo had finished gathering all of the pieces that were scattered on the floor and had put back the table where it had been.

Finished with their quick cleaning, The girl had gotten back to where she had been at the counter while Xiao Ling stood facing her.

After looking around and seeing that the place was back to how it used to be minus the four customers who had run away, Xiao Lig put his hand in his pocket and focusing on his storage space he summoned a part of the stack of money he had gotten from old man Mo and put it on the counter.

"Here, take this."

Taking a look at what had Xiao Ling put on the counter, Li Bingbing's eyes widened immediately upon seeing what it was. "What is that? That is way too much. I cant accept all that money. Besides, I won't accept any money from you after you had helped me when I had thought that I was done for."

Shaking his head, Xiao Ling simply pushed the stack of bills of hundreds of Yuans in the direction of Li Bingbing. "This is payment for my food that I ate and payment for the food those four didn't pay for. Don't argue too much and just take it. I actually enjoyed eating here regardless of what happened and I want to come back later. So Take this money and keep your restaurant open so that I may come back sometime later."

Looking into the eyes of Xiao Ling, Li Bingbing felt herself lose any desire to resist nor refuse him any longer, and so she smiled, blushed slightly and lowered her eyes as she took the money.

"Thank you. For everything."

Xiao Ling smiled while looking at her charming face that only got cuter with that blush on her face.

While he was sure that the group of four thugs will probably come back later looking for him, he was willing to endure that slight headache for a girl as charming and innocent as this one in front of him.

Having finished eating and dealing with enough trouble for today, Xiao Ling turned around and started heading out intending on going back home to spend the rest of the evening with his family.

As she saw him head toward the door, Li Bingbing took a deep breath and gathering all her courage she called to him.

"Elder Brother Xiao Ling. Make sure you come back later to eat here. I still need to figure out how you managed to do what you did today. So, Make sure you don't forget me and come back whenever you get the chance."

Smiling, Xiao Ling nodded his head without turning and back, and waving he proceeded to open the door and exit the restaurant before closing it behind him leaving the still blushing Li Bingbing behind him.

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