Chapter 22: The Dark Park

"Bro, what the hell happened?"

Tong Xue dropped his voice into a whisper, leaning over the desk to interrogate me. I merely shook my head.

"A bunch of idiots came to find trouble with me, they got beaten up and chased away. That's all."

"You beat them up?" Tong Xue sounded astonished. But then again, he was aware that I was constantly getting into fights with Qi Fu Ren and his gang…back when Pang Zi was still alive. He nodded in approval. "That Shi Ting bastard has been acting all arrogant for so long. It's good to see somebody finally put him in his place."

I grunted, though I knew the fucker would come find trouble with me later. That was fine. Obviously I couldn't kill the guy in broad daylight – who the fuck would commit murder in a library, right in front of so many witnesses? I wasn't a psychopath. But if he tried to pull a Qi Fu Ren and lure me to a secluded area to try and kill me (though I doubted he would actually go that far – only fictional web novel characters were that crazy), then I would use that opportunity to end this once and for all.

Hell, I would have to thank the idiot for bringing me to a place where nobody would see us.

"What's with that, though?" Tong Xue glanced to the side surreptitiously. "Why is the school's number one beauty, Na Lan Yan Ran, loitering near our table?"

Instead of leaving like any normal person would, Na Lan Yan Ran had chosen to linger in the library, staying in close proximity to our table. I glanced at her, and caught sight of her quickly looking away. Evidently she had been watching us.

"Apparently she thought you are my imaginary friend," I said sarcastically. Na Lan Yan Ran flinched and lowered her head.

"Sorry."

"Sorry no cure," I replied with a sneer. Fine, I was being petty but I couldn't help it. The woman had dragged me into all sorts of trouble. "If everything can be resolved with an apology, why would we need the police and lawyers for? I can sue you for slander, you know?"

"Are you seriously going to do that?" Tong Xue asked incredulously.

"No."

"Then why are you making such a big fuss over such a trivial matter?" Na Lan Yan Ran snapped. I glared at her and she grimaced.

"How about you? Why did you saunter to my desk, insult me about supposedly not having friends, arrogantly take a book that I wanted to borrow without permission and leave me to deal with Shi Ting on your behalf?"

"No, that's…" Na Lan Yan Ran hesitated, realizing that I was right. She bowed her head. "Sorry about what happened earlier. I didn't mean to drag you into it."

"Just don't do it again in future."

I waved her apologies away. I had grumbled all I wanted and there was little point in grilling her further. Besides, what else did I want from her? I wasn't a sadist to the point where I would demand that she kowtow to me publically for an apology. Seriously, who the fuck did that? I never understood the Chinese concept of face or face-slapping and public humiliation. Did it bring them pleasure to shame their enemies in public?

I found that disturbing. In any case, it was a waste of energy to continue holding a grudge.

While flipping through my book, I realized that Na Lan Yan Ran hadn't left yet. Instead, she was staring intently at me, making me feel uncomfortable.

"What is it?"

"Are you…a practitioner of ancient martial arts?"

"Huh? Ancient martial arts? What is that?" Tong Xue looked confused. Na Lan Yan Ran looked a bit sheepish, as if realizing that she had just said something she shouldn't.

"No…never mind. It's nothing." She then lowered her head. "Thank you."

"Why are you thanking me?"

"You saved me from Shi Ting…" Na Lan Yan Ran hesitated and glanced at Tong Xue. Then she shook her head and rose to her feet. "Never mind. I'll compensate you accordingly. Then we'll have nothing to do with each other again."

"Good riddance," I muttered under my breath. I didn't want to get involved with this arrogant bitch. From her sour expression, I could tell that the feeling was mutual.

"Besides, you're not worthy of me."

"Excuse me?"

"You shouldn't entertain any delusions of chasing after me, like Shi Ting." Na Lan Yan Ran glanced at where the arrogant young master lay unconscious. "Even though you saved me, that doesn't mean I am obligated to marry you or be your lover."

"…is there something wrong with your head? Since when did I ever ask for anything as ridiculous as that?"

"All men are the same," Na Lan Yan Ran said with a sniff. She rose to her feet and turned away to leave, but not before another few parting words. "Even if you don't say anything, I still know what you're thinking."

Then she was gone. I shook my head in exasperation. What a fucking bitch.

"Wow, she really lives up to her title as the Ice Queen," Tong Xue remarked, watching her. "We commoners will never be on the same level as her.��

"I actually think that's a good thing," I replied. My classmate gaped at me until I pointed at the books in front of him. "Anyway, let's resume studying. You're not going home until you solve all those questions. They'll most likely be on the exam."

"Ugh!"

While Tong Xue returned to his workbook, my thoughts returned to Na Lan Yan Ran. For some reason, I realized that I remembered her name from somewhere before. Someone had mentioned Na Lan Yan Ran to me…

Yeah, wasn't she supposed to be my fiancée? I had completely forgotten it after so long, but Kai Li Si told me that my in-laws were from the Na Lan family and that Na Lan Yan Ran was my fiancée. I had pushed all thoughts of that out of my mind after the incident, having focused on training and studying. To think that I had forgotten about such an important detail.

I couldn't help but exhale wearily, feeling a headache build up behind my forehead.

Tong Xue glanced at me in concern, and I realized that he had heard me sigh. I frantically waved my hand to assure him that everything was fine. He cocked his head, and then returned to working on his math equations that I was tutoring him in.

Furthermore…

I glanced at the workbook in front of me, then spun my pen around. Right now, my priority was to score well in the Gao Kao, apply for a place in a prestigious university, major in literature or history, and then become a novelist on the level of Louis Cha (Jin Yong). I couldn't allow myself to be distracted.

*

The next day, after school, I decided to take a break from studying and practice in the nearby park. Even with Gao Kao looking over the horizon, I couldn't neglect my martial arts and cultivation. If what Kai Li Si said was true, then there were still demonic cultivators on the loose, out for my life. Such as the bastard who was preying on female students in my school. I couldn't confirm it yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if he or she turned out to be one of those Celestial Realm assassins from the future.

I didn't want to get caught off guard and lose my life in a single moment of carelessness. That was why I resolved to practice my techniques as much as I could. I was going to ensure that I had the strength to deal with any cultivators who popped up to terminate me.

The park was the most optimal place of training for me. Unlike urban environments, which were mostly filled with pollutants and filth, the qi in the parks were clean and natural. It was a lot easier to practice cultivation methods in parks than in my room or anywhere else in the city.

The downside was that there were a lot of mosquitoes. I had to spend a good amount of time swatting them away. Damn, but their bites were as itchy as hell.

Practicing a few moves, I breathed in deeply and savored the relatively rich qi in the park. The air here was so much fresher and full of vitality. It was also a great place for me to hone my Heavenly Flow and Earthly Paths.

After my usual training regime, which included doing a hundred pushups, a hundred sit-ups and running ten kilometers, I prepared to return home. Stretching myself and steadying my breathing to calm my body down after the grueling session, I took the usual route home.

I hadn't gotten very far when I caught sight of a strange spectacle. There was a young girl, about ten or eleven, sprinting down the park's path. She was dressed in what looked like an expensive dress, particularly for someone of her age. A young miss from a rich family, no doubt. A white blouse, a pink dress and long, brown hair with a flowery hairclip.

"Help!" she was screaming, much to the bemusement of onlookers. "Somebody, help me!"

I saw the reason. Behind her, there was a group of adults dressed shabbily. They sported punkish hairstyles, a few of them choosing to shave their heads or gel their dyed hair into Mohawks. They chased her relentlessly, their longer legs allowing them to rapidly catch up with the poor girl.

A few of the pedestrians strolling in the park stopped to watch, but seeing the muscular stature and intimidating demeanor of the gangsters, none of them dared to intervene. Instead, a few of them whipped out their smartphones to record the incident or to snap photographs.

Seriously? If they didn't want to help, fine. But they were actually taking advantage of this situation to get views for their social media channels?

Shaking my head in disapproval, I ran forward and approached the girl. She caught sight of me and swiftly ran behind me, cowered.

"What's going on?" I asked, standing between her and the thugs, who were closing in on our position.

"I…I don't know! They were trying to kidnap me! I managed to slip away, but they chased me!"

"Get lost, kid!" the leader of the thugs snarled, glowering at me. He was sporting a green Mohawk for some reason. "Don't try to be a hero and hand that girl over!"

"What do you plan to do with her?" I asked coldly, continuing to shield the poor girl from the gangsters. He leered at me.

"None of your business."

"Actually, it is," I replied. "You don't really expect me to stand aside and watch you kidnap an innocent girl in broad daylight?"

"Hah!" Green Mohawk jabbed a thumb toward himself. "Don't you know who we are?"

"You are…a bunch of kidnappers?" I replied, rolling my eyes at the cliché line. "Perhaps pedophiles, given how you're chasing such a young girl?"

"S…shut up, you fucking bastard!" the Mohawk fella yelled. Uh, you were the one who asked, dude. "We are from the Ghost Bear Clan! You had best not mess with us!"

Yeah, I had definitely heard the name before. Quite a few times, in fact.

"So why does the Ghost Bear Clan want with a young girl like her?" I asked, folding my arms. "All the more I can't just let you take her."

"I…I think they want to kidnap me for ransom…" the girl whispered timidly behind me, clutching my hand. "They want my father to pay them a large sum of money…���

"That's just one reason," one of the other gang members said. This time, it was a bald dude. "But it was more because we were hired to blackmail your father."

"Hired by who?"

"Shut up!" Green Mohawk snapped at baldy, realizing that the idiot was about to give the identity of their client away. Then he shook his head. "Wait, why are we even wasting our time with this brat? Go beat him up and take the girl!"

The other gangsters obediently formed up and charged at me, wielding the usual repertoire of chains, pipes, bats and knives. Evidently they had no qualms against killing me, the bastards.

Pushing my glasses up my nose, I watched them cautiously while pushing the girl back with one hand. None of the gangsters were cultivators – I sensed very miniscule amounts of qi in their bodies. Good. I didn't need to use any actual Heaven and Earth techniques then.

All I needed to do was read their movements, the flow of their insignificant qi, and I should be able to predict their movements.

Stepping in, I dodged the first strike – a blow from a huge bat. Spinning about, I rammed my arm into the guy's elbow, breaking it. The gangster howled, only for his cry of pain to be cut off when I punched his face. His nose cracked under my fist and he went down in a spray of blood.

I then ducked under a knife that a second gangster swung at me. Stepping in, I rammed my knee into his crotch. He foamed at the mouth and toppled over, clutching at his groin, and I stomped on his neck to ensure that he stayed down for good.

A third guy swung his pipe at my head, but I practically danced out of his range. He persisted, closing in, and a fourth guy flanked me with a similar-looking pipe from the side. I evaded their attacks and then whirled behind the third guy. The fourth guy pulled his arms back to prevent himself from accidentally hitting his comrade, who was turning to face me.

I didn't wait for him to turn fully. I chopped his neck, satisfied at the loud crack, and then kicked his knee. When he went down, I smashed his face with my elbow and he went down.

With a howl, the fourth guy dove at me with his pipe, but I slid to the side, allowing him to propel past my front. Tripping him, I then stomped on his spine. The pain was too much for him and he blacked out, his pipe falling loosely from his hands.

A fifth guy threw his chains at me. I weaved through the flight trajectory, caught the chains and then yanked on them. Caught by surprise, the fifth guy ended up stumbling toward me. I rammed my knee into his solar plexus, and then an elbow onto his neck when he doubled over. Allowing him to slide to the ground, I then spun away in time to avoid the bat from baldy.

"Who the hell are you?!" he bellowed, frantically swinging his bat at me.

"Just a passer-by who wants to be a Good Samaritan," I replied.

Ducking under his bat, I thrust my palm up and caught him by his chin, knocking him over. Spinning around, I kicked him in the chest and sent him flying several meters away. He bowled into another of his comrades and the both of them went down.

"You've got skills, but you should never have messed with the Ghost Bear Clan!" the guy with the green Mohawk sneered. He twirled his knife about in a display of consummate skill, switching it from hand to hand and spinning it so quickly the blade turned into a flash of silver. The technique was designed not just to slice into the opponent but also to intimidate. "You're still too young and naïve to be going against the likes of us!"

Uh huh. Whatever this Ghost Bear Clan was, it certainly was no match for real ghosts.

Cocking my head to the side, I then gestured for the green Mohawk to come at me. He snarled and lunged, his knife spinning and twirling fancifully to confuse me.

Perhaps, if I was a non-cultivator, I would never have been able to track his intricate and complex movements. The green Mohawk guy certainly had the skills.

It was just too bad that his opponent was me.

I was able to read the flow of his energy and the trajectories of his knife. I could sense which was a feint and which was the real attack. I was able to predict the movements of his arms and thus disrupt his rhythm.

When he plunged his knife toward me, I blocked his forearm with my own, stopping the blade several centimeters away from my face. I then smashed my knee into his unguarded crotch, causing him to howl in pain. While he stumbled, I kicked him in the solar plexus, knocking him back. The knife spilled from his hands and he crashed onto the ground.

I wasn't done yet. For good measure, I stomped on his face, breaking his nose and crushing his head against the ground. The concrete actually cracked from the impact, but I took care not to accidentally kill him. Fortunately, the Mohawk fella had a thick skull so he would survive this.

"Are you okay?" I asked the girl as I turned back to her. She nodded and gazed at me, totally amazed.

"Brother, you're so strong!"

"Nah, I'm just normal." I waved her compliments away dismissively. "Anyway, you should call your parents to pick you up. I'll contact the police and have them take care of these guys."

"Ah, there's no need for that. My family's staff will be arriving soon. They will handle it."

The girl was really from a rich family, huh? I should have known.

"All right. I'll wait with you until they arrive." I shot a disgusted look at the gangsters who had attempted to abduct her. "To make sure nobody else tries the same stunt."

"You're really strong, Brother." The girl smiled. "I'm Na Lan Yan Rou. What's your name?"

"I'm Shu Cong," I replied. Then I blinked, the girl's name finally sinking in after a few seconds. "Wait, Na Lan Yan Rou? You're from the Na Lan family?"

"That's right." Na Lan Yan Rou nodded before tilting her head innocently. "Why?"

"Huh…could you possibly be Na Lan Yan Ran's sister?"

"That's right!" Na Lan Yan Rou's eyes widened. "You know my sister? What's your relationship with her?"

"Oh…" I grinned mischievously. "Let's just say we are enemies."