Damsel In Distress

With all the murmurings around him, Li Tian did not want to stay much longer. He disliked social interactions and so, this whole time, he was just enduring. If he was around many people that weren't his family, Li Tian would start to get nervous. To him, the 2D world of anime was his haven. He was thinking like a true otaku. 

Leaving faster than he came, Li Tian reached the lobby quicker than his parents. He waited around for their arrival. As he stood by the pillar, Li Tian recognized a familiar hoodie from just now. The boy, Jiu Zhi Ming seemed to be glaring maliciously at a girl who looked to be an entire head shorter than him. Li Tian enhanced his ears with Qi as he planned to eavesdrop on what Jiu Zhi Ming was saying. 

"So what do you have to say for yourself?" 

"Wha…What more do you want? I have already apologized to you." The shorter statured girl stuttered. Li Tian could tell that she was afraid of him. 

"Your lack of awareness when walking resulted in you bumping into my hoodie. Because of you, my hoodie is now creased!" Anyone with a brain could tell that Jiu Zhi Ming was just making a mountain out of a mole hill. His true colours soon revealed. "What I want is for you to kneel and apologize to me. If not, I can promise you using the Jiu family name, that you can say goodbye to a normal life in Ningguo!" 

"But it was you who walked into my path in the fir…first place! I didn't do anything wrong!" Being backed into the corner, the girl did not know what to do. She was from an ordinary family. Being threatened by someone who came from such an influential family, the girl knew that no one would come and save her. She should just kneel and apologize. 

Just as she was about to kneel over, the girl noticed a brown liquid falling down from above. She realised that the liquid was coming from Jiu Zhi Ming and it was falling down from his head. The girl looked up and realised what had happened. There was a boy wearing a traditional Hua-style robe pouring what seemed to be piping hot coffee over Jiu Zhi Ming's head. 

The short girl's jaw slackened. Jiu Zhi Ming could be seen to be fuming. His breathing was unsteady as his eyes darted to his left. "What. Do. You. Think. You're. Doing!!!" 

With a powerful swipe, Jiu Zhi Ming swung his arm at the boy in robes. Sadly, he was too slow, and he missed. The boy in robes gracefully dodged aside. The boy in robes was Li Tian. He chuckled at Jiu Zhi Ming, "Ah? Here I thought that you were a rubbish bin and was dumping away my coffee. Sorry, sorry. My bad." 

"Sorry? You are truly asking for a beating!" Nothing was going to be able to stop Jiu Zhi Ming's rampage. Without a care in the world, he started to regulate his Qi around his body. The boy was now at level 5 of Qi Gathering Realm. He learnt the Great Flames Manual that depended on the cultivators emotion. If a cultivator was angered, the power that he wielded would get stronger. With the way Li Tian acted on him, Jiu Zhi Ming's strength increased to level 6 of Qi Gathering. 

Typical twelve-year-olds would fear for their lives and they have yet to learn any form of martial arts. However, for Li Tian, this was a walk in the park. 

"Eat my fist! Flaming Tusk Punch!" Jiu Zhi Ming's family had a speciality technique, the Rising Flames Technique. The beginning move was the Flaming Tusk Punch that imitated the Fire Hooved Elephant's battle stance. Although Jiu Zhi Ming had not perfected that move yet, he thought that it was more than enough to defeat Li Tian. 

Seeing Jiu Zhi Ming's flaming fist that emulated an elephant tusk approach his face, Li Tian only had one word in his mind. Slow! Jiu Zhi Ming's cultivation was so beneath Li Tians that he didn't even feel like he had to dodge. 

With a swift motion, Li Tian swiped his left hand towards Jiu Zhi Ming's punch. Without any effort, Li Tian neutralized the punch motion and now Jiu Zhi Ming was stumbling towards him like a walking punching bad. Lucky for Jiu Zhi Ming, Li Tian did not choose violence today and chose to stick the paper cup forcefully into his mouth. Li Tian then pushed Jiu Zhi Ming away from him and the boy in the hoodie fell to the ground in an awkward kneeling position. 

"Mernenfwu!" Jiu Zhi Ming quickly took out the cup from his mouth. He could tell that he was no match for the boy in robes. Instead, he decided to threaten him instead. "You dare to attack me? The young master of the Jiu Family! Do you still want to live peacefully in Ningguo??" 

"Hah? Jiu Family?" 

"Hei Hei! You're scared now, aren't you? It's too late for you now! Even if you kneel down and beg, when I get home, I shall report to my parents about you!" 

"No, I was just going to ask. Jiu Family, who?" 

"Wh…What?" The onlookers who had been watching the entire situation enfold couldn't believe what they are hearing. The boy in robes did not even bat an eye at Jiu Zhi Ming's family status. 

"You heard me. If you want to play the family card, sure!" Li Tian agreed along with Jiu Zhi Ming's blackmail. "Ask your family to look for revenge on the person named Li Tian. Note, its Li from the Li Clan." 

"Wh…What did you just say?" 

"I am Li Tian from the Li Clan." Li Tian repeated himself for the dumbfounded youth. He then proceeded to wave away the girl who got into the scuffle with Jiu Zhi Ming, "Go ahead and leave. If he causes you anymore trouble, just say my name to one of the guards in the Li Clan. I'll make sure that he receives punishment from his family." 

"Th…Thank you!" The girl quickly bowed to Li Tian and left to head into the testing site. 

On the other hand, Jiu Zhi Ming was having a crisis in his head. 'Who did I just mess with?' 

Anyone that would openly admit that they are from the Li Clan meant that they had some backing in the Clan. Since Li Tian was so confident about it, Jiu Zhi Ming knew that he screwed up big time. 

"Alright, run away back home and go tell your parents about me. I'll be waiting for your revenge in my home." Li Tian did not care about Jiu Zhi Ming and swiftly left the scene where a crowd of youths had started to form in the vicinity. He soon spotted his parents coming out of their exit and ran towards them. 

"Ah Tian Er! It seems like your cultivation proficiency was close to what Grandpa Li expected." Li Xian rubbed her son's head. Her father had long predicted Li Tian's talent and tier. Li Kui thought it was going to be SS tier, but shockingly, he was wrong. 

"It's not too bad. I like my proficiency." Li Tian smiled back at his parents. To him, S tier was perfect as it classified him as a genius, but he wasn't the biggest gem in the whole Land of Hua. There were plenty of geniuses in Hua and so, the major enemies in this country would most likely not target him. 

"Well, mom and dad are happy for you. Come, let's head home!" Ming Guang Rong said. The trio left the venue with curious eyes staring at them. Li Tian's parents did not know what had just happened and chose to not care about it. However, even if they did, they would've approved on their son's behaviour. 

On the car, Li Tian closed his eyes, seemingly looked to be asleep. He was in fact looking at the system notification for a completed mission. Earlier, when Jiu Zhi Ming was speaking down on the little girl, the system had issued a mission. 

Ding. 

[Mission: Damsel in Distress] 

As the benevolent protagonist you embody, it's only natural to come to the aid of the girl in distress and rescue her from the clutches of Jiu Zhi Ming. 

Reward: Nil. 

Failure: Receive daily mission, 'Healthy Lifestyle'. 

Deadline: 30 Minutes 

The only reason Li Tian had came to the rescue of the little girl was because of the mission failure penalty. Although Li Tian wasn't an evil person, he wasn't benevolent either. Unless the person involved was a family member, he would prefer to stay out of problematic scenarios. This time, Li Tian did not want to start his hellish daily training again, just because he did not help the girl out. 

'Tsk… So stingy… At least provide me a reward when giving me a mission…' Li Tian cursed inwardly. 

Ding.