"I don't want to stay here for another second!"
Yang Fan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, calmed his heart that was pounding like a drum, and looked at Zhao Rui.
"Me neither!"
The two of them hastily got on their bikes and rode to a hotel near their school, checking in immediately.
They decided not to go home for the time being. Who knew if that weird old man would do something drastic?
Of course, logically speaking, the chances of that were basically zero. If he had wanted to kill them, it would have been as easy as flipping a palm. He wouldn't have cared if it was broad daylight.
Even in broad daylight, no one would have been able to detect his covert methods.
After settling into the hotel, Zhao Rui first called his family and made up an excuse. Then, he sat cross-legged and circulated his qi through his meridians to check if anything was amiss.
'Though, hmm, I probably won't find anything. But it's for my own peace of mind. Better than nothing, I guess!'
"Dad, I'm scared! What should I do?"
Meanwhile, Yang Fan was a crying mess on a video call with his old man, begging for help.
At this point, he couldn't care less about getting a beating; his life was on the line.
Yang Fan's father was a businessman, after all. He was worldly and had dealings with people from the underworld.
After hearing his son's story, he broke out in a cold sweat. He told the two of them not to go anywhere and immediately drove over.
In just a quarter of an hour, Yang Fan's father, Yangyu Platform, arrived with two bodyguards.
"Dad, I was wrong! You have to save me! I don't want to die!"
The coward Yang Fan completely broke down, clinging to his father and sobbing his heart out.
He wiped snot and tears all over half of Yangyu Platform's shoulder.
"Alright, it's not as serious as you think!"
Seeing his son acting like such a wimp, Yangyu Platform didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He glanced over at Zhao Rui, who had been sitting calmly in cross-legged meditation when he came in, and couldn't help but curse inwardly. 'Dragons beget dragons, and phoenixes beget phoenixes. You can't blame anyone for what you've raised yourself.'
"Huh? Dad, what do you mean?"
Yang Fan froze for a moment, wiped his nose with his sleeve, and asked in pleasant surprise.
"When Immortals fight, it has nothing to do with small fries like you two. This matter ends here. Don't go around gossiping about it!"
"Huh? Oh! Dad, I won't say a word, I won't! This is great! Dad, I love you!"
Overjoyed, Yang Fan suddenly pulled Yangyu Platform into a big bear hug.
Even though Yang Fan was his son, the boy took after his mother in appearance. He himself was actually a small, thin man.
Now, being held in his son's arms, his old face flushed dark and red.
"Uncle Yang, I'm sorry."
After Yang Fan had calmed down from his excitement, Zhao Rui awkwardly apologized from the side.
Although going to the entertainment venue to find girls was Yang Fan's idea, he was a participant too, and he hadn't done his duty as a friend to advise against it.
So, this apology from Zhao Rui was very sincere. It also stemmed from him underestimating this world and the prevalence of force.
He had spent all his time recently shuttling between school and the Martial Arts Hall, and had truly lost his sense of awe and caution.
"There's no need for that. You're both adults now, and some things just happen naturally. It's better to guide than to forbid. As parents, we know you're more mature than Xiaofan. On a normal day, try to guide him a bit more."
"Yes, Uncle Yang, I will."
Zhao Rui had wanted to say something else, but the words died on his lips, and this was all he could manage.
"Alright, you. Crying one minute and laughing the next. Go home and wait for your punishment."
Yangyu Platform glanced at his son, who was now giggling foolishly, and said irritably.
"I don't care about being punished, haha!"
Although Yang Fan's Martial Arts weren't great, he was still a Hard Skill Martial Artist who had trained for many years. A little punishment was nothing to him.
"Let's go. We'll eat first."
After speaking, Yangyu Platform took the two of them to a high-end restaurant nearby for a good meal.
It was to help the two youngsters calm their nerves so they wouldn't be left with any psychological trauma from the incident.
It might affect their ability to pick up girls in the future!
After the meal, Zhao Rui declined Yangyu Platform's offer of a ride and took a taxi home himself.
Zhao Jincheng and his wife, who had thought their son wasn't coming home because something had come up, were a bit surprised, but Zhao Rui managed to fool them with an excuse.
"Mom, Dad, I'm a little tired. I'm going to my room to rest."
Zhao Rui drank some water and went straight to his room.
Today's events had a huge impact on him, instantly shattering the complacency and arrogance he'd developed since the college entrance exams.
It turned out this world was far more dangerous than he had understood. Even with the help of his system panel, until he grew stronger, he was still just a little weakling in the eyes of others.
Zhao Rui couldn't help but feel a lingering fear.
'If this hadn't happened, who knows how restless and conceited my state of mind would have become!'
A Martial Artist trains not just their body, but also their mind!
Zhao Rui took a deep breath and began to sit in meditation to practice his Misty Divine Skill.
As Zhao Rui's main Internal Cultivation Method, the Misty Divine Skill was actually quite average in terms of how quickly it increased his Inner Power Cultivation.
Despite its awesome-sounding name, that was just something his unreliable master had pulled out of his ass.
It wasn't a Divine Skill at all.
While this Internal Cultivation Method wasn't some dime-a-dozen Martial Art, it was no Top-level Technique either.
It had been good enough for the old Zhao Rui, but now that he had a system panel, his standards were higher. Naturally, he craved a more profound Internal Cultivation Method.
Unfortunately, such things could only be chanced upon, not sought out. Unless one had powerful backing or a heaven-defying opportunity, an ordinary person had no way of learning this kind of top-tier Heart Method.
Martial Arts Techniques might become common, but Internal Cultivation Methods never would.
'Can't get ahead of myself!'
Zhao Rui focused his mind and meticulously continued his Cultivation.
Around eleven at night, after finishing his Cultivation, Zhao Rui was just scrolling through short videos on his phone when he got a call from Yang Fan.
"The news is out, and it's huge! Check out the Lin City news for today."
Hearing Yang Fan's words, Zhao Rui opened a web browser and started searching.
Sure enough, he saw a conspicuous news article: "In order to effectively combat criminal activity, our city's Patrol Office recently launched the 'Summer Storm' special operation... It is reported that the Carefree Pavilion and several other entertainment venues have received notices to suspend operations for rectification..."
Looking at the news, Zhao Rui couldn't help but shake his head. 'It seems you can't escape the struggle between the light and the dark anywhere.' He just wondered what role the "Fire Cloud Evil God" had played in all this.
"I saw it. Since it has nothing to do with us, you can go to sleep without worrying."
"Sigh, what's there to say? Once this blows over, I'll take you again."
"You really are a hopeless lecher!"
"Haha, of course! My dad doesn't even object."
The two chatted idly for a couple more sentences before hanging up.
...
「The next day.」
Zhao Rui went to Wende Martial Dao as usual.
After yesterday's events, Zhao Rui felt an even greater urgency to increase his strength.
Today, he not only sparred with the paying students but also exchanged pointers with the coach during his free time.
The main goal was not to waste any time.
A year of practice only accumulated so much Power; it wasn't as fast as sparring with others.
The coach's Martial Arts were nothing special, just the ordinary Chaotic Cloak Saber Technique.
His strength was his specialization. With long years of practice and deep Inner Strength, he was qualified to be a Support coach.
He was even inferior to some of the genius students.
But Zhao Rui didn't care about that. His philosophy was simple: it doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice.