When I Was Weaker Than You, I Cowered; Now That I'm Stronger, I Strike with Iron Fists!

Out of the school gates.

Lin Yu followed Jiang Che out.

"Hey, Jiang Che!"

Jiang Che looked back, a teasing smile curling across his lips.

"Student Lin Yu, you didn't manage to hit me last time... Are you trying to hit me again this time? If you want to hit me... I'll call the police again!"

"I'd like to see who can still protect you."

Jiang Che's arrogant words made Lin Yu's teeth itch with rage. In the week since coming down the mountain, he had suffered more humiliation than he had in the previous twenty years!

He had been forcibly turned from an unruly, arrogant dragon of an evil doctor into a Ninja Turtle.

"Jiang Che! I'm not here to hit you. I just want to ask you... Have you been to the West Mountain Scenic Area recently?"

Jiang Che nodded. "I have. What about it?"

Such an honest answer left Lin Yu completely bewildered. "Then did you go down into a mountain ravine? There was a cave abode inside, right?"

Jiang Che kept nodding. "Yeah. What about it?"

Lin Yu's mind spun.

How was this possible?

That Cave Abode Secret Realm was clearly supposed to belong to him... How had Jiang Che known about it?

Lin Xiaotian had made it very clear back then: only people like them knew about that cave abode.

Where had Jiang Che learned of it?

Could the news have leaked out?

"Did you go inside that cave abode?" Lin Yu asked nervously.

Jiang Che shrugged. "Of course I did. The stone gate to that cave abode was incredibly sturdy... I had to hire a professional demolition team to blow it open."

Lin Yu nearly suffered a cerebral hemorrhage from what he heard.

So that was it!

It was all this bastard Jiang Che's doing!

"What about the things inside? Are all the treasures in there with you?"

"Treasures? What treasures?"

"The treasures! Did you find any scrolls or anything inside? And a jade pendant?" Lin Yu asked anxiously.

"A scroll? I did see an ancient-looking scroll."

Jiang Che's words gave Lin Yu hope. "Where is it? It's mine! Give it to me, now! That cave abode has been passed down through my family."

"Oh... It was rather cold beneath the cave, so I used that scroll to start a fire."

The expression on Lin Yu's face gradually froze, and he asked in disbelief.

"What? You burned it?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I burn something useless?"

Lin Yu was nearly enraged into a cerebral hemorrhage.

He rushed straight in front of Jiang Che, his eyes bloodshot.

"Give my things back! Who told you to burn it? Do you know how precious that was?"

Like a madman, Lin Yu tried to grab Jiang Che by the collar, but... Jiang Che was now completely different from how he had been days ago.

Lin Yu was a Dark Force expert, but wasn't Jiang Che one too?

For a moment, Lin Yu discovered in horror... that he could do nothing to the person before him.

His strength was actually greater than Lin Yu's?

"Dark Force?"

Lin Yu took several steps back and stared fixedly at Jiang Che.

Just a few days ago... this guy had been an ordinary person, an ant Lin Yu could slap to death with one hand.

It had not even been a week. How had he become this powerful already?

"How did you do it?"

Lin Yu's tiger's mouth felt slightly numb, and even his fingers trembled.

Suddenly, it was as though he had remembered something.

The Cave Abode Secret Realm!

Jiang Che had entered the cave abode. Could the treasures inside... have turned Jiang Che into a Dark Force expert in just a few days?

The thought sent towering waves crashing through Lin Yu's heart.

Dark Force was not so easily cultivated. It belonged to the realm of internal martial arts.

Even he had started training in martial arts at the age of six, studying internal martial arts for more than a decade before reaching the initial stage of Dark Force.

What kind of fortuitous encounter could turn someone into a Dark Force master in just a few days?

Impossible!

"What Dark Force, Eight Force? What the fuck are you babbling about?"

Jiang Che played dumb.

"The scroll! You must have cultivated the mysterious technique recorded on the scroll! You definitely still remember it, don't you?"

Lin Yu became agitated.

"Are you fucking stupid?" Jiang Che slapped Lin Yu's hand away.

Quite a few students had stopped to watch near the school gates, whispering among themselves from time to time.

After the self-criticism meeting that morning, Lin Yu no longer had even a shred of standing at Shilan School.

Even students from the neighboring middle school division had heard of Lin Yu's great name.

But Lin Yu could no longer care about any of that.

"Jiang Che, the scroll is useless to you. You might as well give it to me..."

"Oh? The scroll really was burned. But the contents inside... are all in my head!"

A smile tugged at Jiang Che's lips as he raised a hand and pointed at his head.

So what if I lay my cards on the table with you?

When I was weaker than you, I cowered and bowed. Now that I'm a notch stronger than you, I'll strike with iron fists!

What Son of Destiny? You're just a singing bitch!

As far as Jiang Che knew, Lin Yu's greatest backing was his two masters, two ancient martial arts experts above Dark Force. But they would not appear in the early stages—not because they were unwilling to show themselves, but because they were trapped in some secret realm and unable to escape!

"Jiang Che... Write down the contents of the scroll for me, and I promise I'll never target you again. This is very important to me. It's a relic my great-grandfather left behind."

Lin Yu tried his best to make himself look more humble, but the bulging veins at his temples revealed just how furious he truly was!

"Haha... Call me Dad, and I'll tell you..."

"Oh, no! I almost forgot you're a dog... Hahaha!"

Lin Yu was furious. Truly furious.

His teeth ground together with creaks. "You... very well!"

All of a sudden, it was as though he had thought of something else.

"The jade pendant! Is the jade pendant from inside the cave abode with you too?"

"A jade pendant?"

Jiang Che chuckled, then seemingly conjured an ancient jade pendant out of thin air.

"Look..."

Lin Yu's eyes were instantly drawn to the jade pendant. He instinctively reached out to snatch it, but Jiang Che pulled it back in one swift motion.

The moment he saw the jade pendant, it was as though an unseen voice told him—

This was the jade pendant he had been searching for, an important object tied to his origins!

"That's mine. Give it to me!"

"What? Are you trying to rob me in broad daylight? Everyone, come take a look... This kid is robbing me!"

At Jiang Che's shout, Lin Yu immediately calmed down and glared fixedly at Jiang Che.

More precisely... he was staring at the jade pendant in Jiang Che's hand.

Without absolute confidence, he did not dare make a move!

Jiang Che was also a Dark Force Martial Artist, and he seemed... no weaker than Lin Yu. If they fought, what if Lin Yu gained no advantage?

And with so many people watching, he could only proceed slowly and deliberately.

"Fine, fine, fine. I'll remember this!"

After leaving behind that threat, Lin Yu turned and departed.

"Heh—"

Jiang Che toyed with the jade pendant in his hand. Its warm, smooth feel to the touch... was actually quite nice!

As for whether he worried about Lin Yu's retaliation?

Of course not!

In the early stages, Lin Yu's only support was himself. At most, he had a few connections his master had left behind during his travels across the world.

The main thing was still Lin Yu secretly developing himself.

So there was no need to worry about some immensely powerful old man falling from the sky in the early stages...

As long as he did not outright kill Lin Yu, there should not be any major trouble.

He would follow the plot bit by bit, then crush Lin Yu to death once he had grown strong enough!