Your Strength Happens to Restrain Me

The thin morning mist had yet to disperse.

The already rickety wooden door of the Liu Family Inn was kicked to pieces.

Wood chips flew everywhere.

"Liu! Get out here and die!"

An arrogant roar, like a rooster crowing, shattered Maple Forest Town's tranquility.

More than a dozen servants in Luo Family uniforms surged in like wolves and tigers, packing the already cramped inn solid.

Behind them, a richly dressed youth of seventeen or eighteen strode in amid a crowd of attendants.

The youth looked utterly arrogant, his chin raised so high it was nearly pointing at the sky.

He released his Soul Power fluctuations without restraint.

Level twenty-five, a Soul Grandmaster.

Shopkeeper Liu and Liu Yan rushed out from the backyard, their faces deathly pale.

The moment he saw who had come, Shopkeeper Liu's calves began to tremble.

"Y-Young Master Luo Tian..."

Luo Tian, the Luo Family head's only son and Maple Forest Town's most notorious young tyrant.

He did not spare Shopkeeper Liu a glance. His eyes swept over the inn like venomous snakes.

At last, they landed on the figure strolling leisurely down the stairs.

Han Yuchen yawned and rubbed his sleepy eyes, looking as though he had not fully awakened.

He was still wearing yesterday's ordinary blue cloth clothes, his face pale and his frame lean.

He looked as though a gust of wind could knock him over.

"Young Master, that's him!"

Steward Luo, who had fled after being frightened by Han Yuchen yesterday, was now wrapped in bandages. He pointed at Han Yuchen, his face full of venomous resentment.

Luo Tian looked Han Yuchen up and down twice.

First, he froze.

Then, as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world, he burst into shrill laughter.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

"This sickly child? A consumptive wretch on the verge of death?"

"Luo San, you fucking told me this was the thing that scared you off?"

He laughed so hard he bent over, tears nearly spilling from his eyes.

The servants behind him also burst into laughter, looking at Steward Luo with undisguised contempt.

Steward Luo's face turned the color of pig liver, but he could not say a word.

Yeah, who would believe it?

Even he himself, thinking back on it now, felt it had been a nightmare.

Liu Yan nervously clenched the hem of her clothes, her heart rising into her throat.

She secretly looked at Han Yuchen, hoping to see even the slightest trace of nervousness on his face.

There was none.

Nothing at all.

The guy even yawned again, as though the tense scene before him was less important than going back to sleep.

Han Yuchen picked at his ear, his movements unhurried.

He listlessly lifted his eyelids and glanced at Luo Tian.

"Why's a dog barking so early in the morning?"

"Disturbing people's sleep is really inconsiderate, you know?"

For an instant.

The air throughout the inn seemed to freeze.

All laughter came to an abrupt halt.

Luo Tian's face visibly changed from flushed red to iron-blue.

He stared fixedly at Han Yuchen, his gaze as though it wanted to devour him alive.

"You little bastard, what did you say?"

"If you've got the guts, say that again!"

"Good words aren't said twice."

Han Yuchen shrugged, looking utterly innocent.

"Looks like not only is something wrong with your brain, your ears aren't working too well either."

This brat was courting death!

Luo Tian roared, no longer able to restrain himself.

"Kill him!"

Before his words had even faded, he moved first.

A powerful burst of Soul Power erupted!

"Roar!"

With a beastly roar, a Giant Bear Phantom over two meters tall emerged behind him.

Mountain-Splitting Bear!

A pure power-type Assault System Beast Spirit!

Two yellow Hundred-Year Soul Rings rose beneath his feet.

"Second Soul Skill, Giant Bear Charge!"

Luo Tian roared as his entire body seemed to merge with the Giant Bear Phantom behind him.

The floor beneath his feet cracked inch by inch. His massive body transformed into a cannonball, charging viciously toward Han Yuchen with overwhelming force!

The collision carried tremendous power, compressing the air until it exploded with a violent boom.

Forget a sickly child—even a city wall would probably have been smashed full of holes!

Liu Yan cried out and instinctively shut her eyes.

She did not dare watch the coming scene of blood and flesh flying everywhere.

Yet Han Yuchen, standing at the center of the storm, did not so much as blink.

He did not even summon his Spirit.

He simply stood there quietly, watching that frenzied giant bear grow larger and larger in his pupils.

His heart was utterly calm.

He even felt like laughing a little.

Here it comes, here it comes.

The familiar recipe, the familiar flavor.

The experience pack delivered right to my door is always so enthusiastic.

Wow! What incredible strength!

This pure Assault System Beast Spirit is practically the pinnacle of physical power!

Look at those muscles, look at that presence!

My frail Water Spirit is completely restrained by this kind of absolute strength!

It's over, it's over. I don't have even the slightest chance of winning.

I fully admit it. You restrain me!

Just as Han Yuchen was wildly adding drama to his inner monologue.

The long-awaited heavenly sound rang out in his mind.

[Ding!]

[Skill [Restraint] has been triggered!]

[Target attack type detected: Power-type Physical Attack.]

[Host's subjective judgment: Restrained.]

[Judgment confirmed!]

[This attack is 100% nullified and reflected at 200% power!]

It worked.

In the blink of an eye!

Luo Tian's bear paw, as large as a washbasin, had already reached Han Yuchen's face!

The fierce gust of wind blew up Han Yuchen's black bangs.

Everyone thought that in the next second, this fool who did not know his own limits would be slapped into a puddle of meat.

Yet something incomparably bizarre happened.

Han Yuchen did not even take a defensive stance.

He simply stood there.

Like a blade of wild grass swaying in the wind.

At the instant Luo Tian's bear paw was about to touch his body.

It was as though it had struck an invisible wall harder than diamond!

Bang!

An incredibly dull, earth-shaking crash!

It was not the sound of flesh colliding. It was more like two mountains speeding at full tilt had slammed viciously into one another!

The cruel smile on Luo Tian's face instantly froze.

In its place came boundless shock and confusion.

He felt as though he had not struck a person.

But a star!

A terrifying force twice as violent and powerful as his own charge rebounded along his arm with unstoppable force!

Crack!

A crisp sound of bone breaking, sharp enough to make one's teeth ache, rang throughout the inn!

"Ah—!"

Luo Tian let out a shriek so miserable it barely sounded human.

His right arm, the one he had used to attack, bent backward at a bizarre angle. White bone fragments even pierced through the flesh, exposed to the air!

His entire body looked as though it had been struck head-on by an ancient beast.

He shot backward like a cannonball, several times faster than he had come!

Boom!

The servants behind him had no time to react. Like bowling pins struck by a bowling ball, they were sent sprawling and rolling across the ground.

Luo Tian finally crashed heavily onto the street outside the inn, kicking up a cloud of dust. He lay there like a dead dog, twitching and wailing.

Dead silence.

The entire world seemed to have had its pause button pressed.

A pin drop could be heard.

The Luo Family servants stood there dumbfounded, as though they had seen a ghost, staring at their miserably injured young master outside.

Their minds had turned completely to mush.

What had happened?

What... had just happened?

Why had Young Master... sent himself flying?

And even broken his own arm?

The townspeople secretly watching from behind doors and windows were also gaping, their eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

Wh-what was this?

Was this an act?

Was he faking an injury?

Shopkeeper Liu and Liu Yan were even more petrified where they stood.

Liu Yan slowly opened her eyes. What she saw was not the bloody sight she had expected, but this bizarre and incomprehensible scene.

Her mind went blank.

Amid the deathly silence.

Han Yuchen acted as though he had been frightened by that "loud crash."

He patted his chest, then dusted off nonexistent dirt from himself with a look of "lingering fear."

Then he looked at Luo Tian, who was still screaming outside, his face showing just the right amount of "innocence" and "concern."

"Oh my, Young Master."

"Y-you... how could you be so careless?"

"Don't you watch where you're walking?"

"You're so strong that you can't even control yourself? That's far too dangerous."

Every word of that speech was like a red-hot branding iron, savagely searing Luo Tian's heart.

Pfft!

Luo Tian was furious and terrified. His anger surged to his heart, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

He struggled to raise his head and pointed at Han Yuchen with his intact hand. From the pain and fear, he could not even speak clearly.

"You... you... demon arts!"

"You used sorcery!"

Sorcery?

Han Yuchen sighed, shook his head, and wore an expression of sorrow for the world.

"Sigh, young people these days are far too impulsive."

"I'm just an ordinary spirit master."

As he spoke,

as if to prove his point, a spirit ring "accidentally" rose beneath his feet.

It was not yellow.

But rather...

a deep, heart-palpitating purple!

A Thousand-Year Soul Ring quietly rotated beneath his feet, carrying a vast, heavy aura.

That aura was released and withdrawn in an instant.

Yet it was like an invisible mountain, suddenly weighing down on everyone present!

Gasp—

Sharp intakes of breath rose one after another.

If Luo Tian's bizarre crushing defeat had left everyone utterly baffled,

then the purple Thousand-Year Soul Ring before them brought only pure shock and terror from the depths of their souls!

A child of six or seven...

His First Spirit Ring... was a thousand years?!

What kind of monster was this?!

Was this something a human could possibly do?!

Luo Tian and all the servants' eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

The color drained from their faces in an instant.

Fear surged like a tide, completely drowning all their anger and confusion.

They had kicked an iron plate.

No, they had fucking kicked a nuclear bomb wrapped in iron plates!

Liu Yan stood behind him, her mind shaken to its core, almost unable to breathe.

She had guessed that Han Yuchen was strong.

But she had never imagined, not even in her dreams, that he would be this absurdly powerful, this utterly unreasonable!

A thousand-year First Spirit Ring!

This completely overturned everything she knew about spirit masters!

Who... who exactly was he?!

"Quick! Go get my father!"

Luo Tian finally snapped out of his extreme terror. He knew that this matter had completely exceeded his ability to handle.

Enduring the agonizing pain of his severed arm, he used all his strength to roar at the servants beside him, who were still trembling.

"Go get my father! Only my father can deal with him!"

The servants felt as if they had been granted amnesty. They scrambled to their feet and fled toward the Luo Family estate in the center of town.

Han Yuchen did not stop them.

He did not even spare the fleeing servants a glance.

Instead, he leisurely dragged over a relatively intact chair from the side and sat down imposingly at the entrance of the inn.

Then he gave Liu Yan, who was still standing there in a daze, a faint smile.

"Miss Liu, brew me a pot of tea."

"The best kind."

"When his father gets here, we'll settle this all at once."

That calm composure.

That air of treating the Luo Family as though it were nothing.

It was as though he were not a passing traveler, but the true master of this town.