Martial Artist

"What do you mean, pick it back up? You never got good at it in the first place."

In high spirits, Li Yunyao deliberately started bickering with him.

"Heh, you wouldn't understand. You forgot that for a while after I started practicing martial arts, I often came home very late."

Li Pin said.

"Hm?"

Li Yunyao paused, somewhat surprised. "You really were practicing martial arts back then? Why didn't I know?"

"You were just a little yellow-haired girl back then. What would have been the point of telling you?"

Li Pin said calmly. "Do I look like the kind of person who'd publicize the fact that I practiced peerless martial arts until everyone knew?"

Li Yunyao's eyes widened at once.

Her brother...

Had really started practicing martial arts that early?

Of course not.

Back then, he had become obsessed with going up the mountain to catch golden beetles.

Li Pin was merely laying the groundwork for his upcoming rapid improvement.

Reaching Hua Jin after several years of martial arts practice and reaching Hua Jin after a few months of practice were clearly two very different things.

"Look."

Li Pin took out his phone and directly sent her a screenshot of his Level 2 Martial Artist certificate.

He did not have a habit of taking photos to show off.

He had stolen this picture from Fang Yubai's social media feed.

"Holy... wow!"

Li Yunyao nearly revealed her true colors.

But she swiftly shifted into the cute shrieking pose unique to young girls and turned to Lin Xiaolu. "Xiaolu, Xiaolu, look! A Level 2 Martial Artist certificate."

"Mhm, mhm, mhm."

"Look at this—who is this devastatingly handsome guy? With a face this handsome, he ought to be filming... It simply shouldn't be something an ordinary mortal could possess... Ah, it's my brother. Then it's fine."

"Mhm, mhm."

Lin Xiaolu immediately turned into a merciless nodding machine.

She secretly glanced at Li Pin.

Her face reddened slightly.

The three soon reached the top floor of Starlight Center.

However, when they wanted to visit the artificial starry sky on the rooftop, they discovered that the area had been cordoned off.

More than a dozen security guards were maintaining order.

Quite a few teenage boys and girls were also shouting excitedly, "An Youran! It's An Youran!"

"An Youran is the big star who came out of our Canglong City—my idol!"

"I heard she's starring as the female lead in the second season of the latest historical drama, The King's Woman? I'm so excited. I'll definitely binge it like crazy."

"I saw her! I saw Youran! Wow, she's absolutely incredible!"

Amid the cries, security personnel stepped forward and waved at Li Pin's group, as well as the other visitors who had come up in the elevator with them. "The rooftop is temporarily closed to the public at this time. Please leave first..."

"Brother, let's go. The scenery here is only so-so anyway."

Li Yunyao said.

Because of An Wanyi, she had come to hate the house along with its crows and had no favorable impression of An Youran either.

"What's so good-looking about her? Isn't it all just makeup, beauty filters, and camera filters propping her up? She's not even as pretty as my... as my Xiaolu."

"No, no..."

Lin Xiaolu hurriedly waved her hands.

Li Pin glanced at Lin Xiaolu.

She was fairly pretty, but could only be considered a cute little beauty.

At most, her delicate, pitiful aura added a few points. In terms of looks alone, let alone compared to An Youran, she was even a notch below An Wanyi.

"It's fine. Let's walk around Starlight Center and come back up later."

Li Pin said.

"No need. This heroine remembers today's grievance. One day, I'll make every light in Starlight Center shine with my name. Then, Xiaolu, you can look at it however you want."

Li Yunyao huffed.

"I... wasn't I dragged here by you?"

Lin Xiaolu offered a small protest.

"Oh? Look who I found."

At that moment, an ill-timed voice suddenly came from the side.

Immediately afterward, more than a dozen young men and women emerged from a nearby elevator.

The one speaking was none other than Jing Yunshan, the vice president of Hanyang University's student union.

Among those dozen or so young men and women, aside from his two lackeys, Li Pin also saw the culprit behind the public-opinion storm two months ago—An Wanyi.

As Li Pin looked at An Wanyi, the talented woman also turned her gaze toward him.

When she saw that he no longer seemed as dispirited as he had two months ago, but had become brighter and more energetic, she appeared somewhat surprised.

Then her surprise turned into a sneer.

There was even a touch of smugness in that smile.

Seeing these people, Li Yunyao also recognized An Wanyi and immediately connected the dots. The smile vanished from her face as she hurriedly said, "Brother, let's go."

"Go? Why are you in such a hurry to leave?"

Jing Yunshan deliberately raised his voice, drawing the attention of the surrounding crowd. "Is it because you're afraid people will find out about your scumbag, trash behavior..."

Whoosh!

Before he could finish, Li Pin moved.

Without so much as a running start or a leap, he sprang forward like an agile cheetah pouncing on its prey. In a single rise and fall, he crossed the five or six meters between them. Before Jing Yunshan could react, his right hand shot out like lightning and clamped around Jing Yunshan's throat, cutting off the rest of his words.

The force in his right arm then burst forth. Riding the momentum, he lifted Jing Yunshan bodily into the air and smashed him viciously down at the ground...

Jing Yunshan was still dazed.

The next instant, excruciating pain and a dizzying sense of heaven and earth spinning erupted from the right side of his face, flooding his brain before spreading to every corner of his body.

Yet in everyone else's eyes, they only saw Li Pin explode into motion, seize Jing Yunshan's seventy-plus-kilogram body, and slam him heavily into the floor.

Bang!

A dull shockwave spread out, accompanied by a sound that made anyone who heard it feel pain in their face and teeth.

Jing Yunshan, dizzy and disoriented, had half his face reduced to a bloody mess. Blood mixed with shattered teeth spilled from his mouth and stained the floor red.

Li Pin released him and slowly stood up.

"I remember telling you that talking nonsense makes it very easy to get slapped in the face."

Only then did Jing Yunshan's delayed pain receptors finally make him let out a shrill scream. His body twisted and struggled on the floor.

"Ahhh!"

The scream pierced the air, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

The dozen or so young men and women traveling with him stared at Li Pin in utter disbelief, horrified beyond measure.

One of them, whether from anger or fright, pointed at him with a trembling hand. "Li Pin... you... you actually dared to hit someone... Do you know who he..."

"Who gave you the courage to insult an official martial artist for no reason?"

Li Pin said slowly.

The two security guards who had come over after hearing the screams unconsciously slowed their steps upon hearing his words.

They looked Li Pin up and down.

A martial artist?

Judging by this young man's bearing...

He really did look like one.

Li Pin glanced at An Wanyi, whose face had gone pale amid the Hanyang University crowd.

Considering that Li Yunyao and Lin Xiaolu were present, and that as their older brother he should not set them a bad example, he immediately turned around and said to the two of them, "Let's go."

He remembered the details of the martial artist certification exam he had just taken very clearly.

According to the law, if civilians took the initiative to provoke a martial artist, even if it was only verbal abuse, the martial artist still had the right to subdue them.

If the target was injured during the process of subduing them...

A minor injury.

The fine would probably be around five hundred.

Seeing Li Pin about to leave, the two security guards had no choice but to step forward. "Little brother..."

"Sorry for dirtying the floor. How much is the cleaning fee? I'll pay it."

Li Pin said calmly. "As for why I acted, they insulted me first. You two can check the surveillance footage and see for yourselves. If you have any other questions, you can come directly to Changfeng Martial Hall to find me."