The Air of a Master

Originally, the matter could have ended here. Cui Jianhao had successfully picked up a girl, classmate Kai had established his dominance, and Pei Shao and the other students had watched a splendid show without suffering so much as a scratch. Apart from Eastern Martial Arts Hall's reputation taking a heavy hit, it could be said that everyone was happy.

To be honest, Cui Jianhao having money to chase girls had nothing to do with Pei Shao. Pei Shao was not bored enough to go running to Dongfang Yinyin to snitch. Whether Dongfang Yinyin would believe him was beside the point; if he did that, he would first be confirming the label of "despicable schemer" for himself.

The fewer problems, the better—this was the philosophy of life Pei Shao had come to understand over the past twenty years. Dongfang Yinyin might be lovely, but only those fated for her could have her. Pei Shao was not arrogant enough to think that every beautiful woman in the world had to wait for him alone to pursue her.

But just as Pei Shao thought the matter was bound to draw to a close, and that Lord Kai, having completed his assigned task, should be calling it a day, another unexpected development occurred.

Cui Jianhao, who had been helped aside by A Zheng and Zhang Huaiyuan, suddenly stopped. Turning back, he tossed out a remark to Pei Shao in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "I remember Mr. Pei was supposedly a master of boxing. You looked quite impressive when you faced Yinyin back then. Could it be that you're scared now?"

The words Cui Jianhao spoke in front of everyone were truly grating. He had practically pointed at Pei Shao's nose and said: You only know how to bully women. When you meet a man, you turn into a coward.

With that one remark, combined with Cui Jianhao's earlier "fearless bravery" and "spirit of sacrifice," as well as A Zheng and Zhang Huaiyuan deliberately stirring things up, everyone looked at Pei Shao with disdain. Dongfang Yinyin bit her lip as well, her gaze toward Pei Shao becoming extremely complicated.

With all those gazes falling on him, Pei Shao, who had never seen much of the world, only felt his face burn. But Cui Jianhao's provocation had not clouded his reason yet. He knew very well that Cui Jianhao had gone up there and merely spat out some fake blood. If he went up, he might very well end up with broken arms and legs.

No, wait! Why had A Zheng and Zhang Huaiyuan tolerated Cui Jianhao putting on a one-man hero-saves-the-beauty act earlier? The three of them had clearly plotted this together, so why would they give Cui Jianhao the chance to show off in front of Dongfang Yinyin?

At that thought, Pei Shao suddenly saw the light. So their display of heroism before Dongfang Yinyin had only been secondary—their real target was him! Those guys had laid down so much groundwork just to force him into facing that thug one-on-one!

Pei Shao understood everything clearly, so he became even more expressionless. No matter what sort of looks everyone gave him, he had made up his mind not to stick his neck out. But while Pei Shao could bring himself to play the coward, Castle, that proud Silicon-based Person, was unwilling to accept it.

"Pei, why not go teach that guy a lesson? With my assistance, you have at least a 76.5% chance of winning." Castle's tone had not changed, but Pei Shao could clearly hear the resentment in it.

"I don't want to go." Taking advantage of everyone's disappointment, Pei Shao replied sullenly to Castle. "Last time, I relied on you to find a job, and I relied on you again to beat Dongfang Yinyin. If I rely on you once more to beat this guy, even I'll look down on myself. If I'm going to fight, I'll do it myself."

"What foolish reasoning!" Castle retorted unhappily. "When you possess an advantage, you refuse to make full use of it. Instead, you want to use your weakness against your opponent's strength. To put it in carbon-based terms, is something wrong with your brain? Do not be influenced by the words of weaklings. That is their jealousy. They do not possess the advantages of the strong, so in order to make the strong abandon their advantages, they say such idiotic things as not relying on external objects. Humans surpass other animals because they know how to use tools and exploit everything that can be exploited. If everything is supposed to be solved by yourselves, then why do you make guns and cannons?"

"Anyway... I don't want to do it, so I won't!" Unable to out-argue Castle, Pei Shao simply turned stubborn and stopped trying to reason.

Pei Shao's refusal to move for such a long time greatly disappointed Cui Jianhao and the other two. Originally, they had indeed planned to have Kai break one or two of Pei Shao's arms or legs and properly teach this poor kid who had suddenly appeared a lesson. But now, Pei Shao would rather play the coward in front of a beautiful woman than take the bait, leaving them with no options.

Yet Pei Shao's indifferent manner somehow made Dongfang Yinyin angry. Deep down, she had always believed Pei Shao could defeat Kai; he simply refused to help her. Somehow, the girl found the courage and actually shouted at Pei Shao, "Fine! I don't need you! I'll go myself!"

When Hall Master Dongfang saw his own daughter about to fight that monster named Kai, panic seized him. With an "Urgh," he spat out a large mouthful of blood. His breathing became weak, and his face instantly turned as pale as a corpse's. Cui Jianhao and the other two quickly grabbed Dongfang Yinyin, but their three pairs of eyes glanced at Pei Shao with amusement.

"Stupid woman!" Pei Shao and Castle muttered almost simultaneously. Pei Shao felt utterly helpless. He was still living at Dongfang Yinyin's martial arts hall. If things had reached this point and he still did nothing, he really would be too ashamed to keep staying there.

But even knowing this was someone else's scheme, Pei Shao was unwilling to jump into it like an idiot. Especially when Dongfang Yinyin, who had clearly been used as a weapon without realizing it, kept glaring at him with all her might—it made Pei Shao's anger flare even more.

"Save your fake concern!" Just as Pei Shao was preparing to resign himself to going out there, Dongfang Yinyin's furious shout, like a dog biting Lü Dongbin, made the corners of Pei Shao's mouth twitch several times.

Pei Shao slowly turned around and stared at Dongfang Yinyin for a long while. At last, he calmly said, "Fine! Since you've put it that way, I won't show any 'fake' concern. Didn't you want to fight him? Go on! You go!" As he spoke, Pei Shao reached out and yanked Dongfang Yinyin over.

Dongfang Yinyin had not expected Pei Shao to do that at all. She foolishly let him spin her around until she faced Dongfang Lie.

"Look carefully! That's your father! He just spat blood. It's fine—he has plenty of blood anyway. If you want him to spit out a few more mouthfuls, go right ahead! No one's stopping you." As Pei Shao spoke, he let go and gave Dongfang Yinyin another push.

After Pei Shao shoved her around a few times, Dongfang Yinyin saw her father's deathly pale face and the faint white hairs at his temples. Her tears nearly fell.

"Are you people done yet?" After waiting for so long, Kai was beginning to get impatient.

"I... I..." Dongfang Yinyin pouted miserably, twisting her hands together.

Pei Shao had not expected that Dongfang Yinyin, such a strong and capable woman, could look so adorably aggrieved, like a schoolgirl still in class. It was quite pleasing to the eye.

"Hmph! You were used as a weapon and didn't even realize it. And you call yourself some kind of heroine..." Seeing Dongfang Yinyin obediently lower her head and admit her mistake, Pei Shao could not help grumbling a few words. He slowly took a breath, preparing to give the girl a hand. He did not want to play the villain in front of so many martial arts hall students, and besides, Dongfang Yinyin was close friends with his boss.

But Pei Shao had not expected Dongfang Yinyin to be stunned for a moment after hearing him, then speak before he could.

Of course, Dongfang Yinyin was not stupid. It was simply that Cui Jianhao's performance had been far too shocking and novel, so she had not noticed in the moment. Once Pei Shao said that, she almost immediately recalled A Zheng and Zhang Huaiyuan's behavior before and after, reaching the same conclusion as Pei Shao: those three had definitely colluded to make Pei Shao suffer. How laughable—she had been used as a weapon and had even thought they were good people.

"Pei Shao, I know I was wrong." Dongfang Yinyin apologized to Pei Shao in a voice only the two of them could hear. Her voice was soft and delicate, like tiny arrows shooting straight into the most ticklish part of Pei Shao's heart.

"Ahem!" Pei Shao coughed and hurriedly put on a solemn expression, afraid that the "seduction of her voice" would make him embarrass himself. He had never imagined Dongfang Yinyin could make a voice so seductive it reached the bone!

"Please help me one more time." Dongfang Yinyin nudged Pei Shao's arm, but Pei Shao, whose head had been filled with that "demonic voice," did not react at all.

Dongfang Yinyin thought Pei Shao was still angry. She looked at her father's ashen face, then suddenly bit her lip and spoke to Pei Shao in an even softer voice. "If... if you can really help our martial arts hall through this crisis, then... then... then..." She said "then" three times in a row before finally seeming to make up her mind. "Then after this is over, as long as your request isn't too excessive, I can agree to anything! And I'll sincerely learn martial arts from you!"

The moment she finished speaking, Pei Shao nearly collapsed on the spot. The phrase, "I can agree to anything," was simply too irresistible to any man. Pei Shao could not help shouting in his heart: Oh my god! Does this girl even know what she's saying?!

"O-okay. I'll help you once! But I won't go up and fight myself." Gritting his teeth, Pei Shao agreed.

Though he did not want to keep relying on Castle's help, he could not swallow it if Cui Jianhao and the other two got to play him like this.

"Great!" Hearing this, Dongfang Yinyin not only did not get angry, but smiled in delighted surprise. She understood what Pei Shao meant. It seemed he intended to teach her martial arts.

Three seconds later, Pei Shao raised his head again, walked over to Kai, and asked in an indifferent tone, "Do you think your 750-pound Muay Thai punch is really that strong?"

That precise figure of "750 pounds" gave Kai a slight shock. "Y-you... how did you know?"

Seeing that the tactic worked, Pei Shao immediately pressed the advantage, putting on an even more unconcerned air as he said loudly, "You can tell from the speed of your punch and the force of the wind it produced. It's easy!"

"What?" Everyone present gaped. One could judge the weight behind a punch just from the wind it created and its speed? Other than having exceptionally rich combat experience, they could think of no other explanation! Could Pei Shao truly have received professional combat training since the age of five? That was too incredible, too fortunate! Our martial arts hall is saved! Everyone cheered inwardly.

Dongfang Yinyin's eyes lit up, and all her previous unhappiness vanished.

Kai, however, was not so easily fooled. "I don't believe you!" With that, he suddenly threw an elbow strike through the air and asked, "How many pounds was that?" He knew the figure from training—it should have been around 1,026 pounds. An elbow was stronger than a fist, and in Muay Thai, the elbow was the most lethal weapon. That single strike alone could crack Dongfang Yinyin's father's breastbone.

Pei Shao deliberately put on a show of thinking, though inwardly he found it hilarious. Kai could throw that strike ten times, a hundred times, and with Castle's assistance, Pei Shao could still easily give an extremely accurate number.

"1,026.58 pounds!" Pei Shao gave an answer even more precise than the one Kai had measured in training.

"What? That's impossible, this..." Kai was forced back several steps by Pei Shao's confident bearing. Though they had not exchanged blows, such sharp judgment could not be achieved without at least ten years of Muay Thai training. In an expert's eyes, that observation alone was enough to prove that the young Pei Shao was absolutely a martial arts genius! Kai was rapidly becoming convinced of it. What he did not know was that while Pei Shao looked calm on the outside, he was not much less nervous inside. But this was a psychological battle. Other than Castle, no one could possibly know what Pei Shao was thinking at that moment.

Kai's expression finally changed somewhat. "Who exactly are you? Which master are you trained under? Why have I never heard your name before?"

The moment those words came out, Cui Jianhao and the others' faces became incomparably ugly as well. Could it be that even Kai was afraid?