Lost, Call Me Daddy

"Bro, I think they're talking about you."

Chen Xing set down his teacup.

"Let them talk. Their mouths are their own. You can't control them."

Tang Wulin wanted to say more, but when he saw how calm Chen Xing looked, he swallowed his words.

A little while later, a disciple came over from the Martial Arts Arena.

He looked about twenty-five or twenty-six, with a powerful build and arms a size larger than most people's.

He stopped beside the stone table and glanced at Tang Wulin, then at Chen Xing.

"You're the students Master just took in?"

Tang Wulin stood up.

"Hello, senior brother. I'm Tang Wulin."

The disciple nodded, then looked at Chen Xing. "And you?"

"Chen Xing."

"Oh? So you're Chen Xing? I heard you have no Soul Power."

Chen Xing looked up at him. "That's right."

The disciple smiled, plainly unimpressed.

"Then what did you come to the Body Sect to learn? We train Body Martial Souls here. Without Soul Power, you can't train at all."

Tang Wulin bristled at that.

"My brother might not have Soul Power, but he has other abilities!"

"Other abilities?"

The disciple raised an eyebrow.

"Like what?"

Tang Wulin opened his mouth, but he had no idea how to explain.

He couldn't exactly say, "My brother can create a Mecha out of thin air," could he?

The disciple probably wouldn't believe him anyway.

Chen Xing stood up.

He walked over to the disciple and spoke without hurry.

"I noticed something."

The disciple frowned. "What?"

"Your shoulder moves before your waist when you throw a punch."

Chen Xing's voice remained calm.

"You've got the order wrong. If you move your waist first, then drive through your shoulder, your punch will be at least twenty percent stronger."

The disciple's expression stiffened.

Several nearby disciples stopped what they were doing and looked over.

A little kid with Zero Soul Power was teaching a Body Sect disciple how to punch?

What a joke.

The disciple's face darkened.

"What do you know? You don't even have Soul Power."

Chen Xing didn't argue.

He merely said, "It's just a suggestion. Take it or leave it."

The disciple snorted and turned away.

But Chen Xing noticed that after a couple of steps, the disciple instinctively rolled his right shoulder.

Clearly, he had taken the advice to heart.

Tang Wulin leaned in and whispered, "Bro, were you serious just now?"

Chen Xing nodded. "I was."

"It could really make his punch twenty percent stronger?"

"In theory. With an Exoskeleton Assist Joint, it could go another thirty percent higher."

Tang Wulin blinked.

"An Exoskeleton Assist Joint? What's that?"

Chen Xing was about to explain when a derisive laugh came from beside them.

The disciple from earlier had returned at some point. He had clearly heard Chen Xing.

"An exoskeleton?"

He laughed.

"That's something Mecha Engineers play with. The Body Sect relies on flesh and blood, not hunks of metal."

Another disciple chimed in.

"Exactly. Master uses Mechas too, but he's the sect master. For disciples like us, training our bodies is the proper path."

Chen Xing glanced at him without speaking.

Taking his silence for defeat, the disciple's grin widened.

But Chen Xing simply picked up his teacup and took another sip.

Then he set it down and said something that silenced everyone.

"What if I told you I could beat any one of you here with a Yellow-Class Mecha?"

The entire courtyard went quiet.

Every disciple stopped what they were doing.

Even A Ruheng turned his head.

The silence lasted about three seconds.

Then the whole courtyard burst into laughter.

"Hahahahaha!"

"Did I hear that right? A kid with Zero Soul Power says he'll beat us with a Mecha?"

"A Yellow-Class Mecha? Do you even know what level that corresponds to?"

"Soul Ancestor! A Yellow-Class Mecha tops out at Soul Ancestor level!"

"Even the weakest disciple here is a Soul King. How's he supposed to win?"

"This is killing me. Is that kid still half asleep?"

Chen Xing stood where he was, listening to the laughter without a change in expression.

Tang Wulin grew anxious and sprang up to argue, but Chen Xing held him back by the shoulder.

"Bro..."

"Don't worry."

Chen Xing's voice was calm.

As the laughter died down, the disciple from earlier wiped tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes and stepped forward.

"Fine."

Arms folded, he looked down at Chen Xing. "I'll fight you myself. If you lose, hand over that Token and get out of the Body Sect."

Chen Xing glanced down at the black Token at his waist, engraved with the words "Body Sect."

"And if I win?"

The disciple cocked his head. "What do you want?"

Chen Xing raised his head and swept his gaze across the disciples. "If I win, every last one of you has to call me Big Daddy."

The disciple froze for a moment, as if he'd heard a joke.

"Grandpa? Hahaha..."

"Deal!"

The other disciples started jeering again.

"Senior Brother Wang, take him out in one move!"

"Show him what the Body Sect can do!"

"He has Zero Soul Power and still dares to come here and make trouble. He has no idea what he's getting into!"

The disciple they called Senior Brother Wang walked to the center of the Martial Arts Arena and rolled his shoulders.

A faint red glow spread over his right arm.

A Body Martial Soul.

His right arm.

Chen Xing called out silently.

Pam Pam, analyze his Soul Power Level.

Scanning, Pam... Target's Soul Power Level: fifty, Pam.

Level fifty.

A Soul King.

Chen Xing knew what he was dealing with.

Standing in the center of the Martial Arts Arena, Senior Brother Wang crooked a finger at Chen Xing.

"Come on. Let's see how powerful your Yellow-Class Mecha is."

Chen Xing didn't move right away.

He went to the stone table, took a blank sheet of drawing paper from his Storage Ring, and spread it out.

The disciples all stared.

"What's he doing?"

"What's the paper for?"

Senior Brother Wang frowned.

"What are you waiting for?"

Chen Xing didn't answer.

He summoned the World-Painting Brush.

The instant its tip touched the paper, the courtyard fell silent again.

Every disciple's gaze fixed on the sheet.

Senior Brother Wang stood in the center of the Martial Arts Arena with his arms crossed, impatience written across his face.

"Are you done drawing yet?"

Chen Xing didn't answer.

He kept drawing.

About three minutes later, he finally put down the brush.

Then he looked up at Senior Brother Wang.

"I'm done."

Senior Brother Wang scoffed.

"Then bring it out. Stop wasting time."

Chen Xing took a deep breath and channeled his Wish Power.

Golden light erupted from the paper.

The next second, a dull thud rang out.

A Yellow-Class Mecha over four meters tall appeared out of thin air in the center of the Martial Arts Arena.

Every trace of laughter vanished at once.

The courtyard went so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.

Every disciple stood with his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide.

"Holy shit..."