Compensation for Emotional Distress

Only one thought remained in Xiao Hongchen's mind.

I'm done for.

There's no escaping this beating today.

Everything had gone smoothly for him since childhood. He was a genius everyone had placed on a pedestal, and no one had ever crushed him like this.

The feeling was so unfamiliar that it chilled his hands and feet.

"Heh."

Xu Tianyuan rested the divine axe on his shoulder and looked down at him.

His expression was utterly arrogant, nothing like the grinning wastrel who had asked for directions earlier.

"Metal manipulation. Your Martial Soul certainly deserves to be called top-tier."

"Given time, you're bound to amount to something."

"But..."

"No matter how hard the metal, it has only one possible end before the sun: molten iron."

Xu Tianyuan raised the Divine Axe Rhitta high.

Dazzling golden light burst from the axe, and scorching heat swept in every direction.

The surrounding flowers, grass, and trees rapidly lost their moisture in the heat wave. Leaves curled and branches blackened. Within a few breaths, they had all withered, then turned to ash and scattered on the wind.

"This is bad!"

Feeling the temperature rise rapidly, Xiao Hongchen's hair stood on end. He hurriedly manipulated metal into a suit of armor around himself, trying to keep out the heat.

The metal he used was called black ice iron.

It came from deep within the Far North, remained at minus five hundred degrees year-round, and possessed properties that specifically countered flames.

Even the finest furnace would need at least a full day and night to melt black ice iron completely.

Xiao Hongchen simply refused to believe it.

Whatever this bullshit sun was, it couldn't possibly do anything to my armor.

Protected by the black ice iron, he even felt pleasantly cool.

Xu Tianyuan watched him, the corners of his mouth lifting into an icy curve.

"Xiao Hongchen, your courage looks like stupidity."

"You're nothing but a mantis raising its arms against a chariot."

"Ants are ants because they can never comprehend the gulf in strength."

"Just like you now, deluding yourself that this armor can stand against the sun."

The moment he finished speaking, the Divine Axe Rhitta in his hand blazed with light once more.

The golden radiance lit their surroundings as brightly as day, and the temperature soared.

The halo around the axe grew ever more brilliant.

It was as though a miniature sun was taking shape at its blade.

"This is the second move."

Xu Tianyuan's voice bore down from above, steeped in unquestionable arrogance. "I suggest you kneel and surrender immediately. Otherwise, you might lose all confidence."

His arm muscles bulged, veins rising one by one and coiling around his arms.

The Divine Axe Rhitta shone with boundless radiance, the sharpness gathering along its blade dazzling to behold.

Hah!

Hah!

Hah!

Xiao Hongchen gasped for breath, his chest heaving violently.

Under that incomparable pressure, he was consumed by regret.

Why did I say I'd give him three free moves?

Three free moves hadn't bought me dignity. They'd bought me a grave.

Fear continued to spread, and his courage ebbed away bit by bit.

Yet the stubbornness in his bones simply would not let him say the words "I surrender."

He was Xiao Hongchen.

He was the academy's greatest genius.

How could he surrender to a piece of trash?

"Still too stubborn to see reason."

Once Xu Tianyuan activated muscle mode, his patience had long since vanished.

He immediately poured solar energy into the Divine Axe Rhitta and brought it down viciously toward Xiao Hongchen.

"Dust Slash."

All the solar energy he had just poured into the Divine Axe Rhitta erupted at that moment.

Boom!

A wave of heat swept toward Xiao Hongchen.

The black ice iron armor on his body melted into molten iron almost instantly.

Molten iron flowed down his body, its searing heat scorching his skin.

"Aah!"

Xiao Hongchen screamed.

His scream was partly from the molten iron burning him, but even more of it came from fear.

Deep down, he knew he could not withstand this axe strike.

Even the slightest touch of its blade would instantly tear his entire body apart.

Terrified, Xiao Hongchen fell onto his backside, curled up with his arms over his head, and trembled all over.

He closed his eyes and waited for the agony to come.

Yet after waiting a while, he realized he seemed to be completely unharmed.

Puzzled, he opened his eyes and looked up.

Only then did he discover the axe right before his eyes.

Its blade was a mere hair's breadth from the tip of his nose.

A wisp of hot air washed over his face, scorching him so badly that he dared not move.

"Now, do you understand the fact that you are an ant?"

Xu Tianyuan asked from above.

He could do little about this himself.

Xiao Hongchen was no ordinary person. He was Jing Hongchen's own grandson.

If he actually killed him now, Jing Hongchen would probably go mad, and Xu Tianyuan would no longer be able to stay at the academy.

Killing him offered little gain and great risk. It wasn't worth it.

"I..."

Fear still lingered in Xiao Hongchen's eyes, and his teeth chattered.

"Xu Tianyuan..."

Before he could finish, Xu Tianyuan kicked him flying.

Bang!

Xiao Hongchen slammed into the perimeter wall, then slid to the ground with a muffled groan.

"From now on, remember to address me as Lord Xu Tianyuan."

"Do you understand?"

Xiao Hongchen felt as though his bones were about to break.

He braced himself and climbed up from the ground, staring at the muscle-bound Xu Tianyuan nearby.

His pride remained, but he no longer dared utter even a single word of protest.

"Lord Xu Tianyuan!"

He cried out in utter humiliation.

As he forced those words from his mouth, he felt his face burning.

Not from the molten iron, but from shame, resentment, and fury.

He was Xiao Hongchen.

He had grown up adored by everyone, surrounded like the moon amid a multitude of stars wherever he went. When had he ever bowed his head to anyone?

Today, not only had he bowed his head, he had even called someone "Lord."

And he didn't dare refuse.

Because if that axe had truly fallen just now, he would already have been in two pieces.

"At least you know what's good for you."

Hearing that, Xu Tianyuan finally nodded in satisfaction.

Then he spoke in an exceedingly arrogant tone.

"Once an enemy falls by my hand, I never consider him a rival again."

"I only give him time to catch up, until I stand forever beyond his reach."

With those words, Xu Tianyuan also deactivated muscle mode.

His muscles rapidly shrank, his height dropped, and his physique returned to normal.

He became a handsome, bare-chested young man once again.

Don't ask why his bulging muscles hadn't torn his trousers apart.

The answer was that they were the Hulk's trousers. Their quality was impeccable.

"Oh, right."

With the axe on his shoulder, Xu Tianyuan strode up to Xiao Hongchen and held out his right hand.

"You told me to get lost out of nowhere today, and that really pissed me off."

"So, there's nothing wrong with me asking for a little compensation for emotional distress, is there?"

Xiao Hongchen looked utterly bewildered.

The molten iron on him was scalding, and his skin was nearly cooked, yet he seemed not to notice.

He merely slipped off a ring by instinct and slowly handed it to Xu Tianyuan.

"Oh, come on, how could I possibly accept this? It's too much."

Xu Tianyuan snatched the ring and sent his spiritual power inside for a quick look.

Once he confirmed that tens of thousands of Gold Soul Coins lay within, his face broke into a grin.

At that moment, however, Xiao Hongchen felt as though his world had collapsed.

He couldn't understand.

How could one person have two faces?

One moment, he was arrogant, his words outrageously overbearing.

The next, he had turned into a flippant scoundrel, smiling as he snatched Xiao Hongchen's ring.

That contrast was even more absurd than black ice iron melting.