After venting their anger, the other four finally calmed down. Looking at the silent, motionless Zhao Tao, they panicked. One of them turned deathly pale and slumped onto the ground.
His Adam's apple bobbed. "We're done for. We killed someone."
The others also felt as though the sky had collapsed. Murder was a grave crime, one they would have to pay for with their lives.
One of them came to his senses and tried to close the door, only to discover Wang Wu, Meng Lin, and their two roommates watching them with keen interest.
His body trembled. Someone had witnessed the entire assault; there was no covering it up now.
The other three looked equally grim. They could already see the cold blade hanging over their heads, ready to fall at any moment.
Wang Wu narrowed his eyes, then shifted his gaze to Meng Lin and blinked. "Meng Lin, who would've thought everyone in this dorm would run away?"
Meng Lin froze for a moment before catching on. "Maybe they felt they had no hope of reaching the entry level of Iron Cloth Shirt. Staying here would be pointless. Better to go home early and farm."
The two played off each other, then left with their other two roommates.
The four exchanged looks, but quickly realized this was their last chance to escape.
"Clean this place up, then wrap Zhao Tao's body in a quilt and take it away. Make it look like we all left together," one of them said heavily.
At the slope, Li Feng rolled down once again. Halfway down, he suddenly felt tremendous strength surge through his body, and the pain from his torn wounds diminished sharply.
His eyes shone, shooting out two gleams of light.
"I've finally reached minor mastery!" he murmured, his voice full of excitement.
He glanced at Lin Fan, who was getting up below, and a savage smile curled his lips.
He rolled to the bottom of the slope and sprang to his feet with a kip-up, staring at Lin Fan like a cat toying with a mouse.
Noticing his movements, how could Lin Fan fail to guess that he had reached minor mastery?
Li Feng walked toward Lin Fan, his whole body radiating an oppressive presence. "Lin Fan, I've reached minor mastery."
The scene he had imagined, with Lin Fan's expression changing drastically and him trembling in constant fear, never appeared. Lin Fan remained perfectly calm, as though Li Feng had merely said he had just farted.
Li Feng's face darkened. "Lin Fan, I hope you can stay this calm when I shatter every bone in your body." His voice was chilling.
"Aren't you afraid the martial arts school will hold you accountable?" Lin Fan asked indifferently.
"Heh..." Li Feng gave a contemptuous laugh. "Given how highly the instructor values me, he'll turn a blind eye if I cripple a mere human training dummy candidate."
He clenched his fists, making a series of cracks, and advanced right up to Lin Fan.
Yet Lin Fan remained calm, making his anger blaze. An ant actually dared not to fear a divine dragon like him!
"Die!"
With a low roar, he swung a fist at Lin Fan's face. He could already picture blood spraying from Lin Fan's nose.
Lin Fan punched as well, meeting Li Feng's attack fist to fist.
Li Feng sneered. With his greatly increased strength, he was confident he could smash Lin Fan's fist with a single punch.
But when their fists collided, his expression changed drastically. A tremendous force, no weaker than his own, surged from Lin Fan's fist. A sharp pain shot through his fist, as though he had struck steel.
His eyes filled with disbelief. "How can you be this strong?" His voice brimmed with shock.
"Heh..." Lin Fan chuckled. "Unfortunately for you, my Iron Cloth Shirt just reached minor mastery too."
"Impossible!"
Li Feng growled and threw another punch at Lin Fan, only for Lin Fan to block it again.
Defending without attacking was not Lin Fan's style. His fist swung toward Li Feng's face as well.
The two clashed repeatedly, evenly matched, neither able to get the better of the other.
No matter how unbelievable Li Feng found it, he had no choice but to accept that Lin Fan had reached minor mastery in Iron Cloth Shirt.
Thud! Thud!
Their fists landed on each other's chests. Both wore pained expressions as they fell back.
Once again, Li Feng looked as miserable as though his father had died. He had thought he could crush Lin Fan tonight as easily as stepping on an ant, never expecting this outcome.
Naturally, Lin Fan was only pretending to be in pain. His Iron Cloth Shirt was already nearing major mastery, and he could deal with Li Feng in minutes if he wanted to, but now was not the time to reveal it.
"Well? Want to keep going? I'm ready whenever you are," he said mockingly.
Li Feng gritted his teeth and stared coldly at Lin Fan. "Lin Fan, you won't always be this lucky. Once my Iron Cloth Shirt reaches major mastery, I'll make you wish you were dead!"
Leaving that threat behind, he turned and headed toward the slope. Since he could do nothing to Lin Fan, he did not want to waste time.
By the time you reach major mastery, my Iron Cloth Shirt might already be at perfection, Lin Fan thought, likewise continuing his training.
Once the medicinal effects were exhausted, Lin Fan left. He looked at the Fate Panel; his Iron Cloth Shirt had made considerable progress.
Iron Cloth Shirt: major mastery (620/900)
Barring any surprises, he would reach major mastery tomorrow night. His defense would increase greatly, and his strength would rise by another 300 jin. Shattering stone with a single punch would be no trouble; he would become superhuman. At the thought, his heart burned with eagerness, and he wished he could reach major mastery on the spot.
Back in the rear courtyard, Lin Fan noticed that the door to Li Feng's dorm stood open. By the moonlight, he could see that it was empty inside, with even the bedding gone.
"What happened?" Lin Fan said in surprise.
He returned to his dorm and found that Wang Wu and the others were still awake, sitting together and whispering. Jiang Tong was absent.
Seeing Lin Fan return, Wang Wu hurriedly pulled him over to sit down, while Meng Lin shut the dorm door.
"What's going on? Why all the secrecy?" Lin Fan asked in confusion.
Wang Wu leaned close to Lin Fan's ear and lowered his voice. "Those four guys next door beat Zhao Tao to death."
Lin Fan was startled. He had considered that things might escalate, but had not expected someone to die.
"What about those four? Did the people from the martial arts school take them away?" Lin Fan pressed.
Wang Wu shook his head. "No. The four of them wrapped Zhao Tao up and took him away, making it look like they all left together. The school probably won't investigate closely, and we don't intend to report them either."
Lin Fan nodded. Once the shock passed, he felt Zhao Tao had deserved it. He had no strength, yet still kept jumping about and stirring up trouble. If he didn't die, who would?
As for the other four, Lin Fan shook his head. They would probably have to live in constant fear from now on.
Lin Fan felt no pity for them. When they chose to follow Li Feng and help a tyrant commit his atrocities, they had earned this outcome.
After Lin Fan returned from washing, he happened to see Li Feng coming out of his dorm with a gloomy expression.
"Oh, isn't this Boss Li? Looks like all your lackeys ran off. From now on, you'll be a boss with no one to boss around," Lin Fan teased.
"Hmph!" Li Feng snorted. "Just five pieces of trash. They weren't even qualified to be my dogs. So what if they left?" With that, he walked past Lin Fan.
Lin Fan entered the dorm and found Jiang Tong already lying in bed. He had no idea where Jiang Tong had returned from, nor could he be bothered to care. He climbed into bed and went to sleep.