And the boy facing them had not even released his Martial Soul!
On the working students' side, Wang Sheng's mouth hung open, his jaw practically hitting the ground.
A working student beside him rubbed his eyes, then rubbed them again before sucking in a breath of cold air. "I... I'm not seeing things, am I?"
Chen Mo brushed some nonexistent dust off his shoulder, his face as expressionless as ever.
"Who else?"
A layer of cold sweat broke out on Xiao Chenyu's back. He gritted his teeth and waved his hand.
"All of you, attack! I refuse to believe he can fight all of us alone!"
The remaining six noble children exchanged looks, their expressions changing, but they still steeled themselves and charged together.
The tall, skinny boy in front released his Martial Soul-an iron ruler-and brought it chopping down at Chen Mo's head.
A fat boy behind him, perhaps having forgotten his own Martial Soul, simply grabbed a broom someone had thrown on the ground and swung it at Chen Mo's legs.
Two others threw punches straight at Chen Mo's temples, attacking from both sides.
The last two circled behind him, trying to grab him around the waist.
Six people attacked at once, from front and back, targeting his upper, middle, and lower body.
It looked quite intimidating.
Everyone watching held their breath.
Chen Mo stood where he was without even releasing his Martial Soul. He merely shifted his feet and wove through the crowd as though strolling through a quiet courtyard.
The iron ruler chopped down-Chen Mo sidestepped it, casually struck the tall boy's wrist, and sent the ruler clattering to the ground, then drove an elbow back into his chin.
The tall boy's head snapped back and he fell, two teeth flying out.
The stool came swinging over-Chen Mo raised his leg and kicked the broom, sending it flying back into the fat boy's arms and striking him hard enough to make his nose stream blood.
Then, with a casual shove, he sent the fat boy sprawling on his back with all four limbs in the air.
Two fists closed in from either side-Chen Mo ducked, and instead of hitting him, the fists collided solidly with each other, leaving both boys grimacing in pain.
Chen Mo struck left and right, driving a fist into each boy's stomach. Both dropped to their knees on the spot, clutching their bellies and dry-heaving.
As for the two trying to grab his waist from behind-without even turning his head, Chen Mo reached back, caught one by the collar, and flung him sideways into the other, sending them rolling into a heap.
The entire process took less than ten seconds.
All six noble children who had charged him lay groaning on the ground.
Some had lost teeth, some had bloody noses, some rolled around clutching their stomachs, and two lay piled together so that it was impossible to tell who was who.
Not a crow or sparrow could be heard. A deathly silence filled the grounds.
Everyone stared, dumbfounded.
Among the dozens of people there, not one spoke.
Wind swept across the field, stirring up dust from the ground and scattering it over the noble children lying there wailing.
Wang Sheng's mouth hung open for a long time.
A working student beside him dropped his bowl, which shattered against the ground with a crack, but he did not even register it.
The working students all looked as if they had seen a ghost, their eyes wider than bronze bells.
The noble children were even more stunned with fear.
The seven best fighters among them had all gone down without so much as touching a single finger of the boy facing them?
And that boy... had not even released his Martial Soul!
What kind of damned monster was he?!
Xiao Chenyu stood rooted to the spot, his legs trembling.
He watched Chen Mo approach him step by step, his heart sinking further with every step.
Terrified, he backed away repeatedly, tripped over his own feet, and nearly fell. He had even withdrawn his wolf-claw Martial Soul.
"Y-you stay away!" Xiao Chenyu's voice trembled. "I'm from the Xiao Clan! My father is the city lord of Nuoding City! If you lay a finger on me, my father won't let you get away with it!"
Chen Mo walked up to him and stopped.
He looked down at Xiao Chenyu, his gaze devoid of emotion, as though looking at an ant.
"From now on," Chen Mo said flatly, "stay away from the working students."
Xiao Chenyu nodded desperately, like a chick pecking at grain.
"Did you hear me?"
"Y-yes!" Xiao Chenyu's voice shook, and a patch of his crotch was already wet. "Whenever I see working students from now on, I... I'll take a detour!"
Chen Mo glanced at him, said nothing more, and turned to walk over to Xiao Wu.
Xiao Wu stood there looking up at him, stars filling her eyes and her lips slightly parted, utterly spellbound.
She had known Chen Mo was powerful-after all, his diary said he was a level 46 Soul Ancestor.
But she had never imagined he could be this powerful.
Without even releasing his Martial Soul, he had casually beaten seven or eight Soul Scholars to the ground?
Every move was as simple as could be, yet every move was perfectly placed.
It was as though all their movements were in slow motion to his eyes.
Was he even human?
"Does your arm hurt?" Chen Mo glanced at the wound on her arm.
Only then did Xiao Wu come back to her senses. She hurriedly shook her head like a rattle drum. "No! It doesn't hurt at all!"
Chen Mo smiled, took a bottle of wound medicine out of the System Space, and handed it to her.
"Put this on. Don't let it get infected."
Xiao Wu took the bottle, her face instantly flushing red all the way to the tips of her ears.
She looked up at Chen Mo, her eyes sparkling as though filled with stars.
"Big Brother Chen Mo... you're so amazing..." Xiao Wu's voice was quiet and soft, completely unlike her usual boisterous self.
Chen Mo ruffled her hair.
"All right. If anyone bullies you again, tell me."
Xiao Wu nodded vigorously, hugging the medicine bottle to her chest like a treasure and gripping it tightly, afraid she might drop it.
Only then did the working students around them snap out of their daze and swarm over in a rush.
"Big Brother! You're incredible!"
"You sent Zhou Hu flying with one move! I saw him fly!"
"Ten seconds! Less than ten seconds! All seven went down!"
"From now on, you're the big brother of all us working students!"
Wang Sheng squeezed to the front, his face red with excitement and his eyes full of admiration.
"Big Brother! From now on, if you tell us to go east, we'll never go west!"
The watching noble children also erupted into a clamor of discussion.
"Who is this kid? How come I've never seen him before?"
"No idea. He doesn't seem to be from our academy."
"He isn't from the academy? Then what's he doing here?"
"Didn't you see him protecting that little girl just now? He's probably her older brother."
"He sent Zhou Hu flying in one move and beat seven people without releasing his Martial Soul... just where did this kid come from?"
"I'd say he's at least a Soul Master. He might even be a Soul Grandmaster!"
"A Soul Grandmaster? I think he could even be a Soul Elder!"
"How old is he, anyway? He only looks thirteen or fourteen..."
(The protagonist is six years old and 1.6 meters tall! Not much of a problem on the Douluo Continent!)
"A genius! He's definitely a genius!"
Xiao Chenyu sat slumped on the ground, his face alternating between green and white as he listened to the discussions around him.
He still had not recovered from the shock.
Chen Mo paid no attention to the surrounding discussions. Encircled by them, he smiled a little helplessly... then raised his head and glanced toward Yu Xiaogang's office.