"So what if you've reached the third rank? I'm still a rank above you!" Yang Yu yelled, but his eyes contained fear. When Yang Bin was at the second rank, Yang Yu was neither able to land a hit on him nor dodge any of his attacks. Now that Yang Bin has reached the third rank, it will only get worse for Yang Yu.
"Third rank is enough to deal with you!" Yang Bin said with a savage grin, his eyes blazing with fighting spirit. He lunged at him with renewed vigor.
Seeing a ghostly Yang Bins zooming towards him, Yang Yu stepped back in fright. He quickly put his arms up in front of his face to block the attack, but it never came. Hesitantly, he lowered his arms and saw that Yang Bin was gone.
"Behind you." Yang Bin growled. With his new found strength, coupled with Phantom Tracks, Yang Bin was able to swiftly and silently get behind Yang Yu without him noticing. With surging qi, Yang Bin balled his fist and punched out with all his might.
When Yang Yu heard Yang Bin's low growl, chills appeared all over him. He hastily tried to turn around, but he was too slow. "Ahh!" Yang Yu cried, as pain shot through his back. He stumbled a couple steps forwards and quickly turned around to face him. His previous confident expression was now gone and in its place was fear.
Watching the scene unfold, the surrounding boys were alarmed. They could tell that Yang Yu's defeat was inevitable, if they didn't do anything.
"This is just the beginning." Yang Bin said, as he stood in a fighting stance. Before he could attack again, he heard a cry that made him frown.
"Boss, let me help you!" One of them rushed in to help, causing the some others to run forwards as well, but a small lithe figure stopped them.
Yang Mengyao stood in front of them with an icy expression. "If anyone wants to help, they'll need to get past me." She declared.
The boys hastily stopped in their tracks, as conflicting thoughts flashed through their heads. After witnessing her battle with Yang Yu, they knew that fighting this girl would be similar to asking for a beating. However, if they stood back and did nothing, they would feel the wrath of Yang Yu later. Eventually, one of them came to a decision. Gritting his teeth, he yelled, "Out of the way!" He took a step forward and tried to shove her away.
Swaying aside, Yang Mengyao easily dodged his arm. She then took a step forward and threw a palm at his chest. Despite its small size, her palm contained tremendous force.
"AHH!" In an instant, the boy doubled over, hugging his solar plexus. He fell to the ground curled up.
"Who else wants to interfere?" She casually asked the remaining boys.
All the other boys immediately froze. The one she just dispatched was the strongest one in their group, a third rank body tempering cultivator, and she did it with a single palm!
"Cough! Cough!" The boy on the ground started to slowly get up.
"If you get up, I'll make you feel the pain again." Yang Mengyao threatened menacingly.
Cold sweat covered his back, and he immediately fell back on the ground.
Seeing that there was no more opposition, Yang Mengyao smiled at Yang Bin and cheered him on.
Yang Bin smiled and nodded back.
Seeing how easily Yang Mengyao stopped his squad, Yang Yu was horrified. Losing all fighting spirit, Yang Yu turned and ran.
Yang Bin saw this and frowned. "How pathetic. Fleeing so quickly?" Activating phantom tracks, he very quickly caught up with Yang Yu. "Where do you think you're going?" Yang Bin stopped in front of Yang Yu.
Yang Yu looked around in panic. In front, there was Yang Bin, and behind, there was Yang Mengyao. Realizing that there was no way to escape, Yang Yu decided to risk it all. "Even if I'm going down, I'll take you down as well! Iron palms!" Yang Yu roared and launched himself at Yang Bin.
Seeing Yang Yu's final desperate struggle, Yang Bin scoffed. Dodging the palms, he punched his side, causing him to fall with a cry. For the next couple minutes, Yang Bin rained punches and kicks on him, as if to vent all his anger.
After Yang Yu was thoroughly beaten and battered , Yang Bin took a step back and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "How refreshing." Yang Bin spoke out loud with a satisfied smile on his face. "Now scram and get out of my sight. I don't want to look at you anymore." He directed that to Yang Yu, as he turned to leave.
Yang Yu, now on the ground curled up clenched his teeth. "Yang Bin, I'll make you regret this!" Yang Yu said in a weak voice.
"You're going to call your brother? Go ahead, I'm not afraid of him." Yang Bin looked back with disdain.
Yang Yu had a brother called Yang Chen. He was a couple months older than Yang Bin and had reached the seventh rank of body tempering. Whenever Yang Yu suffered a grievance, he would always run to him for help. Currently, Yang Chen was occupied with procuring cultivation resources because of the Tian Lin academy entrance exam.
"Yang Bin, just wait!" Yang Yu tried to shout.
"Mengyao, let go." Yang Bin ignored him.
"Alright." Yang Mengyao happily skipped over to him. Upon passing Yang Yu's sorry figure, she made a face at him. "Bleh."
"Brother, for you." Yang Mengyao reached into her pocket and pulled out the sky chrysanthemum. Its petals were a little crushed, but it remained completely intact.
"No need. You found it, so it should belong to you." Yang Bin shook his head.
"Your cultivation is slower than mine. You need it more than me." Yang Mengyao grabbed Yang Bin's hand and put the sky chrysanthemum in his hand.
Yang Bin smiled. "Fine, fine. I'll accept it."
"Yang Bin brother! Yang Mengyao sister!"
The duo heard a shout and turned to look. A short chubby boy was waving at them from a distance.
"Yang Lin, you are too late. You missed everything." Yang Bin laughed and shouted back.
Yang Lin ran towards them. "Huff. Are you guys alright?" Yang Lin looked at Yang Bin up and down.
"Do I look hurt?" Yang Bin asked.
Seeing the sky chrysanthemum in Yang Bin's hands, Yang Lin was confused. "But what about Yang Yu and his gang? Did they just let you go?" Then he had a shocked look. "Could it be that he had a change of heart?"
Yang Bin gave him a strange look. "Nope, Yang Yu behind us. As for his friends, they abandoned him." He pointed behind him. The moment Yang Yu tried to escape, the group of boys also ran away.
Yang Lin stepped around him and saw a lonely lying figure. He rubbed his eyes. "Is that really him?" He asked in disbelief.
"Go look." Yang Bin lazily replied.
Yang Lin grabbed a stick and slowly approached it. When he was next to the lying figure, he nudged the boy's face with the stick.
Feeling something poking his face, Yang Yu immediately opened his eyes. "Yang Lin, do you wish to die?" Yang Yu threatened. Even though his words were frightening, his tone sounded very feeble.
Yang Yu ran back to Yang Bin's side and gave him a thumbs up. "Yang Bin brother, you are too awesome! You were actually able to defeat Yang Yu. I must go and proclaim the good news."
"Haha. Go ahead." Yang Bin laughed.
Later on, Yang Lin went around telling the tale of Yang Bin's victory, twisting and exaggerating the story. Around evening, almost everyone in the village knew about this.
****
"So I heard that you single handedly beat Yang Yu and his goons, and then you robbed Yang Yu of everything he had on him." Yang Gang calmly said to Yang Bin. Currently, his family was sitting around a table, eating dinner.
Yang Bin choked on the food he was eating. "That sounds greatly exaggerated. I only fought Yang Yu. Mengyao deterred everyone else."
A look of surprise appeared in Yang Gang's eyes. "Hmm not bad, not bad. But Yang Yu is at the fourth rank of Body Tempering. How were you able to defeat him?"
"I reached the third rank of body tempering." Yang Bin replied.
"That's amazing! It has only been a month since you were at the second rank!" Li Jing exclaimed.
Yang Gang's eyes shined with pride when he looked at Yang Bin. "Hmm very good, very good. But Yang Yu is still a rank ahead of you. How did you overcome that gap?"
"I used a movement technique and a spirit technique!" Yang Bin revealed with a grin.
"A spirit technique and a movement technique?" Yang Gang was surprised. "Where did you learn these techniques from?"
For the next few minutes, Yang Bin explained his encounter with the mysterious red pebble and the techniques he got. By the time he was done, his parents stared at him with a deep frown on their faces. Yang Bin assumed that his parents weren't fully convinced.
"Oh! That's why you were sleeping next to the river." Yang Mengyao seemed to believe his story.
"A technique transplant from a pebble…" Yang Gang rubbed his chin, after much thought. "That's not impossible. These techniques must be extraordinary for the creator to put so much effort into creating these pebbles. Tonight, consume the sky chrysanthemum. Tomorrow, let me see your movement technique. It's also about time I teach you an offensive technique."
Yang Bin's face lit up upon hearing that.