Zu An was unfazed by the threat. Instead of complying, he too stretched out his hand and demanded, “Hand over all of your ki stones, and I’ll treat it as if nothing happened at all.”
Man Yu lost his temper. “Brat, you’re asking for it!” He raised his mortar-sized fist and sent it flying toward Zu An’s face with ferocious speed and accuracy. This was the move that he had used to subjugate countless students who refused to obey him. One strike was all it took to erase every shred of confidence of his victim.
You have successfully trolled Man Yu for 177 Rage points!
Zu An was a little dissatisfied. The fatty seemed furious enough, but the Rage points he provided did not match up to his appearance. He raised a hand calmly and stopped the fatty’s punch with ease.
Man Yu gasped in utter horror. He tried frantically to retract his fist, but it simply wouldn’t move.
Zu An sighed deeply. “I asked you nicely, but you just wouldn’t listen. Must things really come to this point? Are you finally willing to hand over your ki stones now?”
His cultivation had already reached the third rank. In terms of strength, he was as powerful as eighty-eight adult men combined. This fatty was lower second rank at most, since he’d been sent to the Yellow class. There was no way this fatty could ever be a match for him.
Man Yu was unwilling to concede defeat. He sent his other fist hurtling toward Zu An, but again, it was stopped with extreme ease.
It seemed the fatty was unwilling to submit. Zu An had to rectify the situation. He tightened his grip around his fist.
“Ouch ouch ouch! Let go, let go!” Man Yu had his eyes squeezed shut in pain, and tears were about to leak out. He had not expected to be overpowered by this skinny monkey.
You have successfully trolled Man Yu for 66 Rage points!
“Cut the crap and hand your ki stones over!” Zu An’s tone was menacing. He tightened his grip further.
“I’ll hand it over, I’ll hand it over…” Man Yu could almost hear his finger bones creaking. He used his gaze to indicate the pouch hanging at his waist. “It’s there!”
Worried that there was some sort of mechanism hidden in the pouch, Zu An released Man Yu’s hand warily and instructed, “Take it out and hand it over to me.”
Man Yu quickly pulled out his pouch and poured out the ki stones inside. As he placed them one by one into Zu An’s hand, the fat hanging on his cheeks began to tremble.
You have successfully trolled Man Yu for 9 rage points! … 9… 9… 9…
“Huh? Only 7 ki stones?” Zu An could not hide his disappointment. He had dreamed of making a huge killing out of this, but who would have expected this bully to be so incompetent?
“I only managed to gather this many. As you know, very few cultivation resources are allocated to those in our class! This is all I managed to collect from those I can handle!” Man Yu explained anxiously.
“What about the ones you collected before?” Zu An demanded.
You have successfully trolled Man Yu for 666 Rage points!
Are you trying to suck me dry?!
Man Yu’s expression turned indignant as he exclaimed, “I really don’t have anything else. Most of what we collect needs to be submitted upward! Why don’t I just give you 2 ki stones and be friends with one another? I promise that I won’t report this matter upwards. Otherwise, once Boss Ye learns about it, you’ll be in deep trouble!”
“Oho, you’ve even managed to form a supply chain out of this trade?” Zu An was amused. “Who’s the Boss Ye you’re referring to?”
“Ye Chenliang from Third Grade Earth class, cultivation of upper third rank. A mere First Grade Yellow class student like you won’t be a match for him at all!” Man Yu sneered coldly.
Zu An’s forehead creased in a frown. That fellow is stronger than me. This is really a bit troublesome.
Noticing Zu An’s reaction, Man Yu laughed heartily. “Are you finally getting scared now? If you’re scared, you better hand everything over to me now!”
This was how human relationships worked. As soon as Man Yu noticed Zu An’s hesitation, he forgot all about his earlier promise of giving him 2 ki stones and instead demanded everything back.
“You sure talk a hell load of nonsense!” Zu An lost his patience and slapped Man Yu in the face, causing the latter’s consciousness to flicker for an instant. He stowed his newly-acquired ki stones away. “I’ll be taking all of these. Tell your Boss Ye to come and look for me.”
“You skwunk! You’ll wegwet it!”
“Heh, air is leaking out of your broken tooth. I suggest you stop speaking.”
…
You have successfully trolled Man Yu for 666 Rage points!
Zu An returned to the classroom, and saw Wei Suo looking around nervously. As soon as the latter saw him, he rushed over. “How is it? Are you fine?”
Zu An burst into laughter. “If you’re really that concerned, why didn’t you follow me into the forest to back me up?”
Wei Suo shrugged and said, “Given how weak I am, I would only have dragged you down if I had gone with you. If I had gotten caught and was used as a hostage, you’d have had to waste your energy trying to rescue me.”
Zu An rolled his eyes. “It’s not like you’re a beautiful woman. Why would I bother rescuing you?” Despite that damning statement, he still tossed a ki stone over to him.
“T-this…” Wei Suo stared at the ki stone in his hand in bewilderment. “Where did you get it from?”
“That darned fatty appreciated how handsome I was and gave it to me,” Zu An replied casually.
“How is that possible?” Wei Suo exclaimed. “That fatty has someone backing him. You need to be careful of him!”
Zu An didn’t think much of it. “Backing? Is his backing bigger than the Brightmoon Duke?” Even though he wasn’t highly-regarded in the Chu clan, it was not something privy to outsiders. It would be a waste if he didn’t use this card well.
“Indeed,” Wei Suo nodded in agreement. “Marrying the First Miss of the Chu clan has really catapulted you up to the moon.”
After returning to his seat, Zu An asked Wei Suo in a hushed tone, “How do we use ki stones?”
Wei Suo was intrigued to hear that question. He hadn’t expected Zu An to be clueless about something that was so common sense. Nevertheless, he still explained it patiently. “Place the ki stone on your palm and drive your cultivation technique accordingly. Absorb the ki from the stone to nourish your body.”
Zu An racked his mind, and realized that the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra didn’t contain any techniques that allowed him to directly absorb ki. Unwilling to give up, he placed a ki stone on his palm and willed his body to absorb the ki. Nothing happened.
He recalled that the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra had been described as an alternative route to cultivation. Instead of the conventional method of absorbing ki to temper one’s body, it relied on sustaining injuries to grow stronger.
Frustration grew within Zu An. If he’d had a choice before, he would surely have switched out this masochistic cultivation technique for a different one as soon as an opportunity arose. However, his life-and-death fight with Pei Mianman the night before had shown him the true prowess of the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra.
As they had fought, he had found himself growing stronger and stronger, up to the point where his strength had rivalled hers. On top of that, he realized that for every cultivation rank he mastered, he would gain a phoenix hatchling imprint. No matter how foolish he was, it was apparent to him that this technique possessed extraordinary prowess. It would be a waste to give up on it.
This meant that ki stones were completely useless to him. Zu An took some time to consider this issue before nudging the fellow seated beside him. “Hey, lad. You want to buy my ki stones?”
Wei Suo’s eyes lit up. “How many do you have?”
“I have 7 of them,” Zu An replied. If he could sell them for 10 gold taels each, and factoring in the silver taels that he had saved up thus far, he would be able to pay off his debt of a thousand silver taels.