ReZhui froze in place as he met his gaze.
The injured boy’s disheveled hair covered the upper part of his bony face when the bullies tossed him around like a ragdoll, cornering him right after. Now that ReZhui had taken a closer look at him, he recalled such a familiar and distinctive feature. The boy’s icy blue eyes held the same dull shade from before and his pupils were dilated, unfocused from the circumstances he was currently facing.
He detested the boy’s state of mind, moreso the actions of the assailants, and held him tighter in his arms as he checked for any other injuries. Luckily, all he could find were some bruises and a bloodied nose. However, just as he was finishing with his temporary examination, the eldest of the attacking group called out to him.
“Hey you! What the hell are you doing to our little monster? Push him right back here, you bastard!” the eldest demanded rudely.
“DAM-”
ReZhui stopped himself from releasing an outburst.
He slowly took a deep breath in, calming himself down.
‘I cannot make the situation worse. Screaming would just escalate it even further. I gotta stall for time now…’
Remembering back to Mr Sun, ReZhui held it in and tried to start a conversation with the group.
“Why are you doing this to him? Did he do anything wrong towards you and your group?” ReZhui questioned with seeping impatience.
“No reason whatsoever, I tell you. It’s just convenient.”
“For who, exactly?” ReZhui subtlety growled.
“Who, you ask? Well, it’s obviously us! Hahahahahaha!”
The merry band of boys followed up with their own hearty laughter, sneaking in additional snarky comments in the midst of their humorous craze.
“That’s our leader, alright!”
“I also think we are doing quite the favor for our victim.”
“Yh, you should’ve seen how the adults dealt with him!”
“He has such a very punchable face, yep yep!”
“Hey! Why don’t you join us? It’s fun!”
“I ‘gree.”
“We can enjoy beating the shit out of him together!”
ReZhui watched them bicker about with insurmountable rage. This was also directed towards the passersby who just stood around, spectating the entire thing like it’s a theater play.
‘Disgusting…’
The boy who always sympathized with the plight of the poor started to get swarmed up with an increasing number of doubts within his mind. His anger clearly made getting rid of these thoughts even harder. But…ReZhui was able to temporarily break free of this notion when XinLi finally made it cross the crowd and into the center of the scene. Her eyes suddenly turned towards ReZhui’s location and she dashed straight forward.
“ReZhui, ReZhui! What’s going on here?”
“Assistant XinLi…”
XinLi appeared right in front of him as she took a glance at what ReZhui was embracing. She widened her eyes in shock at this outcome, an understandable reaction to this unfortunate sight. Regardless, since ReZhui and herself had seen much worse, it didn’t faze the duo and they immediately got into action.
“Assistant XinLi, his injuries are not critical. I checked and only identified some severe bruising and a running nosebleed but in this position, it appears to have stopped.”
“hey…”
“Normally, my Lord will recommend placing cold water over the nose and letting the leftover blood flow out in small batches. But, this works as well. Here, hand him over.”
“hey! listen here!”
ReZhui, realizing that XinLi was more knowledgeable with this treatment than he was, carefully handed the boy over to her.
“oi! don’t ignore…!”
“So, when is Mr Xu coming here? It will be hard to make way through this crowd.”
“Oh, about that, he is-”
“BASTARD! YOU ASKED FOR THIS!!!”
Interrupting XinLi, was a cry of frustration. She saw an overshadowing figure behind ReZhui, readying a full-on punch towards his head. His eyes were glaring like a tiger set on chasing his prey.
Her hand instinctively reached out for ReZhui, trying to shove him out of the way but it was all for naught. She could not reach him. Even so, her terrified expression hinted ReZhui of a potential threat behind him and he retaliated back in defense.
Folding his arms at the back of his head, ReZhui tanked the blow and slid to the side a short distance away, caught within XinLi’s arms.
‘Damn, he’s strong!’ ReZhui thought to himself, ‘But…it’s not enough to hurt me.’
“YOU’RE LUCKY THAT WOMAN OF YOURS ALERTED YOU ON THAT ATTACK! If not, you would have been knocked out COLD!!!”
However, minding his unfinished matters first, ReZhui questioned XinLi on his previous enquiry, ignoring the assailant.
“I apologize that I didn’t hear your answer correctly just now, Assistant XinLi. What were you saying earlier?”
“Mr Xu is finishing up with the family patients and will be here in a few minutes to sort out this conflict. Another assistant told me that when we were separated.”
“Then, that boy’s assault on me. If I strike back, would I be worsening the situation for Mr Xu?”
“This is child’s play, ReZhui. Mr Sun is one thing, but don’t underestimate my Lord that much,” XinLi smirked in agreement.
“I’ll take note of that, Assistant XinLi. Thank you.”
“I’m rooting for you!” XinLi shouted in encouragement, giving a huge thumbs up.
---
The eldest boy took several steps back and his group stood beside him in a dominating formation.
On the other hand, ReZhui steadily walked forward, closing the distance between them. As he made his footsteps more and more apparent, ReZhui continued their conversation from before.
“Why should I listen to jerks that hurt others for no clear reason other than for the fun of it? You’re mental!”
“Isn’t it disrespectful to ignore another? Wasn’t that taught to you by your parents? Actually, you are supposed to know more of such manners than we do, rich kid! Such a disgrace, aren't you?”
“You’re just pretending to play as the victim. It’s hypocritical to hear that you are preaching about good human values when you and your gang are ruining that boy's life.”
“Ridiculous, he fucking deserves it. Didn’t you see his hair? It’s yellow. Now it may look like it’s black but the truth is, he smears wet soot on it daily. Get me a bucket of sewage water and I’ll prove my right!!”
“Disgusting really. So, what of his yellow hair?”
“IT’S UNNATURAL, ISN’T IT? Makes him look like a fool. He is the weird one, meant no place here, that’s how we see it at least, and everyone agrees with us as well!”
The crowd didn’t flinch at that statement.
ReZhui’s face darkened.
“What’s great with glorifying such actions?”
“ENOUGH WITH THESE QUESTIONS! Making an enemy out of us will antagonist the entire community towards you, I warn you!”
“That’s quite the overstatement.”
ReZhui stopped in his tracks, at an arm’s length from the eldest boy.
“Again? What’s there to gain from another person’s suffering? I am just standing up for the right thing here.”
The eldest frowned in annoyance.
ReZhui responded by pulling up a fighting stance.
“Come.”
---
‘I never thought I would have to use my martial arts training this early on in my life but I guess I could make use of this situation to gain some quality experience; especially since they look like they have been involved in a couple of fights before.’
As ReZhui lowered his stance, feet widened with one in front of the other, he clenched his fist tightly. Starting with curling the little finger and repeating the same action up towards the index, he secured the fingers with folded thumbs and raised both fists close to his chest, blocking the lower half of his face.
“Juniors, deal with that wannabe hero.”
“Yes!”
“Let’s go, big bro.”
“Finally.”
“I…I will do my best!”
‘They outnumbered me by quite the large margin, but that’s the best part for my training!’
ReZhui observed their group.
‘There are 7 of them. That 12-year old is obviously the strongest and the leader of the bunch. The one with the scar over his mouth and the other with a burn mark on his left cheek seemed to have their fair share of brutal brawls. They are the second strongest. The remaining four that the eldest boy sent out must just be the ‘supporting minions’, as Brother MianJu likes to call them.
Therefore, they are the weakest! And as a conclusion, the first one to go is…’
ReZhui strided forward and attacked the 7-year old at the rightmost part of the formation in his point of view.
‘...the hesitant one!’
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
A hard punch landed on the boy’s face, sending him tumbling over to the side. Blood splattered from his injured nose.
“XiaoYi!”
The three other boys watched in shock at the speed of his attack. Not only that, the fact that the 7-year old flew quite the distance just showed what they were dealing with. In the end, that boy was left unconscious after that knockout blow.
“Damn you!”
Another boy that was closest in reach to ReZhui came charging in, both arms spread out to try and grapple him to the ground…
However, ReZhui was prepared for that. Using the momentum from the previous attack, ReZhui twisted his body to the left, facing the other boy head on. His left arm retracted back behind him as he prepared the next blow for the upcoming target.
Before that boy could reach ReZhui, a downward blow struck him squarely on his forehead, sending his unbalanced body falling hard onto the ground. He landed with a loud thud.
‘Shit…it hurts!’ ReZhui thought to himself as he recoiled back with his right arm.
Despite the success of taking down two kids in a continuous motion, both his fists were burning with pain from the impact. His index and middle finger knuckles were especially throbbing in red soreness.
‘Brother MianJu said that the correct way is to hit with these parts of the fist but it really hurts more when it’s concentrated in those areas. Anyhow, I am confident that I will get used to this soon enough.’
“Take this!”
“You’ll pay!”
The last two began their assault on the unfocused ReZhui but luckily, he was able to put up a guard in a nick of time before their punches landed. Even with that advantage, ReZhui wasn’t being pushed back, holding his ground steadily.
As they slowly exhausted their energy, the punches slowed to a halt; breathing deep pants while they stopped.
‘Well that was easy.’
ReZhui retaliated with two clean punches aimed at their lower jaws, right and left respectively, and knocked out both of them. Without sustaining any serious injuries, ReZhui promptly relaxed his arm joints and opened his clenched fist again and again to ease the muscle tension.
“Next.”
“Hah”
“Hm”
The eldest nodded at the scarred one and burnt-marked boy, signaling the both of them to walk forward in regularly timed steps.
The scarred boy dashed ahead, closing in on the readied ReZhui, while the other followed behind and kept a safe distance away by encircling the duo. Not wanting to fall into their attack patterns and any potential traps, ReZhui turned on his heel and sprinted in the direction of the burnt-marked boy.
That was when the burnt-marked boy readied a temporary stance, balanced his weight on his left foot and went in for a high side kick. Failing to break his movement, ReZhui kept going in a straight line and struggled to change directions before the kick reached his chin. The hard smash of the sole sent ReZhui flying backwards towards the scarred boy who was coming into position. He then landed head first onto the ground, groaning in pain.
Still feeling the dizziness from that hit, ReZhui staggered around as he quickly got up, feeling large volumes of blood rushing into his head and back. As he held his head steadily, his guard was lowered which the scarred boy was aiming for.
A low roundhouse kick striked ReZhui’s side, below the ribcage, sending him tumbling down across to the same partition pole the blonde boy was cornered at; his back finally knocking down the metal frame of the pole. A loud clang of metal sounded right after.
‘Damn it! They were expecting me to do that and in the end, I got surrounded.’
But this was no time to contemplate…
“Yahhh!”
Another low kick was coming in towards his lowered head which ReZhui was able to quickly raise his arms to guard it.
‘WHAT FORCE!’
Yet, one more came and another. A series of low sweeping kicks laid waste onto the struggling ReZhui.
“Is that all you are?!”
“Fuckin hell, I can’t believe he fell for it.”
All ReZhui did was defend and block while he waited…
‘A chance!’
“Huh-”
The scarred boy’s left leg was held tightly in between ReZhui’s right arm and his body, underneath the shoulder joint. Locked in, ReZhui tugged on it with all his strength, making the boy slip backwards. He fell down, buttocks first.
With that accomplished, ReZhui swiftly pounced upon the scarred boy and delivered an elbow onto his chest, hitting straight down his sternum.
“Auckkk!”
The scarred boy jerked his head up in response to that blow, spitting out saliva all over before blacking out due to sheer agony.
‘However, that was only one of - Eughh!’
ReZhui was sent back to the side again as another low sweeping kick was aimed at his head, but he blocked it again as he had predicted.
He did a tight somersault and rose up, reading another stance for the next attack in one smooth motion.
The burnt-marked boy wasted no time and did a twist of his body before jumping high in the air for a downward chop using his left leg. It was closing onto ReZhui, who hastily rolled under the attack and appeared right behind him.
Using the delay that the burnt-marked boy had taken to balance himself after that attack, ReZhui sprinted towards the boy and landed a hard punch to his face once the boy turned around. His bloodied nose was for all to see but that was all it resulted in.
Steadying himself from that attack, the boy started to leap several steps back, hoping to increase the distance needed to coordinate another strike.
Nevertheless, ReZhui would never allow that to happen.
Before the boy could even reach outside an arm’s length from ReZhui, ReZhui managed to grab hold of his sash, preventing any chance of escape. In the end, the burnt-marked boy was pulled close towards ReZhui, allowing for a flurry of punches to be unleashed upon him. The burnt-marked boy was knocked out shortly after, falling lifelessly onto his knees. His face was a bloody mess.
‘Now…all that’s left…is…him…’ ReZhui thought in between panted breath.
The leader of the group looked at the aftermath of the previous fights in considerable shock. All of his guys were beaten and despite ReZhui getting considerably injured and lacking in stamina after his latest fight, no major injuries were inflicted. Even so, the eldest of the group was confident in his strength and skill. Most of his life was a battle ridden journey in a place of mostly outlaws and criminals who went rampant throughout the district.
‘I am not gonna lose to some kid pampered by the rich. Yh, there is no fucking way! I am gonna break him physically and mentally, just like all that opposed me.’
He cracked his knuckles and pumped his fist with some shadowboxing. Next, the leader breathed in deeply, exposing more of his muscular chest before relaxing his muscles as his diaphragm rose back in place.
‘I am ready.’
“Oi, kid, prepare yourself.”
“Our ages are not that far apart. It’s useless with that condescending act.”
“You will eat your words once I deal with you first.”
‘Hmm, let’s see if I can provoke him further…’ ReZhui chuckled.
“I’m surprised you know some idioms, boy.”
“FUNNY BRAT! YAHHH!”
The hulking figure of this 12-year old started to charge at ReZhui, like a tiger set targeted on its prey.
‘Danger’ was all ReZhui felt as he ran straight towards him. Sidestepping to the right, ReZhui dodged it. However, that was the beginning.
Halting robustly, the leader followed up with a wide sweeping motion of his burly arms, aimed for the neck of ReZhui. Ducking down, ReZhui rolled out of the leader’s attack zone and prepared his guard stance.
‘Careful!’
Responding with a continuous stream of light and heavy jabs, ReZhui tried to dodge most of them and closely blocked the rest with the blunt point of his elbows, as taught by Brother MianJu.
“That’s not all!”
The leader boasted as he promptly switched routines with a clean uppercut to ReZhui’s solar plexus. Not expecting such a drastic change, ReZhui failed to block that attack, resulting in his legs nearly giving out and he reeled back with caution. But, the leader was not gonna let him catch a break.
“AGAIN!”
He unleashed a fast overhand punch.
“Urghhh!”
Using his overwhelming weight to his advantage, the leader’s strike struck hard onto ReZhui’s hastily raised arm guard; it shoved back the younger 9-year old with great intensity. Fortunately, his horse stance prevented ReZhui from losing his balance and he was able to recover just in time for another barrage of punches and sporadic calf kicks.
‘He’s tough! Gotta hold on! Gotta hold on!’
Another overhand came homing in, hitting ReZhui squarely on his chin; before another follow up punch came shortly afterwards, landed hard on his obliques.
‘Even his form…it’s wild and unpredictable!’
Another wide sweep of his left forearm.
A downward chop.
Palm strikes.
The pain is slowly building up; his elbows were sore and ReZhui saw several bruises throughout his limbs and chest.
‘This instinctual way of fighting. He must have developed his own style after many years of street fighting. It’s efficient and deadly. But this...I got one card up my sleeve.’
As the onslaught of attacks slowly began to dwindle in number, ReZhui proceeded with a strong front kick to the leader’s right leg, aiming for the quadriceps using the forefoot of his sole. And, it worked.
‘DAMN IT! How is my leg actually receiving this degree of pain from that - AAAUGHH!’
As his leg twitched in soreness, distracted by ReZhui’s unexpected burst of strength, the leader did not react fast enough and ReZhui managed to pull out a spinning back kick onto the upper right quadrant of the abdomen.
The impact sent the leader staggering backwards for a few steps but he quickly recovered.
‘...’
The leader was surprised.
On the other hand, ReZhui retreated back, skipping out of reach and maintained his guarding stance.
“W-WHAT A SURPRISE YOU SURE ARE! But that’s not enough to stop me!”
The leader readied himself before he launched forward for another pounce on ReZhui. Sidestepping further this time, ReZhui dodged another flurry of punches and tanked another hit to his left humerus from a roundhouse kick.
‘That’s new.’
The force of that nearly shook ReZhui off balance but he kept his perseverance and readied another guard stance.
‘What?’ the leader thought to himself, ‘I was expecting another comeback but why is he still on defense? Is it because he saw the great strength of mine? Well, I am one of the strongest for my age. Now, I will continue to pressure him until he wil - Ugh.’
Suddenly, a sharp, agonizing pain was felt in his abdominal area and it coursed rapidly throughout his body.
“ARGH! Damn it, what’s happening?”
The ache continued to persist and the confident, sturdy martial body of the boy, who was his pride and joy, started to break down. The leader screamed in agony as the relentless throbbing of his muscle increased with intensity. Slowly, he gave in and forcibly curled up into a ball. The leader hoped for the pain to simply vanish but it never came and he was scared.
“Ma…Ma…” he whispered and wailed.
He was very frightened.
Remaining in that pathetic position, ReZhui walked up towards him and knelt close.
“Does it hurt?” he asked curtly.
“You…sniff…What did you do?!...sniff…” the boy’s eyes were dyed deep red, filled with watery tears. Even so, ReZhui paid no attention to his torment.
“Why should I tell you? You will use it for harm anyways,” ReZhui sneered.
‘Wow, I never thought the liver strike would be that devastating. He is even balling his eyes out! Brother MianJu, I thank you for your wonderful guidance.’
ReZhui silently prayed his thanks.
“So, do I take this win as a promise to not go after the yellow haired kid? I can make the injury even more painful.”
“Sniff…ok, ok, OK! Do as you please…sniff…”
‘Hah, even with this wonder of a body, within it is still a feeble 12-year-old child. Not that I can’t say that for myself but, at least I am getting stronger.’
ReZhui soon got up from his position and headed in the direction of XInLi who had an awestruck expression spread all over her face.
“wait…Wait!”
The leader weakly called back to him.
“What is it this time?”
“Are you only putting up a front here? Is this just to make fun of us who had no actual training in martial arts? Who the hell are you? It’s not fair!”
ReZhui remained flabbergasted at his conclusion.
“I wasn’t born on a silver platter, understand? Well, it doesn’t matter anyway since you better not show yourself in front of me ever again. But, as a fellow martial artist, I acknowledge your strength. That move I did should have incapacitated you in a matter of seconds but your tenacity carried you forward. My applause to you.”
The leader pressed his fingers deep into his abdomen, applying pressure to soothe the injury while he silently stared back at ReZhui.
ReZhui didn't continued to respond to his begrudges and ignored him entirely.
---
A group of assistants arrived shortly after the fight had ended, each assigned to provide first aid to the 7 injured boys. Meanwhile, ReZhui saw XInLi with her lord beside her. She blushed with glee at the close proximity between the both of them. With her feelings going unnoticed, Mr Xu was currently running a quick check up on the blonde boy before carrying him off to the operation station.
Knowing that Mr Xu will be concentrating on the blonde boy as the main priority before settling the aftermath of this fight, ReZhui hesitantly began to wonder what was going to happen to him afterwards.