Chapter 61

"Someone from Group Three has been beaten!"

This sudden shout was both abrupt and thought-provoking. A simple sentence had stirred up the collective anger of Group Three. It was like if someone in a neighboring village shouted, "People from a certain village are beating others," it would certainly provoke the villagers' collective anger.

The news that someone from Group Three had been beaten spread from the cafeteria and vanished without a trace. The members of Group Three were enraged and rushed over without any prior agreement.

After a brief daze, Pan Zhengcheng, who had fallen to the ground, came to his senses with this shout. The strange looks from those around him made his face burn with shame. His anger kept rising, overwhelming all reason. He climbed to his feet, eyes bloodshot, and charged at Li Mang.

He didn't think Li Mang was stronger than him; he just assumed Li Mang had caught him off guard. Pan Zhengcheng's arms glowed with intense fire, instantly burning his sleeves to ashes, and he unleashed a powerful energy attack on Li Mang.

Combining fire-based abilities with ancient martial arts, he was indeed a member of the Tian Group.

Li Mang didn't dare to be careless and met the attack with all his might, almost using his hidden strength. He wasn't lacking in combat experience, but he lacked a clear understanding of his own power. Except for Cheng Wei, he rarely fought with others, especially those his age. Sensing the extraordinary power in Pan Zhengcheng's punch, he instinctively used his strongest physical strength.

"Bang!"

Li Mang was pushed back two or three steps, the tiles under his feet shattering. This was because he had transferred the pressure to his feet. At the same time, he felt his fists burning as if they had been scorched.

Pan Zhengcheng was in even worse shape. He felt a massive force from Li Mang's punch, and his body flew backward, crashing heavily onto a table. His out-of-control ability burned the table and chairs, and the thick smoke made the scene even more chaotic.

"Brother Cheng, are you okay?"

Ding Tianhua and his cronies hurried over to help, but the proud and arrogant Pan Zhengcheng angrily pushed them away. He preferred to lie on the ground rather than be helped. The severe pain in his waist made it difficult for him to stand, and his face turned alternately green and red.

The crowd had gathered on both sides, but no one stepped in to stop the fight. Instead, they watched with great interest. Who would dare to mediate and risk being beaten by the crowd? These were people who were bored and needed entertainment. It was like a group watching the World Cup final, and someone wanted to switch to a Korean drama. It would be strange if they didn't beat that person.

"Who dares to beat someone from Group Three!"

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside, and the crowd parted to let a few strangely dressed people through. There were four of them, old and young, with bizarre clothing. One wore a leather-soled suit, another a strange Taoist robe. Together, they looked quite out of place.

Seeing Pan Zhengcheng still lying on the ground, groaning, their faces changed instantly, and a murderous aura rose from them, clearly showing their anger.

One of the eagle-nosed elders fixed his gaze on Li Mang. His already small eyes narrowed even further, leaving only a tiny slit. He asked coldly, "Young man, are you from Group One or Group Two?"

In his view, only the top two groups would dare to attack Group Three. Because they were all part of the Tian Group, the competition was intense, and the relationship between the groups was not harmonious, with occasional minor conflicts.

"Group Nine!" Li Mang replied calmly.

"..." Before the eagle-nosed elder could react, the crowd burst into laughter, and many mocking looks were cast. No one would blame Group Nine for bullying Group Three; they would only laugh at Group Three's incompetence. What was Group Nine? ... Nothing.

Moreover, many spectators had witnessed the incident. Group Three had provoked first but ended up getting beaten, which was a great joke in the Yanhuang Academy.

"..." The originally aggressive eagle-nosed elder was silenced. His face turned alternately black and red, changing faster than a chameleon, but mostly out of disbelief. It wasn't that Group Nine didn't have anyone stronger than Pan Zhengcheng, but Li Mang was just a young man, a few years older, and it shouldn't have been possible for him to beat Pan Zhengcheng.

"Worthless!" The eagle-nosed elder shouted at Pan Zhengcheng, who had just climbed to his feet, to cover his own embarrassment.

Pan Zhengcheng's face stiffened, but he didn't dare to get angry. He said softly, "Elder Mu, this guy is very strong."

"Hmph!" The eagle-nosed elder, known as Elder Mu, snorted and turned his gaze back to Li Mang, raising his thick eyebrows. "Young man, don't think you're strong enough to bully others. There are many people in the Yanhuang Academy who are stronger than you!"

"Senior, you might be misunderstanding. We were just sparring, and I accidentally used too much force," Li Mang replied calmly. This was not the secular world but the Yanhuang Academy, where truth often didn't hold as much weight as strength. He couldn't confront Group Three now.

The Yanhuang Academy had many rules, but rules were dead, and people were alive. If the other side wanted to kill him quietly, Li Mang didn't doubt their ability. Like Elder Mu, he guessed the elder's strength was over a hundred years of cultivation, surpassing Yang Fan! As far as he knew, most members of the Tian Group, except for the younger generation, had over a hundred years of cultivation.

How could an ant talk about fairness and justice with an elephant? It was absurd.

"Spar?!" Pan Zhengcheng laughed in anger.

"If it wasn't a spar, can you explain what happened to Elder Mu?" Li Mang glanced at him and asked coolly.

"..." Pan Zhengcheng opened his mouth several times but couldn't explain. He was at fault, and being young and straightforward, he didn't know how to twist the facts.

"Brother Cheng challenged you to a fight. You refused, and then you made that kid with the innate ability attack Brother Cheng. Brother Cheng naturally defended himself, but you ambushed him. Such underhanded tactics are not what a decent person would do!" Ding Tianhua, who had been standing by, interjected.

"Xiao Hua is right!" Pan Zhengcheng agreed, taking the opportunity to back down.

"Young man, do you have anything else to say?" Elder Mu asked coldly. He knew the little tricks of Ding Tianhua and Pan Zhengcheng, but since they were on his side, he naturally favored them over the truth. To him, right and wrong were no longer important.

Li Mang's heart sank. He didn't continue to explain, knowing it would be futile. He hoped the Yanhuang Discipline Group would come to investigate and resolve the issue.

"You're lying! You were the ones who bullied Li Mang first!" The little kid, hiding behind Li Mang, shouted angrily. He had regained some composure but couldn't help but speak out when he heard them falsely accuse Li Mang.

"Would they have fought if it wasn't for you?" Ding Tianhua countered.

Li Mang stepped in front of the little kid, signaling him to be quiet, and then said mockingly to Ding Tianhua, "Arguing with a kid, how honorable of you!"

The sarcastic tone made Ding Tianhua's teeth grind.

"Regardless, you were the first to attack. Even if the Discipline Group intervenes, you must give an explanation!" Elder Mu declared firmly, insisting that the little kid had attacked first, thus shifting the blame back to Li Mang.

Stopping the little kid from speaking again, Li Mang asked expressionlessly, "Elder Mu, what kind of explanation do you want?"

"First, apologize to Pan Zhengcheng, then take one of my palm strikes!" The eagle-nosed elder stated his conditions without hesitation.

"Wow..."

The crowd was stunned, all looking at the old man with strange expressions. A hundred-year-old cultivator demanding a young man with less than twenty years of cultivation to take his strike was shameless.

However, no one stepped in to stop it. Instead, they were extremely eager, and some even wondered how the young man would die under the old man's palm.

"..." Li Mang laughed in anger, saying nothing, just looking at the old man mockingly. They say that a shameless person can be invincible. He didn't know if others believed it, but he did.

"..." Realizing he was being misunderstood, Elder Mu's lips twitched, and he quickly added, "Of course, I won't bully the young. I'll suppress my cultivation to twenty years, no more, or may I be struck by lightning!"

Hearing his oath, the murmurs in the crowd finally stopped, and they turned to look at Li Mang expectantly, waiting for his response.