Chapter 13: Killing the Chicken to Scare the Monkey

The light drizzle continued to fall…

Su Chunfeng did not shout or yell like other students did when they fought. Instead, he silently chased after the rolling, wailing Yao Xinbo, kicking him hard again and again. He only stopped calmly after being held back by students who rushed over, then turned and walked wordlessly back to his classroom.

Just as he reached the classroom door, Tian Pingping ran out face-to-face.

She glared angrily at Su Chunfeng. But when Su Chunfeng’s calm, indifferent gaze met hers, a sudden chill ran down her spine. As if fearful, she quickly turned her head away to avoid it and hurried over to Yao Xinbo, who was already being helped up by classmates, covered in mud, bruised, and bloody all over his face.

“Xinbo, Xinbo, are you okay?”

“I’m telling my uncle, waaah…” Yao Xinbo broke down crying in front of everyone.

In the schoolyard under the light rain, many students had already rushed out of classrooms to watch the commotion, and students already in the yard came over under umbrellas to gather around.

Dong, dong, dong…

The bell for class rang.

Soon, the bustling, lively schoolyard quieted down.

Inside Classroom Fourteen, classmates whispered among themselves, looking with shock and disbelief at the thin, pale boy sitting by the third window on the left, Su Chunfeng—who would have thought that someone usually so weak and cowardly would suddenly erupt with such formidable strength and fury?

He had really changed.

From a mischievous, playful student, he became diligent and studious, quiet and reserved; from a cowardly, physically weak pushover, he became someone daring enough to suddenly fight, fast and fierce, silent and cold…

Soon, the homeroom teacher Li Jichun, having received a student’s report, hurried over. He took a few minutes from the first-period chemistry teacher Ren Zhao’s class that afternoon to harshly criticize Su Chunfeng, punishing him by making him stand outside for class. He also arranged for Tian Pingping and the class monitor Ren Zhiping to take Yao Xinbo to the hospital to check his injuries.

Su Chunfeng showed no resistance. He stood up under his classmates’ gaze, silently walked out, and stood outside the classroom door, letting the light rain fall on him.

As for the earlier conflict, Su Chunfeng had long been mentally prepared.

After all, having returned to his younger years and living among a group of energetic teenagers with high hormone levels, it was almost impossible to avoid some kind of argument or conflict. Even though he had tried his best to become quiet and well-behaved to avoid trouble.

And for such a small conflict or argument, there was really no need to use Esoteric Techniques to solve it.

Besides, there was currently an old fox at the school, Wang Qimin, who kept a low profile, had extremely high cultivation in Esoteric Techniques, and had already taken notice of Su Chunfeng early on. If he discovered that Su Chunfeng, so young, could actually use profound Esoteric Techniques, and Esoteric Arts at that… what would happen?

As he pondered, a short, slightly plump figure carrying a black umbrella walked slowly along the path beside the laboratory not far away.

It was Wang Qimin.

Su Chunfeng acted as if nothing was wrong and didn’t even glance at Wang Qimin.

He knew that from the day he was reborn, this old fellow had already begun to pay attention to clues in Dongwangzhuang Village, especially those at Dongwangzhuang Township Middle School—as a master of Esoteric Arts, the sudden presence of magnetic field fluctuations caused by Esoteric Techniques within the school would naturally draw his attention. And the famous madwoman in Dongwangzhuang Village, who had gone insane due to possession by an evil entity, suddenly recovering from her illness…

made Wang Qimin even more suspicious.

A few days ago, the puzzled Wang Qimin finally couldn’t help but find an excuse to go to Zhao Shangang’s home, asking how the former madwoman Li Yue’e’s madness had been cured.

Unfortunately, Li Yue’e was also somewhat baffled by it. She only said that she woke up that night on the street with her eldest son Zhao Shangang, and she didn’t know what had happened before. Her eldest son said she had run madly into the street again, then fell down, and after that she was fine.

Wang Qimin, of course, didn’t believe that just falling down could make a possessing evil entity disappear.

Just as he was about to ask more and try using some Art Casting to uncover some clues, Zhao Shangang returned. Wang Qimin quickly and politely pulled Zhao Shangang aside to ask what exactly happened that night, who they encountered, and how his mother’s illness was cured…

Zhao Shangang’s reply was direct and rude: “Get lost!”

No wonder. Zhao Shangang’s mother was a widow, and Wang Qimin was an unmarried man. In a rural environment like this, Zhao Shangang had to be cautious about such things. Moreover, Wang Qimin—someone already rumored in the village to be a bit mystical and odd—was asking about something extremely sensitive to Zhao Shangang that involved Su Chunfeng, making Zhao Shangang extra careful.

Afterward, Zhao Shangang used this as an excuse. That very evening, he had someone go to the school to call Su Chunfeng outside and told him about this incident.

Su Chunfeng said to him: “You did the right thing.”

He said nothing else.

…

Wang Qimin walked slowly under his umbrella, and under the surprised gazes of many students in the class, he stopped in front of Su Chunfeng. The chemistry teacher Ren Zhao on the podium also looked puzzled—in this school, Wang Qimin was famously indifferent to students; what was so special today?

However, it was class time after all, so Ren Zhao didn’t pay further attention. He quickly looked away and continued teaching his lesson to the students.

“Su Chunfeng, why are you being punished to stand?” Wang Qimin asked with a smile.

“I got into a fight,” Su Chunfeng replied, curling his lip and putting on the regretful, teacher-fearing expression typical of a well-behaved student who had made a mistake.

“With whom?”

“Yao Xinbo…”

A flicker of confusion passed over Wang Qimin’s face. He asked very quietly, “I heard you scared Yao Xinbo badly last month. Why did you fight again today?”

So he had noticed after all, Su Chunfeng’s heart trembled, but his expression didn’t show the slightest sign of unusual tension. He forced an awkward smile and said, “Yao Xinbo was bullying people too much, I couldn’t help but fight him. At worst, I won’t go to school here anymore…”

“How did you scare him last month?”

“He was pretending on purpose, acting cheap! He just wanted to show off in front of the girls, to get their attention!” Su Chunfeng put on an expression of gritting his teeth and hatefully tattling and slandering someone in front of a teacher.

Wang Qimin looked at Su Chunfeng seriously.

Su Chunfeng hung his head, scraping the tip of his shoe on the damp ground.

After a while…

Wang Qimin walked away slowly under his umbrella.

Su Chunfeng relaxed inside—he believed Wang Qimin hadn’t detected anything unusual. Because Su Chunfeng’s current body had not the slightest aura of Esoteric Technique cultivation. At most, the extra exercise before his daily morning runs had made his physique much better than right after his rebirth.

As for cultivation in mental state…

That was not something Wang Qimin could judge just by looking or sensing.

In the Jianghu of Esoteric Arts, the realms of Esoteric Technique cultivation were divided into nine levels: Mind Awakening, Heart Cultivation, Talisman Offering, Body Purification, Qi Stabilization, Qi Refining, Awakening Spirit Realm, Return to Simplicity, and Return to Truth.

Before his rebirth, Su Chunfeng’s cultivation had entered the Awakening Spirit Realm. After rebirth, his mental state remained the same, but his physique was extremely poor. The first level, Mind Awakening, and the second level, Heart Cultivation, were both cultivations of mental state. Therefore, Su Chunfeng could skip them directly. On average, his current cultivation should be slightly higher than the third level, Talisman Offering.

Wang Qimin’s cultivation had already entered the Qi Refining Realm and had lingered at this level for years. Even by the time of Su Chunfeng’s previous death, Wang Qimin had not advanced further.

Just before class ended, Ren Zhiping and Tian Pingping returned from the hospital with Yao Xinbo.

Yao Xinbo’s body was not seriously injured; it was just some superficial scrapes.

Su Chunfeng knew this well. He didn’t want to injure Yao Xinbo’s bones or tendons, as that would cause big trouble for himself and his family. But wasn’t there a saying about killing the chicken to scare the monkey? Su Chunfeng wanted to use his violent beating of Yao Xinbo to intimidate the other classmates in his class, so that in his future quiet, diligent, and studious life, there wouldn’t always be some random troublemakers jumping out to pick fights.

However, the earlier beating wasn’t intimidating enough, and Su Chunfeng still didn’t feel completely settled.

Following homeroom teacher Li Jichun’s earlier instructions, chemistry teacher Ren Zhao made Yao Xinbo, who was not seriously hurt and only had minor injuries, also stand outside the classroom door.

Su Chunfeng stood on the right side of the door.

Yao Xinbo stood on the left side.

Yao Xinbo, bruised and dirty all over, hung his head in shame, feeling utterly humiliated. He was incredibly miserable inside—he had originally been full of confidence and aggression, planning to establish his authority by targeting Su Chunfeng. Who would have thought that in front of everyone, he would be violently beaten up by the weakest, most cowardly Su Chunfeng in the class, without even a chance to fight back, and even, damn it, got injured. How could he have any face left to stay in school after this?

Inside the classroom, Ren Zhao was teaching, and the students were listening…

No one paid attention to the two students outside, and no one thought much about it. Generally speaking, fights between classmates, a common occurrence, were considered settled by this point.

But it wasn’t over yet!

Su Chunfeng, standing on the right side of the door, suddenly turned, stepped forward, and silently swung his hand, delivering a resounding slap to Yao Xinbo’s face. Smack!

Yao Xinbo was stunned.

All the classmates in the room were drawn by the sound of the slap from outside and looked over in shock.

Teacher Ren Zhao on the podium was also stunned.

Su Chunfeng, the student who had beaten Yao Xinbo black and blue before class and was now being punished to stand, completely disregarded the teacher and school rules. Without caring that it was class time, right outside the classroom door, in front of the teacher and all the students, he slapped Yao Xinbo again and quickly threw several punches, knocking Yao Xinbo to the ground, kicking and hitting him.

“Ah, ah…!”

“Teacher!”

“He’s hitting someone!”

Yao Xinbo’s wails rose continuously. Only then did Ren Zhao react and rush out: “Su Chunfeng, stop! Are you crazy…”