"So strong."
Bai Shan and Wu Hao were both stunned.
Even they wouldn't dare to be so presumptuous.
Though Hu Jia was wayward and wilful, her strength was undeniably real!
With her grandfather being the Vice Principal of the outer faculty, how could Hu Jia's strength possibly be weak, having been influenced by him since childhood?
The Dou Techniques and Cultivation Techniques Hu Jia practiced were of extremely high quality, and even they couldn't guarantee they could beat her.
To forcefully catch Hu Jia's full-powered whip with one's hand, they wouldn't dare.
And those spectating were also dumbfounded, they hadn't expected Xu Ran's strength to be so formidable. No wonder he was the man who captured the hearts of Heaven's Proud Daughters, he truly had some tricks up his sleeve.
In this world where strength reigned supreme, Xu Ran had just displayed his abilities and immediately earned the respect of a group of people. Their views on Xu Ran had changed considerably.
The strong have everything, such are the laws of this world.
From the moment they embarked on the path of cultivation, they understood this principle deeply.
Being the strongest, Xu Ran could win the love of those Heaven's Proud Daughters, and it didn't seem unjustified at all.
"How did you do it?" Hu Jia was still unable to recover from her shock; she was still utterly bewildered. She just couldn't fathom how her whip attack, a High-Level Profound Rank Dou Technique, didn't prevail.
Who among those of the same rank would dare to catch it directly?
It could be said that any Great Fighter would avoid it desperately.
Yet Xu Ran looked completely unfazed.
And by the relaxed way Xu Ran carried himself, it seemed like mere play to him.
"I've said it before, you're just a small fry in my eyes. If you call me 'big brother', how about I teach you some cultivation techniques?" Xu Ran said with a mischievous grin.
"You're the small fry! I'm going to fight you!"
Hu Jia was close to tears; she had never imagined that the gap between Xu Ran and herself would be so vast.
She shouldn't be so... so weak!
Hu Jia tried hard to pull her whip back, but she couldn't free it at all. Out of sheer frustration, she dropped the whip altogether and went for a direct punch with her bare fists.
"Ah, such a pity. What a golden opportunity," murmured Ruo Lin to herself, feeling regretful.
Hu Jia didn't realize the great opportunity she had missed, even Ruo Lin wished to be guided by Xu Ran in her cultivation.
With Xu Ran's help, Hu Jia would surely be among the strongest geniuses of Canaan Academy in the future.
Xu Ran was the type who could turn the decayed into the miraculous.
Unfortunately, Hu Jia chose to give up.
If those strong individuals outside who earnestly sought an audience with Xu Ran knew about this, who knew if they would cry out of sheer frustration.
If they could be mentored by Xu Ran, even at a sky-high price, they'd be willing.
The world is indeed such a curious place.
"All right then, Today I'll give you a proper lesson on behalf of the family. Don't be too arrogant outside. It's a good thing I have a kind heart, or else... you'd be in real trouble," Xu Ran shook his head and tightened his grip on the whip.
"You? Kind hearted? If you were, then there wouldn't be any bad guys left in this world," Hu Jia grumbled to herself. Xu Ran, kind-hearted? Xu Ran was driving her to the brink of madness, how could he be kind-hearted?
Xu Ran's temperament was nothing close to that word, was it?
"Watch closely. I'll show you the difference between us."
Xu Ran moved like a phantom, appearing right in front of Hu Jia in an instant, his speed causing her complexion to change suddenly. Then, he wrapped the long whip around Hu Jia's body like a rope, binding her tightly in three coils.
Her fiery figure was now completely revealed.
"You, you, you! What are you doing?" Before Hu Jia could react, Xu Ran had her tightly bound, her hands also firmly tied with the whip.
"Of course, I'm going to beat you up," Xu Ran replied.
"But I still won't hit your beautiful face. You're a girl, after all; a bruised face wouldn't look good. However..." Xu Ran teased.
"However what?" Hu Jia was completely panicked at this point. She was totally immobilized, bound up without any sense of security.
Before Xu Ran could even speak, Hu Jia felt a sudden, intense pain on her buttocks.
"Ah!"
"Xu Ran, how dare you? You and I are sworn enemies!"
"I'll fight you with everything I've got, Xu Ran! How dare you hit me?"
Humiliated and furious, Hu Jia felt an intense shame as Xu Ran spanked her in public, almost causing her to faint.
This is outrageous!
In the past, she was always the one doing the hitting, who had ever dared to hit her?
Xu Ran was the first!
And to add insult to injury, he spanked her!
Doesn't he know a girl's buttocks are off-limits?
"Ahh! It hurts!"
Hu Jia's cries did nothing to stop Xu Ran; in fact, he struck even harder.
"Keep yelling, keep yelling, scream your throat raw for all the good it'll do you," Xu Ran said with a sinister chuckle.
"Xu Ran, you're shameless!"
"I'm shameless? It's clearly you who troubled me for no reason at all and then ruined my good mood. Now you're saying I'm shameless?"
"Anyway..."
Upon reflection, Hu Jia realized there was some truth to this.
But, but...
"Anyway, you're just shameless, Bai Shan, Wu Hao, are you just going to stand there and watch? Don't just stand there, help me out. Together we can surely defeat Xu Ran!" A mixture of shame and anger laced Hu Jia's words as she called out to Bai Shan and Wu Hao.
Bai Shan and Wu Hao were not inferior to her in strength, both being high-level Great Fighters.
She couldn't believe that Xu Ran could win against their combined assault.
Only now did Bai Shan and Wu Hao snap out of their daze, exchanging a glance before heavily stamping their feet and lunging towards Xu Ran.
"If you're seeking death, then don't blame me," Xu Ran said as he watched Bai Shan and Wu Hao approach, still holding Hu Jia and vanishing from his original spot.
Suddenly appearing in front of Bai Shan, he punched with full force!
Boom!
Blood rained down from the sky.
Blood drizzled down from the heavens, staining a vast area red.
And Bai Shan was nowhere to be seen.
Bai Shan was reduced to ashes by Xu Ran's single punch!
The blood got onto everyone's faces, the stark smell of iron causing them to feel faint and nauseous.
"Ugh."
Many people couldn't bear it, turning their heads to vomit.
"You, you... where's Bai Shan?"
Clutched in Xu Ran's arms, Hu Jia had charged towards Bai Shan with him and had seen it all with her own eyes... yet she couldn't believe what she saw.
Bai Shan was also a famous prodigy, but now...
Was he really blasted into nothing but residue?
Now, where was Bai Shan? Only endless mists of blood and puddles of blood remained, the ground dyed a vast red. In the faint light, chunks of flesh were still visible.
Wu Hao's charge towards Xu Ran came to a screeching halt, and he stepped back in shock, staring at Xu Ran with a cold fear rising up his spine.
Fortunate...
If Xu Ran had targeted him instead just now, he would have met the same fate, not even a corpse left behind.
But what Wu Hao didn't realize was that this wasn't luck, but rather Bai Shan had been particularly loathsome to Xu Ran. Those Xu Ran despised naturally faced a dead end. Wu Hao, however, had the bearing of a man, which Xu Ran could respect, and so he did not kill him.
"Do you still want to fight?" Xu Ran turned his head, looking at the severely shaken Wu Hao.