“Do you have anything else to say?” I turned around, frowning as I looked at the Thai freshman.
The guy struggled to his feet with some difficulty, then bowed to me.
Seeing this, I was confused—what was he trying to do?
After bowing, the Thai freshman said to me seriously, “I’m sorry. The Chinese truly hide their strength well. I take back my earlier boast—Chinese martial arts aren’t just fitness exercises, they’re real combat skills!”
His words surprised me. From his demeanor, he seemed like a proud person, yet he had actually taken the initiative to apologize.
“Well said!” The surrounding students cheered when they heard the Thai freshman apologize.
I didn’t say anything but felt that this guy wasn’t so bad, so I gave him a smile.
Just as I was about to turn and leave, he spoke again: “This time, I was no match for you. But that doesn’t mean Muay Thai is weaker than Chinese martial arts!”
Seeing that I remained silent, the Thai freshman continued, “Can you tell me your name?”
D*mn! A grown man saying something like that to me made me feel awkward, but since he asked, it’d be rude not to answer. So I said, “Xia Tian…”
“Xia Tian…” The Thai freshman repeated my name, then declared, “I’ll come find you again in a year. By then, I’ll definitely defeat you!”
Without waiting for my response, he turned and walked away through the crowd.
“Wow! So this hottie’s name is Xia Tian!”
“Yeah, it sounds so nice!”
“Nice my ass! It’s totally a girly name!”
“Exactly! With skills like that, how could he have such a lame name?”
“Look at names like Jang Geun-suk—now that’s a powerful name!”
What the hell? Since when was my name any of their damn business? Did I need to change it to something like Yang Dingtian to satisfy them?
These people didn’t hold back at all, and Lu Sen and the others beside me heard everything clearly.
Hao Shuai and Diao Sinan suppressed their laughter, pretending they hadn’t heard anything, while Lu Sen—that idiot—burst out laughing without restraint.
“Let’s go!” I snapped, frowning. Lu Sen quickly stopped laughing and followed me as we walked away.
“Wait, doesn’t he look like that new guy from the martial arts club who crushed Lin Youchen?” Someone suddenly shouted, causing an immediate uproar.
“Yeah! Yeah! I saw that post—he looks exactly like the guy in the pictures!”
“That’s old news! I heard some Japanese freshman tried to get revenge for Lin Youchen and got wrecked too!”
“Wow, he’s good-looking and has killer skills!”
“Who cares about fighting skills? What matters is how good he is in bed!”
Hearing all this, I couldn’t stay a second longer and quickly pushed my way through the crowd.
“Hey, handsome, leave us your number!”
“Yeah! Don’t go!”
“I’ve decided—such good genes shouldn’t go to waste! Handsome, stay! I just need a little donation!”
Holy shit! Were these girls or a pack of wolves?!
“Run!” I yelled at Lu Sen and the others before bolting.
After sprinting for a while, Lu Sen gasped, “O-old… old bro, stop running! They’re gone!”
“Bro, I’m out of energy!” Diao Sinan wheezed.
I stopped and looked back. Sure enough, the crowd hadn’t chased us. I let out a sigh of relief.
Lu Sen walked over, smirking. “Who knew our big, tough bro would be scared of a bunch of girls?”
“Bullshit!” I snapped, though I wasn’t entirely confident. Dealing with girls wasn’t exactly my strong suit—otherwise, I wouldn’t keep getting bullied by Sister Lin.
Wait—no! It wasn’t fear. It was respect! Yeah, that’s it—respect!
Hao Shuai chuckled and said, “Bro, honestly, before you fought, I wasn’t sure you could beat that Thai guy. The result was unexpected!”
“Pfft! Who do you think our bro is? There’s no way he’d lose to that dude!” Lu Sen chimed in indignantly.
I ignored their bickering, lost in my own thoughts.
To be honest, Muay Thai was undoubtedly one of the strongest combat styles in the modern world—not just for its lethality but also its terrifying resilience.
Most Muay Thai practitioners started training from childhood, some even making it their profession.
But the downside was the toll it took on the body. The relentless pursuit of power left hidden injuries that would surface later in life.
Chinese martial arts, on the other hand, were different. The Thai freshman wasn’t entirely wrong to call modern Chinese martial arts “fitness exercises.”
In recent times, martial arts had focused more on health and fitness rather than actual combat—hence why so many elderly people practiced them.
But ancient Chinese martial arts were definitely superior to Muay Thai, with countless styles that could surpass it in lethality. The problem was that, for some reason, they couldn’t be openly displayed.
The decline of ancient martial arts, in my opinion, stemmed from outdated traditions—passing knowledge only to family members, only to sons, never outsiders or daughters.
Even among existing ancient martial arts families, the same mindset persisted. Take the Wang siblings, for example—Wang Ziyan clearly had more talent than Wang Haoming, yet she was much weaker. The fact that she had reached the Yellow Rank was purely due to her innate ability.
That’s why I was so grateful to Long Qingyang. He wasn’t bound by those old ways and had passed Dragon Battles the Eight Desolations to me without holding back.
Sigh… It was no different from isolationism. Japan’s greatest strength was absorbing the best from others and making it their own. Sometimes it backfired, but most of the time, it worked in their favor—you had to admire that.
Of course, when it came to Japan, my biggest interest was still their… educational films.
“Bro, what are you thinking about?” Lu Sen waved a hand in front of my face.
I snapped out of it and grinned. “Nothing! Let’s go!”
“Tch! Whatever!” Lu Sen shoved his hands in his pockets and walked ahead, clearly not buying it.
Hao Shuai gave a helpless smile at Lu Sen’s antics, then frowned and said to me, “Bro, Zhao Gao hasn’t shown his face lately. Do you think he’s planning something else against you?”
Zhao Gao still hadn’t transferred the 500 million he owed me, so things weren’t looking good. He was probably being restrained by the elders in his family.
Plus, I had first demanded the money, then made him forget everything. With both spells taking effect, he might have already forgotten. Thankfully, I’d dealt with that old cultivator—otherwise, the consequences would’ve been disastrous.
Just as I was thinking this, Lu Sen suddenly turned around, looking anxious. “Bro, Zhao Gao!”
I immediately looked in the direction he was pointing—and froze.
Zhao Gao’s appearance wasn’t what shocked me.
The real surprise was the person standing beside him.
Zhou Feng.