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From the corner of his eye, Tai barely registered something small and fast. Without thinking his hand snapped up, and he caught it in a firm grip–which to the rest of the onlookers, looked like he was raising a fist to Lu Xue. His eyes locked on the origin of the projectile–Yan Huiyin–and he raised an eyebrow as his lip curled.

“Who the hell–”

“You dare?!” One of the two students with Lu Xue suddenly dropped his weight, and struck out with a closed fist. The solid impact against Tai’s ribs pushed him away from Lu Xue–small clouds of dust swirled around his feet as his heels dug a furrow in the dirt.

“Ah, cease this!” Lu Xue said, raising a hand to his chin. He hid his smirk, but Tai could see it twinkling in his eyes. “Outer Disciples should not fight amongst each other outside of a proper match!”

“Oh, it ain’t a fight yet.” Tai growled, before crushing the pickled plum in his fist. He pointed at the boy who had hit him. “That was barely a punch.” He took a step forward, and the grin he flashed them bore white canines like a beast’s fangs.

“Then how about this!?” The other lackey took a step forward before raising his leg. With his hip and knee behind the thrust, his stomping kick was aimed for Tai’s gut–

It struck his chest instead, and unlike before Tai’s feet didn’t shift an inch against the ground. He had dropped: toes turned inward, knees bent, fists at his hips. A basic horse stance, one of the most fundamental movements of martial arts.

“What–?” The kicker suddenly cried out in pain as Tai’s hand snatched his leg at the ankle. The veins and sinew in the back of his palm stood taut against the skin–this was the fearsome tiger claw style grip of Dragon Slaying Tiger Fist, [i]Grasping Deer[/i]! It was so tight, the grinding of bone against bone could be heard. Then he jerked the other boy’s foot and twisted, and the cry rose sharply in pitch as the attacker was forced to do the splits before he hit the ground.

“You bastard!” Now Lu Xue looked angry again, and as he took a stance of his own the circle of other students expanded outward with several gasps and a ripple of gossip.

“OI, YOU BRATS!” boomed a voice. Everyone present stopped and turned to the Elder in the shop. He leaned out of the small building’s only window, holding the awning up above his wizened gray head. There was a glint in his eye that shone brighter than Tai’s own maniacal grin, but it rested in a face that might’ve been carved from granite. Such focused power produced an almost tangible weight over all the students, as if the mountain under them were rumbling. “Save it for the Spiritual Beast Woods! Get outta my line already!”

“Forgive us, Elder!” Lu Xue immediately straightened, holding himself with poise and dignity as he bowed with a clasping hand salute. “My friends only wished to defend me, but they were overeager! We will depart from this ruffian in peace!” The first lackey helped the second get up, but he was still noticeably limping. As they moved away, though, Lu Xue shot one last venomous look back at Tai. It clearly said, “Only for now.”

“Heh. Pissant.” Tai responded, flipping a rude finger gesture at the so-called Outer Genius. Then his brow furrowed again, and he whirled in place. As the crowd began to disperse, he caught sight of that fur collar again–and immediately stomped in that direction.

“Hey! You there! What’s the big idea?!” demanded Yan Huiyan’s fellow disciple as he closed in. “I wanted to fight that pompous asshole, not his two cronies!”

But to the astute observer, something didn’t add up. The two students known to pal around with Lu Xue all the time weren’t exactly slackers–both of them were either fourth or fifth rank in their Training Foundation. At least as capable as Tai himself, if not stronger, according to common logic. And yet he had seemingly taken no damage from their attacks? Was he wearing armor under his clothes? Or did he have some other hidden secret? Had he intentionally picked a fight for some reason?