After the welcome party, the class dispersed from the restaurant. Fei Baixue, Hong Wuhao, and the rest of the class left after the party.
Since it was dark out, with the moon shining high above, Tian Qingfeng stayed behind waiting for Wu Haoran to come out of the restroom.
Standing outside the restaurant, he leaned against the wooden pillar next to the restaurant's entrance and looked out at the hustle and bustle of Jade Street.
The warm lights from the hanging lanterns, the fragrant aromas from the food stalls nearby, and the bustling noise of the food street gave him such a sense of peace and comfort that he started to zone out.
Looking out at the scenery of the food street, the bright lights and steam shifted into various shapes. The shapes turned into vague humanoid figures. The figures demonstrated the Eight Tigers Fist, each one seamlessly shifting from one form to another.
As Tian Qingfeng immersed himself in those figures, he understood more and more about the Eight Tigers Fist. How the forms' stances should be executed, how each form connects to the others, and the rhythmic tempo of the tiger rumbles.
…
The wooden door opened with a creak, snapping Tian Qingfeng back from his daze. Walking out, Wu Haoran looked at Tian Qingfeng with a slightly concerned look on his face.
"Are you ok?"
"I'm good. Why'd you ask?" Tian Qingfeng turned his head and looked at him.
"You seemed to have spaced out just then."
"It's nothing. Just thinking about some things."
Tian Qingfeng stopped leaning on the wall and turned towards Wu Haoran.
"Are you ready to leave?"
"Yup, let's go."
Both of them walked side by side and left Jade Street. After walking for a while, Tian Qingfeng stopped at an intersection and asked Wu Haoran a question.
"I'm heading this way. Which way is your home?"
"It's in the same direction. Probably just a bit further down the road."
"Oh, let's go then."
They both headed down the dark street, chatting with each other.
"So, this was your first school day. How was it?"
"It's fine. You all have been very kind to me."
"You seem to be confused about how close Old Chan, Old Lu, and I are. Don't you have friends that are just as close?"
"No, not really. Most of my friends were only interacting with me because of my position and my family name. That's kind of the reason why I transferred to this school."
"Ah, that makes sense. Let's be friends then. Regardless of your background, I have got your back."
"Sure." Wu Haoran gave a half-hearted reply
"Do you have any hobbies?"
"Well, I do like…"
Walking and talking, they both continued down the road. At some time, Wu Haoran got close and started whispering to Tian Qingfeng
"Don't turn around, there are a couple of guys following us."
Using his peripheral vision, Tian Qingfeng looked at a mirror placed on a pole near the corner of the street. Through the mirror, he saw several people tailing them, acting as fellow pedestrians.
"Let's go this way." Tian Qingfeng subtly motioned in a hushed voice and turned right at the intersection. While turning, he noticed that their tails seemed to pick up the pace so as not to lose them.
Turning down that road, as they passed a dark alleyway, Tian Qingfeng saw a metallic glint out of the corner of his eyes. Reacting quickly, he leaned backwards, pushing on the ground with the soles of his feet while grabbing Wu Haoran and pulling backwards.
At the same time, Wu Haoran, who was about to step back, was slightly startled by Tian Qingfeng pulling him back.
The metallic glint swiped past, barely grazing their nose.
After regaining their footing, Tian Qingfeng and Wu Haoran looked up to see a saber pointed towards the ground held by a hand extending from the dark alleyway.
A figure walked out from the shadows. They wore a blood-red robe, red pants, a blood-red Oni mask, and a red hood that covered their entire head. On the mask's forehead was a diamond-shaped hole where a blood-red teardrop-shaped tattoo was glowing.
After the blood-robed man walked out of the dark alley into the area lit up by the street lamp, the people following them rushed over and blocked the back exit. Every one of them held either a metal pipe or an aluminum baseball bat.
Recognizing the Blood Drop mark on the man's forehead, both of them tensed up.
"Blood Cult," Wu Haoran hissed.
It was only 6 years ago that they were reclassified as a cult after their God's Tenets were revealed.
Under the flickering street light, the one under the red hood chuckled with a low raspy voice.
"He he he, what do we have here. The accursed blasphemers spawn, and the current Divine Successor.
"This is such a nice surprise. With such an achievement, we might even be able to become a permanent Touched blessing!!!"
As the Red Robed man spoke, the five lackeys behind them cheered and cackled.
Tian Qingfeng tensed up when he heard what the red-robed man said. Although he was slightly confused, he put it out of his mind for now.
He had to focus on this dangerous situation. Getting into stance, he lowered his center of gravity as he steadied his fists. Perking up his ears, he could hear every swish that was made by the grunts swinging their metal clubs and bats around.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Wu Haoran pull out a spear with two crescent blades attached to either side of the spearhead out of nowhere with a burst of golden motes of light.
"Tian, I'll take the red-robed man while you deal with the five people behind us." After saying that, he took a couple of steps forward and stood in front of Tian Qingfeng.
"Got it." With that, Tian Qingfeng took a step back and turned around to face the 5 goons that were slowly starting to inch closer and closer to both of them.
Rushing forward, Tian Qingfeng headed towards the 5 goons and took the initiative. Punching forward, he executed the first of the Eight Tigers Fists 8 forms.