Ye Mo was sitting on the ground, his back leaning against a shelf as he was reading a book on the topography of the land.
Azure Water City was one of the strongest cities of the Cloud Region. However, the Cloud Region like the Floating Carp Region, was only one part of the Mountain Breeze province. All these took place in the Blazing Sun Continent, a gigantic piece of land surrounded by water.
The Mountain Breeze Province was situated on the central land, beside the Water Scale Province that was bordering the eastern coast.
Ye Mo was engrossed in his read. He had never left Azure Water City before he was beaten up by the merchants not too long ago, and even in the city, there were places where he never went as he avoided many areas where cultivators were plentiful.
From this book, the Blazing Sun Continent seemed like a limitless land where mingled rivers of fire and icy mountains, savage wilderness and illustrious empire, raging volcanoes, scorching deserts and frozen peaks.
Even mysthical sites like the Primeval Reverse Pond or the Dragon Thunder Valley could be found.
Reading about all this made Ye Mo's blood boil. Just thinking about the vastness of the world and all its possibilities, he had the urge to return home cultivate and quickly leave the city to embrace new opportunities.
He was still reading when two boys passed by and glanced at him before disappearing behind another shelf. As they noticed him, they quickly backtracked and returned to the row where Ye Mo was seated.
"Hey, look at this kid, he's only a first layer Qi Gathering Realm cultivator?" One of the boy said lowly to the other youth. Although he whispered, his voice was still quite loud, as if he didn't really care whether he was heard or not.
"How could his cultivation be this low? Oh wait he must be one of the newcomers, I heard there was one with no cultivation that reached the top ten with just his body." The one following him heard rumours about the tournament and shared them with his friend.
"Top ten? I guess the level must have been pretty low this time, even I ranked at the 18th place last year but you tell me this fool that focused only on body cultivation got the rewards from top ten? Hey, it hasn't been this long since the tournament ended, maybe he hasn't consumed his rewards yet hehehe..." The boys licked their lips excitedly as they approached Ye Mo.
"Hello little brother, my name is Fang Jishen and this is my friend Wang Yue."
Ye Mo raised his head for a second and gazed at the disturbance before he stared at the pages again and ignored them. Now he understood what the man at the counter felt when he saluted him, 'noisy pest'.
"How dare you ignore me..." Fang Jishen gritted his teeth but eventually controlled himself as he continued "Then I will get straight to the point. The Tiger Martial Institute is a dangerous place, there's many competition among the disciples here and with your measly cultivation you will quickly become a target. We can protect you in exchange for compensation, 200 golds per month should suffice or you can just directly give me your meridian purifying pill and no one will bother you for a year, what do you say, it's not a bad offer right?"
"Okay, follow me, I left the meridian purifying pill at my house." Ye Mo stated emotionlessly as he stood up and returned the book to its place.
"You made the right decision." Fang Jishen nodded approvingly as they both followed him calmly but their eyes shined brightly and the corners of their mouths kept trembling. Their greed couldn't be hidden.
The three walked out of the library together and continued until they reached Ye Mo's stone shelter.
"You can come in while I take it." Ye Mo opened the door and invited them inside.
"What a simple little house, it suits you." Commented Fang Jishen as he saw everything with one step inside. This house was not even the size of his room, and he would not take it even to shelter his dog, but he did his best to rein in his emotions and avoid offending Ye Mo until the pill was in his hands.
Although the house was pretty far from the others, Wang Yue was mindful of people witnessing something and closed the door behind him so no one could see the transaction.
Ye Mo took out the green spatial pouch that belonged to Liu Hualing he left at home. He looked like he was taking something from inside when suddenly wind gathered around his body.
Fang Jishen, who wasn't on guard, just saw him moving as swift as a gale when he felt something hitting the side of his head and himself helplessly falling on the ground.
"Bastard!" Wang Yue bellowed as he punched towards Ye Mo. His fist glowed bright red inside the stone house but Ye Mo caught it with one hand and with the other, he punched Wang Yue's belly.
Wang Yue's upper body slouched forward, and his mouth opened wide, sending saliva onto the floor.
Wang Yue lost consciousness when he felt an elbow crushing his back.
In an instant, both Fang Jishen and Wang Yue were neutralized.
When Fang Jishen came back to himself, he realized he couldn't use an ounce of Qi. It was like it was unable to circulate in his body anymore.
"It's no use, I pressured your meridians when you were asleep. Now tell me, where do you live?" The books Ye Mo has been reading weren't for nothing. Without his qi responding, Fang Jishen will not be able to use his battle skills for some time.
When he saw he was awake Ye Mo grabbed him by the neck and lifted his body.
Fang Jishen looked at the ground from the corner of his eyes and saw Wang Yue lying near the door in a pool of blood.
Fang Jishen felt a chill run down his spine. He tried to scream, but he immediately felt the pressure on his neck tighten and no sound came out of his mouth but a deep and constrained exhalation. At the same time Ye Mo's fingers slipped in the cavity between Fang Jishen's ribs, coiled behind one, and ruthlessly pulled away.
His flesh tore open and blood flew on the ground as one rib was left hanging out on the outside.
Fang Jishen's eyes bulged and intense pain flared from his chest. He tried to pry Ye Mo's hand away but his grip was firm like iron and without qi, he was no different than a lamb in front of a tiger.
"Where do you live?" Ye Mo asked again and Fang Jishen felt the pressure on his neck lower.
Fang Jishen coughed repeatedly, but realizing he could talk again, he quickly pleaded, "What do you want, money? My Fang family is wealthy, please let me go and I won't say anything about thi..."
He didn't have the time to finish his sentence when another rib was popped outside.
Fang Jishen was in so much pain his eyes became red and his body started trembling, but only small gasps could be heard from him.
His mouth drooled uncontrollably, and his gaze was fixed. He looked like a raving dog having a seizure.
Fang Jishen felt he had an emotionless devil in front of him. There was no discussion, no negotiation; he could only comply with his demands or suffer.
"Where do you live?" Ye Mo asked coldly another time.
"I have a residence... near the small stream... in the northeast of the disciples' district. Outside I have a room... at my Fang family... in the south of the city close to the Yan clan." Each sentence was laced with growls of pain and small gasps as he explained to Ye Mo where he resided with difficulty.
He didn't dare conceal anything in fear, answering truthfully.
Ye Mo lowered his arm bringing Fang Jishen to his level as he stared at his eyes, radiating deep killing intent "If I ever hear about this affair again, I know where to find you."
His tone was flat as he declared, but it increased the terror Fang Jishen felt towards him.
Fang Jishen subconsciously tried to nod but his head couldn't move. His eyes were wide open.
He was scared!
He felt fear deep in his soul towards Ye Mo.
His acts weren't those of a kid.
He felt like his words were heaven's edicts.
If I speak, he will definitely come for me.
This lunatic will kill me!
Suddenly, Ye Mo's hold on Fang Jishen's neck grew much stronger. Fang Jishen couldn't breath anymore. His hands clawed at Ye Mo's forearms, and his body flailed around aimlessly as he really was going to suffocate, all in vain.
In the end he lost consciousness due to the lack of oxygen, but Ye Mo did not kill him. He grabbed the unconscious pair and tossed them behind his house.
"It should be enough, he won't say anything." Ye Mo wasn't a master of manipulation but he knew well the wicked mind of humans.
Fighting was forbidden in the Tiger Martial Institute. If one broke the rule, depending on the extent of the damages he could be punished before being expelled.
If they talked, considering their injuries, Ye Mo would be sure to suffer the harshest of punishments, but he was certain it would not come to that. First, because the institute would perform an investigation before sentencing the students, by this time it would be easily revealed Fang Jishen and Wang Yue were the ones to oppress Ye Mo initially, condemning them to the same fate.
But most of all, if they talked and people learned they were defeated by a newcomer that they harassed first, not only would they be expelled as well, but they would also lose their reputation, their status as students, and their prospects at cultivation since there was no better place to do so than the institute.
It was akin to ruining your own life with a single word.
Moreover, Ye Mo was serious when he threatened Fang Jishen.
"These guys, if they didn't bother me, there wouldn't be any problem." Ye Mo shook his head. He was already a bit of a maniac with time. Each second had to be optimized to the fullest towards his growth, he had no time for this kind of play. He was already delaying his cultivation by going to the library every day, and although everything he was learning would prove worthwhile in the long run, he couldn't waste an instant.
Nonetheless, for those that block his path or slow him down, he would thoroughly crush them and make things clear from the start.
The truth is that the Tiger Martial Institute was aware some students coveted the resources of others or that the weak were targeted. The bullying and harassment that took place from time to time could not be hidden from them, yet they tacitly turned a blind eye to it.
Despite establishing rules against those actions, they only served as a smokescreen to regulate the situation and present a virtuous stance to the outside. The reality is that, not only they did nothing most of the time, they actually encouraged this kind of oppression. They aimed to incite the students to engage in conflict, foster rivalry, and harbor grudges, using the persecution to temper the disciples and create a fire in their hearts to push and surpass themselves.
Most of the students were teens after all. At this age, people were impetuous and hot-blooded, they could not easily support staying closed up in a room cultivating all day and wished to enjoy their youth, holding private parties or hunting blood beasts.
Since they joined the institute, only good days awaited them in Azure Water City. They would rather go outside flaunt their power, and seek the validation of others, pursuing excitement in their lives, than endure the loneliness of diligent practice like they were still losers that could not enroll and had no future outlook.
Only in this environment where everyone competed against each other and the weak were stepping stones could they have the motivation and drive to keep pushing themselves and climb higher.
"The institute's higher-ups would only intervene if the student bothered was someone important or if the bullying went too far to the point it affected their cultivation. With Wang Yue and Fang Jishen's injuries, I am definitely in the second case. Without proper help, they will have to recuperate for some time before they can return to their daily life. But I didn't have any choice, with their cultivation, beating the two of them is not easy. If they escaped with only light injuries, they wouldn't have any qualms returning to pester me time and time again. I caught them off guard now but the next time, they would be prepared."
"I had to set an example right now and make sure they understand their place or my cultivation would have been severely impacted by these two during my first months in the Tiger Martial Institute, and I would not meet the requirements I placed on myself for future plans. Now I don't need to worry about those two anymore."
After he was done washing the blood, Ye Mo applied some medicinal paste on his right hand and returned to the library. His hand was aching after blocking Wang Yue's fist.
Fang Jishen would wake up an hour later on the grasses behind Ye Mo's house, and after hurriedly eating a healing pill, he would scurry off to his residence.
The servants there were scared seeing in what state he was, but none said a word afraid to be killed. They knew well what kind of temperament possessed their master.
Fang Jishen would learn later that Wang Yue wasn't dead or crippled but had just gone through the same round of interrogation as him.