While Shen Haoran is dealing with the 'younger generation' in the training field of Ogre Academy, another humiliation had happened quite secretly.
On the far edge of the Ogre Academy, shrouded by a dense thicket of black-barked trees, the air was heavy with the fragments of power this region had never seen before.
Qing'er stood with her usual poise, her foot resting casually on the chest of a massive, bearded man.
His breathing was ragged, his muscular frame broken, and his eyes rolled back in his head.
Qing'er has no idea who this man is, but she had guessed earlier that this is the secret guardian of Tang Shan, a 5th Stage Spirit Ascension Expert!
In this desolate region, a 5th Stage Spirit Ascension cultivator was a god walking among mortals, they can completely walk sideways and be treated with absolute respect!
Aside from the mysterious Spirit Hall who possessed power that the people of this region knows nothing of, 5th Rank Spirit Ascension could already take over a Kingdom overnight!
Even the officially recognised strongest expert in Eastern Region, the Sword Master of the Ning Clan, is also only at that level.
To Qing'er, however, he was merely a nuisance that needed to be swatted.
"Young Master, the guardian has been subdued," Qing'er's voice echoed in Haoran's mind through the mental link. "His Qi actually kind of resembles that of Tang Shan, probably a relative.... Shall I erase him?"
Haoran, standing in the center of the devastated training field, didn't even twitch.
'No. Not yet, I want to know more about his relationship with Tang Shan. Search his memories, extract every detail of his life, how is he related to Tang Shan, and why is someone like him acting as a guard, then send the report to me. Dispose of him only after he has no more information to give.'
"Understood," Qing'er replied, her eyes glowing with a predatory red light as she began the soul-search.
Back on the field, Haoran turned his gaze toward the trembling members of the Ogre Seven.
However, his gaze wasn't directed at all of them, but onto a girl with long, twitching rabbit ears and a fluffy tail, her face pale with terror.
For a human, she was certainly a top tier beauty, someone who can stand out even in the Central Region, but in Shen Haoran's eyes, she's nothing but a beast.
He walked toward her, his footsteps echoing like funeral bells that seems to frighten her more.
Then, without a word, he reached out and grabbed her by one of her soft, pink ears.
"Ah! Stop! It hurts!" Xia Ruo cried out, her small hands clawing at his iron grip as he lifted her off the ground.
"No! Let go of her!" Tang Shan roared from the dirt, his fingers digging into the soil until his nails bled. "You monster! Let Xia Ruo go!"
Haoran ignored the boy's hysterics as be stared into Xia Ruo's eyes, his pupils dilating as he utilized a high-grade pupillary technique.
...so this is the reincarnated beast that Qinq'er told him about?
"A Thunder Kicking Rabbit," he murmured, his voice a chilling monotone. "A Spirit Ascension demon beast, reincarnated into human form to escape the limitations of your lifespan set by the heavens. I wonder, why is a beast like you mingling with these monkeys? Do you find their stupidity endearing?"
Xia Ruo's heart nearly stopped.
Her greatest secret, the one she had hidden even from her closest friends, had been unraveled with a single glance.
She couldn't help but tremble in fear. As someone who has been in human world for almost twenty years, she knew the outcome of reincarnated demon beasts once they were discovered.
Best case scenario she'd be killed and turned into an artifact or pills.
Worst case scenario, she'd be taken by some crazy lunatic to be experimented on.
"Now, what to do with you..." Haoran's mind began to churn with the cold logic of a true Cultivator who pursues their desire above all else.
A Reincarnated Beast was a walking treasure chest. If he threw her into his Eight-Trigrams Cauldron, he could refine a Rank 7 Thunder Kicking Rabbit Body Refining Pill.
It would grant the consumer the explosive leg strength of a rabbit, extreme jumping capabilities, and a permanent affinity for lightning.
Not only that, but for those at Nascent Soul and below, it also grants them a guarantee to breakthrough a minor realm and extend their lifespan.
He looked at her small, trembling form and then let out a sigh of genuine boredom. "Forget it. Your bloodline is pure, but your cultivation is too low. Refining you now would be like eating unripe fruit. You aren't even worth staining the jade of my cauldron."
He released his grip, and Xia Ruo hit the ground with a dull thud, gasping and clutching her bruised ear.
She didn't raise any complaints, she simply cowered, as if already waiting for her judgement.
"Xia Ruo! Xia Ruo are you alright!?" Tang Shan called out, but she didn't answer.
Haoran moved on, his shadow falling over a portly boy whose back sprouted flickering, oily flaming wings.
He blinked, his eyebrow rising in surprise. "And you... a Phoenix spirit?"
He leaned down, inspecting the wings with the eye of a jeweler looking at a fake diamond. "No. It's a trace of Heavenly Phoenix bloodline, but it's so diluted and polluted by your gluttonous nature that it's more of a Flaming Chicken than a Phoenix. Tell me, bird-boy, what is your name?"
The fatty, Mu Xiaojun, didn't speak. He simply glared at Haoran with eyes full of venomous hatred, his teeth bared in a silent snarl.
Haoran's eyes narrowed, his pride immediately getting over him.
He absolutely loathed defiance from those he deemed inferior, especially when they were lying beneath him.
He raised a hand, his fingers glowing with a sharp, golden light, aimed directly for the boy's eyes, intending to gouge them out.
"Wait! Wait! Mu Xiaojun! His name is Mu Xiaojun!"
Ning Xueli threw herself between Haoran and the fatty, her arms outstretched. "Young Master Shen, please! You've already won! You've broken our spirits and our teacher. Don't hurt them any more than this!"
Honestly, she was far too stunned at what had just happened that she had only snapped out of it.
She was sure that if she was even a second later, Mu Xiaojun would've already lost his eyes.
Haoran looked down at her, and once again, his innate arrogance got the better of him.
Why do ants think they can stop him from doing something? Has he been so kind that they forget that he is from Central Region? Have they remained so reclusive that they forget their region is literally called the Desolate Region?
He didn't speak, he simply allowed his Golden Core aura to crash over her like a tidal wave.
"Cough!" Xueli's lungs felt as if they were being crushed by an invisible hand.
She vomited a spray of bright crimson blood, her knees slamming into the dirt so hard the stone cracked.
Yet, despite the agonizing pressure, she didn't look away. Her eyes were wide, filled with a desperate, unyielding light.
She would rather die than watch helplessly as her friends be crippled.
Haoran froze for a second, surprised at seeing such determined eyes.
It was almost as firm as Huo Yue's.
Thinking of his fiancée, he couldn't help but let out a low, amused chuckle as he squatted down in front of her, reaching out to grab her chin, forcing her to look at him.
"I like those eyes," he whispered, his voice dangerously close to her ear. "Most people in this kingdom look at me with either greed or terror. But you are different, almost like my Yue'er. That is a rare trait, I hope you don't change."
He let go of her chin and stood up, the suffocating pressure vanishing instantly.
Then, from his spatial ring, he produced a small, transparent glass bottle. Inside, five golden pills rolled around, emitting a soft, medicinal fragrance that seemed to heal the very air.
"Take these," he said, tossing the bottle into her lap. "They are Rank 2 Golden Spirit Recuperation Pills. They will knit their bones and mend their internal organs by sunrise. I had my fun. I think I am finished here for today."
He turned his back on the broken Ogre Seven, walking toward the exit of the academy with the effortless grace of a sovereign.
But before he could get far, he paused, looking over his shoulder at the kneeling Ning Xueli.
"I'm leaving, Miss Ning. But I find you quite interesting for a girl from this corner of the world. If you have time, please come find me at the Royal Guest Palace later tonight. I would love to have dinner with a lady of such... spirit."
He didn't wait for her answer. His figure blurred, disappearing from the sight of the seven people who once believed they were the center of the world, leaving behind the group of broken geniuses and a girl holding a bottle of pills.
Tang Shan looked at the bottle, then at the retreating back of the man who had crushed his pride.
He gritted his teeth, both in anger and pain. That man, one day he will surely make him pay!
Thirty years in east, thirty years in west! Don't bully the young and poor!
One day, he will surely climb to the top, and slap you in the face! At that time, I will give you time to catch up, until you can no longer see my back!
This, I swear, or my name won't be Tang Shan!