The night hung still, its darkness flowing like water.
No. 11 High School.
Wang Hao chased the assassin all the way to the sports field. With a sudden burst of speed, he appeared instantly at the assassin's side. The electromagnetic ring on his finger flickered with electric light, and his palm morphed into layers of phantoms, slamming toward the killer.
"Don't you dare look down on me!"
Knowing he could not dodge, the assassin lashed out with his dagger, a silver flash slicing through the air.
"You dare call yourself an assassin with this kind of speed?"
Wang Hao scoffed in contempt, his speed surging once more. The endless phantoms of his palms were dazzling to the eye, paired with his perfected Lightning Step, leaving the assassin utterly dumbfounded. Was this kind of speed truly possible for someone at Level 7 Martial Disciple?
"Pfft..."
A sharp pain exploded in the assassin's chest. He spat out a mouthful of blood and crumpled to the ground.
"Impossible!!" The assassin clutched his chest, staring wide-eyed at Wang Hao. A Level 9 Martial Disciple assassin, defeated by a high school student at Level 7 Martial Disciple? Who would ever believe this if he told anyone?
What he could not accept most of all was that he had been taken down with a single strike from Wang Hao.
He was an assassin who had survived countless life-and-death battles, while his opponent was nothing but a high school student who had never stepped foot outside the campus gates. What's more, his cultivation level was higher than Wang Hao's—and yet, he was the one who had lost.
"Speak. Who sent you?" Wang Hao's hand crackled with arcs of lightning, making him look imposing and majestic against the dark of night.
"You will never know..."
The assassin twisted his lips into a maniacal grin, and his figure vanished once more into thin air.
"Damned stealth cloak!"
Wang Hao's brows furrowed sharply. Relying on his superhuman perception, he locked onto the assassin's location in an instant.
"Shit!!"
Wang Hao's face drained of color. This time, the assassin was not running away—he was launching a full-on attack against him. Did he not fear alerting the teachers of No. 11 High School?
There was no time to think. Wang Hao twisted sideways, narrowly dodging the strike by a hair's breadth. At the same time, his Thousand Illusion Hands swept up a storm of phantoms, slamming heavily into the assassin's abdomen.
With a deafening crash, the assassin was sent flying backward. He twitched once on the ground, and his breath vanished in an instant. His abdomen was grotesquely mangled, a testament to the devastating force behind that single palm strike.
Ding! Congratulations to the Host for taking a life. 10,000 Villain Points have been awarded.
"I... I killed someone..."
Wang Hao's pupils constricted violently. He stumbled back two steps in terror, landing hard on his rear on the ground.
For all his usual cheeky, mischievous, and unapologetically brazen demeanor, he had never taken a life before. He had never even imagined doing something like this.
Atop the high-rise building.
Su Mu and Principal Zhongli stared down at the scene below, their eyes filled with utter shock. A Level 7 Martial Disciple had just killed a Level 9 assassin with such ease? This boy was extraordinary.
Especially when his life had been on the line, the raw power behind Wang Hao's full-force palm strike had been nothing short of astonishing, easily on par with someone born with divine strength.
From what they had seen, Wang Hao possessed not only speed that defied his cultivation level, but also strength that should have been impossible for him to wield.
What stunned Su Mu most of all, however, was that Wang Hao had perfect control over this immense speed and power. That meant his spiritual power was unbelievably strong.
"A talent like this is unheard of," Su Mu exclaimed in awe.
Principal Zhongli swallowed hard. He could already picture the earth-shattering scene that would unfold once Wang Hao enrolled in Tianbei University and honed his skills to perfection.
When that day came, the fools at the Royal Academy would regret it so badly they'd spit up blood, and the nobles would be thrown into utter panic.
"The Royal Academy is about to lose face in the most spectacular way possible," Principal Zhongli muttered to himself.
When Wang Tianyi had been just an ordinary commoner, they had refused to recruit him into the Royal Academy—and that had been forgivable, at the time.
But Wang Hao had been enrolled in their academy from the very start. And those idiots had expelled him, all because of what had happened with Wang Tianyi.
Because of their stupidity, this peerless genius had landed right in Su Mu's hands, giving her the chance to raise another supreme talent that would sweep the floor with the Royal Academy.
If Wang Hao succeeded in his sweep this time, the humiliation the Royal Academy suffered would make the blow from Wang Tianyi look like nothing.
At the thought of this, Principal Zhongli could only shake his head. Those fools at the Royal Academy must be out of their minds, a bunch of masochists with nothing better to do.
"Xiao Zhong, go down and comfort Wang Hao. Make sure he doesn't carry any psychological burden from this," Su Mu exhaled slowly, lifting her gaze to the stone statue of Wang Tianyi on the sports field. The father had been a once-in-a-generation prodigy, but the son was an unparalleled genius of the ages. How was anyone supposed to compete with a family like this?
"Understood!" Principal Zhongli bowed slightly, then leaped down from the building, landing silently beside Wang Hao.
"Who's there?!"
Wang Hao jolted like a startled bird, immediately dropping into an attack stance.
"Easy there, little one. It's just me. I saw everything that just happened. No one will hold this killing against you," Principal Zhongli said, looking at Wang Hao, whose body was trembling slightly. He pressed a finger to Wang Hao's forehead, and a wave of calm instantly washed over the boy.
"Really? I won't be held responsible?" Wang Hao asked tentatively.
"This was self-defense, and I'll testify to that. What have you got to be afraid of?" Principal Zhongli smiled softly. For all his troublemaking and bravado, he was still just a student who had never left the campus. When faced with his first kill, fear was only natural.
"Good, that's a relief," Wang Hao patted his chest, his gaze quickly landing on the transparent vest on the assassin's body.
The stealth cloak!
Wang Hao's eyes lit up. All his fear forgotten, he rushed forward and tore the stealth cloak off the body, along with the assassin's dagger.
"Principal, I'm heading back first. And these are for you," Wang Hao tossed two vials of the Spiritual Power Surge elixir to Principal Zhongli, then hurried away as if he was afraid the principal would try to steal his spoils.
Principal Zhongli froze for a moment. When he saw exactly what the vials in his hand were, his composure shattered entirely. He snarled, "You little brat! What the hell do you take me for?!"
Wang Hao glanced back, waving a hand and raising an eyebrow. "I get it, I totally get it!"
Principal Zhongli's face turned thunderously dark. What on earth did he get? This was blatant slander!
"Forget it," Principal Zhongli rubbed his temples, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. He'd already seen more than enough of Wang Hao's shamelessness, and this was just one more instance to add to the list.
"Xiao Zhong, run a thorough investigation. Find out who's behind this," Su Mu's voice echoed in his head via sound transmission.
"Sigh. Looks like I won't be getting a peaceful night's sleep again," Principal Zhongli sighed. He glanced down at the two vials of Spiritual Power Surge elixir in his hand, and finding nowhere else to put them, stuffed them into his pocket before vanishing into the night...