Chapter 38: Just Because I Call Him a Coward Doesn't Make You a Tough Guy

Seeing the Fragment Grenade taken away, the crowd that hadn't had time to flee finally breathed a sigh of relief. (Reading tip: For the smoothest reading experience, visit ttk. tw)

"Jiang Qin? Isn't he busy going on a crazy mission spree lately?"

"Damn it, scared the hell out of me. That Fang Lin is truly insane—committing suicide just to avenge his girlfriend? I'm still young, I don't want to die yet."

"Shit! Which bastard just took advantage of the chaos to grope my ass?"

"Why are you all looking at me? I'm gay, not interested in women."

As the chaos subsided.

Fang Lin, who had been sent flying, angrily stood up, a bright red palm print stamped on his left cheek. He roared, "Jiang Qin, this is a Life-and-Death Battle between me and that bastard—are you sticking your nose in?!"

The next second, a gravity pressure condensed from Spirit Power pressed down on him.

Fang Lin's face changed; his body uncontrollably dropped to its knees, and he spat out another mouthful of fresh blood.

He raised his head to look at Jiang Qin.

Jiang Qin finally nodded with satisfaction: "Now that's much more comfortable to talk."

Then he wiped the smile off his face, his calm voice carrying a terrifying chill:

"Sticking my nose in? Just because you were about to pull the pin on that grenade, I had every right to execute you on the spot! If I hadn't held back, your skull would already be shattered."

Down below, Xiao Xiao snarled, "Jiang Qin, we know you're tough, but that guy got our teammate killed—are you going to shield him?!"

Tian Qi chimed in as well: "They all say Jiang Qin hates evil like an enemy, but now it seems that was all empty talk!"

But the moment his words fell, his figure was blasted toward the ground like a cannonball, his eyes rolled back, and he passed out completely.

Su Lingwei calmly withdrew her hand and leapt to land behind Jiang Qin.

The meaning was self-evident.

Jiang Qin grinned and looked around: "If anyone else isn't convinced, feel free to step forward."

"I'm not like that coward Chen Xiaohu. If I'm in a bad mood, I might just twist your heads off. As long as you can beat me, I promise I'll turn around and leave this place immediately, not staying a second longer."

The area below fell silent; no one stepped up for Tian Qi.

As if they'd be stupid—who doesn't know this killing star takes out Third-tier Fierce Beasts like it's a game? With their scrawny bodies, they'd probably be wiped out before they could even speak.

Only then did Jiang Qin look down at Fang Lin kneeling on the ground and say lightly:

"I've been listening from the side for a while now. If I'm not mistaken, you're the team leader, right? When things went wrong, you pushed the blame onto your teammate, standing on the moral high ground to condemn this coward."

"I'll only ask you one question: whose idea was it for your team to enter the Third-Order Otherworldly Rift?"

Feeling the gazes from all around shooting toward him.

Fang Lin, steeling himself, pointed at Chen Xiaohu and said:

"It was my idea!"

"But if this guy weren't such a coward, exaggerating his own ability, we never would have had an accident!"

"Oh?" Jiang Qin's lips curled mockingly: "Then tell me, how exactly did he exaggerate his ability?"

Fang Lin's gaze darted away: "H-he said he could withstand attacks from an Earth Martial Realm Martial Artist."

Hearing this, Jiang Qin nodded: "I can testify to that, and so can the principal. Although this coward is a bit of a coward, he really can withstand attacks from an Earth Martial Realm Martial Artist."

Jiang Qin, as if seeing through everything, continued:

"Let me guess. You knew the coward could withstand attacks from an Earth Martial Realm Martial Artist, so you figured that even entering a Third-Order Rift, you'd still be able to slaughter everything. And because this coward can only defend and can't attack at all, you thought this was a perfect chance to show off in front of your woman."

"So you stupidly actually brought two Yin Ling Qi Chong deadweights and one Yin Ling Wu Chong deadweight into the Third-Order Otherworldly Rift."

"But you didn't expect this coward to be so afraid of pain."

"So the accident happened. A Third-tier Fierce Beast easily crushed your team, which was mainly composed of Yin Ling Realm Martial Artists. Actually, even assuming he wasn't afraid of pain and went to support in time, if the military squad hadn't happened to pass by, the remaining Third-tier Fierce Beasts would have been enough to wipe your whole team out!"

Jiang Qin's words struck at the heart with every syllable, precisely hitting what Fang Lin was thinking.

He had indeed held onto the idea of showing off in front of his girlfriend, which was why he insisted on entering the Third-Order Rift to hunt Fierce Beasts. When he came out of the Rift, he could be like Jiang Qin, famous throughout the Four Great Academies.

But Fang Lin would never admit it was his own vanity that led to his girlfriend's death.

He gritted his teeth and roared:

"No assumptions! I was facing two heavily wounded Red-Tailed Fire Bulls, I was about to finish them off. As long as Chen Xiaohu held them off for even 5 minutes, I could have found an opening to help them!"

"If it weren't for him, Xiao Rou wouldn't have died!!"

Jiang Qin nodded in agreement: "Looking at the result, that's indeed the case. He does bear some fault, but the bigger cause lies with you, this arrogant team leader."

"As team leader, without even knowing your teammates' conditions, you dared to recklessly enter a Third-Order Rift at the Second-tier Realm."

"In this incident, the main responsibility lies with you, this wildly arrogant team leader!"

Jiang Qin suddenly smiled, "Do you know what I would do if I were you?"

Without waiting for an answer, Jiang Qin answered himself:

"If I were going to use this coward as the main force to hunt Fourth-tier Fierce Beasts, then before entering the Rift, his fear of pain couldn't have been hidden from me. If I insisted on bringing him into the Rift, I would stab him with my blade over and over until he got used to the pain."

This remark made the surrounding listeners gulp involuntarily, their eyes filled with wariness.

To say something so horrifying so calmly—he truly lives up to his title of 'Ghost Slash,' who kills beasts like reaping hemp.

Fang Lin, shamed into anger: "So what! In the end, it's still because he's afraid of pain that all this happened!"

"If you're afraid of pain, why be a Martial Artist? If it were me…"

Before he could finish, two silver Flying Knives sliced through the air and sank deep into Fang Lin's two thighs, blood gushing out.

"Ahhh!!"

A scream rang out, chilling to the bone.

Jiang Qin paid no attention, once again asking Su Lingwei for two Flying Knives and casually tossing them out.

This time they hit Fang Lin's left arm and right arm respectively, two streams of blood spurted out, splattering all over the arena.

The force of the Flying Knives was controlled just right—piercing through his body yet lodging the knives right in the wound. Any slight movement would let him experience the pain of the blade slicing through flesh.

Fang Lin's wails grew even louder.

Jiang Qin said with a teasing smile, "Were you just trying to say that someone who fears pain doesn't deserve to be a Martial Artist?"

"Hearing you talk like that, I thought you weren't afraid of pain. But hearing you scream so 'happily' now, turns out you're afraid of pain too. I did call him by his nickname Coward, but that doesn't mean you're a tough guy."

"You've simply never experienced the pain he experienced, so of course it's easy for you to talk."

"Now that you've experienced it, how does it feel?"

The surroundings fell silent; only Fang Lin's anguished screams echoed through the air. Pair after pair of fearful gazes landed on Jiang Qin, but he didn't care in the slightest.

Finally, the teacher who had been hiding in the shadows appeared and quickly used Spirit Power to seal Fang Lin's wound.

If they kept watching the show any longer, this promising student would truly be ruined.

"This matter ends here! No one is permitted to discuss this privately, or they will be dealt with according to school rules!"

"Dismissed!"

Su Lingwei hurried to pick up her Flying Knives. Crafting these Flying Knives was no easy task—the materials weren't the main issue; the key was achieving the effect of the weapon moving in perfect accordance with one's will, which required an enormous amount of effort and heart.

Just as Jiang Qin turned to leave.

Chen Xiaohu, who had been silent all along, finally spoke:

"Jiang... boss, thank you!"

Jiang Qin said nothing, his figure transforming into an afterimage as he left the Martial Arts Arena...