Chapter 10 The Allure of a Slap: The Distance from School Bully to Mural
That "smack" sound didn't come from Jiang Chen's mouth.
Instead, it was the crisp, loud sound made when his palm came into intimate contact with Zhao Feng's face, which was burning with rage.
This loud bang even drowned out the whistling wind of Zhao Feng's "Blazing Palm," echoing through the vast Martial Arts Arena for a long time.
Time seemed to be forcibly paused at this moment.
From Zhao Feng's perspective, the world collapsed.
The moment that slap swung over, the scene before his eyes was no longer the familiar arena, but a Shura Hell of mountains of corpses and seas of blood!
Countless indescribable nightmare tentacles wrapped around his Soul, causing his proud mental defense line to shatter like paper.
That trembling from the depths of his Soul made him even forget the physical pain.
Immediately following was an overwhelming, terrifying, and unstoppable force.
"Boom—!!"
Zhao Feng's entire body left the ground; not just his face, but his neck and body as well, twisted in a bizarre way.
He was like a cannonball fresh out of the barrel, or a kite with a broken string, flying backward at a speed difficult for the naked eye to capture.
Whoosh—!
He flew over the alloy guardrail of the arena, the gust of wind he brought making the faces of the front-row judges sting.
He flew over the heads of the terrified students, tracing a perfect parabola in the air.
Finally, he slammed heavily into the concrete wall of the Martial Arts Arena dozens of meters away.
"Bang!!!"
Dust rose everywhere, and rubble flew.
The hard wall was forcibly smashed into a human-shaped crater.
Zhao Feng was like a hanging painting, deeply embedded in the wall in a spread-eagle shape, impossible to pry out. His originally handsome face was now swollen like a steamed bun, his eyes rolled back, foaming at the mouth, clearly having lost consciousness.
Silence.
A deathly silence.
In the Martial Arts Arena with thousands of teachers and students, the sound of a pin dropping could be heard at this moment.
Everyone's mouth hung open, their eyes nearly popping out, as if they had collectively been hit by a freezing spell.
What just happened?
A slap?
Just one slap?
That Zhao Feng, who had swallowed the forbidden Blood Burst Pill, whose strength was comparable to the Quasi-Bone Forging Realm, and who was aggressively trying to kill, was casually slapped into the wall like a fly by that legendary "Trash," Jiang Chen?
"Gulp."
Someone swallowed their saliva, sounding exceptionally clear in this silent venue.
On the stage.
Jiang Chen still maintained that slapping posture, his body even swaying slightly—the characteristic instability of "sleepwalking."
As that slap was delivered, the trace of tyrannical purple light deep in his eyes slowly dissipated, replaced by a deeper sleepiness and confusion.
"Phew..."
Jiang Chen slowly withdrew his hand, rubbed his somewhat sore shoulder, and then slowly opened his eyes, looking blankly at the empty space ahead.
"Eh? Where's the person?"
Jiang Chen scratched his head and turned to look at the already petrified judge: "Teacher, did that mosquito run away? It was buzzing so loudly just now... Since he ran away, then I win, right? I want to go back to sleep."
The whole audience: "..."
The judge tremblingly raised his hand and pointed to the distant wall: "On... on that... wall."
Jiang Chen followed the finger, squinted to identify for a while, and then had an epiphany: "Oh, so he went up on the wall. This movement technique is not bad, quite unique, very artistic."
Is that a movement technique?! He was clearly sent flying by your slap!
"Jiang... Jiang Chen wins!" The judge finally regained his senses and announced the result loudly with a cracking voice.
"Whoosh—!!"
The whole place instantly boiled over. The sound waves erupted like a tsunami, and all the doubt and ridicule at this moment turned into shock, fear, and blind worship.
In this world that worshipped martial arts, the strong always had immunity, even if he was a Sleep God who didn't look very serious.
"Holy crap! Great strength produces miracles! Is this innate Divine Power?"
"What innate Divine Power? I think there was something strange about that slap! Zhao Feng seemed to be scared witless before he flew out!"
"From today on, Brother Chen is my idol! I'm going back to sleep too, and I'll get angry at whoever calls me!"
In the stands, the old eyes of Principal Li Changfeng flashed with sharp light, and the tea lid in his hand was crushed with a "crack."
"At that moment... there were no blood-qi fluctuations, only mental pressure." Li Changfeng murmured in a low voice, turning to look at Mu Qingxue beside him, "Qingxue, did you feel it?"
Mu Qingxue's expression was grave, and her originally cold, pretty face was now full of disbelief: "Yes. That Mental Energy... although it was fleeting, its purity was extremely high, even containing a hint of a 'Domain' prototype. Has this kid awakened an extremely rare telekinetic talent?"
On the stage, Jiang Chen didn't pay attention to the cheers below; he just wanted to quickly end all this noise.
He walked straight to the judges' table and, under a crowd of fearful gazes, picked up the "soul nurturing jade" that served as the bet.
It felt warm and moist, and a cool Aura rushed from his palm straight to his forehead, instantly providing some nourishment to his spirit, which had been overextended due to the "Waking Up Anger explosion."
[Ding! Item obtained: Thousand-Year Soul-Nurturing Jade.]
[External Mental Energy expansion module detected.]
[System compatibility: 100%.]
[Proceed with Fusion?]
"Fusion." Jiang Chen muttered in his heart; this was the key to solving his "short mana bar, quick shot" problem.
The jade pendant in his hand flashed with light and then directly disappeared, turning into a stream of pure energy that merged into his Sea of Consciousness.
[Fusion successful!]
[Mental Energy upper limit increased by 100%.]
[New function unlocked: Dream Domain (Elementary).]
[Effect: Expands a mental force field centered on the host, applying mental suppression, hallucinations, and forced hypnosis to low-level hostile targets.]
[Congratulations to the host for completing the achievement: Sleep Critical Hit Under Public Gaze.]
[Special skill obtained: Spiritual Resonance (Passive).]
[Skill Description: Originally named "Succubus Touch" (Censored). When the host has physical contact with an opposite sex of high beauty and high spiritual power, the overflow spiritual power passively absorbed can be converted into personal experience, and slightly increase the other party's favorability and sense of dependence.]
[Note: This is a serious skill, please do not get the wrong idea, host.]
Seeing the description of this new skill, Jiang Chen's mouth couldn't help but twitch.
What kind of "serious skill" is this?! Absorbing spiritual power can also increase the sense of dependence? What kind of strange direction is this System trying to train him in? But... since it can make him stronger, I'll reluctantly accept this small side effect.
Jiang Chen jumped off the stage, preparing to sneak back to the classroom for a nap and to study the new skill, but found his path blocked.
On the left was Su Qingyue, dressed in white with a complex expression.
On the right was Mu Qingxue, in a black professional suit with sharp eyes.
Two school-beauty level girls blocking the way; this treatment made the boys around who were still cheering instantly heartbroken, their envious and jealous gazes almost poking Jiang Chen into a sieve.
"Classmate Su, Teacher Mu, what can I do for you?" Jiang ChenI yawned, hands in his pockets, looking like a dead pig not afraid of boiling water.
"That strike just now..." Su Qingyue hesitated, wanting to ask if it was the Talismanic Incantation from her grandfather, but her intuition told her it wasn't.
"Come with me to the office." Mu Qingxue directly interrupted Su Qingyue, her tone strong and unquestionable, "Suspected of illegal use of Mental Secret Techniques, you need to be taken for a full inspection. Jiang Chen, you'd better cooperate honestly."
Although she said it was an inspection, Mu Qingxue was actually more curious, and... at that moment just now, the Cold Poison in her body actually felt a trace of fear because of Jiang Chen's approach.
"To the office again?" Jiang Chen made a bitter face and pointed to Zhao Feng, who was still stuck in the wall and couldn't be pried out, "Teacher, doesn't that guy need some emergency treatment?"
"Someone will take care of it. You, follow me."
Mu Qingxue reached out, grabbed Jiang Chen's collar, and dragged him away like she was picking up a little chick.
Watching the two walk away, Su Qingyue bit her red lip, a trace of unwillingness flashing in her eyes.
"Jiang Chen... just how many secrets are you hiding?"