’I’m a First Rank Middle Stage Cultivator,’ Zheng Song thought, ’but this kid subdued me with sheer brute force. He’s clearly not as ordinary as he looks.’

’Damn, this guy is definitely not a normal person... The force he used to grab my wrist was so immense, it felt like he was going to snap it right in two.’

’He’s absolutely a Cultivator, and the kind I can’t afford to mess with.’

Lin Li looked at Zheng Song, whose forehead was dripping with cold sweat, and said in a calm tone, "My friend has already given you a sincere apology. Let’s just drop this whole matter. What do you say?"

"Drop it my ass! You injured our brother Zheng Song like this and think you can just walk away? If you don’t get on your knees and apologize to him right now, none of you are leaving this place in one piece..."

Zheng Song’s companions flew into a rage after hearing Lin Li’s words. It was the first time they had ever met a young man who wasn’t afraid of them and had such an arrogant attitude.

"Fine. We’ll drop the matter for today. You can go! Just don’t let me see you again..."

Wary of Lin Li, Zheng Song nodded and agreed. However, he still added a threat at the end to make himself look less pathetic.

"Huh? Brother Zheng Song, you... how could you just let them go like that...?"

The companions, who just a second ago had been threatening to teach Lin Li a lesson, stared dumbfounded at Zheng Song for accepting the truce, their faces filled with disbelief.

They simply couldn’t understand why Zheng Song, who was usually so ruthless, would act like this.

’This guy knows what’s good for him,’ Lin Li thought. ’But adding that threat just made him look even more pathetic... I really thought this wasn’t going to end peacefully.’

’I was prepared to fight these thugs.’

He never expected that this seemingly brainless gang leader would unexpectedly accept his offer of a truce. It was quite a surprise.

"Let’s go," Lin Li said with a nod to Zheng Song. He then turned around, walked over to his classmates who were staring at him in utter amazement, and said with a smile.

"Why are you all looking at me like that? It’s getting late, and don’t you all have work tomorrow? It’s time to go home and rest."

"Yeah." Zhang Dawei and the others nodded, schooling the shocked expressions on their faces. The group then fell in silently behind Lin Li and headed out of the bar.

The onlookers, seeing that a fight wasn’t going to break out, quickly lost interest. They scattered and went back to their own partying.

"THUMP, THUMP, THUMP..."

The pounding music and multicolored lights intertwined.

Men and women laughed as they danced on the floor. It was as if the earlier conflict had never happened; everything in the bar returned to normal.

"Brother Zheng Song, why did you make peace with those guys? We were all ready to jump in and teach them a lesson for you."

The speaker was a young man with a mohawk. He was about five-foot-eleven, with bulging, knotted muscles, and he now asked Zheng Song with a look of complete confusion.

"My wrist is killing me. Go get me some ice." Seeing his wrist starting to swell, Zheng Song said to a companion with dyed red hair. The latter nodded and went to find a bartender for some ice.

"Brother Zheng Song, what the hell was that all about? You gotta tell me," the young man with the mohawk pressed. The other companions who had stayed behind also looked at the frowning Zheng Song in confusion.

"Haaa..." Zheng Song exhaled, enduring the throbbing pain from his swollen wrist as he explained to his companions.

"That kid who injured my wrist... he’s a Cultivator, one far more powerful than me."

"If I hadn’t agreed to a truce back there, if a fight had broken out, we would’ve had no chance against him, even if all of us jumped him at once."

"What?!" Zheng Song’s companions gasped in shock after his explanation, their faces full of disbelief.

"Brother Zheng Song, are you telling us that kid is a Cultivator way stronger than you? You’re not joking, are you?"

Seeing that his companions didn’t believe him, Zheng Song replied with a sense of helplessness.

"I hate to admit he’s stronger than me, but that’s the reality... A normal person could never injure me like this with just brute force. It’s impossible."

"Er..." Zheng Song’s companions looked at his increasingly swollen wrist. Coupled with his explanation, they were finally convinced.

"Brother Zheng Song, I got the ice you wanted." The man with the red hair, who had gone to get the ice, returned holding a fruit platter filled to the brim with ice cubes and placed it in front of Zheng Song.

"Hsssss..." With his wrist swelling even more, Zheng Song plunged his injured hand into the platter of ice.

As the frigid ice touched his swollen wrist, Zheng Song clenched his jaw, fighting the urge to cry out in pain.

"Damn it. We really picked the wrong target to shake down. What shitty luck," the young man with the mohawk muttered as he watched Zheng Song grimace while icing his swollen wrist.

Hearing the mohawked man’s muttering, Zheng Song’s other companions all nodded in agreement.

In truth, the entire conflict had started because they wanted to get Liu Yanmin and Li Lin to come have a few drinks with them, so they had deliberately tried to start a shakedown.