BLEEDING UNIVERSE (The warrior in two worlds)

Chapter 8

The circle of students around the grand stone gates of Tuntadel City University remained frozen.

Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. The loud, mocking laughter of Leo Vance echoed off the hard stone pillars as he watched the wet mud soak into the freshman’s registration papers.

"Look at him cry!" Leo laughed, gesturing to his two stocky lackeys.

"Hey, write this down. If you're poor, don't come to Tuntadel. Go work on a farm!"

The weak freshman on the ground, Luke, clutched his bruised knees, his face bright red as he tried to grab his ruined documents from the dirty puddle.

Suddenly, the heavy, suffocating silence of the crowd was broken by the sound of deliberate footsteps. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Baron Crown slid right through the tightly packed circle of onlookers. He didn't push anyone; the crowd simply parted instinctively, driven by a strange, cold pressure radiating from his small body.

He stepped directly into the open center of the circle, his faded blue backpack hanging loosely off his right shoulder.

Leo Vance stopped laughing. His eyes flicked down to Baron's cheap, washed-out t-shirt and his worn sneakers, his expression changing from amusement to total irritation.

"What the hell do you want?" Leo sneered, stepping forward to look down at Baron.

"Are you blind, or are you just stupid? Get out of here before I make you eat the dirt next."

One of Leo's stocky lackeys chuckled, crossing his beefy arms. "Hey Leo, looks like we got another charity case trying to act like a hero."

Baron stood perfectly still. He didn't look at Leo's angry face. Instead, his dark, calm eyes drifted down to the muddy papers soaking in the puddle, then over to Luke, who was trembling on the concrete.

Finally, Baron tilted his head up, his gaze locking onto Leo’s eyes with a level of absolute, freezing detachment.

"Pick up his books," Baron said. His voice wasn't loud, but it was incredibly clear, cutting through the outdoor air like a razor blade. "Clean the mud off them, and apologize to him."

The entire crowd let out a collective gasp.

Leo Vance stared at Baron, completely stunned. For three seconds, he thought his ears were playing tricks on him.

Then, a massive, arrogant laugh burst out of his throat. He turned to his two lackeys, shaking his head.

"Did you guys hear this little rat?" Leo roared, his face twisting into a dangerous scowl as he stepped right into Baron’s personal space.

"He’s telling me what to do! You want to join your boyfriend on the floor? You think you're some kind of martial arts master in those ten-dollar shoes?"

"I won't say it a second time," Baron replied flatly.

The utter lack of fear in Baron's voice completely panicked Leo’s internal instincts. Usually, when Leo threatened someone, they stuttered, looked down, or backed away. But Baron’s eyes were like two bottomless oceans—dead, quiet, and completely unbothered.

It was a gaze that made Leo's skin crawl with an unexplainable, sudden terror.

To hide his growing panic, Leo snapped. "I'm going to break your jaw!"

With a loud roar, Leo pulled his right arm back and threw a wild, heavy punch straight toward Baron’s cheek. The swing was full of brute force, meant to knock the skinny kid out cold in front of everyone.

To the crowd, the punch was a blur. To Baron, it was moving in slow motion.

Just like his encounter at the airport terminal, Baron didn't need a single drop of cosmic Qi energy to handle a basic street brute.

He knew the structural laws of human anatomy better than anyone alive.

As the fist flew toward him, Baron didn't even lift his hands to block. He simply tilted his head two inches to the left.

Whoosh!

Leo's fist grazed past empty air, the momentum pulling his heavy upper body forward.

Before Leo could even realize he had missed, Baron moved like a ghost slipping through the wind. He slid to the right, stepping deep into Leo’s blind spot.

With lightning speed, Baron extended two fingers and struck Leo sharply right at the cluster of nerves in his right shoulder joint.

"Ah!" Leo gasped as his entire right arm instantly went totally numb, dropping limply to his side like a piece of dead meat.

"You're too slow," Baron murmured, a trace of a cold smile appearing on his lips.

Before Leo could even scream in confusion, Baron spun on his heel and drove his heel sharply into the back of Leo’s left knee joint—the exact pressure point that controlled body balance.

Thud!

Leo’s leg gave out instantly. He lost all control of his lower body and went flying forward, crashing face-first right into the very same puddle of muddy water he had used to ruin Luke's papers.

Splash!

Muddy water exploded everywhere, soaking Leo’s expensive varsity jacket, his slicked-back hair, and filling his mouth with dirty, gritty liquid. He rolled around in the puddle, howling in pure agony as his shoulder throbbed and his leg refused to stand up.