"Tch. What a cliché." Leo spat out, while Laura looked at him with a cocked eyebrow. "A cliché? A cliché of what?"
"Never mind that. Let's just drag Sarah with us to the temple. I would rather spend less time here. I don't want to be approached by scammers again."
"Don't worry, I will protect you, honey pie." Laura said with mischievous smile on her face while caressing his cheek. Other people were already looking at Leo amused, but Leo wouldn't get embarrassed by something like this anymore.
He was 23 already and after years of them trying to embarrass him in his teenage years, he had grown a thick skin and rather thought of it as adorable and endearing.
"Hmph. How about I give you something later, cream pie?" Leo said with a smile matching hers, but he quickly realized something when he saw her smile grow instead of vanishing, "God damnit, I got played like a chump."
"Indeed~. It is about time we have our foursome." She whispered to him while winking at him and blowing him a kiss.
Of course, the two knew that they would refrain from doing anything, at least until they searched their entire room for cameras.
Leo would rather not have him and his girlfriends on a sex tape that he didn't knew was made until they got blackmailed with it.
Stay safe folks.
Sarah and Shunlei bought their little snacks and got one for Leo and Laura too before they started walking towards the temple with snacks in hand and more inside their bags that they brought with them. The shaolin temple wasn't too far away from their inn, and it was still early, so they had time to waste.
It would only take them about half an hour to reach their destination, so might as well enjoy the scenery on the way. After 3 quarters of an hour of walking they arrived at the temple and a small crowd could already be seen in front of the gates.
They had already paid online for them to join a tourist group for the day. It was a tour through the temple and at the end the temple would perform a little show for them. The main reason to join the group was to get an overview of the temple without being out of place, after all they were just normal foreigners visiting a renowned temple.
Leo glanced over the group and quickly realized that 5 out of the 24 were in exceptional form, while the rest were normal martial artists. It didn't need to be mentioned how weird that was. Although, it was a renowned place for the martial arts community, it was still a place that attracted normal tourists.
The fact that most put on an effort to not appear dangerous seemingly in fear that somebody might find out about their prowess was more than a little suspicious. Some even stuffed their shirts and pants, although that guy might just be insecure.
As he scanned the group, he recognized a pair from just an hour ago. Leo locked eyes with the smirking old man with the long beard and his buff companion, who seemed to be joining their group as well. They gave Leo and Laura a nod before ignoring them for their guide through the temple.
This little interaction wasn't missed by the other five, who were in excellent shape and didn't hide themselves like the others. Maybe they had all received an invitation as well? Should they have disguised themselves as well, Leo thought.
'No, let the world know that I won't hide from anyone.' He fiercely thought. A glint in his eyes made some of the disguised fighters' glance at him with hidden shock in their eyes that wasn't missed by Leo.
He couldn't help but smile at the sight of it until he was poked by Laura. "You have that creepy smile on your face again. Is somebody going to mess with us again? Just promise to not cripple them again." Laura whispered to him with a sigh at the end.
His smile turned lovely as he looked at her. "Of course, not. I am not a brute." He winked at her before seemingly turning his attention to the guide.
Their little group was a mixed bag, coming from all corners of the world. The guide therefore spoke in English considering that the guide was catered for foreigners that wasn't really surprising. As they were led through the corridors of the temple, the guide told them about the ancient history of it and which famous martial artists had trained between these very walls.
Leo didn't really care initially, but after hearing of the impossible feats that those famous martial arts seemingly performed, he couldn't help but wonder if they were founded in truth or were highly exaggerated like most myths. Maybe these walls did hold secrets unseen and unknown by the public.
As he was thinking this, he noticed a hall with some shaolin monks training. Their training varied vastly from each person to the other. Some were just stretching, some were conditioning, and some fought each other with either blunt weapons or just bareknuckle.
After watching them for a second the guide led them to another hall that was not unsimilar to the training hall that they just saw a minute ago.
"Alright, we will take a short break. You can take your time and look around for a bit. We will continue the tour in 15 minutes." The guide said as he sat down while watching the group.
Leo also noticed the groups movement as they spread out to seemingly watch the intricate design of the walls and the pillars in leisure. They spread out and slowly and subtly surrounded the 5 martial artists in exceptional form and Leo's group.
The guide took off his tie and the glasses that he wore as the door was locked from the outside. The other 5 noticed the change only after the door closed and looked around coldly. The only one that was still oblivious of the change was Sarah who was still making pictures of the walls before making her way towards a side hall.
Shunlei and Laura were dragged with her. Laura sent another meaningful look towards Leo before vanishing behind the door to the side hall. 5 of the group split off and followed the three girls that appeared to be easy targets compared to the strongly built young men observing their every move.
So, now 17 of the disguised martial artists remained in the hall with the 5 in exceptional shape, the old man and his companion and last but not least Leo.
They had finally surrounded them completely and already closed the door in which Leo's girlfriends left behind. He wasn't really worried about them. Laura and Shunlei were leagues above the run-of-the-mill marital artist.
"Alright, let's cut to the chase!" One of the five said as he pulled out two knives from his lower back underneath his jacket. A friend, Leo guessed, of that guy pulled out a sword from his back, cutting it out of his kung fu clothing in the process.
"I will show you rea-"
"Does he always do that? If he is someone that specializes in sword fighting, doesn't he always need to buy new clothes after every time he pulls out his sword? And what happens if his opponent doesn't want to fight anymore, after all he did just pull out an effing sword. Most would probably bugger off. Wouldn't he have wasted perfectly good clothes?"
The tension that was building up to that point deflated like a miserable balloon. They couldn't help but stare at Leo, who couldn't read the room and was staring back at them like he asked some legitimately question.
"I have enough money."
"Yeah, but you are wasting it. What about the environment?? Why don't you just take a guitar case with you like normal hitman do?"
"I am not a hitman… but that is a good idea… No, I have to draw my sword quickly to fight, I won't have time to defend myself if I have to open a guitar case every time, I draw my blade!"
"What? Do you lock your guitar case?"
It seemed like they finally had enough of Leo's back and forth and started attacking. The normal looking martial artist were going two on one on their opponent with the exception of the old man, who had three on his ass.
"Wow, I have to give it to you, you are faster than you look." Leo said as he let a hook sail over his head. Leo quickly countered with a kidney punch while maneuvering him in front of the second martial artist, who came lunging at Leo.
The two collapsed in a pile before they quickly but clumsily stood up again. They looked at each other before nodding and rushing at Leo from both sides. Obviously, they had some experience fighting together.
Leo quickly backed away using a giant support pillar to guard his back. Number one rule when fighting against multiple people, run away!
A rule not only applicable for the common man but for martial artists as well. Rule number two, if you can't avoid a fight, keep them in your periphery. Optimally keep them behind each other, so they can only attack you one at a time.
So, with using the pillar as an obstacle, he got the other guy in his periphery. Now, he played with the angles a bit luring one in to keep them behind each other. As soon as only one guy was directly in front of Leo, he pounced at him.
Leo didn't hesitate one bit as he went for the kill. His leg shot out like a canon shot, impacting on his opponent hind legs shin with a solid side kick. Leo used the impact to lift himself into the air, rotating around himself to drive a heel into his opponent's chin.
The other guy seemed to be shocked as he looked at his unconscious downed friend. Obviously, Leo didn't wait for his opponent to gather himself and shot out with an unrelenting furry of one-twos.
Leo drove his opponent to a wall before continuing to beat his opponent as if he was warming up on a heavy bag.
At one point Leo's opponent just curled into ball and fell unconscious as well. He then looked across the room and looked at the other fighters. The guy with the sword and his friend with the two knives seemed to be doing okay. The old man and his buff companion had already finished his fight, while the other three were either struggling or had already lost.
Leo ignored them and went to the side hall to check on his girls. It wasn't that he wasn't confident that they wouldn't win, it was just that these seemingly common martial artists were rather strange. He did hold back a lot against his opponents, but the strikes he had delivered shouldn't have ended with them merely being unconscious.
The first guy's shin should have snapped, and his spinning heel kick should have broken that guy's jaw. The second guy should have gone down earlier as well.
He figured that all of the fighters were tougher than they looked, which is why three of the martial artists that were in peak conditions were losing against their seemingly unimpressive opponents. He saw that the door to the side hall was locked, so he prepared to kick it open.
Just before he could go through with his plan, someone jumped over his head landing right in front of the door.
It was the old men, who was stroking his beard with the hand that wasn't dripping with blood. "Young man, you shouldn't destroy ancient history, you know?"
Leo couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"Leonidas Thompson, he is right you know." Someone voiced out from behind him. It was their guide, who wasn't looking at them while he was cleaning his glasses before putting them on.
Leo couldn't help but think at the sight, 'Why the fuck are his glasses reflecting light, we are indoors!'