In an instant Xing Liyun was surrounded and cornered within the narrow alleyway the width of three grown men.
His attackers were young, perhaps younger than him, and they gave off the air of delinquents.
Their faces were covered so that only the top part—the eyes—could be seen.
Their postures when facing Xing Liyun were fierce and stable.
These four kids seemed to be experienced.
The head of the four stepped up and spoke, his voice menacing, trying to threaten and frighten their victim into submission.
"Give us all your money and we'll let you go without a scratch. Easy, right? We're already considered pretty amicable here."
But the supposed 'victim' isn't always the real victim.
Xing Liyun was already thinking about how he should punish these half-baked brats. And teach them a lesson by the way.
From the start Xing Liyun was not intimidated and he had sensed their approach so he was not caught off guard.
Let alone being scared by these pretentious brats, he wasn't even moved!
Scanning the four from head to toe one by one, Xing Liyun reached a definite concise conclusion.
They were pre-modern delinquents! Actually, no. More like badly-in-need-of-a-lesson-or-two miscreants!
The leader sneered at being ignored.
He was already being nice and lenient to this person yet the other was treating them like air, getting caught up in his own world.
If he doesn't teach this person a lesson even after he takes all his money, he's not fit to be called the boss of these streets!
Ironically, both Xing Liyun and this pseudo-delinquent had reached the same pinnacle of thought: This person needs to be taught a lesson!!
If Xing Liyun knew what this young boy's thoughts were---that the other's thoughts coincided with his own---, he would've looked at the other party with undisguised disdain in his eyes and coldly laughed.
After all, how is a boy like that fit to teach HIM a lesson? He learnt to fight before he could even walk! Let alone counting the years of experience he has when it comes to fighting and beating people up and even killing them, this kid is still wet behind the ears compared to him.
Apparently out of patience and filled with irritation, the leader of the pretentious gang shouted, "Since you don't want the easy way out, this boss will show you the hard way! Beat him up!"
Exclaiming this, the four raised up their fists and clenched them tightly as they rushed forward to pummel Xing Liyun in.
Yet abruptly they stopped.
A commendable, irrefutable pressure suddenly pressed down onto them, fear tightly gripping their hearts, squeezing it till the pain was excruciating. It felt as if the sky was caving in on them.
Their bodies showed hesitance, their feet unconsciously rooted to the ground. Their eyes shook when they looked up to meet Xing Liyun's glowing blue and silver eyes, seemingly as if they were looking into the eyes of a fearsome beast and not that of a human's.
His strange and unusual eyes frightened them and instilled doubts.
Reluctance and unwillingness subconsciously captured and replaced every thought in their minds.
The sinking feelings of dread and horror unconsciously surfaced.
Their hearts dropped to the pits of their stomachs.
However, all this seemed to vanish from their minds, disappear---forgotten---when Xing Liyun suddenly opened his mouth with a taunt.
"Scaredy-cats."
Their childish pride was pricked by a sharp, thin needle called 'the words of Xing Liyun' out of nowhere.
Human minds were often fickle and unpredictable. And things---even strong emotions---tend to slip their minds when facing ridicule and insult. So feelings such as fear, hesitance, and thoughts of retreat would disappear in an instant with a simple taunt or negative remark. Especially when it comes to young and still immature minds of developing children that have still not learned to control their tempers.
The leading one screamed, "You're gonna regret making me mad! I won't show you any mercy! I'll freaking swipe you clean!"
Saying that, he waved at his friends to attack.
He himself also rushed forward to throw in a punch.
And thus, the four ignorant young robbers chose to mess with the wrong person.
Thinking that Xing Liyun would at last become nervous, since he thought the other party was only faking his initial confidence, he was stunned to find that the other party was not nervous at all. He was completely and utterly calm.
In fact, Xing Liyun was so calm and quiet it disturbed his heart and gave him doubts about the whole situation.
However, since he already decided to attack and teach this guy a lesson he can't not go through with it. Or else he would lose face and his reputation would be stained.
Gritting his teeth and ignoring the slight hesitancy in his heart, he roared as he dashed to Xing Liyun, "Arhhh!" in order to boost his shaky confidence and clear away the doubts in his mind.
They were closing in on him.
Xing Liyun did not panic.
His eyes turned cold.
Thinking that it'll be a bother if he allowed this to drag on any further, Xing Liyun took immediate action.
Moving quickly, his movements resembled those of a shadow. He appeared behind the back of one of the masked robber-kids, shocking the latter to widen his eyes and gasp in shock and fear.
Xing Liyun decisively chopped down at the neck.
The boy dropped to the ground like jelly, unconscious.
There was no killing intent.
In a flash, Xing Liyun took care of all of them without breaking a sweat.
He stood alone in the midst of littered bodies scattered across the floor of the narrow alleyway.
He slowly shifted his gaze downwards toward the body of the leader of this tiny gang.
In a soft and quiet voice he whispered with a steady tone,
"I don't have any money for you to take."
Just at this time, a wave of fragrance was washed over to under Xing Liyun's nose by the breezy wind that simultaneously faded Xing Liyun's voice, disintegrating it into silence.
At the entrance to the alley stood a man carrying a bowl of savory soup noodles in one hand, wearing a monocle on his left eye. The man stood there motionlessly as seconds ticked by before Xing Liyun noticed him.
What seemed like it took place for a long duration was in reality but a short interval.
When the man saw that Xing Liyun had finally noticed his presence, he showed a dazzling smile. Appearing undisturbed by the scene before him.
Reaching up to touch his monocle with his free hand, Ying spoke brightly and almost eerily,
"Should I bury them?"