"It is indeed my fault, sigh," Lin Dong was playing along with them. Then to Amon, he said, "This here is your seniors, how about you pay them respects?"
"Lin Mo greets five seniors," Amon gave them a salute.
Although Amon greeted them respectfully, they did not feel glad. Instead, they felt annoyed. They had clearly insulted him but the kid acted as if their words were empty air.
"He was either too dull or trying to act brave," one of the five said.
"Let me introduce these five," Lin Dong said. "This is the eldest of the group, Lin Xiaolong, next to him is his brother, Lin Xiaoying. This girl is the second oldest, Lin Rong. These other two are Lin Bahu and Lin Wuli."
Amon greeted them by name one by one, completely impassive to their condescending looks.
Lin Xiaolong, the supposed leader of the group, felt insulted by Amon's calm expression. He said impatiently, "Now that we got the introduction out of the way. Let's get on with this initiation."
He then came close to Amon and said, "kid, you have two options. One, give us whatever is in that Space Ring on your finger, as a show of appreciation to your seniors. Or two, fight one of us, as a show that you deserve to be counted as a member of the Lin clan."
Heh, so trouble still came despite him playing humble, Amon thought amusingly. "I see. Well, in that case, the choice is obvious then," he replied.
"Despite your annoying look, I see that you are not a fool," Lin Xialong said after hearing Amon's reply. "Hurry up and give me that ring. Although I doubt a kid from a backwater family like yours has anything of value. It is just to show your appreciation, anything inside will do."
"Oh?" Amon gave them a bewildered expression. "I think you have misunderstood me. What I meant was that it is clear that I choose the fighting option."
Lin Xiaolong frowned at him, before bursting into laughter. The others also laughed loudly.
"I think my ears heard wrongly, Xiaoying, can you repeat what you heard?" Lin Wuli asked with a ridiculing tone.
"He said he wants to fight," Lin Xiaoying answered with a stifled laugh.
"He truly is a kid from the backwater," Lin Rong commented with giggles.
Lin Xiaolong gave a sign for the others to stop laughing, he then said to Amon, "Kid, you probably fought against the other village kids around your out-of-the-way neighborhood. This place is not a place where you do silly fights. I heard you have started your cultivation path already, but how old are you? Six? You have only started cultivating for one year, do you know how long all of us here have cultivated?"
"You really talk a lot, don't you?" Amon responded.
Lin Dong and the four kids behind were wide eyes. Lin Xiaolong's frown returned with a darker expression. He never thought that this little backwater kid would have the guts to provoke him. He simply thought of Amon as not understanding the situation so he tried to explain it to Amon. Who would have thought that the kid would retort back with such rudeness?
"Are you looking to die, kid?" Lin Xiaolong asked with a grim voice.
"Are we still fighting or not?" Amon asked back.
Lin Xiaolong took a deep breath, he was trying to hold back his anger. Lin Dong shook his head and uttered, "A kid who claims to be fearless has never met a hungry tiger."
"Hmph! Big brother, if he wants to fight. Let me do it! You are at peak mortal stage. You will only sully your hands if you fight him. Let me be the one to teach him a lesson," Lin Xiaoying offered.
"Brother Xiaoying, even you are too good for him," Lin Wuli said. "I am the weakest amongst us five. I am usually the one who got bullied. Now, I have the chance to bully someone, how can you not let me?"
Lin Xiaolong turned to Lin Wuli. He then nodded, "Hm, all right. Wuli, you teach him a lesson. Although you almost enter the intermediate mortal stage, you are still at the beginning mortal stage. So you can be said to be at the same level as him. But please know that he had just started his cultivation not long ago, try not to be too hard on him. Otherwise, Madam Lin will come to demand an answer from us."
"Do not worry about Madam Lin, as long as the kid is still breathing, I can smooth things over," Lin Dong said.
"Then we will have to trouble uncle Lin Dong," Lin Xiaolong said with a laugh.
"And remember, no weapons. Otherwise, not even I can protect you," Lin Dong warned.
"Come on, uncle Dong. Do you seriously think we will need a weapon?"
They all laughed again. Amon simply looked at them with a faint smile. It was like watching a group of clowns. It's not that he underestimated them though. He had experienced the wonder of cultivation. Although these kids did not have the battle experiences and killing instinct as he had, the gap in cultivation could crush all that. No amount of battle experiences could cross the gap when the difference in power was too wide, and such was the case when one had different levels in cultivation.
He did not expect to win, but he was curious as to how strong he was in comparison to others. All the fights he ever had was simply spars with Hei Gong, he never truly fought someone of a similar level. Now he would get the chance. How could he not get excited?
Wuli came forward with a smug look. He walked with a swagger towards Amon. He stopped right in front of Amon. He was eight years of age, the youngest amongst the five Lin cadets, but his body size was not smaller than the eldest of the group, Lin Xiaolong, who was ten years of age. Standing side by side with Amon, it was like the depiction of David and Goliath.
Amon's body was by no means small for his age. The thing was, they all thought he was six years old while he was still four years old. His body was considered big for a four-year-old kid, but it was an average size for a six-year-old. This body size further added to the misconception of his age. Still, compared to the eight-year-old Lin Wuli, Amon was small.
Hence, Lin Wuli never considered this to be a proper fight, despite Amon being at the same cultivation level as him. Even at the same beginning mortal stage, there could be a huge difference in power. Lin Wuli was at the edge of crossing over to the intermediate mortal stage already, so his current form could be said as the strongest within the beginning mortal stage. Added to their body condition, he was an eight years old child whose body had been tempered with medicine since childbirth, while Amon was a backwater kid who knew no such luxury. Amon's body should only be tempered by standard cultivation which started one year ago. Thus, the two of them were on a completely different level.
So, he thought.
He looked at Amon with a condescending look. "Hey, village kid. How about I give you a handicap? I will let you punch me one time. Or else, people will say that I bully you."
Amon frowned. Handicap? What the heck was this buffoon talking about? What he wanted was for him to test his current limit. This guy giving a handicap would simply ruin all that.
Lin Wuli saw the frown as dissatisfaction, he said, "You think I am being unfair? You are such a greedy kid. Fine! I will let you hit me three times. How about it? Don't say that I never give you a chance."
He put both his hands behind his back. "You can hit me any time, but don't make me wait too long. If you didn't use your three hits after ten breaths, then consider them forfeited. I will make my move."
Amon clenched his right hand into a knuckle. He looked at Lin Wuli and asked, "Are you sure about this?"
Lin Wuli laughed hard. "Am I sure…? Haha! You truly are hilarious. Come on, now. We don't have all day."
"Hehe, that backwater kid, he probably used to fight with other village kids using punches. Does he think a normal kid with no martial art like him can hurt our superiorly cultivated bodies?" Lin Rong mocked and giggled from the back.
"Fine then, I will do my first punch," Amon declared.
"Go for it, kid," Lin Wuli said with contempt.
Amon stomped his feet on the ground as he turned his waist and brought all the weight and force of his body onto the tip of his fist and punched straight. He was executing Bone Shattering Shadow Fist while incorporating the boxing method of his past life. The fist generated an explosive sound as it shot out. A shockwave was created as the force compressed the air around the fist.
Before the fist even touched Lin Wuli's body, Lin Wuli could feel his waist caved in. Soon cracking sound was heard as he felt an electric jolt from beside his solar plexus. His mind registered at once that the bones of his lower ribcage had been broken. His thought and consternation only lasted for a short moment before the pain took over as his body bent backward and shot back. He was thrown around six meters away before falling to the ground and rolled a couple more meters on the ground.
Lin dong and the four Lin cadets looked back at Lin Wuli who was flat on his stomach, moaning and groaning on the floor.