Li kept thinking back to when he saw Ma Zhen. If he's trained that much he's probably made good headway with his cultivation.
Li was rather curious about the strength of other cultivators so he thought it might be good to test how far above the rest of the populace. He got up from his seat and walked out of the house to go find Ma Zhen.
It didn't take long because he was once again hanging out in the town square.
"Yo, Ma Zhen! Come here for a second." Li said in a more casual tone than he would normally use.
"Yoooo Li! what's good man how you been?" Ma Zhen replied in a confused tone because he was surprised Li would be visiting him
"Ah yeah I've been good, but can you come in close for a second." Li said in a more hushed tone because they were in a public space.
"Yeah what's up?" Ma Zhen said in a more non chalant tone than before. Once Ma Zhen had come closer to Li, Li tried to whisper in his ear.
"Look, all I'm saying is because of certain circumstances I'm pretty good at cultivation so I was just wondering if you were wanting to duel because you look pretty far along too."
Following along with the trend Ma Zhen also whispered.
"Sure but this has gotta be like a full on duel and if worse comes to worse, I'll shiv you lad." Ma Zhen said seriously.
Li didn't really care because a stab from someone in a lower grade couldn't even leave a scratch on his body.
"I agree to your terms. Gotta find a good place to do this though." Although there was only one term it sounded cool so he said it.
"Yeah I know a spot we could do this. There's this good spot out the back of the school." Ma Zhen said.
"Yeah I think I know the spot." Li knew it pretty good, it was a spot Li had considered to be a backup cultivation spot or like a second hand spot.
However since cultivating was still just solely Li, he couldn't do it because it was a semi public space because it was like a group of willows surrounding one spot.
'This is just to gauge his strength so I'll just have to hit about as strong as he hits.' Li thought to himself.
"Aight let's head out to the spot, and get this done with. I seriously don't really want to do this man, you can think about it again." Ma Zhen said like he was gonna win💀.
"Nope, let's fight, but like still be friends, so it's like a friendly duel." Li said trying to lighten up the suddenly dim mood.
"Oh, that makes more sense, square up then pussio" Ma Zhen suddenly said in a British accent. Li was actually surprised that Ma Zhen could so easily swap accents.
The walk to the Willow spot was awkward, as they wouldn't talk the entire time. They still knew though that after this battle they would probably grow stronger as friends because that's just how it is when boys rough each other up.
---
10 minutes later
---
They arrived calm, as they both walked up to the willow spot the tension grew. "Alright, just stand there I guess." Li pointed to the opposite
Ma Zhen obliged but stayed oddly quiet, perhaps it was only now that he realised how frightening Li's aura is.
Without a countdown Ma Zhen rushed at Li and instinctively Li rushed rushed back at him. Ma Zhen threw a few straights before trying a hook.
Li acted like it hurt him, and threw a swing back but misgauged his power and accidentally hit Ma Zhen a little too hard.
"You're really strong-" Ma Zhen then coughed up a little blood.
"Nah you don't get it I just wanted to know how powerful you were, I didn't mean to hurt you" Li said trying to calm the looming tension.
Ma Zhen thought Li was provoking him so he pulled out a shiv and in a fit of rage charged at Li. Just accepting that this guy wouldn't understand Li just stood there waiting for it.
In the deciding moment Ma Zhen realised what he was about to do he tried to stop. However it was to late and he felt the shiv touch Li's skin.
Weirdly it didn't enter though, that's when he looked up at Li, and discovered that Li was looking back at him threateningly.
"See, you can't hurt me. I am above you." Li said in a dominating tone. "You can't beat me. I don't blame you for not knowing that I was just testing your strength."
"Your fucking cringe lad." Ma Zhen lightening up the mood with his terrible British accent.
Li did have to admit that he was a little embarrassed when he said all of that with his most intimidating tone.
Culture in Australia just didn't happen like that. Most normal people would usually just resolve their problems with a 32 pack of 6% stubbies, and a chat.
"I'm going home now, goodbye" Li said with a slightly reddened face, and quickly shuffling back to the town square.
"Alright I'll catch up." Ma Zhen decided to stay back and process what had happened. It took awhile but he finally understood that Li must be a hidden expert or something.
There is no way a kid his age could be that far along without having prior knowledge, unless they were a prodigy.
Now the difference between the two were vast so Ma Zhen drew the conclusion that Li was just extremely talented at cultivation.
Because there's No way he was the person who changed the entire social structure and food chain, right?
---
Back to Li
---
Li couldn't take it anymore, he realised that looking as he does, it totally destroyed his concept of social ability.
He had to admit, He really couldn't talk to other people.
Perhaps there was a way to change the way he looks temporarily.
He doesn't want a permanent change to his beautiful face.