Chapter 58: One VS Many

The students were stunned, then their tempers flared. Even Xiao Qiu turned her attention to him.

Lu Fang observed Chen Chuan a little before he nodded and said apologetically, “I understand, and I’m sorry, but we won’t be fighting you one-on-one today. The enemies you will meet in the future won’t try to reason with you one-by-one.”

Chen Chuan did not back down. “That’s fine. Can we start now?”

Lu Fang stepped back and blended into the crowd.

The club members’ eyes seemed to shine. They were about to get into a fight, so they needed to dilate their pupils in order to absorb more light and sharpen their vision. At the same time, their nostrils flared, and they adjusted their breathing.

Xiao Qiu observed both sides. While she seemed relaxed, her body was ready to take action at any time to prevent either side from crossing the line.

Lu Fang gave a signal, and a senior charged forward. Two others followed closely behind to flank their target.

Chen Chuan noticed that the senior charging at him had both of his hands slightly open, and his footsteps were heavy. He seemed to have exposed his front for attack, but Chen Chuan believed that he was ready to use his refined force to generate power in order to withstand Chen Chuan’s attack, which meant that the senior was planning to grab him in a chokehold.

He brought his knee up, and his second self overlapped with him as he kicked forward and slammed his foot on the side of the senior’s knee. The senior’s center of gravity tilted, and Chen Chuan kicked him again. With a grunt, the senior flew backwards. He could not get up even after some time passed.

The person on the right saw a chance and jumped to deliver a sweeping kick, but Chen Chuan brought his arm up beside his ear. At the same time, he rammed his elbow against the person’s abdomen before grabbing him and yanking him forward. Before the person even landed, Chen Chuan hurled him at the student coming at him from the left, and they crashed into each other in a pile of limbs.

In an instant, three were down.

Chen Chuan stood still once more and looked forward. His gaze remained calm.

Lu Fang gave a nod, and the people beside him shifted to get ready to attack. They actually had a plan. The trio before them went forward first to test the waters and reveal Chen Chuan’s strength. Now, the rest of them were going to work together to take him down. After seeing how Chen Chuan attacked, many of them already had a grasp of his way of fighting.

Another four charged at Chen Chuan simultaneously. One of them used another person’s shoulder as a foothold and jumped into the air before somersaulting and landing on the ceiling. Then, he ran over while hanging upside down, as if he was running on the floor.

Chen Chuan recognized the Wall-Walking Force. It grew mutated tissue under the feet, which could attach themselves to walls.

Chen Chuan moved diagonally backward to widen the distance between himself and his attackers. This way, he could face one group of his attackers first and avoid getting attacked from all sides at once.

He noticed a person running out of the crowd in his peripheral vision. That student followed the others with nimble footsteps. Sometimes, he crouched down and used his hands to help with his run. He appeared to be incredibly agile and silent. Chen Chuan recognized the Sanshou Department’s Racoon Walk.

Suddenly, he noticed something odd on his side. He had planned to fight against the person by his side first, but they had moved behind him at some point in time and were about to deliver a chop to the side of his neck.

Chen Chuan moved with astonishing speed. Before the hand struck him, he threw a punch straight to the person’s chin and threw him backward.

Just as he wanted to turn around to face the other opponents, he heard movement above him, and he shifted his head to the side. A black shadow brushed past his shoulder. The person on the ceiling had swung a leg down. When he missed, he pulled his leg back and stared at Chen Chuan while hanging upside down.

A plan formed in Chen Chuan’s head, and he started to retreat toward the wall. Not only did the people around him close in on him, but even the person on the ceiling ran over. The group was quite scattered, but overall, they formed a loose encirclement.

Everyone thought that Chen Chuan wanted to use the wall to avoid attacks from the back so that he could focus on the enemies before him. It would limit his movements, but that was better than being surrounded by enemies.

After taking a few steps toward the wall, Chen Chuan stomped on the floor, bent his back, and charged forward, catching everyone off guard. They quickly stepped back, but Chen Chuan had already arrived in front of one person, who immediately threw a punch at him.

Chen Chuan tilted his head slightly to avoid the attack and punched that person in the ribs, making him bend his back before curling up with his hands and feet on the floor. Meanwhile, Chen Chuan continued onward. Due to his speed, before the person behind the one he just defeated even saw him, he had already arrived in front of him. The senior tried to attack, but Chen Chuan used the Thrust-and-Guard Palm to block before hitting his face and throwing him back.

Movement in his peripheral vision caught Chen Chuan’s attention, and he ducked his head to avoid the punch to his face. He then used his momentum to slam into his new attacker with his shoulder and knock him off his feet.

Chen Chuan managed to defeat a number of people in succession. He should have continued charging forward until he broke out of the encirclement, but there was movement at his seven o’clock this time. He brought his arm up in time to block it, but the person who had been using the Raccoon Walk placed his hands on his arm, tapped against the floor with his feet, and, just like a raccoon, got his hands and feet both up in the air.

Chen Chuan felt a powerful force ram into him. Even though he was not injured, he sank slightly and had to halt for a moment. The person on the ceiling used that moment to kick again, and just like before, Chen Chuan tilted his head to avoid it.

A large student not far away saw his chance and charged over, but before he could get close, two heavy hits landed on his chest and stomach. Chen Chuan had kicked him.

A wave of energy filled his body. The large student used a resilient refined force and had great balance. He did not fall, but his eyes flew wide open. His legs were planted firmly on the floor as he slid sideways more than a meter, but he still ended up on the floor unable to get up.

Even though Chen Chuan defeated a string of opponents in succession, the one with the Raccoon Walk held him back, and his charge lost its momentum. People surrounded him and reduced the space he could use to move around.

A moment ago, they had still cared about their pride as upperclassmen and did not want to bring out their full strength against a junior, but when they saw just how strong and difficult Chen Chuan was as an opponent, everyone became serious.

When they had Chen Chuan surrounded, someone saw his chance and rushed forward. With a sweep of his leg, Chen Chuan managed to kick him off balance. His feet were knocked off the floor, and he fell face first.

After this person took the lead, more people charged forward. Chen Chuan spun on his feet and blocked off another person’s fist, but a palm came swinging at his neck from the right. Chen Chuan knocked it off with his arm and took a step to the side to avoid the kick from behind him. Then, without even turning his head around, he pushed one of the people he defeated down again.

A large student charged over and swung his arm down like an axe. There was even a loud whistle accompanying his movement. It was the Sanshou Department’s Mountain Splitting Strike.

Chen Chuan did not avoid the attack. He blocked it with the full force of the Soul Jolting Strike. The head-on clash made the person tremble. The backlash made his entire body feel unsteady and weak.

At such a close distance, he met Chen Chuan’s calm gaze. The next moment, he felt a tug on his collar, and his vision blurred. Chen Chuan threw him aside, and he crashed into several people, causing all of them to fall.

Rapid footsteps came from behind Chen Chuan. It was Bi Yang of the Takedown Department. He tried to grab Chen Chuan’s waist, but Chen Chuan spun on his leg and delivered a swift roundhouse kick. Even if Bi Yang had covered his entire body with refined force, the powerful kick left him dizzy. Despite that, he reached forward and grabbed Chen Chuan’s leg.

Someone beside him saw a chance and rammed into Chen Chuan’s shoulder. Since Chen Chuan was only standing on one leg, he could not maintain his balance. He tilted backward. The person tried to seize his hands next, but the moment he touched them, he felt a force yanking him forward, and Chen Chuan slammed his head against his. The person grunted, let go, and fell to his knees.

A person behind Chen Chuan shot forward and grabbed his shirt to drag him back, and Chen Chuan was forced to fall back a little, only to see a punch coming straight to his face. Another person charged at him from the side to stomp on his captured leg.

A sharp glint flashed in Chen Chuan’s eyes. Suddenly, he bent his knees and used the force Bi Yang used to hold him to make his body move forward by fifteen centimeters. The punch brushed against the back of his head, and the attacker lost his momentum. He tumbled across the floor like a tumbleweed. Meanwhile, Chen Chuan’s bent knee blocked the foot trying to stomp on him and caused its owner to stagger.

When Chen Chuan saw that there were more people coming for him, he tensed up his core and rolled over Bi Yang’s back, thereby breaking free of Bi Yang’s grip on his leg. Once he got back to his feet with the momentum, he charged forward again.

The people at the back saw that the unlocked door was right across from Chen Chuan, so they thought that he was trying to flee. They rushed after him in a hurry, but when Chen Chuan arrived at the door, he ran up the door, kicked it off, and used the momentum to sweep his leg back. It hit the head of the person on the ceiling. He dropped down, and the other students rushed over to catch him.

After Chen Chuan landed on his feet, he wanted to charge forward again, only to suddenly sense movement near him. When he looked over, he saw the one skilled at the Raccoon Walk about to jump over his back. Chen Chuan bent down, turned around, and shot forward. He reached out and grabbed the person by the scruff of the neck.

The person was shocked and struggled to break free, but he was helpless. Chen Chuan dragged him back, struck him somewhat lightly on the temple, and he instantly fell limp.

Just then, Chen Chuan felt something and turned around to see another person charging at him at rapid speed. Even though there were a number of people lying on the floor, that person managed to move through them as if they were not blocking his path. He broke through the crowd and used his momentum to throw a punch at Chen Chuan.

It was Lu Fang. Chen Chuan did not avoid him but instead threw a punch right back. Alarm bells blared in Lu Fang’s mind, and he did not choose to clash fists with Chen Chuan. He twisted his waist and avoided the punch with a spin. The momentum allowed him to then attack Chen Chuan with his elbow.

Chen Chuan saw it clearly, but he took a step forward and used his shoulder to bear the brunt of the attack. He did not care about the refined force that surged into his body. With a shout, he channeled all of his energy and used the Circling Push. The floorboards under his feet cracked and sank.

Lu Fang was sent flying back into the crowd and knocked several people off their feet. When he landed on the floor, he rolled a few times.

Once Lu Fang neutralized the attack, he pushed against the floor and got to his feet. He looked at Chen Chuan long and hard. The freshman remained standing steadily in front of their barrage of attacks.

Out of the corner of his eye, Lu Fang saw one of the club members beside him about to attack Chen Chuan again. He extended an arm to stop him, though his eyes were fixated on something ahead. “Stop fighting.”

The club members looked in the direction of his gaze and saw that Xiao Qiu had come to stand near Chen Chuan at some point in time. She gave them a warning look. “All of you have either been defeated once or thrown off your feet because someone crashed into you. Chen Chuan has passed the monthly exam. If you attack him again, you will be seen as violating the rules and will be punished accordingly.”

She then turned to Chen Chuan. “You’ve passed. You can leave now.”

She took some time to observe Chen Chuan and praise him in her mind.

It’s only been a short time since the fight started, but he’s already managed to defeat so many upperclassmen. It’s hard to believe he has only been enrolled for a little over a month. I can understand why the Aspiration Club members are so insistent that he pick a different refined force.

Chen Chuan thanked her and took a few steps to the side to grab his coat. He put it on and calmly buttoned it up.

A number of the club members were injured, so their friends had to help them up. All of them fixed Chen Chuan with complicated looks.

They had so many people, yet he defeated all of them despite being an underclassman. Though this just proved that Chen Chuan was outstanding, and their beliefs were right. They were simply unable to help him understand.

Once Chen Chuan fastened the last button, he gave them all a nod before heading out.

Lu Fang took two steps forward and shouted, “Chen Chuan! You have to understand that even if you defeated us, you’re the one who truly lost!”

Chen Chuan had already reached the door. He paused for a moment, then with just a slight turn of his head, he said, “No, you’re the ones who lost. You said that no one is an exception, but you’re wrong. I’ll be the exception.”

He walked out of the room.