Chapter 139: Hip-Hop Youth, Half-Step Viridian Rank!

"Who are you?" Touka looked at the figure, crimson kakugan instantly emerging in her eyes. Behind her, her colorful yet missing-one ukaku also manifested, looking rather flamboyant as she readied herself for battle.

Si Kongxu likewise tensed his body, taking a slight step forward to subtly shield Touka behind him.

This instinctive action of Si Kongxu's caught Touka off guard. A surge of warmth uncontrollably welled up from her chest—a feeling of warmth like this... had not been felt for a very, very long time...

In that moment, Touka recalled how her father used to protect her just like this when she was a child.

"Hey, stop zoning out." Suddenly, Si Kongxu's voice snapped Touka back from her memories.

"We're in the middle of a battle right now. Daydreaming like this is practically asking for a death wish." Si Kongxu reprimanded Touka while keeping his eyes locked on the person before them.

This fellow was dressed in a trendy style, wearing a knitted beanie, resembling one of those street-style hip-hop kids.

Yet, the impression he gave Si Kongxu was far from simple. That sensation was practically on par with facing the half-kakujaized Yakumo Oomori from earlier, or perhaps even a notch stronger!

"A second-year?" The pitch-black Elucidator had already appeared in Si Kongxu's hand, drawn from the engraved independent space without him even realizing it.

"Oh?" The hip-hop youth was clearly surprised by Si Kongxu's peculiar designation. He had initially assumed the other was also a ghoul, but upon catching sight of the crest exclusive to Aurora Academy on the back of Si Kongxu's right hand, he understood.

"Judging by your tone, you must be a first-year, right?" the hip-hop youth asked Si Kongxu. "Though I have no idea how you managed to get mixed up with a ghoul, seeing as we're from the same school and I'm your upperclassman, I'll give you a chance. If you walk away right now, I can let you leave."

"Let me leave? Really?" Si Kongxu's words sent Touka into a sudden rage.

"You jerk! Just a second ago you were acting like we were in this together through thick and thin, and now you're running away!" Touka hadn't expected Si Kongxu to actually do this!

Yet, a moment later, she fell silent again, realizing that the other party seemingly had no obligation to stay behind...

Si Kongxu glanced back at Touka and secretly shook his head; this young girl was still far too naive.

Observing Touka's crestfallen expression, Si Kongxu walked past her with an expressionless face, then smiled at the hip-hop youth and walked straight toward his rear.

Slowly, Si Kongxu bypassed the hip-hop youth. The youth didn't seem to hold much of a guard against him, evidently taking Si Kongxu for nothing more than a passing underclassman.

And just as Si Kongxu reached a position half a step behind the hip-hop youth with his back turned to him!

A fierce glint flashed in Si Kongxu's eyes. The source energy within his body instantly transformed into internal energy, infusing his entire frame, while the razor-sharp Elucidator was gripped tightly in his hand!

Immediately following that, Si Kongxu executed a magnificent pivot—

"Crossing the Four Quarters!"

Swish! The cold longsword, trailing a dazzling red glow, instantly carved a horizontal, crescent-shaped sword scar through the air.

The sword scar tore through the air, and the brilliant blade light slashed instantly toward the hip-hop youth who was closest to Si Kongxu!

"What?!"

True to expectations, the hip-hop youth hadn't raised his guard against Si Kongxu too heavily, especially since both hailed from the same school. Thus, Si Kongxu's sneak attack caught him completely off guard!

"Damn it, who are you?!" The very instant Si Kongxu's sword light materialized, the hip-hop youth reacted, but Si Kongxu's sword was simply too fast!

There was utterly no time for the hip-hop youth to mount any effective defense. He was forced to violently erupt the energy within his body to neutralize the orange-red sword Qi!

Boom!

Just as the orange-red sword Qi of "Crossing the Four Quarters" was about to horizontally slash across the hip-hop youth's abdomen, a terrifying wave of energy erupted in response.

The hip-hop youth's energy reserves were immense. The sword Qi unleashed by Si Kongxu was like a lone leaf facing a vast ocean, effortlessly swallowed and annihilated.

"Holy shit!"

Seeing the other's overwhelming momentum, Si Kongxu instantly retreated a few steps, widening the distance between them.

Right away, Si Kongxu recognized that the energy erupted by the hip-hop youth was none other than the most common battle aura. Having previously crossed paths with Ah Zheng, the bodyguard of Zhao Tian who had harassed Ye Xi, Si Kongxu was quite familiar with this kind of energy.

In fact, Si Kongxu could even convert the source energy within his body into battle aura, though due to unfamiliarity, he had never actually done so.

However, this didn't hinder his familiarity with battle aura.

Though battle aura was the most commonplace among all energy systems, anyone who underestimated it for that reason would suffer a bitter defeat!

Watching the hip-hop youth wildly venting his violent battle aura, cold sweat couldn't help but bead on Si Kongxu's forehead. The sheer amount of energy the youth had just erupted vastly exceeded the total sum of source energy stored within his own body.

"Is this the terror of a second-year..."

The corners of Si Kongxu's eyes twitched slightly before he quickly flashed aside, arriving back at Touka's side.

"You jerk, just a moment ago I thought..." Upon seeing Si Kongxu return to her side once more, Touka's mood inexplicably surged with joy, though she kept it carefully hidden from her face.

"Thought what?" Si Kongxu smiled. Though he would have loved to tease Touka further, the current situation hardly permitted him to play jokes.

At that moment, the hip-hop youth also ceased his venting of energy.

"Hehe, very good, quite impressive. You actually managed to hurt me..." Abandoning his previous mocking grin, the hip-hop youth now wore a slightly morbid expression.

He lowered his head to gaze at his abdomen. There, a fine, narrow sword scar sat on the surface, with tiny beads of blood slowly welling up.

The wound was long, but extremely shallow, at most merely scratching the surface of the skin and the capillaries just beneath it.

"If that sword of yours had been aimed at the blood vessels in my neck, I might actually be dead right now."

Si Kongxu smiled and replied, "Then you really ought to thank me for sparing your life. After all, we're fellow students; I didn't want to resort to any fatal blows."

The hip-hop youth slowly continued, "I have to admit, you're the strongest first-year I've ever laid eyes on. If your target had been any other member of this operation, perhaps you really would have succeeded. What a pity... your luck is simply terrible.

I am someone who has already placed half a foot into the Verdant tier, hahahaha! My name is Ma Qiuxing. Remember that name, underclassman—it shall become the shadow hanging over your future!"

This guy really loved to posture! Listening to Ma Qiuxing's chunibyo speech, Si Kongxu felt a secondhand embarrassment flare up.

Despite his disdain for the speech, Si Kongxu knew the fellow possessed genuine capability. The mere fact that he had stepped half a foot into the Verdant tier was enough to give Si Kongxu a headache.

What did the Verdant tier signify? Though only one rank higher than the Luminous Yellow tier, the chasm between the two was as wide as heaven and earth—much like the difference between a firecracker and a block of TNT.

Even for a high-stage Luminous Yellow tier practitioner, fighting a Verdant tier opponent without outnumbering them heavily was virtually impossible, let alone Si Kongxu, whose true strength was currently only at the early stage of the Luminous Yellow tier.

Even though the opponent had only stepped half a foot into the Verdant tier, relying solely on Touka and himself without any special trump cards would only result in a one-sided thrashing.

The hip-hop youth produced a weapon resembling a baseball bat. Locking his gaze straight onto Si Kongxu, in the very next instant, he burst forth with explosive speed!