C14 Five People and Three Injuries

When they turned the man in blue over, they were met with a gruesome sight: his face was smeared with blood.

The scene was frightening. His features were a blur of blood and torn flesh, with the white of bone peeking through his battered nose. Blood had soaked the floor around him.

His face resembled a macabre blend of meat and blood.

In theory, the injuries shouldn't have been so severe. But he had exerted his full strength, and under the influence of Spiritual Energy, he had crashed to the ground once more. This was no ordinary floor.

Each floor of the academy was imbued with Spiritual Energy. The founders had fortified every brick and tile with a trace of this power to prevent deliberate damage, making every surface exceptionally hard.

The man in blue was in so much agony he couldn't utter a word. His mouth, too, was a mess from the fall, rendering him unable to speak, with several teeth knocked loose.

Zhang Heng found the sight unbearable.

So, he lay back down in his previous resting spot.

Seeing this, someone called out indignantly, "Hey! You caused this mess! You need to take responsibility!"

"Yeah, how can you even think of sleeping? You used someone else's mattress, and now you've beaten up your roommate. You're going to get expelled!" another person yelled.

Zhang Heng thought about how overwhelming the day's events had been, leaving his mind reeling.

He had been resting peacefully, only to be thrust into this chaos. Yet, expulsion didn't concern him; he wasn't at fault.

So he responded, "I didn't harm him. He tried to hit me and ended up falling. Instead of worrying about any punishment I might face, shouldn't you be more concerned about our friend's injuries on the floor?"

Zhang Heng smirked to himself.

Everyone had acted as if the incident was none of their business, only stepping in after the first punch missed its mark, rather than intervening right away.

Anyone else might have been left in a sorry state by the man in blue, but not Zhang Heng.

They glanced at the injured student on the ground, and someone quickly made a call to the campus authorities.

"Hello, hello. There's a fight happening here. Please, hurry and call the school doctor! It's in room 440 of the new students' dormitory," the bespectacled man said.

He then ended the call after a long pause.

Zhang Heng, having seen that the call had been placed, lay down on his bed and enveloped himself in Spiritual Energy to prevent any harm.

He then erected a barrier of Spiritual Energy around himself, cutting off any contact with the outside world and preventing anyone from reaching him.

The onlookers couldn't help but snicker at his actions.

"What's the idea here? Shielding yourself with a Spiritual Energy Wall? Do you really think that scant amount of Spiritual Energy will protect you?" the seemingly guileless boy challenged.

Despite his innocent appearance, he wasn't quite so naive and seemed eager to provoke further conflict.

Perhaps intimidated by the recent events, the others around him held back the guileless boy, advising him not to stir up trouble and to wait for the school doctor to arrive.

"Don't worry," one of them assured, "once the school doctor gets here, he's going to face the consequences."

"No way," another exclaimed, "this room can't really be cursed, can it? I'm requesting a room change!"

Meanwhile, the instigator of the incident, Zhang Heng, lay motionless on his bed, waiting for the school doctor's arrival.

The guileless boy, growing more irritated at Zhang Heng's demeanor, struck the Spiritual Energy Wall with all his might.

The sound was loud, even louder than the punch from the boy in blue earlier.

This left some of the bystanders in utter shock.

"Didn't I tell you not to cause trouble? We're just waiting for the school authorities to handle this. I refuse to believe he won't be expelled for causing such chaos!"

"Hey, glasses, don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong. I reckon this guy was just taking up for his buddy, venting a bit. That punch wasn't even that hard," another person interjected.

The simple-minded boy, however, was still stunned from his own excessive force.

The man who had been explaining for him, noticing his silence, nudged him as a reminder.

"Right? You were just blowing off steam, weren't you?"

The simple-minded man was jolted awake by a shove.

"Yes... Yes..." he mumbled, still groggy.

He alone knew the true extent of his strength in that moment; he had genuinely attempted to shatter the Spiritual Energy barrier. Yet, not only had he failed to break it, he had also managed to hurt himself in the process.

"Look at this guy, completely oblivious. He sleeps like a baby after hitting someone, as if nothing happened. I'll show him a thing or two!" The man, emboldened by the simple-minded man's words, decided to give it a go himself.

Before anyone could intervene, he threw a punch.

Unexpectedly, though his punch lacked the force of the simple-minded man's, his own carelessness caused him to be repelled by the Spiritual Energy barrier.

By the time others tried to stop him, it was too late.

The bystanders were in shock.

The simple-minded man hung his head and spoke slowly, "I put all my strength into that attack, but it still wasn't enough to break through. I'm afraid what he said might actually be true."

The man who had been flung away struggled to come to terms with the situation.

"How can this be? How can anyone achieve that?" he exclaimed, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, likely a result of the Spiritual Energy's rebound and the subsequent collision with the wall.

The scene left the onlookers horrified.

Then, they heard noises from downstairs.

It seemed the school doctor was on the way.

"Let's stick to the truth, no lies," the simple-minded man declared.

In light of the circumstances, no one else felt inclined to fabricate stories. Lying could invite retribution, especially considering they all had to coexist within the school for an extended period.

Moreover, many were aware of the simple-minded man's true identity.

Having competed before, his strength was rumored to be among the top ten within the school. And yet, he couldn't overcome a new student's Spiritual Energy barrier.