A Heavy Hand by Mistake!

Mo Fan activated the active effect of the Blood Beast Boots, channeling every ounce of power into his legs.

At that moment, the force erupting from his legs was no longer human — it was the crushing stomp of Blood Beast Iron Hooves.

When his flying kick connected with the decorative rock formation, the rockery — easily the height of a full house wall — shattered in an instant with a thunderous **crack**, collapsing in ruin.

The brute force transferred clean through the stone. The Intermediate-Level Wind Element Mage who had been crouching on the other side nearly came apart at the seams just like the rockery did; the sound of bones cracking rang out sharp and clear even amid the cacophony of shattering rock.

Mo Fan stepped through the rubble of the formation he had just destroyed. The figure sprawled among the debris couldn't move at all. Satisfied, he turned around, eyes locking onto the other two ambushers.

Both of them stood rooted to the spot, slack-jawed after watching the rockery reduced to near-powder.

That was… that was *brutal*!

One kick to shatter a four-meter rock formation — was this guy even human?!

The three of them had only come here because Jia Wenqing had treated them to a meal and they'd heard someone had the audacity to harass their goddess Mu Nujiao. So they'd been dispatched to teach the scoundrel a lesson.

The plan was simple: rough him up a bit, then head home. They never expected the fight to end this fast — their strongest member, their senior Wind Element Intermediate-Level Mage Fu Tianming, had been kicked into a state somewhere between life and death!

"Who are you people?" Mo Fan noticed the other two had gone completely blank, and it suddenly dawned on him that this group didn't seem like Black Church operatives.

The Black Church struck to kill or to incapacitate fatally. They didn't send warning shots.

These people had opened with Fire Burst to probe him — basic-level magic that barely even registered — before escalating to intermediate spells…

"We… we're students from Pearl Academy. We were waiting here for a classmate, just to teach him a small lesson — we had no idea we'd mistaken you for him, Senior. Please… please show mercy." The student who had Released the Fire Burst earlier rushed to speak.

"Yes, yes — we never meant to attack you, Senior."

"Who sent you." Mo Fan's voice was cold.

"It… it was Jia Wenqing." Neither of them dared hold back.

Mo Fan groaned inwardly.

So it really wasn't the Black Church. These two idiots were a problem — if they'd been even a moment slower in revealing who they were, he'd have sent them flying with a Blazing Fist and turned them to rubble.

When it came to Black Church operatives, Mo Fan showed no mercy whatsoever. How many people from his hometown of Bo City had died at their hands? Alongside the lingering dread that still clung to him, what he felt toward the Black Church above all else was rage and hatred.

"Get him to the infirmary — now. Any slower and he won't make it." Mo Fan said to the two students.

They didn't dare utter another word. They rushed into the rubble and dug Fu Tianming out.

When they hoisted their senior up, they stared in stunned horror — the man's bones were nearly all shattered. He was barely clinging to half a life.

That strike… had been more than a little vicious.

Zhang Bing and Li Wang were, by most measures, decent students. They'd only gone along with this kind of thing because their senior had talked them into it — in their minds, making someone suffer a bit counted as a lesson. But now their revered Wind Element senior had been kicked so hard his bones crumbled, left teetering on the edge of death.

What had they done to deserve this? What god had they offended to cross a monster like this?

Neither of them dared linger. Terrified that this frightening senior might grow irritated and send them flying too, they grabbed Fu Tianming and bolted.

The brief storm passed. Mo Fan returned to his dormitory.

*Looks like I was too on edge. The Black Church may be capable, but they'd have no reason to commit violence here at Pearl Academy… sigh…* He rubbed his temples, trying to unknot the tension in his mind.

Still, there wasn't much he could do about it. Ever since suspecting that the Black Church had set their sights on him, Mo Fan simply couldn't calm down.

The Bo City disaster had claimed so many lives — so many people he had known. The image of a girl like He Yu meeting such a brutal end was seared into his mind and wouldn't leave. Beyond that: his uncle was gone. Demon-Hunting Squad captain Xu Dahuang was gone. Feishi hadn't survived either. Even the bodies of Xu Bing and those other thugs — the first people he'd ever punished with his Lightning Element magic — had been carried past him during the Safety Barrier…

He had come to this new city wanting nothing more than to leave the past behind, to let the nightmares slowly recede. The bloodshed and carnage could, perhaps, grow dim with time — but his hatred for the Black Church only deepened with every passing day.

That earlier fight, Mo Fan had gone in carrying that hatred. Which was why he hadn't held back even slightly.

And it had turned out to be a farce.

At least the man was still breathing. Even if this counted as self-defense, actually killing someone would get him hauled before the Tribunal for a very uncomfortable conversation.

The new semester had barely started when fresh news swept through the entire school.

Mo Fan — the campus terror — had nearly killed a Wind Element senior student on the eve of the semester.

The story spread like wildfire. Mo Fan's already-notorious reputation, which had only just begun to fade, instantly doubled in infamy.

Mo Fan was duly summoned to the academic affairs office. Even after receiving treatment from a Healing Element instructor, that Wind Element senior would need more than two months to recover — and whether there'd be any lasting damage afterward was anyone's guess.

Every second semester was a critical sprint toward qualifying for the Main Campus. Losing two months that way effectively ended that senior's chances.

Given that someone's life hung in the balance, Dean Xiao came to handle the matter personally.

"Mo Fan — why did you strike so hard?" Dean Xiao asked, brow furrowed.

The academy didn't outright forbid private duels, but something as severe as nearly costing a student his life demanded the school's response, whatever the circumstances.

Mo Fan didn't offer much explanation. He'd already said what needed to be said: they had ambushed him first. He had acted in self-defense.

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" Dean Xiao asked.

Mo Fan said nothing.

His suspicion that the Black Church was targeting him was pure conjecture. Telling Dean Xiao about it wouldn't accomplish anything.

"All right, then. You're dismissed." Dean Xiao didn't press further. "Keep your head down during the Main Campus assessment. Don't let anything like this happen again."

Mo Fan left the academic affairs office and walked out along the school's main avenue. A shadow still hung over his chest, refusing to lift.

He didn't know why. No matter what he tried, he couldn't seem to settle.

*Was he afraid of the Black Church?*

*Why else, after learning they might be coming for him, had he been dogged by this constant, gnawing unease?*

But that didn't add up. Back when he was still a Basic-Level Mage, he hadn't feared them at all. And now that he'd reached the Intermediate Level…

No — it wasn't that he feared them. He was afraid they would take more people he cared about.