Before Zhao Yuan even got angry, Wu Yan was already fuming. He pointed at the three of them and cursed, "Fuck, who are you calling pathetic? You looking for a fight?"
"So what if we are? You want a piece of us?" Wang Lei and his friends shot back, cracking their knuckles. POP! POP! In their eyes, taking down the skinny Zhao Yuan and Wu Yan would be a piece of cake.
Zhao Yuan held out a hand to stop Wu Yan. "Easy there, Wu Yan," he said. "Don't get worked up. These are the guys who pissed their pants because of a cat. If you scare them, you might actually give them a heart attack or something, and that would be a problem."
Wu Yan burst out laughing. "Oh, right! How could I forget? Speaking of which, these guys might be cowards, but they're seriously thick-skinned. If I did something that humiliating, I'd definitely go into hiding and never show my face again. But these three are parading around like nothing happened. It's true what they say: when you're shameless, you're invincible!"
The argument started drawing curious glances from the surrounding crowd. When they overheard Zhao Yuan and Wu Yan's conversation, a small commotion rippled through them.
"Holy crap, I knew those three looked familiar. They're the Piss Gods!"
"Piss Gods? What the hell kind of nickname is that?"
"Dude, how out of the loop are you? You don't even know who the Piss Gods are? A few days ago, outside the anatomy building, these three jokers got so scared by a stray cat that they pissed themselves. The internet crowned them the 'Piss Gods'! The video of it has been one of the hottest threads on the school forum ever since!"
"It's not every day I get to see the Piss Gods in person. I gotta get a picture with them."
"You're actually going to take a picture with them? Aren't you afraid you'll catch it?"
Wang Lei and his friends were already looking furious after what Zhao Yuan and Wu Yan had said, but the crowd's jeers made their faces turn black as soot.
Over the past few days, the three had calmed down and discussed it. They were convinced that Zhao Yuan had a lot to do with what happened that day. In fact, they were almost certain he was the one who had set them up, playing tricks to scare them! 'We were humiliated! We became a laughingstock! And it's all because of Zhao Yuan!'
Now, this new humiliation piled on top of their old grudge, and the anger in their hearts erupted into a raging inferno.
"Get him!" Wang Lei roared, his voice thick with hatred.
"Get him!" Zhou Peng and Sun Ke echoed, their faces contorted with rage.
The trio lunged at Zhao Yuan in unison, determined to beat him to a pulp and vent their fury.
Zhao Yuan raised an eyebrow, and his expression instantly turned grim. His body instinctively shifted into the White Tiger Form of the Four Saints Technique—his feet gripped the earth, his back arched slightly, like a ferocious tiger descending a mountain in search of prey. A savage, bloodthirsty aura exploded from him, crashing over Wang Lei and his friends like a hurricane.
For a disorienting moment, the world seemed to shift before the trio's eyes.
Zhao Yuan was gone. In his place stood a magnificent, terrifying tiger.
The color drained from their faces in an instant.
"A... a tiger?"
"What's going on? Why is there a tiger on campus?"
"Help! I don't want to be eaten by a tiger!"
The tiger's appearance was so sudden, so real, that they were scared witless before they could even process it. They wanted to run, but their legs had turned to jelly and wouldn't obey. With a THUD, they collapsed to the ground.
This sudden turn of events completely blindsided the onlookers.
The terrifying aura unleashed by the White Tiger Form only affected Wang Lei's group; no one else sensed a thing. The crowd couldn't understand it. One second, the trio was acting all tough and aggressive, and the next, they had crumpled into such a pathetic state. Their opponent hadn't even lifted a finger!
"And they wanted to pick a fight? Pathetic. The other guy didn't even have to do anything and they're already down."
"I used to doubt how a grown man could get so scared by a kitten that he'd piss his pants. Seeing them now... I'm a believer."
"This has got to be the weirdest 'fight' I've ever seen."
Some in the crowd jeered, others looked on with contempt, while many more pulled out their phones to film the whole pathetic scene.
"Whoa, what is that smell? It stinks!" someone suddenly yelled, pinching their nose.
Now that he'd pointed it out, everyone else caught a whiff of a foul, acrid stench.
"They pissed themselves!" a sharp-eyed person shouted, pointing at the wet stains on the trio's pants. They burst out laughing. "Those guys actually did it again! They really are the Piss Gods!"
"They really did it!"
"Holy shit, what is even happening? These guys were screaming about wanting to fight, and before a punch was thrown, they pissed themselves... This is completely absurd. Are we sure they aren't just here to be clowns?"
"Quick, get pictures! Post them on the forum, on your social media! I've already got the headline: 'The Piss Gods Have Pissed Again.' Haha, this is gonna be the next viral post, and it's all mine!"
The crowd's surprise quickly turned into a cacophony of jeers and laughter.
Zhao Yuan relaxed his stance, withdrawing the White Tiger Form. The violent aura vanished in an instant, and Wang Lei and his friends snapped back to their senses.
"Where's the tiger?" They frantically looked around, but there was no trace of any striped beast. There were only the blinding flashes of phone cameras going off all around them.
The realization that they had, once again, pissed their pants in public made their faces twist into masks of sheer horror. They clutched their crotches, shouting, "No pictures! Stop taking pictures!" as they scrambled to their feet, shoved their way through the crowd, and fled.
Watching their pathetic retreat, the crowd erupted in another wave of laughter.
"Bunch of cowards," Wu Yan scoffed at their retreating backs, then turned to Zhao Yuan, his curiosity piqued. "Third Brother, what did you do to them? How did you scare them that badly?"
"I overwhelmed them with my presence," Zhao Yuan said simply. It was the truth. The White Tiger Form was all about projecting a powerful and piercing aura, one that could induce hallucinations in those with weak wills.
Wu Yan was skeptical. "'Presence?' Yeah, right. And I can kill people just by looking at them!" Shaking his head, he dropped the subject. He then shoved his way through the crowd to try and act suave in front of Lin Xue, but she didn't even spare him a glance.
He slunk back to Zhao Yuan's side, muttering awkwardly, "Hey, uh, it's not that my game is weak or anything. It's just... too many people here. It's throwing me off! Next time, I'll show you my real skills, Third Brother!"
Hearing his excuses, Zhao Yuan couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Just as he was laughing, he heard someone shout, "Hey, look! The Piss Gods are back!"
Everyone turned to look where the person was pointing. Sure enough, Wang Lei and his friends were heading back.
"How do those guys have the nerve to come back?" Wu Yan muttered, completely baffled. "Did they feel like they didn't get to piss enough and want to have another go?"
But Zhao Yuan's brow furrowed.
Because he saw that trailing behind them were several strangers.
'Clearly,' he thought, 'they aren't here to be friendly.'