Steven Reed and Franklin Ward only heard the roaring wind in their ears, the sound was deafening and piercing, making them restless and irritable. At that moment, Henry Clark's fist also came swinging at them.

　　Bang! Bang!

　　Unsurprisingly, both of them took a punch to the abdomen. With a force of up to 500 jin, even though their bodies were somewhat trained and their skin and muscles were extremely tough, able to absorb part of the impact, it still hurt like hell.

　　And this was with Henry Clark not even using the power of his bracelet—otherwise, it could have been deadly.

　　Under the impact of such tremendous force, they crashed heavily into the wall and then bounced back. But before they could hit the ground, Henry Clark punched again, sending them flying back into the wall.

　　Bang, bang, bang, bang.

　　The two of them were like roly-polies, bouncing off the wall again and again, as if the wall was slapping them in the face. Soon, their faces were bruised and swollen, to the point that even their own mothers would have trouble recognizing them.

　　The scene was somewhat comical, but neither George Harris nor Andrew Thompson could even crack a smile.

　　George Harris only felt his face burning. He had boasted earlier about protecting Henry Clark, but what happened? He got knocked down, and the Henry Clark he was supposed to protect ended up beating Steven Reed and the others like dough, kneading them however he pleased.

　　Andrew Thompson's face was as white as paper, but he also felt secretly relieved. Luckily, he was lying on the ground—otherwise, he would have joined the ranks of the roly-polies.

　　But how could an idiot be this powerful?

　　George Harris and Andrew Thompson just couldn't figure it out, nor could they accept it.

Chapter 8 Forced Sparring

　　Henry Clark quickly lost interest; opponents like these were too weak, and there was no way for him to get a real combat experience. However, the three of Steven Reed had bullied the old Henry Clark too harshly, so of course this grudge had to be settled—after all, the two Henry Clarks shared the same body.

　　After beating them for about ten minutes, Henry Clark finally stopped. Smack. Smack. Steven Reed and Franklin Ward both collapsed to the ground, letting out low groans.

　　"That's enough for today. But all the things you took from me before—you'll have to give them back, not a single thing less," Henry Clark said coldly. If there's a grudge, it must be avenged—why be polite?

　　He searched Steven Reed and Franklin Ward, cleaning out all their money. Then, he turned his gaze to Andrew Thompson.

　　Andrew Thompson immediately started trembling. Without waiting for Henry Clark to say a word, he quickly emptied his own pockets, even turning them inside out to show he wasn't hiding a single copper coin.

　　Henry Clark then looked at George Harris. Out of reflex, George Harris also reached into his pocket. Henry Clark couldn't help but smile, reaching out his hand to help him up.

　　Only then did George Harris realize what he was doing, his face turning bright red. He grabbed Henry Clark's hand and stood up with his help, embarrassed, and said, "Henry Clark, thank you."

　　Henry Clark smiled and said, "I should be the one thanking you."

　　"No, I didn't help you at all," George Harris said, blushing with shame.

　　"It's the thought that counts," Henry Clark replied. "Come on, let's go."

　　George Harris followed for a couple of steps, then looked back at the three lying on the ground and asked worriedly, "What about those three?"

　　"Just let them lie there," Henry Clark said indifferently.

　　"Henry Clark, Andrew Thompson and Franklin Ward don't matter, but Steven Reed's older brother Richard Reed is a student of the Heaven Institute," George Harris reminded him.

　　Don't be fooled by the fact that both the Eastern and Western Earth Institutes each have over two thousand students—together, the Heaven Institute students from both sides number just over a hundred. That shows how hard the martial path is. Those who can enter the Heaven Institute, some of them will definitely reach the Grand Completion stage in the future.

　　Such an enemy is naturally formidable.

　　Henry Clark nodded. He was full of confidence in himself, but would never underestimate his opponents. However, although the academy was divided into East and West, it strictly forbade Heaven Institute students from attacking Earth Institute students—a rule everyone had to follow.

　　Within the same realm, if you lose, it's because you're not good enough. But crossing realms to bully others is not allowed. If your family has someone at the Middle Stage, does mine not have someone at the Grand Completion Stage? That would throw everything into chaos.

　　So, Richard Reed would never make a move against him. At least, not personally.

　　And if Richard Reed was reasonable, that would be fine. Otherwise... right now, he couldn't beat someone at the Middle Stage, but his cultivation was advancing so quickly that he would soon catch up. Richard Reed had been out adventuring and probably had a lot of treasures on him—Henry Clark wouldn't mind if he had to pay compensation with a magic weapon.

　　After the two entered the academy, George Harris quickly found an excuse to leave.

　　Henry Clark knew that he still couldn't swallow his pride. A dignified quasi-Small Stage expert being saved by an "idiot"—his face must be burning, and staying even a second longer would be torture.

　　He didn't mind and headed straight to the training grounds.

　　The academy's training grounds were much larger than the Chu family's. However, because of the rivalry between the East and West factions, the training ground was divided in two, with a tall wall in the middle—meaning "the well water doesn't mix with the river water."

　　This was necessary; otherwise, if both sides were training and one side started provoking the other, it could easily turn into a mass brawl. If someone died, it would be a huge problem.

　　Even so, half the field was still enormous—at least the size of three soccer fields. The ground was covered with fine sand, soft underfoot, like walking on a beach. Even if you fell, it wouldn't hurt much.