What It Means to Be Transcendent

Hearing this, the thug was clearly taken aback, and his face quickly twisted into displeasure.

“Just because the boss has a use for you doesn't mean we won't knock you down a peg or two...”

Bai Xiaodu ignored him, keeping his head lowered as he lost himself in thought.

He knew the methods of these Jackals all too well.

For those young and strong, they used gambling and loans. For those with good looks, they used drugs to control them.

If some wealthy client took a fancy to a certain toy but didn't want to get their hands dirty, these thugs would quickly handle everything and deliver them straight to their bed.

Bai Xiaodu closed the distance that the thug had deliberately kept to avoid making him wary.

The thug frowned.

Unable to figure out what Bai Xiaodu was up to, his instinct still drove him to raise his fists.

He took a fighting stance, a clear warning written all over his face.

“Back off.”

As a veteran enforcer of the Jackal Gang, the thug was quite confident in his fighting skills.

Striking fast, accurately, steadily, and ruthlessly was the creed he had always lived by.

Bai Xiaodu's resistance was naturally within his expectations; otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered to bring another brother along.

Bai Xiaodu continued to draw closer.

His fox-kin body looked fragile no matter how one sliced it, drifting over slowly like a shadow.

The thug finally lost his patience. The silver fox-kin felt far too bizarre today.

Harnessing the force built up from years of training, he planted his feet firmly, swung his arm, and threw a fierce punch.

By any standard, it was a beautifully executed punch.

Solid, powerful, and heavy.

Yet, Bai Xiaodu lightly slipped his body to the side, easily dodging the confident strike as if playing a game.

Even with just a single point added to his Perception, a normal person's physical attacks were completely useless against him.

Executing a physical movement required force; even a feint had to have a genuine point of exertion.

The tension in the eyes, the racing pulse, the sound of muscles tightening—all of these would betray a person countless times.

The thug instinctively widened his eyes, his brain unable to process what was happening.

In the next second, a palm strike carrying a bone-chilling frost slammed violently onto his punching arm!

The cold light condensed, but instead of firing out as a ray, Bai Xiaodu deliberately concentrated it in his hand.

A piercing chill rapidly spread from the point of contact. The thug instinctively looked down.

To his horror, his arm was rapidly turning black and blue, his veins bulging, before freezing completely still like an ice sculpture.

The most terrifying thing had happened.

He could no longer move his arm. He couldn't help but let out a miserable shriek.

“No, stop!”

“A Mage! Are you a Mage?!”

Bai Xiaodu had no interest in responding. Acting as if no one else was there, he tapped his finger against the frozen arm.

It sounded extremely dull, like a piece of spoiled meat discarded in the northern winter, frozen solid.

Bai Xiaodu nodded at him and smiled.

“Shh, keep it down. Even though there are no cameras here, there are still some passersby.”

“This is just a tiny punishment. If you make me unhappy after this...”

With his adorable silver fox-kin face that could charm anyone regardless of gender, Bai Xiaodu spoke in a very calm tone.

“...I will simply freeze one of your arms or legs on a whim, and then slowly help you remove those damaged parts.”

“Don't worry, I'm highly experienced. Back at the orphanage, I was the one who personally butchered the pigs and sheep we only got to eat during the New Year.”

Turning around, Bai Xiaodu saw that the other thug—the one who hadn't spoken earlier—was already pale as a ghost.

The reason he hadn't run wasn't out of loyalty, but because spell runes had already begun to glow on Bai Xiaodu's palm.

Even a fool could tell he was preparing a spell.

Faced with a transcendent, this thug didn't have the slightest thought of resisting.

Throwing away all his dignity, he dropped straight to his knees and began to kowtow repeatedly, to the point where the rough pavement scraped his forehead raw and bloody.

“Brother Bai, Mr. Bai! You've always been reasonable, you must know! The kid in the photo... we didn't do that to him!”

“We're from the Jackal Gang, that's true, but the two of us were only sent to deliver a message and bring you over.”

“Please, show some mercy. Don't take it out on bottom-feeders like us. If you're not satisfied, I can take you to our squad leader right now. This was all his decision, Mr. Bai!”

Bai Xiaodu strolled over, completely ignoring the fear, tears, and snot on the begging thug's face.

He treated him to the exact same treatment.

The thug let out a sharp cry of pain at first, but catching the cold glint in Bai Xiaodu's eyes, he could only grit his teeth with all his might.

Soon, his arm also made a hollow, thudding sound when tapped.

Frozen to this extent, the only way to heal it would likely be amputation followed by the use of an extremely precious regenerative potion.

Their pleas fell on deaf ears.

No crime was too small to be forgiven, even if they were merely accomplices.

Moreover, he needed to use the fate of these two to make his stance absolutely clear.

“You two go back and pass on a message. Tonight, I want to see that child fully recovered, safe and sound, and happily back in his own room.”

“Otherwise...”

His tone suddenly turned ice-cold, his eyes freezing over.

“...you Jackals better pray that I never catch you doing your dirty work in the future.”

“As for threats, don't go thinking that the kids at the orphanage mean the world to me.”

“It's just that if they're killed, I'll be sad. And when I'm sad, I'll feel like dragging a few of your gang members down to the grave with them.”

“That's all.”

With that, Bai Xiaodu waved his hand, stepping aside to clear a path.

“Get lost.”

Watching them scramble and crawl as they fled into the alleyway, Bai Xiaodu shook his head.

There was no need to pity evildoers.

Once their figures had completely vanished, a slight smirk played on his lips.

At the end of the day, he just didn't want Grandma to be sad.

Grandma was a retired Federation soldier. While she didn't hold any real power, she might have some old comrade-in-arms serving as a minor official, so her personal safety wasn't something he needed to worry about.

But it was a shame for the kid, who had been dragged into this because the Jackal Gang couldn't handle the big fish and chose to bully the small instead.

Recalling the sheer terror on the thugs' faces, and how they had desperately held back their screams even after being crippled, Bai Xiaodu couldn't help but rub his ears.

His fox ears were soft and fluffy, making them wonderful to touch, so he would often rub them when he had nothing to do or was lost in thought.

To be honest, he wasn't sure if he was some kind of psychopath.

He just found it incredibly satisfying.

This feeling of standing above others, of casually passing judgment on evil.

Was this what it felt like to be a transcendent?

To easily render decades, or even a lifetime, of hard training and studying completely meaningless with just a single proficiently cast spell.

This was truly...

...wonderful.

Bai Xiaodu loved this feeling.

Humming a little tune, he walked with his hands in his pockets.

He looked just like a psychopath who had just crippled two people, yet felt so blissful that he was even enjoying the faint light of the overcast sky.

Pushing the door open, he stepped into a hall bearing the sign of the Federal Explorers Association.

Staff members were bustling about inside. He tidied his hair, maintaining his adorable, smiling face.

He sat down in front of a young female receptionist.

“Hello there, the weather is quite nice today.”

“My name is Bai Xiaodu. I've just achieved Proficient rank in a spell, and I need to register it with the association.”