The atmosphere at Imperial High was a localized hurricane. While the "Big Four" executed a flawless quadruple-synchronous pirouette—their ribbons weaving a glowing Luo-Shu Grid in the air—Master Tie was sweating blood.
To the audience, it was the greatest light show in the history of high school sports. To Master Tie, it was a nightmare. Every time he slammed his "Mountain-Crushing" internal energy into the earth, it didn't shatter the foundations. Instead, the energy hit the iridescent glitter, spiraled through the girls' rhythmic footwork, and bounced back like a rubber ball.
Master Tie, his muscles bulging until his shirt shredded, glared at Chen Feng. Chen Feng was sitting on a rhythmic gymnastics springboard, leaning back on one elbow, lazily sipping a carton of strawberry milk.
"Give up, kid!" Tie roared, his voice muffled by the booming speakers playing a K-Pop remix. "I am the tremor! I am the fault line! I will swallow this school whole!"
"You're making a lot of noise," Chen Feng yawned, checking his watch. "The churro stand closes in ten minutes. Can we wrap this up?"
Master Tie let out a primal scream, channeling 40 years of cultivation into a single, final "Earth-Quaking Stomp." The ground beneath him groaned. A massive fissure began to race toward the podium.
Chen Feng didn't move. He simply finished his milk, took the plastic straw out of the carton, and casually tossed it into the path of the oncoming crack.
The Physics: To the mortal eye, it was a piece of trash.
The Reality: The straw was imbued with the weight of a Celestial Pillar.
When the fissure hit the straw, the earth didn't split. It rebounded. The seismic wave hit the straw, got confused by the absolute stillness of Chen Feng's aura, and did a complete 180-degree U-turn.
The ground beneath Master Tie suddenly bucked like a provoked mule. POP. Master Tie wasn't crushed; he was launched. He flew upward like a human champagne cork, his "Mountain-Crushing" energy acting as a propellant. He soared over the scoreboard, over the school gates, and vanished into the distant horizon with a faint 'ding' sound.
Director Zhao, watching from the VIP tent with his remote detonator and "evil grin" ready, froze. He looked at the empty space where his elite assassin used to be. He looked at the girls, who had just finished their routine with a magnificent pose, successfully locking the ley lines.
Then he looked at Chen Feng, who was currently trying to dig a leftover churro out of his pocket.
"The... the straw..." Zhao whispered, his eyes twitching. "He stopped a Level 7 Earth-Pulse... with a biodegradable straw? No. No, it's a hallucination. The glitter is hallucinogenic!"
Zhao began to laugh. A high-pitched, hysterical cackle. He started tearing up his "Top Secret" corporate coup documents and folding them into paper cranes. "I'm a bird! I'm a mountain-crushing bird!" he shrieked, sprinting across the track and leaping into the long-jump sandpit, burying his head like an ostrich.
The crowd erupted in a standing ovation.
The Students: "Best. Special. Effects. Ever!"
The Big Four: Panting and glowing with residual energy, they stared at Chen Feng.
They knew. They all saw the straw.
Chen Feng: "Man, I'm still hungry."