Lu Chen woke in a daze, feeling only unbearable stabbing pain all over his body.
It was as if more than a dozen bones had been broken.
His eyes were blank as he stared at the battered roof overhead. Then he painfully turned his head to look at the dark, cramped walls. Only after a long while did he have no choice but to accept reality in shock.
"I transmigrated?"
But this transmigrated identity was far too miserable.
From his memories, the original owner had been a fifteen-year-old child who had suffered his elder brother and sister-in-law's bullying ever since childhood. Things had been slightly better while his parents were alive.
Ever since his parents died when he was eight, his brother and sister-in-law had revealed their vicious faces. Not only was there endless work for him every day, but he was often left hungry and cold.
If he so much as worked a little too slowly, he would immediately be beaten viciously by them.
And so, amid his brother and sister-in-law's curses and beatings, the original owner had struggled on until the age of thirteen.
But in the year he turned thirteen, his elder brother, Lu Dahu, had sent him directly into Wu Ji Porcelain Shop in the city to work as an apprentice.
He had thought entering the city would bring better days.
Yet he had never expected it to be the beginning of another nightmare.
The porcelain shop's shopkeeper simply did not treat apprentices like them as human. Every day, it was either beatings or scoldings. At the slightest provocation, they would go hungry for an entire day. He was even more vicious than Lu Chen's poisonous brother and sister-in-law. Sometimes, apprentices would be so hungry that they became dizzy and collapsed on the spot; it was a common occurrence.
The original owner endured like this for two straight years. A few days ago, because he had been too hungry, he accidentally broke a piece of porcelain.
This enraged the shopkeeper. That night, the shopkeeper had someone tie up the original owner and give him a vicious beating.
Not only had more than a dozen of his bones been broken, but he had been thrown out of the shop and expelled for good.
Covered in wounds, the original owner had crawled all the way home with great difficulty.
Yet after he crawled back, his brother and sister-in-law flew into a rage and beat him again.
Seeing that the original owner was barely clinging to life, they could not be bothered to care anymore. They threw him directly into the pigsty and left him to fend for himself.
"Damn it, what kind of dark society is this?"
Lu Chen's face was full of shock.
What kind of beastly brother and sister-in-law were these? What kind of beastly shop was this?
But!
Even if he wanted to resist in his current condition, how could he?
Looking at his battered body, Lu Chen gave a bitter smile. He might as well not have transmigrated.
This was far too miserable!
Just as all hope had died within him, he suddenly felt his scalp itch, as though a brain were about to grow inside it.
[Ding! The Merit System is activating!] [The host need only punish evil and promote good, obtaining merit, to receive corresponding rewards.]
A line of clear words appeared in his mind.
A system?
Joy rose in Lu Chen's heart.
As expected, transmigrators were all favored by heaven.
But he quickly frowned.
Punish evil and promote good?
What the hell use was that?
He was seriously injured from head to toe, with more than a dozen broken bones. What ability did he have left to punish evil and promote good?
He would call it the most useless system in history!
Just as Lu Chen showed a bitter expression and closed his eyes again to await death, he suddenly heard voices coming from outside.
"Hurry up and finish off that little beast. Leaving him in the house makes me sick just looking at him."
A shrewish woman's voice rang out.
"Don't worry. His injuries are so serious that he definitely won't live more than a few days."
His elder brother Lu Dahu's voice followed.
"What do you mean, definitely won't live more than a few days? I want him dead right now. Once he dies, we can take the corpse and extort that shop. If they don't give us several dozen taels, this won't be over."
"What? We can extort the shop too?"
"Of course. Our perfectly healthy younger brother was working at their shop, and they beat him to death. If they don't pay up, I'll report them to the yamen and make sure not a single one of them gets off easy!"
The shrewish voice rang out again.
"But isn't that kid still alive?"
"That's exactly why I'm telling you to hurry up and smother him to death. He has to die today. If he dies tomorrow, what if the shop denies it and refuses to admit anything?"
The shrewish voice spoke again.
"This... isn't that a bit wrong?"
"You heartless bastard! You won't earn several dozen taels of silver? How blind was I to ever set my sights on you? I won't live anymore, I won't live anymore..."
"Fine, fine, I'll go. Is that good enough?"
Lu Dahu's voice sounded again.
Inside the pigsty.
Lu Chen's heart tightened as he heard every word clearly.
That damned Lu Dahu and his wife wanted to kill him? "Damn it, even if I die, I'll drag you down to the grave with me."
Lu Chen felt around the ground with his palm and suddenly found a sharp branch. It was quite hard. He quietly hid it away and continued lying motionless.
Not long after.
Lu Dahu's figure approached step by step from outside. Smelling the thick stench in the pigsty, he spat viciously. Then he stared at the half-dead Lu Chen inside, and a vicious light gradually appeared in his triangular eyes.
"Little brother, your big brother has raised you for so many years. You wouldn't have the heart to let your big brother stay poor for the rest of his life, would you?"
Gritting his teeth, he took a towel and lowered his head as he walked into the pigsty.
Just as he covered Lu Chen's face with the towel, preparing to smother him to death.
Lu Chen's eyes flew open, cold light bursting forth. As though he had used up every last scrap of strength in his body, he fiercely stabbed the sharp, hard branch toward Lu Dahu's neck.
Squelch!
The branch instantly pierced Lu Dahu's neck. Lu Dahu's eyes widened in terror as a great gush of blood spurted from his throat. He hurriedly tried to scream.
Yet it felt as though all the strength in his body had vanished. No matter how he tried to shout, no sound would come out. Worse still, intense dizziness washed over him, his vision darkening as he dropped to his knees.
A cruel smile appeared on Lu Chen's face. Struggling to rise from the ground, he said, "My dear big brother, weren't you sick of being poor? In your next life, be born into a good family. Maybe then you won't be poor anymore!"
"You... you..."
Lu Dahu's eyes were wide with terror, his mouth writhing desperately.
But in the end, he failed to utter a single word. He fell to the ground and died a miserable death.
[You killed Lu Dahu, resolving a family dispute. Merit Points +3]
A line of text suddenly appeared.
Hm?
Lu Chen's expression froze, then joy appeared on his face.
That counted too?
This was merit as well?
But on second thought, it seemed to make sense.
While Lu Dahu was alive, he had relentlessly bullied his younger brother and occasionally beaten his wife too.
Now that he was dead, had he not resolved a family dispute?
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, on completing your first task!] [Reward: One beginner's gift pack! You have obtained the martial arts talent: Convince with Virtue!] [Convince with Virtue: To make others listen more amicably while you reason with them, you gain an incomparably robust physique, innate divine strength, and unmatched ferocity.]
"A gift pack?"
Lu Chen's eyes lit up, and his heart filled with delight.
The next moment, he felt his body becoming different.
It was as though a warm current had surged into his body, rapidly transforming him from the inside out.
He had been severely injured, with more than a dozen broken bones throughout his body. But in the next instant, those broken bones began reconnecting one after another, and in the blink of an eye, his injuries were completely healed.
Not only that!
Even his previously skinny body had filled out considerably, as though he had become a completely different person.
"Comfortable. Truly comfortable!"
Lu Chen was overjoyed and stood up completely.
His injuries had healed just like that?
"So this is how punishing evil and promoting good works?" Lu Chen's face was full of delight, and he nearly burst into laughter.
But at that moment, a panel appeared.
Name: Lu Chen Mental Cultivation Method: None Martial Arts: Galloping Horse Fist (Beginner) Talent: Convince with Virtue Merit Points: 3 ...
"Martial arts?"
Lu Chen's eyes flashed as he suddenly remembered.
While the original owner's parents had still been alive, they had indeed sent him to study martial arts under an old boxing master in the village. Unfortunately, the old master had later been beaten to death by enemies who came seeking revenge, and the original owner's martial arts training had fallen into neglect.
Later, many villagers spread rumors that the old martial arts master had actually been a conman of the Martial World. But now, it seemed this martial art was real.
"Merit Points, add them to Galloping Horse Fist."
Lu Chen thought to himself.
Whoosh!
The panel before him changed rapidly.
In the blink of an eye, Galloping Horse Fist advanced from Beginner to Basic Mastery, then from Basic Mastery to Minor Accomplishment. Countless pieces of information instantly flooded his mind, dense as a forest, as though he had practiced for several years in one go.
All kinds of techniques and moves surfaced in his mind. Even the skin on his arms became much rougher.
Lu Chen was overjoyed.
These Merit Points were truly exquisite.
A martial art had risen to Minor Accomplishment in the blink of an eye.
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