Lu Chen moved incredibly fast.
After leaving the Beggar's Den, he headed straight for Wu Ji Porcelain Shop according to the location in his memories.
As he recalled, the porcelain shop stood on a broad street in the east of the city.
Its owner was named Wu Tianli.
He was also known as Wu the Skinflint.
He was a notorious blackhearted merchant. There were more than a dozen apprentices in the shop, and almost none of them escaped his exploitation.
To maintain his absolute authority, Wu the Skinflint had also hired four or five thugs.
In the shop, he acted like a true tyrant. Every day, he either beat or cursed those apprentices.
The original owner had worked at that shop for three years. Not only had he never received a single copper coin in wages, but after breaking a piece of porcelain, he had somehow ended up owing the shop thirty taels. In the end, more than a dozen of his bones had been broken to settle the debt.
If Lu Chen did not settle accounts with such a blackhearted merchant, this system of his would truly have been wasted.
At this moment.
Wu Ji Porcelain Shop.
More than ten apprentices, their faces waxy yellow and their spirits listless, busied themselves inside the porcelain shop.
Some carried heavy objects, while others shaped clay blanks.
Others wiped dust from the porcelain.
The owner, Wu Tianli, did not seem to be in the shop.
Only one thug remained. He was broad and burly, with a vicious face. Sitting on a stool, he looked at the apprentices and barked, "All of you, be more careful. Stop looking so damn lifeless. I'm talking to you! If you break even one piece, selling yourselves wouldn't be enough to pay for it. Damn it, don't you remember Lu Chen from this morning? What, do you want to end up like him? Break one piece and I'll beat you to death!"
Pointing at one apprentice, he launched into a torrent of curses.
The apprentices all nodded and bowed, becoming even more careful.
They had all witnessed what happened that morning.
Lu Chen had merely accidentally knocked over a piece of porcelain, yet the owner had ordered him tied up and beaten until he had nearly been beaten to death.
That owner simply did not treat them like human beings.
"Damn it, a bunch of cheap bones. If I don't hammer you into shape for a day, your whole bodies start itching."
The thug spat. "If you ever fall into my hands one day, I'll make sure you can't eat what you can't carry!"
His name was Wu San, Wu Tianli's biological nephew. That morning, he had been the one who beat Lu Chen most viciously.
At the thought of those bones cracking, Wu San actually looked somewhat nostalgic.
So beating someone can feel this good.
He rubbed his palms unconsciously, as if relishing the sensation.
Just then.
A figure suddenly rushed in from outside. Snatching up a stool by the door, he hurled it fiercely at the exquisite porcelain that had just been fired, roaring, "You old dog Wu, give me back my blood-and-sweat money!"
Crash!
Bang!
The sounds were deafening as shards shot everywhere.
Seven or eight pieces of exquisite porcelain were smashed to pieces in an instant.
All the shop hands jumped in fright, then stared at the scene in terror and disbelief.
"It's Lu Chen!"
"Heavens, Lu Chen, what are you doing?!"
"Lu Chen, run! Hurry and run!"
Everyone screamed.
Though they did not understand why Lu Chen, who had been nearly dead that morning, was now bouncing around full of life that afternoon.
They knew that after smashing so much porcelain, Shopkeeper Wu would never let him go.
This time, he would definitely be beaten to death alive!
Wu San's eyes bulged wide, his gaze splitting with rage. He almost doubted his own eyes.
What had he just seen?
Lu Chen, whom he had beaten half to death that morning, had come charging back that afternoon and smashed so much porcelain right in front of him?
How could this be allowed? "I'll fuck your mother!"
Wu San let out a furious roar. His huge, burly body sprang from the seat as if launched, and like a crazed beast, he stomped down and pounced recklessly at Lu Chen.
Beast!
This was a damned beast!
If he did not beat this bastard to death, then his surname was not Wu.
How much were all those exquisite porcelain pieces worth?!
Yet when Wu San charged over, Lu Chen showed not the slightest fear. Instead, his eyes turned cold. He lunged forward and drove a fierce punch at Wu San.
Bang!
"Ah!"
Wu San let out an incomparably shrill scream. One of his palms exploded beneath Lu Chen's punch, broken bones, mangled flesh, and blood flying wildly through the air. The excruciating pain nearly made him pass out.
Terror filled his heart. Clutching his hand, he could scarcely believe it.
Before he could react, Lu Chen reached out and seized Wu San, dragging him forcefully close. His two fingers were like steel as they stabbed directly toward Wu San's eyes.
Splat!
Wu San screamed miserably again.
"My eyes..."
"Wu San, didn't you break more than a dozen of my bones this morning? Didn't you keep saying you would beat me to death? Now I'll break every bone in your body and gouge out your eyes while I'm at it. This is called paying back blood for blood!"
Lu Chen acted with absolute decisiveness. Gripping Wu San's body as if he were a straw dummy, he swung him wildly toward the remaining porcelain.
Crack! Crack! Crack...
A series of explosive sounds rang out. Row after row of porcelain was continually smashed to pieces by Wu San's body.
Wu San's screams did not stop, shrill and miserable.
All the apprentices were terrified. Their faces had turned deathly pale, and they trembled violently, completely stunned.
How had things become like this?
How had Lu Chen become like a completely different person?
How could he have beaten Wu San into this state?
This was like a dream.
In the rear courtyard.
The owner, Wu Tianli, wore a fawning smile as he attended to a handsome young man dressed in yellow robes. He nodded and bowed as though the youth were his own father.
In truth, even if the young man was not his father, it was not far from it.
His identity was incomparably distinguished. He was Zhao Yuesheng, the son of Zhao Hu, the master of Rising Sun Martial Hall in Panshi City.
"Young Master Zhao, this piece is the finest porcelain in our shop. Look at the pattern, the texture, and the luster. It is like beautiful jade..."
"Heh, not bad."
The young man in yellow smiled as he examined a teacup in his hand.
The porcelain teacup had been fired white as jade, translucent and gleaming with reflected light.
Among porcelain, it could be considered a fine piece.
Yet Zhao Yuesheng's attention was not on the teacup at all. It rested instead on a young woman of sixteen, dressed in a goose-yellow gown, whose face held a touch of shy embarrassment.
"This young lady..."
"Young Master Zhao, her name is Yue'e. She is my daughter. To be honest, she has admired you for a long time and has long heard that you are a martial arts genius..." Wu Tianli smiled, then signaled to the young woman. "Yue'e, hurry and greet Young Master Zhao."
"Greetings, Young Master Zhao."
The young woman in the goose-yellow dress curtsied shyly.
"She is truly lovely enough to stir pity in anyone who sees her."
Zhao Yuesheng's eyes lit up.
"Young Master Zhao flatters her."
Wu Tianli wore a fawning smile.
He had long heard that Young Master Zhao was exceedingly fond of women.
Seeing him today, it was indeed true.
If he could latch onto Young Master Zhao's thigh.
Then from this day onward, in Panshi City, he would have wind when he wanted wind and rain when he wanted rain.
"Young Master Zhao, I have a few matters to attend to over here. How about... you speak privately with my daughter?" Wu Tianli said with a smile.
"Oh? Then go attend to your business."
Zhao Yuesheng smiled.
"Good, good."
Wu Tianli nodded repeatedly, inwardly delighted.
Yue'e, Yue'e, whether our family could soar to great heights from now on would all depend on you.
Just as he withdrew from the area and headed outside, he suddenly heard crackling porcelain from the front hall, along with wave after wave of miserable screams, like pigs being slaughtered. His expression changed in alarm, and he quickly summoned several thugs before rushing over.
Could those apprentices have broken porcelain again?
They were simply courting death!
If he did not beat several of them to death, they would think he was easy to bully. As he charged furiously into the front hall, the sight before him nearly scared him unconscious.
Not a single piece of porcelain in the hall had been spared. Every one of them had been smashed apart.
Shards littered the floor in heaps.
His nephew Wu San had been beaten until he was a bloody mess and was being swung around in the other party's hand like a dead dog.
Wu Tianli's eyes split with rage. Nearly driven mad, he shrieked hysterically, "Lu Chen, it's you! You little beast, you dare smash my shop? Kill him! Hurry and kill him!!"
He was so furious that he bounced wildly in place.
The four or five burly thugs beside him roared and all pounced forward.
Damn it!
How could this be allowed!
That little beast had been beaten half to death that morning.
Yet that afternoon, he had come to smash the shop? If they did not skin him alive, then these thugs might as well have been eating for nothing.
Before you continue