The Filthy Taotie

The next day.

When Feng Jiu stepped out of his room, his entire body reeked.

Fragrant, foul, sour, spicy—every kind of smell had blended together. He smelled like a beggar who had slept in a garbage dump for ten days without bathing, thoroughly pickled in stench.

The two maidservants attending him looked at him with inexplicable terror in their eyes. They wanted to cover their noses but did not dare.

They kept as far away from Feng Jiu as possible. Both maintained the same posture, holding their breath with their lips tightly pressed together, their little faces flushed red. Only when they truly could not hold it any longer would they suddenly gulp in a breath—then expressions of agony would immediately appear on their faces. Around Feng Jiu, even breathing seemed like an unforgivable sin.

Feng Jiu was brimming with energy and paid no attention to his own smell. He lifted the stone lock used for training in the courtyard, tossing it up and down to test his strength.

The forty-pound stone lock felt weightless in his hand.

When he saw Dug emerge from the room, Feng Jiu excitedly threw down the stone lock and ran toward him like a child showing off his achievements to an adult. "Seventh Brother, it worked! I did it..."

A wave of foul stench hit him head-on. Dug's expression changed drastically, and he shot far away with a whoosh. One hand pinched his nose while the other stretched forward in a stopping gesture. In a muffled voice, he said, "Stop. Don't come any closer."

The five senses included smell. If the maidservants could barely endure Feng Jiu's odor, Dug could not tolerate it at all. Feng Jiu's stench was practically a biological weapon to him.

For the first time, Dug experienced the downside of having overly sharp senses. If Feng Jiu was going to smell like this from now on, he would have to consider abandoning this little brother...

Taotie was a Dragon Son, yet he had turned it into something this filthy!

What a talent! Feng Jiu raised his sleeve and sniffed it, then smiled awkwardly and took two steps back. "Seventh Brother, it is a little smelly! I'll go bathe in a while. I just wanted to tell you that your method was right. Taking laxatives while stuffing myself with food really can make me grow stronger. In just one night, my strength more than doubled, and my five senses became sharper too..."

You call those sharp senses?

They're nowhere near mine!

Dug froze for a moment, then stared at him in astonishment. "You really spent the whole night eating and shitting at the same time?"

The maidservants seemed to think of something. Their faces twitched at once, and they involuntarily retched a few times.

"Yeah. No madness, no success." Feng Jiu said excitedly. "That saying really makes sense. Seventh Brother, I've thought it through. My current condition isn't suitable for wandering the martial world. Why not let me stay and guard the house for you? If the Feng Family really finds other Heavenly Demons from outside, I'll handle them..."

Upon hearing that, the maidservants outside Feng Jiu's room nearly blacked out on the spot. They looked at Dug with pleading eyes that seemed to say, Please, take him away!

If you really eat and shit all the way there, I definitely won't take you. First, I can't afford that embarrassment. Second, I can't stand that smell. Ignoring the maidservants' looks, Dug gazed at Feng Jiu with a complicated expression. He had to admit, this guy was ruthless.

Too bad Dug had talked him into becoming crippled and sent him completely down the wrong path.

When he had first crossed over, deceiving Feng Jiu's intelligence must have been a stroke of inspiration!

If everyone in the Simulation Arena was like this, then his first place really had no value at all...

If his Keyword had been Taotie, he probably would have focused on greed and ferocity instead. Still, Taotie truly was not easy to grasp...

Dug had not told Feng Jiu the secret to cultivating Taotie. They were competitors, after all. This guy had even tried to screw him over at the beginning. Letting him live was already generous enough—how could Dug genuinely help him grow stronger?

Just because Feng Jiu called him Seventh Brother did not mean Dug would bare his heart to him. What if Feng Jiu Backstabbed him later and got him kicked out of the Simulation Arena? He would not even know whom to seek revenge on. What if Feng Jiu had two Keywords too? Dug had brought Feng Jiu along because he wanted to slowly learn about the real world from him. Now, he had completely abandoned that thought. He nodded at Feng Jiu. "Fine. You'll have more resources if you stay with the Feng Family, and it really isn't suitable for you to come with me. Go wash up first. Come find me afterward, and we'll discuss arrangements for the future."

"Sure. I happen to have some things to tell you too." Feng Jiu smiled. After saying goodbye to Dug, he turned and went to have the maidservants prepare hot water for him to wash.

Dug went to find Feng Yunjie instead. Martial Arts would not yield results anytime soon, so he felt it was necessary to prepare some Flying Daggers to compensate for his inability to deal with experts in lightness skills. At the same time, he would instruct the Feng Family to keep an eye on Feng Jiu and not let him get too carried away and Backstab him again for more experience.

Maintenance had to be done, but Backstabs could not be neglected either.

No matter how small, a mosquito leg was still meat.

Half an hour later.

Dug and Feng Jiu met in the back garden of Feng Manor.

Both had changed clothes.

Clothes made the man, and saddles made the horse.

Dug wore a dark blue long robe, with a longsword slung diagonally across his back and a leather pouch packed with Flying Daggers hanging from his waist. Feng Qi's appearance was ordinary, but Dug carried the temperament of someone from the modern era—confident and flamboyant. At first glance, he looked every bit the young wandering hero, completely different from the ragged sparring partner of yesterday.

Feng Jiu wore a pure white long robe and looked rather showy. He was young and handsome, making him look like the young master of a wealthy household.

Yet he had a large cloth sack stuffed full of food hanging from him, bulging enormously and dragging his bearing down a level. He went from young master to the foolish son of a rich landlord.

Dug was now an honored guest of the Feng Family, with an extraordinary status. Without his orders, no one would foolishly follow him around and monitor him like they had yesterday.

"Seventh Brother, want some?" Feng Jiu pulled out a roast chicken from his large sack, tore off a drumstick, and grinned as he offered it over.

"No, I've eaten." Dug shook his head and decisively refused. Whenever he saw Feng Jiu, the image of him eating while shitting uncontrollably flashed through his mind, destroying any appetite he had.

"Seventh Brother, you were right." Feng Jiu glanced at Dug, smiled, and stuffed the drumstick into his own mouth. He tore off a mouthful of meat and chewed with puffed cheeks as he spoke. "Yesterday, I really burst my stomach from overeating. It hurt so badly that I rolled all over the ground, thinking I was about to die. But then I endured the pain and kept stuffing food into my mouth. My ruptured stomach healed, and my physical condition improved tremendously. In that instant, I understood Taotie's true meaning. To be gluttonous, you really have to be greedy—greedy enough to eat yourself to death, and then you succeed."

"Congratulations." Dug cupped his fists and casually asked, "You were this ruthless with yourself. You must have awakened an advanced skill, right?"

"How could it be that easy? It's already good if one out of ten people awakens an advanced skill." Feng Jiu did not stop eating. He tossed the chicken bones into his mouth, crunched them to pieces, and swallowed. "But Seventh Brother, your strength has improved by leaps and bounds. You must have awakened a skill, right?"

For an instant, his chewing slowed, his brows twitched unconsciously, and his pupils dilated slightly...

Feng Jiu had concealed it well, but he still could not escape Dug's keen observation. This guy had definitely awakened an advanced skill!

Dug gave Feng Jiu a meaningful look. "I haven't either. Maybe Maintenance has only remained superficial and hasn't been put into action yet. I really wonder what kind of advanced skill a skill like Maintenance would awaken. It would be no fun if it were another support skill."

Feng Jiu smiled. "Seventh Brother, even without an advanced skill, with your physical condition and brains, getting into the top ten shouldn't be a problem. Seventh Brother, I never had the chance to ask—what rank are you now?"

Dug opened his personal profile, looked at the shining number one ranking, and casually said, "Forty-nine."

Feng Jiu paused. He looked at Dug enviously and gave a bitter smile. "So you really made it into the top fifty. Sigh, comparing people really can be fatal! I fought desperately, ate for an entire night, and tormented myself half to death, but I only made it into the two hundreds. You casually fooled a few people with some nonsense and entered the top fifty. We students from Commoner Academy really started too far behind compared with those from Elite Academy. It truly isn't something hard work alone can overcome..."