Bullying the Helpless Beyond All Reason

Everything that happened seemed absurd and abrupt to the dark-faced man named Zheng Tu.

"Hey."

"Who told you to step through the door with your left foot first?"

When Zheng Tu heard this strange question, he even found himself instinctively pondering it for a moment.

Why had he entered with his left foot first?

Was there something wrong with his right foot?

Was this insulting him?

Was this guy deliberately picking a fight?

What the hell...

As his thoughts shifted again and again, Zheng Tu turned his head and looked toward the young man he had long since dismissed with a sneer.

That was a strike he had never expected, a blow beyond his imagination...

"Boom!"

A fist radiating dazzling white Immortal Qi rose like a blazing sun. Its wind and momentum came crashing down, and at that moment, all that remained in his eyes was the fist that had abruptly risen into view, expanded, and formed a world-swallowing vortex...

Zheng Tu's eyes widened in horror. An uncontrollable chill surged straight to his crown. This punch was coming for his life!

Then searing pain that pierced his very soul erupted. His face twisted into a vortex, his jaw shattered, his teeth burst out amid sprays of blood, and the entire lower half of his face was smashed apart in an instant.

The world spun.

"Boom!"

Zheng Tu's entire body flew more than ten meters like a torn sack. Along the way, he smashed into a stone mill used to grind grain, spun twice in midair, and crashed through the wall of a house, leaving behind a dark, gaping hole.

The tremendous impact rang out from the ruined little courtyard and reverberated into the circling sky.

After that came a brief silence.

Zheng Tu's second and third brothers stared blankly at the scene, utterly stunned.

"What happened?"

Big Brother Zheng had stepped through the door with his left foot first and then... been sent flying by a young man's thunderous punch?

"You lunatic!"

The older, lanky second brother was the first to recover. Years of living by the edge of the blade made him draw his knife without a second thought and slash furiously.

"Clang!"

The blade howled through the air, wrapped in Treasure Light. With nearly three thousand jin of force behind it, the slash was as fast as lightning, and even the air seemed to split apart.

"Whoosh!"

Chen Xuan moved faster. He raised a fist to meet it. A flash of delight crossed the lanky second brother's eyes. A Qi Refiner's body should not have been able to withstand a blade's sharpness, yet this man actually dared to block it with his bare fist.

He was courting death. His fist would be cleaved in two!

"Clang!"

The collision sent sparks flying. Chen Xuan casually swept the Pu Dao aside with one punch, and a notch actually split open along the blade's edge from the impact!

A golden-green hairpin!

The lanky second brother caught sight of it from the corner of his eye and immediately realized something was wrong. His slash should have been powerful enough to split metal, yet it had been casually blocked. His opponent's strength was unquestionably more than four thousand jin!

And the weapon he had used was actually a...

Something women used to pin up their hair? That could be used as a weapon too?

The young man's methods were bizarre beyond belief. After roaming far and wide for decades, he had never encountered someone so uncanny!

"Again!"

Chen Xuan swung the Mountain Suppression Fist, the Yang Family Martial Hall's ultimate secret technique. The fist marks roared like thunder, punching through the air as countless afterimages struck forth.

"Don't!"

The lanky second brother hurriedly shouted. He felt as though a primeval beast had locked onto him, squeezing the breath from his lungs. He hastily raised his hand to block, and his entire arm snapped. Flesh exploded, and shards of bone pierced out from his shoulder blade amid a mist of blood.

"Too late!"

Chen Xuan threw another punch, blasting apart half of his shoulder. Blood mist billowed as the lanky second brother flew out like a kite with its string cut. Chen Xuan forcibly dragged him back in midair, then launched a third punch without the slightest pause, punching a massive bloody hole through his chest and shattering all his internal organs.

Three punches.

The lanky second brother died beyond any doubt.

The scene was savagely violent. The battle had decided victory and defeat within a few short breaths, leaving it drenched in blood and terrifying to the extreme.

"Se-second brother... is gone."

The youngest brother, whose strength was the weakest, went deathly pale with fear. His legs trembled as he immediately begged for mercy. "Don't kill me! Spare my life! I'll kowtow to you..."

He was scared witless. Facing Chen Xuan, who had gone on a killing spree, he could not summon even the slightest thought of resistance.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

The youngest brother dropped to his knees with a thump and kowtowed until his forehead was covered in blood. Weeping bitterly, he said, "Spare my life, spare my life! We've only just met. I've never offended you!"

Big Brother Zheng had lost half his face to a single punch and been sent flying more than ten meters, his life or death unknown.

His second brother had been blown apart by three punches, blood splashing everywhere as he died on the spot.

How could anyone afford to provoke such a vicious man?

Big Brother Zheng had even tried to manipulate him with words earlier. What a joke. This sort of person simply did not care!

Chen Xuan's cold gaze pressed down on him.

Inside the house.

A young woman with reasonably pleasant features hugged a five- or six-year-old girl, cowering in terror in the corner.

She had no idea what had happened. She only stared at the dark-faced, blood-covered strongman Zheng Tu on the floor and could not stop trembling.

Suddenly, they had started fighting.

Good. Let them fight...

She remembered what had happened in the village these past few days. Familiar neighbors had all died horrible deaths overnight, countless villagers had knelt in humiliation, and because she was young and not unattractive, she had not even dared leave her home, afraid that some Qi Refiner might take a liking to her...

All those domineering Qi Refiners deserved to die!

"Cough..."

Zheng Tu coughed several times. His body moved twice before he sat up. He instinctively touched his chin, only to find empty space and mangled flesh.

"Damn... lunatic."

A hoarse, strange voice escaped his throat.

Zheng Tu pulled the Pu Dao from his back and staggered to his feet. The blood and qi within him surged, and a force of more than four thousand jin coursed through his body.

"Ungrateful bastard..."

Killing intent flared in his eyes. He wrapped the Pu Dao in his hand and stepped toward the hole in the wall.

Ahead of him.

The youngest brother was kneeling on the ground without a shred of backbone, desperately kowtowing and begging the young man for mercy.

"Hey, have you ever learned any tricks? Perform a couple for me and broaden my horizons," Chen Xuan asked, looking down at him.

"Tricks?"

The youngest brother raised his face, bewildered. "We're Rogue Cultivators. How could we possibly be qualified to learn..."

"Oh. So you're useless too..."

A hint of regret colored Chen Xuan's voice.

At that instant, a chill shot straight to the crown of the youngest brother's head. He suddenly realized that this young man would never let him go, no matter what. He immediately stumbled to his feet and fled desperately toward Big Brother Zheng in the courtyard. He had barely taken a few steps when a figure caught up with him.

Chen Xuan's five fingers hooked like claws around the youngest brother's head. He lifted him like a chick, leaving both feet dangling off the ground as his entire body hung in midair.

Zheng Tu walked out of the house and happened to witness the scene. Enormous fury surged into his eyes.

"Big Brother Zheng, save me!"

The youngest brother stretched out a hand and screamed in terror.

Zheng Tu's eyes nearly split from rage. His chest heaved as images of the three brothers once roaming the world and taking swift revenge for every grievance churned through his mind. He did his best to keep his voice calm as he yielded to Chen Xuan.

"Let the youngest go. Today, we brothers admit that we failed to recognize Mount Tai, but we have no grudge against you... We'll give you this courtyard and the woman. We admit defeat!"

His second brother could no longer be saved. All he wanted now was to preserve the life of his youngest brother.

As for the sudden calamity and grudge that had descended upon this place today, he could only bury them in his heart and make plans for later... Lowering his head in humiliation to save his brother's life would never draw ridicule, even if outsiders heard of it. Instead, they would sincerely praise him for being loyal and righteous!

Chen Xuan narrowed his eyes and stared at Zheng Tu before breaking into a smile.

"Oh, you admit defeat..."

The next moment, right in front of Zheng Tu, he gripped the thing in his hand and repeatedly smashed it against the waist-high stone mill beside him. Flesh burst apart with savage violence.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

Every bone was utterly crushed. All four limbs, the internal organs, and every inch of the body lost their shape. The limp body, softened into a pool of sludge, was casually thrown to the ground by the young man.

"This is what admitting defeat looks like..."

"Ah!!!"

The shriek was like the mournful cry of a beast driven into a corner. Zheng Tu's eyes reddened as fury surged through his entire body. Gripping his knife, he charged forward like a bolt of mad thunder.

"You're bullying the helpless beyond all reason!"

The unstoppable blade tore through the air.

In this age when the strong preyed on the weak and the powerful ran rampant without restraint, only blades and swords could ultimately make themselves heard.