The Villain Was Unqualified

I wouldn't die even if you did.

The three exchanged glances after hearing those words from Qin He, unable to tell whether this fool had a screw loose or was doing it on purpose.

Who talked like that?

Was he trying to provoke a dead man into life?

"Ahem, well... it's good that you're alive." Ling Zhonghai said awkwardly.

"Of course. I read my own palm—I'm destined to live to a hundred." Qin He smiled with an utterly innocent look.

"You... can read palms too?"

Ling Zhonghai felt like he could no longer keep up with this fool's train of thought.

"Sure. It's easy. If you don't believe me, I can take a look at yours, sir."

Qin He confidently stepped forward, took Ling Zhonghai's hand, and examined it carefully. "Eh, sir, it looks like you're going to die young."

At those words, a vicious flame surged uncontrollably up in Ling Zhonghai's chest.

Damn it!!

Could anyone endure that?

No!

Absolutely not!

Who cursed people like that?

"You stupid idiot, I fucking—"

Just as he was about to unleash a stream of obscenities, Li Tie and Gao Linkun rushed forward and clamped a hand over Ling Zhonghai's mouth, dragging him outside.

"Chief, calm down, calm down! He's just an idiot!"

"You can't lower yourself to an idiot's level!"

"Otherwise, people will think we're idiots too!"

"Mmph, mmph, mmph..."

Ling Zhonghai struggled "with all his might," but in the end, he was dragged away.

Qin He was left standing there, his face twisted as though he were constipated.

These villains were unqualified. They could endure even that?

According to the "normal" plot, the three of them should have drawn their blades and hacked at him. He would have dodged every strike, and then, unable to swallow their anger, they would stuff every corpse from that day into his room at night to avenge his curse of an early death.

Then he could naturally reap a super bumper harvest.

But judging by the way Ling Zhonghai had been dragged off, that super bumper harvest was definitely gone.

Not only was the protagonist unqualified, even the supporting cast was pathetic. What kind of villainous side characters broke up fights instead of fanning the flames?

The novels from his previous life really had been nothing but lies. Bah, pure nonsense.

Composing himself, Qin He shoveled up the ashes and walked out of the Corpse Burning Room.

The Corpse Burners gradually emerged as well. Most carried one ash bucket; only a very few carried two.

Only Qin He carried three.

After Qin He handled the three fiercest corpses, the Corpse Burning Facility finally welcomed a peaceful night after surviving disaster.

No Corpse Burner died.

The other Corpse Burners began to look at Qin He with admiration and awe.

They had all seen what happened when the corpses were assigned yesterday, and they knew what kind of corpses he had burned last night.

Qin He had passed through safely once again. Luck alone clearly could not explain it anymore.

Either he had real ability, or his life was hard enough to withstand anything.

Whichever it was, Qin He's position as the number one man of the Corpse Burning Facility had been established.

The other Corpse Burners also changed what they called him, from Little Qin to Brother Qin and Qin the Younger.

Several newly arrived Corpse Burners even came over to ask Qin He for advice on burning corpses. It was not easy to find a place where they could eat their fill, and everyone wanted to live a few more days.

But what experience did Qin He have? He relied entirely on his abilities to hold the stage.

So he could only encourage and bluff them. In summary, it came down to one sentence: the bolder your courage, the stronger your Yang Energy; the stronger your Yang Energy, the longer your life.

The new Corpse Burners took it as gospel and thanked him profusely.

After turning in the ashes, Qin He shouldered his shovel and headed for the Mass Grave again.

His position as the number one man of the Corpse Burning Facility was secure, but he still lacked a little something before becoming the king of the Mass Grave.

Since the villains were unqualified, he could only work harder himself.

"Hyah!"

"Hyah!!"

When the Capital City only felt a trace of chill in the mornings and evenings, Luanping, north of the Great Wall, was already swept by gusting cold winds.

Four swift horses reared their front hooves high before crashing them back down, kicking up sprays of mud. The riders wore sabers and armor, carrying the sharpness and killing intent unique to the borderlands.

The leader wore blue robes embroidered with a flying fish.

Unlike the Flying Fish Guard of his previous life, who had fallen into the role of executioners, the Flying Fish Guard of this time and place still continued the mission they had held since their founding.

The Flying Fish Guard was divided into the Northern Commandery and the Southern Commandery. The Northern Commandery handled internal affairs, monitored the hundred officials, and deterred the ominous and unknown. The Southern Commandery handled external affairs, gathered intelligence, and kept enemies beyond the borders.

These four armored men were Elite Soldiers of the Southern Commandery. Their leader was Shen Lian, a Banner Officer of the Southern Commandery.

Whipping their horses onward, the four men and four mounts swept across the frost-yellow plains like a whirlwind.

Not far away, a dilapidated little village appeared on the horizon.

Shen Lian raised a hand. The four men and horses skillfully slowed, gradually encircling the small village. Sabers and swords came free of their sheaths, bows were drawn, and arrows were nocked.

The village lay in ruins, silent as death. Only several crows in the trees, startled by the approaching men and horses, let out chilling cries.

Shen Lian swept his gaze over the chaotic tracks on the ground, finally fixing his eyes on a house at the very center of the village.

The stench of blood rode the cold wind and brazenly bored into his nostrils.

The four dismounted and surrounded the house. With a wave of Shen Lian's hand, they burst through the doors and windows at the same time.

No fight broke out, because there was no one inside to fight.

More precisely, there were no living people.

There were dead people, though. Four of them, hanging from the rafters.

Their deaths were horrifying. Half of one man's leg had been burned to charcoal; another had been skinned; one had his intestines pulled out; the last had his heart and eyes gouged out.

The ground had been stained black over wide patches with blood. Scattered pieces of flesh lay everywhere, along with a complete sheet of human skin.

Cruel punishments had existed since ancient times, with no fewer than dozens bearing names.

The first was Sky Lantern Punishment.

Pig fat was smeared over the prisoner's body, then set alight.

Pig fat was warm in nature and did not burn as fiercely as lamp oil, like lighting a lantern.

The prisoner had to endure the agony of burning for a long time. In the end, most died only after their howls exhausted all their strength.

The second was skinning.

The blade was driven in beneath the prisoner's spine, splitting the skin on the back in two with a single cut. The skin was then slowly separated from the flesh with a knife and peeled open like a butterfly spreading its wings. A truly skilled hand could strip away a whole, intact human skin.

The third was Intestine Pulling Punishment.

An opening was cut into the prisoner's lower abdomen, all the intestines were pulled out, and then used as a rope to strangle the prisoner to death alive.

The fourth was Eye and Heart Gouging Punishment.

As its name suggested, the eyes and heart were gouged out.

These four punishments had not taken place in some deep prison, but in a broken-down little village. It was enough to make one's blood run cold.

The three Elite Soldiers had gone slightly pale. One of them looked at Shen Lian. "Lord Shen, we arrived a step too late."

Shen Lian's gaze darkened as he looked southward. Along the mountain ridge, serrated structures stretched without end, appearing from one side of the horizon and vanishing into the other.

That was the Great Wall, the border defense line that had guarded the Eastern Land for thousands of years.

Shen Lian slowly sheathed his Xiuchun Saber. "Send a message by carrier pigeon. The Punishment Slaves have suddenly crossed the border wall and headed south. Their objective is unknown. Tell the capital to strengthen its defenses at all costs."

"Yes!"

Moments later, a carrier pigeon flapped into the sky. The four men and four horses kicked up dust and vanished at the edge of the horizon.

The house erupted in roaring flames, swallowing the four corpses along with the evil that had occurred there.

Dao Xing +3

Dao Xing +6

Dao Xing +4

You have mastered the Shrinking Skill.

Shrinking Skill: When you need it, your bones, sinews, skin, and flesh will become as soft as cotton.

As the sun slanted westward, Qin He descended from the Mass Grave with four rewards.

Three corpses had yielded Dao Xing, while one had given him a skill.

The corpses in the Mass Grave really were different from those at the Corpse Burning Facility. Since the Mass Grave corpses had not undergone mutations, their rewards were relatively worse. Most gave Dao Xing; skills only came from corpses with particularly eventful histories.

Qin He tested the Shrinking Skill. Just as the skill described, once activated, his body became like a ball of cotton, so soft that he could squeeze through a gap between trees no wider than a palm. It was truly miraculous.