Two Spineless Cowards

"Ye Sheng, Ye Chao, why are you here? And what happened to your faces?" Ye Zhen asked, astonished.

Ye Zhen recognized the two black-clad Outer Disciples who had suddenly appeared in his room. They were even somewhat related to him by blood.

Ye Zhen came from the Ye Family of Jincheng County, Wuan Commandery, Black Water Country. The Ye Clan was a major local clan, and Ye Zhen's family was one of its branches.

Every year, the Ye Clan selected disciples with bloodline talent and sent them to the Qi Yun Sect to study martial arts, hoping to strengthen the family's influence. If some young man was fortunate enough to enter the Qi Yun Sect as an Outer Disciple, his entire family's standing within the clan would rise.

Of course, that only applied to youths whose bloodline talent was good enough for them to be accepted directly as Outer Disciples. Once they entered the Qi Yun Sect, not only would they receive the family's resource support every year, but their relatives would also receive preferential treatment.

A youth like Ye Zhen, whose bloodline talent was poor but who refused to give up and entered the Qi Yun Sect as a Menial Disciple on his own, received no support from the family. Worse, if he were expelled from the Qi Yun Sect, his whole family would become a laughingstock.

Without the family's support, Ye Zhen's parents had an especially difficult time providing for him.

Ye Sheng and Ye Chao, who had suddenly appeared in Ye Zhen's room, were Ye Clan descendants around Ye Zhen's age. However, Ye Sheng possessed Four Meridians middle-grade talent, while Ye Chao possessed Four Meridians low-grade talent. Back then, both had been directly selected as Outer Disciples.

When they left the Ye Clan for the Qi Yun Sect, the entire clan laid out a feast, beat drums and gongs, and sent them off amid great fanfare. Ye Zhen had received no such treatment.

Only Ye Zhen's parents had silently seen him out of the city.

These Ye Clan descendants who had become Outer Disciples directly naturally looked down on Menial Disciples like Ye Zhen. Ye Zhen was also fiercely proud. Even when he had been bullied terribly upon first entering Menial Peak, he had never sought them out even once.

Naturally, Ye Zhen had little interaction with these cousins.

So when Ye Zhen suddenly saw Ye Sheng and Ye Chao coming to find him, both battered black and blue, he was thoroughly surprised.

When Ye Zhen entered, Ye Chao, who like Ye Zhen came from a branch family, did nothing much. But Ye Sheng, who came from the main branch, abruptly sprang to his feet.

"Isn't it all because of you? It's all becau—hiss!"

Ye Sheng rose too abruptly, and his voice was loud and urgent. He accidentally tugged at the wound at the corner of his mouth, making him suck in a breath of cold air in pain. The sight made Ye Zhen chuckle.

"What are you laughing at?" Ye Sheng flew into a rage, pointing at Ye Zhen as he cursed, "Wasn't it all because of you?"

"Because of me?" Ye Zhen looked utterly baffled.

"What, you still won't admit it? If you hadn't offended Hong Bao so badly, would he have taken his anger out on us? Did water get into your brain, or are you just stupid? You didn't even ask around about who Hong Bao was, yet you dared offend him?" Ye Sheng jumped about as he cursed.

It turned out that at noon today, Hong Bao had run into Ye Zhen on the mountain path and tried to make trouble for him, only to be dealt harsh blows in succession by Fairy Caiyi and Fan Chuyu, who arrived afterward.

Fan Chuyu's blow in particular had nearly disfigured Hong Bao. Even so, it had made the always overbearing Hong Bao lose all face among the Outer Disciples.

Hong Bao did not dare provoke Fairy Caiyi or Fan Chuyu, so he vented all his rage on Ye Zhen. But Ye Zhen had left with Fairy Caiyi, leaving Hong Bao with nowhere to vent his pent-up fury.

Somehow, Hong Bao learned that Ye Sheng and Ye Chao among the Outer Disciples came from the same family as Ye Zhen. He found an excuse and gave Ye Sheng and Ye Chao a merciless beating.

From Ye Sheng's curses, Ye Zhen also picked up on some of what had happened.

Seeing Ye Zhen remain silent, Ye Sheng cursed even more enthusiastically.

"Ye Zhen, even Inner Disciples don't dare offend Hong Bao lightly. Now that you've offended Hong Bao, how am I supposed to get by?

You can be an idiot yourself, but don't drag us down with you, alright?" Ye Sheng's curses became increasingly excessive, and he was practically pointing at Ye Zhen's nose as he berated him.

"Ye Zhen, come with us and kowtow to Hong Bao to apologize, or else—"

"Get out!"

Ye Zhen's face darkened further and further. Then, like a furious lion with its mane bristling, he erupted with an enraged roar. It was like thunder cracking overhead, frightening Ye Sheng into standing frozen on the spot.

Ye Zhen's roar was infused with his powerful blood vitality. With that one shout, he actually sent Ye Sheng stumbling several steps backward.

Ye Zhen had never held much affection for Ye Sheng and Ye Chao, but because they had been beaten on his account, he had still felt a trace of guilt. Yet Ye Sheng's unceasing abuse had worn away even that last shred of apology.

"Get out! Get the hell out of here right now!"

"I did offend Hong Bao, and I'll fight him to the bitter end myself. But even if he beats me to death, I'll never kowtow to him and admit fault. Spineless coward, ptu!" Ye Zhen spat out a mouthful of phlegm and pointed at the door as he cursed.

Ye Sheng was stunned by Ye Zhen's scolding. It took him several breaths to react, after which he pointed at his own nose and screamed hysterically, "You dare tell me to get out? Ye Zhen, do you know who I am? Do you know who I am? How dare you curse me?"

"Just a spineless coward beaten black and blue by Hong Bao," Ye Zhen sneered.

Ye Sheng's eyes suddenly turned vicious. "You dare curse me? Ye Zhen, you'll definitely regret this. Do you think the Ye Family's annual clan assembly is some kind of joke?"

"Threatening me?"

A sharp light flashed in Ye Zhen's eyes. His body blurred, and a Five Peaks Divine Fist smashed toward Ye Sheng. Enough was enough!

"You only became an Outer Disciple a month ago, and you already dare bare your claws at me? You're courting death!" With a fierce shout, powerful winds surged around Ye Sheng as he met Ye Zhen's attack with a punch. His fist shot out with incredible speed.

Wind-Breaking Fist, a Mortal-tier High Grade martial skill renowned for its speed.

Ye Sheng's fist was fast, but Ye Zhen was even faster.

As Snake-Wandering Steps unfolded, Ye Zhen's body swayed strangely, and Ye Sheng lost sight of him.

Bang!

Ye Sheng's left ribs took a heavy blow, and his face instantly turned deathly pale.

Ye Chao, who had been sitting to one side, abruptly rose to his feet, his face full of shock. He had thought Ye Sheng would have no trouble dealing with Ye Zhen, but Ye Sheng had not even lasted one move against him.

This was only because Ye Zhen had held back and had not used True Essence. Otherwise, that one punch alone would have left Ye Sheng seriously injured and vomiting blood.

"You dare hit me? Ye Chao, let's take him together! Even if we have to drag him there, we have to take this brat to kowtow to Hong Bao and apologize today. Otherwise, how are we supposed to get by in the future?"

"He's alone. He definitely can't beat the two of us."

Ye Sheng shot a vicious glare at the hesitant Ye Chao. The latter immediately rose, moved to join Ye Sheng, and both unleashed their most practiced fist techniques as they pounced on Ye Zhen.

Facing two opponents for the first time, Ye Zhen was initially somewhat flustered under Ye Sheng and Ye Chao's pincer attack. But after dealing with several moves, once Snake-Wandering Steps, trained to the pinnacle of perfection, unfolded, he immediately became at ease.

The longer they fought, the less confidence Ye Sheng and Ye Chao had.

They realized that after fighting for so long, they had not even touched the corner of Ye Zhen's clothes.

"Ye Chao, work with me!"

Suddenly, Ye Sheng let out an angry roar. Hearing it, Ye Chao attacked Ye Zhen like a madman, throwing caution to the wind. Almost at the same instant, Ye Sheng spun, planted a foot against the wall, and kicked off. A piercing shriek tore through the air, while ripples of blood vitality surged over the surface of his fist.

"Ye Zhen, you're dead!"

At that very instant, Ye Zhen suddenly crouched and sprang, shooting more than ten meters away, nearly reaching the far end of the room. He dodged Ye Sheng's supposedly certain victory with exquisite precision.

Almost the moment he reached the wall, Ye Zhen twisted around, planted a foot, kicked off, and crouched again. Another Snake Springing Grass sent him shooting toward Ye Sheng like lightning.

The smile that had just appeared on Ye Sheng's face instantly froze. Ye Zhen had evaded his attack, then suddenly closed in behind him, his hands flashing over Ye Sheng's shoulders in a brush and pull.

In an instant, Ye Sheng seemed to have been struck by lightning, and his miserable screams rang out.

With a strange turn of Snake-Wandering Steps, Ye Zhen flashed to Ye Chao's side. He patted and pulled at Ye Chao's right leg and right arm, and Ye Chao too began screaming uncontrollably.

Amid his screams, Ye Sheng crashed face-first onto the ground like a massive stone. He tried to rise, but no matter how hard he exerted himself, both arms remained limp and powerless, as though they did not belong to him.

Worst of all, every struggle sent searing pain through his arms.

Ye Chao was the same. In an instant, his right arm and leg no longer seemed to belong to him. He fell to the ground and could not get up for a long time.

This was the Spirit Snake Vein-Cutting Hand Ye Zhen had learned on the road just now. He had casually put one or two techniques into practice, never expecting its power to be so great that it instantly subdued Ye Sheng and Ye Chao.

"Get out of here! Don't let me see you two spineless cowards again!" With one kick each, Ye Zhen sent Ye Sheng and Ye Chao flying out of the room.

"Two spineless cowards! If you want to kowtow and apologize, go do it yourselves! Ptu!" As another mouthful of phlegm landed with a smack in front of Ye Sheng's face, Ye Zhen slammed the door shut.

After wailing miserably for quite some time, Ye Sheng and Ye Chao finally managed to crawl to their feet under the watchful eyes of numerous Outer Disciples gathered to enjoy the spectacle. Supporting each other, they staggered away.

They had arrived black and blue; they left in a state too horrible to behold.

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