Pursued by Foes!

Great Zhou Dynasty, Jizhou, outside Yong'an City at Red Maple Ridge.

Lightning flashed and thunder roared across the dim sky. Beneath a great tree, a curled-up figure emerged.

Chu Feng leaned against the tree trunk as torrential rain poured down. The icy water slid down his pallid cheeks, soaking his thin clothes.

Cold wind mixed with icy rain swept through the woods. The bone-chilling cold made him shudder uncontrollably.

"Cough, cough..."

The shudder tugged at his injuries. Chu Feng began coughing involuntarily, a smear of bright-red blood spilling from the corner of his mouth as he let out a long sigh.

"Even Heaven itself is making things difficult for me. A few hours ago, the sun was blazing overhead, and now dark clouds are pressing down while rain pours in torrents."

"Still, this rain has its advantages. At the very least, it makes it harder for the Fang family to search for and track me..."

Chu Feng had once been a wage slave in modern society. With the help of an overloaded freight truck, he had crossed into this world and become a wandering little beggar.

Before he could even make sense of what was happening, he was kidnapped and sold to Fang Manor as a servant, serving as a martial training partner for Young Master Fang.

The Fang family was Yong'an City's top wealthy clan. They possessed ten thousand mu of fertile farmland and countless shops. Three-tenths of Yong'an City's commoners relied on the Fang family, either directly or indirectly, to make a living.

The people of Yong'an City all agreed that being a household servant of the Fang family was even more impressive than being a constable.

To make their training partners more effective, the Fang family had even specially taught them all basic martial arts.

At the time, Chu Feng had thought it was pretty good. He had food and drink, and could even practice martial arts. He was far better off than those transmigrators who started out in hell.

Unfortunately, he had been celebrating too soon. Only after arriving at the Fang family did he learn that it was hell itself!

As these thoughts raced through his mind, Chu Feng's eyes suddenly sharpened, fixing on the depths of the forest.

A youth in black appeared abruptly. He looked about sixteen or seventeen, wore a bamboo hat, had a straw rain cape draped over his shoulders, and carried a long saber at his waist engraved with the characters for Fang Manor.

Chu Feng spoke, "Liu Hu, I never thought you would be the one to come."

The youth's name was Liu Hu. He was the personal attendant of the eldest young master of the Fang family.

Two years ago, the Fang family had been short on servants. Chu Feng had followed a steward from the manor to recruit them when a gambler who had lost everything sold his son on the street as a wager.

Chu Feng had heard that the gambling den's owner also controlled all the wandering beggars in the city.

Many of the pitiful little beggars with broken arms and legs were his handiwork.

If Liu Hu had been pawned to the gambling den owner, one could imagine how miserable his future would have been.

Feeling sorry for the boy, Chu Feng had offered the purchasing steward a few words of persuasion and bought Liu Hu into the manor.

Chu Feng had taught him to read and write, taught him the rules of Fang Manor, and helped him begin his martial training, treating him like his own younger brother.

To Chu Feng's surprise, Liu Hu had tough skin and powerful sinews and bones. He was a rare martial arts prodigy, surpassing Chu Feng in only three years and reaching the Late Skin Grinding Stage.

Relying on his outstanding martial talent, Liu Hu had become the personal attendant of the eldest young master of the Fang family.

"Brother Chu, I'm here to send you on your way. If you stay alive, Young Master will be angry..."

A simple, country-boy smile appeared on the youth's face, but the words he spoke were cold enough to pierce bone!

"I never imagined that a nobody like me would be so fondly remembered by Young Master Fang. What an honor, truly—a blessing earned over three lifetimes!" Chu Feng burst into laughter, but sorrow and bitterness filled his smile.

A few hours earlier, after finishing the chores at hand, Chu Feng had gone to the Fang family's small study to read.

There were no martial arts manuals in the small study. It mainly held introductory books for the Fang family's children.

Chu Feng believed he would not be trapped in the Fang family forever, so whenever he had nothing to do, he liked to visit the small study, read, and broaden his horizons.

He had never expected to accidentally run into Young Master Fang and the family head's newly taken eighteenth concubine, secretly carrying on in the secluded small study.

The eldest young master's good deed had been interrupted. The ending could be imagined. With a casual palm strike, the other party had knocked Chu Feng to the ground, making him spit blood.

If the guards had not heard the commotion and hurried over, forcing Young Master Fang and the disheveled concubine to hide in panic, Chu Feng likely would never have had the chance to escape Fang Manor.

"Brother Chu, I don't want to kill you either. But who told you to offend Young Master? I can only repay your kindness in my next life."

Liu Hu pretended to be troubled as he slowly drew his long saber.

Although Chu Feng had once treated him well, that was ultimately only the past. Now that Chu Feng had offended the Fang family's eldest young master, he could only be killed.

"Enough nonsense. If you're going to kill me, then kill me! Do you think I need you to repay some debt of gratitude?" Chu Feng sneered, seeing straight through Liu Hu's hypocritical face.

Liu Hu's smile faded. He said coldly, "Since that's the case, I'll take Brother Chu's head and use it as the stepping stone for my rise in the Fang family!"

With that, he gripped his long saber. Powerful strength erupted from his body in an instant. In the span of a breath, he crossed the fifty meters between them, the long saber thrusting straight at Chu Feng's throat.

Chu Feng half leaned against the great tree, seemingly having abandoned all resistance as he stood motionless, watching the saber stab toward him.

Its razor-sharp aura made every hair on his body stand on end. His throat itched, as though it would be pierced through in the very next moment!

"This cripple is already so badly wounded that he can't resist? Perfect. That saves me some effort..." The corners of Liu Hu's mouth slowly lifted into a smug smile.

Suddenly!

Chu Feng lowered his head and bent at the waist, rolling like a donkey to evade the saber's flashing edge.

The lime he had secretly been clutching in his hand flew out with a puff!

Liu Hu had not expected Chu Feng to dare resist. Caught off guard, he took the scattered lime directly in the eyes.

"Ah..."

The lime burned his eyes, drawing a heart-rending howl from him. His body retreated rapidly in panic as he wildly swung the long saber in his hand.

Chu Feng's gaze turned icy. He pulled the short knife concealed at his waist and charged forward.

He had painstakingly created this opportunity. How could he possibly let it go?

Chu Feng caught the opening. The short knife in his hand streaked across the sky like a shooting star.

"Whoosh!"

The blade of light stabbed into Liu Hu's eye socket. As a shrill scream rang out, Chu Feng immediately retreated at top speed to avoid being injured by Liu Hu, who was gravely wounded but still clinging to life.

Liu Hu swung his long saber wildly in agony. Before long, his body lost all support like a lump of mud and collapsed to the ground.

Liu Hu was a Late Skin Grinding Stage Martial Artist, his skin tough as cowhide. With Chu Feng's body already heavily injured, he could not fight for long, so he had deliberately chosen the eye as his target. Sure enough, one strike had ended the battle!

Looking at Liu Hu on the ground, Chu Feng said softly, "This is the last lesson I'll teach you. Never underestimate any opponent, even if he is already half dead..."

Liu Hu lay motionless on the ground, blood staining the earth red.

Chu Feng did not let his guard down. Instead, he picked up a stone from the ground and hurled it at Liu Hu's head from a distance!

"Chu Feng, fuck your ancestors!"

Liu Hu suddenly sat up from the ground and roared toward the sky. After two fist-sized stones smashed into his head, he toppled heavily backward and breathed no more.

To be safe, Chu Feng struck him several more times, stopping only when the flesh had become a bloody mess.

Actually, Liu Hu had already died when he collapsed the second time. He had not been beaten to death—he had been enraged to death!

"Trying to use what you just learned to ambush me? Don't you know I've been reading web novels for twenty years?"

Only after seeing that Liu Hu was truly dead did Chu Feng sit on the ground and gasp for breath.

His heavily wounded body, combined with the desperate burst of power at his limit, had left him severely drained.

If Liu Hu had not been so careless, Chu Feng would have been the one lying on the ground now.

Even ants clung to life. How could Chu Feng possibly stretch out his neck and await slaughter?

[Ding, sensing the host's unyielding heart, activating the God-Tier Plundering System.]

[Killed a Late Skin Polishing Realm Martial Artist. Plundered 3 years of lifespan.]

[Plundered special constitution: Bronze Skin Iron Bones!]