You Completely Rescued a Man Addicted to Lust

The bright moon hung high, the stars sparse.

Qingfeng County, a secluded side street.

Huff, huff.

Zhao Zhi panted.

Breathing was somewhat difficult.

He forced his eyes open. What entered Yang Liang's vision were walls of peeling, yellowed white paint and uneven stone pavement.

Cold moonlight spilled down, lingering in dim radiance.

Hm?

Where was this?

He remembered spending the weekend playing by the river when he heard children falling into the water.

Seeing the children about to sink, Zhao Zhi had not spared a thought for anything else. He leaped in and barely managed to send the two children ashore.

His strength had run out, and with his leg cramping, he had been swept away by the river.

Suddenly.

Zhao Zhi felt a headache as a stream of memories that did not belong to him flooded into his mind.

Great Qing Dynasty.

Qingfeng County constable, Zhao Zhi.

A strange sound.

Beaten.

He reached up to touch the back of his head. It was wet and sticky; when he looked at his hand, it was bright red.

Blood!

From the memories, the previous owner of this body had been patrolling the streets tonight when he heard strange sounds in the side street. He followed them and saw someone grabbing a young girl while shouting at her.

Then.

A cold club came from behind and smashed heavily into his head, killing him on the spot.

Zhao Zhi had arrived in his place.

To think he would run into something like this.

Zhao Zhi's scalp went cold. If this continued, he might lose too much blood, succumb to hypothermia, and die once more.

He struggled to his feet, his vision slightly blurred.

Looking carefully.

[Martial arts: Seizing Hand (beginner), Grand Ancestor Saber Art (beginner).]

[Merit: 50.]

[Note: Do good deeds and accumulate virtue to gain Merit. Merit can be used to raise martial arts realms.]

A system?

Seeing the information before him, Zhao Zhi immediately understood.

Fifty Merit?

Was that a lot or a little?

Had it come from him jumping into the river to save people, or had the previous owner accumulated it?

Zhao Zhi had no time to think further when voices came from not far away.

"Young master, he isn't dead."

"Not dead? Then go beat him to death."

"Yes, Young Master."

The simple exchange directly pronounced Zhao Zhi's death sentence.

Tap, tap.

Footsteps approached.

Zhao Zhi braced himself against the wall and stood up. His dark eyes fixed on the other party, and beneath the moonlight, he made out the man's appearance.

A man in a gray long robe, broad and powerfully built, with rough, rugged features.

Zhang Er.

Information about him immediately surfaced in Zhao Zhi's mind.

Li Qingchang's attendant.

Calling Zhang Er an attendant was giving him far too much credit. He was nothing more than a hooligan, joining Li Qingchang in evil deeds, two jackals in the same den.

"Zhang Er!" Zhao Zhi shouted. "Killing a constable is a capital crime."

Zhang Er grinned and said brazenly, "Not even a dog can see this place. Who would know I killed you? Besides, even if someone did know, with Young Master Li here, so what if a tiny constable like you died?"

"You?!"

Zhao Zhi's eyes widened.

This man truly dared.

The dizziness struck again, and Zhao Zhi's body swayed faintly.

In his current condition, he was no match for Zhang Er at all.

Watching Zhang Er gradually close in.

Zhao Zhi's gaze blurred slightly as the panel appeared again before him.

So there was still this method.

With a thought, Zhao Zhi ruthlessly poured Merit into the martial art Seizing Hand.

The Merit value on the panel rapidly decreased.

The state of Seizing Hand changed just as quickly.

[Consumed 5 Merit. Seizing Hand has risen to the minor mastery realm.]

[Consumed 5 Merit. Seizing Hand has risen to the major mastery realm.]

[Consumed 10 Merit. Seizing Hand has risen to the perfected realm.]

[Martial arts: Seizing Hand (perfected).]

In an instant.

A massive amount of information flooded into Zhao Zhi's mind, vast memories like scenes that had long existed and already happened.

Through winter and summer without pause, with unwavering persistence, he had trained Seizing Hand. Every mystery and every fierce principle of it was etched into his mind.

Zhao Zhi lowered his head slightly and looked at his hands.

Long and powerful, with distinct knuckles.

A dense, powerful force seemed to surge endlessly from within his body, flowing toward his hands.

"Resigned yourself to fate?"

Zhang Er's voice sounded again. A club whistled through the air as it smashed viciously toward Zhao Zhi's head.

Zhao Zhi's eyes flashed abruptly, like a cold star streaking past.

His head instinctively tilted aside, while his right hand shot out like lightning and clamped around Zhang Er's neck.

Under Zhang Er's stunned gaze, there was a crack as his throat bone shattered.

The light in Zhang Er's eyes gradually dimmed. His body slid down weakly, bewilderment and incomprehension still lingering in his eyes.

Zhao Zhi glanced at Zhang Er's collapsing corpse and froze for a moment.

That movement had flowed like drifting clouds and running water, completed in one breath, as though decades of bitter training had fused Seizing Hand into his every action.

He had killed someone?

Zhao Zhi did not feel much turmoil inside.

Zhang Er had wanted to kill him.

He had killed Zhang Er.

There was nothing wrong with that.

What did draw his attention slightly was the information appearing on the panel.

[You stopped a hooligan from committing violence. Merit +10.]

So this was how one gained Merit.

"Zhang Er, once you're done, let's go."

A voice came again from not far away.

Zhao Zhi looked toward the voice, picked up the saber that had fallen nearby, and walked step by step toward Li Qingchang.

When the distance between them was less than a meter.

Li Qingchang had one hand gripping the girl's arm when he turned around.

Their gazes met at once.

Li Qingchang looked utterly ordinary, with a pointed monkey-like face and narrow little eyes.

When he saw that it was not Zhang Er who had appeared, but Zhao Zhi, he jumped in fright and cried out, "Zhao Zhi... mgh..."

Zhao Zhi took a step forward and closed in. His left hand covered Li Qingchang's mouth, while the saber in his right hand plunged into Li Qingchang's chest with a wet thrust.

"Huff... huff..."

Li Qingchang's pupils widened as he struggled.

"Shh, don't speak. Take a deep breath. Feeling dizzy is normal."

Zhao Zhi watched Li Qingchang, his voice gentle.

His left hand, using Seizing Hand, held Li Qingchang firmly in place. His right hand slowly twisted the saber, and copious blood flowed down the blade, staining Li Qingchang red and staining the ground red.

Under Seizing Hand at the perfected level, even Li Qingchang's facial bones were about to be crushed. He could not break free.

Several breaths later.

The light in his eyes gradually faded, and his body crumpled weakly to the ground.

Zhao Zhi withdrew the saber. Scarlet blood ran down its blade toward the tip and dripped onto the ground.

[You completely rescued a man addicted to lust. Merit +10.]

Zhao Zhi: "..."

This system's judgment seemed to have some problems.

However.

He was rather surprised by his own state of mind.

He had just killed two living people.

Yet he felt none of the various emotions he might have expected—excitement, nausea, pain, or anything else. Instead, he was calm.

Calm enough that it felt like he had done something utterly insignificant.

Like swatting a mosquito, crushing an ant, or stepping on a cockroach.

Zhao Zhi turned his head toward the sixteen-year-old girl standing rooted in place with a hand over her mouth. Her bright eyes were opened wide, and tears she could not control streamed down her face.

When she saw Zhao Zhi looking at her, her body trembled and her fear deepened.

She was terrified that Zhao Zhi would kill her as well.

So she was the daughter of Wang Family Tavern. No wonder he could see her at night.

Zhao Zhi recognized her identity. He flicked the blood from his saber, sheathed it at his waist, and said softly, "Good. Don't make a sound. I'll take you home."

At those words.

The Wang family's daughter opened her eyes even wider, tears the size of beans falling one after another.

What?

Seeing this, Zhao Zhi was slightly taken aback. Had she misunderstood something?

The reason he told her not to make a sound was because of Li Qingchang's identity. Who knew whether any of Li Qingchang's fox-friends and dog-companions were nearby?

As that thought arose.

Tap, tap.

Footsteps drew near.