Lin Zhuliang spread his broad, toadlike mouth in a sneer. "Hehehe, back then, I saw that Bu Wuchen dressed splendidly and had an extraordinary bearing;"
"His cultivation in mystic Qi was truly impressive, too. So young, and already at the peak of the Qi Observation Realm."
"Naturally, I, Lin Zhuliang, was willing to befriend such an outstanding young talent."
"But as it turned out..."
At this point, the disdain in Lin Zhuliang's eyes grew even stronger. "Heh, everyone else gets stronger and stronger after earning the right to cultivate at Blood Dragon City Academy;"
"But this trash went backward. His cultivation dwindled by the day, and before long, he fell from the peak of the Qi Observation Realm to the rough martial realm."
"Now he's gravely ill, looking ready to croak! Why should I keep indulging him?!"
"You two servants borrowed seven gold and nineteen silver from me altogether to buy medicine for him."
"With interest and rent..."
Lin Zhuliang crooked his finger with a sleazy look. "A hundred gold in total. Pay up now, and we're square."
Hearing this, Wan Xiaoyao and the old servant A Chun trembled all over with rage.
Truly, a tiger brought down to the plains was bullied by dogs!
Back when they were in the imperial capital, even without relying on the towering tree that was the Grand General's residence, Wan Xiaoyao and the old servant A Chun could each have slapped this unreasonable bastard to death with their own cultivation alone.
But now...
For their young master's sake, the two could only force down their anger and say, "The repayment date written in the contract hasn't arrived yet, and we..."
"Hmph, I don't care about all that."
Lin Zhuliang raised his head arrogantly. "Pay up right now."
"What? Can't pay? Well, you can pay with your body instead. Hehehe..."
With that, he swept a hungry gaze over Wan Xiaoyao.
Even her plain clothes could not conceal her lovely appearance-
Her features were exquisite as a painting, her skin dewy as jade;
The delicate figure distinctive to a girl of fourteen or fifteen whetted Lin Zhuliang's appetite all the more.
Lin Zhuliang had been drooling over Wan Xiaoyao ever since he first laid eyes on her.
Only, back then, Bu Wuchen's strength had made him restrain his beastly nature.
But as time passed, Bu Wuchen's health deteriorated steadily, and he had even been unconscious for days!
Throughout that time, Wan Xiaoyao and the old servant A Chun had failed to bring in any halfway-decent help.
By now, Lin Zhuliang was finally certain: Bu Wuchen, who had once given him cause for caution, was now nothing more than a bedridden cripple!
At last, he could no longer hold back. He bared his fangs and revealed his true nature...
"Come here, little beauty~"
Lin Zhuliang made to pounce on Wan Xiaoyao, only for the old servant A Chun to throw his arms around his leg.
"Hm? Get lost, you meddlesome old dog!"
"Thud!"
"Pfft~"
The poor, frail old man was kicked far away by Lin Zhuliang, slammed into the wall, and vomited a large pool of blood.
Seeing this, the two household thugs accompanying him smiled sinisterly. "Hehehe, our master already went easy on you, you know?"
"Exactly. Otherwise, with our master's cultivation at the seventh level of the savage martial realm, that kick would've turned you from an old dog into a dead dog already! Hahahaha..."
Listening to their flattery, Lin Zhuliang looked smug. "Let this old thing keep his miserable life for now. After all, once I'm done, I'll need someone to take the blame."
"What do you think of this script: 'Seeing his master unconscious and weak, a wicked servant simply killed him, intending to forcibly seize his maid. Fortunately, I arrived in time to intervene, killed the wicked servant, and won the maid's heart'?"
Hearing this, both men showered him with flattery. "Brilliant, brilliant! Master, you're wise!"
"Mm, given those city inspectors' preference for avoiding extra trouble, they'll certainly be happy to close the case that way."
Lin Zhuliang gave an arrogant snort. "Bu Wuchen may have become trash, but his status as a student of Blood Dragon City Academy is somewhat troublesome."
"If I kill him, naturally I'll need a scapegoat to get away clean!"
"Otherwise, with my standing, killing an outsider with no roots in Blood Dragon City would be as easy as slaughtering pigs and dogs!"
"Absolutely!"
"You couldn't be more right, Master..."
Meanwhile, on the bed.
Having heard every word, Bu Wuchen gritted his teeth in hatred. What a pack of despicable, shameless scum!!
In fact, he had awakened long ago, and had long since found Lin Zhuliang and his companions' vile conduct intolerable.
With a thought, he had immediately used that [Basic Realm Ascension Token]!
He had thought that, with his cultivation soaring, he would immediately be able to punish these villains;
Who would have thought the system would tell him-
Because he had been poisoned for so long, although all the lingering poison had now been purged, the resulting damage to his meridians and dantian could not heal instantaneously.
Thus, the transfer of power from the [Basic Realm Ascension Token] was not as smooth as expected and required a little more time.
Until that process was complete, Bu Wuchen could not move a muscle.
The slightest misstep would cause Qi deviation, ending in his death and the dissolution of his cultivation...
Hurry, hurry, hurry up!!
At that moment, the youth screamed hysterically in his heart.
In his previous life, Bu Wuchen had suffered a cruel fate. An orphan with no one to rely on, he had tasted every bitterness and hardship just to survive;
Now, having just transmigrated to this new world, he had two people willing to endure every hardship for him-
Even knowing that the person they risked everything and devoted all their efforts to protecting was merely a discarded young master of a powerful family, long since fallen from favor, with less than a tenth of his cultivation remaining and virtually no chance of ever rising again, they still pressed on without hesitation!
To Bu Wuchen, how fortunate was he now?
Yet the plight of the old man and the young girl wrung the youth's heart-
The old servant A Chun had been severely injured by that kick and lay curled in a corner, barely breathing;
The maid Wan Xiaoyao had also failed to escape Lin Zhuliang's clutches. He grabbed her, and she screamed, "Let go of me! Let go of me!"
"Hehehe, scream, shout."
Lin Zhuliang wore a sleazy grin. "Let's see if you can shout that dying sickling awake to save you! Hahahahaha!"
Just then-
"Ding-dong, [Basic Realm Ascension Token] successfully activated. The host's mystic cultivation realm has risen by five levels." "Ding-dong, congratulations to the host on successfully advancing to the peak of the ninth level of the savage martial realm!"
As the system notifications rang in his ears, Bu Wuchen leaped from the bed, unable to wait another instant;
Lin Zhuliang saw only a blur before his eyes. Before he could get a proper look, an irresistible force seized the hand gripping Wan Xiaoyao's arm and flung it away.
Immediately afterward-
"Bam!"
Bu Wuchen's furious, all-out punch struck Lin Zhuliang square in his stunned face!
"Aaagh!"
That sudden, ferociously powerful punch caved in Lin Zhuliang's entire face...