From the depths of the courtyard, a group was making their confident entrance. Leading them was a strikingly dressed youth, no older than seventeen or sixteen, carrying a birdcage in his left hand and holding a folding fan in his right. By any aesthetic measure, he was the very picture of a spoiled young master.
“Th-Third Young Master!” Uncle Wen broke out in a cold sweat, his voice stumbling over the words.
Chen Feng recognized him as his third brother, Soya Cainte. A memory from the other life in his mind offered no favorable impression of this sibling; usually idle and purposeless, Soya often took pleasure in bullying him. Nevertheless, his martial talent was decent; at only sixteen, he was already a Third-Rank Fighter.
It was precisely because of this talent that his father—the clan patriarch, Qigu Cainte—allowed him such leniency. Otherwise, a stubborn man so steeped in family honor would never permit such attire and behavior.
Soya sauntered along, idly toying with the small bird in the cage, flanked by a retinue of servants dressed in light gray, all appearing to be around sixteen or seventeen years of age.
“Third Young Master, look…” one servant said with fawning deference, pointing toward Chen Feng and Uncle Wen standing by the main door.
Soya scoffed, “What’s all the fuss about? Just the idiot coming home!”
“Third Young Master, take a closer look. Why is Ah Xiong, the gate guard, lying on the ground?”
“Hmm?” Soya’s brow furrowed, his habitual air of nonchalance tightening. He strode forward a few steps, looked down at Ah Xiong, whose nose bridge was crushed and face unrecognizable, and asked coldly, “Who did this?”
Chen Feng replied, “This dog-slave had no eyes and dared block my entry, so I taught him a lesson!”
“Taught him a lesson?” Soya roared, “You, an idiot, the shame of the family! By what right do you teach Ah Xiong a lesson? Don’t you know he’s my man?”
Seeing the hostility in the other’s words, Chen Feng stated coolly, “I am clear-headed now. I will no longer be muddled as before, allowing myself to be bullied! You are my third brother; I request you speak with more respect.”
Soya showed no excitement at the news of Chen Feng’s newfound clarity. Instead, he sneered, “Respect? From you? Heh. You truly amuse me. Eight years of practicing Qi since you were six, and you still haven’t grasped even a sensation of it. If I were you, I’d have killed myself long ago! Even if you are clear-headed now, you remain the family’s disgrace!”
Fury surged in Chen Feng. After enduring scorn from outsiders, to return home and face this—it explained why even a mere servant had been so insolent. Regardless of how the former Chen Feng Cainte lived, if Heaven allowed him to possess this body, he would no longer endure such humiliation!
Even from his own full brother!
“I advise you to watch your tongue. Otherwise, even if you are my third brother, I won’t be polite!” Chen Feng snapped.
Uncle Wen quickly stepped forward, grabbing his arm and whispering urgently, “Fifth Young Master…”
Chen Feng shook his arm free, locking eyes with Soya, looking like a ravenous wolf.
Soya laughed loudly. “How bold! It seems the beating you took yesterday has already been forgotten! Very well, I’ll teach you another lesson now! You few, give him a proper greeting!”
The servants in light gray clothes behind him heard the command and advanced, encircling Chen Feng.
Chen Feng’s expression remained unchanged. “You want to rebel? Regardless of anything else, I am the Fifth Young Master of this family. If you dare lay a finger on me, be careful you don’t end up on the Firing Rack!”
The strict hierarchical system of the noble world dictated the thinking of these men, and they simultaneously halted their steps, looking to Soya for confirmation.
Soya commanded, “Beat him fiercely! I’ll take responsibility for whatever happens!”
Chen Feng’s anger boiled up, his dark hair seeming to bristle and stand on end—his own brother ordering servants to assault him! Such a thing was utterly unheard of!
The Dou Qi within him stirred, transforming along a specific path into the shape of a vortex, hovering at the center of his Dantian. Clenching his fists, he strode forward.
A servant stepped to block his path, ready to intervene, but Soya exclaimed in surprise, “Oh? He still dares to approach? Don’t stop him; I think his skin is itching again!”
The gray-clad men erupted in laughter and automatically parted, clearing a path.
It was a common enough occurrence for Young Master Soya to beat the idiot Young Master; it was one of his favorite pastimes. The crowd looked upon Chen Feng with pity, as if watching a spaniel about to be thrashed by its master.
Chen Feng walked the cleared path until he stood before Soya. Although the Dou Qi vortex could not fully replicate all the techniques of the KOF realm, for Chen Feng, it represented no small advancement.
Soya looked at the grim-faced Chen Feng with disdain. “Are you here to take a face-plant or a head-plant today? Though those two were played out yesterday, they lack novelty. How must I beat you for you to be happy?”
The surrounding people roared with laughter again, and one shouted, “Third Young Master, how about a ‘Small Beast Landing’? That would surely be exciting!”
Soya’s eyes lit up. “Not bad, that’s a good suggestion! You have ideas! Reward him with 30 copper coins; go to the accounting office and claim them yourself!”
A gray-clad man bowed deeply, his face flushed with excitement. “Thank you, Third Young Master!”
The others looked on with envy, seemingly jealous that this man had devised such a brilliant idea.
Chen Feng was genuinely close to fainting from anger. From the sound of it, these people not only frequently bullied him but had elevated the bullying to a sanctioned activity, engaging in “group brainstorming” to devise various methods to torment him! And they were rewarded for their ingenuity!
Unable to bear it any longer, the vortex power in his body spun, and he unleashed a punch through the air!
“Aragami!”
With a great shout, Chen Feng hammered his right fist toward Soya’s chest and abdomen.
Soya and the others were still laughing heartily and had not anticipated that the usually meek Fifth Young Master would suddenly strike. Caught completely off guard, Soya, true to his status as a Third-Rank Fighter, reacted with astonishing speed. He roared, wrapping his arm in circulating Dou Qi, and met Chen Feng’s Aragami head-on.
A direct clash! No room for trickery; it came down purely to control over Dou Qi and sheer power!
One was a Dou Qi technique from an alternate continent; the other was the 128 styles of the Kusanagi Fist—Aragami!
The surrounding servants froze instantly. Had the Fifth Young Master’s idiocy returned? Wasn’t he courting death? The Third Young Master cultivated a path of rigid, fierce Dou Qi. Even though he was only a Third-Rank Fighter, in terms of sheer power, even a Fourth-Rank Fighter might not be his match.
Just a few days ago, the Third Young Master got into a skirmish with a Fourth-Rank Swordsman while out amusing himself; the Swordsman had fainted immediately after taking one punch. The onlookers shook their heads in pity: Alas, the Fifth Young Master’s arms and fists are finished today. Nothing to be done; later, they’ll have to spend 15 silver coins finding a First-Rank Light Magic Healer in the street to mend his bones and stimulate his tendons...
CRACK! The sound of breaking bone rang out piercingly in the sudden silence.
“Enough, enough, carry the idiot Fifth Young Master away…” the servant who had come up with the ‘good idea’ called out loudly. However, before he could finish his sentence, the mouth he had opened could not close again.
There stood Chen Feng, motionless, while Soya lay several meters away on the ground, clutching his right arm, covered in cold sweat, his limb clearly fractured and hanging uselessly.
Everyone looked as if they had been forced to swallow three rotten eggs simultaneously, their faces utterly blank.
“Did I see that wrong? Wh-what happened?” Murmurs rippled through the courtyard.
“Third Young Master… what… what happened?” A few servants who reacted quickly rushed over to surround Soya.
“Did you see it clearly?” two servants whispered to each other behind.
Another replied, “Didn’t you see? The idiot Fifth Young Master had Dou Qi swirling around his hand just then, almost at the level of Third-Rank Dou Qi! That was amazing!”
“Third-Rank? You’re not kidding, are you? When he left this morning, he had no Dou Qi at all. Yesterday, the Third Young Master beat him so badly, and he didn’t resist. How could he suddenly possess Third-Rank Dou Qi? You must have been hallucinating!”
“Pah, I was hallucinating? If it wasn’t real, would the Third Young Master have been sent flying?”
“I still don’t believe it. The Third Young Master’s Dou Qi talent is an established fact. A Third-Rank Fighter at sixteen is rare even at the Tianfeng Academy! How could he be beaten flying by an idiot? I think something is wrong!”
...
Although the crowd had witnessed Chen Feng break Soya’s arm with their own eyes, many still found it hard to accept. It was like a mediocre, unremarkable person suddenly becoming a president overnight. If they hadn’t known him intimately, it might be one thing, but seeing him several times every day, how could such a stark contrast be believable?
The shock on their faces was undisguised, manifesting in every movement and expression.
The servant who devised the ‘good idea’ stood rooted to the spot, dazed like a simpleton. “This… this…”
“Small Beast Landing, was it?” Chen Feng asked, his face devoid of expression. He walked up to the servant, the vortex power surging on his arm, and grabbed him by the collar, lifting him up.
“F-Fifth Young Master, I was wrong…” This fellow was quick-witted enough to start pleading, but Chen Feng, enraged, was in no mood to listen.
He flicked his wrist.
“Aaaah…” A ghastly, howling shriek echoed far into the distance.
Everyone broke out in cold sweat. They watched as the man was left dangling from a tree branch, barely clinging to life, his ‘small beast’ resting precisely on the fork of the branch…
Everyone swallowed hard and backed away several steps simultaneously, voluntarily clearing a path.
They had thought the idiot Fifth Young Master was easy prey, but it turned out he was a… God of Slaughter!
Chen Feng ignored the gazes of the crowd, grabbed the slightly stunned Uncle Wen by the side, and walked forward with his head held high.
Respecting others earns respect in return; despising oneself incurs a corresponding price, even if that person is one’s own brother!
This was not to say Chen Feng was cold-blooded; he had been in this world for less than a day. Any supposed family ties were nonsense. Recognizing who was his brother and who was his father was accomplishment enough; sentimentality? Forget it.
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