Chapter 54: I Cannot Let My Brother Live Without Dignity

In the past, Third Master used to say that practicing Qi was an extremely costly endeavor. Even though he treated his disciples with great care, he could not afford to buy precious herbs every day to nourish their Qi. For the most part, he simply made everyone sit quietly and practice Qi honestly on their own.

Such a process was both grueling and agonizingly slow.

The Luo family possessed vast wealth, and since the number of people they needed to cultivate was quite small, they could naturally spend money without restraint. I had no idea what Luo Weijing saw in Zhao Xiangbo to make him his adopted son. Although Zhao was constantly being used as cannon fodder, Luo was never stingy when it came to tossing him a bone.

By now, Zhao Xiangbo’s strength had improved significantly compared to before. Thus, even in a one-on-one fight with me, he no longer needed to harbor any reservations!

Just as I tried to crawl up, Zhao Xiangbo suddenly lunged forward and kicked me hard in the lower back. My breath hitched, and my reaction lagged by half a beat!

"Hold him down for me!" Zhao Xiangbo shouted to the men beside him. A group of people immediately rushed over, pinning me tightly to the ground.

Not far away, Wenliang and Little Monkey had also been knocked down. Their combat skills were never very strong to begin with.

The opposing side possessed both superior numbers and unbridled, reckless destructiveness. We had already been at a numerical disadvantage, and because we were forced to protect this and guard that, we quickly lost the upper hand and were completely subdued by these people.

"Are you all out of your minds?!" Sister Yan glared furiously at Zhao Xiangbo and the surrounding troublemakers, scolding them:

"Third Master raised us into adulthood with painstaking effort. Even if he had no grand achievements, he certainly endured immense hardship!

Not only are you ungrateful, but you choose this exact moment to come here and cause trouble, refusing to let Third Master rest in peace. Is this something a human being would do?"

"Then let me ask you, is what he did something a human being would do?" A man walking with a crutch stepped forward, lifted his right leg—which had been amputated at the thigh—and said, "I was only twelve years old when he sawed off my right leg and turned me into a cripple. Can a person be that cruel?"

Wenliang angrily retorted: "October, you remember the hatred of the Master sawing off your leg, but you forgot the fact that your right leg was rotting and ulcerated, causing the bone to die! If he hadn't sawed it off, you probably would have lost both legs entirely!"

He turned his head, pointing at the other people missing arms and legs, and said, "Tell me, did the Master make you handicapped for no reason?

Which one of you wasn't suffering from illness, abandoned by your families, and forced to rely on Third Master?

To keep you alive, the Master had to amputate your limbs and turn you into this state, which also allowed him to beg for more money to keep you alive until this very day!

How can you be so ungrateful?"

"Ungrateful?" October gritted his teeth as he glared at Wenliang, cursing: "Since it didn't happen to you, of course you can spew such breezy bullshit!

Were people like us really beyond saving? Did we truly have to undergo amputation?

That was a decision that affected our entire lives!

If he had just spent a little more money, maybe we would be able-bodied people today too!

Yet, to save trouble, and to make us more pitiable so we could beg for more money to hand over to him, he turned us into this wretched state!

You expect us not to hate him? If it were you, would you forgive him?"

Wenliang was left speechless. He knew very well that what October spoke was also the truth.

Thud!

Little Monkey, whose face was beaten bloody, dropped to his knees and wept as he pleaded with the crowd: "No matter what the Master did in the past, he has already passed away now. Let all grievances be wiped clean. Please, don't disturb him anymore, okay? I'm begging you!"

"Little Monkey, get up!" I shouted at him: "Don't grovel before them! Don't bring shame upon Third Master!"

Several men pressed down on me fiercely, rendering me completely immobile.

Zhao Xiangbo strolled leisurely over to me, sneering as he said: "You've got a lot of backbone! That old bastard raised a fine dog like you, he really got his money's worth!

I heard him say you're some kind of Qi cultivation prodigy, blessed with a once-in-a-millennium eye or something?

When I told my adoptive father, he wouldn't even believe it!

Well, today I'm going to see just how precious this so-called divine eye of yours really is. I'll dig it out and study it properly!"

The smile on his face vanished as he barked at the men beside me: "Take off his glasses! Today I'm going to gouge out his damned ghost eyeballs and feed them to the dogs!"

"No! Don't hurt my brother!" Sister Yan's face turned pale as she tried to rush forward, but feijie grabbed her by the waist, trapping her helplessly.

Zhao Xiangbo turned his head, looking at Sister Yan with a wicked grin: "Scared? Then beg me! Get on your knees and beg!"

He gave feijie a meaningful look. Feijie grinned broadly and released Sister Yan.

With almost zero hesitation, Sister Yan dropped straight to her knees and pleaded with Zhao Xiangbo: "I am kneeling before you, I beg you to spare my brother!

No matter what kind of grievances he had with you in the past, it was all because of me.

Now I am apologizing to you. Please, in your greatness, let him go!"

"Sis!" I was consumed by a burning fury, my anger so intense I almost vomited blood!

Yet those people only burst into laughter.

Zhao Xiangbo gave a cold chuckle and said, "It's not that simple! Shi Yan, have you forgotten how your brother treated me in the past? He almost took my life!

You think a simple kneel is going to make me let him go?

My neck still aches from time to time, serving as a reminder that I can't forget this grudge. What do you suggest we do about that?

How about this? Kneeling doesn't cost anything, but the clothes on your body are quite valuable.

Take them off right now and give them to me. Kneel here without a single piece of clothing left on you, and then I might see your sincerity and consider letting Stone go. How does that sound?"

"Zhao Xiangbo, I'll fuck your ancestors!" I roared, struggling violently with all my might.

The four men holding me down barely managed to keep me pinned, and two more rushed over, stepping directly onto my chest so I couldn't move an inch.

However, whether due to the overwhelming surge of blinding rage, the inside of my body suddenly began to churn violently like a stormy sea, and streams of Qi surged wildly!

Yesterday, I had absorbed far too much Dead Qi, and after an entire night, my body had actually assimilated all of it, converting it into Living Qi.

Yet this stream of Qi was foreign, after all, and was still being naturally rejected by my body. I had no idea how to assimilate and guide it, and now, fueled by intense agitation, it began wreaking havoc inside me, causing my body excruciating agony!

"You damned bastard, death is at your doorstep and your mouth is still so filthy!" Zhao Xiangbo walked over with a cold expression, drew a knife, and sneered: "I'll carve your eyeballs out right now and make you scream, you bastard!"

"No!" Sister Yan screamed, while Wenliang and Little Monkey desperately pleaded with Zhao Xiangbo from the side.

Ignoring them entirely, Zhao Xiangbo turned back to Sister Yan and said: "If you want to save your brother, then do as I say! Otherwise, I'll slowly dig this asshole's eyeballs out and crush them right in front of your eyes!"

Sister Yan took a deep breath, looked straight at Zhao Xiangbo, and said: "Xiaobo, if I really did that, even if my brother managed to keep his eyeballs, he would lose his human dignity.

I cannot let my brother live without dignity; he would never be able to hold his head high for the rest of his life!

Therefore, I will not strip off my clothes. But since my brother wronged you, I will pay this debt in his stead!

Give me the knife. Back then he cut you once, now I'll return that cut to you.

He bit you and almost took your life, now I'll pay you back with my life!"

She took a step closer to Zhao Xiangbo. Zhao Xiangbo pressed his foot harder against my chest and cursed: "Do you take me for an idiot?"

Sister Yan halted her steps and nodded. "Fine, I won't use your knife!"

She walked over to the side, picked up a bamboo pole from a funeral wreath on the ground, and tried to snap it. Lacking the strength, she simply bit down on it with her teeth to break it, but the sharp bamboo sliver sliced open the corner of her mouth, sending blood streaming down!

Yet she paid it no mind at all. Holding the two-foot-long bamboo pole, she pointed its sharp end directly at her own throat, looked at Zhao Xiangbo, and said: "I keep my word. I hope you will honor your promise as well!"