42: Chapter 42 The Arrogant Swordsman Turns into Leeks

Inside the Funeral Shop lobby, there was a deathly silence.

Young Master Lu Changfeng knelt on one knee on the cold concrete floor, panting heavily.

His grey trench coat was covered in dust, and his chest heaved violently.

He lowered his head, staring fixedly at his right hand, which was gripping his sword.

The webbing between his thumb and index finger had split open, oozing wisps of blood.

On the blade of the lightning-struck peach wood sword, which had been passed down in the Lu family for a hundred years, there remained two distinct scorched fingerprints.

Just two fingers.

No complex footwork, no long-winded incantations, not even a protective magical artifact was used.

The young man before him, wearing loose shorts and eating grilled meat skewers, had crushed the pride he had cultivated for twenty years with nothing but his physical body and a domineering Pure Yang True Qi.

"Pure Yang Qi manifested as a barrier, True Qi condensed into threads..."

Young Master Lu Changfeng slowly raised his head, his handsome face filled with shock and disbelief.

A flash of realization crossed his eyes as he stared fixedly at Lin Ye: "The reclusive expert who used thunder fire to pacify the Corpse King last night at The Fourth Psychiatric Hospital, could it be you?!"

Apart from the legendary one-in-ten-thousand Pure Yang Dao Body, it was impossible for anyone in this world to wield thunder fire talisman techniques to such a world-destroying extent.

Lin Ye threw away the bamboo skewer in his hand and pulled out a tissue to wipe his mouth.

"Don't shout in my shop."

Lin Ye's tone was lazy, but his eyes radiated a sharp sense of oppression.

"Is it the rule of your prestigious Lu family sect to barge into someone's home with a sword, smashing, grabbing, and burning without distinguishing right from wrong?"

Young Master Lu Changfeng's expression stiffened, and his cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

He had always acted on his sword-heart intuition, and having drawn his sword upon sensing the soaring Yin energy here, he had indeed been biased.

Now that his skills were inferior, he had lost seven-tenths of his confidence to even retort.

Just as Young Master Lu Changfeng was struggling with how to find a way out of this situation, a faint light flickered on Lin Ye's retina, and the system's slightly teasing notification sound rang out right on time.

"Ding! "My Lord, Please Behave Yourself" System notification: A prestigious sword cultivator's Dao heart has been frustrated. This person has decent talent and is an excellent worker and scapegoat. Please make a choice within three minutes to extract maximum surplus value!"

[Option A: Mockery — Beat the dog in the water, mocking, "The Lu family sword technique isn't even fit to cut watermelons for me."]

[Reward: Poison-tongued Master title. Consequence: Young Master Lu Changfeng will be overcome with shame and anger, swearing a blood oath to fight you to the death, adding a troublesome enemy.]

[Option B: Forced Apprenticeship — Put your hands behind your back and say inscrutably, "I see your bones are amazing; why don't you take me as your master?"]

[Reward: Aura of a King released. Consequence: The other party will view you as a madman who insults his family, refusing to yield even in death.]

[Option C: Forced Buy-and-Sell, Establish Bond — Extort a sum for emotional damages and convert him into a long-term, high-quality leek.]

[Reward: Husband points +200, obtain the true explanation of drawing the Profound-grade [Lightning Summoning Talisman], Young Master Lu Changfeng's favorability secretly increases (he is a masochist who admires the strong).]

A gleam of light flashed in Lin Ye's eyes.

This system really knows how to judge people!

This kind of young master from a prestigious family, arrogant and conceited, often has a streak of admiration for the strong in his bones.

The more you humiliate him, the more unfathomable he thinks you are.

"I choose C."

Lin Ye stood up and walked slowly and methodically in front of Young Master Lu Changfeng.

He looked down at the floor tile that had cracked when Young Master Lu Changfeng slid back.

"For the sake of your Lu family ancestors, I won't cripple your cultivation today."

Lin Ye held up three fingers and waved them in the air.

"You broke an ancestral bluestone floor tile of mine; compensation is fifty thousand. Just now, you drew your sword and released baleful energy, scaring these two frail store clerks of mine; emotional damages are fifty thousand. Let's round it off, that's one hundred thousand in total."

Fatty Wang, hiding behind the counter, heard this and his jaw nearly hit the floor.

This isn't rounding off; this is blatant robbery!

That broken floor tile could be bought for ten yuan for three pieces, and those two "frail" clerks could tear an elephant apart together!

Young Master Lu Changfeng was also stunned.

He had expected Lin Ye to use all sorts of inscrutable words to humiliate him, but he hadn't expected the other party to talk only about money.

"An expert like you... is actually this greedy for money?" Young Master Lu Changfeng gritted his teeth, his face full of astonishment.

"Nonsense, don't experts need to eat and pay utility bills?"

Lin Ye rolled his eyes, took out his phone, pulled up the payment QR code, and handed it over.

"Scan the code or transfer? No credit allowed."

Young Master Lu Changfeng took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the humiliation in his heart.

He took out his phone and with a "beep," scanned the code to pay the one hundred thousand yuan.

As the young master of the Lu family, money was the thing he lacked the least.

Seeing the successful transfer notification, a spring-breeze-like fake smile instantly appeared on Lin Ye's face:

"Young Master Lu Changfeng is straightforward. If you want to spar in the future, remember to buy a ticket first. Walk slowly on your way out, and remember to close the door for me."

Young Master Lu Changfeng stood up from the floor and sheathed his peach wood sword into the sword case on his back.

He gave Lin Ye a deep look, then glanced at Leng Yue, who was sitting behind the counter and hadn't even looked at him properly from start to finish.

"I will remember today's humiliation."

He straightened his back, and that air of arrogance surfaced once again.

"I will come back to challenge you again. One day, my sword will pierce through your barrier!"

"I'm always waiting, just remember to bring enough money." Lin Ye waved his hand.

Young Master Lu Changfeng snorted coldly, pushed open the glass door, and strode into the night of Taiping Old Street.

Fatty Wang crawled out from behind the counter, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and gave Lin Ye a thumbs up:

"Yezi, you're awesome. You even dare to slaughter someone from the Lu family like a fat sheep, and you even picked up a fanboy on the side."

"What fanboy, that's called a high-quality ATM."

Lin Ye stretched.

"Alright, it's getting late. Hurry up and close the shop so we can rest. I need to get some good sleep tonight."

"Got it!"

Fatty Wang very perceptively cleaned up the barbecue skewers and beer bottles on the table. While stuffing the empty beer bottles into a plastic bag, he glanced out of the corner of his eye at the movement over by the sofa.

He saw that Leng Yue had already stood up and was walking towards Lin Ye, the hem of her wine-red robe brushing against the sofa armrest, bringing with it a cold fragrance.

Although Fatty Wang was not a member of the mystical world, he had been mixing in various circles for so long that he still had that bit of perceptiveness.

"Alright, time for the tool man to exit."

Fatty Wang hung the plastic bag on his wrist, gave Lin Ye a lewd grin, and lowered his voice:

"Yezi, I really admire how you eat soft rice. You're not running a Funeral Shop; you've clearly opened a Spider Cave."

"Get lost."

Lin Ye spat out one word without looking back.

"Alright, getting lost now."

Fatty Wang walked to the door and turned back to add another jab.

"Tomorrow I'll bring you two jin of grilled kidneys to replenish yourself. Don't rely on that Pure Yang Dao Body and be reckless; I'm counting on you living a few more years to look out for me."

Saying this, Fatty Wang waved his hand and turned to leave.

Before leaving, he also conveniently flipped the wooden sign on the door from "Open" to "Closed".