"Auntie Niu, I've already seen Cuihua. There are still customers at the restaurant, so Erniu brought me to see you first."
As Ye Chen spoke, wondering how to get Auntie Niu to take the Spirit Gathering Pill, a barrage of curses suddenly echoed from outside.
"Damn it, who hurt my brother?!"
"Erniu, get your ass out here!"
"Damn it, you have a death wish, daring to provoke Zhang Long's brother!"
Hearing the insults, Erniu's expression changed instantly. He glanced at his bedridden mother and said, "Xiao Ye, watch my mom. I'm going out there to fight those bastards!"
With that, Erniu dashed straight out, grabbing a sickle used for cutting grass from the courtyard as he passed by.
"Wh—what's going on?"
Auntie Niu had also heard the commotion and, deeply worried for Erniu's safety, struggled to sit up.
"Auntie Niu!"
Ye Chen's eyes narrowed slightly. Since Erniu had already left, there was no need for explanations. Ye Chen simply reached out and gently pressed a finger against Auntie Niu. The moment she lost consciousness, he slipped the Spirit Gathering Pill into her mouth.
Then, gathering spiritual energy in his palm, Ye Chen used telekinesis to help guide Auntie Niu's circulation. This Spirit Gathering Pill would strengthen her body and restore some of her stamina.
As for curing her coronary heart disease, Ye Chen didn't have a specialized medicinal pill on hand and would need to go back and carefully research a formula.
However, once she ingested this Spirit Gathering Pill, Auntie Niu's body would grow healthy, and she wouldn't suffer from the torment of coronary heart disease for the next three to five years.
A faint glow flickered at Ye Chen's fingertips. Guided by the spiritual energy, the Spirit Gathering Pill slowly dispersed throughout Auntie Niu's body. At the same time, her pale, wax-yellow complexion gradually regained a hint of luster and vitality.
As Hua Yuntian's master and the head of the Kunlun Sect, such a feat was effortless for Ye Chen.
A few minutes later, seeing that Auntie Niu's breathing had returned to normal, Ye Chen withdrew his hand.
Out in the yard, Erniu and Zhang Long were still at a stalemate.
Boss Zhang had been brought along by Zhang Long. His hands were simply bandaged, and standing right behind Zhang Long, he gritted his teeth and snarled, "Erniu, hand that brat over right now, or I'll burn your house to the ground!"
"You wouldn't dare!"
Griping the sickle tightly, Erniu shouted angrily, "Whoever dares to burn my house, I'll fight them to the death!"
"Fight to the death? Just you, damn it? I brought a dozen brothers with me today, go on, fight us... Unless you kill all of us today, I'm going to break both your mother's legs!" Zhang Long threatened.
Having spent years roaming the streets, he could tell Erniu was currently blind with rage. If they fought desperately, one or two of his own men might actually die.
Realizing the critical moment had arrived, Zhang Long began to pressure Erniu further. "Erniu, everyone says you're a filial son. You surely wouldn't ruin your mother's life just for some stranger, would you?"
"I—I... Xiao Ye is my friend, not a stranger."
Hearing his mother threatened, Erniu panicked completely. He pleaded incessantly, "Brother Long, Boss Zhang... You, you and Cuihua were like that before, and I didn't even say a word about it. Please spare Xiao Ye this once! I—I'll kowtow to you, okay?!"
Erniu wasn't afraid of dying, but he was terrified something might happen to his mother and Ye Chen.
Terrified by Zhang Long's threat, he dropped the sickle and stammered, "I—I'll kowtow to you!"
With that, Erniu prepared to drop straight to his knees.
Smack!
Just as Erniu's knees were about to hit the ground, he suddenly felt a force pull him back up. Looking back, it was none other than Ye Chen.
"Xiao Ye... Y—you, why did you come out?!"
"You are not allowed to kneel to trash like this!"
Ye Chen glared at Erniu, his eyes a mix of anger, warmth, and guilt.
"I—I won't kneel! Don't be mad, Xiao Ye! T—then let's fight them to the death!" Erniu said.
"I'm not mad. You've already done well... I'm just feeling guilty."
Ye Chen gently patted Erniu's shoulder. "Leave them to me."
"You'll handle us? Hahaha, who the hell do you think you are? Damn it, you're the one who stabbed my brother, right? Today, I'm going to cripple both your hands." Zhang Long raged.
"Bro, this punk plays dirty and has some nasty tricks. You and the brothers need to be careful," Boss Zhang warned.
"No matter how good his tricks are, can he take on ten men at once?"
Zhang Long sneered. "Brothers, break both his arms for me!"
"Yeah!"
At the command, the thugs behind Zhang Long rushed forward shouting.
"Xiao Ye!"
"Don't move..."
Ye Chen glanced at Erniu, telling him to stay out of it.
When Ye Chen turned back, his eyes were filled with killing intent. Coming to Nanshan this time and seeing the miserable state Erniu and Auntie Niu were living in, coupled with the overbearing and cowardly bullying of Boss Zhang and Li Cuihua...
All his suppressed anger erupted in a single instant!
"You're courting death!"
Seeing the lead thug rushing in with a knife raised to stab him, Ye Chen's gaze turned icy as he threw a punch with brutal force.
Boom!
Before the thug could even catch a glimpse of the fist, he felt a colossal force slam into his chest. It felt as though he had been struck by a motorcycle—no, a speeding truck.
Bang!
His body flew backward over ten meters, crashing heavily outside the courtyard gates after being sent flying by a single punch from Ye Chen.
When he hit the ground, he was already unconscious, his chest indented with a distinct fist-print as if all the bones inside had been shattered!
Although they were street thugs and often got into fights, where had they ever seen someone killed with a single punch?!
Though they weren't certain if the man was dead, the display of prowess by Ye Chen terrified everyone present.
The thugs felt their blood run cold.
They wanted to back away, they wanted to run... But Ye Chen gave them no chance. Before any of them could turn to flee, Ye Chen dashed forward like an arrow released from a bow.
Then came a relentless barrage of heavy thuds, loud as beating drums.
With every punch that rang out, a miserable scream echoed as another man was sent flying. In less than ten seconds, every single thug who had charged forward was knocked away by Ye Chen's fists!
"This..."
"Gulp!"
Seeing this, Zhang Long and Boss Zhang froze. Their legs trembled so violently they couldn't even speak.
How could anyone be this terrifying?
Damn it, is he even human?!
Thud!
As the two brothers watched Ye Chen stand before them like a god of slaughter, killing intent practically radiating from his eyes, they could no longer bear the immense pressure. They dropped straight to their knees with a heavy thud.
"Spare... spare our lives!"
"We were blind! We didn't know you weren't to be messed with. I—I was wrong, I'll kowtow to you, okay?!"
Zhang Long and Boss Zhang frantically slammed their heads against the ground. Having witnessed Ye Chen's terrifying methods, they were terrified of being killed with a single punch. They smashed their foreheads into the hard earth so hard that within a few blows, both of their faces were covered in blood.
Yet they dared not stop; as long as Ye Chen didn't speak, they had to keep kowtowing.
"You certainly were blind..."
At that moment, Ye Chen finally spoke, his voice as cold as millennial ice. "Because Erniu is my brother! Bullying him is an even graver offense than provoking me directly!"
Rumble...
Hearing those words, Zhang Long and Boss Zhang felt their minds go blank. For a split second, they didn't even dare to utter another plea for mercy.
Over the years, Zhang Long had endlessly oppressed the villagers, and Erniu had always been his primary target. He would eat at the restaurant without paying, and whenever there was heavy manual labor to be done, he would drag Erniu off to do it for free.
Boss Zhang was even worse. Seeing that Erniu's wife possessed some looks, he used money to sleep with her, then ate and drank for free at the restaurant afterwards, treating Erniu as less than a human being.
Thinking of the beasts they had been, Zhang Long and Boss Zhang began to tremble uncontrollably.
"It seems you bullied him quite a bit in the past, too."
Noticing their reaction, Ye Chen understood everything instantly, and his anger flared once more.
Thud! Thud!
Two dull thuds echoed as deep indentations appeared on the chests of Zhang Long and Boss Zhang. However, unlike their underlings, they weren't sent flying; their eyes widened, and their bodies went completely limp as they collapsed.
Because the targets of Ye Chen's punches were their left chests—right over their hearts.
Both men died instantly.
"X—Xiao Ye, how did you get so strong?"
After Zhang Long and Boss Zhang lay motionless on the ground for a full two minutes, Erniu finally snapped out of his daze. "How... how are you this powerful? Did you go to the Shaolin Temple or something? That's amazing, you're just like the heroes in TV shows!"
The Shaolin Temple?
Ye Chen shook his head with a bitter smile. He hadn't gone to the Shaolin Temple; he had gone to Kunlun!
Still, such matters couldn't be explained in a few words. After his master saved him, those first few days at the peak of Kunlun Mountain had felt just like a dream. It took him a full few days to finally accept that there were things in this world unknown to ordinary people.
For instance, alchemy and medicine—things that seemed like ethereal legends. But if they were merely legends, why would ancient emperors treat alchemists as honored guests and have them refine longevity pills?
Although Ye Chen didn't believe in longevity pills either, he had truly witnessed countless elixirs capable of saving lives or strengthening the human body!
Take internal energy, for example. While Ye Chen couldn't conjure golden dragons of true qi from a single palm strike like in TV shows, internal energy was a genuine reality. With a single punch, his internal force could travel a hundred meters and send a man flying.
Wasn't this ability equivalent to the "hundred-pace divine fist" from martial arts novels?
Then there was the Book of Changes, the Eight Trigrams, Qimen Dunjia, and feng shui divination... These were treasures left behind by their ancestors thousands of years ago, and they couldn't possibly be simple if they had been passed down to the present day.
Atop the peak of Kunlun Mountain sat a massive Spirit Gathering Array, and all of Ye Chen's abilities had been learned from his master within that very array.
Yet, even if he explained these things, Erniu wouldn't necessarily understand, and even if he understood, he might not believe it.
After a moment of thought, Ye Chen simply said, "I've never been to the Shaolin Temple! But I met an extraordinary expert who taught me many skills. Not only am I very good at fighting now, but I can also heal illnesses and save lives! Erniu, do you believe me?"
"I believe you, I believe you!"
Erniu nodded vigorously. "Since you're this amazing, I'll believe whatever you say. Besides, I know Xiao Ye would never lie to me!"
Hearing this, Ye Chen smiled with gratification.
Only Erniu would believe such a thing. Even if he told Xia Qingyue this, she likely wouldn't believe it nine times out of ten.
"Since you believe me, take this Spirit Gathering Pill... I gave Auntie Niu one earlier too, and she's already fallen asleep."
As he spoke, Ye Chen produced another Spirit Gathering Pill. "This pill was refined using thousands of precious medicinal herbs, and it contains an abundance of spiritual energy... Originally, I should have given you a body-strengthening pill, but this is the only kind I brought, so you'll just have to make do with it."
"Ah... Xiao Ye, what are you talking about? I don't really understand." Erniu looked utterly bewildered.
"Hahahaha!"
Seeing Erniu's expression, Ye Chen couldn't help laughing heartily.
While the Spirit Gathering Pill wasn't overwhelmingly effective for physical conditioning, its effects on cleansing the marrow and cultivation were immense. If a pill like this were to circulate in the Martial Dao World, it would fetch tens of millions per pill at the very least.
Yet Ye Chen could only let Erniu make do with it. Seeing Erniu's blank expression, Ye Chen smiled and said, "You don't need to understand. Just eat it; I would never harm you!"
"Okay."
Erniu nodded earnestly. "I know Xiao Ye won't hurt me."
With that, Erniu picked up the Spirit Gathering Pill and swallowed it whole.
The Spirit Gathering Pill melted instantly upon contact with his tongue, releasing an incomparable fragrance without a trace of bitterness. The moment he swallowed it, Erniu felt a wave of warmth slowly spread from his chest, circulating endlessly through his limbs and bones.
"Xiao Ye, my body feels like it's changing."
"I feel so light!"
Erniu couldn't help exclaiming.
"Don't worry about the rest... I'm going to open your meridians!"
A sharp gleam flashed in Ye Chen's eyes. "Erniu, are you willing to follow me from now on and witness sights and things you've never seen before?!"
Erniu froze. From Ye Chen's tone, he sensed something indescribable.
It felt as though the moment he agreed to this, his entire life would undergo a heaven-shaking transformation!
"Sights and scenery I've never seen before?"
Erniu muttered Ye Chen's words back to himself. He felt a warm current flowing continuously through his body after taking that pill, ultimately rushing into his limbs and bones until his entire being felt ethereal and light.
"I'm willing, I'm willing!"
Erniu said loudly, "Xiao Ye, are you going to turn me into a martial arts master too?"
"Martial arts?"
Ye Chen smiled softly. What martial arts world was there to speak of nowadays? At most, there was only the Martial Dao!
However, these concepts were too difficult to explain clearly to Erniu. Ye Chen gave a slight nod and said, "Something like that. From now on, you'll follow me!"
With that, the light at Ye Chen's fingertips grew increasingly brilliant as he set about modifying Erniu's physical constitution.
After a full half-hour, a dense layer of fine sweat had broken out on Ye Chen's forehead, but the results were exceptional.
"Done!"
Finally, Ye Chen let out a soft breath. "Your physical constitution now definitely surpasses that of world-class Olympic champions. From now on, you won't even suffer from minor illnesses like colds or coughs. Even if you don't cultivate the Martial Dao, you'll have the strength of an ox, and living to a hundred won't be a problem at all."
"Huh?"
Erniu listened in a daze, then instinctively clenched his fists. "D—do I really have that kind of strength?"
"Don't believe it?"
Ye Chen smiled, glancing around the courtyard. "Try lifting that millstone over there and see."
"Ah! I—I'll try!"
The millstone looked to weigh three or four hundred catties, but upon hearing Ye Chen's words, Erniu didn't hesitate for a second. He walked straight toward it.
Because Erniu felt his entire body surging with strength, he believed he could actually lift this millstone!
Slap!
Erniu firmly grasped both sides of the millstone. Standing at 1.9 meters tall with very long arms, he grabbed the millstone and suddenly exerted all his might!
"Haaaaah!!"
Erniu gritted his teeth and roared, his muscles tightening sharply in an instant. To everyone's shock, the heavy millstone, weighing several hundred catties, was actually budged by Erniu.
At the same time, Erniu's eyes widened in disbelief, his expression mirroring someone who had just discovered an alien.
Then, the millstone was slowly lifted off the ground—ten centimeters, twenty centimeters... half a meter... a meter...
Thud!
When he had hoisted it about a meter high, Erniu's arms began to sour, and unable to hold the millstone any longer, he lowered it back down with a heavy thud.
Yet this result alone was enough to leave anyone dumbstruck.
"Xiao Ye, d—did I really do that?"
"Mm."
Ye Chen nodded, continuing, "Erniu, tell me honestly: after I left, did anyone else bully you?"
Just Li Cuihua alone wasn't enough to reduce Erniu to the thin, bearded state he was in. After all, Erniu used to be extremely robust, with a build twice the size of Ye Chen's.
"It was the Zhou family..."
After hesitating for half a minute, Erniu finally let it out: "After Uncle Su and Mumu died, and you went missing, people from the Zhou family came to the village. Even Zhou Qianxiong came... He heard that I was close to you and asked if I was hiding you. When I said I didn't know, they broke both my legs and burned everything of value in my house..."
"To protect me, my mom was beaten by those bad guys... Later, when we went to the hospital for a check-up, she was diagnosed with coronary heart disease."
"With my legs broken and Mom having heart disease, our family was practically plunged into despair. Later, we scraped together some money by borrowing from everywhere, and once my legs healed, I went out to do manual labor to pay off the debts!"
"After half a year of being tossed around like that, my body weakened. Later, after opening a restaurant and making some money, I married Li Cuihua... And it turns out she's that kind of woman!"
Erniu couldn't bring himself to say Li Cuihua's name again. Once he finished, he added, "But it's all in the past now... Xiao Ye, don't go provoking the Zhou family. They're different from Zhang Long; the Zhou family is a big clan, and they have guns!"
"Hah!"
Ye Chen sneered, the killing intent in his eyes nearly hardening into a tangible substance.
Originally, Ye Chen hadn't planned to let the Zhou family off the hook, but learning that Erniu had also been bullied by them because of him only fueled his fury further.
The Zhou family... couldn't be allowed to exist!
"Xiao Ye, don't do anything reckless. Uncle Su and Mumu, they wouldn't want to see you throw your life away fighting. They would surely want you to live well."
Seeing the unyielding resolve in Ye Chen's eyes, Erniu said, "If you're determined to go, I'll go with you. I can lift a millstone now, and I'll definitely be fierce in a fight."
"I'm not going to exact revenge right now, stop letting your imagination run wild!"
Ye Chen patted Erniu's shoulder. "Auntie Niu should be waking up soon. Go take care of her, shave that beard of yours, and another day I'll find you a pretty wife!"
"Stop making fun of me. I—I'm not looking for a wife anymore."
The towering Erniu flushed a dark red under Ye Chen's teasing. "Right now, I just want to take good care of my mom."
"Hahaha."