C23 Unworthy of the Title: Scum

Taoist Artifacts Hall, Yin Shaoge's courtyard.

"You worthless piece of trash! How dare you to work together with your brother to bully my younger brother? You're simply courting death!"

"Today, this young master here will let you have a taste of real pain. Then, I will find your brother tomorrow to settle this debt!"

In the courtyard, a young man dressed in the apparel of Taoist Artifacts Hall disciples stared glinting daggers at Yin Shaoge.

Behind him stood a few Taoist Artifacts Hall disciples, which included Zhou Nan and his other lackeys from the day before.

That particular youth in his early twenties was called Zhou Feng, Zhou Nan's elder brother. He was also a genius disciple of the Taoist Artifacts Halls with his cultivation level at the peak of the seventh stage of the Body Tempering Realm.

The only reason Zhou Feng did not show up during the short scuffle in the Taoist Artifacts Hall yesterday was that he was out on a mission.

Coincidentally, he had just returned tonight.

Upon his arrival back home, he immediately received news that his younger brother, Zhou Nan, was beaten into a pulp by Yin Shaoge's worthless brother.

Not only did Ye Lan deal severe injuries to Zhou Nan, but he even robbed him of the money that he saved over the past several years.

Thus, Zhou Feng brought his younger brother and other lackeys all the way to Yin Shaoge's courtyard to get revenge. He planned to deal with and vent his anger on Yin Shaoge first before settling the score with Ye Lan at the Ye Family tomorrow.

*Cough!*

Having just received a brutal kick from Zhou Feng earlier, Yin Shaoge's spurted out a mouthful of blood. As his face turned ashen pale, the blood in his body surged uncontrollably, causing aches and pain all over his body.

Facing the Zhou Feng's words, Yin Shaoge did not speak back as he only stared coldly at him.

"You good-for-nothing bastard, you still dare to look at with that expression of yours? Today, I will break a few of your ribs and collect some interest for my younger brother!"

Seeing how Yin Shaoge responded with nothing but a cold gaze, Zhou Feng revealed a waning frown as he felt extremely dissatisfied.

In the blink of an eye, his figure flashed as he bolted towards Yin Shaoge with nimble steps.

At that instant, he circulated his Genuine Qi incessantly into his palm, enveloping it with a terrifying martial aura.

As Zhou Feng's palm shot forward like a bullet, Yin Shaoge did not see a way for him to dodge the attack.

*Thump!*

Suddenly, a series of soundwaves resounded through the vicinity.

In the dusk of the night, a mysterious figure, traveling at the speed of sound, flashed in front of Yin Shaoge and quickly blocked Zhou Feng's attack with his own palm strike.

As the two palms collided with one another, a powerful shockwave, rich in Genuine Qi, shot out like in the shape of a ring through the courtyard, forcing Zhou Feng dozens of steps back.

"Elder Brother!"

Standing at the back, Zhou Nan's expression was quickly filled with shock the moment he saw that someone had suddenly appeared and blocked his brother's attack. That mysterious figure had even forced his brother to retreat dozens of steps.

"I'm fine!"

Zhou Feng raised his hand, signaling Zhou Nan and the rest not to worry.

Immediately after, he shot his piercing gaze towards the young man standing in front of Yin Shaoge.

"Look who showed up..."

Zhou Feng mocked as he recognized the young man's appearance clearly. He was the infamous piece of trash in Lucid Aqua Town, Ye Lan.

However, a sense of shock lingering in the depths of his eyes, signaling him to stay alarmed.

He did not expect Ye Lan to be able to cultivate, let alone block his attack.

Originally, he thought that the rumor spreading around was merely a pile of nonsense. After all, how could a piece of trash like him injure Zhou Nan?

But witnessing it with his very own eyes, Zhou Feng was now certain that Ye Lan had indeed obtained the strength to defeat Zhou Nan with a single strike.

From that one exchange of attacks, Zhou Feng determined Ye Lan's strength and cultivation to be on par, if not, even stronger than his.

Realizing this undenial fact, Zhou Feng was even more astonished.

He really could not understand how that infamous piece of trash had suddenly become so powerful.

"Shaoge."

Ignoring Zhou Feng's puzzled gaze, Ye Lan looked worriedly at the pale-faced Yin Shaoge.

"It's nothing too serious."

Noticing Ye Lan's worried expression, Yin Shaoge laughed it off and waved his hand.

"Just stay behind me for now. Allow me to take care of that bastard in your stead."

"Alright, but be careful. That Zhou Feng's cultivation is at the peak seventh stage of the Body Tempering Realm!"

Yin Shaoge did not refuse.

Having been humiliated and beaten up by Zhou Feng earlier, he naturally felt a surge of anger in his heart.

If Ye Lan could teach Zhou Feng a lesson for him, he would feel beyond elated!

"He's just a mere scum, so you don't have to worry about me."

Ye Lan laughed.

With that, he supported Yin Shaoge up and brought him towards a stone chair.

He then turned back around and glared intimidatingly at the Zhou Feng and Zhou Nan.

"The infamous trash actually dares to call me a scum?"

Standing opposite him, Zhou Feng scowled at Ye Lan with a deep frown as he boiled in rage.

He never expected the spineless coward to be brazen enough to treat him in such a rude manner and even insult him!

As a matter of fact, Zhou Feng had never felt such great humiliation before.

"Calling you a scum can already be considered a compliment, for you're not even worthy of being called that in my eyes!"

Ye Lan replied without any hesitation.

Hearing that one sentence, Zhou Feng trembled with rising anger. His expression darkened, and the veins on his forehead popped out.

'How dare you!'

'Arrogant bastard!'

'He does not know his place!'

'That son of a b*tch actually dared to humiliate me like this. Not only did he insult me, but he even said how I was unworthy of being called a scum!'

'He has gone too far!'

"Do you not want to live anymore? How dare you insult my elder brother in such a manner?!"

"Did you think that you can look down on us and do whatever you want just because you managed to defeat me?"

"In the eyes of my elder brother, you most likely aren't even his match at all."

"How dare a pice of sh*t like you insult my elder brother?"

Standing at the back, Zhou Nan felt agitated upon hearing the disrespect directed towards his elder brother.

He could not help but fume with utter rage as he stepped forward and exclaimed with a loud voice.

Disdain was written all over his face while his tone filled with mockery.

The lackeys behind him also started to shoot scornful gazes towards Ye Lan.

After all, every single one of them knew that Zhou Feng was at the peak seventh stage of the Body Tempering Realm. Even in the younger generation of the entire Lucid Aqua Town, there were only a few other people who could compete with him.

Thus, Ye Lan was only asking for trouble by daring to Zhou Feng.

In the face of Zhou Nan's words, however, Ye Lan simply ignored them.

Without even a moment of hesitation, his figure vanished into thin air as he activated his Flashing Shadow Steps. In the blink of an eye, he suddenly appeared in front of Zhou Feng who stood a fair distance away from him.

Ye Lan's movements were so quick that Zhou Feng simply had no way to react.

"Eight Extremes Fist!"

A deep voice resounded through the air.

At that instant, Ye Lan jabbed his fist on Zhou Feng's chest as the terrifying eight layers of Genuine Qi contained within the attack began wreaking havoc within Zhou Feng's body.

*Ptuu!*

How could Zhou Feng, who was only at the peak seventh stage of the Body Tempering Realm, possibly block Ye Lan's Eight Extremes Fist?

In the next second, Zhou Feng's body rebounded like in the shape of a charged bow as he spat out a bucketful of blood.

*Crash!*

Immediately after, his body crashed heavily like a meteor into a large boulder in the courtyard, shattering it into smaller pieces. As Zhou Feng collapsed to the ground in a sorry state, he had also lost all his willpower and strength to continue fighting.

A single attack!

Zhou Feng — a Peak Seventh Stage Body Tempering Cultivator — had been completely overwhelmed!

This sudden turn of events struck down as a great shock for Zhou Nan and his lackeys. They all gawked stupidly at the scene before them as gasped, wondering if they were still dreaming.

In the beginning, they ridiculed Ye Lan, thinking they he would not even be able to withstand a single move from Zhou Feng.

But they never expected that Zhou Feng would be the one who could not withstand even one move from Ye Lan instead.

Not to mention that Zhou Nan had even ridiculed Ye Lan for not have the qualifications to call his brother a scum.

Having just witnessed the so-called "battle" and Ye Lan's true strength, however, even he had to admit that Ye Lan could insult his elder brother in any way that he wanted to.

Since Zhou Feng couldn't even handle a single attack, he truly was nothing but trash in Ye Lan's eyes.

Or, as Ye Lan previously said, his elder brother was not even worthy to be called a scum.

"Do you understand why I called you a scum now? You're the one at fault for not accepting the truth earlier."

Having dealt a heavy blow towards Zhou Feng, Ye Lan walked slowly to him and stared down at him with a cold glare and a playful smile.

Hearing such mocking words, Zhou Feng's face contorted into an ugly expression. He wanted to retort but realized that he had no way of doing so.

Thus, he felt extremely aggrieved.

Initially, he was irritated by how Ye Lan insulted him as scum.

Now that he had personally experienced Ye Lan's current strength, he could only accept being called scum in Ye Lan's eyes. Perhaps he might not even be worthy of such a title.

This experience astonished Zhou Feng greatly, for he had originally thought that Ye Lan was only on par with him. Even if Ye Lan was stronger than him, he should still have been able to withstand his attacks for a while longer.

Unfortunately, everything had surpassed his initial expectations.

Ye Lan's current cultivation level was certainly far above that of his.

In order to defeat him with a single attack, Ye Lan's cultivation must have definitely surpassed the peak seventh stage of the Body Tempering Realm.

Thinking about the fact, Zhou Feng was deeply puzzled.

What kind of fortuitous encounter did Ye Lan experience within this short period of time for him to suddenly rise to prominence?

"If I recall correctly, you were planning to break my brother's ribs, right?"

Suddenly, Ye Lan asked coldly.

Zhou Feng immediately fell into a state of panic as a sense of doom emerged in his mind. At that moment, he urged himself to say something in response.

Unfortunately, before he could say anything, Ye Lan had already stomped heavily on his chest and broken several of his ribs in an instant.

The unbearable pain of his broken ribs caused Zhou Feng's entire body to twitch uncontrollably as he was drenched in cold sweat.

"You want to break my brother's ribs? Dream on!"