When Yang Ze first saw the woman in front of him, he was captivated by her otherworldly beauty. He had never seen such a beautiful woman in both his lives. And for a moment, he couldn't help but just stare at her in a trance.
But the moment she opened her mouth to speak, he felt a shiver run down his spine. Such a beautiful woman, and yet her words were so poisonous.
He looked around only to see the boys trembling in fear. Since time immemorial, women have ruled this world. They were the decision maker and held every esteemed position. Not only that, but they were particularly blessed by the heavens when it comes to cultivation. So much so that a woman with a lower cultivation realm can easily overpower and defeat a man of a higher realm. This made it so that not defying the women or going against their wishes became common knowledge, and from a young age, boys were taught what to do and what not to do.
The woman in front of them was obviously the leader of the group. Unlike Yang Ze, they weren't smitten by her beauty. After all, the men in this world see women as someone they need to be submissive to and to be feared. Who would even think about romancing these monsters?
"Do I need to speak again?" The woman sitting there let out a gentle smile while she threatened them again.
"....." The boys standing there immediately began to undress. Though they were filled with shame and unwillingness, they didn't want to go against these women. Besides, they were mere slaves and couldn't even complain about it.
Yang Ze's eyes went wide with disbelief as he looked at them, taking off their pants with their head down, as a chill ran down his spine.
If it were before he got his physique, he would have just followed their commands and pretended to blend in. After all, unlike these boys, he was from the 21st century and was much more adaptable. As for shame... he had none.
But now... with his heaven-defying physique, if he dared to open his pants, it was going to be a death sentence. Due to the mud and his beggar-like appearance, he didn't stand out in the crowd. Instead, he even received a few disgusted glances. But if he were to remove his pants and reveal his delicate, immortal-like appearance, one could only imagine his fate.
"Damn it." Cursing in his mind, Yang Ze took a step forward and stood in front of the rest of the boys before speaking in a loud voice.
"NO." A single sentence was enough to halt the breathing of the boys present there. "Why should we do it? You are not going to humiliate us like this."
Making a stern face, he spoke in a grim voice while constantly cursing inside. It was better to stand out here and even take a beating than to risk getting exposed. He would rather make enemies with the women in front of him than take off his clothes.
"Heh!" The woman who was lazily sitting there with squinted eyes let out an amused smile as she changed her position while observing Yang Ze from top to bottom.
The boy in front of her looked rather young. Perhaps it was due to malnutrition or perhaps due to any other fact, but his height was rather short. Although his face was covered with mud and grass, and his clothes were full of dirt and grass, his eyes showed defiance.
"Interesting. Very interesting."
At first, everyone thought that the boy was going to get a severe beating, but contrary to their belief, the woman didn't get angry; instead, she had a constant playful smile on her face.
"This is the first time anyone's dared to defy me, and a man, no less. How amusing."
While she was observing Yang Ze, he, too, was looking at her display screen.
[Name: Lin Yue]
[Age: 28]
[Realm: Vein Expansion]
[Physique: None]
[Talent: Clear Heart(Blue), Pill Genius(Green), Miracle Doctor(Blue), Carefree Heart(Purple)]
[Evaluation: Someone who can pat you to death at will.]
"Gulp." Yang Ze first looked at her name, then at her realm, then at the dazzling list of talents before finally stopping his gaze at the Evaluation.
"Shit." For a moment, he couldn't help but curse himself. How was this woman a slave like him and the others, this was clearly a big boss. Just from the name alone, it was obvious that she was a member of the Lin family who was just playing around with slaves like them.
And if that wasn't enough, her cultivation realm was enough to shatter any illusion about her identity.
Yang Ze didn't know everything about the cultivation realm of this world, but he had some basic knowledge.
The first realm of cultivation is all about refining one's body and is therefore called the Body Refining realm. The second realm is generating Internal energy into one's body and thus stepping into the pulse opening realm.
The third realm was called Foundation Forging, about which Yang Ze knew nothing. And then there was the fourth realm, which was known as Vein Expansion.
The seemingly powerless, beautiful woman in front of him was someone who had stepped into the Vein Expansion.
Yang Ze didn't know exactly how strong she was... but he was certain about one thing, and that was the evaluation. She truly has the power to pat him to death.
'Damn it.' Yang Ze couldn't help but curse himself for being too hasty. He should have first checked her information before making any moves.
Unfortunately for him, there was no medicine for regret.
Just when Yang Ze was in deep regret, he saw Lin Yue standing up with a smile before stretching her body, perfectly displaying her proud peaks and curves.
After that, she walked towards Yang Ze, who could already smell the flowery fragrance from her.
Yang Ze didn't dare to move. He just stood there in silence. There was no going back now. He had already made his move, and the only thing he could do now was to wait for her reaction.
Fortunately for him, the scene of her killing him didn't play out. Lin Yue arrived in front of him and then took a deep look at the beggar-like boy in front of her before walking away.
"I will remember you." Yang Ze could only hear her floating words as she gradually disappeared into the horizon.
Other women who had been standing beside her a moment ago gave a playful smile to Yang Ze before following Lin Yue.
"....."
"....."
For a long time, no one dared to move or speak. All of them just stood there in silence. It wasn't until the figures of Lin Yue and other women disappeared that one of the boys spoke in a voice full of disbelief.
"We... Are we safe?" He couldn't believe what just happened. He immediately looked towards Yang Ze with tears in his eyes and was about to kneel and pay him respect.
Not only him, but the rest of the boys were full of gratitude towards their saviour.
But even if they were grateful, they kept their distance from him. There was no second opinion about the fact that he saved their dignity, but his making enemies of those women was also a fact.
His life was going to be much more miserable from now on, and anyone who dared to have contact with him would suffer the same fate.
After giving him one last grateful look, they hurriedly scurried off to their new houses, leaving him alone.
"This..." Yang Ze just stood there with a speechless expression. He was expecting words of gratitude, eyes filled with tears, thanking him and even boys who wanted to take him as an elder brother. Instead, what he got were looks of pity and silence.
"Forget it." Shaking his head with a bitter smile, Yang Ze headed towards the nearest house. He didn't do it for them in the first place.
Reaching his house, Yang Ze nodded in satisfaction. It wasn't much different from his previous house. There was only one room that had a bed, upon which a new set of grey robes was placed neatly. Other than the bed, the only thing in the room was a bamboo chair.
Yang Ze just sat on the bamboo chair while calling out his personal panel. He still hadn't received the rewards from the previous sign-in.
[Inherit Affinity for water(Blue)?]
This was the first message Yang Ze saw before he nodded in response.
The moment he chose to inherit, he felt that he was inside a cold pond. His entire body was enveloped by a layer of water. He didn't feel like he was drowning; on the contrary, he felt like he could breathe much more easily.
This feeling lasted for a long time before Yang Ze opened his eyes, and the moment he did, he felt as if the world around him was different. He suddenly had an intense urge... an instinct that he could easily manipulate the water around him.
Following his instincts, he waved his hand, wanting to gather from the moisture around him, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't do it. It was as if he were missing something extremely important in his body.
After trying a few times, Yang Ze just gave up and looked at his personal panel.
[Name: Yang Ze]
[Age: 18]
[Realm: None]
[Physique: Supreme Dao Body]
[Talent: Mighty Vigour (Blue), Affinity For Water (Blue)]
[Evaluation: A delicious treat waiting to be devoured.]
Other than the addition of two new talents, there wasn't much change. Without any cultivation technique, it was impossible for him to get strong unless he got some heaven-defying talent. But the chances of this were extremely unlikely. His system could basically copy and strengthen the talents, but to do that, he needed to come across someone with great talent. And the only person with the highest talent was Lin Yue.
When Yang Ze first got the Mighty Vigour talent, he already knew about the classification of talent. From lowest to highest, it was white, green, blue, purple and gold.
"If I manage to get Lin Yue's purple talent, then..." Thinking about how it would automatically upgrade to gold, Yang Ze couldn't help but let out a cold breath.
-----------
While Yang Ze was trying to come up with a plan inside his room, on the other side of the mountain, a group of women were walking leisurely.
"Okay, you guys can go to your rooms now." Looking at the horizon that was already beginning to darken, Lin Yue waved her hand. The rest of the women just nodded in response before leaving towards their rooms. No one asked what she wanted to do or what she was going to do. In their eyes, even though this woman was a slave like them, she was much more ferocious.
So much so that even the steward in charge of them didn't dare to raise her voice against them.
They didn't know her exact identity, but they knew she was strong. After all, they had personally seen her beating up a group of ten or so women who used to terrorise this place.
It wasn't until everyone left and Lin Yue was alone that a figure cladded in black appeared behind her.
"Young Lady." It was a soft voice full of tenderness and awe. "How long are you going to keep playing with these lowly slaves?"
"Relax, Wan'er." Lin Yue stretched her body lazily while looking at the horizon. "What else do you want me to do?"
"But..." The woman beside her hesitated for a long time.
"Just leave me be. Doesn't my mother wish for me not to interfere with family matters? I am just following her orders."
"But, young lady, you know what she means. She is not angry at you, she just wants you to..."
"Stop." Raising her hand, Lin Yue interrupted Wan'er mid-sentence. "I have made up my mind. Unless she personally comes here, I will never go back."
"Besides..." With a smile on her face, she looked in the direction of the group of boys. "I have found something really interesting today."
She could still remember that defiant look on that boy's face and couldn't help but wonder how it would feel to play with him in the future. But she was going to take her sweet time. No one has ever dared to defy her. For such a lowly slave to raise his voice against her...
"Hehe..." She just let out a smile.
"Young Lady..." Looking at Lin Yue walking off into the distance, Wan'er wanted to say more, but in the end, she just let out a heavy sigh.
"That lowly slave." Unable to persuade her young lady, she could only focus her anger towards the boy who dared to raise his voice against her lady.
Without wasting another second, she took a step and disappeared from her place.
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Unlike other boys who fell asleep the moment they reached inside their room, Yang Ze didn't have an ounce of sleep.
Perhaps it was due to nervousness and excitement, or perhaps it was due to his newly gained talent of Mighty Vigour, but he didn't feel tired in the slightest.
This resulted in him just staring out of his window, silently looking at the sky that was filled with countless stars.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but if he were to make a guess, he would say that it was midnight.
And just when Yang Ze was admiring the sky that was completely different from Earth, he heard a faint sound of breathing behind him.
"Ghost?" Yang Ze immediately turned around in panic. The previous owner had heard countless stories about ghosts and demons who would take their prey like this.
But the moment he turned around, his eyes went wide with shock.
Standing in front of him was the figure of a woman wearing a black robe that completely covered her body and a veil that hid her face. The only thing he noticed about her was that she was much taller than he and her pitch-black eyes, which were filled with murderous intentions.
"Umm... This young lady... Do we have some misunderstanding between us?" While speaking, Yang Ze observed her personal panel and the moment he did, his heart turned ashen.
[Name: Lin Wan]
[Age: 29]
[Realm: Peak Of Foundation Forging]
[Physique: None]
[Talent: Sword Heart(Blue), Serene Mind(Blue), Persistant(Blue), Enlightment(White)]
"Gulp." Yang Ze wanted to cry, but had no tears. Why was it that even with the identity of a slave, he was meeting such powerful members of the Lin family?
"This... Young lady..." Yang Ze wanted to say a few more words, but before he could even open his mouth to speak, he felt his eyes go blurry as the figure of the woman was already standing in front of him.
He didn't even have time to scream when the woman grabbed him by the throat and rushed out of the house in a single step.
Yang Ze couldn't even keep his eyes open throughout the time. And when he was finally able to open his eyes again, he saw that the woman tossed him like a rug into the large pond ahead.
"FUCK." This time, Yang Ze couldn't hold back his words. His mind, which was working in overdrive already, told him about the consequences of falling into the water.
Once the mud and dust wash off, his face would be revealed completely and then...
He didn't even have time to scream before he fell into the water, and the last thing he heard was the cold snort of the woman who threw him there.