Looking up in the darkness, Chen Yu could barely make out a figure stepping through the broken doorway. Before he could say anything or even process what was happening, rough hands grabbed him and yanked him off his sleeping mat with bruising force.
"What, " Chen Yu started to shout, but instinct took over. He struggled against the grip, twisting his body and shoving hard against his attacker.
The man stumbled backward, clearly not expecting any resistance. In the dim light filtering through the broken door, Chen Yu could make out a thin face with yellowed teeth.
Zhao's eyes widened in surprise. "What the hell? This brat's got some strength!"
Chen Yu tried to bolt for the door, but Zhao recovered quickly and lunged at him again. They grappled in the cramped space of the shack, knocking over the clay pot and scattering Chen Yu's few possessions across the floor.
"Boss Liu!" Zhao shouted toward the doorway. "Boss, I can't take this kid down! He's stronger than he looks!"
Heavy footsteps approached and another figure filled the doorway, this one significantly more intimidating. Old Liu stepped into the shack, and Chen Yu immediately felt the difference radiating off him. This wasn't just a mortal thug. This was a cultivator.
Before Chen Yu could react, Old Liu moved with speed that was faster than the fastest Olympic athletes back on Earth. A fist slammed into Chen Yu's stomach, driving all the air from his lungs in one violent expulsion. He doubled over, gasping, and Old Liu followed up with a punch to the side of his head that sent him sprawling to the floor.
"Hold him down," Old Liu commanded.
Zhao jumped on Chen Yu, pinning his arms while Old Liu rained down several more punches. Chen Yu tried to fight back, tried to use his Body Refinement strength, but it was useless. The strength difference was too great. After a brutal beating that left him dizzy and bleeding, Chen Yu could barely move at all.
Old Liu grabbed a handful of Chen Yu's hair and yanked his head up. "Interesting. You've got some cultivation, boy. Body Refinement, first layer if I'm not mistaken." His eyes narrowed with calculation. "Where did a beggar like you get the resources to cultivate?"
Chen Yu's mind raced despite the pain throbbing through his skull. He was in serious trouble. This middle-aged cultivator was several times stronger than him, probably in the middle layers of Body Refinement based on that overwhelming power. But at least he wasn't Qi Refining yet, which meant Chen Yu wasn't completely outmatched in the way an ant is outmatched by a boot. There was still a chance to survive this.
"I asked you a question," Old Liu said coldly, punctuating his words with a slap across Chen Yu's face. "Where did you get the money to buy all those talisman materials?"
Chen Yu spat blood and forced himself to think calmly despite the terror. Fighting was pointless, he would just get beaten to death. This was obviously because he'd been seen at the Treasure Pavilion spending money. A common trope in cultivation stories. Young person gets lucky, flashes wealth, gets robbed by stronger cultivator.
He had to make up a convincing story. One that would satisfy Old Liu without revealing his real treasures.
"I... I helped someone," Chen Yu gasped out, making his voice sound scared and weak. "A cultivator from the forest. He was injured, bleeding badly. I found him and brought him water, helped bandage his wounds."
Old Liu's grip on his hair tightened. "And?"
"He said... he said he was grateful. Asked me to go to town and buy him some things. Talisman paper, ink, a brush. Gave me money for it." Chen Yu tried to look terrified and sincere. "I swear, that's all! The money wasn't mine, I was just running an errand!"
"What else did this 'injured cultivator' give you?" Old Liu's eyes bored into him. "Spirit stones? Cultivation manuals? Pills?"
"He taught me how to sense qi," Chen Yu said quickly. "That's it, I swear! Just the basic sensing method, nothing else. He said it was payment for helping him."
Old Liu stared at him for a long moment, clearly trying to decide if this story was believable. Then he released Chen Yu's hair, letting his head drop to the floor.
"Search him," Old Liu ordered Zhao.
Zhao's hands roughly patted down Chen Yu's body, checking his pockets and the folds of his ragged robe. He pulled out the spirit stone Chen Yu had kept out for experimentation.
"Found one, boss!"
Old Liu took the stone, examining it with a satisfied smile. "Any others?"
"Please, that's all I have!" Chen Yu made his voice crack with desperation. "That's all the cultivator gave me before he left!"
Old Liu's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Boy, I'm going to search this entire shack. If I find out you're hiding more treasures from me, I'll kill you slowly. Do you understand?"
Chen Yu's heart pounded. He couldn't let them search thoroughly, they'd find his other spirit stones, his cultivation manuals, everything. He had to give them something else to satisfy their greed.
"Wait!" Chen Yu cried out, making himself sound panicked and reluctant. "There's... there's one more. Under my sleeping mat. But please, I need it for cultivation!"
Old Liu gestured to Zhao, who immediately went to the sleeping mat and started searching. After a moment, he pulled out the nearly depleted spirit stone that Chen Yu had used for time acceleration earlier.
"Another one, boss!"
"Give it," Old Liu said, pocketing both stones with a greedy grin. "See? That wasn't so hard, was it?"
"That's everything, I swear!" Chen Yu pleaded. "Please, just take them and go!"
Old Liu looked around the shabby shack, taking in the broken table, the clay pot, the complete poverty of the place. After a moment, he seemed to decide the story was believable enough. An injured cultivator using a desperate teenager to run errands, paying with a couple spirit stones and a basic cultivation method.
"You got lucky tonight, boy," Old Liu said. "I'm feeling generous, so I'll let you live."
Then, almost casually, he kicked Chen Yu hard in the face. Chen Yu's nose exploded with pain and blood gushed down his face. His vision went white for a moment.
"Consider that a lesson," Old Liu said coldly. "Next time someone offers you treasures, refuse them. The cultivation world is dangerous for weaklings with shiny things."
Old Liu turned and walked out the broken doorway, Zhao following behind him. Their footsteps faded into the night, leaving Chen Yu alone in his destroyed shack.
Chen Yu lay there for several minutes, not moving, just breathing through the pain. Blood dripped from his broken nose onto the wooden floor. His body ached from the beating, bruises already forming across his ribs and face.
But behind the pain, deep in his eyes, red flames of rage burned.
His hands clenched into fists, nails digging into his palms. The humiliation, the helplessness, the casual cruelty of being beaten and robbed, it ignited something primal inside him.
Chen Yu had been a nerd in his past life, sure. But he'd also had a short temper and gotten into plenty of fights growing up. And he'd almost never lost those fights, even against bigger opponents. This feeling of being overpowered, of being too weak to defend what was his, he hated it with every fiber of his being.
He forced himself to breathe slowly, to calm down. Rage wouldn't help him right now. He needed to think clearly.
This kind of unfairness wasn't uncommon in the cultivation world. He'd read enough novels to know that. Might makes right, and the weak get trampled by the strong. It was the fundamental law of this world.
But something puzzled him. Why hadn't Old Liu searched the shack more thoroughly? And why hadn't he just killed Chen Yu after taking the spirit stones? Dead men tell no tales, after all. It would have been the safer, more ruthless choice.
Maybe Old Liu had believed the story about the injured cultivator. Maybe he thought killing Chen Yu would risk that cultivator coming back for revenge. Or maybe Old Liu was just lazy and didn't think a beggar's shack would have anything else worth stealing.
Whatever the reason, Chen Yu was grateful to be alive. But also angry. So incredibly angry.
He slowly pushed himself up to a sitting position, wincing at the pain in his ribs. He touched his nose gingerly, definitely broken, swollen and still bleeding. He grabbed a scrap of cloth and held it to his face, tilting his head back to slow the blood flow.
One thing was crystal clear now: this place wasn't safe anymore. Old Liu knew where he lived. Even if the man didn't plan to come back, other opportunists might hear about the "beggar boy with spirit stones" and decide to try their luck.
Chen Yu needed to move somewhere safer. The town proper, where there were guards and rules against killing. It would cost money to rent even the cheapest room, but it was better than staying here where anyone could break in and murder him in his sleep.
He decided he wouldn't sleep the rest of the night. He needed to secure his remaining valuables and make plans to relocate.
Chen Yu carefully retrieved all his hidden items, the talisman-making equipment from under the sleeping mat, the three remaining spirit stones from their hiding spot under the floor, the two cultivation manuals from where he'd stashed them in the corner. He gathered everything together, then found a better hiding spot.
The old wooden table had a hollow space underneath where the legs met the ground. Chen Yu carefully packed all his valuables there, wrapping them in cloth and wedging them tightly into place. Then he pushed dirt and debris around it to make it look undisturbed.
It wasn't perfect, but it was better than leaving them in obvious spots.
As he worked, his mind churned with dark thoughts. Old Liu had stolen from him, beaten him, humiliated him. The rage simmered beneath the surface, never quite fading.
Chen Yu wasn't naive enough to think he could get revenge right now. Old Liu was way too strong. But someday...
For now, though, survival came first. Revenge could wait.
Chen Yu sat in the ruins of his shack, one hand holding cloth to his broken nose, the other resting on the table above his hidden treasures. His eyes stared into the darkness, and he waited for morning to come.