Is It Wrong to Bully the Novice Village for System Rewards?

Chapter 229: And He Still Has to Thank Me

The atmosphere in the grand hall didn’t just quiet down; it froze solid.

Ji Yuntian stared blankly at the eldritch horror unfolding before him, his mind wiped clean of all thought.

He finally realized what was wrong. His Ancestor looked like he was suffering from severe graphical lag. The simple act of opening his eyes—a process that should take a split second—had been dragging on for half an incense stick of time. It was as if some mysterious force had slowed his personal timeline down by a factor of ten thousand.

To make matters worse, the few jet-black hairs on Ji Qingcang’s forehead were drifting through the air in slow-motion arcs, swaying like seaweed in a stagnant current. The visual effect was profoundly disturbing.

“Ancestor… you… what is happening to you?”

Ji Yuntian’s composure shattered. He rushed forward, panic written all over his face.

Holy shit.

Qi Yuan stood frozen, his expression twisting into a mask of sheer incredulity as the realization hit him.

What kind of cursed pill is this?

It had turned a majestic Great Ascension cultivator into a buffering video. That was… actually kind of impressive in a twisted way.

Technically speaking, the pill worked. The Ji Clan Ancestor’s lifespan had indeed skyrocketed. Living another eighty or a hundred thousand years wouldn’t be an issue. The problem was the quality of life. Existing in this state was arguably worse than death.

Judging by the visual evidence, the Ancestor wasn’t just “sluggish.” His movement and reaction speeds were roughly ten thousand times slower than a mortal’s.

Qi Yuan’s eye twitched. So, when Liu Qi said “double the lifespan,” he meant taking Ji Qingcang’s remaining ten years and stretching them out over a hundred thousand years by slowing his playback speed?

A profound, terrified respect for the alchemist named Liu Qi welled up in Qi Yuan’s heart.

To craft a “miracle cure” that made the user wish they had never taken it… what a troll.

Truly worthy of the title Pill God. The effects of his creations never failed to defy expectations. Absolute genius.

Time ticked by. Eventually, a sound emerged.

“Piii……”

The newly “rejuvenated” Ji Qingcang finally managed to squeeze the first syllable past his vocal cords. The sound was elongated and warped, like a broken bellows wheezing out its last breath. It was physically painful to listen to.

“Pill?”

Ji Yuntian leaned in, confused. “Ancestor? Please, speak. I’m listening.”

Ji Qingcang: “……”

Ji Yuntian: “Ancestor?”

Ji Qingcang: “……”

Finally, a terrifying possibility struck Ji Yuntian. He whipped around, forcibly suppressing the urge to scream, and glared at the perpetrator with a heavy, dangerous expression.

“Boy. What did you feed the Ancestor? Why has he become… like this?”

Despite his terror, Ji Yuntian maintained a shred of rationality.

As the saying goes, he who tied the bell must untie it. If there was a cure for the Ancestor’s condition, it lay with this young man. Turning hostile immediately might backfire if the antidote wasn’t on his person.

Moreover, there was still the matter of the mysterious “Master” backing this kid. Anyone capable of refining a pill with such terrifyingly potent effects was not someone the Ji Clan could afford to offend lightly.

Ji Yuntian made a silent decision. He fixed his burning gaze on Qi Yuan.

One lie. If this kid uttered a single lie, Ji Yuntian would capture him instantly. He would drag him to the dungeon and extract the truth, piece by piece, even if it meant risking the wrath of the Alchemist Association. He had to know what had been done to the Ancestor.

“Clan Leader Ji, this Junior specifically warned you beforehand,” Qi Yuan said, blinking his eyes with the innocence of a newborn lamb.

“I told you that while the Prolonging Life and Enhancing Longevity Pill would double the user’s lifespan, it came with minor side effects. Specifically, that movements and reactions might become a tad slower.”

Qi Yuan spread his hands. “From start to finish, I haven’t spoken a single falsehood. Your Ancestor acknowledged this risk and consumed the pill voluntarily. Is that not the truth?”

Ji Yuntian froze. His brain stalled as it tried to process the audacity.

Technically… yes. The Ancestor did take it voluntarily. He knew there were side effects.

But…

Ji Yuntian glanced back at his Ancestor, who was still in the process of forming the second vowel of his sentence. His veins bulged.

“Bullshit! You said ‘a little slower’! Look at him! He’s practically a statue! You call this a side effect? What are you plotting?!”

The more he spoke, the angrier he became. The Ancestor used to be a decisive, blood-soaked demon lord. Now he looked like a senile vegetable. This wasn’t a medicinal pill; it was a neurotoxin!

“Clan Leader Ji, you are mistaken.”

Qi Yuan smiled, his face a picture of sincerity. “Your Ancestor’s body has returned to its physical peak. His lifespan has increased by eons. He is still a genuine Peak Great Ascension cultivator with all his Spiritual Energy intact. By every metric, my pill has delivered exactly what was promised.”

“As for the side effects? That is merely a matter of perspective. Your Ancestor lives in seclusion deep within the palace. What does it matter if his pace of life is a bit more… leisurely?”

Ji Yuntian’s mouth twitched. His face turned a shade of purple usually reserved for bruised fruit.

“Leisurely?! He’s lagging! His movements have stopped! How is a Peak Great Ascension cultivator supposed to protect the family like this?!”

Ji Yuntian had never lost his composure like this since taking the throne. But the situation was dire. The lifespan crisis was solved, sure, but a bigger problem had replaced it.

It took the Ancestor fifteen minutes to say one word. He moved ten times slower than a tortoise. How could he fight? By the time he finished charging a technique, his opponent would have gone home, raised a family, and died of old age!

Ji Yuntian could no longer contain the violence in his heart. Bloodlust erupted from his pores. Crimson energy swirled around him as he prepared to strike.

And then.

“…lll……”

The Ancestor’s second syllable finally escaped his lips, acting like a physical barrier against Ji Yuntian’s rage.

“????”

Ji Yuntian took a deep, shuddering breath, fighting back the urge to vomit blood. “Ancestor? You have something to say?”

He shot a venomous glare at Qi Yuan. “You. Stand there and don’t move. The Ancestor will decide your fate!”

Qi Yuan smiled faintly and nodded with perfect composure.

He knew Ji Yuntian. A man who could lead the Ji Clan to the top of the Three Great Families wasn’t an impulsive idiot.

From the start, the Clan Leader hadn’t truly intended to kill him. The dramatic display of rage was partly to show loyalty to the Ancestor and partly to scare Qi Yuan into submission.

If a Dao Integration expert truly wanted to kill a junior, they wouldn’t posture. They would strike with earth-shattering speed—speed that the currently buffering Ancestor couldn’t hope to intercept.

Besides, if one thought about it logically, this was a massive win for the Ji Clan.

They had traded a dying old man for a youthful, immortal Ancestor who constantly radiated the terrifying pressure of the Great Ascension realm.

Sure, he was a paper tiger who couldn’t hit a moving target, but the outside world didn’t know that.

Great Ascension cultivators rarely fought. They were deterrents—nuclear weapons meant to sit in a silo and look threatening. As long as the Ji Clan managed the PR, no one would dare challenge the might of a Peak Great Ascension monster.

And for Ji Qingcang, the “victim”?

A bad life is better than a good death. Being alive meant infinite possibilities. Who’s to say a cure couldn’t be found in a few thousand years?

As Qi Yuan analyzed the geopolitical implications of the lagging Ancestor, Ji Qingcang finally finished his sentence, stuttering out his intent and offering his gratitude to a certain person.

Qi Yuan accepted the thanks without a shred of humility.

See? Who says Demonic Cultivators are ungrateful? This old devil is quite reasonable. Even after I turned him into a glorified garden gnome, he still knows he has to thank me.

Of course, if they wanted to ask the “Mysterious Master” for an antidote… well, verbal thanks wouldn’t be enough to cover that bill.