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

Chapter 255: How about… I give you another one?

As Qi Yuan strolled through the bustling grounds, he drew the stares of countless Demonic Cultivators. Their gazes were a complex cocktail of wariness, reverence, and barely suppressed envy.

After his explosive debut in the trial yesterday and his immediate elevation to the Sect Leader’s personal disciple, he had practically become the hottest commodity in the sect overnight. It was impossible for the well-informed, high-status guests attending this banquet to ignore the demonic path’s newest rising star.

To commit to the bit and minimize any lingering suspicion, Qi Yuan played his role to perfection. He kept his cultivation firmly suppressed, projecting the aura of a mortal who had completely lost his Spiritual Energy after consuming a Mortal Transformation Pill.

Since the head of the Internal Affairs Hall had so graciously gift-wrapped this bulletproof alibi for him, it would be an absolute waste of the man’s mental gymnastics not to use it.

“Big Qi.”

Just as he was looking around for that Granny Qi, a crisp, icy voice called out to him.

Qi Yuan turned to see a stunning, blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl glaring at him with absolute frost. It was none other than his old acquaintance, Shen Xingxuan.

Standing a few paces behind her, looking like a pair of overgrown guard dogs, were two young men. They were the very same inner sect prodigies the Sect Leader had scooped up alongside him yesterday: Wu Hengshan and Chen Tianhuan.

Before Qi Yuan could even open his mouth, Wu Hengshan aggressively closed the distance, looming over him with a sneer.

“Big Qi! You dare stand in the presence of Senior Sister Shen without offering your respects? Have you forgotten all your manners?!”

Qi Yuan gave him a flat, unimpressed look. “Who the hell are you to lecture me about manners? Didn’t your parents ever teach you that running your mouth brings disaster?”

He paused, then clapped his hands together as if experiencing a sudden epiphany. “Oh, my mistake. I just remembered you hacked your own parents to pieces with a broadsword. I suppose they never got around to teaching you that lesson.”

The surrounding Demonic Cultivators froze. A beat of stunned silence washed over the crowd, rapidly followed by muffled snorts and coughing fits as people desperately tried to stifle their laughter. If not for the sheer terror attached to Wu Hengshan’s name, they would have been howling.

This kid’s mouth was absolutely toxic.

There was an unspoken rule among cultivators: when you slap someone, avoid the face; when you curse someone, avoid their deep-seated trauma. Yet this lunatic had bypassed the armor entirely and aimed a bazooka straight at Wu Hengshan’s darkest history. He had practically pointed at the man’s nose and asked, “How’s the family?”

Wu Hengshan’s face instantly cycled from stark white to a mottled, apoplectic purple.

Yes, he had butchered his entire family to forge his demonic blade. But doing it was one thing; having his face publicly rubbed in it like a misbehaving dog was a first. It felt as if he had been stripped naked and paraded through the town square. For a ruthlessly arrogant Demonic Cultivator, this humiliation was worse than death.

“You’re courting death!” Wu Hengshan roared, spiritual energy exploding from his frame as he lunged forward to rip Qi Yuan’s head off.

“Junior Brother Wu, stay your hand!”

Seeing the situation spiral out of control, Chen Tianhuan immediately stepped in, physically blocking the berserk Wu Hengshan. Smoothly pivoting, he turned to Qi Yuan, his face the very picture of earnest brotherhood.

“Junior Brother Qi, in a few days, we will all officially be fellow disciples under the same lineage. We ought to be supporting one another. Why must you make things so incredibly ugly?”

Qi Yuan didn’t even bother to blink at the fake olive branch. He let out a loud, mocking scoff.

“Senior Brother Chen, is it? Save the crocodile tears. Rule number one of surviving as your ‘Junior Brother’ is to stay in a different zip code. Otherwise, I’ll probably wake up with a sword in my back, becoming another one of your confused, dead stepping stones.”

Qi Yuan had absolutely zero goodwill to spare for these two human garbage fires. He wasn’t going to waste his breath playing nice. He’d trash them however he pleased.

His reputation was already in the gutter anyway. What was one more rumor about him being ‘uncooperative with his peers’? When you have too many lice, you stop noticing the itch. Who cared?

The spectating Demonic Cultivators exchanged weird, loaded glances.

This guy is completely unhinged. No matter how much they hated each other, they were going to be sharing a Master. Normal people maintained a superficial polite fiction. This guy just grabbed the polite fiction, set it on fire, and threw it in their faces.

So arrogant. So utterly unfeeling. Truly, a natural-born demonic seed!

“You…” Chen Tianhuan choked, the elegant, refined mask slipping for a fraction of a second to reveal the glacial malice underneath.

He recovered instantly, smoothing his expression back to calm neutrality. “Junior Brother Qi, it is one thing for you to act so domineering toward the two of us… but Senior Sister Shen is present. You should at least show her some basic respect.”

Shen Xingxuan had finally reached her breaking point.

“Wu Hengshan. Chen Tianhuan,” she snapped, her voice dropping to absolute zero. “This has nothing to do with either of you. Get out of my sight immediately, or don’t blame me for getting violent.”

Her tone dripped with raw disgust. Ever since they spotted her, these two had been stuck to her like leeches, showering her with nauseating flattery. If not for the fact that they shared a Master, she would have already drawn her weapon. Right now, compared to these two repulsive sycophants, Qi Yuan was actually the least annoying person in the room.

“Senior Sister Shen?”

Wu Hengshan and Chen Tianhuan exchanged a bewildered look. After a moment of humiliating hesitation, they realized they didn’t dare defy her. Faces black as thunder, they turned on their heels and stormed off.

Before leaving, they didn’t forget to shoot Qi Yuan a look of pure, venomous hatred.

Qi Yuan remained entirely unfazed. These two clowns hadn’t even reached the Nascent Soul realm yet, and their karma was stained pitch-black with sin. A single Word of Punishing Sin from him would vibrate their internal organs into a fine paste. Why would he lose sleep over them?

Of course, now wasn’t the time to pull the trigger. But when the opportunity finally presented itself, he wouldn’t mind dispensing a little heavenly justice. If only because watching them strut around was an eyesore.

Once the two idiots were out of earshot, Shen Xingxuan took a deep breath, marched up to Qi Yuan, and spoke in a tight, complex tone. “Big Qi. Come with me.”

Qi Yuan raised an eyebrow. A playful smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Sure thing. Lead the way, Senior Sister Shen.”

Seeing his easy compliance, Shen Xingxuan’s rigid posture relaxed a fraction. She led him away from the crowds, slipping into a secluded stone pavilion.

The moment they stepped inside, she flicked her wrist, erecting a localized soundproof barrier. She turned to face him, her expression dead serious.

“Big Qi. I am about to become your Eldest Senior Sister. As my Junior Brother, you can’t possibly intend to keep using that to blackmail me, can you?” She extended a delicate, pale hand toward him. “Give the recording talisman back to me. If you do, I will swear to act as if none of our previous encounters ever happened. Deal?”

“Oh. You mean this?”

Qi Yuan shrugged nonchalantly. Without a second of hesitation, he reached into his spatial bracelet, pulled out the recording talisman, and dropped it onto her open palm. “Sure. If you want it that badly, it’s yours.”

“You… wait, why did you agree so easily?”

Staring at the very item that had been giving her nightmares for days, Shen Xingxuan was completely paralyzed with shock. Her eyes were wide as saucers.

According to every normal script, this should have involved intense negotiations, veiled threats, or her resorting to violence to snatch it back. She never expected Qi Yuan to casually hand over his ultimate leverage like it was a piece of spare change!

Snapping out of her daze, she frantically injected a sliver of spiritual sense into the talisman to verify its authenticity.

The moment she confirmed the contents, her face ignited into a blazing crimson. With a flick of her fingers, she summoned a spark of spiritual fire, instantly incinerating the talisman into a pile of fine ash. Her heart was hammering violently against her ribs.

Too shameful. If that footage had ever leaked, she would have had to fling herself off a cliff. She would never have been able to show her face in public again, and her Master would have been thoroughly disgraced.

Wait. Why did this bastard hand over his only insurance policy so easily? Wasn’t he terrified she would instantly silence him to tie up loose ends?

Her mind spun into chaotic overdrive, her expression flickering rapidly between relief, confusion, and suspicion as a million different scenarios played out in her head.

Watching her mentally short-circuit, Qi Yuan flashed a bright, sunny smile.

“Senior Sister Shen, didn’t you say you wanted the recording talisman? I gave it to you. Why the long face?” He tilted his head innocently. “How about… I give you another one?”

Still smiling, he reached back into his spatial bracelet, pulled out an identical, freshly minted recording talisman, and offered it to her.

“What?!”

Shen Xingxuan stared blankly at the shining talisman in his hand. Then, reality crashed down on her.

Recording talismans weren’t unique artifacts. Theoretically… they could be copied an infinite number of times.

“You… you actually made a backup?!”

The realization hit her like a physical blow. Like a cat whose tail had just been violently stomped on, every hair on her body stood on end.

“I’ll fight you to the death!”