Somewhere in the garbage dump of Gu Clan,
The stench of rotting spiritual herbs, human waste and discarded beast carcasses was overwhelming, but Gu Fan barely noticed it as he had more pressing matters to take care of.
He dumped the boneless, bleeding mass of Chen Long onto the muddy ground mercilessly.
Thud!
"Ugh!" The fat cousin groaned softly, his caved-in cheek resting in the garbage filth.
"Huhh!" Gu Fan let out a long breath, as the the adrenaline of the reckless heist finally settled in.
He looked down at the unconscious pig lookalike cousin of his, raised his boot, and kicked Chen Long squarely in his jelly-like ribs.
"Agh! Take this you arrogant, fat pig," Gu Fan grunted, "That's for wanting to teach me a lesson!"
He raised his boot and kicked the unconscious man a second time, harder, "Agh! And that one is because you are friends with that unfilial son, Gu Chen."
"Cousin Long, stay your hand!" Gu Fan mocked in a high-pitched, self-righteous tone, as he leaned down and slapped the back of Chen Long's head hard.
SMACK!
"You righteous, hypocritical bastard. I bet you are standing in that ruined room right now, crying over your lost loot."
And after that Gu fan unleashed his fury and kicked the shit out of unconscious Chen Long. All his pent up anger from the moment that bloody truck defied all laws of physics killing him, to all the humiliation he had to suffer till date. He let it all out.
Finally after a couple of minutes of satisfying his anger, Gu Fan pulled away from Chen Long leaving him groaning.
"Ahh! This feels good. Yohooo!" Gu Fan raised his hands in relief, as he felt something lift from his heart.
He then pulled up his system interface. It was time to claim the true rewards of the night.
[Quest Complete: The Midnight Heist]
[Objective: Steal Chen Long's Storage Ring and sabotage his plot.]
[Reward: 50,000 Yin Cultivation Units, 2x Random Spins, 1 King-Tier Crate.]
"Give me the crate," Gu Fan muttered, his eyes gleaming.
A heavy, ornate golden chest materialized in the air before him. Gu fan tapped on the crate and the lid popped open with a hiss of ancient Qi, and a bundle of fabric floated into his hands.
It was a cloak, as black as the void, woven from a material that felt like soft smoke.
[Item Acquired: Phantom Veil Cloak (King-Tier)]
[Properties: Woven from the silk of a Netherworld Spider. It can shift its shape and size to perfectly conceal the host and up to two additional targets. Contains a built-in 'Sound-Isolating Formation'. Outside sounds can be heard perfectly, but no sound, Qi, or light can escape from within.]
"Why does this remind me of something?" Gu Fan marvelled, throwing the incredibly light fabric over his shoulders. The cloak instantly adjusted to his frame, shifting into a sleek, hooded mantle, and Gu Fan's body other than his head vanished as if it was not there.
"Now this is protagonist-level gear."
But before he could even celebrate the omnipotent stealth artefact he got, the system dinged in his head again.
[System Notification: Host has acquired 50,000 Yin Cultivation Units.]
[Total Yin Units threshold reached. Initiating forced breakthrough to the 4th Stage of the Body Tempering Realm.]
Gu Fan blinked, the smug grin vanishing from his face.
"Are you kidding me? Why is breaking through so easy for me? It's literally as easy as ordering late-night takeaway on a food delivery app."
"You press a button, wait a second, and boom... Power delivered straight to your door."
[Warning: Ancient Venom Physique breakthrough process is highly destructive. Reconstructing muscle fibres and reinforcing bone density.]
[Pain Tolerance Protocol: Offline.]
"Wait! At least let me...?!"
A blinding, explosive heat detonated in his dantian. He had already felt the pain thrice, but it could still not prepare him for what was coming.
It felt like someone had poured molten lava directly into his veins. His muscles seized violently, spasming so hard he thought his tendons would snap like bowstrings.
"Zero stars for the delivery method!" Gu Fan managed to gasp before his throat locked up.
Sensing the absolute agony about to tear out of his mouth, Gu Fan blindly grabbed the edges of the Phantom Veil Cloak, yanked it over his head, and threw the excess fabric over the unconscious Chen Long beside him, plunging them both into total darkness.
And just then about a couple of breaths later footsteps crunched on the gravel outside the dump yard.
"Did you find anything?" the first guard asked, his voice strained and panicked.
"Nothing! Not a single damn footprint!" the second guard replied, his lantern swinging wildly over the garbage heaps, completely missing the shrouded, invisible lump of the Phantom Veil Cloak right in front of them.
"Young Master Gu Chen is absolutely furious. He's bleeding from the head and tearing the guest courtyard apart!"
"Who could have done it?"
"Young Master Chen thinks it was a high-level assassin."
"I think the Bai Clan is the one behind it. they kidnapped Young Master Chen Long to frame us!"
Right beneath their boots, hidden by the King-Tier fabric, Gu Fan had his jaws wide open in horrifying shriek.
Black, toxic sweat poured from his pores as his muscles literally tore themselves apart and violently stitched back together, growing denser, harder, and infinitely more powerful.
He was thrashing wildly in the mud, digging his fingernails into the dirt to stop himself from passing out from the sheer, ungodly pain.
But outside the cloak, the night was completely silent. The Sound-Isolating Formation worked perfectly.
"Keep searching," the first guard ordered nervously, "If we don't find a clue, the Patriarch is going to have our heads by morning."
The guards rushed off into the dark.
~~~~~
An hour later.
The Phantom Veil Cloak finally moved and Gu Fan slowly crawled out from behind it.
He was completely drenched in foul-smelling black sweat and dried blood from the fight, but as he took a deep breath, his green eyes glowed with terrifying clarity. He felt incredibly fresh.
He clenched his fist.
[Current Stats]
Host: Gu Fan (Li Wei)
Cultivation: 4th Stage of the Body Tempering Realm. (Comparable to the 8th Stage of the Body Tempering Realm).
Body Count: 1
Harem: 1 (Madam Li)
Parasite Hosts: 3 (Xiao Mei, Gu Ling, Madam Li)
Active Quests: None
Random Spins: 2
Inventory:
Phantom Veil Cloak (Equipped),
High-Grade Void Band,
50,000 Low-Grade Spirit Crystals,
1,500 Medium-Grade Spirit Crystals,
King-Tier 'Blood-Drinker' Spirit Sword,
Earth-Tier 'Skull-Crusher' Meteor Hammer,
'Heavenly Bliss' Aphrodisiac Gourd,
Chen Clan Token,
Silent Sting Poison Needles x6,
Nine-Leaf Bloodclot Herb x1,
Marrow-Cleansing Ascension Pill x1.
"Fourth Stage Body Tempering," Gu Fan whispered, a cruel, exhilarated smile gracing his lips.
He was a walking treasury that could even tempt the Gu Clan Patriarch to steal his inventory.
Amused, he looked toward the main compound.
What is Gu Chen doing right now? he mused.
This entire situation was completely off the rails of the original plot. Gu Chen had lost the chance to loot this spatial ring from Chen Long, and even lost the chance to save Gu Ling.
"He's probably running around Poison Valley Town right now, searching the shadows," Gu Fan deduced, his author's knowledge perfectly predicting his creation's mind.
"He might even try to sneak into the Bai family compound to look for clues."
"He will find nothing, and then he will be forced to make a long-ass, righteous protagonist speech to the Chen Clan envoys at dawn to keep them from starting a war over their missing young master."
Gu Fan looked down at the groaning, broken mass of Chen Long.
"Now... what to do with you?" Gu Fan tilted his head, "I could kill you and leave you here in the trash.
"Or, I could frame the Bai Clan."
Gu Fan tapped his chin. Then, a dark, brilliant idea formed in his mind.
"Or I can make this an unforgettable memory for you Cousin Chen."