Infinite Cultivator: Reborn with My Cheat System

Chapter 4: First Domination

"Is this supposed to be a joke?" Gou barked a harsh laugh that sprayed foul smelling saliva into the night air. "The little cripple thinks he can hold my arm."

Gou stood in the dim, flickering glow of the cart lantern while Xia trembled in the wagon bed. The scarred enforcer tried to yank his wrist away so he could grab the young maid. He expected the frail boy to let go immediately, assuming the delicate bones of a pampered heir would snap under the slightest pressure.

Lu Chen did not move. He kept his fingers wrapped around the forearm and stared back with hollow eyes.

"I said let go." Gou planted his boots in the dirt and pulled backward with his entire body weight.

The young master's arm remained locked in empty space. The wooden cart groaned under the shifting tension, the wheels scraping against the uneven cobblestones, but Lu Chen did not yield a single inch. The Level Two Iron Bone energy surged from his core and flooded his right limb. The pale skin of his hand took on a faint sheen as the density of his newly forged muscles multiplied exponentially.

Gou stopped laughing. Confusion washed over his scarred face as he realized his limb was trapped in an immovable vise.

"What are you doing?" The enforcer grunted, sweat beading on his forehead as a flicker of genuine panic entered his eyes. "Let go of me right now."

Lu Chen squeezed his fingers tighter. The pressure bypassed normal human limitations. Cartilage popped loud enough to echo off the damp brick walls of the surrounding alleyway. Bone splintered beneath the surface of the skin, sounding like dry twigs snapping under boots.

“Argh”

Gou let out a guttural scream as his wrist bent into an unnatural, sickening angle. His knees buckled under the agonizing pain, forcing him to lean against the sideboards of the cart to stay upright.

"Boss." One of the thugs shouted from the deep shadows near the alley entrance. "Cut him. Use your blade."

"I cannot move." Gou shrieked, dropping his wooden club to claw frantically at the hand crushing his bones.

The enforcer desperately channeled his crude street Qi to break the hold. A faint, dirty yellow aura sputtered to life around Gou's forearm as he tried to force a basic martial arts technique through his trapped limb. Lu Chen felt the foreign energy buzz against his skin like weak static electricity. The yellow light washed against his knuckles and fizzled out instantly, completely unable to penetrate the dense energy humming beneath the young master's skin.

"Get him off me." Gou thrashed against the side of the wagon, his broad chest heaving as terror consumed his mind. Thick veins bulged along his neck while he kicked uselessly at the iron rimmed cart wheels.

Lu Chen remained perfectly motionless. He did not blink or flinch as the larger man struggled. His breathing stayed slow and measured. The overwhelming panic he felt hours ago in the estate courtyard was gone, replaced by the calculating logic of an administrator dealing with a corrupted file. He viewed the bleeding enforcer not as a human threat, but as an insignificant bug in a broken system.

"You broke my arm." Gou gasped, spit flying from his lips as his legs finally gave out. "You little bastard."

"You are bleeding on my cart." Lu Chen spoke with a terrifying calm, keeping his voice leveled and devoid of anger. "Kneel."

"I will kill you." Gou snarled, his pride refusing to accept defeat from a known cripple who had been the laughingstock of the merchant district for years.

Lu Chen tightened his grip another fraction of an inch. A second loud snap echoed in the alley as the radius bone snapped in two, tearing through muscle and tendon.

Gou fell to the dirt, his knees hitting the cobblestones as a fresh wave of agony washed over him. The yellow martial aura around his arm vanished into the night air. Humiliation and unbearable pain drove the enforcer over the edge.

With a ragged battle cry, Gou swung his free left fist in a desperate, wild hook aimed directly at Lu Chen's jaw.

Lu Chen intercepted the strike with brutal efficiency. He released the crushed wrist, stepped down from the wooden cart, and ducked beneath the clumsy punch. He pivoted his hips to anchor his stance, channeled the kinetic force of the Iron Bone technique, and drove his right palm directly into the center of Gou's chest.

The impact sounded like a butcher slamming a cleaver into a slab of meat. The force transferred straight through the patchwork leather vest and deep into the ribcage.

Gou's sternum caved inward. The large man flew backward, his feet leaving the ground entirely. He hit the dirt and slid across the cobblestones until he crashed into a pile of rotting timber near the alley wall, kicking up a cloud of foul smelling dust.

The enforcer clutched his ruined chest and coughed up a mouthful of dark crimson blood. He wheezed violently, his eyes wide with horror as he realized his martial foundation was destroyed. He could not draw enough breath into his collapsed lungs to scream. Complete and absolute subjugation settled over the dark street.

"He beat the boss." One of the thugs whispered, stepping into the edge of the lantern light with a rusted iron sword shaking in his hands.

The two accomplices stared at the crumpled form of their leader bleeding in the garbage. They looked back at the frail boy standing calmly in the center of the road, adjusting his bloodstained grey robes. Their bravado vanished in the span of a single heartbeat. Seeing the apex predator of their slum crippled in a single move broke their courage.

"Run." The second thug yelled, dropping his weapon on the street.

They turned on their heels and sprinted into the darkness without looking back, their footsteps echoing into silence.

Lu Chen walked over to the groaning enforcer. He crouched beside the defeated man and systematically stripped a leather coin pouch from Gou's belt. He checked the inner pockets of the leather vest and found a handful of loose silver coins, adding them to his collection. He then pulled three ornate jade rings from the man's uninjured fingers and tucked them into his own robes without a shred of hesitation.

"You cannot do this." Gou rasped, blowing bloody bubbles from his split lips as he stared up at the boy. "The Black Tiger gang will hunt you down. They will skin you alive for disrespecting our territory."

"Let them try." Lu Chen stood up and weighed the stolen silver in his palm. "Tell them exactly where to find me. Tell them Lu Chen is collecting debts."

‘I need capital to survive the week’ He processed the grim reality of his new life as he turned his back on the broken man. ‘The weak feed the strong in this server. If I show mercy, they will just come back with better weapons. I will never play the helpless victim again’.

Lu Chen walked back to the cart and looked up at the driver's seat. Old Ma sat frozen in place, his posture rigid as a stone statue. The elderly driver had dropped his leather reins onto the floorboards. His wrinkled hands shook in terror as he stared at the young master.

Old Ma always viewed Lu Chen as a gentle, pathetic boy who needed protection from the harsh realities of the world. Now, the old man realized the person standing before him was a ruthless monster wearing a familiar face.

Lu Chen climbed back into the wooden bed of the wagon. He reached into his robe, pulled out the coin pouch he looted from the enforcer, and tossed it into Xia's lap. The leather bag landed with a clinking sound against her coarse brown tunic.

"Keep your savings hidden." He told the young maid, taking a seat against the wooden siding and resting his head against the planks. "We will use his money to pay for the inn and the food."

Xia stared at the bloodstained pouch and then looked up at Lu Chen. Her eyes were wide as saucers, her breath hitching in her throat. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. The gentle boy who used to read her poetry and sneak her extra portions of rice had just crushed a grown man's chest without blinking an eye.

"Young Master." She finally managed a whisper, pulling her knees tight against her chest. "How did you do that?"

"I learned a new trick." He offered a vague answer, not wanting to explain the complexities of system bypasses to a peasant girl. "Do not worry about the details right now. Just focus on getting us to the Golden Toad Inn safely."

Lu Chen turned his attention back to the front of the cart. He locked eyes with the terrified driver and issued a single, unwavering command.

"Drive."

Old Ma flinched at the sound of the voice. The driver scrambled to retrieve the fallen leather reins with trembling fingers, nearly dropping them a second time. He snapped the leather strips over the back of the draft horse and clicked his tongue nervously. The tired beast snorted, pulling the cart forward over the uneven cobblestones to resume their journey deeper into the lower city.

As the wooden wheels rattled past the spot where Gou lay bleeding among the trash, Lu Chen leaned his head back and surveyed their surroundings. The sweeping yellow light of the cart lantern illuminated the narrow alleyways and the rotting wooden balconies hanging above the street.

Dozens of faces peered out from the shadows. Slum dwellers, beggars, and rival gang members stood in the dark doorways, watching the wagon roll by in stunned silence. They had witnessed the entire brutal exchange from the safety of the dark. The whispers ignited immediately as the cart turned the corner, spreading like wildfire through the impoverished district.