Infinite Cultivator: Reborn with My Cheat System

Chapter 5: Blood and Silver

"Pour it out on the table."

Xia untied the leather drawstrings and upended the large pouch over the scarred wood. A cascade of metal coins spilled across the surface, clinking together in a chaotic rhythm. She retrieved the smaller belt pouches they took from the enforcer and emptied those as well. A small mountain of wealth formed under the flickering light of the oil lamp.

"There must be over one hundred thousand copper coins here." Xia traced a finger along the edge of the pile. Her voice held a mixture of awe and terror. "The Golden Toad inn charges fifty coppers a night for this alcove room. We could hide here for years and never go hungry."

Lu Chen leaned back in his wooden chair and examined the stolen loot. He picked up three ornate rings from the edge of the table. The polished green stone caught the lamplight to reveal intricate carvings of mythical beasts. These were not cheap trinkets found in a street market.

"Gou did not earn this by working the docks." Lu Chen tossed the rings back onto the table. "He collected this from the market stalls and the beggars. He squeezed the poorest people in the outer districts to fill his own pockets. The local guards probably take a cut to look the other way."

‘This is the currency of corruption.’ He flexed his right hand, noting the steady thrum of martial energy still residing in his bones. ‘My noble stepfamily uses laws and titles to steal from the weak. This street boss uses wooden clubs and fear. The method changes but the game is identical. I will use their own dirty money to break their system from the inside.’

Footsteps echoed on the wooden stairs leading up to their secluded landing. A tavern server wearing a stained apron approached their table while balancing a wide wooden tray. The rich aroma of roasted pork and spiced garlic filled the air, cutting through the damp chill of the room.

Xia stepped away from the table. She retreated to the far corner of the landing and pressed her back against the rough plaster wall. She lowered her head and kept her eyes locked on the floorboards, adhering to the strict social laws that governed her existence.

The server placed two steaming bowls of meat and rice on the table, collected a handful of copper coins from the pile, and bowed before hurrying back down the steps.

Lu Chen picked up a pair of bamboo chopsticks. He looked across the small space and watched the young girl trying to make herself invisible in the shadows.

"Come sit down." He gestured to the empty chair across from him. "The food is getting cold."

Xia flinched. "Servants are forbidden from eating at the master's table. Lady Mei would have my hands broken for such an insult. I cannot break the rules."

"Lady Mei is not here." He kept his tone even and reassuring. "We are no longer in that courtyard. The rules of that estate died the moment we walked out the gate."

"I cannot." She gripped the hem of her coarse brown tunic. Her knuckles turned white from the strain. "It is against the natural order. I will wait until you finish, Young Master. I can eat the scraps from the bowl. I am used to it."

Lu Chen placed his chopsticks down on the wooden table. He turned his chair to face her. He understood the psychological chains binding her mind. She grew up in a society that conditioned her to believe her life held zero inherent value. She viewed herself as property.

"Look at me." He waited until she raised her gaze. "You risked execution to save a crippled boy. You stole from a noble house to ensure I had travel funds. You dragged my bleeding body into a cart while the rest of the world wanted me dead. You did not act like a servant today."

He stood up and walked over to the corner. He reached out and guided her toward the table by her shoulder.

"Anyone who shows that level of loyalty is no longer a servant." Lu Chen pulled the chair out for her. "From this night forward, you are my sister. You will eat when I eat. You will sit where I sit. Nobody in this world will ever treat you like an animal again."

Xia stared at the bowl of spiced meat. Her shoulders began to shake. A single tear escaped her right eye and carved a clean line down her dirt smudged cheek. She reached out with trembling fingers and picked up the bamboo chopsticks. She did not say a word, but the profound gratitude radiating from her posture anchored the reality of their bond. She wept as she took her first bite of warm food.

Lu Chen returned to his seat and picked up his own bowl. He took a bite of the roasted pork, letting the rich spices ground him in the present moment. His fractured ribs no longer ached. The dull throbbing in his skull was gone. The Level Two Iron Bone upgrade had repaired his body, but he realized the system modifications extended far beyond basic durability.

He stopped chewing. The noise of the crowded tavern below began to shift in his perception.

Before the system upgrade, the dining hall sounded like a chaotic blur of clinking glass and overlapping shouts. Now, his auditory canals filtered the frequencies with sharp precision. He could isolate specific conversations happening on the ground floor. He heard the scrape of wooden mugs, the breathing of a drunk merchant, and the hushed, frantic whispers of a group gathered near the stone hearth.

He raised a hand to signal for silence. He focused his enhanced hearing on a table of rugged men wearing travel cloaks.

"They lost contact with the northern valley yesterday." A gruff voice muttered over the crackle of the hearth fire.

"All of them?" Another man asked. The fear in his tone was unmistakable. "The entire farming settlement?"

"Every single soul." The first man replied. "The magistrate sent two tracking hounds with the scouts. The dogs tucked their tails and refused to enter the village limits. They found the farming tools in the fields and the food still warm on the tables. Not a single drop of blood anywhere, but the people are gone. It is a demon."

"Keep your voice down." A third person hissed. "The city guards are hanging anyone who incites a panic in the lower districts. But my cousin works at the inner gate. He said the Azure Sect envoys look terrified. They are bleeding the merchant guilds dry to fund a perimeter defense."

"Defense against what?" The second man pressed. "If it leaves no tracks and takes entire villages, a stone wall will not stop it."

Lu Chen absorbed the fragmented intelligence. The conversation confirmed Xia's earlier warnings in the cart. The Azure Mountain Sect did not push their recruitment trial forward to discover hidden talent. They faced an active supernatural threat that bypassed their outer defenses. They needed cannon fodder to stall the impending slaughter.

His stepbrother Lu Feng wanted to join the sect to secure a safe officer position behind the defensive lines. Lady Mei wanted him dead to clear the path for her son to escape the slaughter.

CRASH!!

A deafening crash shattered his concentration.

The main double doors of the Golden Toad Inn blew open with explosive force. The wooden panels slammed against the stone walls, splintering near the iron hinges. The noise of the tavern vanished in a heartbeat. Dozens of patrons dropped their mugs and scrambled away from the entrance, knocking over chairs in their desperate rush to escape the immediate vicinity.

Lu Chen placed his bowl on the table. He stood up and stepped over to the wooden balustrade overlooking the main dining hall.

Five men marched through the ruined doorway. Four of them wore the patchwork leather armor common among the slum enforcers. They dragged a large, groaning figure between them. It was Gou. The scarred street boss was wrapped in thick, bloody bandages. His right arm was secured in a crude wooden splint, angled in an unnatural direction.

The man leading the group did not look like a street thug.

The leader wore crisp, dark blue robes bordered with silver thread. A polished steel sword hung from his waist in an ornate scabbard. He possessed the rigid posture of a trained killer, projecting a heavy, oppressive energy that suffocated the air in the room. The local patrons pressed themselves against the walls, refusing to meet the man's gaze.

Lu Chen recognized the uniform from the original owner's memories. The man was a student of the Iron Fist Academy, an official institution that prepared wealthy youths for the Azure Sect trials. The student was a true cultivator, possessing a foundation far superior to a common street enforcer.

"Who runs this establishment?" The academy student let his voice ring out across the silent room.

The tavern owner peeked out from behind the serving bar. He wiped his sweating forehead with a dirty rag and offered a trembling bow.

"I am the proprietor, young master." The owner stammered. "How may I serve you?"

"My men collect the protection tax in this district." The student rested his hand on the pommel of his sword. "Someone decided to interrupt our collection tonight. They broke my best earner and left him bleeding in the garbage."

The student grabbed Gou by his uninjured shoulder and hauled the bandaged man forward. Gou winced in pain, coughing a fine mist of blood onto the floorboards.

"Look around." The leader ordered. "Find the one who did this to you. Point him out."

Gou scanned the terrified faces in the dining hall. His good eye darted from table to table, searching the shadows. He looked up toward the second floor landing.

His gaze locked onto Lu Chen standing by the staircase balustrade.

A mixture of pure hatred and residual fear twisted Gou's scarred face. He raised a trembling finger and pointed straight at the young master overlooking the hall.

"There." Gou wheezed, his voice cracking under the strain of his ruined chest. "That is the bastard."