Limit-Breaking Pill, Peak Grandmaster

North of the city, in an urban village.

A rental room of less than fifteen square meters.

Peeling wallpaper, a dim lightbulb, and windows pasted over with newspaper.

Monthly rent: three hundred and fifty.

This was Ye Chen's only place to live now.

By the time he returned to the rental room, it was completely dark outside.

He pushed the door open but didn't turn on the light.

He just sat there in the dark, leaning against the corner of the wall, motionless.

His phone screen lit up.

It wasn't a phone call.

It was news push notifications.

One after another.

Epic Scene at the Stone Gambling Convention! The God of Gamblers Ye Chen Suffers a Crushing Defeat to the Shen Family's Young Master, Kowtows Three Times in Public! Full Video Exposed!

From Peerless Divine Doctor to Publicly Kneeling Joke — Ye Chen's Rise and Fall in Jinling

Netizens Discuss: Is Ye Chen a Charlatan or Does He Have Real Skills?

Ye Chen clicked on the first one.

The video's views had already surpassed thirty million.

The pinned comment in the comment section had a hundred and twenty thousand likes.

"A charlatan without a medical license gets publicly slapped in the face at the Chamber of Commerce banquet, and is crushed and forced to kowtow at the stone gambling convention. A guy like this deserves to be called a divine doctor? He's the shame of Jinling!"

The comments below were even uglier.

"That kowtow was really loud, hahahahaha."

"I actually fell for his crap before and let him treat my mom. Looking back, I'm terrified. What if his treatment caused problems?"

"Are there any people treated by him who can speak up? Is this guy reliable at all?"

"Stop asking, he's not. My neighbor went to him for back pain. It got better at the time, but relapsed a week later. Confirmed scammer."

"Someone without even a license treating people, who takes responsibility if something goes wrong? I suggest pursuing legal action!"

Ye Chen scrolled down, reading them one by one.

With every comment he read, his expression darkened a fraction more.

Some of the patients he had treated for free on Gulou Street were now turning against him.

Not everyone.

But enough of them.

"I'm the one who went to him for rheumatism on Gulou Street. To be honest, it did work at the time, but the more I think about it now, the more scared I get. What if his folk remedies have side effects? What if problems show up in a few years?"

"Me too. He gave me a few acupuncture needles and said it would cure my insomnia. I did sleep well that night, but it stopped working later. Now I think it was probably just a placebo effect."

"I suggest everyone go to a proper hospital for a checkup. Don't let your health be ruined by this quack."

Ye Chen's hand stopped.

The people he had cured.

The people who had thanked him to his face, calling him a divine doctor.

The people who had stuffed money into his hands and almost knelt before him.

Now, one by one, they were jumping out to call him a scammer.

Human nature.

Ye Chen's mouth twitched.

He continued scrolling.

He scrolled to a trending topic on Weibo.

The Alliance of Victims of Ye Chen's Illegal Medical Practices

Someone had specifically created a hashtag, calling on patients treated by Ye Chen to step forward and defend their rights.

There were already hundreds of posts under the hashtag.

A mix of truth and lies, facts and fiction.

Some might be real patients expressing their concerns.

But most were clearly clout-chasers, rumor-mongers, and people kicking him while he was down.

Ye Chen turned off his phone screen.

The rental room plunged back into darkness.

It was quiet for about ten seconds.

Then Ye Chen suddenly stood up!

Bang!

He smashed a fist into the wall!

The plaster cracked, and dust rained down!

Bang!

Another punch!

A crack appeared in the wall!

Ye Chen began to smash things like a madman.

He smashed the wall.

He smashed the desk.

He smashed the chair.

He smashed the window pasted with newspaper.

Shattered glass scattered across the floor, and the night wind poured in through the broken window.

He smashed everything in the rental room that could be smashed.

Finally, he stood amidst the wreckage, his chest heaving violently, his knuckles covered in blood.

"Shen Fei!!"

He roared!

His voice was already hoarse, sounding ragged and unpleasant, like a mortally wounded beast letting out its final cry.

"I'm going to kill you!!"

The roar passed through the broken window and dissipated into the messy night of the urban village.

Someone next door was woken up and knocked on the wall twice, cursing.

"What are you howling for in the middle of the night! Are you crazy!"

Ye Chen turned a deaf ear.

He bent down and rummaged through the ruins, eventually pulling something out from under the mattress.

A palm-sized brocade pouch.

Dark red, made of silk, embroidered with an ancient character for Profound.

This was what his master had shoved into his hands before he descended the mountain.

His master had said one thing.

"The item in this pouch must absolutely not be opened unless you are in a true life-or-death crisis. Once opened, you must bear the consequences yourself."

Ye Chen gripped the brocade pouch, his hands shaking.

Did this count as a life-or-death crisis?

He had lost everything.

Mocked by the whole world.

Abandoned by the person he cared about most.

Publicly humiliated by his enemy, forced to kowtow and admit defeat.

If this wasn't a dead end, what was?

Ye Chen tore open the pouch.

There were only two things inside.

A pill.

A note.

The pill was dark red. A bizarre bloody glow flowed across its surface, and it emitted a pungent, spicy medicinal scent.

The note bore his master's handwriting.

"This pill is called the Limit-Breaking Pill. I exhausted my lifelong learning to refine it, and it is the only one of its kind in the world. After taking it, you can forcefully break the limits of your current realm for the duration of one incense stick, and your strength will skyrocket to the peak of a Martial Arts Grandmaster."

"But the price is extreme."

"It will cost you twenty years of your lifespan."

"Furthermore, the breakthrough realm cannot be maintained. After one incense stick, your cultivation will fall back to its original level, and you will enter a three-day period of weakness."

"Chen'er, I hope you will never need to use this pill."

"But if you have no choice but to use it, remember one thing."

"Finish what you need to do within the time of one incense stick."

Ye Chen finished reading the note and crumpled it into a ball.

Twenty years of lifespan.

A time limit of one incense stick.

A three-day period of weakness.

The price was absurdly high.

But Ye Chen didn't care anymore.

What did he have left to care about?

His reputation was gone.

His connections were gone.

His woman was gone.

His dignity was gone.

What did he have left?

Just a life.

Trading his life for Shen Fei's life.

Was it worth it?

Yes!

Absolutely worth it!

Once he killed Shen Fei, everything would be over!

All the humiliation, all the hatred, all the unwillingness would all be wiped clean with Shen Fei's death!

Ye Chen clenched the Limit-Breaking Pill in his palm.

He didn't take it immediately.

Because the time limit of one incense stick was too short, he had to act at the perfect moment.

He needed a plan.

An assassination plan accurate to the minute.

Ye Chen sat in the ruins and closed his eyes.

His mind began to race.

He knew the location of the Shen family villa.

He had been there and had a general impression of the villa's exterior layout.

The number of hidden guards he had sensed them on the day the engagement was broken. There were at least four, and every one of them was no weaker than the early stage of the Grandmaster realm.

But the Limit-Breaking Pill would let him reach the peak of the Grandmaster realm!

Peak Grandmaster against early Grandmaster, it would be an absolute crushing defeat!

Even if all four hidden guards attacked at once, they would be no match for him!

The only variable was Shen Fei himself.

Shen Fei hadn't made a move on the day the engagement was broken, so Ye Chen wasn't sure if he had any martial arts cultivation.

But it didn't matter.

A playboy princeling like him, even if he had some cultivation, it couldn't be that high.

Beneath the peak of a Grandmaster, he feared no one in this city of Jinling!

Ye Chen opened his eyes.

The fire in his eyes had turned into deathly silent ice.

He was no longer impulsive.

Instead, he was calm.

Extremely calm.

The kind of calmness that only someone who had truly made up their mind to kill would possess.

He stood up, walked to the broken window, and looked at the pitch-black night outside.

"Shen Fei, you think you've won."

"You think everything is under your control."

"But you forgot one thing."

"Pushing a martial arts grandmaster to a dead end is the stupidest thing in the world."

Ye Chen put away the Limit-Breaking Pill and walked out of the rented house.

He was going to make his final preparations.

Scouting the location.

Confirming the route.

Choosing the best moment to strike.

He only had one chance, the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

There could be no mistakes.

...

At the same time.

The Shen family villa.

Shen Fei was having dinner with Su Qingxue.

Unprecedentedly, Su Qingxue had cooked the meal herself today.

She made three dishes and a soup.

Braised pork ribs, stir-fried seasonal vegetables, tomato and egg stir-fry, and seaweed egg drop soup.

Home-cooked dishes.

Her culinary skills weren't exactly mind-blowing, but they were definitely not bad.

Sitting at the dining table, Shen Fei couldn't help but take a few extra glances at Su Qingxue opposite him, who was wearing an apron with fine beads of sweat on her forehead.

The sight of the iceberg female CEO wearing an apron truly had a unique charm to it.

"Try it."

Su Qingxue brought the ribs to the table, took off her apron, and sat down opposite him.

Shen Fei picked up a piece of rib with his chopsticks and put it into his mouth.

He chewed twice and nodded.

"Not bad."

The corners of Su Qingxue's mouth twitched, as if she wanted to smile but held it back.

The two ate quietly for a while.

The atmosphere was surprisingly peaceful.

It was as if the people living in this villa were not the most powerful man in Jinling and his half-real, half-fake female companion, but rather an ordinary young married couple.

Su Qingxue served Shen Fei a bowl of soup.

"Brother Fei, the soup is ready."

She froze for a moment after saying that.

Brother Fei?

Since when did she start calling him that?

Su Qingxue lowered her head, the tips of her ears turning slightly red.

Shen Fei took the soup bowl and took a sip.

"Mm, it's delicious."

His tone was as flat as usual.

But Su Qingxue noticed that the corners of his mouth had curled up slightly.

Very faintly.

But he was indeed smiling.

At that moment, Su Qingxue's heart skipped a beat.

She quickly lowered her head to eat her rice, not daring to look at him again.

After dinner, Su Qingxue went to wash the dishes, and Shen Fei returned to the study.

The moment he closed the door, the softness on his face vanished.

It was replaced by his usual calmness and calculation.

The system panel popped up with a new notification.

[Child of Fortune Ye Chen's mental state has reached a critical point! Abnormal drug fluctuations detected in Ye Chen's body!]

[Warning: Ye Chen may possess a certain type of enhancement forbidden drug! His strength will skyrocket after consumption!]

[Suggestion: Make defensive preparations!]

Shen Fei looked at the red warning text.

It's here.

Ye Chen's last stand.

Forbidden drugs.

A forbidden drug that could make a martial arts grandmaster's strength skyrocket wouldn't have a weak effect, but the price would certainly not be small either.

This was a desperate, do-or-die tactic.

But Shen Fei was not afraid.

Because there is a prerequisite to tearing the net in a life-and-death struggle.

The fish has to be big enough.

And Ye Chen, this fish, had already been whittled down to nothing but bones by him.

Shen Fei picked up his phone.

He sent a message to Ling Shuang.

Ye Chen might launch an attack on me in the near future. Make full preparations.

Three seconds later, a reply came.

Understood. From now on, twenty-four-hour rotating guards. Any suspicious person approaching within five hundred meters of the villa will be killed without exception.

Shen Fei sent another message.

Do not kill.

I want him alive.

Ling Shuang's reply came very quickly.

Yes.

Shen Fei put down his phone and leaned back in his chair.

His gaze fell on the moonlight outside the window.

The moonlight was beautiful.

Like a cold knife hanging in the sky.

He suddenly remembered Su Qingxue's expression just now when she called him Brother Fei.

Her ears were red, and her eyes were evasive.

Completely different from the usual iceberg female CEO.

The corners of Shen Fei's mouth twitched slightly.

Then he put away all distracting thoughts and refocused on the system panel.

[Current Ye Chen Fortune Value: 1270]

[First Kill Mission Remaining Time: 5 days, 22 hours, 14 minutes]

Five days.

Ye Chen would make his move within these five days.

Shen Fei was very certain.

Because a person pushed to a dead end would not wait.

He would launch an attack the very first moment he felt he was ready.

Without hesitation.

Without probing.

With the determination of a one-hit kill.

Shen Fei closed his eyes and mentally deduced all possible scenarios.

Then he opened his eyes and picked up the cup of tea on the table that had already gone completely cold.

He drank it all in one gulp.

"Come on, Ye Chen."

"I'm waiting for you."