Can a Scholar Be Called a Villain

Chapter 5: Murdering Zhou Fan

Zhou Fan was perplexed, Xiao Li hadn’t brought him his meal even until the end of his night shift.

As he returned slowly, he noticed a few people looking at him with sympathetic eyes on his way back, piquing his curiosity further.

Did something happen?

Touching the green cauldron on his body, he hastened his steps with a furrowed brow.

And he didn’t even enter his residence before hearing the wailing of Xiao Li’s father, a stableman within the palace.

“Uncle, what happened?” Zhou Fan immediately sensed that something was wrong and he walked over to Xiao Li’s father, helping him up from the ground.

Xiao Li’s father was covered in grime, and seeing that Zhou Fan had returned, he started crying towards the man he saw as his ally, “Little Li, Xiao Li has suffered, if only you had returned earlier.”

“What happened?” Zhou Fan hadn’t seen Xiao Li at all, and after hearing her father’s wailing, a sense of discomfort and distress rose in his heart.

“She, she was summoned by the human-devouring third prince to serve him in his bed tonight, sob sob.”

“What!” Zhou Fan was shocked, and his heart was filled with anger and worry as he rushed out, but he then quickly stopped himself.

As the guard of the palace, he knew the strength of the third prince.

It made him feel hopeless and weak.

There was a gap of four great Realms between them, what power did he have to save Xiao Li?

Not only that, but with the unknown number of experts under his command, the third prince could kill him with just the wave of his hand, how could he save her?

Just by walking out of his house, he could be killed by the guards hidden around the area.

Ahhhh!

Why!

Why was it like this?

Zhou Fan staggered for a few steps before falling to the ground, he gritted his teeth as tears started to flow from his eyes, and his hands gripped the ground with so much force that he started to bleed.

Everything was clearly getting better.

By gaining strength, he could protect Xiao Li.

But……

Right!

Right!

He still had the green cauldron!

He could still fix this!

Digging out the green cauldron, Zhou Fan thought: Xiao Li, wait for me, I’ll save you!

Standing up, he ran outside, unable to see his protagonist halo gradually starting to shatter.

Within the house, Mu Rong Lin had just worn his clothes and walked to his desk as he stretched his body.

And at this moment, the voice of old man Bai came from outside his house.

“Your Highness, the guard Zhou Fan requests to meet you.”

“Oh?”

The old man stood in the courtyard, staring at Zhou Fan with squinted eyes.

Mu Rong Lin noticed Zhou Fan instantly due to his striking appearance and aura, but he chose to put on a lofty act as he asked old man Bai, “Who is Zhou Fan?”

Zhou Fan could only grit his teeth as hatred swept through his heart, however, he chose to put on a calm and subservient facade as he spoke to Mu Cheng Rong with a nod, “I’ve met with Your Highness the third prince, please……”

Before he could finish his sentence, Mu Rong Lin released his spiritual aura and heavily slammed it onto Zhou Fan’s body, forcing his back to bend as his body trembled.

The 《Nine Heavens Tribulation Body》 that Zhou Fan had cultivated had trained his body, and he could slightly resist Mu Rong Lin’s expanding aura.

Seeing that he was capable of resisting the strength of the peak of the Condensation Realm, Mu Rong Lin shook his head as he used all of his power, forcing Zhou Fan to kneel.

Zhou Fan’s knees slammed onto the ground, and with a “Ka Cha” noise, his two kneecaps started to shatter.

An immense sense of shame and resentment appeared in Zhou Fan’s heart.

Ahhhh!

How dare he humiliate him like this!

He had obviously changed!

He was no longer the Zhou Fan from the past!

“As a servant, you should have the awareness of one. If you meet with your master, you should kneel, got it?” Mu Rong Lin glanced at him as he eliminated the possibility of a protagonist that had an elder following him around.

If he had a gold finger of an old man following him around, he would not have endured this kind of humiliation and would have lent his body to the old man to fight him.

That meant that he only had an artifact-type gold finger, what a pity.

“Got it.” Zhou Fan barely managed to speak without shattering his ground teeth, “Your Highness the third prince, please let Xiao Li go, this servant has a Flesh Refining medicinal recipe to present to Your Highness.”

“She is your woman?” Mu Rong Lin did not answer, but instead asked this question.

Zhou Fan nodded, “Yes, Your Highness, please spare Xiao Li, this servant will present the Flesh Refining medicinal recipe with both of his hands.”

“Your woman, is really tender.” Mu Rong Lin grinned as he thrusted his feet towards Zhou Fan’s head.

A shadow pounced from the side, blocking Mu Rong Lin’s attack.

It was Xiao Li’s father.

His body immediately shattered as it blocked Mu Rong Lin’s kick at full power, his lower body exploding into a mess of blood and flesh, spraying onto Zhou Fan’s face.

“Leave now! Take revenge for us!” The stableman only had the time to finish this sentence before dying midair.

Zhou Fan watched as the stableman’s corpse fell to the ground before him and his mind went blank, not knowing what to do.

Suddenly, his gaze moved to the unclosed door behind Mu Rong Lin.

From his position, he could see a woman lying on Mu Rong Lin’s bed.

The woman was naked, her body bare of even a single piece of clothing. Her originally white skin was covered with blood and body fluids, and her two hands hung from the sides of the bed, with fresh blood beneath her. Her tearful eyes were vacant, and she had stopped breathing for a long time.

Xiao Li had died.

She died a long time ago.

Slaughtered by Mu Rong Lin.

“No!”

Zhou Fan screamed, wanting to stand up.

And with the wave of Mu Rong Lin’s hand, a strong spiritual power knocked Zhou Fan back onto the ground, his legs instantly separating from his body. He turned back to glance inside uninterestedly, and yelled strangely.

“Wah! What a pity, her blood was really tender.”

Circulating his spiritual power to form a large hand, he reached towards Zhou Fan’s body and retrieved a small green cauldron from his body. With interest, Mu Rong Lin spoke, “This is your golden finger? It really was an artifact.”

Zhou Fan collapsed on the ground, the pain of his severed legs and the agony in his heart becoming more acute at the sight of Xiao Li and her father’s deaths before him. Helplessness and despair crept up in his heart and mind, but it was overshadowed by a monstrous feeling of resentment.

Hateful hateful hateful!

Why!

The pain from losing the green cauldron that he relied on to Mu Rong Lin wasn’t comparable to the agony he felt from his defeat. He was going to lose, he was going to die.

“Ding! The protagonist Zhou Fan’s ‘Little protagonist halo’ has been shattered, and his protagonist value dropped by 100.”

“Ding! Congratulations to master for obtaining 100 villain value, you can use it to purchase the items in the system shop.”

“Boring, did losing your woman and golden finger mean that you are no longer a protagonist? Such a weak protagonist.” Mu Rong Lin waved his hand and circulated his spiritual power to activate 《Lifelessness Law》.

Zhou Fan stared at the skies with vacant eyes as his body burned, the flame encircling his body resembling a snake as it swallowed his flesh. In just a few breaths, the courtyard was now clean without a stain.

“Ding! Master has successfully killed a protagonist, the reward is a gift bag.”

Hearing a voice in his mind, Mu Rong Lin smiled and glanced at old man Bai, fiddling with the green cauldron as he spoke, “Go and search the residence of these two, and call for some people to clean this house, I’ll sleep in the master bedroom tonight.”

“Yes.” Old man Bai stood respectfully at the side. Mu Rong Lin had specially instructed him to let the stableman in, and if it weren’t for his instruction, he would have already killed the two of them easily with his strength alone.

Mu Rong Lin returned to his bedroom and decided to rest.

Despite being 19 years old, he was still unmarried without any wives or concubines, and aside from himself, the “Faith palace” only had guards and female servants.

“Open the gift bag.” Mu Rong Lin spoke in his mind.

“Ding! Congratulations to the owner for receiving a strengthening card, a character legacy card, and a fragment of the ‘Great villain halo’.

“Inspect all of the items, including this green cauldron.”

“Strengthening card: It is only effective on master, and it is able to raise master’s cultivation to the peak of the Origin Realm.

Character legacy card: Inherits the character card’s legacy, which includes their influence and their innate talents.

‘Great villain halo’ fragment: Can be turned into the ‘Great villain halo’ by collecting six fragments. Blessed Enigma Cauldron: An artifact of the peak of Sky Reaching containing the higher Sky Reaching cultivation method 《Nine Heavens Tribulation Body》, the higher Sky Reaching pill recipe 《Nine Heavens Body Training Liquid》, as well as a mysterious map.”

“Use the strengthening card.”

“Ding! The strengthening card was successfully used.”

And Mu Rong Lin’s strength started to rise gradually in a steady manner.

Fourth layer of the Origin Realm……

Fifth layer of the Origin Realm……

……

Ninth layer of the Origin Realm……

The peak of the Origin realm!

Translator’s note

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