"That bastard, I'll teach him a lesson that he would remember for the rest of his life."

"Shut up when I'm applying medicine on you, you fucking dolt," said the head of the medicine pavilion and slapped him on the back of his head to shut him up. Shen Kai had been growling those same words ever since he had returned after partially failing in his mission.

Feeling the sting of a slap from somebody at the late stages of the soul reformation realm, Shen Kai instantly swallowed his complaints with a bitter heart.

He hated Han Xuhan so much that he couldn't put it into words. He had failed a really important mission provided by the sect master himself. After failing to chase away Xuhan and Mu Ran from the portal that led to the land of laws, Shen Kai had initially actually accepted his loss and decided to return.

But as fate would have it, a powerful expert had decided to fuck around with him while fishing for information regarding the two of them. That old man had even robbed all of his money and left him with a very suspicious sounding divination.

While Shen Kai wouldn't have normally given two fucks about that shady predictions, it touched upon a very sensitive personal issue of his.
He had been stuck at the eighth layer of physique transformation realm for a very long time. And his desperation for a breakthrough had forced him to return back to the woods where a black history of his life had taken place the previous night- losing to a snot-nosed second layer cultivator...

But little had he known, his return trip would turn out to be another nightmare.

From what Shen Kai managed to dig out, apparently, some guy claiming to be him fucked over half the cultivators inside the world fragment singlehandedly.

As soon as he had heard the details of that incident from an injured cultivator who had been on his way to his own sect after being kicked out by 'Shen Kai', he had instantly realized who was impersonating him.

Han Xuhan, it had to be him !

But what transpired next...wasn't something he wanted to ever go through again.

It had been a ten versus one battle. There wasn't a part of his body that hadn't been injured during the battle.

At that time, stimulated by the pressure, Shen Kai's latent potential had undergone an explosive change, finally leading to his breakthrough.

But what aggravated him the most was that divination. That divination sucked ass. He had been led to believe that he'd fight against Han Xuhan, Mu Ran and another mysterious expert, perhaps the girl who had been accompanying them when they had run past him.

But instead, it was Han Xuhan and co. who had led an entire fucking legion of madmen toward him, making him into a meatshield-turned-mincemeat.
He had achieved a breakthrough by meeting the person he hated, yet the price he paid was nowhere near worth his sufferings. As for what followed later, that was too spooky to even think about.

What a harrowing experience... Remembering Xuhan's useless warning while he was running past him made it even worse. Shen Kai felt like Xuhan had done that intentionally to mock him.

"There you go. The medicine will dry off by sunset. You can wash it off your skin afterwards."

The intimidating healer slapped him lightly on the back and went to treat the next patient. Shen Kai got up gingerly and walked out of the building.

Just as his anger was finally about to die down, the sound of someone's approach pulled him back to reality.

"Martial brother! Such a coincidence! I was just about to find you."
The girl who approached him while shouting lightly had a delighted smile on her face that would make anyone think of her positively.
But as her peer, Shen Kai knew her personality well, and that smile darkened his mood further. That hag loved kicking someone when they were down.

"...What? Did something happen?" He asked grimly.

"Yup, something happened alright, heheh..."
Twirling happily, she came to a stop in front of him.

"I just heard a pretty interesting news from an acquaintance of mine from another sect. Apparently, there is a rumour flying around the seven mountains, specifically, a rumour about a certain demonic cultivator named Shen Kai !"

The ominous feeling in his heart finally settled down like a weighty rock, making him feel stifled.

"A rumour, eh ? Well, guess what, I don't give a fuck. Now off you go-"

Before he could finish his sentence and run away, she interrupted him with a cough.

"Ahem, I'm sure you'd want to know about the contents of the rumour, martial brother. As I've heard, this Shen Kai, all by himself, defeated countless proud disciples of dozens of reputable sects, declaring his superiority and his identity as a SUPREME DEMON," she finished with a loud and unnecessary emphasis on the last part. Her face clearly showed signs of a laughter that was about break out any moment.

Gritting his teeth, Shen Kai bore the humiliation and glared at her.
"Is that it ? I don't exactly see why I should be concerned about this rumour."

"Oh, of course not ! That was just the appetizer," the damned hag giggled, stroking the fire of fury inside his heart.

"The rumours also say that Shen Kai called all the righteous cultivators trash, blatantly insulting the orthodoxy. He forced them to sign humialting contracts. He treated them like slaves. He even went as far as to SEXUALLY harass cultivators of BOTH genders !"

"Fuck No, I did no-"

"That's not all ! He also said that his lecherous nature was a result of his twisted cultivation technique. Apparently, eye witnesses claim to have heard him saying that he had castrated himself in order to cultivate the dao of eunuchs!"

". . .Dam-"

"That's not even the worst of it. The most hilarious part is his nicknames that have spread to every corner of the seven mountains. DICKLESS DEMON SHEN KAI, EUNUCH KAI, SCUM KAI, CASTRATED DEMON KAI-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Shen Kai finally lost it and stomped off after shoving her sideways roughly. But as expected, she kept shouting from behind.

"I did not expect our manly, rough martial brother to be such a person ! You're famous now !
By this time, this news has spread to this entire generation of female disciples of our sect...
I mean, if finding a daoist partner was that hard, you could have just asked me, martial brother! I'd gladly take out my especially crafted sabers to castrate you and help you achieve your dreams of reaching the apex as an eunuch..."

Shen Kai mentally blocked out her words and continued to growl one name under his breath, his voice dripping venom.
"Han Xuhan, you bastard ! I'll fucking flay you alive."