In Qingyang City, behind the Lin family home, broken stones littered the ground. The cold wind swept up withered yellow leaves and lashed brutally at the boy's frail body.
Lin Chen knelt on the cold bluestone. His shirt was torn across the back, where several deep lash marks exposed bloody flesh and bone. Blood dripped from his fingertips, leaving spots of scarlet on the stone.
Pain pierced him to the core, but he clenched his teeth and did not make a sound. His dark eyes showed not the slightest fear, only overwhelming resentment and stubborn restraint.
"A good-for-nothing is a good-for-nothing! Three years of cultivation, and you still can't break through even the most basic first level of Body Tempering. You've wasted the family's resources for nothing!"
Behind him stood a young man in fine clothes, his hands clasped behind his back. He was handsome, but his gaze was cutting and cold. He was Lin Hao, a genius of the Lin family's main branch.
He held a spirit-tempering whip, its tip still stained with fresh blood. It was the very weapon he had just used to lash Lin Chen.
More than a dozen Lin family disciples had gathered around them. Every one of them wore a mocking expression, pointing and whispering, their disdain plain to see.
"He awakened a good-for-nothing bone fate three years ago. He was destined to be unable to gather spiritual energy for his entire life, no different from a pile of dead bones, yet he still dares to hog resources in the cultivation pavilion!"
"If I were him, I'd have left the family on my own long ago, instead of making a fool of myself!"
"I heard his parents died while out adventuring years ago. He's all alone now. What a shame. Born a good-for-nothing, but a pitiful person can still be detestable!"
The cruel taunts stabbed into Lin Chen's heart like sharp knives.
He was an orphan from a collateral branch of the Lin family. His parents died when he was three, and he grew up alone. His only obsession was to become stronger through cultivation and uncover the truth behind their deaths.
But three years ago, when his fate awakened, he manifested the **good-for-nothing bone fate**, a fate unseen in Qingyang City for ten thousand years.
