Chapter 5 The Three-Day Scam

The Three-Day Scam

The moment Mayor Silas and his broken crossbowmen scrambled away like a pack of scolded stray dogs, the entire street erupted into cheers. The townspeople looked at Logan as if he were a living god.

But Logan didn't care about the applause. He turned on his heel and walked back into the shack, followed closely by his fully healed father, Julian.

"Logan," Julian said, his expression turning deeply serious as he barred the newly replaced door. "Lord Vance is an elite at the Peak of the Qi Foundation Realm. He is a ruthless executioner. Breaking a few Silver-Bone thugs is one thing, but face-to-face with a Qi Foundation master? We need to flee immediately."

Logan casually tossed the sack of stolen Iron Tiger Sect wealth onto the wooden table. "Flee? Father, you misunderstand. I didn't tell the Mayor to warn Vance out of bravery. I did it because I am currently very low on funds."

Julian blinked, completely derailed by the comment. "Funds? You just looted ten years of the Iron Tiger Sect's savings!"

"Five hundred gold coins is pocket change for a Sovereign," Logan sighed, rubbing his temples like a stressed accountant. "Rebuilding our family requires high-grade spirit stones, defensive arrays, and premium medicinal baths. If I want Vance to bring his entire life savings to my doorstep, I need to make sure he thinks I am a weak, defenseless target."

Julian stared at his son. "You... you want to bait an Imperial Inspector?"

"Exactly," Logan grinned, a mischievous, yet terrifyingly sharp glint appearing in his eyes. "In my dream, the ancestors taught me a legendary, god-tier technique. It is called the Act of the Dying Quail."

Julian looked confused. "A god-tier technique named after a bird?"

"It is a supreme aura-suppression technique," Logan explained, sitting cross-legged on the floor. "Watch closely."

Logan closed his eyes. Instantly, the vibrant, healthy glow on his skin faded. His broad, straight posture began to slouch. His breathing became shallow, raspy, and weak. Within three seconds, Logan looked exactly like a sickly, malnourished sixteen-year-old peasant who was on the verge of coughing up a lung. If a doctor examined him right now, they would swear his dantian was shattered into a million pieces.

Julian’s jaw dropped. "This... this is a total scam!"

"It is a strategic investment, Father," Logan’s voice suddenly cracked, sounding perfectly like a whiny, terrified teenager. He let out a fake, theatrical cough. "When Vance arrives, he will see a crippled father and a dying, trash-tier son. He will let his guard down. He will bring his treasure chest right into our yard. And then..."

Logan’s eyes snapped open, a flash of golden primordial qi tearing through the room like lightning before vanishing back into his hidden core.

"...we rob him blind."

The next morning, the news of the Vanguard family’s "miracle" took a bizarre turn.

Instead of a rising martial arts genius, the rumors circulating through Blackstone Town—spread intentionally by Logan’s neighbor, Mei—claimed that Logan had used a volatile, forbidden "Life-Burning Pill" stolen from the Iron Tiger Sect to temporarily boost his power to fight the Mayor.

The rumor claimed that the side effects had already kicked in, leaving Logan permanently crippled and bedridden, coughing up black blood by the bucketful.

When Mayor Silas heard this report in his mansion, while having his swollen, melon-sized face bandaged by three doctors, he burst into a muffled, painful laugh.

"Ha! I knew it!" Silas wheezed, spitting out a bit of medical gauze. "A peasant boy matching my Silver-Bone strength? Impossible! He used a forbidden pill! He's already a dead man walking! Quick, send a letter to Lord Vance! Tell him the Vanguard remnants are broken, dying, and ripe for the slaughter!"

Meanwhile, inside the shack, the "dying" Logan was currently eating a massive bowl of hot meat porridge, perfectly healthy and overflowing with energy.

"Father, the bait is cast," Logan said, wiping his mouth. "While we wait for our wealthy donor from the Capital to arrive, it is time for me to officially break through to the Silver-Bone Realm."

He pulled out the remaining Low-Grade Bone-Refining Pills he had looted from the sect. To a normal cultivator, taking thirty of these pills at once would cause their body to explode from the chaotic energy.

But Logan didn't even hesitate. He threw the entire handful of thirty pills into his mouth at once, chewing them like they were salted peanuts.

Gulp.

"Let's begin," Logan murmured.