Gang sat upon his bed with his grandfather’s iron ruler in his hand. The new miraculous fortune he’s gained after the latest assassination attempt on his life made him want to laugh as he heard the fighting going on through his clan’s grounds. His eyes focused on the disciplinary tool he’s been hit so many times with that he thought his butt would permanently turn red from it. Hovering above the weapon he’s going to have to rely on to save his life in a few moments, there were some strange words above it inside a small little box.

[Item: Iron Ruler]

[Durability: 80/100]

[Rank: Trash]

[Description: A tool used to inflict punishment. Owned by Niu Gang’s grandfather and only ever used out of love.]

[Upgrade Cost: 10 point]

Gang scoffed at the description, saying that it was only ever used out of love. His grandfather was anything but a loving man. He was a fucking asshole that only cared about the future of the clan rather than loving his grandchild. Back when Gang was younger, his grandfather was much different from the man he turned into once his lacking talent was revealed. It was that loving grandfather from his past that made him still care deeply about the old asshole he was today.

The sounds began to come closer and closer to his room. Niu Gang used to be called the Prince of the Bull Clan. Back in the day, this title was treated with the respect it deserved. Nowadays, that title is only used for mockery and contempt. The only person that called him Prince Gang without the sarcasm was his grandfather. He was highly disappointed about his trash talent but cared more about his blood than his potential in cultivating. Even with most of the clan elders wanting him to replace Gang as the future Clan Head, his grandfather stubbornly refused even though he had no real good argument to deny them.

Eventually, that led to the situation his clan was facing now. Complete annihilation due to multiple betrayals within. The uncles and aunts that used to treat him so fondly when he was younger and much more innocent. Now wanted to take his life, his grandfather’s, and those who support his grandfather lives at the chance of becoming the new clan head of the Bull Clan. To run things anew and possibly improve the future of their small clan.

“Let’s see if I'm just fucking crazy or if this whole Upgrading System is real.” The sounds outside eventually reached just behind his door.

[Sudden Quest!]

[Defeat the incoming enemies!]

[Reward: 100 points, A random Major Dao affinity]

Gang currently had 100 points after waking up. He didn’t do anything to gain these points as they were already there. Right now, he placed them all into his grandfather’s iron ruler. Maxing the weapon out and giving it two additional abilities along with a few other things he didn’t see before. Gang didn’t have much of a choice in his current situation. As a Martial Artist in the early stage, he stood no chance against the masked faces in front of him in the middle stages of the Martial Artist Realm without relying on the upgrade system.

“Make things easy on us, Prince Gang.” One of the intruders asked with fake kindness. Gang could tell he was all too eager to rip him apart.

“You don’t plan to fight us with that ruler, do you?” Another one laughed.

“Looks like he wants to make his last stand with some dignity.” He chuckled.

‘Hmm. This ruler is not so bad...’ Niu Gang thought as impending death stood over him as he sat on his bed.

[Item: Iron Ruler +10]

[Durability: 100/100]

[Rank: Trash+]

[Description: A tool used to inflict punishment. Owned by Niu Gang’s grandfather and only ever used out of love. Has been brought to its full potential.]

[Ability: Some attacks ignore defense.]

[Ability: Successive attacks do more damage every successful hit. Max limit is 20 hits.]

[Unique: Crit and Stun Chance has been added for this weapon.]

This weapon of his wielded an impressive length. Similar in size to a regular sword but its usage was solely for punishment purposes only. No one with a reasonable thought in their brain would consider using something like this for fighting when you could choose something like a sword. Gang, in his current predicament, knew exactly how he was going to use this thing. Even if he had zero talent with the sword and no prior experience using a weapon like this. It wasn’t that hard to use something with a shape like this.

Gang stood up from his bed and tightly gripped his new weapon with both hands. He took the first move as he charged toward the person closest to him. The man loudly laughed in his face as he saw him coming. Which wasn’t surprising as he was just running towards him without using any martial arts at all.

‘I’ll give you something to laugh about in a second, bastard... Or I'm going to die from this mental delusion I'm suffering from.’ Gang swung his ruler using all the power in his upper body.

He aimed for the man’s face as any reasonable person should when aiming to kill. In response, the man raised his sword to block, only to have his eyes slowly widen in shock as the ruler shattered his steel blade into pieces and continued onward. Directly impacting against his skull and rattling his brain. Gang didn’t let this chance pass by him. He didn’t expect his ruler to break the sword but would definitely take advantage of his ruler’s second ability.

The man dropped, and Gang repeatedly bashed his head in with his ruler. The young prince didn’t care for finesse, skill, or anything of the matter. Just getting as many hits in as possible to rack up the damage his ruler is able to do. After nearly killing the first assailant, the other two woke up from their shock and charged him. Prince Gang picked up the heavily injured man’s broken sword hilt and threw it to one of the men running towards him. That one was forced to block with his own blade, which gave Gang enough time to deal with the other one.

The man remembered what happened to his ally’s blade when it made contact with the boy’s ruler. To prevent the same thing from happening to him, he used a battle skill instead of using his blade to attack. His shoulder glowed with a green shine as he rushed forward. With his Iron Shoulder, he could take on swords and shatter them just by crashing into them with his shoulders. No matter how tough the Prince’s weapon was, it was still a weapon made by a mortal blacksmith in the end.

Gang swung his iron ruler just like he did against the first attacker. And just like the first attack, his ruler easily took care of the foe in front of him. The man’s shoulder sunk into itself from the clash of his weapon, and he screamed like a woman as his bones shattered from the hit. His ruler soon came crashing down upon the man’s defenseless head, and unlike the other guy who only started bleeding severely from his head and was still unconscious, this guy’s head split open like a watermelon.

He wasn’t sure if it was because of the ruler’s first effect, the second effect, or a combination between the two. But honestly, Gang wasn’t too affected by killing his first human being. These pieces of shit wanted to kill him first. And honestly, if you couldn’t kill someone who wants to take your life in this world, you wouldn’t make it far as a martial artist. Niu Gang looked at the last remaining assassin and, just like before, tossed another sword at him before charging.

This time the guy decided to move out of the way instead of blocking it and carefully sized up Gang. He was no longer the insignificant bug that everyone believed he was. For some reason, he was hiding his true power like a wolf playing sheep. If he didn’t take this battle seriously and fought with everything he had, he would die just like his companions. The masked sword wielder held his sword in a proper stance and slowly closed in on the prince.

Prince Gang suddenly smirked at his assassin, who quickly raised his guard in response. He reached behind himself and threw his covers towards the man. As his vision was blocked by the large bedding, Gang moved in and swung his ruler towards the man’s midsection. The swordsman tried slicing through the sheet, but at his stage, with a sword of this quality, it was nothing but a pipe dream. Gang’s ruler smashed itself into the man’s gut and launched him across the room. His head slammed against the wall and cracking the wall into a spider web pattern.

Niu Gang nearly dropped to his bed, seeing that the fight for his life was over. But it wasn’t over just yet; two of the assassins were still alive. They might’ve been in no condition to hurt him, but that didn’t mean he should just leave two assholes alive who tried to kill him. He might have been sweating all over, completely out of breath, and tired as all hell, but he had a job to finish. Prince Gang stood over the body of the man bleeding from the head, and pulled off his mask before dealing the final blow.

“Uncle Bojing... I didn’t know you were one of the traitors.” He softly spoke to himself. “To think I used to kind of like you.” All past emotional ties with his uncle were severed in one slash with his weapon.

His head caved in, and at that moment, another familiar face burst into his room.

“Grandfather?” Gang questioned.

The man in front of him was covered from head to toe in nothing but blood. It was pretty difficult for Gang to recognize his grandfather. If it wasn’t for the dragon marking on his sword, he would probably have no idea who this man was. Especially because of the warm eyes staring at him. Eyes he hadn't seen since he was a little boy.

The man slowly walked over to him and pulled him into a deep hug.

“You’re safe... Thank goodness you’re safe... I couldn’t hold them all off... A few flies got past me. How are you...?” Gang pushed the old man off of him.

“Don’t act like you care now, Gramps. A few couple brushes with death, and suddenly you care about me? Screw off! I know you only care about preserving the family’s bloodline. Not about who I am.” A conflicted look appeared on the elderly man’s face.

“Now isn’t the time for this... I’ll talk to you later about that... For now, follow me. We need to get you somewhere safe.”

“Where is somewhere safe? Isn’t the entire clan being attacked right now? Are we going to run like a bunch of cowards and try to rebuild elsewhere?” Gang didn’t disagree that now wasn’t the time for this. Arguing with his grandfather wouldn’t help anyone when they’re under attack. He was upset, but he wasn’t retarded.

“Just stick behind me.”

Gang finished off the last attacker, and a small box appeared in front of his face.

[Sudden Quest Completed!]

[Rewards: 100 points, Trash Sleep Dao affinity]

The points he used up on his ruler were completely refilled, and he received an affinity for a major Dao. It was a trash affinity, but it was better than having no affinity at all like he previously had with the Daos. Gang wondered if it was possible to upgrade himself somehow or his affinity with the Sleep Dao, but no matter what he tried, he wasn’t getting the option to. He didn’t have much of an opinion on getting the Sleep Dao as his major Dao affinity because he didn’t know shit about it. The other options were wood, fire, water, metal, and more for the major Daos. To progress in his Dao, he would need to gain further understanding of it, practice techniques that embody the essence of it, and refine treasures that hold some essence of Sleep Dao within it.

Outside the main house, there was fighting and dead bodies everywhere. It was impossible to tell whether his grandfather’s side was winning or the traitors were winning. Everyone was dressed in similar robes except for those wearing masks. Most likely Martial Artists from their rival clans, the Goose Clan or the Hero Clan.

“There’s the Clan Head and Prince!” Someone spotted them.

Grandfather Niu slashed through multiple Martial Artists ahead of them trying to kill them. Gang focused his attention on his grandfather’s blade to see how it compared to his ruler.

[Item: Long Sword]

[Durability 20/100]

[Rank: Trash]

[Description: A trash blade that’s only good for cutting weak creatures like humans and some mortal beasts. Is on the verge of breaking.]

[Upgrade cost: 10]

“Grandfather. Don’t ask any annoying questions just use my ruler instead of your sword.” Gang suddenly said.

“What? Boy, are you mad? That thing can’t kill! It’s only used for...” His words were suddenly stuck in his throat after remembering the three bodies in his grandson’s room.

He took a careful look at his sword that had accompanied him for years and knew it didn’t have long left to live. In its current state, it would be lucky to hold up against someone equal in strength to himself. The clan head couldn’t let his personal feelings cloud his judgment. His grandson might sound insane right now, but it was a fact that he personally defeated three middle-ranked Martial Artist as a low-ranked Martial Artist with that iron ruler. Something that should’ve been impossible unless the kid was hiding his true skills from him. Which was something he doubted. The little troublemaker didn’t have it in him to hide something like that from him.

“I’ll trust you.” He sheathed his blade and took the iron ruler in his hands. His words sent some warmth to Gang’s heart.

It felt completely different from using his sword, but the general shape was enough in a situation like this. He took a few practice swings to get a feel for it as they made their way to the Clan’s Library, which doubled as the Elder’s Meeting Hall. Once they made it inside, they saw several figures inside fighting to the death.

“Patriarch!” Familiar faces cried at the sight of him.

“Kill him! The boy too! We won’t be able to cash in on our side of the deal if we don’t kill those two!” Aunt Lan cried.

“I’ll handle him.” Uncle Gen smirked. He flipped his blade and pointed it toward his grandfather.

“Stay here, boy. I’ll deal with this.” His grandfather charged toward the numerous enemies.

Those that were fighting against his grandfather’s allies immediately stopped attacking and focused on his grandpa. Everyone watched as the old man calmly and efficiently took out every foe that came toward him. It only took one or two strikes before killing the traitors and outsiders. No one could believe his strength at this time, and all gasped in shock.

“Did the Patriarch breakthrough!?”

“How else would he be able to deal with them so easily?!”

“He hasn’t broken through at all! He’s still at the very edge of the Martial Artist realm! Just barely dipping into the Martial Fighter realm!”

“Then how is he able to tear through them with that ruler when we couldn’t with our swords!?”

“That must not be a regular iron ruler. Perhaps it’s a family treasure that was passed on by a mysterious expert. A magical ruler that was crafted by a highly esteemed blacksmith or enchanted by an Inscriber!” Their imaginations went wild once they saw their powerful clan head going through their enemies like they were nothing but children.

The ruler shattered bones, crushed skulls, forcibly shut windpipes, and broke limbs. It wasn’t until the two main traitors, Aunt Lan and Uncle Gen, stepped up that his massacre was finally stopped. It took the two of them taking on the clan head at the same time to slow him down somewhat. Their skills weren’t bad, and if it weren’t for the abnormality of the Patriarch's weapon, they would surely be gaining the advantage over him. Unfortunately for them, the upgraded iron ruler was completely overbearing when matched with Kang’s sword skills and cultivation stage. Niu Lan and Niu Gen were eventually disciplined by Niu Kang for their actions against the Bull Clan. For their punishment, it was nothing other than death. Lan died from a broken neck. Gen perished from a stab through the heart, it was from one of Kang’s ultimate sword techniques.

“This battle is over!” Gang’s grandfather yelled across the clan grounds. In his hands were the corpses of Lan and Gen.

“Retreat!” One of the attackers called out.

“Kill everyone who dared attack us!” The loyal members of the Bull Clan cried out as they chased the fleeing invaders from their home.

Gang stood next to his grandfather. In the middle of the battle, many of the clan members protected him from any harm as his grandfather handled all of the enemies. The old man was a lot stronger than he thought he was. And to think he hasn’t even reached the real start for a cultivator yet. It made Gang even more excited to start his cultivation path with his upgrade system. In the past, he barely tried at all when it came to practicing martial arts or anything related to cultivation because of his horrible talent. But now, that would all change with this system.

“Here.” His grandfather handed him back his ruler.

“You're welcome.” Gang responded.

“You damn brat...” He hit him on his head. “Thanks...” He said with all his heart.

“Without that ruler, our clan possibly could’ve been wiped out today... But I know for a fact that that thing was not as powerful as it was today. What did you do to it, boy?”

“I’m not telling an old bastard like you my secrets. Maybe if you were a cute girl around my age with a nice ass then maybe. But an old foggy like you about to wither away from old age? Keep dreaming!” Gang loudly laughed.

“Whose about to wither away you, little punk!?” He placed Gang into a headlock and fiercely rubbed his head with his knuckles.

“Get the hell off of me! That shit hurts!” Gang tried breaking free of the old man’s hold but it was impossible.

“Still got that big mouth do you? I’m sure you’ll be all too willing to tell me tomorrow after I put you through the training of a lifetime.” His grip was unbreakable.

“Training huh... I’ll have to start taking that seriously now, won’t I?” Gang muttered to himself.

“You bet your tail, you will.” He released him. “Let’s have a long talk, my only grandson...”

“About time, you shitty old man.” Gang scoffed.