Where Junior Brothers' Butts Bloom

For an entire meal, Du Chen meticulously, yet subtly, 'enticed' Brockman to steal the Sacred Artifact Box containing the Beast Emperor’s Seal. When he finally saw Brockman out, Du Chen noticed the slight tremor in the Earl's fingers and finally relaxed.

*Creak*. Harry closed the grand doors. Du Chen let out a long sigh, muttering, "Exhausting! I had to pique Brockman’s interest without being too obvious, letting him grasp the implication himself… *Phew*. Stealing is easy, but luring someone to steal from you is so difficult! I still haven't mastered the art! Master was truly right, 'A true master thief wields no blade' – what an infinite realm of skill! Tsk tsk!"

Harry, standing by, offered an obsequious smile. "My sagacious master, I believe that Brockman was utterly foolish… oh, no, he is very clever, extremely clever, but you, Master, are truly too sagacious, to have led such a clever man…"

"Enough, save your flattery!" Du Chen waved a hand. "Andy performed admirably; all credit goes to you! You shall be handsomely rewarded!"

"Heavens, allow Harry to praise you once more, my wise and brilliant Master! Your benevolence towards your servants is truly…" Harry's flattery flowed as smoothly as ever, without a moment's hesitation!

Du Chen retrieved Cassian from the Precious Lotus Scripture, instructing Harry to continue hanging him in the storage room on the second floor. With a beaming smile, Du Chen asked, "Harry, what's the best way to train a scoundrel to become a not-so-bad person?"

It was merely a casual question, though he already had his own ideas, simply using the query to ponder and confirm them. But Harry was overjoyed, unable to close his mouth. *Heavens, Master is asking for my opinion! What does this signify!? It means Harry is gaining more and more importance in Master’s eyes!*

Thinking rapidly, Harry cringed with a fawning smile. "Master, you must already have your own brilliant ideas. Harry merely has a small suggestion, if you would…" He lowered his voice, sharing his thoughts.

"Hahaha!" Du Chen burst into laughter. "Harry, my butler, it is truly a disservice to keep you merely a butler! Your suggestion is excellent, I was just thinking of doing something similar! Go and prepare right away!"

Harry scampered off, his corpulent, spherical body jiggling with each step.

Du Chen released Deboning, gave him a few instructions, then had Deboning perform some 'modifications' on Cassian. After that, Deboning returned to the Precious Lotus Scripture.

Soon, Harry returned from downstairs with an assortment of small pills: some red, some green. He then splashed Cassian awake with ice water.

"Francis, you dare to tie me up! Release me at once! I won't let you get away with this! Just you wait…" The moment Cassian awoke, he began to curse incessantly, his eyes blazing at Du Chen. He hadn't even realized he'd been moved to a different 'cell'.

"My dear Junior Brother, curse as much as you like, indulge in your fury, because I fear you'll never have another chance to curse me!" Du Chen raised his right hand and gently waved it.

"As you command, Master!" Harry glanced at the small pills in his hand, picked up a green one, handed all the red ones to Du Chen, then pounced menacingly, intent on shoving the pill into Cassian’s mouth.

Cassian knew instinctively that this couldn't be anything good. He clenched his jaw, determined not to yield even unto death! Harry fumbled, momentarily at a loss on how to deal with Cassian.

"Damn it!" Harry pulled a Brick from his back waistband and, without warning, slammed it onto Cassian's little posterior. With an "Ow!" Cassian cried out in pain. Harry swiftly spun around and threw the pill directly into Cassian’s mouth!

*Gulp*. Cassian was stunned.

"Francis, what demon concoction did you just feed me!? Let me tell you, I am the Crown Prince! My Imperial Father commands a million-strong army, and each man's spit alone could drown you! Give me the antidote, or else…"

Cassian shrieked arrogantly, but his small face had turned ghastly pale, and his eyes were fixed on the red pills in Du Chen’s hand, unblinking.

"Antidote? What antidote?" Du Chen pointed at the red pills in his hand with feigned 'bewilderment'. "Are you talking about these? These aren't antidotes, you know. What I gave you wasn't poison, so why would you need an antidote?"

"If it's not poison, what else could it be?" Cassian, of course, didn't believe him! *You, Francis, are a two-faced scoundrel, acting one way in front of others and another behind their backs; are you going to feed me some miraculous elixir!?*

Du Chen circled him twice, then slowly said, "I wonder if you've heard of the disappeared Vice Dean Philip? He was the foremost Alchemist Master of his era, and his concoctions… tsk tsk, they were simply miraculous!"

"I've heard of him. What are you trying to say?"

"Oh, then have you heard that I, your Senior Brother, once studied alchemy under Vice Dean Philip?" Du Chen asked with a smile.

Cassian nodded, seemingly understanding something, and stammered, "You… you're saying that what I just ate was poison refined by Philip!?"

*Poison from the world's greatest alchemist… Heavens, who else could concoct an antidote besides the disappeared Philip himself!?* Cassian's gaze remained fixed on the red pills in Du Chen’s hand, utterly unwilling to move.

Du Chen patted his delicate, sculpted face, chuckling, "My dear Cassian, my Junior Brother, I, your Senior Brother, have a suggestion for you…" He paused, glancing at the sky outside—it was around seven or eight in the evening, the skies of Battle God Isle were just beginning to twinkle with starlight!

"My suggestion is that you must perform one good deed every day, at least one, regardless of its size, just do it! Starting tonight!"

"Nonsense! I'm the Crown Prince, why would I do good deeds!? I only handle matters of state!" Cassian cursed, then abruptly fell silent, his face turning ashen as he asked, "What will happen if I don't? Won't you give me the antidote!?"

"What antidote? I, your Senior Brother, will reiterate: what I gave you just now was absolutely not poison, truly!" Du Chen said with utmost sincerity. He shrugged. "As for failing to perform at least one good deed daily… try it, and you'll find out. So, tonight, you don't have to do any good deeds!" As he spoke, he pinched a pill from among the red ones, crushed it between two fingers, and scattered the powder before Cassian.

"Originally, your Senior Brother thought you worked hard doing good deeds and even planned to give you a candy as a reward every day. But since you're not doing good deeds today, well, no candy for you today. When you do, I'll reward you then!"

Cassian watched Du Chen casually wipe away the powder with his foot. Suddenly, his heart felt a thousand times heavier, sinking to rock bottom, as if he had lost something of paramount importance.

Yet Cassian still forced a smile. "Don't think I'm so easily fooled! I just won't do it! Hmph, I'd like to see what consequences there are for not doing good deeds! What dare you do to me!?" His tone clearly lacked conviction, but he stubbornly refused to acknowledge Du Chen further.

"Alright, don't do it then. I'm so kind, how could I force my Junior Brother!" Du Chen tucked all the red pills into his sleeve, turned, and walked out, leaving Cassian with a faint remark, "If you feel unwell anywhere, just shout for your Senior Brother! Oh, right, my hearing isn't very sharp, so remember to shout loudly!"

"Shout for what, you ass!"

If Cassian hadn't been bound, he would have likely pounced and bitten a chunk out of Du Chen!

The storage room door closed, plunging the room into darkness, with only faint starlight filtering through the ventilation shaft. Cassian hadn't eaten for most of the day and had been thoroughly 'entertained' by Du Chen; he was already dizzy with exhaustion. Before long, he began to doze off, falling into a hazy sleep…

*What is this? So cold!? Ow!*

Cassian was jolted awake by intense pain, feeling as if a thousand ice needles had been inserted into his abdomen, relentlessly stimulating his stomach and intestines… The young lad was stubborn, however, gritting his teeth and enduring, refusing to call out to Du Chen.

But the agony intensified, growing sharper and sharper. Cassian even suspected the ice needles had pierced his intestines, destroying his internal organs!

Gradually, the ice needles seemed to lose interest in his stomach and intestines, slowly moving downwards, from his stomach to near his navel, then to his Dantian… It continued to descend!

"Francis!! No, Senior Brother, I was wrong! I'll go do good deeds right now! Come save me! Help me…"

Cassian screamed frantically, his voice growing louder and louder! But Francis did not appear! Although the boy was only twelve, he was a little scoundrel proficient in all vices: feasting, drinking, whoring, and gambling. He knew one thing far better than other twelve-year-olds: if those ice needles moved to the crucial point roughly three inches beneath his navel, he… he would never be considered a man again!

Cassian felt the ice needles getting closer and closer to that vital spot. He was on the verge of collapse, screaming himself hoarse!

*Creak*. Harry pushed the door open with a smile. "Young Master Cassian, what's wrong? Are you unwell?!"

"Quickly, go find Francis to release me! No, hurry and give me the antidote! I'll give you money! Aren't you a Shieb? You love money the most! Hurry!" Cassian yelled.

"What are you saying? Are you asking me to betray Master Francis? What should I do? What do you think I'll do?!" Harry walked over with a 'gentle' smile, but Cassian felt an inexplicable surge of terror. Then he watched the Shieb grotesquely raise the Brick and 'kiss' his small posterior, repeatedly, blow after blow!

Cassian was on the verge of breakdown. The pain of the spanking was secondary; the problem was that he was being ravaged by a lowly Shieb—this was an unbearable disgrace! Cassian once again shrieked, "Stop hitting me, please stop! Senior Brother Francis, quickly come save me! I'm willing to do good deeds! I'm willing!"

"My dear Junior Brother, are you willing to do good deeds now?" Francis also walked in. Cassian nodded frantically, roaring, "How the hell dare I not? I can't let a Shieb hit my butt… I still want to be a man… Senior Brother, I beg you! Don't let him hit me there!" He finally gave in.

Du Chen looked at him with profound sympathy, untied his ropes, and chuckled, "It's eleven PM now. At midnight, when the darkness between heaven and earth is at its heaviest, your body will… Hehe, you have one more hour, go do good deeds!"

Cassian was about to move but froze.

Du Chen sighed. "Foolish! You don't even know how to do good deeds! Remember, the fourth district of the docks is where the beggars live at night. Hurry there and give them something valuable!" He waved a hand. "Don't even think about faking it, otherwise… Oh, right, until your Senior Brother approves, you'd best give up one of your vices—feasting, drinking, whoring, or gambling. Which one? I don't need to say, do I? Haha!"

Cassian's sprinting figure paused. "Fran… Senior Brother, I understand! You truly 'care' for your Junior Brother!"

Hurrying off to do good deeds, Harry entered with a grin. "Master, that boy is completely played within your great wisdom's grasp!"

Du Chen also smiled, casually taking out the red and green pills from his pocket. Without even looking at the colors, he picked one up and popped it into his mouth—these were actually Beibei's snacks! The true cause of Cassian's physical changes was Deboning's curse-type damage!

Harry smiled alongside Du Chen, then asked with surprise, "Master, since you wanted to force Cassian to do good deeds, why didn't you let Young Miss directly use a Spiritual Contract on him? That way he wouldn't dare disobey your commands, and you could even control the Nano Empire in the future…" Harry trailed off.

Du Chen rolled his eyes. "That boy's status is special, and no matter how much of a scoundrel his father is, he's still the king of Yakun's number one superpower! For now, we can only do things that leave no evidence. A Spiritual Contract? That kind of thing is too easy to trace… Damn it!" Du Chen suddenly thought of Helen. If it weren't for that girl's Secret Technique failing, Annie wouldn't have been pestering him!

Harry gave another awkward laugh. "Then, Master, do you think there really is such a medicine in the world that can achieve that effect? That one would cease to be a man if they didn't take the antidote every midnight?"

"If there really were such a medicine, would I need to bother deploying Deboning!?" Du Chen rolled his eyes again, thinking, *I don't know about medicine, but I do know two similar cultivation methods: the Sunflower Manual and the Precious Lotus Scripture…*

Harry nodded, suddenly enlightened. He mused internally, *I can think of the answers to these questions too, but sometimes it's necessary to appear a little foolish to highlight and elevate Master's wisdom!*

With this thought, Harry asked again, "What if Cassian secretly seeks someone to examine his body? His body would be perfectly fine! What if he tries to test it with a woman?"

"He can certainly seek a physical examination, and the conclusion will be that there's nothing wrong. He could even personally go to the Pleasure House at the docks and test it with a woman, but! For something like this, even if there's only a minuscule chance, let alone a boy like Cassian, even cunning adults would believe it wholeheartedly. Under my threat, he absolutely wouldn't dare seek an examination, nor would he dare test it with a woman… Damn it!"

As Du Chen spoke, he suddenly realized a problem. Cassian was very much like him, which was why he had a sudden inspiration to use the 'not being a man' excuse to trick Cassian, making the boy experience his own pain! But in reality, he was completely deceiving Cassian; there was no actual restriction against female company!

*Then, is Master Grape also possibly deceiving me!?*

Du Chen felt a chill run through his body. After much thought, he suddenly blurted out, "Master Grape, you are ruthless!" For something like this, even if Du Chen was 99.99% certain Master Grape was deceiving him, for that one-in-ten-thousand possibility, he wouldn't dare test it! Because if that minuscule chance came true, the consequences would be absolutely terrifying…