Chapter 2 Are You Really a Man?

Lin Yang was unconscious for a long time, drifting through a bizarre, kaleidoscopic dream, until he suddenly opened his eyes to find it was already the next morning.

An elderly man with snow-white hair sat before him, startling him out of his stupor.

“Child, there’s no need to be frightened. I’ve healed your eyes and all your wounds,” the old man said with a gentle, benevolent smile.

Lin Yang quietly pinched himself. The pain was real—this was no dream—yet his mind remained a jumble of confusion.

“My time is short—only this last breath remains. To have someone like you as my disciple before I die brings me comfort,” the old man beckoned to Lin Yang. “Kneel and pay your respects as my student, and I will explain everything to you.”

Without hesitation, Lin Yang knelt and bowed, calling out, “Master.”

The old man reached out and patted his head, his smile filled with gratification. “Good child! Sit here. What I am about to tell you, you must remember well. Listen closely, and never reveal it to anyone.”

Lin Yang perked up, sitting beside the old man, listening intently.

The old man explained that Lin Yang was a rare dual-pupiled prodigy, but because his corneas had been removed, he had been unable to awaken his extraordinary ocular abilities.

Lin Yang had always known his eyes were different from others’. While an ordinary person had a single pupil in each eye, he had been born with two. Throughout his life, people around him regarded him as ominous, classmates at school mocked him as a monster, and only his parents had never abandoned him.

The old man then revealed his own identity and background to Lin Yang, gave his final instructions, and then, with a sudden jab of his finger to Lin Yang’s brow, a torrent of information flooded Lin Yang’s mind.

The old man transferred all his life’s knowledge to Lin Yang, and then, his head drooped and he passed away, his body dissolving into dust.

“Master, I will fulfill your dying wish and avenge your great enmity, whatever the cost,” Lin Yang vowed.

This master, whom he had met but once, had given Lin Yang a new life—like a second set of parents. Lin Yang felt boundless gratitude and reverence.

Opening the treasure pouch his master had given him just before death, Lin Yang took out a rare Primordial Essence Pill and swallowed it. Immediately, changes swept through his body.

Scars began to slough off his skin, black impurities oozed from his pores—a thorough cleansing from the inside out, as if he had been reborn anew.

This pill could purify the body and soul, allowing him to break through the limits of the acquired state and enter the innate realm.

Most importantly, he awakened the power of his dual pupils. As his cultivation advanced, his ocular abilities would continue to grow, unlocking ever more mysterious and formidable powers.

“Qin Monong, Qin Yanran—you venomous, ungrateful mother and daughter. You’d never imagine that disaster turned to fortune for me, that I survived your schemes!”

“You will pay for what you’ve done.”

Having completed his transformation and grasped the rudiments of his dual-pupil powers—enabling him to conceal them at will, for fear others might covet his eyes and rip them out—Lin Yang honored his master’s last wish by scattering his ashes into the river, then set out for the Qin household.

He could wait no longer to take his revenge on the mother and daughter of the Qin family!

—

With a single leap, Lin Yang vaulted into the grand garden of the Qin family villa. Pushing open the door, he was greeted by a scene beyond imagining.

Qin Monong lay half-reclined on the sofa, leafing through a book.

What stunned Lin Yang most was that she wore nothing at all—her flawless, voluptuous figure laid bare before him in all its perfection.

Yet she did not appear vulgar. Rather, she seemed a work of art, exquisitely sculpted, her graceful curves exuding a unique and compelling allure, enough to captivate any onlooker.

Despite having borne a child, Qin Monong’s figure remained impeccable, her diligent self-care leaving her looking no older than her early twenties.

Her past was tragic—at fifteen, she’d been forced by a powerful man and had given birth to Qin Yanran. Later, she fled with her daughter, escaping his grasp and starting anew in Luocheng.

Though Lin Yang was in his twenties, he was still a virgin and had never encountered such a seductive scene. His eyes nearly bulged from their sockets.

Gulp.

He swallowed unconsciously.

Who would have thought that the ever-noble and elegant Qin Monong would be so uninhibited at home, disdaining even clothing—perhaps feeling it would only constrain her perfect form?

Unbeknownst to Lin Yang, during his years of blindness, both Qin Monong and her daughter had developed a preference for not wearing clothes at home. With only a maid and a blind man in the house, there was no one to mind.

Seeing Lin Yang return, Qin Monong exclaimed in surprise, “You’re alive?”

“I am. Disappointed?” Lin Yang ground his teeth as he walked toward her, unable to tear his eyes away from her, his blood surging.

Qin Monong failed to notice his restored vision, her expression disdainful.

“If I’d intended to kill you, you wouldn’t be alive now.”

“Should I thank you for your mercy, then?” Lin Yang was happy to continue pretending to be blind—who wouldn’t want to take in such a breathtaking sight, one that would drive all the men of Luocheng mad, with complete impunity?

Qin Monong, eyes fixed on her book, didn’t bother to look up at Lin Yang. “Go back to your kennel and stay there. Don’t stand in front of me.”

Lin Yang loathed this attitude—the way she, who had betrayed him and stolen his family’s fortune, still looked down on him, treating him like a dog.

Slap!

Lin Yang knocked the book from her hands.

“I am not your pet!”

Qin Monong sprang to her feet, her snowy bosom quivering.

—

“What’s wrong with you?!” she shouted, pointing to the basement. “Get out! Disappear from my sight!”

Lin Yang seized her by the throat and pinned her to the sofa.

“Qin Monong, I’m telling you—starting today, I am no longer the useless wretch you can bully at will!”

“All the humiliation you and your daughter heaped on me these two years—I will repay it in full!”

Qin Monong, a woman who had weathered many storms and was used to wielding power, was caught off guard but still did not take the formerly blind Lin Yang seriously.

“How do you plan to take revenge? Kill me? I bet you don’t have the guts.”

She glared at him, her presence sharp and menacing, turning the threat back on Lin Yang.

“Take your filthy hands off me, then kneel and kowtow. Lick every inch of the floor you dirtied, or I’ll make sure you die a miserable death!”

Qin Monong, head of Starlight Group, ruled her company with absolute authority, her fierce aura making most people lower their heads in her presence. Even her own daughter, the unruly Qin Yanran, was cowed by her.

Before the Lin family’s downfall, Lin Yang himself had been afraid of this godmother, never daring to defy her.

But now, as a grandmaster of the martial path in the innate realm, he could no longer be cowed by her domineering aura.

“Killing you would be too easy. Besides, you’re my godmother—how could I take your life?”

Yet at that moment, the fire surging in Lin Yang’s veins exploded into a wild and dangerous idea.

Qin Monong sneered, “You don’t dare kill me—what, do you plan to rape me instead? Absurd! How did Lin Haoxuan ever have such a useless son?”

“You think I wouldn’t dare?” Lin Yang rasped.

She scoffed, her tone biting. “Even if you dared, do you have the ability? Yanran already crippled you! You’re not only blind but a eunuch—useless for life, doomed to be a coward!”

“This is your last warning—get out, or you won’t survive as a dog any longer. I’ll see to it you die wretchedly.”

Her words were no idle threat. She had clawed her way to become Luocheng’s most renowned businesswoman through intelligence, ability, and ruthlessness.

Lin Yang’s dark thoughts, stoked by her every insult and humiliation, finally boiled over, overwhelming his reason.

“Qin Monong, you pushed me to this! I’ll show you right now whether I am a man or not!”