“Ah… Master, easy! Go easy!”

The one getting smacked around was Ethan Mercer.

Snatched up the mountain by that lunatic old man at the age of three, and now he was eighteen. For all these years, his daily routine had basically been this: get beaten, then get beaten some more.

If Ethan tried to sneak down the mountain on his own?

Congrats. Instant beating.

If the old man woke up and didn’t see Ethan practicing?

Still a beating.

If the old man was in a bad mood?

No need to say more. Ethan got hit again.

And when the old man couldn’t even come up with a reason?

Yep. Same result.

Over the years, Ethan had taken more beatings than meals.

“You can go down the mountain now…” the old man said, standing beside him with his hands behind his back.

Ethan rubbed the sore spot on his body and shot him a suspicious look. “Old man, can you act like a human for once? You just finished beating me. What, round two already?”

Every time Ethan had tried to sneak off the mountain before, he’d been dragged back and beaten half to death. So by now, the moment he heard the words go down the mountain, he got PTSD on the spot.

“This time I’m not hitting you,” the old man said flatly. “Once you go down, don’t come back.”

Ethan stared at him. “Old man, you got a fever or something? Your brain lagging?”

Yeah, no way he was falling for that.

How many times had this shameless old liar used the exact same excuse to bait him before?

Ethan had gotten wise. At this point, anything the old man said had to be taken in reverse. If you followed the old man’s instructions, he’d definitely change his mind later, beat you up, and then pretend he never said any of it.

“Haven’t you always wanted to leave?” the old man snapped. “Then hurry up and get lost. I’m sick of looking at you.”

“I’m not going. Beat me to death and I still won’t go.”

The old man narrowed his eyes. “What if I told you I found you a gorgeous wife in Zhonghai? You going or not?”

Ethan’s eyes lit up instantly.

Then, just as quickly, the light died.

Trap. Definitely a trap.

This old fossil having a conscience? Finding him a wife? Please. Did he look stupid?

“Yeah, right. As if I’d believe you,” Ethan said with a snort. “You shady old geezer are bad news from head to toe. You’d find me a wife? Come on.”

“Hey, you brat.” The old man glared at him. “So that’s what you think of me? I found you a fiancée with a great figure, pretty as a fairy, and if you don’t want her, fine. I’ll introduce her to someone else.”

“Wait, wait, wait, Master, don’t go!” Ethan instantly changed tone, shamelessly grabbing at his sleeve. “How do I find her?”

The old man let out a cold huff. “Hmph. The second you hear there’s a beauty involved, it’s Master this, Master that. When you’re begging for mercy, it’s Master too. Any other time, I’m just the old man.”

But Ethan didn’t care about any of that.

A beauty was waiting for him. Whether it was a trap or not, he had to roll the dice. Life was all about taking chances, right?

The old man pulled out a document and tossed it over. “This is your marriage contract. Take it to Haida Group in Zhonghai City and find their chairman. He’ll make the arrangements.”

Ethan took the contract with a goofy grin, his mind already painting all kinds of dreamy images.

Not gonna lie, maybe this old man actually had a heart after all.

For once, the guy was giving him benefits instead of bruises.

But when Ethan lowered his head and read the paper carefully, his expression froze.

“Old man… you set this engagement up ten years ago behind my back?” He looked up in disbelief. “And she’s three years older than me?”

He was stunned.

A marriage arranged ten years ago?

How the hell did this old man know she was still beautiful now? What if she’d grown up ugly? What if she was built like a tank? What if she weighed five hundred pounds? How was he supposed to deal with that?

The old man rolled his eyes. “What’s wrong with older? An older woman by three years is like striking gold. Don’t be so rigid.”

“Forget the age thing for a second,” Ethan said, waving the contract. “This engagement was set ten years ago. Are they even gonna admit it still counts?”

The old man’s face turned cold. “They’d better. Unless their old master has a death wish. You’ll understand when you get there.”

Ethan clicked his tongue. “Fine. But let me say this first—if she’s ugly, I’m not accepting this marriage.”

“Then get lost already,” the old man barked. “I don’t want to see your face for one more second.”

Ethan blinked. “Old man… I’m really leaving?”

He started edging toward the mountain path, one cautious step at a time, eyes locked on the old man the whole way, ready for that familiar sneak attack at any second.

“Go, go, go!” the old man waved him off impatiently. “I won’t beat you anymore. Look at you, scared out of your wits. Pathetic.”

Ethan shuffled dozens of meters away. When he realized the old man really wasn’t chasing after him this time, his whole body jolted with excitement.

He spun around and bolted downhill like his life depended on it.

“Hahaha! I’m free! I’m finally freaking free!”

“No more getting beaten every single day!”

“Wifey, wait for me! Your man is coming, hahaha!”

At that moment, Ethan, fresh off the mountain, looked exactly like a bird that had just been let out of a cage.

The sky was wide.

The world was open.

And he was so happy he could almost float.

He had been taken up that mountain by the old man when he was only three.

He still didn’t know where his parents were.

Whenever Ethan asked, the old man always gave him the same lazy answer: picked you up off the street, no clue whose kid you are, only heard someone call you Ethan Mercer.

That answer had never stopped the ache in his chest.

For all these years, he had wanted a family of his own. He had wanted to know whether his parents still remembered him, whether they had ever searched for him, whether somewhere in this huge world, someone was still waiting for him.

Of course, his life on the mountain hadn’t been all training and beatings.

Well… mostly those two.

But not entirely.

Besides forcing him to practice every day and stuffing medical knowledge into his head, the old man had also given him missions to carry out.

Real missions.

Don’t let his age fool you—though he was only eighteen, Ethan was already the most mysterious figure on the Earth Rank of the assassin list.

Codename: Shura.

He’d started taking missions at thirteen.

Some jobs were protection gigs for wealthy tycoons around the world.

Others were assassinations targeting political figures from different countries.

Again and again, he’d walked the line between life and death. More than once, he’d practically had one foot in the grave.

And all the money he earned?

Every cent went straight into the old man’s pocket.

The guy never left him a dime.

On the rare occasion he was in a good mood, he might toss Ethan ten bucks, maybe eight, like he was feeding scraps to a stray dog.

“Damn it…”

Only now did Ethan suddenly realize the problem.

“I left in such a rush, I didn’t bring a single cent.” His face twitched. “That stingy old man is seriously next-level cheap. I made him so much money and he wouldn’t even give me pocket money. And now I’m heading into the city to find my wife with empty pockets? That’s just social death.”

Still, there was no way he was turning back.

Who knew if that crazy old man would suddenly regret everything the second he returned? He had finally escaped. Why walk back into the trap?

More importantly, Ethan knew perfectly well that at his current early Foundation Establishment realm, he was no match for that monster.

The old man was absurdly deep, like a bottomless abyss.

Every single time Ethan got stronger, he’d feel like he was just one little push away from finally flattening the old bastard.

And every single time, once Ethan improved, the old man somehow got stronger too, like it happened naturally.

It was infuriating.

The guy always gave Ethan that tiny sliver of hope, making him think, Just a bit more. Just a bit more and I can beat him.

Total scam.

Fortunately, this place wasn’t too far from Zhonghai City.

And surviving in the wild?

That was child’s play for Ethan.

He’d been hunting in the mountains since he was little, so starving was not an issue.

The only problem was distance.

Zhonghai was two hundred li away. Without money, he could only rely on his own legs to get there.

Sure, he could already control objects and fly, but this was the modern world. Better to keep a low profile. No need to freak out ordinary people and cause a scene.

What Ethan didn’t know was this—

The moment he went down the mountain, the old man behind him quietly turned into a wisp of green smoke and vanished from the mountain where he had lived for more than ten years.