Strongest Scammer: Scamming The World, One Death At A Time-Chapter 23: A Drunk Man’s Rambling And His Cursed Treasure

A few minutes later, Han Yu was done and felt the energy smoothly flowing through his muscles.

He was at the Sixth Stage of the Body Tempering Realm, where the muscles were tempered. Unlike the first through third stages, which focused on toughening the skin for increased defense, the muscle tempering stages focused on enhancing raw strength.

The results were quite promising—Han Yu felt like he could lift a hundred-kilogram rock with ease!

Feeling overly enthusiastic (and slightly delusional), he decided to put his newfound strength to the test.

"HIYAAAAA!" Han Yu grunted as he gripped a fallen tree trunk and attempted to lift it.

He barely managed to raise it an inch before his arms trembled violently, and he was forced to let go.

THUD!

"Okay... not that strong yet," Han Yu admitted, collapsing onto the ground, panting.

"You think you'd grow strong in just a couple of days? Hic~" the ghostly man slurred, his tongue already tangled from the wine.

"Don't cultivators grow instantly stronger after breakthroughs?" Han Yu asked, still recovering.

"Hah! You think you're a cultivator already!? As if!" The ghostly man burst into laughter, his voice sending chills down Han Yu's spine.

Han Yu had never seen the man laugh before—it was deeply unsettling.

'Man, he laughs worse than the owner of the tavern. And that guy's laugh scares his own wife!' Han Yu thought.

"You know, back in my day, we trained for weeks! No rest! Only beatings!" the ghostly man declared, swaying slightly. "The instructors would beat us day and night until we got the technique right, and only then would we get a single grain pill to eat!"

To Han Yu, this sounded less like training and more like an extreme hazing ritual.

'He really got drunk fast... but at least he's talking. Last time he just passed out.' Han Yu mused, watching the man wobble.

But he had no idea this was just the beginning.

The ghostly man launched into a series of increasingly absurd stories. Han Yu, having seen enough drunkards in taverns, knew that disputing such tales would only make things worse. So, he decided to just listen and nod along.

"We went to the Farlands and hunted down the Obsidian Clawed Dragon King! He was so strong, he killed half a million of our experts before I managed to take him down with one strike of my spear!" the man boasted.

Han Yu had to fight every muscle in his face to stop himself from laughing.

'Yeah, sure. And next, you'll tell me you punched a hole through the moon.'

But it seemed his face still betrayed his disbelief, because the ghostly man's expression darkened.

"You! You don't believe me, do you!?" the man accused, struggling to stand.

Barely.

"You sound ridiculous," Han Yu scoffed. "You really think I'll believe you were some great immortal?" He let out a chuckle.

"Just an immortal?! I was the damned Transcendent Immortal Emperor!" The ghostly man dramatically threw his arms up, nearly toppling over in the process.

Han Yu snorted. "Right. And if you were such a legendary immortal, why do you look like a half-drowned beggar right now?"

"If it weren't for that damned Tribulation, I'd still be ruling!" the ghostly man bellowed, his face turning red—not from embarrassment, but from a mix of rage and alcohol. "And those bastards! The people I trusted—they betrayed me! Stabbed me in the back when I was weak!" His voice cracked with fury.

For the first time, Han Yu hesitated.

The pain in the man's voice... the bitterness in his expression... it didn't seem entirely made up.

'Maybe it's not exactly as he says... but something bad did happen to him,' Han Yu thought. He wasn't buying the "Immortal Emperor" bit, but the betrayal? That part felt real.

"But it all came to an end... and now I'm here..." the man muttered, covering his face in frustration.

Han Yu sat in silence for a moment before asking a rather important question.

"If they betrayed you... how are you still alive?"

The ghostly man perked up as if he had just remembered something very important.

"This!" he suddenly shouted, yanking a pearl necklace from around his neck.

Han Yu recognized it instantly. The pearl was far too pristine to be ordinary.

"This damned thing... It's the reason for everything! It saved me... but it also took everything from me!" the ghostly man howled. "AAAAAAHHHHH! I DON'T WANT IT ANYMORE!"

With a wild swing, he hurled the necklace away with all his might.

"HEY!" Han Yu barely managed to duck as the priceless artifact whizzed past his head.

It took him half a second to process what had just happened.

Then, it hit him.

That necklace looks expensive.

"Shit!" Han Yu immediately dived into the leaves and branches, frantically searching. "Where is it?! Where is it?!"

After a brief yet intense scavenger hunt, he finally spotted it, lying untouched beneath a pile of dried leaves.

"Ah! Here it is!" Han Yu sighed in relief, dusting off the dirt.

Checking for damage, he found it still flawless—aside from a few specks of dust.

Meanwhile, the ghostly man had returned to drinking, already back to miserable drunken mumbling.

Han Yu looked down at the necklace in his hands, curiosity bubbling inside him.

"Sooo... if you don't want it... can I keep it?" he asked, half-expecting a punch to the face.

"Take it! That damned thing is cursed anyway!" The ghostly man waved dismissively. "It'll strip you of everything—your wealth, your status, your life!" He let out a bitter laugh. "Everything!"

Han Yu blinked. "Wait... you're saying this is cursed?"

"It's... the Undying Life Pearl," the ghostly man muttered, voice low and tired. "It can preserve your life upon death... but only once."

Han Yu's eyes widened. "So... it's useless now?"

His initial excitement deflated slightly. But then he had a different thought.

'If it looks valuable... someone else might pay a fortune for it.'

Han Yu smirked.

'Heh. Won't be my problem once I sell it to someone else!'

Already, his mind was working out how to turn a profit. After all, one man's cursed object was another man's exotic treasure—and Han Yu was very good at selling nonsense to idiots.

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