Breaking Free From Shackles

By the next morning, Yan Nu had once again practiced away all of his True Qi until none remained.

His injuries were already half-healed; though his appearance remained ferocious and terrifying, his internal wounds were practically mended.

Yet, after hanging for a whole day, he felt a gnawing hunger and stared straight at the wild grass by the roadside.

At this moment, a passing martial artist crossed his path, and Yan Nu hurriedly shouted, "Uncle, can you give me something to eat? Many thanks."

The passing martial artist froze. Am I close with you?

A pariah beaten to the brink of death, put on public display for three days precisely to ensure he didn't live, yet he actually dared to ask him for food? Simply laughable!

"Hahaha, big fool, are you trying to eat your last meal?"

Yan Nu had never heard of a last meal, and asked in return, "Is a last meal tastier than grass?"

"Grass? You even eat grass?" The passing martial artist laughed out loud.

Yan Nu nodded and said, "I'm too hungry..."

The passing martial artist also felt a playful urge to tease the fool. Seeing grass by the roadside, he casually pulled up a few stalks and shoved them into Yan Nu's mouth.

"Come, come, come, I'll treat you to some grass!"

Who would have thought that Yan Nu would chew vigorously, as if he were eating something extraordinarily fragrant? "Many thanks, uncle, are there any more?"

"..." The passing martial artist was astonished for a moment, then twisted his mouth into a smile. "What a starved ghost, you'll eat anything!"

"Want to eat grass, do you? There's plenty! I'll give it to you! Eat till you drop dead!"

He searched for some more grass, shoved it into Yan Nu's mouth handful by handful, and forced him to swallow it.

"No! Don't!"

Uncle Hong happened to be walking over with the steward. Seeing someone stuffing grass into Yan Nu's mouth, Uncle Hong hurriedly rushed forward and hugged the martial artist's leg.

"Yan Nu, spit it out quickly!"

"Spit out what, eat it all for me!" Steward Liao ordered with a smile.

"Steward! You can't do this! You promised me that as long as Yan Nu knew his mistake, you would spare his life," Uncle Hong said anxiously from the side.

Steward Liao ignored him, merely letting out a chuckle. "Yan Nu'er, I really didn't expect you to still be alive, you've got a stubborn life... Come on, no spitting, swallow it all!"

"Okay!" Yan Nu was very obedient, chewed a few times, and swallowed it all down.

"Hahahaha! Continue!" Seeing Yan Nu obediently eating grass, Steward Liao could not help but laugh aloud, then waved his hand to tell them to keep feeding him.

A person might not necessarily die from eating a little grass, but eating a bellyful of grass would definitely kill them.

Handful after handful of grass was shoved into Yan Nu's mouth, and he accepted all comers, eating every last bit.

In the end, Yan Nu simply stopped chewing altogether, dry-swallowing it whole.

"Come and eat, swallow it down! There's more! There's plenty!"

"If you eat a bellyful of grass, you can still count as a well-fed ghost."

The passing martial artist fed him frantically, and Yan Nu truly indulged himself to his heart's content.

"Don't..." Uncle Hong wore a wailing face. Last night he had told Yan Nu to be submissive and fawn over them today, never expecting Yan Nu to actually obey... but in such a manner.

He shouldn't obey everything blindly, you foolish boy! If you eat a bellyful of grass, can a person still live?

He could only think of quickly begging the steward to release him, and then seeing if he could force him to vomit it back up.

Uncle Hong wiped away his tears and said, "Steward Liao, he has eaten the grass as well, so please show mercy and let him go."

"Let him go?" Steward Liao leaned over to look down at him. "I didn't promise you... I just came over to see whether he was dead or not."

"What!" Uncle Hong was finally consumed by rage. "You... why are you so vicious! He is only a demented child!"

"Me vicious?" Steward Liao said coldly. "The world is full of demons everywhere. Once you step outside the city, if you can't walk fifty miles you'll be feeding the monsters!"

"The day before yesterday, someone in the fort was eaten by a monster, and last night another person went missing!"

"The truly vicious ones are the monsters! The Hu barbarians!"

"If not for them, this world would be at peace, and how could I be stuck in this broken fortified manor, managing a bunch of pariahs day in and day out?"

"Not a single one of you knows what's good for you. What do you think I make you work desperately to store water and forge weapons for? The Hu barbarians are coming!"

"Wherever the Tu Fa Clan passes, corpses litter the field. At the Battle of Ji River, the Jin Army suffered a crushing defeat! Now the gates of Qingzhou are wide open, and the rise and fall of the world rests entirely in the hands of us noble families! For you to be able to settle down and secure a single evening's sleep is already sheer fortune! How dare you call me vicious?"

Uncle Hong was blasted by Steward Liao's rapid-fire tirade until his head was spinning.

What did he know about the rise and fall of the world? But he did know that the outside was plagued by war and chaos. The common people could only hide here, attaching themselves to the noble families in order to survive.

Yan Nu had already eaten a bellyful of grass and could not possibly live; why should he provoke the noble lord's displeasure all over again?

Thus Uncle Hong trembled, not daring to retort a single word.

Yet Yan Nu, standing off to the side, heard mention of the Battle of Ji River, and his eyes lit up as he asked with boundless anticipation, "Steward! Steward! In the Battle of Ji River, did my grandpa survive?"

"Is he coming back soon?"

Yan Nu thought of grandpa returning from military service and felt happy. Yet what Shen Leling had said last night still made him somewhat uncomfortable, so seeing the steward bring up the Battle of Ji River, he hurriedly pursued the question.

However, how could Steward Liao possibly know who his grandpa was?

"Ah? What nonsense? What grandpa?"

Uncle Hong wore a dejected face, knowing Yan Nu was beyond saving, and spoke up. "His grandpa was one of those local militia troops the fort master sent out at the end of last year to reinforce the Governor of Qingzhou."

"Ha? Ah hahahaha!" Steward Liao was astonished, and then burst into loud laughter!

"That bunch of white-haired soldiers, didn't they die long ago?"

His laughter caused Yan Nu's smile to freeze.

Steward Liao looked mockingly at Yan Nu. "You're actually still waiting? The moment those white-haired soldiers were sent over, Gou Xi used them as cannon fodder to die!"

"The troops of all the noble families died north of Ji River. It was precisely by using those soldiers as fodder that Gou Xi was able to successfully escape to the southern bank and have the time to burn all the boats..."

Saying this, Steward Liao muttered with some indignation, "That dog Gou Xi is truly useless. Relying on a strategic stronghold, an army of two hundred thousand couldn't defeat thirty thousand! And he still has the face to spread demagogic lies! If one person could truly slaughter myriad soldiers, the Hu barbarians would have swept across the world long ago!"

Yan Nu found it impossible to believe, and shouted, "Are you lying to me? That's not what you and Uncle Hong said!"

"Hmm?" Steward Liao glanced sideways at Uncle Hong.

"I'm sorry... Yan Nu, uncle lied to you. I shouldn't have told you that once the quota was met there would be news... It's all uncle's fault, uncle harmed you." Uncle Hong lowered his head, filled with deep regret.

In order to hide a piece of news, he had told a lie, leading to the current predicament. He had thought that gathering quotas and the like was something impossible to achieve in a lifetime, but as it turned out, Yan Nu was a demented child who had stubbornly gone and done it.

At this moment, Yan Nu widened his eyes, staring straight at Steward Liao.

Dead, and he will never be able to eat again, never be able to smile again, never be able to miss anyone again, never be able to protect the people he loves...

The sound of his grandpa's voice and expression lingered in his mind; this was the person he loved.

Ever since he could remember, he had followed grandpa. It was grandpa who led him to till the fields, led him to protect, led him to wander, led him to return home... teaching him reason, teaching him how to live.

Even though they worked themselves to the bone without a single good day, grandpa always said that after suffering a bit, times would pass quickly and next year everything would get better.

They had waited through the righteous army, waited through the government officials, waited through the imperial court, waited through the noble families, waited through the immortals... No matter what kind of pain came their way, he had always responded to it with a smile.

As long as grandpa was around, Yan Nu was willing to keep waiting forever!

Yet reality never allowed it.

"Yi..." Suddenly he opened his mouth, whimpering with a foolish, smiling expression.

This inexplicable smile made Steward Liao's heart bristle. Has he gone mad?

Uncle Hong also looked blankly at Yan Nu.

At this moment, Yan Nu's eyes were bloodshot, his laughter mixed with choking sobs.

He remembered what grandpa had said: If one day I die, you must not cry when the time comes; you must live on bravely and strongly.

Yan Nu also always remembered that grandpa liked his smile the best.

So Yan Nu opened his mouth wide, desperately trying to smile. He wanted grandpa to hear it, he wanted grandpa to see it.

Yet that casual, brilliant smile—which could bloom even when he was beaten to the verge of death—was now somehow impossible to force out.

The more he couldn't smile, the more anxious he grew.

Maintaining the posture of a parted-mouth grin, his throat could only squeeze out a stiff sound of weeping: "Yi yi... yi yi..."

Uncle Hong said with a trembling voice, "Steward, grant Yan Nu a quick death."

"So noisy, kill him!" The reason Steward Liao had targeted Yan Nu in the first place was because he found his constant smiling most irritating.

Their group of noble families walked around with furrowed brows all day under immense pressure; what right did a pariah like Yan Nu have to smile so happily every day?

At this command, a martial artist drew his saber and slashed down.

"Plop!" The martial artist's steel saber chopped into Yan Nu's neck.

Yan Nu's neck tilted, and then nothing happened.

The martial artist stared in shock at the blade edge; he hadn't expected this saber to fail to cut through! This was a neck, after all, so how had it been blocked?

To be precise, it had been caught by his wounds!

After all, Yan Nu's entire body was covered in bloody lacerations whipped open by lashes.

So much so that this single blow produced a sound resembling a blunt knife hammering against meat.

"What are you doing? Is looking good with a blade on his neck your goal? Hurry up and kill him!" Steward Liao urged.

The martial artist swallowed a mouthful of saliva, changed angles, and hacked with another strike, still unable to cut through it!

At this point, Steward Liao also saw that something was wrong. Vajra Indestructible?

At the same time, Yan Nu stopped whimpering.

"I won't wait anymore." He stared fixedly at Steward Liao, his eyes burning red as if there was no longer anyone left worth waiting for.

Steward Liao looked at Yan Nu, whose red eyes seemed to spew fire, and shuddered all over with terror.

"Thud!" Suddenly, a loud crash rang out.

Yan Nu's right arm lashed violently forward!

The chains pulled taut, and the connection point between the driven chains and the iron pillar let out a massive din.

Then Yan Nu pulled back his arm, coiled his strength backward, and after a flurry of rustling sounds, struck out fiercely once more!

"Thud!" This time the roar was even greater! Even the towering iron pillar vibrated!

Then came the third strike, the fourth strike... Too fast! Too heavy! Yan Nu was punching for all he was worth—no, to be precise, he was swinging a giant hammer!

The method of channeling True Qi into external objects to unleash force... he only knew this single move!

One hammer! Two hammers! Three hammers! Four hammers!

"Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!"

Each hammer was heavier than the last, each sound louder than the previous! It was like drumming directly against the heart! The connection point between the iron pillar and the chains was already buckling under the unbearable strain.

Steward Liao retreated in panic time and time again, while the martial artists in the distance came rushing over upon hearing the deafening noise.

"How is this possible? How can he have such immense strength? Shouldn't he be close to death?"

No one had expected that the seemingly dying Yan Nu possessed such great strength and such thick True Qi!

Then why hadn't he used it earlier? Why had he endured two hundred lashes? All along, Yan Nu had been a fool who let others bully him without knowing any better, yet no one had imagined he possessed such astonishing power.

Little did they know, Yan Nu had always remembered grandpa's words: If they beat you or scold you, absolutely do not strike back, but if they want to kill you... you must run! Kill whoever blocks your path!

Until this very moment, Yan Nu had finally lost all lingering attachment to this place.

"Ah!" he roared, muscles tightening all over his body, blood vessels bulging!

The Hammer True Qi inside his body surged and boiled, carrying the vortexes in the Xuanji and Huagai apertures into a frenzied spin.

The two types of True Qi exerted force together, and only a single thunderous roar was heard.

"Bang!"

The chain was finally snapped by him!

Yan Nu brandished the chains still cuffed to his right arm, swung his arm in a full circle, and smashed it fiercely against the iron pillar on the left.

"Clang!"

The chain was forged from fine steel, but the pillar was not, and Tea Mountain Fort wasn't wasteful enough to erect pillars of pure fine steel in an execution ground.

This strike landed like a heavy hammer, ruthlessly shattering the connection between the chain and the iron pillar.

Yan Nu had broken free from his shackles!

He stepped forward, two six-foot-long chains still dangling from his wrists! Dragging along the ground!

"Quick! Stop him!"

By now the execution ground had already been surrounded by a hundred-odd martial artists!

Steward Liao retreated in horror into the crowd. Although he possessed some refined martial arts techniques of his own, he had rarely engaged in actual combat after all, and right now Yan Nu's aura was far too terrifying!

Yan Nu looked like a bloody figure, wearing a pair of tattered trousers, bare-footed, leaving bloody footprints with every single step.

He looked around his surroundings; he had already fallen into heavy encirclement.

"Do not block me..." Yan Nu said word by word, dead serious.

Yet the response he received was, "Kill!"

One martial artist after another erupted with vigorous vital energy and heavy saber momentum, swarming in from all directions.

Yan Nu instantly leaped into the air, his arms brandishing the chains as he swept across his entire body, producing the sound of wind and thunder!

"Clang clang clang!"

"Plop plop plop!"

All sorts of metallic clashing sounds, all sorts of flesh-and-blood collisions.

Within six feet of the chains, anything they struck died, anything they grazed went flying!

Yan Nu did not stint on his True Qi in the slightest; the moment he made a move, he used his full strength, lacking any forms or routines, and entirely ignorant of restraint! It all boiled down to a single word: smash!

Smash it all to smithereens!

p.s: Sorry.