Beast!

"Yes, I understand." Shen Zhui's heart tightened.

He wasn't stupid enough to give the Li Family an opening.

He was merely an Eighth Stage of Acquired Realm martial artist, yet that Li Family Young Master had dispatched two Elite Squads, brought out crossbows and archers, and even had a Xiantian Martial Artist as an attendant.

If Wang Long hadn't arrived just in time, and happened to break through to Major Accomplishment Realm in his movement technique, he really would have died at Fanshan Pavilion.

"Li Family, steeped in evil. Once I'm strong enough, I'll cut you all down," Shen Zhui thought to himself.

"Let's go. Back to the city."

Meanwhile, inside the county town.

Yang Wu was leading a group of men on their patrol shift through the streets.

It was called patrolling, but it was pretty much just loitering.

After all, no one dared to cause trouble inside the city under the watch of Divine Law, because it was easy to get caught and hard to escape.

"I hear the Young Master went himself this time. Shen Zhui is as good as dead. I just wonder if the Young Master has succeeded yet," Yang Wu mused as he strolled along. He knew the Young Master's temperament well enough.

The man was extremely cautious. Even when killing a martial artist in the early Acquired Realm, he'd dispatch several times the enemy's strength.

According to the Young Master himself, he liked watching the look of despair on his prey's face as they died.

"In a few days, news of Shen Zhui's death should come out... Hmph, Shen Zhui, who told you to run your mouth and offend me? And you had no sense, insisting on opposing the Li Family?"

"Shen Zhui, Shen Zhui, if you don't die, who will?"

Once the Li Family completely toppled the County Governor, wouldn't Heyuan County be ruled by the two great families?

Thinking of this, Yang Wu grew even more smug.

Reaching a fruit stall on the street, he casually grabbed a green fruit and said to the stall owner, "Old Third Zhang, are these fruits fresh?"

"Fresh, absolutely fresh! If you don't believe me, sir, take a few and try them?" the stall owner quickly bowed and scraped.

"How can I do that? I'm on patrol by order of the County Governor. I can't just take people's things," Yang Wu said with a deliberately stern face, but his hand didn't stop, shoving the fruit into his mouth and taking a big bite.

Old Third Zhang cursed inwardly, but didn't dare show any displeasure on his face. Instead, he proactively picked up a few fruits and shoved them into the man's hands:

"You're joking, sir. You work hard on patrol. It's only right that a commoner gives you a few to quench your thirst."

"Mm... you know your place." Yang Wu was satisfied with the attitude. "Brothers, have a taste. Don't waste his goodwill."

"Thanks, Brother Wu."

A bunch of Constables immediately laughed and jostled forward, grabbing without restraint at the stall's goods.

In no time, a good chunk of the fruit on display was gone.

Old Third Zhang's heart bled, but he dared not complain.

Next to him was a dried goods stall run by a burly man. Seeing this, he was about to speak up.

"Brother Zhang, you—"

"Take care, sirs!" Old Third Zhang quickly called out with a smile, seeing Yang Wu off, then shot the man a look.

Once they were far away, the burly stall owner grew anxious: "Brother Zhang, you worked hard to bring in these fruits, and they just take nearly half for nothing? How can you do business like that? Won't you go broke?"

Old Third Zhang shook his head. "You think I want this? Little brother, you're new to town and don't know how deep it runs. If I'd dared to ask those martial artist gentlemen for money just now, I'd be in big trouble!"

The burly man widened his eyes. "Would they dare hit you or smash your goods? This is the city! There are Gods Three Feet Above Your Head!"

Old Third Zhang sighed. "Why would they need to hit or smash? They'd just say my goods are defective, take me and my stock to the county office for inspection, and then make me wait half a day or a full day."

"In the end, they'd send me and my goods back intact, leaving no evidence at all. The gods, hah, would they bother with such trivial nonsense?"

The burly man laughed. "If the man and goods are both fine, what's there to fear? I've never been to the county office—wouldn't mind a look!"

"But little brother, what if he pulls this stunt every few days?"

"This..." The burly man was stumped.

Indeed, that one trick was enough to completely screw over small vendors like them.

"Wouldn't the County Governor just sit by and do nothing?"

"How could he manage it? They're the ones in charge of this. Would the County Governor bother with such petty matters?"

Old Third Zhang sighed. "Even if he did step in, the time and money spent would probably exceed the cost of those fruits."

"Ah..." The burly man sighed, said no more, and turned to greet customers.

Yang Wu didn't know what the two vendors were thinking, and even if he did, he probably wouldn't care.

Influenced by Li Ming, he too believed that before long, Heyuan County would return to an era ruled by clan aristocrats.

"Creak—" A single-wheeled Triangular Cart piled high with charcoal slowly rolled over the bluestone road. An old man with graying hair pushed it with effort, his frame trembling as if barely bearing the load.

Suddenly, the wooden wheel ran over a small pebble, throwing the Triangular Cart off balance.

"Hey! Brother Wu, watch out!"

The shout jolted Yang Wu from his pleasant daydream.

Seeing the charcoal cart tilting toward him, about to crash, Yang Wu snorted coldly and kicked out without hesitation.

The cart-pusher, who had barely managed to regain balance, stumbled and toppled over with his cart.

"Blind fool, you almost hit me!" Yang Wu cursed loudly. If it had hit him, his clothes would've been ruined by the charcoal. Even so, a cloud of black dust rose and dirtied his pant cuffs.

"Ouch!" The old man hit the ground, pale-faced from the kick, clearly having twisted something.

"You think you can afford to dirty my clothes?" Yang Wu frowned at the grimy old man. As an Eighth Stage of Acquired Realm martial artist, he could easily have dodged, but instead he blamed the old man for being careless.

"Whew... whew..." The old man carefully stood up. "My apologies, sir, please forgive me."

With that, he bent down to pick up the scattered charcoal.

"Hurry up and fix this!" Yang Wu shot him a disgusted look. The narrow alley was now completely blocked by the overturned cart.

"Damn old fool, what bad luck," Yang Wu muttered to himself.

In his eyes, selling charcoal was a lowly trade—little money, always filthy. A prosperous county town shouldn't let such people in to dirty the view.

"Almost done, almost done." The old man's clothes were soaked through, sweat beading on his forehead. But with his twisted injury, picking up the charcoal was painfully slow.

"Stop dawdling, you're blocking the road and holding up traffic." Yang Wu pinched his nose in distaste and kicked the Triangular Cart.

"Ouch!" The old man, who had been stacking charcoal, lost his balance as the cart jolted, and both he and the cart crashed to the ground again.

This time, his injury seemed worse. He struggled a few times but couldn't get back up.

"Haha, serves you right!" The accompanying Constables burst into laughter.

"Stupid old man, don't know your limits at your age."

"What a nuisance."

Shen Shan lay on the ground, unable to voice his suffering. He sighed helplessly at the scattered charcoal.

"Officers, why torment an old man?" Shen Shan, wincing in pain, knew full well they were taking out their anger on him deliberately.

"What a sly old codger—you nearly hit us with your careless driving, and now you dare to blame us?"

"Huh? Brother Wu, this old man looks familiar." Suddenly, a chubby Constable squinted at him.

"Now that you mention it, I think I've seen him somewhere... Right, he's Shen Zhui's Adoptive Father!"

"Shen Zhui's Adoptive Father?" Yang Wu paused, then felt a surge of glee. "It really is him! That Shen Zhui arrested my nephew and crossed me time and again—since he's not coming back anyway... today I'll teach his Adoptive Father a lesson!"

With that thought, Yang Wu feigned nonchalance and casually aimed a kick at the triangular wooden cart.

If that kick landed, not only would the cart shatter, but the old man, already down and injured, would be caught in the wreckage and hurt again.

Just as Yang Wu raised his foot to strike—

"Stop!" A voice rang out from behind.

Shen Shan lay on the ground, covered in black charcoal dust, clutching his waist, his face pale.

"Huh?" Yang Wu and the Constables turned to look.

A tall figure charged over from a distance, furious. Yang Wu recognized him instantly and exclaimed in surprise, "Shen Zhui? Is that you? What do you think you're doing?!"

"Bastard!" Shen Zhui spotted his Adoptive Father Shen Shan writhing in pain on the ground, and his eyes instantly turned red.

In this world, his Adoptive Father Shen Shan had raised him by selling charcoal, giving him a second life. He never imagined such humiliation would befall him today.

One of the slightly chubby Constables moved to block Shen Zhui.

"Yang Wu!!" Shen Zhui roared, lifting his foot and kicking out with a whoosh of wind. The chubby Constable hurriedly raised his arms to block.

"Boom!"

The powerful kick sent the blocker flying backward, crashing five or six meters away.

"Shen Zhui, how dare you start a fight in the city!" Yang Wu glared, shouting, "Are you trying to rebel?!"

"I'll kill you, you animal!" Shen Zhui's eyes burned red with fury.

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