Keeping His Strength Hidden

"We're not members of the Yu Family. We should be allowed to leave, right?"

Senior disciple Zhu Fang did not look at Yu Zhentian's expression. Instead, he raised his head toward Scum Third atop the roof.

Scum Third suddenly burst into laughter, narrowing his eyes as he said:

"Of course. But you only have two breaths left."

"That's enough."

Zhu Fang let out a heavy sigh of relief. With that, he turned and sprinted toward the courtyard gate, while the two junior brothers beside him immediately followed without the slightest hesitation.

"You... a pack of ungrateful wretches!!"

Yu Zhentian was beside himself with fury. He leaped into the air and lunged after the three of them.

The others were one thing, but these three disciples before him had been taken in as children and painstakingly raised by him. Over the years, he had poured countless efforts into them.

That was why he could not accept their betrayal no matter what.

"Everyone, run! If you don't run now, it'll be too late!"

Zhu Fang shouted, joining his two fellow disciples in striking out with all their strength and exchanging several palm blows with Yu Zhentian.

Amid a series of explosive bursts of force, Zhu Fang and the other two were sent flying by Yu Zhentian. They crashed into the ornamental rockery nearby, splitting cracks into the hard stone.

All three suffered internal injuries. They vomited blood and rolled onto the ground, almost unable to rise again.

Seizing that opening, the other martial arts school disciples and trainees no longer hesitated. They immediately scattered in every direction.

Even their senior brother was fleeing for his life. If they did not run too, staying behind would mean nothing but throwing their lives away.

At that moment, Yu Zhentian's white hair was in disarray, and his entire body trembled.

"Why?"

He paid no attention to the others. Instead, he gritted his teeth and demanded an answer from Zhu Fang, his eyes filled with both rage and profound disappointment.

"Time's up!"

Scum Third slashed out with his blade, sending a blade aura through the air that split a willow tree in the courtyard cleanly in two.

"From this moment on, anyone who dares move again will end up like that tree!"

At the sight, the people who had yet to escape were frightened out of their wits. Their feet stopped at once, and none dared move an inch.

"It's over!"

Zhang Dazhuang swallowed hard as he stared at the severed tree, as thick as a man's thigh. His face went ashen.

Li Musheng shook his head without speaking. Zhang Dazhuang turned around and asked in a trembling voice:

"Asheng, why aren't you running?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Li Musheng tilted his head.

Zhang Dazhuang clenched the staff in his hand tightly. A bitter look appeared on his broad, fleshy face as he sighed.

"Truth is, I'm afraid of dying too. But if the old master hadn't taken me in back then, I would have frozen to death in that winter many years ago."

"So I can't leave. Even though I know staying won't do much good."

There were not many people left in the courtyard now. Li Musheng sat down on the stone steps beside him and slowly nodded.

"One thing is one thing. Although Old Yu is selfish, stingy, and a snob, a debt of gratitude still has to be repaid."

Meanwhile, faced with Yu Zhentian's questioning, senior disciple Zhu Fang wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and suddenly laughed.

"Master, you ask me why? Then let me ask you: where are the eldest young master, Second Miss, and the rest of the Yu Family household right now?"

Yu Zhentian froze abruptly, and the fury filling his chest stalled.

Zhu Fang continued:

"Master, you knew all along that the Scum River Seven Bandits would come today. That's why you arranged for the eldest young master and the others to be sent away beforehand, while leaving us disciples behind to die in the Yu Family's place. Isn't that right?"

Yu Zhentian did not speak. Zhu Fang's face gradually twisted.

"You always said you treated us like your own sons, but in the end, weren't we just cannon fodder sent to die in your place, Yu Zhentian?"

"If I hadn't discovered it by accident, none of us would even know how we died today. We might have kept foolishly serving the Yu Family until our very last breaths."

The martial arts school disciples and trainees in the courtyard were all stunned by those words.

Only now did they belatedly realize that, during the old master's grand occasion of washing his hands in a golden basin and retiring, they had never once seen the eldest young master, Second Miss, or the others.

For a moment, everyone turned to look at Yu Zhentian, who stood in the courtyard.

Zhang Dazhuang did the same. Yet when he saw Yu Zhentian's aged and weary face, his expression slowly dimmed, and he said quietly:

"Ah, I can understand the old master."

After a pause, he added:

"But Asheng, you curse the old master every day for being stingy. Why did you stay in the end?"

Li Musheng spread his hands.

"Old Yu said that after washing his hands in a golden basin, he'd give everyone five taels of silver. I haven't gotten the money yet, have I?"

Hearing that, Zhang Dazhuang lifted his head and looked deeply at Li Musheng.

"It's not worth losing your life over five taels of silver. Actually... you don't have to be like me and throw your life away just to repay a kindness."

Li Musheng smiled and waved a hand.

"Once I get the silver, I'm not staying at the Yu Family Martial Arts School."

"We don't have time to watch your master-and-disciple drama of tearing each other apart."

Scum Second's hoarse voice came from the roof as he waved his hand.

A masked man in black grasped a long rope and hoisted two coarse burlap sacks into the air from below behind him, then flung them directly before Yu Zhentian.

Two pained groans sounded from within. The sacks were ripped open by a powerful burst of force, revealing the two figures inside.

"Xian'er, Ermei!"

Yu Zhentian's expression changed drastically. The two before him were his eldest son and second daughter, whom he had secretly sent away.

"Trying to pull tricks right under our noses—you truly think too little of the Scum River Seven Bandits."

Scum Third sneered down at Yu Zhentian, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Hand over the thing, and I can show mercy and decide to leave your whole family with intact corpses."

Yu Zhentian stiffened, but he did not answer. Instead, he hurriedly checked on his children.

What he found filled him with shock and rage. His son's arms and legs had been broken, while his four-hundred-pound second daughter was covered in wounds, blood streaming everywhere, white fat spilling from her injuries.

"You're courting death!"

Yu Zhentian flew into a rage. His inner force surged, kicking up a fierce wind, and with a roar, he raised the longsword in his hand, leaped onto the roof, and charged at Scum Third and the others.

Soon, Sword Qi crisscrossed the air and roof tiles flew everywhere as Yu Zhentian fought five of them, excluding Scum Second.

What astonished everyone beyond measure was that Yu Zhentian, facing five opponents alone, was not at a disadvantage in the slightest.

"Old bastard, you're at death's door and still hiding your strength."

Scum Third's gaze darkened. The blade light in his hands flashed like lightning, every stroke a lethal killing move.

He had originally planned to hold back and capture Yu Zhentian alive for questioning, but unless he went all out now, he could not suppress his opponent at all.

Zhu Fang and the others stood rooted to the spot at this sight. They had truly never imagined that their master had concealed his abilities so deeply, his martial prowess far greater than what they had seen in ordinary times.

"You ungrateful wretches, take Xian'er and Ermei away at once! I'll hold them back."

Yu Zhentian's thunderous roar rang by everyone's ears. Before Zhu Fang and the others could react, Zhang Dazhuang was already the first to rush to Yu Xian's side, intending to support him and flee the courtyard.

However, when he saw Yu Ermei on the other side, covered in wounds, he clearly hesitated. He cast Li Musheng an urgent, pleading look.

"Brother Zhang, leaving all four hundred pounds of her to me is a bit much, isn't it?"

Li Musheng frowned, his displeasure written plainly across his face.