Bai Family

Li Kun had not yet finished relieving himself when a faint scent of blood drifted into his nostrils.

The smell was very faint, so faint it was almost dispersed by the night breeze, but his intuition, honed by years of living on the edge of a blade, sounded an alarm in an instant.

Something is wrong!

He didn't even bother to pull up his pants, letting out a sudden, furious roar as his body abruptly retreated several paces.

"Who?! Who is it!"

When he saw the scene before him, the hair all over his body stood on end, and his heart felt as if it had been gripped by a hand and pulled up into his throat.

Under the moonlight, three of his four attendants were already lying in pools of blood.

The dark red blood slowly spread across the bluestone, casting an eerie glow under the moonlight.

The last one stood straight where he was, motionless, his eyes dull and hollow, as if his soul had been ripped away.

He had been scared witless.

To kill three attendants with Hidden Energy in succession without being detected—what kind of strength did this person possess?

A Transformation Energy expert?

What made Li Kun's back go even colder was that he still hadn't caught a glimpse of the person!

"Black Fish! Stop him! If I make it back, I'll reward your family with a thousand taels of silver!"

He shouted sternly at the last remaining attendant, while his feet began to retreat, preparing to turn and flee.

The moment the words left his lips, the last attendant's body went limp, collapsing silently like overcooked noodles.

The instant he fell, a black figure darted out from behind him, moving with the speed of black lightning, almost tearing through the night.

"So fast!"

Li Kun let out a strange cry; with no time to think, his arms instinctively crossed to block his front. His energy surged out, condensing into an invisible layer of protection on the surface of his arms, wrapping around them like layers of silk.

"Roar--!"

A fist wind rushed toward his face, accompanied by a deafening tiger's roar.

The sound didn't seem to come from a fist, but rather from a real, ferocious tiger.

What was rushing toward him was not a man, but a tiger breaking out of its cage—famished and filled with monstrous killing intent.

At the moment of impact, a massive surge of energy exploded outward.

Li Kun's eyes widened as he felt his arms being struck by a mountain, his entire body sent flying backward uncontrollably.

He tried to steady himself, but the energy surged in wave after wave like a tide, engulfing his body and leaving him unable to react at all.

"Ah--!"

He tumbled and scrambled through the air for five or six zhang, rolling on the ground several times before finally coming to a stop.

A mouthful of blood sprayed out, splattering onto the bluestone.

His hair was disheveled, his aura withered, and his arms trembled uncontrollably; the forearm of the arm he had used to block was visibly caved in.

"Five Animals Fist?! Are you from the Five Animals Martial Hall?"

Li Kun raised his head, staring fixedly at the figure in black, whose face was covered by a black cloth.

Five Animals Fist! That tiger's roar just now was the hallmark of the Tiger Style of the Five Animals Fist!

His mind raced; there were only a few experts with Manifest Energy at the Five Animals Martial Hall, all of whom he had met, and none of their builds matched this one.

"Who exactly are you? If you dare to treat me like this, aren't you afraid the Li Family will wash the Five Animals Martial Hall in blood?"

Li Kun stood up shakily, his feet inching backward.

The only response he received was a figure charging toward him at extreme speed.

This time, it was not a tiger.

It was a bear.

A giant bear lurking in a cave, coiled and ready to strike.

"Boom--!"

The air in front of Li Kun seemed to be compressed to the limit by an invisible giant hand, emitting a dull roar.

Before the fist even arrived, the wind pressure was already causing his skin to cave in, making it difficult to breathe.

The moment the fist struck his chest, his ribcage collapsed inward.

His sturdy sternum shattered like dried mud, several ribs snapped in succession, and the jagged bone fragments pierced his lungs, bringing a wave of tearing, excruciating pain.

"Pfft--!"

Li Kun spat out a large mouthful of blood, mixed with dark red chunks of flesh. His body flew backward like a broken sack, crashing heavily onto the ground after flying several zhang, rolling twice more before finally coming to a halt.

"Ahhh--!"

Li Kun let out a heart-wrenching wail; his body felt as if it had been shattered by that single punch, and every breath felt like someone was stirring the broken bones inside his chest.

"Who... who exactly are you?"

His voice was already so hoarse it no longer sounded human, his lips covered in bloody foam as he stared at the shadow slowly closing in, his eyes filled with terror.

He was completely powerless to fight back.

Terrifying speed, terrifying force; while he might not be at the pinnacle of Manifest Energy martial artists, he was at least at an upper-middle level.

Yet in front of this person, he was like a child who had just learned to walk, not even qualified to parry a single blow.

Who on earth is this?!

He frantically searched his mind for anyone he had offended recently.

The only person he had crossed paths with lately was Jiang Minghai!

But Jiang Minghai had already fallen in rank, dropping from Manifest Energy to Hidden Energy; otherwise, he wouldn't have dared to openly scheme against Bai Zhiruo.

Aside from Jiang Minghai, he hadn't offended a single soul all year.

The man in black walked up to him, looking down from above, his eyes as indifferent as if he were looking at a dead dog.

Then, the man in black reached out and slowly pulled down the black cloth covering his face, revealing the lower half.

A cold sneer hung at the corner of his mouth.

"Then I'll let you die with clarity." His voice was not loud, yet every word was clear.

"Seeing this face, does it remind you of anything?"

The moment Li Kun saw that face, his pupils constricted sharply, shrinking to the size of needle points.

"Jiang Minghai!"

No.

At first glance, he looked like Jiang Minghai, but upon closer inspection, he was different.

His features were more defined, his facial lines softer; he looked like a younger, more handsome version of Jiang Minghai.

A thought struck his mind like lightning. When he first conceived the idea of seizing Bai Zhiruo, he had sent men to investigate Jiang Minghai's background.

Parents died early, had a younger brother who had studied himself into a fool, no special background whatsoever.

A younger brother?

Impossible!

That kid who had studied himself into a fool?

But the truth was right before his eyes; he couldn't help but believe it.

"You..." Li Kun coughed up blood, his voice so hoarse it was almost unintelligible.

"You are Jiang Tian?!"

"You're not entirely stupid, then."

Jiang Tian sneered and raised his fist.

"Wait! Silver, martial arts manuals, medicinal pills—I'll give you whatever you want!" Li Kun's voice suddenly spiked, filled with the panic of the dying.

"Name your price! Anything!"

"No need."

"Crack."

With a single punch, Li Kun's neck twisted at an impossible angle, the sound of his cervical vertebrae shattering ringing out clearly in the silent night.

Warm blood sprayed out instantly, splashing onto Jiang Tian's face and body; his face, his clothes, his hands—everything was covered in sticky red.

Jiang Tian stood up and wiped the blood from his face.

The reason he had been able to silently dispose of the four attendants without Li Kun noticing was thanks to the newly mastered [Deer in the Snow], a movement technique so light and agile it left no tracks on the snow.

He nimbly searched the corpses. The four guards were quite poor; combined, they only had a hundred taels of silver.

Li Kun didn't have much on him either, just a thousand-tael silver note and a few decent-quality medicinal pills.

Jiang Tian cleaned up the scene briefly and hurried to the banks of the Blackwater River that ran through Blackwater County. He stripped off his blood-stained clothes, threw them into the river, and washed the blood from his body with the icy water.

The river water was bone-chillingly cold, washing away the warm blood on his skin and creating dark red ripples under the moonlight.

He changed into the clean clothes he had prepared in advance, took a deep breath, and vanished into the night.

By the time he returned home, it was already the middle of the night.

The light in the east room was still on, the dim yellow glow filtering through the window paper and casting a small patch of warmth in the courtyard.

With his current strength, he could easily climb over the wall without his older brother noticing. But hearing the low conversation coming from inside, he grew curious and softened his footsteps, leaning in to listen.

"Minghai, why don't we head to Qingyuan Prefecture tomorrow?"

Bai Zhiruo's voice carried an irrepressible anxiety.

"Li Kun has already sent men to guard both city gates... we can't get out."

Jiang Minghai's voice was low and weary, like an oil lamp about to burn out.

Silence fell for a moment.

"I'll write a letter to contact my family." Bai Zhiruo's voice suddenly became very soft, so soft it was as if she were afraid of disturbing something.

"Even though we said we were severing ties back then... they surely won't just stand by and watch me die."

Her family?

Jiang Tian was slightly stunned, and hazy memories flooded his mind.

Bai Zhiruo was originally from the Bai Family in Qingyuan Prefecture. While traveling abroad years ago, she had been saved by his elder brother, Jiang Minghai, and the two had fallen in love at first sight.

However, the Bai Family was one of the five great clans of the prefecture. Although Bai Zhiruo lacked talent for martial arts, she was still a pawn that could be used for a political marriage, and the Bai Family naturally did not want her to marry a nobody.

Bai Zhiruo had insisted on her own way, and in a fit of anger, the Bai Family had severed all ties with her.

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