Another Ambush

The night deepened, and the valley of the Miscellaneous Affairs Department had fallen into a deathly silence.

Zhou Xuan sat in his dilapidated thatched cottage, the resources currently available to him laid out before him.

However, just as he was concentrating on carefully making his plans, his keen perception vaguely allowed him to sense something unusual.

Outside the house, there was someone!

Zhou Xuan's movements did not pause in the slightest, nor did his face reveal any strange expression, but his divine sense had already quietly extended outward.

Although his Body Forging seventh-layer cultivation appeared to others as only the second layer, his true sensory capabilities would not deceive him.

Within his range of perception, two stealthy figures were crouching in the shadows not far from his cottage.

The cultivation of these two was not weak; one was at the fifth layer of Body Forging, and the other at the sixth, making them standouts among the miscellaneous disciples.

They were carefully concealing their auras, clearly having come prepared.

Zhou Xuan continued to pretend he was focused on drawing talismans, while in reality, he was carefully observing the movements of these two.

He wanted to hear what these guys were trying to do and who had instigated them.

Unfortunately, these two had clearly undergone specialized training; they had almost no verbal communication, using only their eyes and gestures to conduct simple exchanges.

It seems it will be impossible to pry the identity of the mastermind out of them.

Zhou Xuan thought to himself.

Just as he was hesitating whether to take the initiative, the two lurking figures suddenly moved!

Bang!

The door of the cottage was violently kicked open, and two black shadows rushed in like starving wolves!

The attackers showed no mercy, every move aimed at killing!

The person on the left held a sharp dagger, heading straight for Zhou Xuan's heart.

The person on the right threw both fists out, the wind whistling as they struck, clearly intending to kill with a single blow!

Facing this sudden attack, Zhou Xuan merely gave a cold smile.

"Finally couldn't hold back anymore?"

At the very moment the two attacks were about to land, Zhou Xuan's figure flashed, easily dodging the lethal strikes.

At the same time, his palm had already quietly pressed against a talisman paper on his chest.

It was a plain-looking yellow talisman paper with crooked red runes drawn on it.

It was the new talisman Zhou Xuan had recently researched, the Great Strength Talisman brought forth by Enlightenment!

The talisman paper burned instantly, and a massive surge of power poured into Zhou Xuan's limbs and bones.

He could clearly feel his strength increasing several times over in this instant!

"What?"

Seeing Zhou Xuan easily dodge their attacks, both assailants wore expressions of shock.

They had clearly investigated that this piece of trash only had a Body Forging second-layer cultivation; how could he have such agile movements?

However, what shocked them even more was yet to come.

Zhou Xuan's figure swept past at high speed, striking left and right, both fists punching out simultaneously!

Crack!

Two crisp sounds of bone fracturing rang out almost at the same time.

The two attackers didn't even have time to react before they felt a massive force strike them; their arms were instantly broken, and they flew backward while screaming, crashing heavily against the wall of the cottage.

"Ah!"

The shrill screams echoed in the night sky as the two rolled on the ground clutching their broken arms, their faces turning deathly pale from the intense pain.

Zhou Xuan slowly retracted his fists, clearly not surprised by this result.

Although his cultivation was only one minor realm higher than these two, under the enhancement of the Great Strength Talisman, the gap in power had become like heaven and earth.

Moreover, these two clearly had not expected Zhou Xuan to possess such formidable strength; underestimating the enemy was their greatest mistake.

"Now, can you tell me who sent you?"

Zhou Xuan looked down at the two on the ground, his voice cold.

The two looked at each other, both seeing fear and despair in the other's eyes.

They stammered, wanting to speak, but dared not reveal the truth.

Seeing this, a cold sneer curled the corners of Zhou Xuan's mouth: "If you don't dare to say it, then I'll say it for you. It must be that guy Zhao Long, right?"

Hearing the name Zhao Long, the bodies of the two trembled visibly.

Although they desperately shook their heads to deny it, this reaction was enough to explain everything.

It really is him. Zhou Xuan understood in his heart.

"Did he say the reason he wanted to kill me?"

"Forget it. Regardless of the reason, since you dared to lay a hand on me, you must bear the corresponding consequences."

Zhou Xuan looked quietly at the two men at his feet, his mind beginning to weigh how to deal with them.

Kill them outright?

Killing a fellow disciple within the sect, even if only a chore servant, would have extremely serious consequences if discovered.

With Zhou Xuan's current strength and status, he simply could not afford such a risk.

But if he let them go, who knew if they would bite back or find another opportunity for revenge?

The two fellows seemed to sense Zhou Xuan's hesitation and pleaded hurriedly, "Junior Brother Zhou, we know we were wrong!"

"As long as you let us go, we will absolutely not spread word of what happened tonight!"

"That's right, we swear, we will never cause you trouble again!"

Listening to their pleas, Zhou Xuan spoke with a sneer, "Some things, once done, must be seen through to the end."

Hearing this, the faces of the two men turned deathly pale in an instant.

They could hear the thick intent to kill in Zhou Xuan's tone!

"Don't kill us, we really know we were wrong!"

"Please, spare our lives!"

However, Zhou Xuan had already made up his mind. He could not leave such a hidden danger behind, but he could not act directly here either.

Thinking of this, an idea suddenly occurred to him.

He first punched each of them once, knocking them both completely unconscious.

Then, taking advantage of the night, he hoisted their bodies up and walked quietly toward the Miscellaneous Affairs Department.

Deep in the night, the entire Chore Servant Courtyard was plunged into deep sleep.

Zhou Xuan moved through the darkness like a ghost, soon arriving at the mountain-like waste area of the Miscellaneous Affairs Department.

This place was fraught with danger during the day, and at night, it was deathly silent.

Those unstable waste pills and damaged magical artifacts could explode at any moment.

Zhou Xuan threw the two unconscious attackers into the deepest part of the waste pile, where a large quantity of discarded pill furnaces and unstable pill residue were accumulated.

After finishing this, he retreated to a safe distance and took out a talisman he had prepared long ago from his robes.

This was a First-Rank Fireball Talisman; although its power was not great, it was more than enough to detonate this waste.

Zhou Xuan activated the talisman without hesitation, and a fireball the size of a fist whistled toward the waste pile.

Boom!

A deafening explosion instantly resounded throughout the entire valley!

A massive fireball shot into the sky, dyeing half the heavens a blood-red color.

The shockwave from the explosion spread like a tsunami, causing even the buildings far away in the Chore Servant Courtyard to tremble slightly.

The two attackers didn't even have time to scream before they were completely swallowed by the flames of the explosion, leaving not even a scrap of bone behind.

Zhou Xuan watched the fire rising into the sky in the distance, his face devoid of any ripples.

He turned and left, rushing back to his hut at top speed.

When he sat back down at his desk and picked up his wolf-hair brush to continue drawing talismans, not even a speck of dust had touched his clothes.

The rumbling of the explosion continued for quite a while before gradually subsiding, but the towering firelight lingered for a long time, illuminating the entire back mountain.

"Something happened, there's a fire!"

"Hurry and put it out!"

"There was an explosion at the Miscellaneous Affairs Department!"

Noisy shouts broke the tranquility of the Chore Servant Courtyard, and countless chore disciples woke from their sleep, rushing out of their rooms one after another to check the situation.

Soon, the sharp voice of Wang Fugui rang out in the night sky: "Everyone get back to sleep!"

"Explosions of waste in the Miscellaneous Affairs Department are a common occurrence, what is there to be so surprised about!"

"Back to work as usual tomorrow; whoever dares to slack off, I'll skin them alive!"

Under the scolding of Steward Wang, those chore disciples who had wanted to join in the excitement had no choice but to return to their rooms in low spirits.

Zhou Xuan watched the gradually calming commotion through the crack in his door and nodded to himself.

Sure enough, in this dangerous Miscellaneous Affairs Department, explosion accidents were far too common.

As long as it wasn't a particularly large-scale explosion, no one would investigate it deeply.

The deaths of those two attackers would soon be treated as an accidental occurrence.

And their bodies had long since turned to ash in the explosion, leaving not even a trace behind.

"Zhao Long, since you dared to send people to kill me, don't blame me for being impolite."

A cold glint flashed in Zhou Xuan's eyes, and he had already begun to calculate how to take revenge.

However, now was not the time; his strength was still too weak, and rashly going against an inner sect disciple was no different from throwing an egg against a rock.

But one day, he would make that guy pay the price!