Irony

In just a few dozen breaths, several members of the Sea Shark Gang and the county yamen had been cut down, and the rest were completely stunned by the ferocious momentum and sharp attacks of this group.

"Run!" someone shouted, and they all turned and fled desperately out of the village!

"Ran... ran away? The Sea Shark Gang and the officials... all ran?" The Pearl Divers watching in disbelief could hardly trust their own eyes.

After the brief shock, boundless terror swept over them.

If even the Sea Shark Gang and the officials fled at the sight of them, what were they supposed to do?

What did these mountain bandits want, barging into Pearl Village?

As if answering the fear in the Pearl Divers' hearts, the bearded leading man chopped down the village gate with one swing of his blade, his voice booming with unquestionable brutality:

"Brothers! Round up everyone in this village, men, women, old, young—drive them all to the central square! Search carefully, don't miss a single one! Tie up the young women and the strong men and take them away! Move it!"

"Yes! Third Chief!" The bandits roared in acknowledgment, grinning with savage excitement. They split into several groups, drawing their blades, and began kicking open the flimsy wooden doors, charging into the Pearl Divers' homes.

"Get out! All of you, get the hell out!"

"To the open ground outside! Hurry!"

Curses, shouts, women's screams, children's wails... instantly replaced the earlier clash of battle, echoing through every corner of Pearl Village. Firelight flickered, shadows scrambled, and the entire village plunged into utter chaos and panic.

Inside the Chen family's shack, the oil lamp had been knocked over and extinguished by Mother Chen in her panic.

In the darkness, Father Chen and Mother Chen clung tightly to each other, their faces pale as paper, their bodies trembling uncontrollably. Every scream outside, every kick against a door, struck their hearts like a heavy hammer.

An unprecedented, immense terror seized them, blanking their minds and robbing them of all ability to think.

Chen Yue stood behind the door, staring through the crack at the chaos outside.

His heart pounded heavily in his chest. Listening to the curses and kicks drawing closer, his heart sank deeper and deeper.

"Rob the rich to aid the poor?"

Recalling the gossip he'd heard by the county notice board that afternoon, Chen Yue found it bitterly ironic. The men before him were clearly bloodthirsty, ruthless bandits, acting without restraint, not even sparing the lowest Pearl Divers.

What weighed on Chen Yue even more was that, in that fleeting glimpse earlier, he'd roughly assessed the bandits' strength.

Several of them were at the Skin Refining Realm, moving nimbly and striking viciously. And that bearded man giving orders—his aura was thick and enduring, and the force with which he'd sent the Sea Shark Gang's minor leader flying earlier was definitely that of a Flesh Refining Realm martial artist!

This realization instantly shattered the faint smugness Chen Yue had felt from his rapid recent progress.

Skin Refining against Skin Refining, he wasn't afraid. But against Flesh Refining... Chen Yue had no confidence, especially with so many bandits around.

If it were just Chen Yue alone, relying on the Roaming Mountains and Rivers movement technique and his familiarity with the terrain, he could indeed slip away from the back of the shack amid the chaos.

But his parents were here! They were just ordinary Pearl Divers, old and frail, with no way to escape.

Abandon his parents and flee alone?

The silent, deep care of Father Chen and Mother Chen was one of the few bonds and sources of warmth he had in this unfamiliar world. Flee alone, cling to life, and spend the rest of his days in guilt and regret?

What to do? Fighting head-on was a dead end! Escape with his parents? Under the watch of a Flesh Refining Realm martial artist and numerous fierce bandits, the odds were vanishingly small.

Just as Chen Yue was racked with anxiety, having yet to come up with any feasible plan, a new change erupted at the entrance of Pearl Village!

"Woo—"

"Kill! Don't let a single bandit escape!"

"County yamen on official business! Resist and die!"

Louder and more chaotic than before, the roar of battle exploded, mixed with the clatter of armor and the twang of bowstrings from what was clearly a large group on the move.

The Sea Shark Gang members and county yamen runners who had just fled out of sight had returned! And from the sound of it, their numbers had multiplied several times over!

"Hahaha! Rats of West Mountain, we finally got you to show your faces! Been tailing you for days, didn't think you'd stoop so low as to covet Pearl Divers and come scavenging here! You've really regressed!"

A hearty, arrogant laugh cut through the noise, ringing clearly across half of Pearl Village.

As the words fell, a tide of torchlight and figures surged in through the village gate.

The man at the front wasn't dressed as an official. He was a lean, sinister-looking middle-aged man, his aura no weaker than that of the bearded bandit leader.

Behind him followed a dense crowd of Sea Shark Gang elites, along with county yamen constables and local militiamen—at a rough glance, over a hundred men!

"Fell into a trap! Retreat!" The bearded man's face twisted, and he roared in fury.

But it was too late!

The returning Sea Shark Gang and government forces, striking with preparation against the unprepared, collided with the bandits in an instant! Blades flashed, blood sprayed, and shouts and screams once again tore through the night.

At that moment, about a third of the bandits were scattered throughout Pearl Village, driving and capturing the Pearl Divers. Caught off guard, they had no time to reinforce the main force at the gate.

The bandits were already outnumbered, and now their formation was broken, throwing them into a severe disadvantage. They fell back step by step, with men dropping constantly.

Seeing the outside instantly shift from bandit rampage to a bloody melee between two sides, Chen Yue acted decisively. He quickly shut the outer door tight, slid the flimsy wooden bolt into place, and dragged the heaviest cabinet in the room to brace it.

Then, Chen Yue pulled his parents, who had long since gone weak-kneed with fear, into the cramped inner room. He gestured for them to crouch in the darkest corner under the bed, while he himself stood guard behind the door, holding his breath and straining to catch every sound outside.

The clash outside raged like a storm—roars, screams, the dull thud of weapons meeting, all mixed with the desperate wails of some Pearl Divers and the sound of running footsteps.

These sounds lasted about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, gradually shifting from fierce to sporadic. Eventually, aside from the groans of the wounded and the shouts of the victors, no large-scale fighting could be heard.

After another quarter of an hour, the outside fell completely silent, save for the whine of the night wind through the shack's gaps and the faint sounds of people moving things and speaking in low voices in the distance.

Chen Yue continued to wait patiently. Only when he was sure there were no new signs of battle or intrusion did he signal his parents to stay still, then silently crept to the outer door.

He pressed his ear to the door and listened carefully for a long while before slowly pulling it open a crack.

A thick stench of blood rushed into his nostrils. Squinting through the dim light of a few dying torches, Chen Yue cautiously peered outside.