A Citywide Lockdown Erupts!

"Haa... haa..."

Lying limp on the stretcher, Hu Tian let out desperate gasps from his throat, like a fish gasping for water.

He used the last of his strength, desperately trying to open his eyes to catch one last glimpse of that retreating figure.

That figure who had once patted his shoulder and said, "I treat you like my own brother."

But all that met his eyes was the well-padded sedan chair of Zhang Xu, being carried further and further away by servants, growing blurrier until it finally vanished completely at the edge of the crowd.

Only in this moment did he truly understand how foolish his decision to trust Zhang Xu and abandon the academy had been.

"Sister, I was wrong..."

As his sister Hu Li's past words flashed through his mind, endless regret washed over Hu Tian's pained face.

But it was all too late.

"That Hu Tian is truly finished! His spine is shattered; forget about martial arts, it's doubtful he'll even be able to stand and walk again."

"What a waste of such talent. He reached the Bright Strength realm in half a month—who wouldn't be jealous of that? And look at him now? He brought this on himself."

"He deserves it! To believe the words of someone like Zhang Xu and betray his sect—why didn't he think of the consequences back then?"

"He's miserable now. Without any value left, why would Zhang Xu bother with him?"

Not far away, the disciples of Bluestone Martial Academy gathered together, watching the scene and whispering in low voices.

Among the crowd, Lin Xiaohe's expression was the most complex.

She could be considered a witness to the entirety of Hu Tian's "glory" over these short fifteen days.

From his awkwardness when he first entered the academy, to his flattered surprise when he was brought into Zhang Xu's "circle," to his high spirits when he mastered his fist techniques, to his arrogance upon reaching the Bright Strength realm, and finally, to his current state, lying on the stretcher like a dead dog.

Watching him build his high tower, watching him feast with guests, watching his tower collapse.

It was exactly that.

At the thought of Hu Tian's near-insulting rejection of her earlier, the complexity in Lin Xiaohe's eyes finally turned into a flicker of satisfaction, and she sneered in her heart:

"Serves you right!"

She immediately looked away, no longer bothering to glance at the figure she had once gone to such lengths to cling to, who was now worthless.

Her gaze drifted past the crowd and landed on the silent, mountain-like figure not far away, and she whispered to herself, "As expected, Senior Brother Shi Lei is the one most suited for me."

Though Shi Lei's expression remained calm, he let out a soft sigh in his heart as he looked at Hu Tian's miserable state.

"In the martial path, it is not about being first; it is about the endless flow!"

He had gained a deeper understanding of this saying.

On the grand armchair, Yan Sheng's face was so dark it seemed as if water could drip from it.

He had watched helplessly as Zhang Xu's sedan chair disappeared into the distance without a backward glance, and watched helplessly as more and more strange looks were cast his way.

In the end, he could only pay with a dark face to purchase a Great Restoration Pill, ordering someone to force it down the dying Hu Tian's throat.

Three thousand taels of silver—just to buy a shred of dignity.

The two doctors worked efficiently to administer the pill to Hu Tian and examined his injuries before letting out a sigh of relief. They stood up and said to Yan Sheng, "Master Yan, your disciple's life is temporarily saved. However, he still needs careful recuperation. It would be best to send him back to the martial hall to rest for a hundred days, supplemented by medicinal decoctions..."

"Send him back to the martial hall?"

Yan Sheng interrupted coldly, his voice devoid of any warmth.

"From this day forward, this brat has absolutely nothing to do with our Extreme Fist Martial Arts Hall."

He didn't even look at the gasping figure on the stretcher, turning to leave while leaving behind a voice cold as ice:

"Send him anywhere you like, just don't send him back to our hall."

The two doctors looked at each other, eventually letting out a helpless sigh.

They looked down at the pale, unconscious youth on the stretcher.

He had been a celebrated genius just a moment ago, but now he was a burden everyone avoided.

The struggles of martial artists are truly cruel.

"A bunch of trash, you can't even walk steadily!" Zhang Xu was jolted awake by a bump in the sedan chair. Fury rose in him, and he couldn't even be bothered to open his eyes as he cursed, "This young master was just about to fall asleep, why did you stop!"

"Young Master, an old man is blocking our path ahead..."

The servant's timid voice drifted over.

"An old man?" Zhang Xu frowned, still not opening his eyes. "Damn it, he dares to block my path! Zhang Wang! Get that old thing out of my way!"

"Yes, Young Master!"

Zhang Wang, who had been following behind the sedan chair, immediately stepped forward upon hearing this.

He looked up and saw that the person blocking the path was an unremarkable, thin, and tall old man, his body loose and sagging as if he were suffering from a severe illness.

"Old thing, if you're sick, go home and lie down! Blocking the road—are you looking for death?"

A cruel grin spread across the face of Zhang Wang as he lifted his leg and kicked fiercely toward the old man's knee.

This kick was vicious and imbued with force; if it landed true, the target would certainly be unable to stand for months.

The next instant.

The old man, who had appeared deathly ill, suddenly erupted into action. Like a starving tiger pouncing on its prey, he arrived before Zhang Wang in a flash and pressed a light, airy punch against his chest.

"You—"

The cruel grin on Zhang Wang's face froze instantly.

The punch had looked powerless, but upon striking him, it felt like an incredibly sinister steel needle. It pierced through skin, bone, and organs in an instant, shredding his internal organs into a pulp.

The force of the blow did not diminish, instead erupting violently out through his back—

Bang!

With a dull thud, a bloody, gaping hole exploded open on Zhang Wang's back!

Crimson blood sprayed out like an arrow, splattering in droplets onto the face of Zhang Xu, who lay on the soft couch behind him.

"Hm?"

Feeling the warm, viscous blood drip onto his face, Zhang Xu naturally stirred and instinctively opened his eyes.

What met his gaze was a pair of aged eyes devoid of all mercy.

"You are..."

Zhang Xu's pupils contracted violently.

The memory of that night at Lake Heart Pavilion, the terror of that punch to the chest that had nearly killed him, and the figure of that white-haired old man all overlapped heavily in this moment with the gaze of the stranger before him.

He was given no time to cry out.

Jiang Ye's fist had already pressed against his head.

Bang!

Another soft sound.

Zhang Xu's head did not explode like a watermelon; instead, it collapsed and caved in like a candle struck by a heavy hammer, turning into countless fine specks of blood and bone fragments.

Zhang Xu would never be able to wrap his head around this again.

Having killed two men in the blink of an eye, Jiang Ye's state of mind remained as calm as ever.

He did not spare the corpses another glance and turned to leave immediately.

After a moment of silence.

"Murder!!!"

The servants of the Zhang Family finally broke down and let out shrill screams.

About half an hour later.

Jiang Ye's figure returned to the Martial Academy without a sound.

He changed his clothes, washed the last lingering trace of blood from his hands with water he had prepared beforehand, and transformed back into that decrepit old gatekeeper.

To his surprise, not even half an incense stick's time had passed before the sound of hurried footsteps echoed from the end of the long street.

The disciples of the Martial Academy returned in twos and threes, far earlier than the Martial Assembly usually ended in previous years.

"Did the Martial Assembly end so early today?"

A flicker of surprise crossed Jiang Ye's eyes.

However, he quickly guessed the reason from the disciples' discussions.

"Have you heard? Something huge happened to the Zhang Family!"

"How could I not? Zhang Xu was killed in the middle of the street! His head is gone!"

"Not just Zhang Xu, his right-hand man Zhang Wang is dead too; there's a giant hole in his back and his insides are all ruined..."

"It's too tragic... I heard from people at the scene that blood was everywhere, and they couldn't even find all of Zhang Xu's head..."

"The magistrate has ordered a city-wide lockdown, searching house to house for the killer! I heard the head of the Zhang Family nearly fainted from rage on the spot and had to be carried away!"

"That old fox Zhang He finally got what was coming to him! Serves him right! Who told him to raise such a beast of a son."

The disciples' discussions were mostly filled with schadenfreude.

"City-wide lockdown, searching for the killer?!"

A look of disdainful amusement flashed in Jiang Ye's aged eyes.

Who could possibly imagine that the killer was nothing more than a decrepit old gatekeeper?

Before long, Liu Qingshi returned as well. The disciples behind him were carrying a stretcher, and lying upon it was Hu Tian, limp as mud.

Seeing this scene, though Jiang Ye felt a flicker of confusion, he did not ask any questions.

Soon, he learned what had happened from the chatter of the disciples.

It turned out that after the two physicians used a Great Restoration Pill to save Hu Tian's life, they had no idea where to send him for recovery, so they eventually had to come to Liu Qingshi to ask if he knew where Hu Tian's home was.

Liu Qingshi was indeed a righteous man; he had already sent someone to notify Hu Tian's sister to come and collect him.

Not long after, Hu Tian's sister, Hu Li, arrived.

This was likely the third time Jiang Ye had seen her.

The Hu Li of the past, though dressed in simple attire, had eyes that were bright and resilient.

But at this moment, her face was deathly pale, devoid of any color, and she seemed as if her very bones had been extracted, her steps unsteady as she nearly stumbled several times.

Her gaze was locked onto that stretcher, fixed upon the motionless figure lying there, her lips trembling violently, yet she could not utter a single sound.

Finally, she threw herself before the stretcher.

"Little Tian... my Little Tian!!!"

That cry was heart-wrenching, as if she were trying to vomit out her very internal organs.

The surrounding disciples gradually fell silent, watching this scene with complex expressions.

Jiang Ye sighed softly, as if he could still see the image of Hu Li bringing Hu Tian to their door to seek martial arts training for the first time.

One could only say that on the path of martial arts, one wrong step leads to every step being wrong.