In the back courtyard of Feng Mansion, candlelight flickered in a side room.
A young man paced anxiously around the room, occasionally peering out the window.
After a while, a middle-aged man slipped in through the doorway like a ghost.
The young man immediately went to meet him and asked in a hushed voice, "Well? Did she really have evidence?"
The middle-aged man was silent for a moment, then said gravely, "The teacup wasn't in her possession. It was probably stolen by that cart guard. After the incident, he went into the Third Young Master's carriage, using an inspection as an excuse. He probably didn't know what was going on and just stole it out of greed. He still has the teacup."
"Then we have to deal with him tonight. Find reliable men from outside. Don't use our own people."
"I understand." The middle-aged man said, "I've also found out about the people being held over there. They're all nobodies. A few skilled martial artists should be enough."
"Wait." The young man sat back down and tapped the armrest twice with his fingers. In the end, he gritted his teeth and said, "We can't afford to be careless about this. No matter how I look at it, you should go yourself. Make sure you finish him in one blow. If we fail this time, no amount of caution will save us."
The middle-aged man froze for a moment, but finally lowered his head and said, "This old servant understands. I'll go myself."
In Feng Mansion, the night watchman struck his clapper, its dull beats sounding through the night wind.
Chen Ye practiced his stance in the room, listening to the two guards outside chat on and off.
One complained that the food was too bland today, with no taste of salt. The other had just begun to speak when his voice abruptly cut off, as if something had blocked his throat and snatched the word away.
Silence fell outside.
Chen Ye, standing in his stance, suddenly opened his eyes without making a sound.
He felt around on the bed for the long saber he had asked the Zhou Clan for earlier that day, then silently went to the door and leaned against the wall, holding his breath and listening intently.
The sound of the lock being picked rang out clearly.
Chen Ye instinctively tightened his grip on the hilt.
The door creaked.
The door swung open.
A masked man stepped inside without a sound, his gaze immediately falling on the bed.
It was empty.
The masked man paused in surprise.
At that instant, Chen Ye sprang out from behind him.
There was no shout, no warning.
Chen Ye poured all his strength into his arms and drove the Array-Breaking Style and Mountain-Shattering Style to their limits at the same time.
The veins in his arms bulged, his muscles swelling like balloons as his strength surged.
The long saber, carrying all his strength, came crashing down on the masked man.
Caught off guard, the intruder hastily raised his saber to block.
Clang!
A spray of sparks burst in the darkness.
The long saber flew from the masked man's hand under the impact, yet he remained rooted to the spot, without so much as a wobble.
Chen Ye's expression changed.
The force the man had released while blocking did not seem like something a Martial Master in the Mortal Shedding Realm could wield.
But at that moment, there was no time to worry about it.
Either he died, or I did.
Chen Ye gave a low shout. "Die!"
The strike should have easily cleaved through the arm of a Martial Master in the Mortal Shedding Realm, yet when it landed on the man, the saber was inexplicably knocked aside by a powerful force.
The masked man gave Chen Ye no chance to strike again.
His empty hand shifted into a palm strike, slipping through the gap between Chen Ye's arms and slamming into his chest.
The blow was far more powerful than Chen Ye had imagined.
Chen Ye was hit like he'd been struck by a giant hammer. He smashed through the tables and chairs in the guest room, crashed through a cloud of splintered wood, and slammed into the wall, his chest caving in slightly.
Clutching his abdomen, he instinctively channeled the warm currents of energy throughout his body into his dantian.
Five points of Radiance lit up beneath his palm.
A vigorous vitality burst forth from deep within his flesh.
His broken ribs scraped against his flesh and began to shift back into place. The depression in his chest slowly healed.
Chen Ye shouted with all his might, "If you don't move now, you'll never catch the culprit!"
The masked man's expression changed.
He hadn't expected Chen Ye, a mere cart guard, to survive a single palm strike from him, let alone shout with such strength.
He also realized that this whole thing might have been a trap.
He spun around, desperate to escape.
But it was too late.
A figure dropped headfirst from the roof of the guest room, both palms thrust forward, his strikes wrapped in a deep, heavy force.
Bang!
The masked man hurriedly raised his palms to meet them.
The moment their palms collided, a ring of air exploded outward between them.
The stone tiles in the guest room shattered one after another.
Guard Guan struck once, then followed with a second palm strike, aimed straight at his opponent's face.
Then came a third, a fourth...
His moves flowed one after another like water. Every palm strike carried a peculiar, explosive force, each wave of his attack crashing forward in layers.
He gave his opponent no chance to react.
The masked man retreated again and again, the stone tiles beneath his feet shattering with every step.
Amid the flying rubble, he tried to break through Guard Guan's palm strikes, but Guard Guan's attack always pressed half a move ahead, sealing off the opening he needed to change his stance.
At that moment, torches began lighting up all around the guest room.
The two skilled fighters Zhou had brought from the Zhou Family immediately joined the battle, harrying the masked man from the flanks and turning it into a three-on-one fight.
A bitter expression crossed the masked man's face. He stumbled back several steps and hit the wall, then caught sight of Chen Ye nearby.
He judged the distance, shifted his gaze, and lunged straight at Chen Ye, who was leaning against the wall and gasping for breath. His fingers curled like hooks as he reached for Chen Ye's throat.
Chen Ye had already finished recovering. Concealing the Radiance that had faded away, he felt around on the ground with his right hand until he found the long saber the masked man had dropped while blocking.
The hilt felt cool in his hand.
He didn't retreat. Instead, he charged half a step forward.
Array-Breaking Style combined with Mountain-Shattering Style!
The blade thrust upward from below and plunged into the masked man's waist.
The masked man's fingers stopped half an inch from Chen Ye's throat, unable to move.
He lowered his head and saw the hilt pressed against the web between his thumb and forefinger. His eyes filled with disbelief.
He couldn't understand how Chen Ye still had such strength after taking one of his palm strikes.
The masked man roared and tried to kill Chen Ye with a palm strike.
By then, Guard Guan had already rushed up to them.
This time, he showed his opponent no mercy. He smashed the masked man's right knee with a palm strike, then immediately followed with a backhand blow to the shoulder, dislocating the entire arm at the joint.
The masked man screamed and collapsed to the ground, no longer able to fight back.
Guard Guan planted a foot on his back and clamped his jaw in an iron grip, preventing him from biting his tongue and killing himself.
Zhou, who had been waiting outside the crowd, walked over and yanked off the man's mask.
The torches crackled in the night wind, their light illuminating his face.
A nearby old servant cried out in alarm, "He's one of the people from the Eldest Young Master's residence!"
Zhou's face was cold as frost. She said sternly, "Take him away. I'm going to see the family head right now."
Everyone present was shaken by her commanding air. They promptly answered yes and hauled the masked man off toward the family head's residence.
Guard Guan paused as he passed Chen Ye and glanced down at him. He said nothing, then turned and followed the others.
Chen Ye watched Zhou and the others leave and couldn't help letting out a long breath.
At last, this was over.
What came next was an internal matter for the Feng Family, and had nothing to do with him.
Chen Ye leaned back against the wall, panting heavily as he continued to draw on the vigorous vitality in his flesh.
Crack, crack, crack!
Chen Ye heard the broken ribs in his chest continue shifting back into place as his muscles writhed.
In the wrecked guest room, the sounds rang out especially clearly.
But there was no one else around to hear them.
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