Is this the level you're at to try robbing people?

"We didn't want to do this either," the skinny one's voice dropped. "But we can't do other work. Our Spirit Master ranks are too low; Martial Soul Hall doesn't want us, families don't want us, sects don't want us... even people looking for bodyguards think we're an embarrassment."

The fatty lay on the ground and chimed in, "We only know a few amateur tricks. Martial Soul Hall gave us the lowest-tier Spirit Master certification, saying it 'permits engagement in Spirit Master-related work,' but over in Nuoding City, nobody wants people like us. We just thought... it's the end of the year, money is tight, and we saw you three kids..."

He didn't finish, but the meaning was clear enough.

Tang San was silent for a moment.

He heard something familiar in those words.

Spirit grading, quality determining one's future, the survival plight of low-tier Spirit Masters.

He had seen these things in books before, but those were just words on paper—cold and detached. Hearing them from three living, breathing people felt completely different.

Huang Fei leaned against a tree, having said very little the entire time.

He listened to the three men's confession without any change in expression, showing neither sympathy nor contempt.

"Let them go," he said.

Tang San turned to look at him.

Huang Fei straightened up from the tree trunk, brushed some non-existent dust off his sleeves, and spoke in a tone as casual as if he were commenting on the nice weather.

"They weren't sent by anyone; they're just three incompetent bums who don't want to work, saw three kids, and thought they could make a quick buck, only to hit a wall. People like this, just beat them up and let them go. No need to take it seriously."

Tang San frowned, seemingly thinking over Huang Fei's words carefully.

Xiao Wu was more decisive. She hopped off the fatty's back, clapped the dirt off her hands, flicked her ponytail behind her, and said in a crisp voice, "Brother Fei is right. Let them go, let them go. Taking them with us means we'd have to feed them—what a hassle."

Tang San thought about it and decided it made sense.

Besides, he didn't want to kill anyone unless absolutely necessary.

He crouched down, looked the scarred man in the eyes, and said word for word, "I'll spare you today. But remember this: if we run into you doing this kind of thing again—"

He didn't finish, simply flicking his Blue Silver Grass vines outward.

The vines cracked against the nearby tree trunk like a green whip, leaving a deep indentation in the bark with a sharp snap. Tree sap seeped from the split, glistening in the sunlight.

The scarred man nodded frantically. "We won't! We won't! We'll never do it again!"

Tang San retracted his Blue Silver Grass, and Huang Fei withdrew his vines as well.

Fragments of the shattered rock skin fell from the skinny man in a heap, looking like broken eggshells.

The skinny man slumped on the ground, gasping for air as if he had just been pulled out of the water.

Once untied, the three of them scrambled away, half-crawling and half-running.

The scarred man ran in front, not even looking back when one of his shoes fell off.

The skinny man followed in the middle; his rock skin hadn't fully recovered, and fragments continued to flake off as he ran.

The fatty stumbled along in the back, his bear paws still not fully retracted, making him look like a clumsy bear.

Xiao Wu watched them go and let out a snort of laughter.

"They're at that level and they still try to rob people?"

Tang San didn't laugh.

He stood where he was, his gaze following the three pathetic figures until they disappeared around the bend of the main road before he finally looked away.

When the scarred man mentioned "looking for work," he had noticed that the Martial Soul Hall token hanging at his waist wasn't from Nuoding City; the inscription read "Fasinuo Province · North Bay City."

It was a city even smaller than Nuoding City, located at the northernmost edge of Fasinuo Province, near the mountains.

He committed the name to memory.

For some reason, he felt it might come in handy later.

"Let's go." Tang San turned and began walking toward Nuoding City.

Huang Fei followed at a leisurely pace, hands tucked back into his sleeves, returning to that lazy state of someone who could "walk until his legs broke under the sun."

Xiao Wu skipped along in front, acting as if nothing had happened at all.

After walking about a hundred paces, Huang Fei suddenly spoke.

"San."

"Hm?"

"Do you think they were telling the truth?"

Tang San's footsteps faltered slightly, then he continued forward.

He didn't answer immediately because he was pondering the same question.

The things the scarred man said sounded genuine—the tone, the expression, the details—none of it seemed fabricated.

But it wasn't impossible for someone who had been highway robbing for years to concoct a convincing lie under those circumstances.

"Seventy percent, I'd say," Tang San finally gave a vague answer. "Seventy percent true, thirty percent uncertain."

Huang Fei nodded and didn't ask again.

Seventy percent was enough.

He also felt it was the truth. It wasn't because those three people acted well, but because they were truly too weak.

So weak that they didn't seem like anyone's pawns.

Who would send such trash to handle a task?

Unless the task itself didn't need to succeed, and all that mattered was that someone had shown up.

Huang Fei shook this thought out of his mind.

Overthinking it.

A newly enrolled child—who would set an ambush on the main road for one?

It wasn't as if he were some big shot.

The four of them returned to the main road, the sun beating down directly from overhead, shrinking the three people's shadows into small blobs beneath their feet.

In the distance, the outline of Nuoding City was already vaguely visible, its grayish-white walls shimmering in the sunlight.

Xiao Wu suddenly turned her head to look at Tang San and Huang Fei.

"By the way, was that vine move you two pulled earlier planned? One binding the feet and the other the body—your coordination was quite in sync."

Tang San glanced at Huang Fei, and Huang Fei glanced at Tang San.

"It wasn't planned," Tang San said.

"No need to plan," Huang Fei said.

The two spoke almost simultaneously; their words were different, but the answer pointed to the same fact.

They had grown up together, practiced together, fought together, and roughed it out in the back mountains together; the tacit understanding between them no longer required verbal communication.

If Tang San shifted a step to the left, Huang Fei knew which direction he was about to strike.

If Huang Fei's vines were a beat slow, Tang San knew exactly what timing he was waiting for.

This kind of rapport wasn't trained; it had grown naturally.

Xiao Wu tilted her head as she looked at them, her mouth opening and closing before she finally just let out an "Oh" and turned back around to continue walking.

Her ponytail swayed behind her, the sunlight dyeing the braid gold.

After a few steps, she suddenly spoke again.

"Nuoding City is here."

The three of them looked up.

The north gate of Nuoding City was less than a mile ahead, with a few travelers lining up to enter and the city guards leaning against the gatehouse, yawning.

Entering the city.

Huang Fei quickened his pace, uncharacteristically taking the lead.

Tang San asked him curiously why he was walking so fast, and Huang Fei replied without looking back, "If we're late, there won't be any food left in the cafeteria."

Tang San and Xiao Wu exchanged a glance, both sighed at the same time, and then simultaneously quickened their pace to catch up.

The three of them walked in a line, passing through the north gate of Nuoding City and stepping into the afternoon sun of the city.

The streets were bustling with people; a steamed bun vendor lifted the lid of his steamer, and white steam rose up, turning into a golden mist in the sunlight.