"Kill them all...?"
"He... Is he really our Fifth Brother, the one who spent all day cooped up inside?"
"Good heavens... The Fifth Young Master killed more than a dozen people?!"
"He's my Fifth Uncle?"
When they heard Chen Guan casually mention that he had killed a band of bandits,
the Eldest Young Master and the others were so shocked that, for a moment, they didn't dare meet Chen Guan's eyes.
The bandits, especially, couldn't help recalling yesterday's bloody scene when they heard Chen Guan speak. They trembled from head to toe, lending further credence to what he had said.
"No wonder these bandits are so well-behaved..."
Seeing these fierce men reduced to such a state, the Eldest Young Master and the others realized that the battle in the woods might have been an easy one for the Fifth Young Master.
But for those fierce men, it had probably been a nightmare.
Fourth Madam was another who felt it had been a nightmare.
She believed she had some grievances with Chen Guan.
So when she heard about his killing, and thought that Chen Guan might take revenge on her someday, she rose unsteadily and staggered back several steps, feeling dizzy.
As she stumbled, she accidentally knocked over the stool beside her.
Crash—
The noise made the other madams and young masters instinctively turn to look at Fourth Madam.
When Fourth Madam saw everyone's gaze, even though they had only looked over instinctively,
she was already terrified and shaken. For a moment, she felt as though they were all watching her for their own amusement.
She felt even more humiliated and uneasy, wishing she could find a crack in the ground to hide in.
But when she looked toward Chen Guan, she lowered her head in even greater fear.
All she felt now was terror.
"Mother..." Sixth Young Master was well-mannered and spent all day buried in his studies, so he knew nothing of his mother's past.
Now, seeing his mother lose her composure and nearly fall,
he hurriedly rose to support her.
But Sixth Young Master's respectful gaze kept drifting toward Chen Guan.
He had been somewhat frail since childhood and had always envied those gallant martial heroes who roamed the world.
I never knew my Fifth Brother was so formidable...
This was the first time he had seen Chen Guan, and Chen Guan's bravery had won him over. His heart was full of admiration for his elder brother.
At that moment,
Patriarch Zhao was the only person present who remained calm.
He had seen a few things in his time, but even he didn't know how to deal with this "ruthless killer" of a child.
After all, though Patriarch Zhao was a fairly well-known merchant in town and had seen his share of bandit troubles,
having to face a "knight-errant" who had killed so many people
was bound to make him nervous.
Even if this ruthless man was his son, that made no difference.
After all, they hadn't seen each other in ten years.
Now that they had met again, not only had Chen Guan's appearance changed drastically, but his temperament had become extraordinary as well.
For a while, Patriarch Zhao didn't quite dare speak with Chen Guan again.
But
Chen Guan didn't have so many thoughts. Instead, eager to settle the matter quickly, he turned to Patriarch Zhao and said:
"Please help me file a report at the yamen and notify Constable Yan and the others.
As for the bandit remnants in town,
I intend to hunt them down and finish them off today, rooting them out completely before they can cause trouble later."
As for searching the mountains for bandits and other vicious criminals in town,
if you had the ability, there was no need to notify the yamen or ask for its help.
On the contrary, if you could handle things yourself, the yamen was happy not to lift a finger.
And if you could take the bandits' heads to the yamen,
you could even claim a substantial reward.
As long as they were bandits, the yamen implicitly permitted people to kill them in broad daylight and uphold justice.
It was an unwritten rule.
Morning.
Zhennan.
On the bustling street, people came and went.
"Hey, young man, how much for these roasted melon seeds?"
"Candied hawthorn skewers for sale~"
"Daddy, I want that one..."
Amid the cries of vendors, people's conversations, and children's pitiful looks,
hawkers, passersby, and townsfolk paused to look at the goods or headed home. Everything went on as usual.
But just then,
Crash—
The violent sound of a wooden gate bursting apart rang out, jarringly loud on the street.
At the same time, someone who was still breathing—though not for long—came tumbling out with the shattered gate, landing on the street in a pool of blood.
He had smashed through the thick gate by brute force.
Half his body was now like a pile of mush, and it was clear he had only a few breaths left.
"K... K-killer..."
"This..."
"Run... Run..."
As the crowd stopped in shock and instinctively looked toward the source of the sound,
two more people inside the courtyard tried to scramble over the wall in terror, desperate to flee, as though some fierce beast were chasing them.
But before they could climb out,
the people on the street saw a pair of broad hands reach out from the courtyard, each grabbing one man by the neck.
In an instant, there was a crack. Their necks twisted out of shape as their spines were effortlessly crushed.
At the same time, a deep voice rang out from the courtyard, drowning out the shouts of terror about to erupt from the street.
"Folks outside, don't be alarmed.
My name is Chen Guan. I work for the Zhao Family's rice shop in town.
I came here today because these mountain bandits coveted my family's business and have been sneaking into our home at night for days.
As the head of the household, I naturally had to have a word with them and return a small gift."
As he spoke,
Chen Guan's towering figure emerged through the gate, the bandit chief in his hand.
The bandit chief stood over five and a half feet tall and weighed more than 150 pounds. By all accounts, he was a burly man.
But in Chen Guan's hand, he was like a little chick, held with ease.
Seeing Chen Guan's imposing presence and towering build, along with the man on the ground reduced to a pile of mush, no one dared say a word.
But some people farther away retreated as they asked their companions in bewilderment:
"Him? He's with the Zhao Family?"
"Chen Guan... I don't think there's anyone by that name in the Zhao Family..."
Almost no one on the street knew who Chen Guan was.
But they knew this hero was not to be trifled with.
Yet an aged wanderer farther away exclaimed in surprise:
"Is... Is he the young master the Zhao Family sent people to look for in the south of the city ten years ago? His mother... I think her surname was Chen..."
This wanderer had once been among those who searched for Chen Guan. He was also fond of poking his nose into things and asking questions, so he knew a little about Chen Guan.
He just didn't know about the name change.
But he knew that with Chen Guan's strength and his skill at killing people with ease, he was at least a Post-Heaven Minor Accomplishment expert!
And judging by how effortlessly he had thrown that man and smashed through the thick gate,
he might even have reached Post-Heaven Great Accomplishment.
Chen Guan paid them no mind. Instead, he looked at the bandit chief in his hand, whose heart had turned to ash.
"Where are the rest of them?
Since I've already started, I might as well kill every last one."
"South..." The bandit chief no longer dared to hide anything. All he hoped now was to suffer a little less.
He had refused to speak before, so Chen Guan had crushed three of his fingers one by one.
But just then,
"What's going on?"
"What are you all gathered here for?"
Amid a righteous-sounding shout,
two busybody knight-errants from town approached from afar.
They wore white robes and carried long swords.
But when they neared the center of the street and saw the deathly silence, the shattered gate and twisted corpses on the ground, and the towering Chen Guan looking their way,
the next moment, they turned around and went straight back the way they had come.
Before you continue