By the time Xu Qing returned to the martial hall, dawn had fully broken.
Several senior brothers in the outer courtyard froze when they saw him walk in covered in blood. He offered no explanation, merely nodded to Chen Wang, Qin Liang, and the others before heading straight into the inner courtyard.
After washing himself clean and changing clothes, he knocked on the door to Zhao Yan's study.
Zhao Yan had not slept all night, sitting in the study waiting. He had heard the movement when Xu Qing entered the inner courtyard, and the instant the knock sounded, he said, "Come in."
"Master." Xu Qing bowed.
Zhao Yan said nothing. He looked Xu Qing over from head to toe, and only when he saw no wounds on him and found his expression relatively calm did the tension that had gripped his heart all night finally ease.
"It's good that you're back." His voice was soft, but the relief and concern in it could not be concealed.
After a pause, he asked, "Did you run into any trouble on the river?"
Xu Qing did not hide anything and recounted the bandit suppression from beginning to end.
From Lin Mu deliberately directing them toward the southern forest, to the tampering with the signal arrow, to the river bandits' ambush in advance, to Lin Cang leading men to intercept them at the forest entrance—he told him everything. Only the details of how he had killed people were omitted; he merely said that he had "escaped amid the chaos."
Zhao Yan's expression changed drastically after hearing this.
He was not one to anger easily. He had struggled through the martial world of Qinghe County for decades; what storms had he not seen? Yet now, his face was terrifyingly livid, and the veins at his