Malice in the Shadows

The trees on the back mountain were dense, and sunlight filtered through layer upon layer of leaves, casting only scattered flecks of light.

The ground was covered in rotting fallen leaves, soft beneath his feet. From time to time, little insects darted out from under the dead foliage.

Shen Yuan gripped the chipped axe, his shoulders and body aching everywhere.

He found a withered tree that was not too thick, took a deep breath, and raised his axe to chop at it.

Clang!

A dull thud rang out.

The axe only sank shallowly into the trunk. The tremendous recoil traveled up the handle, numbing his entire arm and sending ripping pain through his wounds.

"Cough..." Shen Yuan coughed dully twice, a faint trace of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

After his innate bones had been shattered, the foundation of his physical body had already collapsed. Even crude labor like swinging an axe had become incomparably difficult.

One strike, then another.

Sweat streamed down from his temples, soaking through his coarse hemp clothes. In less than half an hour, Shen Yuan was drenched from head to toe, beads of sweat constantly dripping from his forehead into the dirt.

Only a small section had been chopped from the dead tree. The three-hundred-pound task remained a distant prospect.

"Well, if it isn't Shen Yuan. Working, are you?"

A sneering voice came from the bushes to the side.

Shen Yuan stopped and turned to look.

Three young men dressed in the same gray servant robes sauntered out from behind the trees. Their leader was Zhou Hu, who usually stayed close to Liu Er and often bullied the other lowly servants by borrowing a tiger's might.

The three of them folded their arms and looked Shen Yuan over with mocking expressions.

Zhou Hu gave a derisive laugh, his gaze sweeping over the chipped axe in Shen Yuan's hand. "With you looking half-dead like this, you still want to chop three hundred pounds of firewood? I'd say even if you worked until dark, you couldn't manage a hundred pounds."

Another servant beside him joined in the jeering. "Brother Hu, he used to be a genius. Maybe he has some special ability."

"A genius?" Zhou Hu burst into laughter. "A genius with shattered innate bones is nothing but trash."

Shen Yuan tightened his grip on the axe. He knew these people had come looking for trouble.

In the Servant Compound, kicking someone when they were down was always the norm. Now that he had lost his cultivation and had no one to rely on, anyone could come and stomp on him twice.

"I still have work to do. Please move aside." Shen Yuan suppressed his anger, keeping his tone as calm as possible.

"Work?" Zhou Hu took two steps forward, his gaze fierce. "Manager Liu had already instructed us to come over and 'help you out.'"

As soon as he finished speaking, the other two servants stepped forward and kicked the small pile of freshly chopped firewood beside Shen Yuan.

Crash!

The firewood he had struggled so hard to chop rolled straight down the slope and into the brush below. More than half of it could no longer be recovered.

Shen Yuan's pupils contracted slightly.

"What are you doing?!"

"What are we doing?" Zhou Hu tilted his head, his face brimming with malice. "Our feet slipped, that's all. Shen Yuan, if you know what's good for you, just lower your head and admit defeat. Don't keep putting on that unwilling expression. Here, you can't turn your fortunes around."

Fury churned within Shen Yuan's chest.

Liu Er had clearly made things difficult for him on purpose, and now he had even sent his underlings to sabotage him. Even if Shen Yuan worked himself to the bone, they had countless ways to ensure he failed the task.

He stared fixedly at Zhou Hu and the other two, his mind calculating at high speed.

He was covered in injuries now, his meridians and innate bones utterly shattered. He could not even defeat an ordinary First Stage of Body Tempering cultivator. If he really fought, he would only be beaten by the three of them, worsening his injuries. The loss would outweigh the gain.

Trying to force his way through was completely irrational at this stage.

Shen Yuan slowly loosened his grip on the axe and did not rush forward to fight.

Seeing how he endured it, Zhou Hu grew even more smug. "What, nothing to say now? I advise you to behave yourself and stop dwelling on the past. Some people are not people you can afford to provoke."

There seemed to be something hidden within those words.

Shen Yuan keenly caught the key point and raised his eyes toward Zhou Hu. "What do you mean by that?"

Zhou Hu's expression changed slightly. He seemed to realize he had let something slip, and immediately changed his tune with a cold snort. "It means nothing. I'm just telling you to keep your place."

Unwilling to discuss it further, he waved his hand. "Brothers, let's go. Don't waste time here watching him slowly suffer."

The three of them laughed and joked as they turned away, disappearing into the depths of the forest.

The woods fell silent once more.

Only the rustling of leaves in the wind remained.

Shen Yuan looked at the firewood scattered down the slope, his heart heavy.

Zhou Hu's earlier warning further confirmed his suspicions. The destruction of the original owner's innate bones had definitely not been a simple case of jealousy and fighting. Someone behind the scenes was applying pressure, while Liu Er, Zhou Hu, and the rest were all merely chess pieces.

What role, exactly, did Zhao Kun play in this? And was there someone even deeper behind the curtain?

There were too few clues. Everything was only conjecture.

Shen Yuan bent down and gathered the small amount of firewood he could still retrieve.

He had wasted a great deal of strength, yet had gained pitifully little. At this rate, he would absolutely be unable to finish the three-hundred-pound task before nightfall.

If he failed the task, there would be no food tonight. In the long run, his body would only grow weaker and weaker.

Could he only wait passively for death like this?

He leaned against the tree trunk and sat down, wearily rubbing his swollen temples.

He had transmigrated here with no cheat, no old grandfather, only a broken body and a host of enemies lurking in the shadows.

Wait.

Did he truly have nothing at all?

Shen Yuan tried his hardest to dig through every memory of the original owner, replaying the scenes before and after the fall from the cliff, the severe injuries, and the destruction of his innate bones again and again.

The fragments of memory were scattered and disjointed, with many places blurred beyond recognition.

The sky gradually darkened. The sun slowly sank in the west, and the temperature in the mountain forest rapidly fell as waves of chill swept over him.

His stomach growled with hunger, while the wounds all over his body throbbed with pain.

Shen Yuan forced himself to endure and continued swinging his axe to chop wood. Every swing required him to bear immense pain.

He did not know how much time had passed.

The firewood beneath his feet was still pitifully scarce.

Intermittent howls from demonic beasts drifted over from afar, growing clearer and clearer.

This place was not far from the back mountain cliff, and the soil beneath his feet had begun to grow wet and slippery.

A strong unease rose in Shen Yuan's heart. He constantly felt that a pair of eyes in the darkness was staring fixedly at him.