Night Raid on the Woodshed

The night was as black as ink, with faint starlight and moonlight spilling over the Servant Compound.

Most of the servants had already put out their lights and gone to rest. The compound was silent, with only a few scattered lamps flickering.

Shen Yuan deliberately slowed his pace and took a wide detour, making sure no one was tailing him before gradually approaching his dilapidated woodshed.

A faint light shone through the woodshed window. It was the oil lamp Shen Yuan had deliberately lit before leaving. From outside, it looked as though someone inside was sitting in meditation.

He did not push the door open. With a flash, he silently circled around to the shadowed corner behind the woodshed, concealing himself in the darkness as he held his breath and waited.

Not far away, a plump figure crouched in the shadows of a small grove. It was Wang Dong. As agreed, he did not dare get too close. His eyes remained fixed on the woodshed, ready to rush off and find Elder Zhang the instant anything went wrong.

Time passed bit by bit.

Insects chirped in waves as the night grew deeper.

About half an hour passed.

Several shadows crept up to the woodshed door under cover of the surrounding buildings. There were four of them, each holding a short club and a cloth pouch laced with knockout drugs. They were Liu Er's trusted lackeys, including the two servants who had pushed Shen Yuan off the cliff before.

"Are you sure Shen Yuan is inside?" the leader asked in a low voice.

"The light is on. He should be inside meditating and recuperating. Steward Liu said we act tonight and cripple his limbs. He won't be able to get on the arena tomorrow for the finals, and the wager will naturally be void. Afterward, we'll say Shen Yuan was attacked by a demonic beast at night and died in the back mountain. No one will be any the wiser."

"Move! Be quick, and don't make too much noise."

They exchanged hand signals. One stepped forward and gently lifted the wooden bolt on the woodshed door.

The wooden door creaked as it slowly opened.

The oil lamp inside flickered, but the pile of straw was empty. Shen Yuan was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is he?!" One of the shadows froze, his heart lurching.

At that very moment!

Shen Yuan shot out from the darkness behind the woodshed!

True Subduing Tiger Fist erupted with surging blood and qi!

"Not good! We've fallen into a trap!" The leader's face drained of color.

But it was already too late.

Shen Yuan's fist cut through the air and smashed into the chest of the servant closest to the door.

Bang!

With a muffled thud, the man was sent flying and crashed heavily onto the muddy ground in the courtyard, losing all ability to resist on the spot.

The remaining three were horrified. Waving their short clubs, they hurriedly surrounded him.

"He was lying in wait outside! Attack him!"

The short clubs whistled through the air, raining down toward Shen Yuan's head and body.

Shen Yuan had gone through countless simulated ambushes and counterattacks in the Martial Arts Simulation Space. He did not panic in the slightest when facing these nighttime attackers. The True Subduing Tiger Fist opened and closed with unstoppable force, its gusting fist wind colliding again and again in the darkness.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Screams rang out one after another.

In just a few moments, all four attackers had been knocked to the ground. Some had broken arms, while others had fractured ribs. They lay sprawled in every direction before the woodshed door.

Shen Yuan planted a foot on the leader's chest and spoke in a cold voice. "Who sent you? Tell me the truth!"

The man was terrified, yet he still gritted his teeth and held on. "No one sent us! We only came to settle a score with you!"

He still wanted to deny it.

Shen Yuan slightly increased the pressure beneath his foot.

"Ahhh! I'll talk! It was Liu Er! Steward Liu ordered us to cripple your limbs! If things were exposed, we were to stage an accident and get rid of you!" The man howled in pain. Unable to endure any longer, he confessed everything.

Every statement was clear and complete.

Just then, hurried footsteps sounded in the distance.

Wang Dong rushed over with two outer sect patrol disciples. The moment he heard the sounds of fighting, Wang Dong had immediately gone to find a patrol team.

"Over here! It was them!" Wang Dong pointed at the four men lying on the ground.

The patrol disciples looked at the injured men scattered across the ground, their expressions turning stern. There were witnesses and a full confession. The evidence was conclusive: Liu Er had ordered his subordinates to launch a nighttime attack and harm a fellow disciple.

"Arrest them all! Go seize servant steward Liu Er immediately!" the patrol captain ordered sharply.

The group rushed straight to Liu Er's residence.

Liu Er was still sitting inside, waiting for his men to return with good news. He never imagined that enforcement patrol disciples would arrive instead. He was arrested on the spot, and fragments of correspondence between him and Zhao Kun were found in his residence. Though there was no complete evidence proving that Zhao Kun had directly ordered Shen Yuan's innate talent destroyed, it did prove that Liu Er had repeatedly acted on Zhao Kun's instructions to suppress Shen Yuan.

Liu Er's face turned ashen.

With the wager hanging over him and the additional charge of plotting against a fellow disciple, he was finished this time.

After a brief spell of commotion, the night returned to silence.

The news quickly reached the elders' residence. After learning the full story, Elder Zhang gave orders that very night to imprison Liu Er and deal with him after the finals were over.

Standing at the woodshed entrance, Shen Yuan watched Liu Er being escorted away, but felt little satisfaction. Liu Er was merely a pawn. Zhao Kun, the true prime suspect, remained safe and sound.

Tomorrow's finals arena would be the real battlefield.