Killing Intent at the Cliff's Edge

Dusk soaked the mountain forest, and towering ancient trees cast vast swathes of pitch-black shadow.

The temperature in the mountains dropped rapidly. Cold wind blew through gaps in the branches and leaves, making Shen Yuan's thin coarse cloth garments rustle loudly.

He panted heavily, leaning on his axe, his arms trembling uncontrollably.

Chopping at deadwood again and again had drained what little strength he had left. The firewood piled on the ground weighed, at most, less than eighty jin—an entire world away from the required three hundred.

"At this rate, I definitely won't be able to hand in my work tonight," Shen Yuan muttered.

Even if he worked himself to exhaustion and collapsed, he could never complete the task Liu Er had assigned. Liu Er clearly intended to make things difficult for him.

He had deliberately sent him to this back-mountain area near the cliff.

At that thought, a fine layer of cold sweat broke out across Shen Yuan's back.

This was not as simple as withholding his meals. Demonic beasts roamed the cliffs of the back mountain, and the terrain was treacherous. One careless step, and he would fall.

Could it be that, from the very beginning, the other party had wanted him dead in the back mountain?

The instant that thought surfaced, every hair on Shen Yuan's body stood on end.

He immediately swept his wary gaze across the dense undergrowth.

"Rustle, rustle, rustle..."

A sound came from the grass.

Shen Yuan suddenly tightened his grip around the axe, his eyes fixed dead on the direction of the noise.

Two figures emerged from the bushes.

They were the two lackeys who had left with Zhou Hu earlier.

Neither wore a mocking grin now. Their gazes were icy, and they even held short wooden clubs in their hands.

Shen Yuan's heart sank sharply.

They had not come to mock him. They had come to kill him.

"Shen Yuan, you've been working until now, but it doesn't look like you've made much progress." One of the tall servants sneered as he closed in on Shen Yuan step by step.

"Zhou Hu sent you?" Shen Yuan asked in a low voice, quietly edging backward. Behind him was the cliff's edge. The soil beneath his feet had already loosened; a few more steps back, and there would be a bottomless abyss.

The tall servant grinned. "Whether Zhou Hu ordered it isn't important. What's important is that today, you're afraid you won't be returning to the Servant Compound."

"Someone wants you to disappear from this world for good." The shorter servant took over, his eyes utterly devoid of pity. "A useless cripple with shattered spiritual roots is only wasting the sect's food by staying alive."

Shen Yuan's mind raced.

Was this Zhao Kun's instruction? Or was it merely Liu Er's idea?

They did not dare kill someone openly within the Servant Compound, so they had used this chance to work in the back mountain to stage an accidental fall from the cliff. When the time came, they would only need to say that servant Shen Yuan had slipped while working and fallen over the edge. It would all pass unseen by gods and ghosts.

What a vicious scheme.

"You're going to kill me just because I know some old matters from back then?" Shen Yuan lowered his voice, trying to draw information from them.

The tall man's expression changed slightly. "Enough nonsense. Do it!"

As soon as the words fell, the two charged at him together. Their wooden clubs howled through the air as they struck straight at Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan was badly injured, his meridians shattered. He could not muster even a shred of true qi and could only rely on his body's instincts to dodge.

He barely twisted aside to evade the first blow. The club smashed viciously into the tree trunk behind him, sending bark fragments flying.

The other club followed close behind and struck Shen Yuan heavily on the shoulder.

Bang!

Explosive pain burst through him. Shen Yuan shuddered all over, half his shoulder instantly going numb. His axe flew from his hand and clattered onto the ground.

"Ugh!" A mouthful of blood surged up his throat, but he forcibly swallowed it back down.

Run!

That was the only thought in Shen Yuan's mind as he tried to flee into the forest to the side.

The two men blocked off his escape route, one before and one behind.

"Stop struggling. You can't escape." The short servant lunged at him with a savage grin, reaching out to clamp Shen Yuan's arm in an iron grip.

Shen Yuan struggled desperately, but the injuries in his body restrained all his strength. He could not break free from the other's hold at all.

The tall servant rushed forward as well. Together, they pressed their hands against Shen Yuan's back and forced him step by step toward the cliff's edge.

The soil beneath his feet grew looser and looser. From below the cliff came wave after wave of howling wind. One more half-step forward, and there would be nothing but an endless abyss.

The shadow of death enveloped Shen Yuan.

"Who sent you! Zhao Kun?!" Shen Yuan twisted his body with all his might and demanded loudly.

A trace of hesitation flashed across the tall servant's face, only to be replaced by viciousness. "Go ask in the Underworld!"

He gave no answer, and the force in his hands surged again.

Shen Yuan resisted with every ounce of strength in his body. His shattered bones sent waves of tearing agony through him, and every inch of muscle screamed. But the gap in strength between them was simply too great.

"Go down!"

The two shoved together with all their might!

A tremendous force slammed viciously into Shen Yuan's back.

The soil beneath Shen Yuan's feet collapsed outright.

His body instantly lost all support, and he was flung out over the cliff.

Weightlessness swept through his entire body.

Howling, roaring wind filled his ears. Above him, the faces of the two servants rapidly shrank smaller and smaller.

He fell!

He plummeted downward at terrifying speed.

Jagged cliff faces flashed past his body. Craggy rocks scraped against him again and again, tearing open wound after wound as blood streamed down his clothes.

Was this it?

He had only just transmigrated here, and he was already going to meet his end?

Boundless despair surged into Shen Yuan's heart.

His vision continued dropping. Below the cliff, black mist curled and coiled, making it impossible to see what the bottom looked like.

He did not know how long he fell.

Bang!

Shen Yuan crashed heavily onto a protruding rock ledge. Crisp cracking sounds came from multiple bones, and agonizing pain engulfed his entire body. His consciousness began to blur as his vision darkened again and again.

With the last trace of consciousness remaining, he saw a pitch-black cave entrance on the side of the rock wall. His body was rolling toward it.

Then he lost consciousness completely.