Forbearance

Outside the stone cave, footsteps drew closer and closer.

The two servants who had pushed him off the cliff idly kicked at dead branches by the roadside as they chatted, less than a dozen yards from the cave where he was hiding.

"Steward Liu said the cliff is so deep that not even bones would remain after a fall. Why would we need to look for a body? We just need to take a quick glance around, then go back and report that the job is done."

"True enough. A cripple whose spiritual roots were shattered—dead is dead. Still, it's a pity. His talent used to be so high."

"What good is talent, no matter how high? Offend someone you shouldn't offend, and this is the end you'll come to."

As the two spoke, they reached the cliff's edge and craned their necks to peer down at the abyss shrouded in black mist. They casually looked around twice, not bothering to thoroughly search the dense forest nearby.

"Alright, can't see a thing. Let's go back and report."

The footsteps gradually faded away, and their voices slowly vanished into the depths of the mountain forest.

Inside the stone cave, Shen Yuan slowly loosened his clenched fists, coldness surging in his eyes.

"Offend someone you shouldn't offend."

Those words confirmed once again that a powerful figure truly stood behind this whole affair. Zhao Kun was very likely the intermediary.

Unfortunately, he still had no solid evidence.

Killing those two servants now would be easy, but once lives were lost, the Law Enforcement Hall would immediately launch a thorough investigation. A servant who was supposed to be dead suddenly coming back to life, then killing fellow disciples—he would be unable to clear his name even with a hundred mouths, and would instead fall into the trap they had laid.

"Endure for now."

Shen Yuan suppressed the killing intent in his heart.

Only after the sky had gone completely dark and night had thoroughly blanketed the forest did he quietly emerge from the stone cave. Avoiding the main road and using the darkness as cover, he slipped all the way back to the Servant Compound.

Only sparse lights remained in the Servant Compound. Most of the servants had already gone to rest.

He quietly returned to his ramshackle woodshed. Inside, his old bedding and miscellaneous belongings remained where they had been. Clearly, no one had touched them. Everyone must have already concluded that Shen Yuan had been buried beneath the cliff.

Only after closing the broken door of the woodshed did Shen Yuan let out a slight breath of relief.

He briefly cleaned the mud and blood from his body, then changed into a relatively intact set of old gray-cloth servant clothes.

He deliberately restrained the blood and vitality throughout his body, completely suppressing the power of the Body Tempering Third Stage within himself. Outwardly, he still looked like that pale-faced, injured, down-and-out cripple.

The next morning.

The sky had only just begun to brighten.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Brutal pounding suddenly rang out against the door.

"Shen Yuan! Open up!"

Liu Er's shout exploded outside the woodshed.

Shen Yuan understood at once. They had come.

He put on a weak appearance and slowly walked forward, pulling open the wooden door with a creak.

Outside, Liu Er stood at the entrance with Zhou Hu.

The moment Liu Er saw Shen Yuan standing alive before him, his pupils abruptly contracted. His face was instantly filled with disbelief, and his body unconsciously retreated half a step.

"You... you're still alive?!"

The words nearly blurted out of his mouth.

Shen Yuan feigned confusion. He coughed twice, his breathing weak. "Steward, yesterday, while gathering herbs in the back mountain, I lost my footing and rolled down the slope. I fell into a crevice halfway up the mountain and was lucky enough to cling to life. It took me all night to crawl back."

He had prepared his excuse beforehand, turning the fall from the cliff into an accidental tumble down a mountainside.

Behind Liu Er, Zhou Hu's expression also changed abruptly. His eyes brimmed with shock and uncertainty as his hands quietly clenched into fists.

Waves crashed within Liu Er's heart as he stared Shen Yuan up and down, trying to find a flaw. Yet Shen Yuan's face was pale and his breath weak, as if he had suffered grave injuries. There was not the slightest sign that he had succeeded in cultivation.

Liu Er secretly mulled it over.

Could it be that those two brats had not pushed him off the true death cliff? Had he merely rolled down to the middle of the mountain?

If he made trouble in public, without evidence, he might instead bring disaster upon himself.

After a moment, Liu Er suppressed the shock in his heart and put that harsh, mean expression back on his face.

"Consider yourself lucky you didn't die! The three hundred jin of firewood I assigned you yesterday—you haven't handed in a single bit!" Liu Er sternly berated him. "So what if you survived? If you fail to finish your work, you'll still be punished!"

Zhou Hu immediately stepped forward, borrowing the tiger's might through the fox. "Shen Yuan, you've got some nerve. Since you survived, you should obediently accept your punishment! According to the Servant Compound's rules, anyone who fails to complete their task gets the rod!"

Shen Yuan lowered his gaze and sneered inwardly.

They were planning to use the steward's status to publicly hammer him down.

Outside the woodshed, many servants who had risen early to work gathered around, pointing and whispering.

"Shen Yuan actually came back? Didn't they say he fell down the mountain and died yesterday?" "That kid's life is really tough. He survived even that."

Comment after comment entered his ears.

Seeing more and more spectators gather, Liu Er grew even more eager to establish his authority. He jerked his chin at Zhou Hu. "Teach him a lesson. Make him remember the Servant Compound's rules!"

A savage grin spread across Zhou Hu's face. Clenching his fist, he charged toward Shen Yuan in great strides, his punch carrying the whistle of wind as it smashed straight at Shen Yuan's face.

The surrounding servants cried out in alarm, all thinking Shen Yuan was about to be severely beaten.

Just as the fist was about to strike his face.

A cold glint flashed in Shen Yuan's eyes.

Retreating blindly would only make them press their advantage inch by inch. He had to endure when it was time to endure, but he could not simply let others beat him at will.

He slightly turned his body and gave his shoulder a faint shake. Secretly circulating the power of the Body Tempering Third Stage, he used the force-dispersing finesse of the Perfect Tiger-Subduing Fist.

Bang!

Zhou Hu's fist landed on Shen Yuan's shoulder, as though it had struck a mass of supple cotton. Most of the force throughout his body was instantly dispersed.

Before Zhou Hu could react, Shen Yuan seemingly lightly raised an arm.

"Thump!"

A dull impact rang out.

Zhou Hu's body, weighing well over a hundred jin, was directly flung away by that deft force. He crashed heavily into the mud and rolled two or three meters away.

"Ah!!"

Zhou Hu let out a miserable cry. Covered in mud from the fall, he had smashed his arm against a stone and grimaced in pain.

The entire scene instantly fell silent.

Every servant watching widened their eyes, their faces full of disbelief.

Shen Yuan, the cripple whose spiritual roots had been shattered, had actually knocked Zhou Hu over with one punch?

Liu Er's expression instantly became incomparably ugly.