Steward Lin wore nothing but a light sleeping robe, and his whole body was drenched in blood. He was blasted out of the front courtyard like a cannonball, landed in the yard, rolled twice, and lay still without another sound.
At that same moment, Little Leopard screamed, using every ounce of strength he had. He really was terrified, and he did not want to die here without even knowing why.
Still screaming, Little Leopard darted into the room. He knew there was a small window at the back. As long as he could squeeze out through it, he would be out of the worst danger.
But the danger he had imagined never came. After Little Leopard rushed into the room, he woke the other three, and a bout of chickens-flying-and-dogs-leaping chaos followed. Torches were lit, and the once-silent ironworks gradually filled with noise. A little later, several more startled cries rang out in the yard before everything slowly settled down.
In the end, Little Leopard never jumped out through the rear window, because the killer had no interest in him whatsoever.
The killer's targets were clear: Steward Lin and Old Xing. Both were now dead.
Compared with Steward Lin, Old Xing had met a far more gruesome end. A sharp weapon had cut his body in two. Even in death, his left hand still clutched a black iron hammer, and his eyes remained wide open, unable to close in peace.
Although Old Xing's unusual behavior over the past few months had stirred some vague, troubling suspicions in Little Leopard, he had never imagined such a horrific outcome. Looking at Old Xing's corpse, he felt a bitter ache well up in his heart. They had not spent very long together, but without realizing it, Little Leopard had come to regard him as both a good teacher and a trusted friend. Old Xing had taught him so much. Like a true mentor, he had passed on everything he knew, everything he could do, and everything he understood. He had hoped Little Leopard could pass the Wu Household's selection and fulfill his wish, yet he had died before he could see that day-and died so terribly. Little Leopard felt awful, and of course, he hated the unknown killer to the very marrow of his bones.
Ten years. Ten years at most. I will find you, and then I will cut you in half, just like you did today!
Little Leopard silently swore that oath, but what happened next made him afraid to reveal his thoughts. He did not even dare show a trace of grief.
Steward Lin and Old Xing had been the men in charge of the Wu Ironworks throughout Green Ram Market. Their deaths were an earth-shattering event there, causing an enormous stir. Naturally, the Prefectural Yamen dared not take the matter lightly. They were members of the Wu Household, after all. A very public, vigorous investigation followed, and as the first eyewitness at the scene, Little Leopard was summoned for questioning several times. They made quite a show of swearing to bring the killer to justice.
Strangely enough, however, once the new chief steward and master smith arrived at Green Ram Market, the affair was quickly suppressed and declared the work of roaming bandits. The newly arrived steward and master smith even produced a great deal of evidence that Steward Lin and Old Xing had embezzled money from the Wu Ironworks during their time at Green Ram Market, leaving everyone astonished. After a while, the matter gradually faded away. Apart from serving as a topic of idle conversation over tea or after meals, it was never mentioned again.
This outcome put Little Leopard on his guard. He caught the faint scent of a conspiracy.
Generally speaking, when something like this happened in a great Aristocratic Clan such as the Wu Household, never mind throwing mud on their own name to suppress the affair-even the slightest negligence from the officials at the Prefectural Yamen would not have gone unpunished. Otherwise, how could they uphold their clan's dignity and prestige? Who would act the way the Wu Household had?
There was only one explanation for their actions: the Wu Household wanted to cover up the affair.
Why did they want to cover it up?
Little Leopard did not know, nor did he want to know. At least for now, before he had the strength to protect himself, he did not want to know.
After some time,
The affair died down, and Little Leopard returned to his former peaceful life. Because Old Xing had worked so hard to distance himself from Little Leopard beforehand, the boy faced no further trouble beyond being summoned to the Prefectural Yamen to answer a few questions. Moreover, his natural talent was excellent, and he stood head and shoulders above the other apprentices, so he gradually earned the new master smith's trust and was entrusted with more important work.
It was just like school in Little Leopard's previous life. Teachers always liked students with good grades, even when a new homeroom teacher or subject teacher took over.
Thus, Little Leopard continued to live quite comfortably. Unlike Old Xing, whose right hand had been crippled, the new master smith, Qin Xuanlong, was a genuine third-rank martial artist and smith in the prime of his life. Besides his considerable martial skills, he was also proficient with concealed weapons and exceptionally good at throwing darts. Little Leopard had once seen him flick his hand and send three darts straight into the bull's-eye of a target over a hundred meters away, a sight that filled him with envy.
Because Little Leopard's comprehension was so extraordinary that the Nine-Form Hammer Technique and several sets of skin-tempering boxing techniques presented no difficulty whatsoever, Qin Xuanlong simply decided to teach him his dart-throwing techniques as well. They were hardly some divine art or peerless skill, after all.
Thud, thud, thud! Three darts struck, embedding themselves firmly in the red dot at the center of the target.
"Good, good, good!" Qin Xuanlong called from beside him, unable to hide the admiration on his face.
He had been teaching apprentices as a master smith for over ten years, but he had truly never seen one with talent and comprehension like Little Leopard's. Leaving everything else aside, the boy had practiced throwing darts for less than three months, yet he already knew every technique inside out. Every dart he threw hit its mark. Even with his eyes shut, he could strike the bull's-eye from thirty zhang away. This left Qin Xuanlong both delighted and ashamed.
After all, he had practiced for well over ten years before reaching Little Leopard's current level.
No wonder people said Old Xing treated this boy differently. Damn it, who wouldn't favor an apprentice like this? He's only eight! His future really is limitless. The Household's selection won't pose any problem for him at all. He might even pass the final selection. He's bound to achieve far more than any of us someday. If I treat him a little better now, then once he makes something of himself, even a little help from him will benefit us for the rest of our lives! With such thoughts in mind, Qin Xuanlong put even more effort into teaching Little Leopard, holding back nothing he knew and explaining everything to the fullest.
"Master, these are a few kitchen knives I forged recently. Take a look. What do you think?"
After finishing his training for the day, Little Leopard brought several gleaming kitchen knives out of the Smelting Room and presented them to Qin Xuanlong as though showing off treasures. After all, in a sense, martial arts were only a sideline for apprentices like them. Smithing was their true trade.
"Oh!" At that moment, Qin Xuanlong seemed to remember this himself and took the kitchen knives Little Leopard handed him.
"Hm?!" Initially paying little attention, Qin Xuanlong casually ran a finger along one gleaming blade. His finger jerked away, and a thread of blood seeped from its tip.
What a sharp edge! Startled, Qin Xuanlong shifted his hands and swung the knife at the nearby wooden post used for testing blades.
With a swish, the wooden post split into two pieces in an instant, making Qin Xuanlong's brows twitch.