The blade fell.
A hairbreadth from disaster.
Drawing on his years of experience on the streets, Zhang San instinctively lunged forward.
The boning knife grazed his neck and cleaved into his shoulder.
As the blade sank into flesh, Zhang San was about to open his mouth and scream when he saw a dark blur hurtling toward him.
Lin Yuan's heavy, powerful kick arrived in an instant.
Crack.
Zhang San's jaw shattered on the spot, and he spat out teeth mixed with bloody froth.
He staggered into the table and chairs, knocking them over, then rolled across the floor, his head buzzing.
Lin Yuan strode forward and planted a foot on his back.
Zhang San's eyes bulged as he let out a piercing whimper, his hands flailing wildly and leaving streaks of blood on the floor.
Without wasting a word, Lin Yuan raised the boning knife and plunged it savagely into the center of his back.
Squish.
Zhang San convulsed a few times, then went completely still.
Only Lin Yuan's ragged breathing remained in the room.
Blech!
Blech!
Killing someone for the first time inevitably brought physical discomfort.
He slumped to the floor and took a good while to recover before beginning to search Zhang San's body.
A few copper coins and a small piece of silver.
About two taels.
Presumably, this was the blood money Zhao Yan had paid.
He, the dignified second young master of the Lin household, was worth just two taels of silver?
In this damned world, human lives truly were worth no more than weeds.
Lin Yuan was preparing to drag the corpse away and dispose of it when his gaze happened to sweep past a corner of the room.
To his surprise, he glimpsed the hem of a black robe sticking out there!
Someone's here!
Every hair on Lin Yuan's body stood on end, and his scalp prickled!
Wasn't that precisely where he had hidden earlier?
How long had this person been hiding there?
A layer of cold sweat broke out on Lin Yuan's back.
He stiffly turned his neck.
Pale moonlight spilled through a crack in the window, illuminating Lin Yuan's even paler face.
In the corner, he could dimly make out a tall, broad-shouldered silhouette.
Lin Yuan tightened his grip on the boning knife.
"Who are you!"
There was no response.
Lin Yuan retreated half a step.
The front hall was not far away. All he had to do was shout, and Master Wu, who was over fifty, would come.
Then there would be one more brutally slain corpse here.
"Did Zhao Yan send you?"
Lin Yuan stared fixedly at the figure and involuntarily swallowed.
The shadow seemed to move, yet seemed not to.
Lin Yuan tensed his arm, slowly raising the knife's tip.
That damnable Zhao Yan actually arranged for two groups.
Zhang San was merely the bait in plain sight. The truly lethal killing move had been hiding in the room!
A rustling came from the corner.
The shadow leaned forward slightly.
Lin Yuan's pupils contracted.
Strike first to seize the advantage!
His taut legs suddenly drove him forward, and he raised the knife, thrusting it savagely toward the other man's chest.
Clang!
The tip struck something hard, and the impact numbed Lin Yuan's wrist.
Knowing things had gone wrong, he immediately withdrew his knife and retreated, guarding against a counterattack.
The shadow swayed where he stood, then toppled stiffly to the floor.
???
Lin Yuan dared not let his guard down and nudged the man's shoulder with his foot.
There was no reaction.
Only then did he turn the man over.
The man before him was about forty, with rugged features and dark skin.
Dozens of blade wounds covered his body. He was drenched in blood, his breathing barely perceptible.
Lin Yuan noticed the corner of something pitch-black protruding from the man's chest.
He reached out and retrieved it. It was an iron token the size of his palm.
The character for Lin was engraved on its face.
Lin Yuan's hand suddenly froze in midair.
Someone from the Lin Clan?
His gaze returned to the man.
This man had clearly been through a bloody battle.
What was going on?
Perhaps he was not an assassin sent by Zhao Yan.
Lin Yuan reached out to check the man's breathing.
It had grown even fainter.
Probably because he had lost too much blood.
Save him?
What did it matter to him whether someone from the Lin Clan lived or died?
Heaven should be thanked that he could even restrain himself from finishing him off.
He was just about to drag the man outside when he saw his fingers twitch.
The man's lips moved.
"Water..."
His voice was barely audible.
But Lin Yuan heard him all the same.
Lin Yuan pretended not to hear.
Just as he dragged the man over the threshold, a bloodstained letter fell from his sleeve.
Lin Yuan had not intended to bother with it, but the words on the envelope seized his attention.
"To be opened by my son, Lin Yuan."
Lin Yuan's breathing stopped for half a beat.
In a daze, he picked up the letter.
By the moonlight, he slowly opened it.
"Yuan'er, there is something I dare not let anyone else know. I can only write it here."
"Lin Shan is not my flesh and blood."
Lin Yuan's expression remained calm. He had expected as much.
He lowered his head and continued reading.
"I have verified this, but I dare not make it public."
"Her elder brother is now the county commandant of Ping'an County and has deep ties with the county's powerful clans and local magnates."
"The Zhao Clan is powerful, and the Lin Clan's business still depends on them."
"The family estate I spent a lifetime struggling to build."
"I cannot bear to give it up."
After that sentence, the ink trailed on and on.
Lin Yuan sighed. Eight or nine things out of ten in life went against one's wishes.
"I have been secretly investigating that man's identity."
"The people I sent out never returned."
"Lately, I keep feeling that I am being watched."
Having finished one side, Lin Yuan turned the page over.
The handwriting on the back was somewhat scrawled, with two passages crossed out.
"If this letter has reached you, I am probably already dead."
"Only now have I thought of you. I am truly too ashamed to face you."
Lin Yuan paused for a moment.
"But whatever else may be, you are my only biological son. There are a few things I must give you."
"The man delivering this letter is called Lin Jiu. He is an orphan I took in as a child. Keep him by your side from now on. He is worthy of your trust."
"XXXXX"
"XXXXX"
"Live well."
Lin Yuan did not know what the two crossed-out lines had said.
But judging by the final sentence, the missing content had probably asked Lin Yuan to avenge him.
Lin Yuan put away the letter, his expression complicated.
"Rest assured, I will avenge you, but not for your sake."
Between him and Zhao Yan, it had long since become a fight that would only end in death.
Lin Yuan lowered his head, looked at the dying Lin Jiu before him, and made up his mind.
Such a loyal subordinate had to be saved.
A long while later.
After treating the wounds, Master Wu emerged with a grim expression.
"A martial artist at greater mastery of Body Tempering has a sturdy foundation. He won't die."
"But how do you intend to account for what happened tonight?"
Master Wu was furious.
A perfectly good clinic, a place for saving the dying and tending the injured, had now become a murder scene!
Lin Yuan rubbed his nose and began recounting his tragic background, along with the causes and course of the incident.
Master Wu listened carefully with knitted brows. After a long silence, he said with a sigh.
"To think that such a grand Lin household had dealings this filthy going on behind closed doors."
Lin Yuan wholeheartedly agreed. Great households had harbored filth since ancient times.
"What do you intend to do next?"
Master Wu was deeply worried.
Lin Yuan froze.
What would he do?
Of course he would return tooth for tooth and fight his way back!
Take back everything that rightfully belonged to him, Lin Yuan!
Unfortunately, his strength did not permit it.
"Let's wait until Lin Jiu wakes up."
He wanted to see just what that father of his had left him.
Lin Yuan dragged the corpse out of the clinic.
The night passed without further incident.
The sky had just begun to turn a faint bluish white.
In a side room in the rear courtyard.
Lin Jiu opened his eyes with difficulty. As unfamiliar surroundings came into view, his right hand instinctively reached for his waist.