[Name: Chen Ye] [Class: Roof thief (lv3)] [Talent: Light as a Swallow] [Skills: Deft Hands lv9, Swift Blade lv8, Running on Eaves lv3]
The changes on the panel were plain to see.
His roof thief class had risen by one level, and Running on Eaves and Walls had advanced along with it. That was undoubtedly thanks to his trip to the Lu residence last night.
Chen Ye understood. Sure enough, leveling up the class panel couldn't be done by burying himself in practice alone. Practical experience was king.
Last night's infiltration and delivery of the letter had seemed simple, but together they had made a complete roof thief operation. The experience it brought was far greater than what he had gained from half a month of hard practice.
Meanwhile, a pall of gloom hung over the Lin Family.
In the main hall, Lin Hong's eyes were bloodshot as he stared fixedly at his daughter, who knelt on the floor with disheveled hair and badly swollen cheeks. Not a trace of his former affection remained in his gaze, only cold disappointment and towering rage.
"You wretch! You wretch have dragged the Lin Family's name through the mud!"
With a roar, he snatched a teacup from the table and hurled it to the floor. Shards of porcelain flew everywhere.
Lin Yan trembled all over, but still held her head high. "Father, I've been wronged! Someone is trying to harm me, and the Lu Family has gone too far!"
"Wronged?" Lin Hong laughed in anger. He walked toward Lin Yan step by step and looked down at her. "Even now, you still dare to deny it? If you hadn't carried on with a man and secretly gotten pregnant, would the Lu Family have made such a fuss, even tearing all pretense aside to break off the engagement? Do you take everyone in the world for a fool?"
He suddenly raised his hand, about to slap her again.
But when he saw his daughter's tear-streaked face, like a pear blossom in the rain, he couldn't bring himself to do it. His hand merely trembled violently in midair.
At last, he lowered his hand in dejection, his voice full of weariness and resolve.
"Someone!"
Two burly matrons immediately walked in.
"Take the third young lady back to her boudoir. Without my orders, she is not to take half a step outside her room!" Lin Hong's voice was cold as ice. "Also, fetch the best physician in the city. Tell him the third young lady has caught a chill and is feeling unwell."
He paused, every word seeming to be forced through clenched teeth.
"Tell the physician to use the best medicine. He must... make sure that bastard in her belly never sees tomorrow's sun!"
"No, Father! You can't do this to me." Lin Yan finally felt fear. She struggled wildly, crying out, "That's your grandchild, Father!"
"I, Lin Hong, have no such grandchild!" Lin Hong roared.
"Mother, say something!" Seeing that her pleas to Lin Hong had failed, Lin Yan immediately turned to her mother.
But her mother sat in her chair without so much as moving, her head lowered as she rolled her prayer beads between her fingers and muttered under her breath, as though lost in meditation.
The two matrons hesitated no longer. They seized Lin Yan and dragged her toward the rear courtyard. Her piercing cries gradually receded, then vanished altogether.
That night, a bowl of pitch-black medicinal brew was forcibly poured down Lin Yan's throat.
After the excruciating pain came an icy emptiness.
She lay on the bed, her face ashen, but a frenzied hatred burned in her eyes. She couldn't understand how the affair had come to light. How had the Lu Family known about it in such detail?
"Mengtao..." she called weakly.
Her personal maid, Mengtao, knelt weeping by the bed. "I'm here, young lady."
"Go... go out and ask around. No matter the cost, find out exactly who... stabbed me in the back!"
Mengtao left to carry out her orders and returned a day later with news.
"Young lady, everyone outside is talking about it. They say the Lu Family received an anonymous letter that described everything you and that young master did at Fayuan Temple in perfect detail. The Lu Family followed the clues in the letter and found it all out..."
Fayuan Temple!
Hearing those words, Lin Yan frantically searched her mind for anyone who might have wanted to harm her.
Was it one of the close friends she usually clashed with? Or one of her father's political enemies?
She considered countless possibilities, but never once imagined that the one behind it all was the lowly study attendant she had casually framed, who had long since died at the mass grave.
To an exalted young lady like her, a servant's life or death wasn't even worth a moment's place in her memory.
Unable to find her enemy, all her resentment and malice could only burn wildly in her heart like a rootless wildfire, tormenting Lin Yan until she was scarcely recognizable.
Meanwhile, the Lin Family used every resource at its disposal to suppress the scandal. But how could the countless mouths of the public be so easily silenced?
The scandalous affair had already become the most popular topic of conversation among the capital's people after meals, with one version of the story after another springing up. Lin Yan, the Lin Family's third young lady, had become a byword for shameless debauchery, her reputation utterly ruined.
Time flew, and half a year passed.
Spring gave way to summer, and the turmoil in the capital gradually subsided. Though the Lin Family's scandal was still the butt of jokes, it was no longer the center of attention.
Over those six months, Chen Ye had practically turned himself into a cultivation machine.
By day, he mingled in the streets with Fang Tao and the others, studying the essence of Deft Hands. He used heartless wealthy merchants and overbearing bullies as practice targets. His techniques grew ever more elusive, and he could often take the most important things from his targets amid casual conversation and laughter.
At night, when all was silent, he became a ghost of the darkness, leaping and twisting across the closely packed rooftops as he practiced the movements of Running on Eaves. He made the rooftops of the entire southern city his training ground.
The thin-bladed knife in his hand, through repeated slashing, slicing, and scraping, became like an extension of his own arm.
Finally, late one night, half a year later, Chen Ye finished his last practice session and quietly returned to his little house from the rooftops. A series of notification sounds exploded in his mind.
[Skill: Deft Hands has increased to lv10 (maximum level)!] [Skill: Swift Blade has increased to lv10 (maximum level)!] [Class: Roof thief has increased to lv5 (maximum level). Advancement requirements met. Change class?]
It's here!
Chen Ye's heart jolted. Suppressing his excitement, he immediately answered silently, Yes!
The next moment, three completely different streams of information flooded into Chen Ye's mind, becoming three brand-new class options that floated quietly in his sea of consciousness.
[Option one: Mechanist] [Description: In your eyes, everything in the world is made of joints, springs, and pivots. Locks are words, and traps are puzzles. You have an innate ability to discern their construction and dismantle their cores.] [Class talent: Nimble Mind and Deft Fingers-You possess an extraordinary innate intuition and perception for all machinery, mechanisms, and locks, allowing you to quickly discern their structural weaknesses and operating principles.] [Option two: Nightwalker] [Description: The night is your territory, and shadows are your royal robes. You will become the purest of stealth practitioners, walking in the gaps between moonlight and shadow. None can hear your footsteps, and none can find your traces.] [Talent: Child of Shadow-You are the darling of the shadows, born with the ability to blend into the darkness. Your presence, sounds, and form are greatly suppressed in the shadows, making you nearly impossible to detect.] [Option three: Thousand-Faced Guest] [Description: One face, one identity. Your voice, gait, and bearing are all disguises. You can be royalty or nobility, or a peddler or common laborer. By switching between countless identities, you can achieve ends no one else can reach.] [Class talent: Formless Face-Your ability to disguise yourself and imitate others will come as naturally as breathing. You can easily change your own temperament and manner, leaving no flaws in your disguise and making it extremely difficult to see through.]