The Martial Artists from the Weiyuan Escort Agency left town today.
’The best course of action is to ignore it completely. If the worst happens, I can wait until I’m stronger and avenge them later.’
After a long moment, Lin Yan whispered to himself.
He hated getting into trouble, which was why he hadn’t agreed to evacuate with the Tang Family.
And now... it seemed trouble had found the Tang Family.
After receiving the news, Miss Tang had explicitly told him the Tang Family would be evacuating today. And as it happened, those mysterious Martial Artists from the Weiyuan Escort Agency were also leaving the city today.
There were no such coincidences in this world.
While everyone’s attention was fixed on the Four Seas Gang and the Inspection Bureau, another power was lurking within the county.
Now that Li Mushen’s death was confirmed, this power was finally preparing to bare its fangs.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!
The sound of Monkey’s hurried footsteps from outside the door interrupted Lin Yan’s thoughts.
"Stone, I... I just went to the Tang Mansion. I did as you said and asked to see Miss Tang, but the gatekeeper wouldn’t let me in. He just said she was busy today and wasn’t receiving visitors."
"Monkey, have some tea first. Calm down."
Lin Yan poured Monkey a cup of tea, his eyes filled with worry. He had sent Monkey to the Tang Mansion to give the Tang Family a warning; if Miss Tang was still at the mansion, she certainly would have seen him.
Her refusal meant the Tang Family had likely already evacuated the city, and those mysterious Martial Artists from the Weiyuan Escort Agency had already laid an inescapable trap outside the walls.
Lin Yan glanced at the scabbard at his waist.
The Jinghong Sword Technique came from the Tang Family.
His first post as a retainer came from the Tang Family.
Qingtian Town, Sanshan County...
He was indebted to the Tang Family.
He had always lived by one principle: When your family is poor and you’re trying to turn your life around, there’s no shame in borrowing money or owing favors. Clinging to some so-called lofty integrity is what’s truly foolish.
But there was one condition: kindness must be remembered, and debts must be repaid.
Several of the Tang Family’s carriage convoys left the city, heading in different directions.
The night was black as ink, filled with the clatter of hooves.
As one convoy approached a mountain pass, several figures suddenly emerged from the shadows of the trees, blocking the road.
"Halt!"
Wang Zhendong pulled on the reins, his heart sinking. There were six of them, their auras strong. To his alarm, one of them was in the Third-Time Skin Smoothing Realm.
He glanced back at the dozen or so of his brothers behind him. There was no hint of retreat in any of their eyes.
The Boss’s mission for them was to travel for just one hour and then disperse, but an hour and a half had already passed.
The moment they chose not to disperse half an hour ago, they had already prepared themselves to face danger and die.
"Open your damn eyes and look! This is a Tang Family convoy! You dare block our path?" Wang Zhendong bellowed, his voice echoing through the night.
"We’re here *for* the Tang Family."
The six figures shot forward. The Tang Family guards drew their blades and charged to meet them. Not one man retreated.
Blades flashed and blood splattered.
In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, half of the Tang Family’s Martial Artists had fallen.
Wang Zhendong desperately engaged an enemy in the Third-Time Skin Smoothing Realm. He took three slashes in a row, and blood gushed from his wounds.
Just then, another Martial Artist used the chaos to dart to the carriage. He ripped back the curtain, revealing a pile of stones stacked inside.
"It’s empty! No one’s here!" the man yelled. He immediately pulled a bamboo tube from his robes. "Light the flare! Notify the others!"
Wang Zhendong’s pupils constricted. ’I can’t let them fire that flare!’
"Stop him!"
He roared hoarsely and violently threw off his opponent. Ignoring the fact that he was leaving his back completely exposed, he lunged like a madman at the person holding the flare.
A blade from behind came down hard on his shoulder blade. The crack of bone was sickeningly clear.
With a muffled grunt, Wang Zhendong staggered but used his forward momentum to hurl his saber. It spun through the air, aimed at the hand holding the bamboo tube.
THWACK.
Blood sprayed as the flare tube and two of the man’s fingers fell to the ground, the gunpowder spilling out.
At the same time, however, the enemy’s blade followed through, plunging into his back and running him clean through the abdomen.
There was no fear on Wang Zhendong’s face, no pain. He simply collapsed, having destroyed their signal flare. He had bought the Boss a little more time.
But to Wang Zhendong’s dismay, the Third-Time Skin Smoothing Martial Artist behind him sneered and pulled another flare tube from his robes.
"Fool!"
BOOM!
The flare burst open, as brilliant as a blooming flower. It lit up the night sky, and it lit up his blood-soaked body and his face, etched with despair.
Wang Zhendong could only stare at the exploding flare and murmur, "Boss... I’ve failed you..."
Fifteen years ago, back when he was at the Single-Time Skin Smoothing level, he had taken a post with the Tang Family. It was thanks to the Boss’s benevolence that he was allowed to keep his post. Even after he failed to break through to the Third-Time of Skin Smoothing twice in a row, the Boss never said a word. He had finally stepped into the Third-Time Skin Smoothing Realm only last year.
Many of his contemporaries, even those with more talent, were still at the Second-Time Skin Smoothing level. Many more had long since died—the grass on their graves already waist-high.
They weren’t as fortunate as him. They didn’t have as many silver coins, so to obtain Martial Arts Resources, they had to work as escorts, venture into the mountains, and fight with others...
The flare soared into the sky, brilliant and dazzling.
Deep in the forest, Tang Shaoqi stopped in his tracks, looking back at the brilliant light blooming in the sky.
Tang Tang also looked up at the flare, then glanced sideways at her father.
For this evacuation, just in case the Tang Family was being watched, she had arranged for several convoys to leave the city at the same time. They were all heading in different directions to create a diversion and cover the real escape.
The Martial Artists in those convoys included members of the Tang clan as well as Tributors of other surnames who had held posts with the family for many years.
She had given these retainers a generous amount of silver taels and instructed them that they were free to disperse one hour after leaving the city.
But now, the location from which the flare had risen was clearly far beyond the route she had set for any of the convoys.

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