The courtyard was dead silent.
The night wind swept through.
A few lanterns hanging under the corridor swayed gently.
At the front courtyard and the main gate, several outer courtyard disciples were keeping watch, yawning incessantly.
Some leaned against the doorframe, while others squatted on the steps, their eyelids heavy with sleep. None of them paid any attention to the inner courtyard.
Shen Xiuhan's gaze swept over the area.
Confirming there was no one around, he pressed himself against the base of the wall and crept toward the large water urn in the corner of the inner courtyard.
More than a month ago, when he came here to deliver fish, he had already pinpointed the hiding place of the Tongbei Stance.
It was right beneath this large water urn, which the inner courtyard disciples usually used for drinking water.
But when Shen Xiuhan approached the water urn and squatted down to inspect it closely, he discovered there was a hidden trick.
The faint golden light was not buried in the soil beneath the urn as he had imagined, but was instead sealed inside a compartment within the clay-fired base of the water urn.
Shen Xiuhan was slightly startled, but then realization dawned on him.
Before this water urn was fired in the kiln, someone had intentionally crafted a secret hidden layer to seal the cultivation technique inside.
‘No wonder Yan Xiao and Song Yanrong nearly dug up three feet of the martial arts hall's ground but still couldn't find the 『Tongbei Stance』... Who in their right mind would smash the water urn they use daily for drinking?’
Shen Xiuhan held his breath, channeling his blood qi into the tip of his index finger.
He aimed at the slightly thick clay layer at the bottom of the urn and tapped it gently.
“Crack!”
With a faint, muffled sound, the clay at the bottom of the urn cracked and peeled away like a spiderweb, revealing a hidden drawer.
Shen Xiuhan reached in with two fingers and pinched, pulling a rolled-up object into his palm.
Looking at it under the moonlight, it was an old bamboo scroll bound with gold thread. The bamboo slips had already turned a deep yellow, and the edges were worn, clearly indicating its ancient age.
‘It really is an ancient relic passed down from the previous dynasty, still using a bamboo scroll format...’
Shen Xiuhan did not delay. He tucked the bamboo scroll into his robe, placing it securely against his chest.
His figure flickered as he prepared to retreat toward the corner of the wall, but a sudden sound of footsteps echoed from the direction of the front courtyard's corridor.
Immediately after, the respectful greetings of the outer courtyard night-watch disciples drifted over:
“Greetings, Third Senior Brother. Have you returned from inspecting the pier?”
“Get lost! All of you, get the hell to the pier and find them for me! I will keep watch over the courtyard tonight!”
Ma Xianyang's irritated roar echoed from outside.
“Uh... Yes, yes, Senior Brother...”
It was Ma Xianyang?!
Shen Xiuhan's eyes narrowed. Moving as silently as a cat, he retreated and hid behind the Taihu rockery in the courtyard.
He completely withdrew his aura, merging into the darkness.
The footsteps from the front courtyard grew closer and closer.
A moment later, Ma Xianyang walked into the inner courtyard with a dark expression, striding toward the wing room on the left.
He had spent the entire day searching the docks and hadn't seen a single soul, leaving him absolutely furious.
But what shocked and angered him even more was that while dining at a restaurant earlier that evening, he had accidentally overheard a merchant's son in the adjacent private room who had drunk too much and was loudly boasting to his companions.
The man claimed that on his way back from Nanxiang Prefecture the other day, they had been intercepted by the water bandits of Chenjian Dock.
He went on about how he had displayed divine might to fight them off, risking his life to protect the two young ladies of the Ji family, winning their hearts, and so forth.
His drinking buddies didn't believe him and kept jeering and heckling him.
The man seemed a bit guilty, so he slurred his words to backpedal slightly:
“Well, although it wasn't entirely my doing... I still contributed thirty to forty percent of the effort! The rest was mostly thanks to the Ji family's newly appointed Patrol Envoy Shen...”
“Although that kid's background isn't as good as mine, he's highly talented. He broke through to the Bone Tempering Rank at such a young age. I heard he's even the junior brother of Heroine Jiang from the Mei Courtyard...”
Boom!
When Ma Xianyang heard this, it felt as if a thunderclap had exploded in his mind. He was utterly incredulous!
He secretly sent someone to inquire and quickly learned the identity of the boaster.
The young master of the Ma Family Firm!
Ma Jingxing!
This person had indeed been practicing martial arts in Nanxiang Prefecture, and his return time and route matched the incident where the Ji family's young ladies were attacked perfectly.
“If that guy surnamed Ma is telling the truth...”
Ma Xianyang stepped over the threshold of the wing room, gritting his teeth as he muttered, “That so-called Patrol Envoy Shen must be that mud-legged peasant from the Outer City!”
“That little beast really does possess a secret technique for catching Precious Fish!”
“How long has he even been in the Mei Courtyard? Yet he silently broke through the Bone Tempering Rank barrier!”
“No, I can't wait any longer!”
“If I let him grow any further, who knows what heights that kid will reach!”
Ma Xianyang pulled the half-open door shut behind him, his eyes brimming with murderous intent.
“Although I have also entered the Bone Tempering Rank now, I can't say I have a hundred percent certainty of killing him... It's better to wait for Second Senior Brother to return and join forces with him...”
“That little beast is still in the Inner City right now. We will go and tear him to pieces tonight, catching him completely off guard!”
He took a deep breath, walked over to the table, and reached out to grab the fire striker.
“Ssh!”
The very instant he leaned down to blow on the fire striker and a faint spark flared to life...
In the darkness...
Shen Xiuhan slipped silently through the gap of the door that had not been fully closed!
Activating the 『Swift Swan, Swimming Dragon』 technique, his figure lunged forward like a ghost!
A sharp claw, carrying a torrent of powerful force, tore directly toward Ma Xianyang's neck!
Before the claw even touched him, the fierce wind made all of Ma Xianyang's hairs stand on end, and his heart violently contracted!
“Who is there?!”
At the critical moment, he roared, pushing his blood qi to its absolute limit!
With green veins bulging like snakes on his left arm, he hastily twisted his waist and hips, using his left arm as a shield to thrust violently against the incoming claw behind him, attempting to withstand the blow and disperse its force!
“Bam!”
A collision like a giant hammer striking a war drum exploded in the wing room!
Ma Xianyang felt a surge of violent, overwhelming force crash into his left arm like a tidal wave.
“Crack!”
The sound of a slight bone fracture reached his ears, and an excruciating pain instantly exploded from his arm.
Within a single breath, his left arm went completely numb and limp. The violent force penetrated his body, throwing his blood qi into reverse and robbing him of all sensation in half of his body.
Before Ma Xianyang could even react, he took a direct kick to his back!
“Thud!”
He immediately flew backward like a broken kite, crashing heavily onto the wooden bed in the room.
Crash...
The wooden bed collapsed under the impact, shattering into a pile of splinters.
“Cough, cough, cough...”
Ma Xianyang felt as if his internal organs had all been shaken out of place. A sweet taste filled his throat, and he coughed up two mouthfuls of blood!
He gasped for breath, clutching his agonizing left arm with his right hand as he struggled to stand, demanding in shock and anger:
“You cowardly sneak! Do you have any idea what you are doing—”
The dark shadow did not give him any chance to speak!
With his body flickering like a swimming dragon, Shen Xiuhan unleashed his 『Heavenly Mystic Eagle Force』 paired with the 『Thirty-Six Paths Sky-Collapsing Kick』, pouring them out like a torrential downpour!
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The sounds of claws and kicks clashing were as dense as raindrops.
Shen Xiuhan completely suppressed Ma Xianyang from start to finish.
In less than a dozen exchanges, Ma Xianyang, who had already lost the use of one arm, had his guard completely broken. Panicked and disheveled, he was riddled with openings.
“No, I have to get out of here!”
Ma Xianyang grit his teeth. Forcing a change in his technique, he turned and lunged toward the window, trying to escape and call for help!
“You want to run?”
Shen Xiuhan let out a cold snort and instantly appeared behind him like a ghost.
His left hand, like an iron band, clamped over Ma Xianyang's mouth and nose from behind, while his right arm, like a python, wrapped under Ma Xianyang's armpit to lock his neck.
He pulled back, tightening his grip!
“Mmph... mmph...”
Ma Xianyang's eyeballs bulged.
His bloodshot eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of their sockets, a terrifying sight to behold!
The terrifying sensation of impending death by suffocation made Ma Xianyang begin to struggle frantically.
Rate on N.U.
