“Hey, today these candied hawthorns are really selling fast. If every day could be this leisurely, that’d be great.”
On the rooftop of a house in the west of the city, the candied hawthorn vendor from a few days ago lay sprawled out, a duck leg in his left hand, his right hand propping up his head.
Beside him was a jar, half-covered, filled with some kind of homemade brew.
“Nice and comfortable. It’d be even better if a play showed up right now.”
He took a swig from the jar, exhaling a satisfied
“shh-hah,”
when his gaze suddenly sharpened and his eyes widened.
“Hey, what do you know, just as I said—Isn’t that the kid the Empress has her eye on? And standing over there is…”
He sat up, squinting and staring for a while, scratching his head in confusion,
“Never mind, probably just some nobody. But judging by how they’re acting… Looks like I’m in for a show.”
He grabbed the jar again, gnawing on the duck leg happily, swinging his legs with glee, clearly enjoying himself.
In an alleyway.
Yun Mu stood at a fork in the road, facing a sullen-looking Shangguan Ce.
“You little bastard, judging by your clothes, did you steal them from someone? Or maybe—”
Before he could finish, a sudden “thud” echoed as the blue bricks beneath his feet shattered into fragments.
In the next instant, a shadow blurred forward, five fingers locking tightly around the youth’s throat.
“Hm?”
In a split second between life and death, Yun Mu’s waist dropped heavily, his whole body shrinking almost half a foot, narrowly avoiding the deadly grasp.
He crouched lower, shifting his weight instantly to the tips of his right toes.
His right arm retracted, muscles taut, then twisted his waist and turned his shoulder—
—Boom!
A punch, brutal to the extreme, nearly devoid of power, smashed forward.
“Bang—!”
Fist met palm with violent force.
“Crack—!”
A bone-chilling crunch echoed clearly.
Shangguan Ce’s right hand was completely trapped by the fist.
What shattered were the fragile metacarpals and knuckles of Yun Mu’s right hand.
“Ugh…”
The sharp pain turned the weak youth’s muffled grunt into a short, agonized hiss.
Blood sprayed out from the twisted, deformed knuckles of his right fist, instantly soaking half his forearm crimson.
“Kid, you don’t really think you—”
Shangguan Ce’s vicious grin was just forming when—
“What!?”
Though curled in pain, Yun Mu’s left arm suddenly exploded with terrifying strength far surpassing before.
His twisted body hadn’t yet fully straightened when his left fist, carrying a fiercer, heavier force than the right, shot forward without any flashy moves, aiming straight at the opponent’s complacent face.
“Bang! Crack!”
Two sharp sounds overlapped as the youth’s punch landed solidly.
The bridge of Shangguan Ce’s nose instantly crumpled in searing agony.
Stars burst in Shangguan Ce’s vision, dizziness overcame him.
His left hand, still gripping Yun Mu’s right wrist, loosened involuntarily, and he staggered back several steps, barely keeping his balance.
“Cough! Pft!”
Blood and shattered teeth sprayed from his mouth.
Clutching his almost crooked, collapsed nose, his mind was set ablaze with rage.
What he didn’t know—Yun Mu’s dominant hand was the left.
Nor did he realize Yun Mu was equally adept with his right.
The broken right fist was merely a decoy to distract him.
“You little bastard! You really deserve to die!”
A hysterical roar shattered the alley’s silence.
Shangguan Ce’s handsome face was twisted grotesquely by pain and fury, his eyes devoid of reason, filled only with murderous madness.
But when he lifted his furious gaze scanning around—the boy had vanished once again into the alley’s shadows.
“Come out! Get out here!”
Screaming like a wild beast out of control, Shangguan Ce unleashed a furious barrage of punches.
Bang!
Crash!
The old baskets piled on the right were shredded to pieces by his violent qi, bamboo splinters flying everywhere.
But aside from the dust, nothing stirred.
He spun and charged at another pile of junk.
Wherever he passed, walls bore the dents of fists, bricks cracked, and stones scattered wildly.
At this moment, Shangguan Ce was completely consumed by rage, losing all reason.
All he wanted now was to smash this area to dust, along with the hiding boy.
Deeper in the alley, Yun Mu leaned against the wall, sitting down.
His face was pale, clutching his right arm, which was twisted grotesquely.
Faintly visible were bones piercing through the skin.
Beside him, the sound of pounding and roaring continued.
He gritted his teeth against the pain and stood straight.
At his waist hung a Cleaver—the one he’d bought earlier for two Copper Coins from a butcher’s shop on his way here.
As for the Copper Coins, he had earned them working for the butcher earlier.
It was like coming full circle.
Gradually, the pounding sounds grew quieter, replaced by Shangguan Ce’s suddenly raised voice.
“Yun Mu, why are you hiding from me? Your brother wouldn’t kill you.”
His tone shifted as he wandered the alley,
“Yun Mu, stop hiding. I won’t lie to you—I’m here to protect you. After all, you’re Shangguan Qiu Yue’s precious one, right? What if something happens to you?”
Clearly, he had calmed down and was gambling on a possibility—that Yun Mu just wanted to vent his anger from years of beatings, rather than discovering the secret about her capturing boys.
“Yun Mu, little brother, I know you hate me for bullying you all these years, but I’ve got my reasons,”
he tried softening his words, though the ‘reasons’ were just excuses to pick on someone.
“If you really hate me, I won’t blame you. Come out, and I’ll let you vent properly, okay?”
Footsteps drew closer, voices louder. Just around the corner, Shangguan Ce’s laughter was nearly in Yun Mu’s ear—
“Yun Mu, little brother, don’t hide anymore…”
Suddenly, a cold flash of light appeared without warning.
A silver blade cut out from the dark corner, heavy with the scent of blood.
The target was the neck that had slightly risen as Shangguan Ce spoke.
That was Yun Mu drawing the Cleaver from his waist, channeling all his remaining strength into a desperate counterattack.
Shangguan Ce’s pupils constricted sharply, but the icy blade was already there.
He could even see the dark red blood stains on the edge of the blade.
“Shh!”
The faint sound of skin tearing echoed. Unfortunately… it was just an inch off.
His extreme backward lean saved his life.
The blade’s tip scraped dangerously close to his throat, leaving only a thin blood line.
Even so, the cold killing intent and overwhelming terror nearly tore his guts apart.
A drop of blood seeped from the twisted wound on Yun Mu’s right arm, about to fall.
In Shangguan Ce’s pupils reflected that drop, his body staggered uncontrollably backward in fright, on the verge of collapsing—
“Stop.”
A lazy voice seemed to ring in the air.
In that instant, the world froze.
Dust flying in the alley hung suspended.
Yun Mu’s forward-leaning form, mid-swing, froze like a stone statue.
Shangguan Ce’s body, leaning back, was held up by an invisible force, barely an inch from the ground, unable to fall.
The blood drop hung in midair—crystal clear, bright red, heavy with the smell of iron.
The alley seemed locked in a moment, the two frozen in place.
“Ah—didn’t expect to stumble upon a good show on a slow day, not bad at all.”
The lazy voice came from the side.
The hawthorn vendor appeared quietly, his mouth glistening with grease.
“This kid looks quite respectable, but that temper—tsk tsk, not something to praise.”
He pursed his lips and glanced Yun Mu up and down.
“Looks like I, Hu Delu, misjudged you. Didn’t expect you to be so tough. Hurt like this, yet you held it in, almost turned the tables on him? My mistake, my mistake.”
“But it’s a pity—”
“Too rigid, too stubborn. If you’d bought one of my candied hawthorns and eaten it, oh, you’d wake up with your meridians open and Star Resonance connected. Even if you hadn’t truly stepped onto the cultivation path, taking down some Shangguan Ce would be a piece of cake.”
“Too bad I said once this shop’s gone, it’s gone for good, so that one’s no longer available. But… since you’re still going to see the Empress in the future, I’ve got some healing fruit for you.”
He pulled a candied hawthorn from his pouch and placed it into the youth’s mouth.
The hawthorn transformed into a green light and flowed into Yun Mu’s body.
“Hm, not bad. You’ve got a good foundation, good, good.”
He nodded approvingly, then looked at the immobilized Shangguan Ce.
“As for you, sigh, you’re lucky. If I weren’t afraid this kid would kill you and mess up the follow-up, I wouldn’t bother.”
He took out a bamboo skewer, flicked it twice with a smile, then jabbed it sharply into Shangguan Ce’s forehead.
Oddly, no blood splattered.
The skewer vanished like a streak of light into his body.
“Hm… erasing a little Memory shouldn’t hurt, right? Whatever, not my business anyway. Just can’t let him find out Yun Mu can draw Star Resonance power without actually connecting Star Resonance.”
He waved his hand and sighed deeply,
“Phew~ As for the rest, carry this kid back to the Shangguan family’s Side Courtyard, so there won’t be any more trouble.”
Saying that, he hoisted Yun Mu over his shoulder like a rack of candied hawthorns and hummed an off-key tune as he vanished like the wind.
Moments later,
In the alley,
Shangguan Ce fell to his knees with a thud, groaning in pain.
“Strange, I remember I was supposed to—”
He clutched his head, frowning deeply.
“What was I going to do…?”