But if they were indeed outsiders, it ans soone with high privilege had brought them here.
’Murong Xie.’ that was the only na Han Yu could think of.
Lei Xing smiled thinly.
"No. Tonight, you die for real."
Without warning, Lei Xing lashed out with a palm strike.
A blast of condensed Qi ripped through the mist, heading straight for Han Yu.
Han Yu gritted his teeth.
No more running.
It was ti to see just how far he had co.
Han Yu threw himself sideways, narrowly dodging the blast of Qi. It smashed into the ground where he had stood a heartbeat earlier, leaving a smoking crater.
He rolled and sprang to his feet, heart pounding.
Lei Xing didn’t even bother to chase him imdiately. He stood there, arms behind his back, eyes gleaming like a cat toying with a cornered mouse.
Han Yu’s mind raced.
Think! He couldn’t fight him head-on. A Peak Stage Qi Refining realm cultivator was a monster compared to him, even with his tempered body.
But that didn’t an he couldn’t win.
Not fairly, of course. Fairness was for fools.
Han Yu’s fingers brushed against sothing in his inner robe pocket.
A small, warm vial.
He pulled it out without thinking. The cork had a tiny rabbit drawing on it — Li i’s mark.
Han Yu hesitated.
Was this a blessing or a death sentence?
Another blast of Qi exploded near him, showering him with dirt and broken bamboo.
No ti to think.
Han Yu yanked the cork out with his teeth and downed the vial.
The taste was... horrific. Like rotten plums mixed with iron and sothing that definitely was not edible.
Instantly, he felt it.
His blood ignited.
It was as if a forge had been lit inside his veins. His muscles swelled slightly, his senses sharpened to painful clarity. His skin even took on a faint tallic sheen.
Han Yu staggered, gripping his broom tightly to stay upright.
Lei Xing raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? Boosting yourself with forbidden drugs? How pitiful." He sneered, then blurred forward with a speed Han Yu could barely track.
Han Yu braced.
The broom moved almost on its own.
CLANG!
The broom intercepted Lei Xing’s sword at the last possible second. Sparks flew.
Han Yu’s arms shuddered from the force, but they didn’t break.
Lei Xing’s eyes narrowed. ’Such strength? He’s comparable to in raw power?!’
Feeling anxious he slashed again — faster, sharper, aiming for Han Yu’s throat.
Han Yu ducked under it by a hair’s breadth and retaliated with a sweeping strike aid at Lei Xing’s knees.
Lei Xing hopped back gracefully.
The gap between them widened for a brief mont — and Han Yu pounced on it.
He grabbed a handful of dirt and flung it straight into Lei Xing’s eyes.
"DIRTY TRICKS!" Lei Xing roared, stumbling back as he wiped at his face.
Han Yu didn’t give him a chance to recover.
He lunged, broom whipping around like a furious storm.
Lei Xing blocked sloppily, still half-blinded, his footwork thrown into chaos.
Han Yu struck high, then low, then thrust the broom end like a spear into Lei Xing’s gut.
WHUMP!
Lei Xing gasped, doubling over.
Han Yu spun the broom around and smashed it across the side of Lei Xing’s head.
CRACK!
The Inner Sect disciple crashed to the ground, dazed.
Han Yu staggered too, his temporary boost already beginning to burn itself out. His limbs felt heavy, his vision swam, and his heart hamred wildly out of rhythm.
He had maybe seconds left before the backlash set in.
He had to finish this now.
Han Yu dragged Lei Xing up by the front of his robe, staring into his glassy eyes.
"Tell them," Han Yu growled, his voice hoarse. "Tell them if they want dead, they better send soone stronger."
And with that, he slamd Lei Xing’s face into the dirt.
The man didn’t move.
Han Yu staggered back, panting.
The mist swirled around him, eerie and silent.
The bamboo groves stood witness to the battered bodies scattered across the clearing.
Han Yu planted the broom into the ground, using it to hold himself upright.
A faint, wild grin tugged at the corner of his lips.
He had survived.
Again.
Barely.
As the drug’s backlash finally caught up with him, Han Yu collapsed onto the ground with a soft thud, consciousness fading fast.
Before he blacked out, he thought he heard faint, familiar giggling in the distance.
Li i’s voice, teasing and smug:
"See? I told you my potions would help!"
Then, darkness.
Han Yu didn’t wake up the next morning.
Nor the next.
It took him three full days of unconsciousness before his fingers twitched and a low groan escaped his lips.
By then, news of what happened had already exploded through the Twin Leaf Peak like wildfire during a drought.
Servants whispered in the kitchens.
Outer disciples huddled in corners, wide-eyed.
Inner disciples grew grim and quiet.
Even the Elders began holding private, closed-door etings.
Because the facts, no matter how hard they tried to downplay them, were impossible to ignore:
An Inner Sect disciple, Lei Xing, had been beaten into a coma... by a servant.
Not just beaten.
Humiliated.
And worse — it wasn’t even done with flashy martial techniques or high-level cultivation.
He had been taken down with a broom.
A broom.
Sect gossip exploded with theories.
"Maybe Lei Xing was poisoned first!"
"Maybe it was a cursed weapon!"
"I heard the servant is secretly a hidden genius cultivating forbidden arts!"
"Bah! I heard he made a deal with a demon!"
When soone pointed out that the ’mysterious hidden genius’ was Han Yu, a man known for running errands, mopping floors, and occasionally setting himself on fire during pill tests, it only made the rumors worse.
So even started adding titles to his na.
"The Ghost Sweeper of Twin Leaf!"
"The Broom Devil!"
"The Unseen Fist!"
anwhile, in the Elder Halls, a different, much tenser conversation was unfolding.
Elder Fei, an Inner Sect Elder with a perpetually furious face, slamd his fist on the polished table.
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