The Intruder had almost made it. But just as he hurried past a small house with a sagging roof, its door creaked open.
A teenage boy stepped outside, hair ssy, rubbing his eyes while yawning widely. He shuffled down the steps on bare feet, clearly intending to head to the latrines behind the house. His brain had not yet caught up with his body.
Until he saw the man in black.
The boy froze.
For an instant, they stared at each other. The intruder's eyes went wide with shock, the boy's with sudden, sharp fear.
Then the boy sucked in a breath.
"Thie–!"
He never finished the word.
The intruder lunged, one gloved hand clamping over the boy's mouth, the other wrapping around his throat. The boy thrashed, eyes bulging, knees kicking against the dirt.
But the sound had already escaped.
In the dead of night, that half ford shout was enough.
Shutters rattled. Lamps were lit. Doors slid open up and down the alley.
A woman stepped out with a baby in her arms. A hunter erged with his spear, hair still unbound. A pair of old n hobbled forward, squinting in the dim light. One by one, the villagers appeared, forming a rough circle around the scene.
"Thief!" soone shouted.
"Who is that?"
"Jun'er… Jun'er!"
The teenage boy's mother nearly dropped the baby as she stumbled forward, only to be held back by the village head who had rushed in from the main street, face pale and drawn.
The intruder pulled the boy tighter against his chest, hand still clamped hard over his mouth. His breathing was harsh now, the calm gone.
"Stay back!" he barked, finally letting his Qi leak out. A flicker of Qi Refining realm pressure swept over the narrow street.
The villagers recoiled. Most of them were mortals, and even the handful of Qi Refining cultivators staggered under the weight of that aura that was stronger than them.
He drew a short blade from his waist with his free hand and pressed it horizontally against the boy's throat. The edge glead cold in the lamplight.
"Take one more step and I will kill him!" the man snarled.
The mother sobbed, trying to rush forward again, but the village head held her back with both arms, jaw clenched. His eyes were locked on the intruder's face now, squinting.
Recognition struck him like a physical blow.
"Little Jin…?" he whispered.
The man flinched at the na. His eyes snapped to the elder, then twisted with resentnt and fury.
"What 'little'?" he spat. "I am no child of yours anymore, old man."
Murmurs spread through the crowd.
"Little Jin?""Impossible… he was banished…""He dared to co back here?"
The village head's face darkened. Veins stood out at his temples.
"You dare step into this village again after what you did?" His voice trembled with anger. "You killed your own brother for a scrap of inheritance and ruined our chance at a patron. You are no kin of mine."
The man bared his teeth. "I killed a weakling who stood in my way. I was the one with talent. It should have been mine. The legacy, the technique, the book. Not his."
His fingers dug into the boy's jaw, making the child whimper through his gagged mouth.
"I ca to take what should have been mine from the start," the intruder hissed. "You hid it in that shrine, did you think I would never find it?"
The village head's eyes widened. "You… you found it…"
His gaze flicked involuntarily toward the direction of the shrine. The thief saw it and smirked triumphantly.
Soone in the crowd tried to sidle closer, spear in hand, muscles tense. The intruder saw the movent from the corner of his eye.
"I said stay back!"
He snapped his free hand up. A ball of condensed fla flared to life above his palm and shot forward in a streak of red.
WHOOSH
It slamd into the chest of the advancing hunter.
The man scread as he was thrown backward, shirt erupting into flas. He rolled desperately on the ground, smoke and the sll of burnt cloth rising, while his friends beat at the fire with their hands. The air filled with the sound of crackling embers and panicked cries.
The crowd drew back as one, fear spiking higher.
Han Yu felt it, having beco sensitive to emotions by now. Even if he didn't get the wisps, he could still feel the raw fear rolling through the night, prickling at the edges of his awareness.
He had seen enough.
'Ti to act.'
One mont, the villagers saw only the intruder, the hostage boy, the circle of terrified faces. The next, there was a dark figure standing silently on the roof of a nearby house, as if he had always been there.
Han Yu's robes moved only slightly in the faint breeze. The blood red trim of the Slaughtered Moon Divine Blood Sect was unmistakable even in the low light. His expression was calm, almost bored.
No one noticed him appear. Only when he flicked his fingers did anything change.
Invisible needles of Soul Qi shot out, finer than hair, faster than an arrow. They pierced the intruder's body at key points along his back, neck, and arms.
The man stiffened.
His eyes went wide. His limbs locked in place as paralysis swept through him. He tried to press the knife harder against the boy's neck, but his hand would not move.
The boy felt the pressure ease and let out a muffled sob.
The villagers stared, stunned.
They had not seen anything, yet suddenly the dangerous Late Stage Qi Refining Realm thief was frozen like a statue.
Han Yu stepped off the roof.
His boots landed on the packed earth with a soft thud that sounded much louder in the silence. Heads turned in unison.
For a heartbeat, no one breathed.
Then recognition hit like a hamr.
"Sect disciple…" soone whispered.
"Slaughtered Moon…" another muttered, voice shaking.
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