A battered rickshaw sped through the rugged forest.

On it lay Liu Tang, barely breathing.

Blood soaked his black martial attire, starkly crimson.

Escaping the slope under forest cover, they’d begun their flight.

But unfamiliar with the terrain, a cliff slope blocked their path.

Ore dust churned in Xiangzi’s lungs, his gasps heavy, his blue shirt drenched with sweat—

After the slaughter and escape, his dantian’s qi and blood were nearly spent.

Uncle Jie, supported by two pullers, pale as death, drew a long saber from the cart, tossing two short spears to Xiangzi. “Take these. You wield them better.”

Xiangzi caught them, snapping them into a single spear.

Its tip, blood-soaked, had dulled.

Distant voices grew louder in the forest, Xiangzi’s eyes narrowing as he stepped before the group.

The Li Family guards were coming.

Behind him stood the two surviving pullers.

One gritted his teeth, shoving Xiangzi aside, seizing the cart’s handles. “Master Xiang, go! I’m fast, a damn good puller—Fourth Master always praised me.”

“I’ll draw them off with the cart. Only then can you hide!”

Xiangzi froze, staring at the man—Li Jin, a name chosen by his scholar father.

In his thirties, Li Jin was unremarkable in the second-class yard, always smooth and inoffensive.

He ate heartily, downing double portions of corn buns, earning the nickname “Big Mouth Li” from the old hands, which he took with a grin.

Yet in this moment, Big Mouth Li stepped up.

Seeing Xiangzi hesitate, Li Jin forced a smile. “Master Xiang, you’ve led us well, never shorting us. The brothers don’t say it, but we know

.”

“I should’ve died with the others in that valley. If not for you two, I wouldn’t be here.”

“No family, no ties—a worthless life. I’m ready to die!”

Li Jin locked eyes with Xiangzi, voice firm. “Master Xiang… you gotta live, really live. The brothers are counting on you to avenge us!”

Xiangzi’s eyes wavered.

Li Jin, urgent, shouted, “Master Xiang, no time! Delay, and Wen San and the others died for nothing!”

He lifted Liu Tang to the ground, gritted his teeth, and pulled the cart to run.

The other puller stepped to Xiangzi, clasping his fists. “Master Xiang, you know me. I’m no good with words like Old Zhu.”

He grinned. “Wen San and Big Mouth Li dared to do it—I can’t be a coward. Old Xia’s going first. Take care, Master Xiang!”

With that, Old Xia ran after Li Jin.

In the dense forest, their figures vanished, the cart’s wheels creaking on the mud.

Soon, Li Jin’s distant shout rang out: “Damn Li Family, wanna wipe us out? Come get us!”

Xiangzi said nothing, hoisting Liu Tang and supporting Uncle Jie, heading the other way.

Li Jin was right.

Someone had to live.

To avenge the brothers.

Time passed, the sunset painting the sky blood-red.

In the Li Family mines’ vast forest, hurried footsteps echoed.

Teams of three, masked and well-armed, scoured the area.

Over a dozen such teams, but in the sprawling forest, they were a drop in the bucket.

Li Gui knew this.

At the mine’s edge, his fat face twisted with ferocity.

That ferocity held both a ruthless drive to kill and rage at being played by two pullers.

Those nameless pullers and their battered cart were caught at the cliff’s edge—

Li Gui couldn’t fathom how anyone could stay so tight-lipped.

No matter the questioning, they refused to reveal Liu Tang’s whereabouts.

Enraged, Li Gui had them dragged to the young master’s beast pens—filthy pullers, fit to feed dogs!

But his dominant emotion was fear.

He knew the noble’s grand scheme. If it failed, he wouldn’t see tomorrow’s sun.

That big route leader was one thing, but Liu Tang!

A ninth-grade adept, Baolin Martial Hall’s outer disciple—if he escaped, what chaos would he unleash?

Li Gui shivered.

“Search! Find them!”

Night deepened.

Torches flickered in the forest, five-colored gold ore dust sparking dark-gold glints when meeting flame—

Like ghostly will-o’-wisps.

Many guards, exhausted after an afternoon’s hunt, showed fatigue—the forest’s ore dust was grueling, especially under mental strain.

Just earlier, a team had vanished in the forest depths.

Some said a blue-shirted big puller took them out.

Others claimed he was monstrously strong, crushing qi-and-blood martial artists’ skulls with one punch.

Too outlandish—no one believed it.

A regular ninth-grade entry-level martial artist couldn’t have such qi and blood.

And if he was that fierce, why be a puller?

Still, the Li Family increased team sizes to five.

Yet in the vast forest, no trace of the three was found.

In a beast-ridden land, could they have vanished into thin air?

In the silent, pitch-black forest, voices approached, followed by torchlight.

Amid hurried steps, two Li Family guards emerged.

“Damn it, where’d they slip off to?”

One guard kicked the ground, dust swirling, ore powder crackling against the torch.

The other flinched, moving lighter. “Old Zhang, why rush? Our job’s in the camp. Li Gui handles the outside—he’s got no say over us.”

“No clue what’s going on, but this mess is Li Gui’s doing. Why should we clean it up?”

Grumbling, the two sat, clearly half-hearted.

The Li Family’s strict rules meant multiple overseers.

Li Gui managed ore checks, with few guards to command, most lost on the slope.

Tonight’s patrols were hastily pulled from the camp. Li Gui’s secretive moves, though authorized, couldn’t be overt, leaving guards clueless, searching the forest with complaints.

Beneath their feet, through layers of leaves and branches, a pair of weary eyes watched silently.

Xiangzi couldn’t fly, but he had experience digging.

No one expected him to dig a pit, hiding them all.