With his back to the burning Xuanzhu County and the vast night sky, the young boy used his waist strength and inertia to concentrate a light blast on the tip of his staff, and fiercely pointed it towards the bruised Silver Blood man lying on the ground, aiming at his forehead!

Thud!

With a loud bang, a small pit was created in the mud beside Leyu's ear as the staff struck the ground!

Without hesitation, Leyu's body rolled like an eel, his left leg drawing out a Moon Arc light burst, kicking the boy directly into the child lying in ambush nearby!

Lingxu Battle Technique · Moonfall!

"Ah!" "Yeehaa!"

The two children howled as they flew heavily into a clothes rack by the courtyard, causing it to collapse with a clatter onto them.

"We're done for, Grandpa and Grandma will definitely scold us when they get back!"

"Don't be so spineless! Didn't I tell you to hold him down? How did you let him fight back!?"

"He obviously used his feet! And it was clearly your fault, brother, why didn't you stab that villain? Are you afraid?"

"Why would I be afraid? He clearly dodged!"

"I saw it clearly, he didn't dodge at all, you just missed!"

"I didn't! It was your fault!"

"It's your fault!"

"No, it's you!"

"Rebound!"

"Rebound and ignore rebound!"

Thud.

With the sound of steel-soled boots stomping heavily on the ground, the two children's argument suddenly came to a halt. Seeing the Silver Blood man standing up, they hurriedly fumbled for their staff, but in the dark and their panic, they only managed to pick up two bamboo laundry poles, trembling as they pointed them at this uninvited guest.

The older brother forced himself to remain calm and said, "Y-you're doomed! The workers have rebelled, and all the Silver Blood will die tonight! You can't escape!"

"I spared you earlier on purpose, now get lost, get lost!"

"Yeah!" The younger child shouted loudly, "My parents are formidable martial artists, when they get back, you're finished!"

"Super formidable!"

"You better leave quickly, or they'll stab you to death with just one stick when they return!"

Seeing the false bravado of these two little brats, Leyu slightly curled the corners of his mouth. He glanced at the flickering lights on the distant street and asked, "Little rascal, the words you said earlier, do you know what they mean?"

"What?"

"That phrase you shouted so spiritedly just now." Leyu smiled, "Wang Hou Jiang Xiang, Ning You Zhong Hu, do you know how to write it?"

"Of course I do, I know a lot of characters, I read the newspaper to Grandpa and Grandma!" The older brother immediately puffed out his chest proudly but then vigilantly stared at Leyu, "Why are you asking that?"

Leyu looked at the burning inner city in the distance, "Just a bit curious, can little brats like you really understand such boring slogans?"

"Of course we do!" The brother snorted, "This phrase means, those who are lords and ministers, just because they have money, land, and power, are they born lucky and noble? Are you Silver Blood Association people necessarily nobler than us!?"

"These words are not boring at all! Everyone has learned this line, and nobody is afraid of you anymore, you Silver Bloods will never understand!"

He protected the other child in front of him, gripping the bamboo sticks with a mix of boldness and cowardice, shouting, "So I'm not afraid of you, don't come over!"

"Is that so..."

Leyu approached the two children, scaring them into backing away repeatedly. However, Leyu stopped once he reached the courtyard by the well. He picked up a scoop, took a sip of the well water beside him, feeling its icy coolness and slight sweetness.

It was at this moment that Leyu was completely exposed under the moonlight, allowing the two children to clearly see the details of this Silver Blood noble—the silk satin riding pants had many holes, his expensive steel-soled boots were covered in mud and blood, and his dazzling robe, faintly glowing even in the dark, was stained with dirt and blood, with several bleeding wounds.

Leyu's current appearance was far from their image of a Silver Blood noble.

"Brother, did you hit him that hard just now?"

"It wasn't me!"

Leyu washed his face with water, glanced at them, put down the scoop, and walked outside.

"That Black Sun bounty you mentioned earlier, is it for you?" The older brother seemed to recall something and said loudly, "You're doomed! Whoever kills the person wanted by the Black Sun Association can receive one hundred gold coins."

"How about this, you give me one hundred... fifty gold coins, and I'll let you stay here, avoiding those outside, how about it?"

"Brother, how can you be like this!?"

"I'll split it with you."

"Master, there's a bed inside for you to rest, please come in, please come in!"

Seeing these two little rascals, Leyu couldn't hold back his laughter, "Do you want to keep me here and then call people from the outside to trap me?"

"No, no!" The two little brats shook their heads vigorously, displaying a loyal appearance like that of a noble heart swearing eternal loyalty.

"Didn't you just say, Wang Hou Jiang Xiang, Ning You Zhong Hu? Why now would you be willing to spare a Silver Blood like me?"

"Uh..." The older brother blinked, "Ning You Zhong Hu is Ning You Zhong Hu, but we need to eat too. Actually, we're having a tough time, having lost our father early, with our mother not at home, only Grandpa and Grandma taking care of us, and we're just trying to earn some household expenses, it's not shameful."

"Brother, we're so miserable, wah wah wah—" The other child immediately burst into loud sobs.

Leyu found it both amusing and exasperating to watch. He actually didn't possess any special skills to 'detect lies', but these two little brats were too exaggerated, and as an adult, he could easily tell they were lying, pretending to be pitiful and greedy, clearly trying to find a way to keep him here.

As to why they wanted to keep him, it was because the Black Sun bounty not only proved he was worth a lot of money but also proved he was important—these two children living in the outer city truly saw him as a fat sheep.

Bold.

Sly.

Greedy.

Yet with a kind of innocence that had never seen blood.

But their hearts were filled with courage.

The courage to rebel against injustice.

The seeds Leyu sowed over the past few months had already begun to take root and sprout on this land stained with silver and blood, about to grow into towering trees.

Though these budding flowers carried a sense of the future's dangerous prospects, it didn't matter, because in the chaotic times to come, only the strong would survive.

"I may die tonight."

Leyu scaled the wall and left the courtyard, looking at the two children, "But I cannot die at your hands."

The two children blinked, looking at Leyu as if asking why.

"You are the future."

Leyu quickly disappeared into the shadows of the streets, turning his back on the burning inner city, as he silently walked towards the darker outer city.

The two little kids dropped the bamboo sticks in their hands and ran to the courtyard gate, watching the Silver Blood man turn right at the street corner, vanishing into the night.

After a while, a dense sound of footsteps came from the other side of the street. A group of brawny men holding torches surged into the street like a flood. Upon seeing these two little kids, they immediately asked, "Did you see a Silver Blood man pass by here? About this tall, covered in wounds..."

"Yes!" The older boy immediately said, "He broke into our courtyard just now and drank our water, then kicked us!"

The burly men perked up, "Did you see where he ran to!?"

The boy immediately pointed to the end of the street, "He ran forward after drinking the water!"

"Good!" The burly men casually tossed several coins to the older child, "Take it and buy some candied haws, let's catch up to him!"

After this group of burly men chased away, the younger boy weakly asked, "Brother..."

"That guy was worth a hundred gold coins, and they only gave us this little, stingy." The boy put the money in his pocket and turned to rush back to the courtyard, "Hurry up and help set up the rack, or Grandpa and Grandma will scold us when they come back!"

"Brother, why did you lie to them?"

"Did I lie? Didn't that guy run forward along that street? If they were willing to give more money, I would've told them that he turned right at the corner."

"That person didn't give you a penny, yet you still helped him keep the secret. Why? It's rare for a Silver Blood to fall into our trap, why did you deliberately let him go?"

"Maybe because..."

The boy recalled Leyu's side profile before leaving, feeling a bit dazed, "...he looked handsome?"

As soon as the words were spoken, the boy felt he had said something wrong, but the other child had already run off with a look of disdain.

"Brother, you deal with the rack yourself! Or I'll tell mom about this!"

"Actually, I meant he looks like a gentleman..."

"Brother has no shame!"

"You're the one with no shame!"

"Rebound!"

"Rebound plus immune to rebound!"