"BOOM!!!"
A world-shaking explosion erupted, followed by a violent sea of flames that suddenly spewed from the breach in the stone wall. Terrifying heat and a powerful shockwave swept through the narrow alley like an awakening fire dragon.
Ly Thuan, the Grand Steward of the Marquis of Vinh An and a Foundation Establishment expert, felt his expression flicker in that instant. The emerald-green fireball in his hand hadn't even been launched before it was dissipated by the shockwave. He hurriedly circulated his full cultivation base, manifesting a jade-green spiritual shield before him.
RUMBLE!
The wave of fire slammed into the shield, causing violent ripples to spread across its surface. Despite being at the Foundation Establishment stage, Ly Thuan was forced back three paces. His greying hair was singed by the searing heat, and his previously calm face was now blackened with soot and contorted with absolute rage.
He managed to withstand the blast, but his black-clad subordinates were not so fortunate. Those standing closest to the breach barely had time to let out a miserable shriek before being swallowed by the sea of fire, instantly transformed into living torches. Those further away were tossed aside like puppets with broken strings, slamming into walls with the sound of snapping bones as they collapsed into unconsciousness.
In a single breath, the narrow alley had been transformed into an earthly purgatory.
Inside the warehouse, Tran Kien had used every ounce of his strength to pull Lam Vy and Trinh Cong into the thickest corner of the wall the moment the spark ignited. The horrific heat washed over their backs as the stone wall became scorching to the touch. He gritted his teeth, circulating his Primordial Qi to its absolute limit to shield the two.
"Cough... cough..." Tran Kien coughed up another mouthful of blood. Between using his body to shatter the wall and being rocked by the shockwave of the blast, his internal organs had sustained significant trauma.
"Move!" He didn't give himself a single second to rest. He knew this was their only chance at survival, a window that would last only for a few breaths. He dragged the two dazed companions along, not toward the alley, but deeper into the inferno, heading toward the front of the tavern.
"Young Hero Tran... you..." Trinh Cong looked at the warehouse collapsing in flames, then at the youth before him, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief.
Madness! This brat was a complete lunatic! He had used a suicidal gambit, turning an entire tavern into a bomb to carve out a path of blood.
"There's no time! Move!" Tran Kien roared, dragging them through burning corridors as chairs, tables, and beams collapsed around them.
Outside, after Ly Thuan steadied himself and saw the chaotic carnage he was faced with, his fury reached its zenith.
"Useless trash!" he bellowed at his surviving subordinates. "Extinguish the fire! Capture them alive! I want that brat captured alive so I can skin him and pull out his tendons!"
But how could a fire fueled by dozens of vats of potent liquor and dry wood be easily extinguished? The entire tavern was now completely engulfed in a sea of flames, the air filled with the relentless crackling of burning timber.
While the black-clad men scrambled in a frantic attempt to douse the flames, three soot-covered figures burst out from the main entrance of the tavern, blending into the crowd that was panicking over the fire. It was Tran Kien, Lam Vy, and Trinh Cong.
"This way!" Tran Kien did not stop. He pulled the two along, darting into the labyrinthine alleys of Lac Nam Town. He wasn't running aimlessly; the map of the town was vividly etched in his mind. He was sprinting toward a single destination: the docks!
Ly Thuan, with the Divine Sense of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, immediately sensed the trio's location despite being in the rear alley.
"Trying to flee to the docks? Foolish!" he roared. His body took flight, no longer traversing the alleys but leaping across the rooftops, gliding like a hawk pursuing its prey. The speed of a Foundation Establishment expert was far superior to Tran Kien's.
Tran Kien also felt the deathly aura rapidly approaching from behind. He gritted his teeth, wringing out the last dregs of his Primordial Qi, forcing his speed to increase once more.
The docks were finally in sight. The light from lanterns on large merchant ships shimmered across the river's surface. As long as they could board a vessel and vanish into the river's currents, they would have a chance to live.
But Ly Thuan had arrived.
BOOM!
He descended from a rooftop, landing directly in front of the three and cutting off their path. Dust and debris sprayed into the air. The oppressive aura of Foundation Establishment once again weighed down upon them.
"Running?" Ly Thuan sneered, his soot-blackened face appearing hideously fierce. "Under the hand of this Ly Thuan, where did you think you could go?"
Trinh Cong and Lam Vy fell into despair. Tran Kien was panting heavily, his chest burning with sharp pain. The gap in power was simply too vast.
Yet even in this absolute dead end, there was no despair in Tran Kien's eyes. Only a madness pushed to the extreme.
He suddenly shoved Trinh Cong and Lam Vy back.
"Jump into the river!"
Then, he did not retreat. He did something that caused even Ly Thuan to freeze in astonishment.
He raised his cracked, matte black saber, infusing it with his entire will, his total fury, and his absolute desire for life, and launched himself at Ly Thuan!
He intended to trade his own life for a single precious moment for the other two.
"Overestimating your capabilities!" Ly Thuan roared. He thrust out a palm, a massive emerald-green palm print manifesting with the power to shatter mountains and crack stones, slamming directly toward Tran Kien.
Just as the saber and palm were about to collide—just as everyone assumed Tran Kien would be crushed into a pulp—a sigh suddenly echoed from the dark river.
The sigh wasn't loud, yet it was incredibly clear, overriding the sound of the wind and the rushing water.
Following that sigh was a streak of sword-light.
It was a silver-white streak of sword-light, possessing no earth-shaking momentum nor overbearing pressure. It was simple and pure, like the brilliant moonlight in the night sky.
The sword-light streaked across, aiming neither at Ly Thuan nor Tran Kien. It gently brushed through the void between them.
Sssssst.
Ly Thuan's massive emerald-green palm print, something that could easily level a house, popped like a bubble pricked by a needle upon contact with that sword-light. It shattered into countless motes of spiritual light and vanished without a trace.
Everyone stood frozen in shock.
Ly Thuan stared at his own hand in horror, then looked out toward the dark river. "Who... who is it?!"
Upon the river's surface, a small boat had appeared out of nowhere. On the boat sat a man dressed in green robes, wearing a conical bamboo hat, holding a bamboo flute. He looked like an ordinary fisherman.
But no one dared to look down on him. For the sword-light just now had been emitted from that very bamboo flute.
"The Marquis of Vinh An's manor truly has a 'bright future,'" the green-robed fisherman spoke calmly, though his voice carried an unconcealed mockery. "To think a Foundation Establishment expert would bully three children. If word of this reached the Capital, I wonder where your Marquis would hide his face?"
"You... you are from the Manor of the Duke of Dingguo?" Ly Thuan cried out in terror.
The green-robed fisherman did not answer. He only looked toward Tran Kien, who was still frozen in his saber-swinging stance, his entire body tense.
"Little boy, your courage and resourcefulness are not bad. But sometimes, being too rigid makes it easy to snap. Get on the boat. This place is no longer your stage."