Li Dashan knelt on the ground, slamming his forehead repeatedly against the earth. His wife and son were his greatest weakness, and with them both being used to coerce him, he no longer dared to harbor any illusions of a lucky escape.
Han the Eighth took the broken silver and weighed it in his palm, a smirk spreading across his vicious face. "You worthless dog. It would've been so much easier if you'd just done this from the start. You really do have to be staring at your own coffin before you'll shed a tear!"
With the silver coins in hand, he didn't hurry to leave. Instead, his cold gaze swept around the courtyard, quickly settling on a rather unsightly broken jar in the corner.
A mocking sneer spread across Han the Eighth's face. He waved a hand, signaling for the clerks with him to kick away the stones.
THUD!
The stones were moved aside.
A delicate-featured child of about two or three appeared in the broken jar. And, perhaps it was just a trick of the light, but the toddler's expression seemed unnervingly grim.
Han the Eighth paid it no mind. He strode over, shattered the water jar with a kick, and said, "Spare you? Sure, why not. I've always been a bigger man than to hold a grudge against the likes of you."
"But since you offended me, you'll have to make it up to me somehow, won't you?"
He flicked a speck of non-existent dust from his sleeve and said with unhurried arrogance, "I'll give you two choices. First, hand over this tender-skinned little whelp of yours to me. He'll make a fine sacrifice for next month's ritual. I imagine the River God would be quite pleased."
"Second, let your pretty little wife spend a night with me, and I can forget this whole thing ever happened."
He had controlled the force of his kick well; though the jar was shattered, Li Chang'an was unharmed. The threat and warning in his words, however, were completely undisguised.
Kneeling on the ground, Li Dashan began to tremble uncontrollably at his words.
Clearly, the two choices Han the Eighth offered were no choices at all for Li Dashan.
He could only bury his head lower, choking out through gritted teeth and streaming tears, "Lord Han, Eighth Master, for the sake of all the houses I've built for the County Magistrate's Office, please, just spare my family!"
"Hah, another one who won't cry until he sees the coffin," a clerk in black sneered from behind Han the Eighth. He kicked Li Dashan and cursed, "It's a blessing from your past life that Lord Han has taken an interest in your wife! Don't be so ungrateful for your good fortune!"
...
Li Chang'an had witnessed everything from the side. The expression in his eyes gradually cooled, replaced by a bone-chilling iciness.
'What little reason I have left tells me that a gentleman can wait ten years for his revenge,' he thought. 'Without absolute certainty of success, it would be wiser to resolve this with a gentler approach.'
'After all, according to the destiny outlined in my Rebirth Mark, my parents and I won't be in any mortal danger even if I do nothing right now.'
'But if I do something rash right now, all bets are off.'
'There are six of them, all adult men. Their leader, Han the Eighth, even practiced Martial Arts in the army. If a fight breaks out, it's not impossible that my entire family could be wiped out right here and now.'
'But my heart screams, to hell with rationality!'
'I'm here for Defying Fate, not to be some coward hiding in his shell!'
'In this goddamn world, not only do the common folk have to face bloodthirsty Demon Fiends, they also have to endure the Imperial Court's grinding exploitation. Under such terrifying pressure, it takes everything they have just to stay alive. And even then, there are still people who won't leave them in peace…'
'Is there any justice in this world?'
'Is there any law?'
'If might makes right, then I'll just have to let my fists do the talking!'
While no one was paying him any attention, Li Chang'an bent down, snatched a sharp ceramic shard from the ground, and hurled it with the speed of a thunderclap!
WHOOSH!
A piercing whistle suddenly cut through the air.
The ceramic shard was incredibly fast, embedding itself with precise, almost elegant, deadliness in Han the Eighth's right eye!
SQUELCH...
The sound of a sharp object piercing flesh was surprisingly satisfying, followed immediately by a bloodcurdling scream.
If Li Chang'an's current body weren't so weak, and if his Qi reserves weren't so low, that last strike would have likely shot straight through the eye and bored a hole in Han the Eighth's head.
Huang Xiaoru and Li Dashan were his biological parents in this life. Even though they hadn't spent much time together, blood is thicker than water, and the bond of kinship he felt was undeniable.
And so, at this moment, the fury in Li Chang'an's heart was like an erupting volcano—unstoppable, and consuming everything in its path.
"AHHH!!!"
Han the Eighth howled wretchedly, clutching his bleeding eye as he staggered back several steps. His single remaining eye darted about as he yelled, his voice a mixture of shock and fury, "Who? Who was that!?"
Because it had all happened so suddenly, and everyone's attention had been focused on Li Dashan and Huang Xiaoru, no one had noticed where the ceramic shard had come from.
So even now, under attack, Han the Eighth simply assumed some hidden weapons expert was lying in ambush; he never once suspected that the attacker was Li Chang'an.
After all, what threat could a mere toddler possibly pose?
Only then did the other black-robed clerks belatedly draw their standard-issue long sabers, warily scanning the courtyard from side to side.
Li Chang'an, naturally, would not let this opportunity pass.
He snatched up several more shards from the broken jar, infused them with Qi, and unleashed them.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Four more piercing whistles cut through the air.
Because they were prepared this time, two of the quicker-reacting clerks among the six managed to parry the flying shards with their sabers.
The other two, however, weren't so quick or so lucky. Shards pierced one in the chest and the other in the abdomen. While the wounds weren't instantly fatal, they would be half-dead from blood loss if they didn't get immediate attention.
The courtyard instantly erupted into chaos.
After suffering several attacks in a row, someone's eyes finally fell on Li Chang'an. "It's the little bastard!" he cried out. "It's the little bastard!"
Hearing the cry, the remaining saber-wielding clerks stared into the center of the courtyard. When they saw Li Chang'an, who stood barely three feet tall, their eyes widened in unison, their faces masks of utter disbelief.
Such vicious, indefensible projectile attacks... were coming from a three-year-old child?
Seeing that he'd been discovered, Li Chang'an dropped all pretense. Like a ferocious little beast, he charged at the men before him.
In terms of pure combat strength, even with Qi and Shadowless Step as his trump cards, Li Chang'an was no match for six grown men in a direct confrontation.
Not to mention Han the Eighth, whose true strength was still unknown.
But now, one of Han the Eighth's eyes was ruined, and of his five remaining cronies, two were bleeding from the chest and stomach, having already lost most of their fighting ability.
Li Chang'an was fully confident he could take them down!
...