"Zhang Yang!!"
The name tore from Bai Yunfei's gritted teeth like a curse. Slowly, he turned. Ten paces away, draped in silk robes and fluttering a paper fan, stood Zhang Yang—smirking as he leaned toward a blushing girl.
Bai Yunfei's fists clenched until his knuckles whitened. Iron flooded his mouth — blood from bitten gums. He wanted to charge. To rend. To kill. But cold reason held him: Zhang Yang's guards could crush him now.
"Very well. I'll pick one or two pretty trinkets for Auntie. I ought to return home in a few days, and bring Mother a gift too."
A voice like silver bells chimed beside Zhang Yang. Bai Yunfei's gaze shifted. A girl in azure robes stood with her back to him, raven hair cascading like a waterfall. She idly examined a shopfront.
"Her…"
He watched the pair drift down the street, a nameless ache tightening his chest. Roughly, he slapped his own temple. Focus. He turned and walked the opposite way.
──────
He visited the graves first. With fresh coins, he restored his mother's and grandfather's resting places, erecting two carved headstones. Then, the market: food, clothes, tools, weapons, jewelry—everything vanished into his spatial ring. Convenient.
The morning's alley brawl had sparked an idea: raw power wasn't enough. He needed combat. Real fights. That night, he began prowling the slums. Thugs, bullies, street lords—he hunted them after dark.
Problem surfaced quickly.
They were pathetic. Low-tier thugs accustomed to terrorizing shopkeepers offered no challenge. Snapping their wrists felt like breaking twigs. The only reward? Grateful whispers from the shadows: "The Ghost with Broken Bones strikes again!"
But the city's true underworld? Zhang Family territory. Bai Yunfei dared not touch it—not yet. Stealth was survival.
After nine nights of crushing street vermin, he chose a new target:
The Blackwood Mountain Bandits.
──────
Blackwood Mountain lay ten days northwest of Boulderfall City. Named for its dense, ebony forests, its slopes were natural fortresses—three faces sheer cliff, the fourth a narrow, defensible pass. Bandits ruled there, entrenched within Blackwood Citadel. They raided merchant caravans. They burned villages. The city lord's soldiers had tried cleansing that nest… and failed. Bloodily.
Bai Yunfei remembered tales of their savagery. Whole villages erased. Back then, he'd only cursed them in the dark. Now, power burned in his veins. Power demanded purpose.
He wouldn't storm the Citadel. Not yet. But patrols? Small raiding parties? Those he could hunt. To test his strength. To bleed them as they bled others. To deliver their heads—or broken bodies—to the garrison gates.
No guilt. Only justice.
──────
He left Boulderfall City at dawn, pack laden, ring full. His first journey beyond city walls. Everything felt vast… and confusing.
First discovery: Bai Yunfei was directionally hopeless.
Locals said "half a day to the mill." He took a full day. A promised "shortcut through the pines" became a day-and-night odyssey. Wolves stalked him. A mountain cat attacked. He broke its spine with a reinforced kick. Practice before the real hunt.
On the sixth evening, he crested a grassy hill. Below, nestled in a valley, smoke curled from a village's chimneys. Shelter. Directions. He started downhill.
──────
Meanwhile, West of the Village
Hoofbeats shattered the twilight calm. Thirty riders thundered down a dirt track toward the unsuspecting hamlet. Hard faces. Gleaming blades. At their head rode a sallow-faced man with a bulbous nose—Zhong, a Blackwood Citadel Hallmaster.
Zhong sipped wine from a flask. "Rest ahead!" he barked. "Horses need it. We camp in that copse!"
As tents rose and campfires sparked, a thick-set bandit with dead-fish eyes approached Zhong. "Hallmaster... a village lies yonder. Let me take ten men? Fetch some real food? The lads could choke a pigeon with its blandness..."
Zhong chuckled. "Real food? Or real women, Dead-Eye?"
Laughter rippled through the camp. Dead-Eye grinned sheepishly.
Zhong waved a dismissive hand. "Take ten. Fetch meat, wine... valuables too. Backwaters like this? No garrison'll come."
Dead-Eye's grin turned feral. "YES, HALLMASTER!"
──────
The Village
Sunset painted the valley gold. Children chased a threadbare ball. A yellow dog basked by the gate.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The dog's ears pricked. It scrambled up, hackles rising, a low growl rumbling in its throat.
The ground trembled. Hoofbeats pounded closer.
A young man carrying water buckets froze. He turned. Saw the riders. Saw the blades.
Color drained from his face.
"BANDITS!" His scream ripped through the peace. "BANDITS ARE HERE!"
He dropped the buckets, staggered into the village square, and crumpled to his knees. "They've come…" he whimpered, rocking. "Like before… burned it all… Mother… Father… Sis… gone… all gone…"
Villagers flooded into the square—nearly a hundred souls. Confusion. Fear. An old man—the Village Head—pushed through the crowd.
A girl with wide, almond eyes knelt beside the trembling youth. "Xiao Feng? What's wrong? Who's coming?"
Xiao Feng grabbed her arms, desperate. "Hide, Ling'er! HIDE!" He scrambled up, shouting at the crowd. "All young women—GET INSIDE! STAY HIDDEN! Everyone—give them ANYTHING VALUABLE! GIVE IT! Or they'll KILL US!"
The Village Head's face hardened. "Xiao Feng came from Li Village… near Blackwood Mountain. They resisted the bandits…" He met the terrified eyes around him. "Slaughtered. To the last soul." He raised his voice, heavy with dread. "DO AS XIAO FENG SAYS! WOMEN—HIDE! NO RESISTANCE!"
──────
Hooves clattered on stone. Dead-Eye and his ten thugs reined in at the village square. Villagers shrank back.
Dead-Eye grinned, showing broken teeth. "Well now! A welcoming party?" His eyes roved like a scavenger's. "Smart. Makes things easy. Bring us your BEST FOOD! Your BEST WINE! ALL YOUR TREASURES!" He patted his sword hilt. "Pleasing us? You live."
The Village Head bowed low. "Wise and mighty sirs… we obey. We fetch your bounty." He gestured frantically. Villagers scattered toward their homes.
"WAIT!" Dead-Eye's roar halted them. He pointed a dirty finger toward the huts where shadows flickered behind shutters. "We left brothers back in camp. Lonely brothers." His leer curdled the air. "Bring out your PRETTY GIRLS! They come with us! Serve our men well? We might even RETURN them!"