Chapter 79: Chapter 79

The young man’s howl of anguish dripped blood with every syllable. It echoed through the empty courtyard, startling a clutch of sparrows from beneath the eaves. They fluttered off into the gathering dusk.

Beside him, a woman in tattered clothing — yet whose poise and grace could not be concealed — let out a long sigh.

Her gaze shifted to the side.

A young man in a blue scholar’s robe, his features so unremarkable as to be forgettable, sat quietly sipping his tea.

“Li’er…”

Madam Han’s eyes reddened with gratitude.

“If not for you this time, Huatang and I would surely have died in that place. Your auntie… thanks you on your uncle’s behalf.”

Han Li set down his teacup and sighed.

“Uncle treated me with the kindness of a mountain. Now that he’s been cruelly murdered, rescuing you and my cousin was nothing more than my duty… We’re family. There’s no need for such formality.”

Madam Han’s given name was Han Huiwan.

The “uncle” she referred to was her husband — Song Hengjiang, the former Hall Master of Tongbei Martial Hall.

Song Hengjiang had shown Han Li tremendous kindness.

The Changyun County Han clan was a branch line descended from the great Han clan of Xinyi Commandery.

They had been settled here for over twenty years.

Han Li was the son of the current Han clan patriarch — born to a maidservant concubine.

Lowborn, illegitimate, with three legitimate elder brothers ahead of him.

Within the Han household, he had always been invisible — utterly disregarded.

But Song Hengjiang had treated Han Li like his own son, teaching him martial arts and providing him with pills and resources.

Without Song Hengjiang, Han Li would still be a nobody.

“Family…”

Madam Han let out a bitter laugh.

“Li’er, you are your auntie’s family. But the Changyun Han clan is not!”

Her voice suddenly rose, her face contorting with undisguised hatred.

“The Han estate is barely two li from our martial hall! Han Chang and Han Lie are both at Late-stage Hidden Strength, and yet for all the years Huatang and I were imprisoned, they never lifted a finger…”

“They are my own blood brothers! Yet they were heartless enough to stand by and watch us be tortured to the breaking point…”

From the side, Song Huatang’s voice rose again, raw with bone-deep loathing.

“The Han household… is every bit as guilty as those treacherous scum Yan Xiao and Song Yanrong. They all deserve to die!”

Han Li let out a quiet sigh.

He felt no warmth for the Han household either. But of everyone present, he was the one with the clearest head.

Whether it was Yan Xiao and Song Yanrong, or the Han household — none of them were people they could afford to provoke right now.

What mattered was deciding their next move.

Han Li considered for a moment, then spoke.

“Auntie, Cousin — to be honest, the rescue was planned by a good friend of mine… the elder brother of this young Brother Xiao Wen here.”

He gestured toward the half-grown youth leaning against the doorframe, keeping watch.

The boy had clean, refined features with a touch of shyness about him. It was Xiao Wen.

Every eye in the room turned to him.

Xiao Wen scratched his head self-consciously and hastened to explain.

“Actually… my big brother just pointed out where Auntie and Brother Song were being held. Today’s operation was mostly planned and carried out by Brother Han on his own.”

“Yan Xiao the old villain keeps his guard up tight. Brother Han spent half a month casing the place, day and night — mapping the guard rotations, charting the lookout positions. When he confirmed that Yan Xiao and his wife would both be away today to discuss business at the Wang estate, he decided to strike.”

Hearing this, Song Huatang struggled upright. A spark of hope kindled in his single eye.

“Cousin… Brother Xiao… I owe you both a debt I could never repay even if I ground my body to dust. But tell me — the Tongbei Stance’s original Transforming Strength manual — did you find any trace of it when you broke in?”

At the mention of this, the air in the room thickened.

Han Li sighed and slowly shook his head.

Song Huatang understood at once. He squeezed his eye shut in anguish, his voice raw and cracked.

“In his final moments, my father had been poisoned beyond saving. With his dying breath, he managed only five words: ‘The manual is in the hall…’ Then the poison took him.”

“For years now, those two treacherous dogs have practically dug three feet below every floorboard of the hall — they didn’t even spare the latrines — and still haven’t found it.”

“But one thing is certain: the manual is still hidden somewhere inside that hall.”

“Over twenty years ago, the master who passed the art to my father told him that only after mastering the complete Tongbei Stance would one be recognized when the Blessed Land opens — allowed to enter the great hall and seize the inheritance…”

“And the day that Blessed Land opens… by my count, it’s less than a year away. Yet the Tongbei Stance still hasn’t been recovered…”

Seeing Song Huatang’s agitation, Han Li stepped forward and patted his shoulder gently.

“Cousin, put your mind at ease.”

“If what you say is true — that the Tongbei Stance is still in the hall — then it’s not going anywhere.”

“Once the heat dies down a bit, I’ll ask Brother Xiao to make a trip himself. With him on the job, he’ll turn that manual up for certain.”

“Brother Xiao?”

Song Huatang blinked. His single eye turned, puzzled, toward Xiao Wen by the door.

Xiao Wen hastily waved his hands.

“Not me, Brother Song — Brother Han means my big brother!”

Madam Han, listening nearby, felt a stir of curiosity.

This young Brother Xiao was barely more than a boy. There was no sign of qi-blood stirring in his body — he hadn’t even broken into Blood Tempering.

His clothing and manners were thoroughly ordinary. He didn’t look like the scion of any great house.

Why was Han Li so confident that the boy’s elder brother could find the Tongbei Stance’s hiding place?

Her gaze settled on Xiao Wen. She couldn’t help but ask.

“Young Brother Xiao… from what Li’er says, if your elder brother takes on the task, he’ll definitely recover our family’s manual?”

“Of course!”

Xiao Wen nodded vigorously. Pride and adoration lit up his face. “Once my big brother sets his hand to something, it’s as good as done!”

The earnestness of his expression gave Madam Han an urge to tease.

She leaned in a little closer, smiling warmly.

“Oh? And why is that?”

Xiao Wen went blank for a moment.

He had lost his mother young. His brother had raised him single-handedly. In his memory, “mother” had always been a hazy silhouette.

Madam Han’s gentle voice, her kind gaze — it all overlapped, without his knowing, with the image of the mother he had conjured in a thousand dreams.

Being looked at so tenderly by a woman, Xiao Wen’s face reddened inch by inch.

He fidgeted like a lost child, eyes darting everywhere but at her, and stammered out:

“I… my big brother, he… he’s just amazing, okay? Anyway — anyway, he’ll handle it!”

He floundered for ages without managing a single coherent sentence.

Xiao Wen felt his face was about to catch fire. He spun on his heel and blurted:

“I… I’ll go tell my brother that everything went fine here!”

And with that, he fled without looking back, vanishing into the twilight.

Watching the boy’s retreating figure, Madam Han blinked — then couldn’t help but laugh.

The oppressive weight in the room lightened a shade with the sound.

Han Li shook his head gently. He pulled over a long bench and sat down.

“Auntie, Cousin — don’t mind him. Xiao Wen has always been thin-skinned. But what he said just now was no idle boast.”

Here, Han Li’s smile faded. His expression turned peculiar.

“My friend’s name is Xiao Wu… How do I put this? He carries a kind of fortune with him.”

“Fortune?”

Song Huatang looked confused.

“Yes. Fortune. Luck. Providence. Whatever you want to call it — it’s as though heaven itself is looking out for him. Downright uncanny.”