After a while, as his excitement faded from finding the items, Lu Yang's initial desire to sneak into the Wu family's house in search of valuables also completely vanished.
Sitting quietly with one eye on the door, he thought, 'After seeing so much gold and Earth-Stone, I've strangely lost my desire.'
'Maybe I should just wait until morning, hop on my horse from the south gate, and leave.'
"Ahh.." He sighed.
After a long moment of indecision, Lu Yang, thinking, 'Perhaps my family was attacked because of this scroll, but where is the top half? Could the Wu family have it?' finally made up his mind to sneak into the Wu family house.
'Let's go, maybe I'll find something valuable.'
With a resolute stance, Lu Yang rose to his feet, confident he could avoid being captured despite the risk. In the room's corner, under the moonlight seeping through a crack in the ceiling, sat his shadow in a cross-legged position, like a human, holding an object resembling a book and staring at it as if reading.
In a low whisper, he murmured to the shadow, "Come on, let's go."
'This shadow sometimes gives me chills.'
'What's with reading under the moonlight?'
Not yet knowing what his shadow's actions meant, but unaware that he'd find out soon, Lu Yang left his old room and walked to the garden, toward where his horse was tied.
After a few seconds, he reached the horse and, confirming there were no issues around, turned to head for the door leading to the street.
Shortly after, Lu Yang, followed closely by his martial shadow, slipped into the eastern parts of the town, disappearing into its dark streets.
Meanwhile, in the town center, the battle raging in the lord's mansion seemed to be reaching its peak.
"Damn! Why is it so hard to take this guy down?"
"Yeah right! This old fox is still standing strong."
Despite their fathers' orders, the young masters from the Han and Lee families couldn't manage to poison the town lord after more than half an hour of relentless attempts.
'Just one scratch, just one. As long as the poison on my blade mixes with his blood, he'll be dead within hours.' Lee Zhong thought, locking his sword against the lord's spear.
In their fathers' plan, both young masters would put pressure on the lord, while Lee Zhong, whose sword they had secretly poisoned just before starting the fight with the lord, would strike the lord's body, and the Han and Lee families would emerge victorious in the war.
But as they grew weary fighting the lord, the two young masters realized their fathers had severely underestimated lord's strength.
While they had only recently reached the Martial Master, the lord had long been there, even reaching its peak. As if the gap in strength weren't enough, his unyielding barrage of Earthly-Energy techniques had forced them to skirt the edge of death multiple times.
"Lee, just hang in there a bit longer. I refuse to believe this old man can fight forever," shouted Han Fei, clashing his staff with the lord's spear.
"Aaaa!"
Lee Zhong, standing a few steps behind, yelled in response and rushed forward to aid his companion.
"Hahaha! You brats seriously underestimate me!" The town lord became angry, laughing at their determination.
'Let's see who the final winner is.'
Unbeknownst to the two young masters, though their battle had raged for over half an hour, no one had come to the lord's aid.
As their back-and-forth struggle continued, a similar scene played out at the Lei family's house on the southeastern side of town.
The leaders of the Han and Lee families fought against the Lei family leader. Though the battle had only recently begun, the two leaders seemed to have cornered the Lei family leader with their joint assault.
"Lei To.., Lei To! what now? Who's going to save you?"
"Hahaha!"
As the two laughed and pressed their attack, Lei To, focused on defending himself, thought desperately, 'Where is the director? I can't hold out much longer.'
"Master! Master!"
At that moment, a young servant, dressed in clothes bearing the Han family sign and holding a staff, rushed to the Han's side.
With an amused look, Lee advanced on the Lei To while the young servant whispered something in the Han's ear.
"Lee, time is running out. Stop messing around and finish him off," Han snapped at the news.
"Come on, we just got started. We still have a bit of time, don't we?" Lee replied, smiling as he attacked.
"Useless idiots couldn't stop the Director. He's almost here," Han said sharply.
"What?! Those fools can't handle a simple task," Lee shouted angrily.
With newfound intensity, Lee focused his attacks on the exhausted Lei To, saying, "You heard that, didn't you? Playtime's over; it's time to die."
After a few minutes of intense fighting, the Lei To's sword slipped from his grasp. Seizing the opportunity, Lee swung his sword diagonally toward his opponent's chest, but it clanged loudly against something solid.
As his blade wobbled, Lee jumped back to the Han's side.
"Who's attacking whom in my town?" An elderly, bald man with a fit build, dressed in tight clothes, approached the Lei To with his staff.
"The director!" Lei spoke in excitement.
"Ohh!, so it's the Academy Director," Han muttered, displeased.
"Director! Who needs permission from whom?" Lee sneered, baring his teeth.
"Brother Lee speaks well. Where were you two years ago when the Wu and Lei families set up Lu family?" Han added mockingly.
"Wait, perhaps you had a hand in it too?"
Han sneered at the director's calm expression, infuriated by the way he looked down on them.
"As Brother Han said, your duty as the Academy Director is neutrality. If the city academy knew you were taking sides, I wonder what they'd do about it."
The Wu town, along with the nearest city, was part of the Martial-Heaven Continent, often simply called the Central Continent.
The Academy, established thousands of years ago, held significant influence in major cities across the continent, and, as rumor had it, was formidable even in distant empires on the continent's outskirts.
One of the Academy's core tenets was its policy against interference in local governance wherever it operated.
Knowing he'd be crippled—or even killed—if the city academy discovered his involvement, the director flared with anger. "This is slander. I had nothing to do with the incident two years ago. Besides, you have no proof."
"None of that matters. We'll see what you'll do once the town lord is dead tonight," Lee said, smirking as he eyed the director.
The Director looked calmly at the two family leaders, saying, "With you both here, there's no need for me to worry about the town lord."
Han scoffed, staring challengingly at the director. "I wouldn't be so sure."