Shen Bai placed a hand on the driver’s shoulder and shook his head. "It’s fine. Let’s see what’s happening."

The moment Amber landed, it swelled to the size of a tiger, roaring as it charged the fallen boy.

Just then, the middle-aged woman finally sprang into action.

She tossed the wooden crate into the air. The heavy, half-man-high container shattered with a crash, and a short man, barely half a meter tall, tumbled out from within.

The short man kicked off the ground and lunged at Amber.

Amber roared again. The Yin Qi coiling around its body erupted into a terrifying wave of energy, pinning the short man to the ground.

A mouthful of blood sprayed from the short man’s lips. He was severely injured in the very first clash.

Seeing this, the middle-aged woman turned to flee.

But Amber gave her no chance. It moved like a gale, striking the woman’s back with a single paw.

The woman immediately saw stars. Her body went limp, and she collapsed to the ground.

As a Deceitful Beast, especially a combat-type, Amber should have been a majestic and awe-inspiring creature.

But ever since it started following Shen Bai, it had essentially been reduced to an accessory.

’If it hadn’t eaten the Deceit Transformation Pearl and gained the ability to boost Shen Bai’s combat power, Amber felt it truly would be no different from an accessory.’

Now that it finally had a chance to perform, Amber was naturally thrilled.

At that moment, Amber finally remembered its identity as a combat Deceitful Beast. It couldn’t help but roar, wanting to kill these people for a bit of fun.

Shen Bai said coolly, "Leave them alive."

Amber’s paw froze in mid-air. It obediently took two steps back, but its cold eyes remained fixed on the three assassins.

If they made the slightest move, Amber would tear them to shreds.

The three were so severely injured from the fight that they could barely move.

Shen Bai sat on the edge of the carriage, took out a flask of wine, and took a casual sip. "Who sent you?"

’Not many people knew he was returning. To be ambushed here out of the blue... it had to be an enemy. Nothing else made sense.’

After Shen Bai spoke, only the half-meter-tall man struggled to get up, but his severe injuries rendered his efforts useless.

"Shen Bai, we may have failed, but more people are coming to kill you."

"Why?" Shen Bai asked. "As I recall, you don’t seem to have any connection to the factions I’ve offended. You’re not Daoists, not Monks, and not one of those lunatics from the Academy. So who are you?"

Just then, the seven or eight-year-old boy tore the human-skin mask from his face, revealing an emaciated, bony countenance.

"It doesn’t matter who we are. We lost to you today. Just take our lives. Why waste your breath?"

Shen Bai turned to the driver. "You should look away. This next part might get ugly."

The driver chuckled. "You worry too much, sir. I’m one of the Jianghu People myself. I’ve seen plenty of bloodshed. This won’t be anything I’d call cruel. It’s just a small matter."

Shen Bai said no more. He raised a finger, and a wisp of Qi flared from its tip.

Carried on a faint breeze, the Qi entered the bodies of the three assassins.

The next moment, a terrifying poison erupted within them.

The three of them writhed and screamed on the ground, tormented by excruciating pain.

Waves of agony, as if seeping into their very marrow, wracked them from their skin to their internal organs. There was not a single part of them that didn’t hurt.

"Pain of the flesh is merely external! We’ll die before we talk!" the middle-aged woman growled through gritted teeth, smashing her head against the ground to try and dull the agony.

Shen Bai frowned.

The method he had just used was a poison derived from his Poison Avoidance and Rejuvenation Skill, designed to inflict unimaginable pain.

But somehow, these three were enduring it.

"Kill them," Shen Bai said coolly.

’Since they could withstand even this level of torture, Shen Bai figured he wouldn’t be able to get anything out of them.’

Amber roared. A wave of Yin Qi swept over the trio. Amidst their own terrified screams, they were blasted by the Yin Qi and reduced to three corpses.

After it was done, Amber shrank back to the size of a kitten and leaped into Shen Bai’s arms, as if it weren’t the same terrifying Deceitful Beast from moments before.

Shen Bai looked at the ruined carriage. "Can you fix it?"

The driver nodded and snapped his fingers.

If people in this line of work couldn’t even repair a bit of damage, they wouldn’t have earned their reputation as the go-to couriers for times of war.

As the driver made the gesture, currents of air swirled the broken wooden fragments together, restoring the carriage to its original state at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Back to Fenglin State," Shen Bai said. "I’d like to see just who is trying to target me."

"Yes."

The driver gave a respectful acknowledgment, cracked the whip, and set off toward Fenglin State.

Soon, the carriage vanished down the main road.

...

「Fenglin State.」

Liu Wufeng, Elder Mu, Long Yan, and the others stood at the entrance to the Observatory, waiting patiently.

Many members of the Observatory paused from time to time, craning their necks to peer toward the end of the street.

By their calculations, today was the day of Shen Bai’s return, so everyone was waiting in anticipation.

They had expected Shen Bai to make a brilliant showing during the internal assessment, but what he’d actually done was far more incredible than they could have imagined.

He had single-handedly ruined the plans of the Academy’s genius, Wang Tianxing, and had even killed him.

News of this had already spread throughout the Jianghu.

And the name Shen Bai was now etched in the minds of many in the Jianghu.

’Liu Wufeng felt a great sense of pride; after all, he was the one who had specially recruited Shen Bai.’

The Shen Bai of today had long since surpassed him, and he had benefited greatly as a result.

Elder Mu, for his part, was filled with gratification.

’He felt he hadn’t misjudged the young man. He had given Cold Moon to Shen Bai, and by following him, Cold Moon had now made a name for itself in the Jianghu.’

Long Yan was simply curious.

’She really wanted to rip Shen Bai’s clothes off right now and see what he was made of to improve so frighteningly fast.’

Each of the three harbored different feelings, but their gazes kept returning to the end of the street.

Just then, a carriage slowly appeared at the end of the street, eventually pulling to a stop before the Observatory’s entrance.

Shen Bai drew aside the carriage curtain and smiled. "Everyone, I’m back."