9. Ambush

(1 month later, Golden Prosperity City)

The sun sank toward the horizon, bleeding gold and crimson across the sky, its dying light stretching long shadows over the earth. The wind carried a lingering warmth, yet the creeping chill of night whispered through the air, stirring the trees into a quiet murmur. As the last sliver of sunlight vanished, the world exhaled, bathed in the soft, eerie glow of twilight.

Two men are sitting in a bar, one in a red robe and the other wore typical commoner clothing. Laughter and shouting clashed against the crackling of a dimly lit hearth, while the stench of ale and sweat thickened the air. Mugs slammed against wooden tables, dice tumbled, and a drunken brawl threatened to break out in the corner as the bard struggled to be heard over the chaos. Nobody was paying attention to them. The man in the red robes ordered some rice wine and a beer. After the bartender left the drinks in front of him he slid a paper under the beer and proceeds to slide the beer across the counter to the man in commoner clothing. That man smiled back, picked the mug and chugged it in one go. At the same time, he slides the piece of paper up his sleeve.

Not staying at the bar for to long, the man in red robes walked towards the private area of the bar. He was glad that the results of the investigation finally born fruit. So, he sent a message back to Jian Feng that he found the location of the demon they were looking for. 'He was hiding in the slums of Golden Prosperity City' was written on the paper in code. The other man was an secret messenger from the Jian Family. They have a lot of these people in various different cities.

Around midnight was the moment the man in red robes left. After a walking through a few alleys, the man arrived at a house. The wooden walls of the house had sagged, their once-sturdy beams now splintered and rotting, while the roof leaned as if ready to collapse under its own weight. The man looked the part, as if he did not belong there. Inside the house a group of 5 men that looked like thugs was gathered. They were special agents of the Jian Family who infiltrated Golden Prosperity City for this mission.

When the thugs saw the man coming into the house, they stood up and cupped their fists together. The leader of the group immediately said "We greet young master Jian". That's right, the man in red robes was a member of the main family. The man in red nodded to them and ordered "Get ready, we are going to kill him and leave as quickly as we can. If the Zheng Family catches a whiff of our trail, it would be considered an act of espionage. Simply, we will be tortured and killed without question."

The thugs replied with discipline "Yes, young master!". They quickly took their weapons, which consisted of low quality sabers and clubs.

They followed their young master to an alley with a dead-end. By pressing a hard on one of the stones, a narrow, dimly lit tunnel appeared in front of them. They followed their young master. The air thick with the scent of damp earth and aged stone. Each step echoed softly, their breaths hushed as they navigated the winding path, the weight of secrecy pressing down on them. After what felt like an eternity, a faint sliver of moonlight appeared ahead. The passage's hidden exit beyond the city walls.

After walking 20 minutes, they stood before the house where Mo Tian was living in for the past few months. They quickly opened the creaky door.

*Crrk*

They had to be quick or the guards would notice that there was a fight going on in the slums. They slowly walked around the house. Seeing that the house was not cleaned up and furniture was spread across the house, but there was nobody inside.

Suddenly the floor boards shattered outward as Mo Tian burst through, wood splinters flying like shrapnel. Six figures whipped around, their hands already reaching for weapons and the other arm protecting their face from the splinters, but Mo Tian was already on the move. Surprise was his only advantage.

A piece of broken down wood in the form of a spike flashed in his grip as he lunged at the nearest thug, stabbing his arm before ducking low. He was just in time to avoid a crushing blow from behind. The cramped, broken-down house worked against the attackers; furniture and fallen beams hindered their movement, turning their numbers into a mess.

One of them swung a club, barely missing Mo Tian's skull, but the force shattered a wooden beam, sending dust and debris raining down. He used the chaos to pick up the blade that the first thug dropped after he was stabbed. He darted between the furniture and beams like cornered animal, slashing wherever he could. joints, throats, ribs, anything to make them hesitate.

A fist smashed into his shoulder, pain exploding through his side as he fell to the ground, but he gritted his teeth and slashed upward, his blade sinking into flesh. A scream rang out.

*AAAGH*

The others hesitated for a fraction of a second. Mo Tian did not hesitate. He ran through the house, throwing himself through the broken window before they could recover. He was quickly vanishing into the night like a ghost.

When the man in red robes saw his prey trying escape to escape, he got angry and screamed "Go after him!". 

The thugs got chills down their spines as they imagined the consequences of letting him escape. They quickly ran out of the house, but the prey was nowhere to be found. The leader of the thugs immediately said "Split in 3 directions, he cannot be far."

The group quickly split into duos and ran in different directions.

Back in the house stood the man in red. He was bleeding from his side. Mo Tian had managed to wound him, even though he was the first to hit him. After bandaging himself, he notices something horrendous and shouted angrily "Fuck… my identity token!".

During the moment that everyone hesitated, Mo Tian had grabbed the identity token of Jian Family and escaped with it. He then realized that the demon had planned to get his token from the moment he saw them.

When the sun began to come up, the thugs came back to the house and kneeled quickly. The air in the house was thick with tension as they saw the young master sat upon a chair, fingers drumming against the armrest.

His eyes burned with fury, face twisted in disgust as he glared down at the kneeling thugs, their heads pressed low to the cold floor.

"Useless dogs!" he roared, his voice filled with unchecked fury. "Six men, yet one crippled wretch slipped through your fingers?! What do I even feed you for?!" His foot lashed out, kicking one of them square in the chest, sending the man sprawling backward with a pained grunt.

*Ugh*

The young master's breath came in ragged huffs, hands trembling not from exhaustion, but from the sheer force of his fury. He grabbed the nearby chair and hurled it against the wall, wooden splinters scattering like shattered hopes. "Crawl out of my sight, and find him, before I decide to have your heads separated from your body!"

The subordinates scrambled to their feet, bowing frantically as they stumbled backward, their legs unsteady from sheer terror. Without a word, they rushed out the door like fleeing rats, each one desperate to escape his wrath and even more desperate to find the escapee before their heads truly rolled.

...

(5 minutes after Mo Tian's Escape, In the Slums outside of Golden Prosperity City)

The man darted through the narrow alleys, his breath ragged as he weaved between towering, crumbling buildings that loomed like silent sentinels in the night. Shadows stretched long beneath the flickering lanterns, casting shifting shapes that blurred the line between friend and foe. His boots splashed through puddles of filth, the stench of the slums clinging to him as he never once thought of slowing his pace. Ahead, beyond the maze of twisted streets, his destination loomed in the distance.

Mo Tian arrived at a house at the edge of the slums. This was one of the locations he had prepared in case the Zheng family found out that he lived in the slums. Quickly after entering the house, he removed all traces of his entrance and locked the door. Contrary to the house he lived in before, this house was clean and looked like someone had taken care of it until recently.

This house used to belong to an old man who often bought things from the store where Mo Tian got his food from, but he had collapsed and died a week ago. During this month, one of the chores he did was help this old man get his necessities brought to his home on his request. He found the man dead on the ground after he came to bring the groceries, so he buried him in the back of the house and asked the old woman for a grave stone.

At this moment, the house was used by Mo Tian as a safety shelter. He quickly checked the house and its surroundings. Seeing that he was finally safe, Mo Tian let his guard down and relaxed. He had not expected that someone would find him and try to assassinate him. He looked down to his hand. In his hand was a silver token with a red tassel hanging on it. On it was 'JIAN' written with what seemed like sword strokes. Mo Tian quickly realized the perpetrators behind this attack, but he did not expect the Jian family to be so bold to infiltrate the territory of another noble family for a beggar. He quickly evaluated himself to be important to the Jian noble family, but he could not find out why. So he thought back to what the man said during one of the assassination attempts.

It appeared that his mother was some young miss from the Jian Family and his dad must have been a demon, since they still called him a 'demon spawn' and the system confirmed it.

*sigh* sighed Mo Tian as he realized that his situation was more complicated than he expected.

The Jian family would never let him grow up. Although he was angry that they killed his parents, but he had not resolved himself to get revenge. However it seemed to Mo Tian that both sides could not exist at the same time. So, he would reply in kind.

After he was done, he started reviewing the battle. It appeared that his training born fruit. Those thugs were all second rate martial artists, while the young master from the Jian family was a first rate. This was not something a normal third rate martial artist could escape from. They would have been cut in to pieces when he was a little to slow. Due to his training, it appeared that his thinking seemed to get faster and he could calmy assess the situation to plan ahead. Additionally, his senses seem to be a little sharper.

To confirm his conjectures, Mo Tian opened the system's [Host status].

[Host Status]

Name: Mo Tian

Lifespan: 80 Years

Race: Human (Savage Grade)

Cultivation: Mortal Realm, Third Rate Martial Artist (No cultivation method detected)

Techniques, Arts & Inherent Abilities: Basic Movement Art (Mortal Mid-Grade, 49%), Demonic Blade Arts (Mortal High-Grade, 80%), Training Space Mind Technique (Unknown, 24%)

Physique & Bloodline: None

Occupation: None

[Return]

As Mo Tian looked at his status, he was a bit surprised. He used his movement art a lot when he was on the run and when he was doing chores. However he never really practiced it for it to increase this quickly. It seemed he had reached the limit of the proficient level, which makes him quicker on his feet and faster on short distances.

His blade art did not improve, since he could not train in the training space yet or had a saber for practice. He was happy to be able to practice again after he took the saber from one of the thugs.

Lastly, the 'Training Space Mind Technique' displayed 24%. He reached the minimum requirements of the space he grafted for it to be refined and could have started with the second level of the technique, but he realized he could graft a bigger space if he continued. So he is waiting for himself to reach the limit before starting the second level.

To give you a perspective, a normal cultivator would use qi to create the space. This would reduce the size of the space to make it more stable. But Mo Tian uses his mental energy so that he would not have to compromise on size. Both could expand the space as their strength grows, but a cultivator who uses his mental energy would have at least double the size. This would give the cultivator stronger mental defense, at the disadvantage that it is harder and takes more time.

After he was done with the review of his strength, Mo Tian started to think about how he could secure enough food for his training. He could not go out much, due to the Jian Family searching for him. He had not seen anyone from the Zheng Family so he expects that they had forgotten about him. However, Mo Tian had not forgotten how that two faced bastard Zheng Xi almost tricked him into slavery. Therefore, Mo Tian started to think about a plan that could kill 2 birds in one stone.