Any young master or even favored servant from a prominent household carried one or two items on their person to prove their identity. Fan San hastily nodded and pulled out a small seal from his sleeve: “Before I left, Madam specifically gave this to me. With this, I can access the accounts from our family’s shops in Shanxi.”

The death warriors had already emerged from the cellar one by one, all dressed in black robes with black cloth covering their faces. They stood expressionlessly beside San Nan. San Nan glanced at the bewildered and confused Fan family servants, seeming quite troubled. After a moment, he finally made up his mind and pointed at Fan San: “You bring your Second Young Master and come with me. Everyone else stays here.” After speaking, he turned his head to instruct the death warriors: “I leave this place to you. Don’t leave a single trace behind.”

Fan San was clever—he’d always been clever. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have stood out from all the servants in the Fan household, following Second Young Master on important business at such a young age. Though it was said he followed Second Young Master, in truth, most matters were decided by him. Seeing this scene, he immediately knew something had gone wrong. An ominous premonition welled up in his heart, but he didn’t dare show it on his face—it seemed like he’d just taken a trip to death’s door. He hastily nodded, gripped Second Young Master Fan’s arm tightly, and slipped out the back door with San Nan.

San Nan walked very quickly and had lost the jovial, chatting mood of the past few days. Fan San didn’t dare relax for a moment, tightly clutching Second Young Master Fan’s arm as if clutching his own lifeline.

Second Young Master Fan stumbled beneath his feet and nearly rolled down the slope. He hurriedly grabbed the tree trunk in front of him and looked back with lingering fear. This one glance left him completely stunned—the temple that had been perfectly fine just moments ago was suddenly on fire. Thick smoke billowed up from the temple, blurring Second Young Master Fan’s eyes. He blinked and turned his head, only to find he could no longer see the path ahead clearly. Fan San, whom he’d been holding onto, had also vanished without a trace.

When people face danger, their minds work especially well. Unable to see anyone, panic seized his heart. Not daring to think carefully about the fate of his servants left behind or the death warriors who’d remained in the temple, he began shouting for San Nan and Fan San at the top of his lungs: “Young Master! Young Master! Fan San! Where are you?!”

The thick smoke seized his nasal passages, choking him until tears and snot all sprayed out together with his sneezing. Fan San rubbed his eyes. Seeming to hear Second Young Master Fan calling, he hastily shouted back: “Here! Over here, Second Young Master!”

But he’d barely shouted once and was about to continue walking back to find the person when someone suddenly grabbed his arm.

“Keep your voice down!” San Nan warned him in a suppressed voice: “The Prince Consort and the Imperial Guard have already tracked us here. If you don’t want to die, stay quiet!”

Fan San immediately covered his mouth with his hand. Of course he didn’t want to die. Though he loved silver and money—this time, taking advantage of coming to Yangquan on business, he’d embezzled quite a lot of silver—he cherished his life even more. He knew that if his life was gone, then truly nothing would remain.

San Nan’s hand slowly left his arm. He startled, then remembered Second Young Master Fan, and asked tremblingly: “What about Second Young Master? If Second Young Master gets caught…” If Second Young Master Fan was caught and people recognized him as Second Young Master from the Xingyang Fan clan, Fan Liangdi’s own older brother, then the entire Xingyang Fan clan would face execution—assassinating the Imperial Grand Grandson, anyone who touched that charge would have their entire family stripped of several layers of skin! They couldn’t let Second Young Master wander around blindly, or if he happened to run straight into the Imperial Guard, everything would be finished!

San Nan had already thought of this problem. He pushed Fan San’s back and squinted to see Fan San’s shadow vaguely through the thick fog: “I’ll go back to find him. You don’t know martial arts, and staying here wastes time. Go straight down from this slope. When you reach the bottom of the mountain, someone will meet you.”

Fan San didn’t dare refuse. He had no courage to continue staying on this mountain—Imperial Guards were everywhere, and even if they weren’t Imperial Guards, running into the death warriors brought by San Nan’s group would be equally dangerous. Now he finally realized that the group of Fan family servants who’d stayed behind in the temple were probably all burned to death by now, or had become ghosts beneath the blade. This meant things had been exposed. Bringing too many people made it easy to leave traces, so San Nan simply decided to silence the witnesses by killing them, only taking his Second Young Master and him away.

He tremblingly released his grip and began stumbling desperately along the path San Nan had indicated, falling several times but not daring to stop, afraid San Nan would change his mind and kill him on the spot.

The fire grew fiercer and fiercer. Through the thick black smoke, one could already see the surging firelight. The flames burned so hot that the leaves on the surrounding trees were all curling up, their branches drooping limply.

San Nan covered his mouth and nose, feeling his way forward following Second Young Master Fan’s grating voice. Finally, he drew closer and closer to Second Young Master Fan’s voice. His heart relaxed slightly. Finding him now wasn’t too late—once he found the person, he could leave immediately. As long as the green mountains remain, one need not worry about firewood. Future matters could be discussed in the future.

But just as he touched Second Young Master Fan’s sleeve, Second Young Master Fan began howling like a slaughtered pig. Almost simultaneously, San Nan’s ears twitched, detecting the oncoming killing intent—it was the Imperial Guard! The Imperial Guard had already found the back door and tracked them here!

San Nan had always excelled at identifying positions by sound. He pulled Second Young Master Fan and dodged to the side, but though he possessed martial skills, his stature was still small, and Second Young Master Fan was frozen stiff with fear, so he couldn’t budge him with one pull.

He hastily yanked again, finally pulling Second Young Master Fan to his side, and walked a few steps toward the right front.

He leaned against a tree to catch his breath, looking at Second Young Master Fan trembling from head to toe like chaff being sifted. Disgust and hesitation showed in his eyes—bringing this fool Second Young Master Fan would slow him down, but now the Imperial Guard had already begun searching the back mountain…

After weighing it in his mind for just a moment, he made up his mind. He drew a sharp dagger from his wide monk’s robe and without hesitation thrust it toward Second Young Master Fan’s throat!

Second Young Master Fan’s eyes widened. He’d never dreamed San Nan would attack him. The sensation of his flesh being cut open was all too clear. He covered his throat, and when he touched it, all he felt was bright red blood. Then his legs went weak and he collapsed to the ground.

San Nan didn’t pause for even a moment. He crouched down and pulled out the jade pendant from Second Young Master Fan’s waist and the brocade pouch from his chest, collecting them in his own bosom. He checked Second Young Master Fan’s entire body, then stripped off his clothes, shoes, and socks, carelessly bundling them together and tucking them into his own chest. He picked up the dagger and began haphazardly slashing Second Young Master Fan’s face.