The First Summoner - Chapter 52

Only then did the covert guards react and hurriedly dodge.

They had no idea that Shen Yan had already gained spiritual power—and that slash carried every last bit she could muster.

Clang!

Their carelessness and contempt proved fatal. Shen Yan’s blade killed them where they stood.

Hongri witnessed the scene and stared, dumbfounded and unable to believe her own eyes.

“Y-young… Young Lady!” Her shock left her unable to form a complete sentence. “You…”

Shen Yan turned toward her. “Hongri, I can cultivate now.”

Hongri’s eyes went comically wide.

Shen Yan ignored her shock. Tightening her grip on the dagger, she swiftly dealt a finishing blow to each of the Shen family’s covert guards. Her hand rose and fell without the slightest hesitation.

Then she pulled a valuable storage ring from one guard’s finger.

Storage rings were extraordinarily precious in this world, an item countless cultivators dreamed of possessing.

After all, a storage ring could hold a vast quantity of goods and made traveling far more convenient.

Hongri finally came back to her senses. Her eyes lit up as she asked excitedly, “Miss, you truly can cultivate now?”

“Mm.”

Shen Yan wiped the blood from her dagger on a dead guard’s clothes, then quickly rose.

“We need to leave first.”

Hongri nodded.

Yinyue had already gone to Xuanwu Kingdom to purchase an entry invitation to the auction.

Only the two of them remained here.

The Shen family’s Third Elder should be at the eighth level of the Mystic-rank realm.

With Shen Yan’s current strength, facing him directly would be exceedingly difficult. She could only choose a strategy that favored her.

After walking a short distance, Shen Yan abruptly frowned. Her sharp gaze snapped toward a certain direction.

“Who’s there?!”

“Come out!”

The moment her shout fell, a figure suddenly appeared before Shen Yan and Hongri.

The stranger was a large, rough-looking man dressed in a gray robe. His face was utterly ordinary.

He stared at Shen Yan, unable to conceal his shock. Just as she prepared to attack him, he hurriedly raised his voice to stop her.

“Yanyan, it’s me—your Uncle Dazhuang.”

Shen Yan paused.

Uncle Dazhuang?

No such person existed in her memories.

Tan Zhuang’s honest face turned cautious. Afraid she had misunderstood, he raised both hands in surrender and explained in an exceptionally gentle voice, “Your father sent me to protect you. I’ve been guarding this place for more than half a month.”

Shen Yan remained wary. She glanced aside.

“Hongri, do you know this man?”

Hongri frowned and shook her head. “I’ve never seen him.”

Tan Zhuang did everything he could to explain. “Yanyan, I came to Nanxiao Kingdom once ten years ago. I even held you in my arms then. Your Uncle Dazhuang truly isn’t a bad man.”

He suddenly remembered something. Grinning, he took a token from inside his robe and showed it to Shen Yan.

“Here. Your father gave this to me.”

His voice was remarkably gentle, completely at odds with his rugged appearance. The contrast made people instinctively want to trust him.

“Miss, that really is the young master’s token.”

The young master’s token bore a single character: Heaven.

Shen Tianhao had once been a heaven-favored prodigy. Arrogant to the bone, he had engraved the character for Heaven on his token. It alluded not only to his name but also to his ambition to become a mighty man who could hold up heaven and earth.

Some of Shen Yan’s suspicion faded.

But she did not trust him completely.

“Yanyan, you’ve not only regained your senses, but you can cultivate now! This is wonderful! Our Tian—” Seeing that she had begun to believe him, Tan Zhuang’s honest face lit with wild delight. Then he seemed to realize something and abruptly closed his mouth.

He was clearly hiding a secret.

Shen Yan frowned. “Our Tian-what?”

“Huh? Tian… Tianhao!” Tan Zhuang scratched his head in a panic, then gave a guilty laugh. “Our Tianhao will… will definitely be delighted.”

Shen Yan heard the lie but did not expose it.

She could not help wondering how many secrets her father concealed.

Tan Zhuang thumped his chest. “Don’t be afraid, Yanyan. Uncle Dazhuang will protect you. No matter how many elders come, I’ll beat every last one of them to the ground!”

“Uncle Zhuang, are you very strong?”

Tan Zhuang smiled simply. “A little weaker than your father.”

“Can you enter the Shen residence and visit him?”

“Of course.”

“Then how is he now?”

This time, Tan Zhuang answered without any hesitation. “Tianhao has been confined. Aside from that, everything is fine.”

The answer did not ease Shen Yan’s mind. She sensed the matter could not be so simple.

At that moment—

Someone pounded violently on the courtyard gate.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Shen Yan, open the door!” came the Shen family’s Third Elder’s grim voice from outside.

Tan Zhuang’s expression turned cold. He clenched his fist and was about to teach the Shen family a lesson when Shen Yan stopped him.

“Uncle Zhuang.”

“Don’t be afraid, Yanyan. Uncle Dazhuang will drive them away right now,” he said angrily.

“Wait. Let’s find out what they want first. There will still be time to act afterward.”

Now that Uncle Zhuang was here, he could likely tie down the Shen family’s Third Elder. The other Shen family members would pose little threat.

“All right. Whatever you say, Yanyan.” Tan Zhuang froze for a moment, then nodded.

…

Outside, the Third Elder shouted, “Shen Yan, if you don’t open this door, don’t blame this elder for showing no mercy!”

The moment he finished, the courtyard gate opened.

Shen Yan stood in the entrance. Her indifferent gaze swept across the group before settling on the Third Elder.

Her voice was icy.

“Third Elder Shen, what business do you have here?”

The Third Elder’s tone was grim. “Shen Yan, when you left the Shen family, you stole fifty thousand taels of gold. Return it at once, or don’t blame this elder for being rude!”

Shen Yan’s eyes darkened. As expected, his purpose was almost exactly what she had guessed.

She sneered. “Third Elder Shen, do you have no shame? If you do, get lost. If you don’t, stay here and bark!”

The Third Elder’s face turned green.

“Shen Yan, mind your attitude!”

“And what are you to me?” Shen Yan stared at him sharply and scoffed.

Several passersby outside the residence noticed the disturbance and stopped to watch.

The Third Elder choked on his words, his face livid.

“Shen—”

Before he could finish, Shen Yan interrupted him and raised her voice.

“Everyone knows I, Shen Yan, have already severed ties with the Shen family! Yet now a Shen family elder has shamelessly come to demand my money. Have you no dignity whatsoever?”

At once, the passersby scented scandal and began whispering among themselves.

Humiliation turned the Third Elder’s anger to rage. He barked an order.

“Seize her!”

The Shen family disciples surged toward her. Each wanted to capture her in the fastest and most brutal fashion possible, then win the Third Elder’s favor.

But then the unexpected happened!

Scorching flames suddenly swept toward them. Caught unprepared, the fire struck them head-on.

“Aaaah!”

The flames clung to the disciples. They screamed in panic.

“Who did that?!” The Third Elder’s expression changed. He looked up—and saw something that shocked him beyond belief.

The person controlling the flames was Shen Yan!

The Third Elder’s pupils contracted.

“H-how is that possible?!”