The dining hall of the servants was loud. People chatted and gossiped. Women gossiped among themselves while the men fooled around. The youth quietly sat at a table as he ate breakfast. His chopsticks tore a piece of the dumpling on his plate, dipped it into soy sauce, and put it in his mouth.

The youth slowly chewed as he kept his eyes up. The taste of the meat filling alongside the soy sauce permeated his mouth. The others at his table chatted with themselves and sometimes talked with him.

“Oi, why did you bring your bow and quiver here?” one of his friends asked him.

“I’m going to practice after this,” the youth gave a perfunctory reply.

“Damn, I wish I had free time like you!” the others looked at him in envy.

“He chuckled. “Become the Mistress’s butler then.”

“I don’t think I could handle her,” that friend laughed.

The youth put a dumpling in his mouth again. He took a sip of his water and looked at the door. There are about ten people at the front door and- he turned around and looked towards the kitchen ­–five at the back.

The youth smiled. They really aren’t trying to hide it. With a loud bang, the door was kicked open!

Five rough and menacing men walked inside. They had their weapons unsheathed as they looked over the dining hall.

“Oi, Shi Tian!” one of the servants walked over to one of the men with a grin, “Why the long face?”

But after a swift flick of Shi Tian’s wrist, the servant didn’t have a head anymore. Shi Tian grinned, “Why the no face?”

Immediately, an arrow pierced his head, and he fell to the ground with a thud! “That was terrible!”

“Wha-!” the other five instantly reacted and looked towards the shooter, only for the five of them to fall with arrows to their heads as well. The youth sighed. Thank god, these guys were only in Qi Refinement.

As everyone in the hall swallowed in fear, they heard the youth shout, “IT’S A REBELLION!”

The other five in the front door rushed inside the door after hearing his shout and got arrows planted between their eyes.

“IF YOU WANT TO LIVE, MAKE IT TO THE STREETS!” the youth yelled madly. “THE EAGLES WILL PROTECT YOU!”

He ran in front, stood in front of the door, and looked at the scared servants. He calmly said, “I’ll cover you guys, so run.”

The back door was kicked open with a bang! The rebels entered and ran towards the youth with their weapons.

“Dodge the arrows and get close!” one of them lead the charge. He clearly knew the weakness of an archer.

The youth nocked two arrows simultaneously and fired them. The guards on both the right and left dodged but soon found out that they were clustered together.

“Shit, scatter!” the leader tried to jump out. The youth threw something at them with full force. The object popped when it came in contact with the leader’s face, and a liquid burst out, covering all of them.

“What’s this?” one of them questioned. He turned around to his leader, who was scratching his face furiously. It was to the extent that bits of flesh had peeled off as he tried to scratch his itch with his nails. Soon, the others followed suit, howling madly as an insatiable itch invaded their body.

The youth put the gallbladder in his hands away. He had made water or poison balloons with the gallbladder he harvested from the Long-Tongued Baboons.

He walked out the door and looked around. My god…! His expression turned ugly. There was fighting going on. Swords crossed, arrows flew, and blood spilled. Corpses lined the floor.

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The youth suddenly heard gasping behind him. Some of the servants behind him had followed him out and looked at the horror that lay before them. Some lost strength in their legs, started hiding, or hyperventilated.

He sighed. “Let’s get out the back door. It’ll be closer to the streets that way.” He walked back and went to the side door in the kitchen. He opened the door and peeked out. People were fighting over here as well, but it was less. The youth sighed and chose the lesser evil of the two.

He looked behind and said to the scared servants, “Follow me!” No one moved a step.

He scratched his head helplessly. He looked at them again and yelled furiously, “Do you want to die here!?”

“C-Can’t we just surrender?” one of the older servants spoke up and instantly got quite a few to agree with him.

The youth laughed uproariously. He looked at the old man and sneered, “Sure, go ahead! But don’t come crying to me when you don’t have a head attached to your neck anymore.”

“Why would they kill us if we surrender?” one of the people in the ‘surrender camp’ asked.

“That’s because their goal isn’t to rebel but to kill! If not, then that guy-” he pointed towards the decapitated servant whose blood dyed the ground, “-wouldn’t be dead.”

“That’s because he was acting impudent with the guards!” the old man replied.

The youth sighed. He put his hands up and relented, “Fine, then who wants to surrender? Raise your hands!”

65% of the servants raised their hands as well as the old servant. There were about 135 servants there, including the cooks.

“Then the old man from before can take the lead while you follow him through the front door to surrender!” he looked over the crowd and sighed, “And those of you want to escape, follow me through the side door.” The youth stopped speaking and left the dining hall. He went out the door and waited for the people to come.

After a while, seventeen people came through the door and looked at him nervously. The youth frowned. Why are there so many girls here? The ratio of men to women was 3:1.

The youth looked around and found someone he could rely on. “Sis Qing, could I count on you to handle the women?”

The boyish maid nodded solemnly. She looked around and asked, “Why are there only 18 of us? Shouldn’t there be like, more than 30 of us?”

“The others lost their nerves when they saw how many wanted to surrender,” the youth sighed. “And speaking about them….”

He went to the side door and locked it from the outside. He took out some pouches and configured them to burst open when the door opened.

“Why did you lock it?” one of the male servants asked.

“So, that no one can come through from the outside.” The youth started walking towards the exit located near the servant’s quarters.

“What do we do know?” Qing Ai asked him.

“We head for the streets. Once we’re there, you guys find the nearest Eagle and ask him to protect you.”

“Hmm?” one of the younger girls picked out something from his words, “Isn’t Sir coming with us?”

He turned around and smiled, “Nope, I still need to help out here.”

“What?” Qing Ai asked in shock.

“I still need to help out the Elders who are fighting the others who rebelled.”

“B-But…”

“Don’t worry about it!” the youth waved his hands reassuringly. “I won’t do anything I’m not sure of.”

The other no longer asked anymore. It was not as though they wanted to believe him, but rather, they had no choice but to do so.

The youth cautiously lead the seventeen people towards the side exit. Wherever people were fighting, he would wait and see. If the winner was a clansman, he could explain to them what he was doing, and if they were a rebel, he’d plant an arrow right in their heads.

But the most challenging part was to lead the servants without attracting too much attention. The women were shivering in fear while the men had their nerves taut not to get caught.

He needed to calm them down. So, he made some small talk. “So, what made you guys follow me? You could’ve tried to surrender.”

“I’d much rather follow the Mistress’s butler than someone I’m not familiar with,” Qing Ai snorted.

“We…” one of the men spoke up but hesitated. He looked at the other men. It seems like they were friends. “T-The old man was wrong.”

“What do you mean?” Qing Ai looked at them and frowned.

“Old Mu was friends with Shi Tian; every one of us was. But Shi Tian was his closest friend. They came to the Li Clan together and from the same village. He wasn’t impudent!” he got became increasingly agitated the more he spoke.

The youth turned around and put his index finger on his lips. The man became quiet, but he didn’t stop speaking, “He greeted them…just…as usual.” The man started stuttering and crying while his friends comforted him, some of them crying as well.

“Then, sir was right,” another girl pointed out.

“D-Did you know about this?” someone else asked the youth.

The youth didn’t turn around but instead said, “Look, I know you’re scared but have you actually used your ears and listened?”

“What?” the others couldn’t comprehend.

“Just listen carefully.”

The others did as he said. They forcefully calmed themselves and tried to listen for whatever the youth said. As they heard, their faces paled; explosions, metallic ringing, blood-curdling screams, and other infernal sounds.

“Do you understand?” he said as he walked. “Death is all around us. If you don’t want to add to these screams, I suggest you pick up the pace.”

The others shut up and started moving quickly. After a while of sneaking, all of them heard screams that seemed to pierce the Heavens.

The youth turned around and looked towards the origin of the screams. It was a bit away from the Servant’s Hall.

He no longer looked and kept on walking. It looks like the bait worked.