Mike Sullivan was already a mid-stage Lingyin martial artist, and his eyesight was much better than that of the other villagers. At a glance, he could see that the five villagers returning all had abnormal gaits. Every one of them was staggering, supporting each other as they walked back.

Especially the oldest one leading the group, Mr. Brooks, who was almost being carried back by the others.

And on the faces of all five, there were already patches of blue and purple bruises. Their clothes were stained with patches of red blood, which had long since dried. On Mr. Brooks's face, there was even a piece of gray cloth wrapped around it, already dyed red.

Soon, all the villagers could clearly see what the group looked like.

"Uncle, did you get discovered?" In the village, a sturdy young man saw Mr. Brooks's appearance and immediately ran up to him, supporting Mr. Brooks with both hands. He was Mr. Brooks's nephew from the same family. The Chen family was also a big clan in Nanlin Village. Apart from the Lin family, which had the most people, the Chen family had the next largest number.

"Sigh..." Mr. Brooks sighed, but before he could speak, the most hot-tempered person in the village, Mr. Bolton, spoke up first: "Mr. Brooks, you got discovered, why didn't you run? If you got caught, so be it. At worst, we can dig again next time. That's better than getting hurt like this!"

"Run? We wanted to run, but how could we?"

"You couldn't run? Don't tell me they sent dozens of people to guard the dam? That's impossible! They need to farm too. If they sent six or seven people to guard the dam, that would already be a lot." When Mr. Bolton heard Mr. Brooks's words, he frowned: "It can't be that they found out about our plan in advance, right?"

"No, no, don't overthink it." Mr. Brooks waved his hand, then held up one finger and said, "They only had one person guarding the dam."

"One person?" All the villagers were shocked. "How could one person beat you all up like this? Unless that person is a martial artist, otherwise, the only one who could get beaten would be that person. Even their best fighter in Taoli Village, Mr. Thompson, couldn't take on the five of you!"

Facing everyone's doubts, Mr. Brooks spoke up: "That person really is a martial artist!"

"A martial artist? Impossible!"

"Impossible. Even though Taoli Village has some talented people, there aren't any martial artists in their village right now."

"Yeah, if Taoli Village had a martial artist chosen by another sect, there's no way our village wouldn't know. With the way Taoli Village acts, if they had a martial artist, they'd be bragging about it everywhere."

"That person really is a martial artist, and you all know him." Mr. Brooks slowly said, "Do you all remember the big event that happened in Taoli Village twelve years ago?"

"Twelve years ago? Mr. Brooks, are you talking about when Taoli Village changed village chiefs?" Someone in the village thought for a moment and spoke up: "Twelve years ago, the village chief of Taoli Village was still Samuel Thompson. He somehow found a way to sell all their grain at a high price. Then his son, Ryan Thompson, stole all the money and ran away."

"Because of that, Samuel Thompson was removed, and they got a new village chief. That incident left Taoli Village struggling for almost five years. Their land is rented from the big landlord in town, after all."

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Tonight, the person we met was the one who ran away twelve years ago, Ryan Thompson. Ryan Thompson not only came back, but also became a peak late-stage Suoling martial artist. We were just about to start digging the canal when he suddenly appeared and knocked us all down with just a few punches and kicks."

Mr. Brooks recounted their experience that night: "He said himself that he took the money from back then, went out to learn martial arts, and has just returned after finishing his training. He was in a good mood after seeing his family. Since it was the first time he caught us, he let us off, but if it happens again, he'll make the whole village pay."

All the villagers instantly fell silent. The other side had a martial artist, and not just any martial artist, but a peak Suoling martial artist. What could they do?

Mike Sullivan stood in the crowd, his fists unconsciously clenching. Taoli Village was simply going too far. The villagers went to dig the canal, and even if they were discovered, they could have just been chased away—was it really necessary to use such force? Especially Mr. Brooks, who was already nearly sixty years old—how could he withstand such a beating?

Even though Mr. Brooks didn't seem to be in serious trouble now, who knew if he would suffer lasting effects? Besides, there was nothing wrong with the villagers digging the canal in the first place.

The Zhuyong River was never the private property of Taoli Village. The Zhuyong River flowed through five villages, and all five had always used its water.

But Taoli Village built a dam to block the river, not allowing the downstream villages to use the water. That was clearly their fault.

Upstream from Taoli Village, there were three other villages, and none of them had built dams to block the water.

Now, when their own village tried to negotiate and Taoli Village refused to release the water, they tried to secretly dig the dam, and Taoli Village even beat them up. This was pushing their village to the brink.