C6 He Beat up the Three Brothers of the Village Tyrant

The shout that echoed through the air took everyone by surprise, causing heads to turn in unison.

Shen Yong charged down the hillside and leaped onto a large stone pedestal just beyond the fence.

"Yong! Be careful! Get down from there! Don't hurt yourself!"

Xie Yun, driven by a mother's instinct to protect her simple-minded son, hurried toward Shen Yong.

But in her haste, Xie Yun stumbled, nearly tumbling to the ground.

In the nick of time, Shen Yong lightly tapped the stone with his toes, vaulted over the fence, and was instantly at Xie Yun's side.

"Mom! Did you hurt your foot?"

Shen Yong steadied his mother, Xie Yun, asking with genuine concern.

"No, it's fine! It doesn't hurt!"

Xie Yun, her face a picture of astonishment, asked, "Yong? What did you call me?"

"Mom! You're my mom, who else would I call you?"

Shen Yong's face broke into a smile as he joyfully exclaimed, "My dear mom!"

"Oh, Yong! You recognize me, your mom! It's wonderful! My dear son!"

Xie Yun, overjoyed, inquired, "Yong, how did you suddenly recognize me?"

"Mom! My sickness is gone! I remember everything! I'm not foolish anymore!"

Shen Yong said, his smile beaming.

"That's fantastic! Yong, you're better! Let me have a good look at you!"

Xie Yun reached out, caressing Shen Yong's face tenderly, "Yong! You've gotten thinner!"

"Don't worry, Mom! From now on, I'll be here to look after you and Dad! I won't ever leave you again!"

Shen Yong reassured her.

"Good! Good!"

Xie Yun, thrilled, said, "Yong! Your timing is perfect! Your dad has been mistreated! You can't stand by and do nothing!"

"Mom! Stay calm! I'll handle everything!"

Shen Yong soothed his mother's worries, then moved to the side to right the wheelchair, wheeling it over to his father, Shen Wanshan.

"Dad, sit here for a bit. After I deal with these troublemakers, I'll tend to your wounds!"

Shen Yong assisted his father, Shen Wanshan, into the wheelchair.

"Dad, it's okay! Please, don't confront them! They're three brothers, and our family can't afford to provoke them!"

Shen Wanshan expressed his concern, "We're so relieved that you've recovered from your illness! But with my leg in this condition, if those guys hurt you, your mother will have to shoulder all our burdens alone."

An honest and hardworking farmer, Shen Wanshan had spent most of his life without a single quarrel with his fellow villagers. Seeing his son Shen Yong gearing up to confront the Zhao brothers, he hurriedly intervened.

"Dad, I'll be fine," Shen Yong assured him, casting a contemptuous glance at the bullies. "Them, hurt me? Not a chance!"

"Yong, fighting isn't the answer. We're all from the same village. No good comes from hurting each other," Shen Wanshan implored once more.

"Alright, Dad! I won't hurt them," Shen Yong promised, flexing his right fingers with a crackling sound. "I'll just give them a little scare, show them not to mess with me."

Shen Wanshan massaged his temples, resigning himself to silence. A father knows his son best, after all.

He was well aware that Shen Yong, ever since he was young, despised evil and couldn't stand by in the face of injustice. Mere words from him wouldn't deter his son.

"Look at that! The idiot actually recognizes his own folks!" Zhao Sangou jeered, perched on an iron cage with a cigarette dangling from his lips, pointing at the cage door. "Hey, big dummy, scurry on over and crawl into this cage! Save us the trouble of dealing with you when you go nuts again and can't understand plain speech. Otherwise, we'll have to step in!"

Being called a fool was the last thing Shen Yong wanted to hear. Anyone who dared utter that word made him want to charge at them and deliver a resounding slap.

But he had given his word to his father not to cause harm.

Observing Zhao Sangou's scrawny and fragile frame, Shen Yong knew that even a restrained slap from him would be too much for the man to handle.

Biting back his rage, Shen Yong inhaled deeply, seeking inner peace. He reminded himself not to stoop to the level of these ill-mannered thugs.

"Skinny Dog! You've gotten bold, haven't you? Daring to show your teeth to me now!"

Shen Yong let out a cold laugh. "Have you forgotten who saved you from that wild dog chase? And now you're the dog trying to bite the hand that saved you?"

"The past is the past! The present is now! Stop bringing up old stories! You're just a dumb dog that bites now!"

Zhao Sangou retorted furiously, "Just look at what you did to my big brother's face! To keep you from going on another foolish rampage and hurting someone else, we need to lock you up, you fool!"

Shen Yong pushed down the rage bubbling inside him and stepped over to where Zhao Sangou stood, eyeing the large iron cage beneath his feet.

"Your brother got what he deserved from me!"

Shen Yong tapped the thumb-thick steel bars of the cage and remarked, "So you think this cage can hold me? It seems sturdy enough, but for me, it might as well be made of paper!"

With that, Shen Yong pressed his thumb against the steel bar.

The next second, everyone gasped in astonishment.

The steel bar, as thick as a thumb, bent like it was made of rubber.

Zhao Sangou quickly stepped back, staring in disbelief.

Shen Yong proceeded to bend every steel bar with his thumb.

In the end, he had kneaded the iron cage into a massive iron ball!

It was beyond belief!

The meter-square cage, welded with finger-thick steel, was transformed into a solid steel ball by Shen Yong as if it were dough!

"How... How is this possible?!"

Zhao Sangou exclaimed, his face a picture of shock.

"Skinny Dog! Got any cages stronger than this one?"

Shen Yong tossed the steel ball to the ground and challenged.

"I... this..."

Zhao Sangou was so astonished he was at a loss for words.

Just then, Zhao Erhu bellowed, "Big idiot! Destroying a cage is nothing special! Let's see how you handle my sandbag punches!"

With that, Zhao Erhu, his hefty body in motion, thundered towards Shen Yong, his fists swinging for Shen Yong's face.

Zhao Erhu was a powerhouse, his punches whipping through the air with the ferocity of a tiger.

If his fist connected with an average person, it would not only draw blood from their nose and mouth but also send them scrambling on the ground for their teeth.

But against Shen Yong, Zhao Erhu was forced to swallow his pride.

With a swift catch of his right hand, Shen Yong grabbed Zhao Erhu's incoming punch and yanked!

Erhu tumbled headlong to the ground, face-planting with a thud and dislocating his arm. After struggling on the ground for a few moments, he managed to stand, wincing in pain as he faced Shen Yong, his heart pounding with trepidation.

The Zhao brothers might have been the local toughs of the village.

Yet, they were confined to a small, isolated mountain hamlet, naive to the wider world.

They believed that having the numbers on their side meant they could run rampant, unchecked.

In reality, it was the villagers' tolerance that allowed their antics; without it, the trio would have been behind bars long ago.

Outside the courtyard, the villagers who had gathered to watch began to murmur among themselves.

"Shen Yong has finally recovered from his illness. Heaven has opened its eyes at last!"

"Absolutely! Did you see that? Since coming back from the military, Yong's got some serious moves!"

"It's a shame he was just a pig farmer in the army. Imagine if he'd been in the special forces—he'd be unstoppable!"

"Doesn't matter what kind of soldier he was. As long as he can put those Zhao ruffians in their place and give us villagers some relief, he's a hero in my book!"

Shen Yong's hearing was exceptionally acute.

Despite the clamor of the crowd, he could pick out each word distinctly—a skill honed during covert missions in the snowy mountains of the West Realm.

Most of the chatter didn't faze Shen Yong, but the term "pig-rearing soldier" struck a nerve, sounding harsh to his ears.