【Extreme self-interest. Those with a 'loving heart' may not be able to accept this. Please refrain from entering. Thank you.】
“Damn it, another ambush!”
“They really think I’m a pushover!”
The night wind swept through the mountains, bringing with it gusts of howling.
Li Xuan used his scabbard to extinguish the campfire, tightened his worn padded jacket, and wrapped the infant in his arms snugly.
The forest plunged into darkness.
Soon, soft snoring could be heard.
“Second Boss, this Escort is truly bold. He dares to put out his fire and sleep at night even when passing through our Black Tiger Mountain.”
“Yesterday he killed five of our brothers; today, he will pay with his life!”
The Second Boss, who was leading them, slapped him on the back with his blade and said in a deep voice, “Quiet! Shut up!”
“Wait a little longer…”
The Second Boss was one of the few literate people in Black Tiger Stockade. This Escort had killed five of their brothers by himself yesterday, showing impressive martial arts skills. If he hadn’t run fast, he might have ended up as wolf dung.
Another half an incense stick passed, and the snoring still hadn't stopped.
“Give me the bow…”
The Second Boss drew it halfway, *whoosh*!
Only a thud was heard, followed by a piercing scream.
“Ah! Who?!”
“How dare you! You actually ambushed me!”
Violent, painful curses echoed.
The faces of the few bandits in the forest lit up with joy.
It was too dark at night; even with the moonlight, they couldn't see clearly, only a blurry figure struggling wildly.
“The time has come! He is injured!”
The Second Boss roared, “Attack!”
He had just shot an arrow haphazardly, and to his surprise, it hit!
He had personally witnessed how fierce this Escort was. Even if eight or nine skilled men surrounded him, he wouldn't dare to rush in blindly.
He could only shoot arrows from a distance. If it hit, he would take advantage of his injury to finish him off. If it missed, he would quickly escape… This was something he had learned from his previous boss.
Several bandits charged forward with shouts, while the Second Boss slowly retreated, nocking an arrow and drawing his bow...
This was also something he learned from his previous boss. He had managed to survive several changes of mountain strongholds entirely due to these few tricks!
With a clang, the grating sound of clashing metal rang out, and a shower of sparks flew.
In a daze, a playful and terrifying face was illuminated, with a knife scar from the brow to the left ear, twisted like a centipede crawling on his face, making him look like a demon!
“I’ve got you!”
Li Xuan grinned, suddenly leaped up, and with a swipe of his long blade, a large head flew into the air.
Crimson blood spurted out like a fountain, drenching Li Xuan.
The infant in his arms felt the warm wetness near his mouth and instinctively stuck out his tiny tongue to lick it.
A loud cry exploded in the dark forest!
He was hungry…
Li Xuan single-handedly lifted the headless body of the bandit, threw it forward, and it immediately knocked the approaching bandits dizzy.
“Haven’t reacted yet? Then don’t react!”
The long blade flashed like lightning, and another head flew into the air.
The Second Boss behind the big tree saw this and immediately knew they had been tricked!
This Escort hadn't been hit by an arrow at all!
Just as he was about to run back, with a *poof*, a long blade pierced through his chest.
Li Xuan twisted the neck of the last bandit, walked over with a smile, and pulled out his long blade.
“You ran too slowly! You’re much dumber than the bandits from the last mountain stronghold!”
He sneered, and Li Xuan pulled out the arrow stuck in the wooden board on his back.
Picking up the long bow from the ground, he exclaimed, “Good bow, good arrows!”
He lowered his head and teased the infant in his arms.
“Hungry?”
Li Xuan drew his long blade, pulled open the Second Boss's clothes, and then stabbed and carved with the blade.
He formed his fingers into a whistle.
After a clear whistle, a mother wolf carrying a wolf cub emerged from the depths of the forest.
“I won’t let you suffer a loss. Old rules, I’ll trade with you!”
The mother wolf, quite understanding, lay down on the ground. Li Xuan picked up the infant and placed him against the wolf’s belly.
The pungent wolf milk was the best remedy to stop crying at that moment.
After the infant finished eating, Li Xuan searched the bodies of the bandits but only found a few copper coins.
“Bah! Not only are they dumber than the last mountain stronghold, but they're also poor!”
Relighting the campfire, Li Xuan held the infant and slept in his clothes.
In the dark forest, only the sounds of wolves devouring their prey remained...
Five years!
This escort mission had lasted a full five years!
The caravan had disbanded, the cargo had died, and of the dozen or so brothers who accompanied the carriage, only he remained.
And… the cargo’s son…
“Your father was truly a philanderer. Even on the road, he didn’t forget to find women.”
“I’ve lived two lives, and in this one, I’m twenty-five and haven’t tasted a woman’s flavor yet…”
“Damn it, he didn’t die in vain!”
Li Xuan carried the infant and hurried north.
Only ten li left until Baishui County city!
Five years ago, he had set out with the caravan, carrying Master Wang’s letter, to bring back his second son, who had been studying abroad since childhood, from Guangnan Prefecture.
Who knew that this short journey of a few thousand li would take the group two and a half years to complete.
Two and a half years there, and two and a half years back, a full five years!
Li Xuan looked at the sleeping infant in his arms and muttered to himself, “The cargo’s son is also cargo!”
“Whether I can get paid depends on your value!”
Li Xuan walked step by step, leaning on his long blade. This area was already close to the county town, and the terrain was much flatter.
Looking around, however, there was only desolation.
“Great drought? Famine year?”
From Guangnan Prefecture to Changning Prefecture, Li Xuan had personally witnessed the stark difference.
Guangnan Prefecture enjoyed favorable weather, prosperity, and joy. With the prefectural monument as the boundary, upon stepping into Changning Prefecture, devastation was everywhere.
A great drought, a lack of water, and it was getting worse year by year, like piles of raging fires, with trees as firewood, crops as seasoning, and the common people as roasted meat.
By now… Li Xuan hadn’t seen rain for over three months.
It was spring planting season; how could the common people live without rain!
“This is probably another disaster caused by those Cultivators…”
“Natural and man-made disasters, but now, looking across the entire Changning Prefecture, where is the natural disaster? It’s all man-made!”
“I wonder how things are at home? With the silver I saved from escorting goods in previous years, and my elder brother being no less formidable than me, there shouldn’t be any trouble.”
“And my nephews, the oldest was only six when I left; they should be half-grown lads by now… I wonder if they’ve grown strong…”
Li Xuan mumbled as he walked, a gentle smile appearing on his ferocious and terrifying face.
“Once I get this money, I’ll buy a hundred mu of fertile land, build a large courtyard, and properly marry two wives to start a family.”
“When the family gets better and better, I’ll spend silver to buy a Measuring Aperture Stone. As long as one of my Li family descendants opens an Aperture, it won’t be in vain for me, Li Xuan, to be reborn in this life!”
Li Xuan was walking with the infant.
Suddenly, his eyelids twitched inexplicably, and a chill ran down his spine.
Years of combat instinct told him that he was being targeted by something fierce and dangerous!
He subconsciously gripped his long blade and slowly turned his head.
By the dried riverbed, a middle-aged man covered in mud was lying on a large rock, watching him. In the muddy riverbed not far away, there was a deep, wide drag mark.
Li Xuan steadied himself, lowered his head, and continued walking forward.
In the Jianghu, meddling in others' affairs is the biggest taboo!
“Lad.”
Li Xuan froze, retracting his foot, not daring to look up.
The voice actually came from in front of him!
But that person had clearly been behind him just a moment ago!
“Look up… *cough cough*…”
The man coughed twice, his voice hoarse, as if a thick phlegm was stuck in his throat. The sound was even more unpleasant than a moulting old crow.
Li Xuan silently loosened his grip on the long blade, slowly looked up, and saw the man sitting cross-legged on the open ground two or three zhang away.
“Great… Immortal?” Li Xuan ‘trembled’ as he spoke.
Li Xuan didn't know what this thing was, but to be able to move from behind him to in front of him in an instant, it had to be either a monster or a Cultivator!
The man appeared to be a middle-aged individual of thirty or forty.
He had lost one arm and was covered in blood, looking utterly miserable.
His dark brown robes were full of gashes, looking as if they had been clawed or cut by a Sharp Weapon.
On the chest of his Daoist robe was embroidered a character for ‘blood’!
From his attire, he should be a Cultivator! And a Cultivator with Sect influence!
The Cultivator sat up stiffly, saw Li Xuan ‘frozen in fear’ in the distance, and waved his only arm.
“You… come, come here!”
Li Xuan took off the long bow from his back, threw away the long blade in his hand, and walked over tremblingly.
He knelt to the ground with a thud.
“Immortal, Immortal above, this humble one bows to you!”
Li Xuan trembled uncontrollably, kowtowing like pounding garlic.
This was a Cultivator!
And a Cultivator who was… severely wounded and on the verge of death!