Chapter 53 Black Ravens · Barefoot
That guard shook his head and said, “Oh, is Jianghu really so attractive? Are fighting and killing so appealing? Are those worthy of our leisure life in our small county? This time, we are lucky to have a county magistrate who is so responsible. I really hope those people can leave as soon as possible.”
Before he finished the words.
“Caw Caw Caw…”
The sound of a raven came.
Those guards and soldiers were startled, and they subconsciously followed the sound to look back.
And they saw a blind Taoist dressed in ragged black Taoist robe, holding a bamboo pole which was as thick as fingers, exploring the way and walking towards the city gate.
The strange thing was that on the shoulder of the blind Taoist stood a huge raven with black carbon feathers, black-iron-like claws, bloody-red eye, and silver eyelids.
This raven was very large, just like an eagle.
It was that raven that made all the caws.
Blind-eyed Taoist used his bamboo pole to explore the road. Every time they encountered pits or a deviation, the raven on his shoulder would caw to warn him as if he had grown a new pair of eyes, so he went straight through the city gate and entered the city.
Meanwhile, a guard tried to stop and inquire him but was stopped by the head of the guards.
The latter shook his head, indicating that there was no need to stop him, just let him in.
According to the orders from their county magistrate, they did not have to stop those Jianghu people to come into their county, so they had not stopped those small group of traders and that old beggar, also, they would not stop this blind Taoist. They were quite strange and might be Jianghu people, so just let them in.
These days, people from all walks of life including monsters and freaks had gathered in Taibai County. As the guards stationed in the gates of the city, they had seen a lot of strange people, so now they already had become inured to the unusual.
A lot of people were attracted by today’s final battle between Sky Dragon Faction and Huya Faction, which was almost known by everybody, besides, they also heard that cruel Duan Shuiliu with the nickname “One Chop that Sends Man to death”, so they came here in an exciting mood.
After a while.
From the city came the sound of horses’ hoofs.
A team of elite soldiers and guards came on horseback.
The leader of the team was Ma Junwu with a solemn look, who had recently been trusted by Li Mu, the county magistrate.
He followed by fifty carefully selected guards with soft armors riding on horses and soon they arrived at the city gate.
“Officer Ma, you are…” The Dutou Official who stationed at the gate was named Gao Sheng. He greeted at Ma Junwu and asked him as usual.
Gao Sheng felt strange because there was a major event in the city today with a shortage of troops. Why did Ma Junwu still take people outside the city?
“I’ll take my men to the Hancha Intersection to do something according to the order from our county magistrate.” Ma Junwu showed him his pass card.
Gao Sheng saw that pass card was correct, and hurriedly let them go, saying, “Brother Ma, please.”
Ma Junwu and his elite soldiers then rode their horses and rushed to the direction to Hancha Intersection, like an arrow away from the strings.
Because they were all cavalry, their speed was very fast.
Within an hour, Ma Junwu and his men had already run nearly fifty thousand meters and reached the Hancha Intersection.
“Heaven, this is…”
Ma Junwu stopped and stood up with his horse and was completely shocked by what he saw in front of him.
He had been seriously injured by that noble Li Bing before and got totally cured these two days. Today, although he received the order from Li Mu, he was actually confused before departure because Feng Yuanxing, the secretary, only reported Li Mu’s order to him and thus he did not know exactly what happened at the Hancha Intersection. But only after a glance, Ma Junwu was shocked and speechless there at that time.
There were broken limbs everywhere, and the smell of blood was pervasive.
There were traces of wild animals on the ground. Dozens of wolves were shocked by the sound of horses’ hooves, biting some parts of corpses and fleeing into the mountains. Dozens of vultures were circling low in the sky, and it seemed they would swoop down and snatch food at any time…
There were also a variety of carrion-eating flies and venomous insects, all gathering in this area, buzzing around.
These animals were obviously attracted by their blood.
“The dead are all the mountain villains of Qingfeng Citadel.”
Ma Junwu calmed himself down, and after some observation, he quickly reached a conclusion.
He suddenly realized why those mountain villains from Qingfeng Citadel did not invade Taibai County as most people feared last night. It turned out they all died here.
The 50 guards who followed Ma Junwu were also shocked and could not speak.
“Clean the battlefield.” Ma Junwu shouted, and arranged them in an orderly manner.
All the guards got off from their horses and began to search and clean.
In Taibai County, the combative forces were divided into soldiers, guards and civilian guards, among which the soldiers were the strongest forces, mainly were used to arrest bandits, capture murderers and suppress mobs. Civil guards were like the militia on the earth, and they were the weakest fighting power. The main responsibility of the guards was to defend county government office and county magistrate. Although their fighting power was good, they did more auxiliary work.
The difference between the three was equivalent to the difference among field forces, the armed police, and the militia.
The fifty people brought by Ma Junwu were all elites of guards, so naturally cleaning the battlefield was easy to them.
“Watch out. Be careful that there may be undead mountain villains who can attack and injure you.”
Ma Junwu went back and forth to the battlefield and loudly reminded everyone.
They were doing the final finishing up. It would be really shameful if someone got hurt, and also, it would be very hard to explain to the county magistrate Li Mu.
The mountain villains of Qingfeng Citadel, who had been occupied in Qingfeng Mountain for many years, were the biggest bully around. They had raided homes and plundered houses, and thus accumulated considerable wealth. For example, the armors on the dead mountain villains were exquisitely and practically made, which were better than those of the elite guards in Taibai County. It was not so hard to imagine how wealthy that Qingfeng Citadel was.
These armored weapons could be stripped off and repaired slightly to supplement the county army.
Ma Junwu glanced at the battlefield, and the more he saw it, the more he was shocked.
Combining the signs of fighting everywhere, how could he not see that was a one-sided massacre? It was really not so hard to imagine what kind of fighting happened there last night.
He was more and more curious about the background of Li Mu, a young county magistrate.
These days, he heard what had happened in the county when he was healing his wounds at home.
“A Big Brother Duan Shuiliu is shocking enough. Now another elder master who could kill the elite cavalries of Qingfeng Citadel on his own was coming out. Is it true that his county magistrate is a new leader who has been trained by a large clan?”
Ma Junwu had some knowledge of the styles and traditions of the various clans on their planet.
Those were actually not secrets.
Throughout the ages, empires and clans had been inseparable from the outside world. All clans would choose their core elite disciples to practice in the real world. They could practice how to manage their emotions or their minds, or practice martial arts, or become officials. To sum up, they would penetrate themselves into all corners of the real world.
The real world was like fertile land, on which all clans, famous families and empires were rooted and nourished from it.
Ordinary people might never contact with clans for a lifetime.
But the fate of ordinary people and the wealth and power of the real world were in the control of clans and martial arts world.
Great attention would be attracted when new leaders of the famous clans went into the real world.
Ma Junwu now suspected that Li Mu was probably the successor leader of some middle-sized clan.
The more he thought about it, the calmer he was.
Going back and forth on the battlefield, he saw the arrow hole that was shot in the stone wall and saw the official stone roads that had been almost cut off. He could vaguely imagine how terrifying the power of the archer was.
There was another vague idea that appeared in his mind.
But he was not sure.
Carefully patrolling back and forth, there was no mistake of being injured by the undead mountain villains.
The only thing that worried Ma Junwu slightly was whether the legendary Wu Biao, the One Cut that Sends Man to Death, had died in battle or not.
If a trouble-maker like him had run away, then endless troubles might come in the near future.
But if Wu Biao was dead, why hadn’t he seen Wu Biao’s body on the battlefield?
“Whether is Wu Biao dead or not?”
…
“Wu Biao was dead.”
Four or five hundred meters away from the Hancha Intersection, on a stone peak, two god-like people with long sleeves standing on a hundred-year-old pine branch.
Pine branches were fluctuating up and down in the wind.
Those two people were fluctuating slightly with the pine branch as if they were weightless.
“Wu Biao is dead. Haha, a great martial arts master on Northwestern Wulin World was beaten into pieces, and he has no one bone left.” That woman of those two people was laughing.
She was young, beautiful, pure and charming, and seemed to be in her early twenties. She was wearing a yellow and white low-chested aristocratic dress with a slender waist and plump breasts. The mountain breeze blew her skirt right up, and a pair of snow-white and slender feet were shown, and it seemed that she did not wear boots.
“A low mountain villains who was nearly reached the Joint-thoughts level. What kind of master is he? Isn’t it normal for him to die?” The other speaker was a man in his early twenties.
That man also dressed unusually. He was wearing a loose white cotton-padded gown without a belt. His long hair was very black like a waterfall, and his five sense organs were still normal, but he got a Yinyang face: one side was as white as jade, the other side was as black as carbon, so he could be described as ugly.
There was a kind of evil spirit between the eyebrows of the man with the Yinyang face. He was haughty and conceited, and it seemed he would consider the whole world was too mean for his notice.
Like that woman, he was also barefoot.
But unlike that woman’s snowy feet, his feet were really black as if they had been stained with ink.
“Haha haha…” That woman laughed like the spring wind blowing willows, which was really moving.
Her fingers were gently touched on that man’s chest and circled freely, just like the flirting between lovers.
After a pause, that barefoot woman said charmingly, “In front of you, my cousin, Wu Biao is certainly not a master, but within thousands of miles of Taibai County, he is also a top 20 master. Such a powerful was beaten into pieces alive even he was defended by other 400 Bloody Cavalries, but also it was a one-sided butcher. Haha, you’ve already seen the scene traces. That man has an amazing archery skill and powerful strength. You say, who can do such a thing?”
“Well, it’s not a great thing…” The man snorted, but he quickly thought of something, and then became surprised and happy, saying, “My cousin, do you mean that man is probably hiding in Taibai County?”