Firmament Sword

”Holy crap... You’ve got to be kidding me! Is that a fucking army attacking?” Little Fatty leaped to his feet, staring in horror at the tide of cavalry on the distant horizon.

”Could it be... Did Xu Luo actually guess right?” Xu Jie scratched his head, also staring with bewilderment at the tide of cavalry rushing toward them.

Huangfu Chongzhi, however, was already calmly directing the convoy to fall back. The enemy had mobilized so many men that their target probably wasn’t his group, but it was entirely plausible they’d be wiped out along the way.

It wasn’t that they were afraid, but with the enemy having so many troops, it would be nearly impossible to protect their supplies.

”How about I come out and take a look?” Inside the carriage, Xu Luo, who had been cultivating, slowly stopped circulating his Shadow Shaking Heart Method and spoke softly.

”No, Xu Luo, whatever you do, don’t come out,” Xu Jie said. ”Just stay in the carriage. Don’t show your face until we’ve dealt with the assassins from the Fengyue Building.”

”The Fengyue Building might not even send anyone after me,” Xu Luo said with a laugh.

”The Fengyue Building will definitely send people to kill you, and you know that better than any of us!” Xu Jie retorted. ”And that’s not even mentioning the Wei Family! After the huge loss they suffered, do you really think they’ll let us off the hook?”

Huangfu Chongzhi added from the side, ”He’s right, Xu Luo. Until it’s absolutely necessary, just stay in the carriage. We’ll handle everything!”

Resigned, Xu Luo remained in the carriage and focused his vision, peering into the distance. A moment later, a look of surprise crossed his face, and he blurted out, ”What is *she* doing here?”

”What’s wrong, Xu Luo?” Xu Jie asked casually, knowing that Xu Luo possessed some special abilities.

From inside the carriage, Xu Luo gave a wry smile. ”Brother, that woman you’re so fond of? She’s in that cavalry troop up ahead!”

”What? How is that possible?” Xu Jie said in disbelief. ”She should be inside the Cao Kingdom’s borders. Why would she be in the north?”

”Heh, how should I know? She’s a grown woman who can go where she pleases. And with Cao Tianyi’s hardline personality, how could he allow such a destabilizing element to remain in his territory?” Xu Luo also found it incredible. He took another look and finally confirmed it: the person leading the troop that was charging over like the wind was none other than the famous general of Great Yan—Mo Yun!

”It’s really Mo Yun?” Huangfu Chongzhi frowned slightly. ”If so, things have just gotten complicated. Could it be that Mo Yun couldn’t accept her defeat and secretly traveled from the Cao Kingdom to the north of Cangqiong? What is she planning?”

”Exactly. What is she planning?” None of the five brothers were fools. After the initial shock, they all arrived at the same possibility and couldn’t help but exchange glances.

Little Fatty looked at Xu Jie. ”Man, it looks like you still have a long road ahead if you want to make her your wife!”

Xu Jie blinked, then suddenly sighed. ”If... she’s really... here to do something like that... then you guys don’t have to worry about my feelings. Just do... what has to be done!”

The massive cavalry force made the large merchant caravan, only a few miles away, extremely tense. Its escort of over three thousand men immediately formed a defensive line, drawing their bows and nocking arrows to face the enemy.

But just then, Huangfu Chongzhi and his group suddenly noticed a commotion erupting from within the caravan. It was as if internal strife had broken out, as two groups of people began to fight.

The guards who had been preparing to face the enemy were all dumbfounded, having no idea what was happening among their own people.

Immediately after, they saw the middle-aged man who had come to see Huangfu Chongzhi earlier. He was holding a young man and had leaped to the highest point available, shouting, ”Everyone, stop! No one resist, or I’ll kill him!”

”Let the Young Master go!”

”Sheng Lin, you traitor! You’ve betrayed the Old Master!”

”Sheng Lin, don’t throw your life away! Your actions will earn you the scorn of everyone!”

”Release the Young Master first! We’ll drive back these bandits, then we can talk this out!”

A series of furious roars echoed from within the large caravan.

”Young Master? Ptooey! Is he even worthy of the title?” A man suddenly leaped up beside the middle-aged one and shouted, ”All of you, wake up! Remember how we were treated when the Old Master was alive? The moment he died, our pay was cut by a third! And you still waste your concern on this so-called Young Master? What kind of merchant travels with beautiful maids to indulge in debauchery day and night? This company will be ruined by this wastrel sooner or later!”

”Cao Yi, don’t you try to sound so fucking righteous!” someone in the crowd shouted angrily. ”No matter how bad the Young Master is, no matter his faults, it’s no excuse for betrayal! Everyone, ignore them! Guards, fire your arrows! Drive these bandits back!”

”That’s right! We have the wagons for cover, they won’t break through so easily! Let’s push them back first!”

”No! They’ll kill me!”

At that moment, the young man held by the middle-aged Sheng Lin suddenly let out a scream of pure terror. ”Put down your weapons! I order you, put down your weapons! No one is to resist! Or... or I’ll be killed, you bastards!”

”Young Master...!” The faces of several people in the crowd filled with disappointment.

”HAHAHAHAHA! Did you see that? This is your Young Master, a total coward!” Sheng Lin laughed loudly. ”My old friends, I’m sorry it has come to this today. Give up. As long as you stop resisting, I promise not to harm a single hair on your heads. When this is over, anyone willing to work for our new leader will be treated even better than before. For those who aren’t, I’ll give you plenty of money for your travels and let you go. You all know what kind of man I am. I, Sheng Lin, am a man of my word!”

”Bullshit! What kind of man are you? You’re a fucking backstabbing animal who betrays his own!” a white-haired old man in the crowd roared furiously. ”Stop trying to fool us with your sweet talk! None of us are idiots! If we surrender, it’s a dead end! Everyone, don’t—”

Before the old man could finish his sentence, his head tumbled to the ground. A man of about thirty-seven or thirty-eight beside him had cut him down with a single stroke. Blood sprayed high into the air, looking chillingly beautiful in the twilight glow.

”Old fool, still trying to get everyone killed. I surrender!” the man said decisively.

By this point, the entire large caravan had been completely encircled by thousands of cavalrymen. The riders did not attack right away, but simply watched the caravan they had surrounded with cold indifference.

At the head of the cavalry was a single rider clad in black armor, their face hidden by a black helmet that revealed only a pair of eyes. The gaze from those eyes was cold, betraying no emotion.

People could only tell it was a woman from her slender figure.

”Good, Xiaowu! In the future, you’ll be proud of the choice you made today!” Sheng Lin praised loudly, then turned his cold gaze on the others. ”Xiaowu has made his choice. What about the rest of you?”

Among the remaining people, a few still had angry expressions and wanted to speak, but their mouths were clamped shut by those next to them, preventing them from making a sound. They struggled desperately, but to no avail.

Sheng Lin roared with laughter, tossing the young man—who had gone completely limp—to the ground. He then bowed to the female knight and said, ”Leader, everything is taken care of!”

The black-armored female knight on horseback nodded, her voice crisp and clear. ”Sheng Lin, you’ve done well. I will reward you for this later.”

With that, the black-armored female knight turned to a young knight beside her and said, ”Zhou Bo, take some men and take inventory of the supplies.”

The young knight nodded in response. He immediately sent men to disarm the three thousand guards before beginning to take stock of the caravan’s goods.

Sheng Lin stood there as a dark look flashed in his eyes. Beside him, Cao Yi looked resentful and whispered, ”Boss, it’s obvious they still don’t trust us!”

”Getting this far is already good enough. We’re nothing but a pack of stray dogs; did you really expect them to treat us with courtesy?” Sheng Lin sighed softly. ”If we want revenge, if we want to kill Xu Su, we must rely on them…”

”They’re just a bunch of defeated soldiers. It’s just a shame there are so many of them!” Cao Yi muttered under his breath. He then turned and ordered some of his men, ”What are you waiting for? Go help General Zhou! Are you all idiots, just standing there like wooden posts?”

The men hurriedly joined in on counting the supplies.

Just then, Mo Yun’s gaze fell upon the small convoy a few miles away, which was slowly retreating while forming a defensive posture.

Sheng Lin hurried forward, a fawning smile on his face. ”Leader, that group back there isn’t very big, and they look pretty rich. Should we...”

Mo Yun’s eyes flickered as she watched the convoy. For some unknown reason, a strange feeling stirred within her. She shook her head slightly and said, ”Let it go. We aren’t true bandits, after all. Sheng Lin, since you call me Leader, you should take my advice. This life of a bandit... it’s not an honorable one. We’ve gotten our supplies; now we should focus on developing our strength. Our goals are the same—we both want revenge. As for this profession, I have no real interest in it.”

”Hehe, you are right to scold me, Leader. I’ve just grown lax,” Sheng Lin said. He glanced back at the convoy, which had already retreated several miles, feeling quite resentful.

Just then, someone next to Mo Yun suddenly spoke up. ”General, one of the men in that convoy looks very familiar.”

”Hm? Familiar? You must be mistaken.” Mo Yun frowned slightly. The man speaking to her was an elite Reconnoitre from her unit, an individual with incredible eyesight and another formidable skill: a photographic memory.

Anyone he had seen once, he could recognize upon seeing them again.

The Reconnoitre frowned, thinking for a moment before suddenly exclaiming, ”Ah, I remember now! He... isn’t he that soldier who charged at us first during our clash that day? But wasn’t he killed? How could he possibly be here?”

”Oh?” Mo Yun’s eyes glinted. She looked toward the slowly retreating convoy and said softly, ”If we can be here, why can’t he? Perhaps he survived by a stroke of luck and fled here amid the chaos. It’s his good fortune to have survived this long. Forget it. Let’s move out.”