Martial Cultivator

The woman looked up and could only see the figure of that young man, bent over with his long saber propped against the ground, coughing laboriously after felling Captain Li.

He only managed to raise his head with difficulty after a long while. He looked over at the woman and the young girl and said with effort, “It’s fine...”

It was unclear whether he was referring to his own injuries or something else. In any case, even though he looked so weak that he might collapse at any moment, those two words were enough to put people at ease.

The young man began walking in that direction.

The girl stared at his back view, momentarily speechless.

The young man quickly arrived there. Of the Gu Family’s guards, nearly all had perished, while those brought by Captain Li had taken very few losses. Except for one dead, the rest were lightly injured. At this rate, the remaining guards would have all died before long.

The young man slowly straightened his body with difficulty and looked toward those martial artists, clearly all of military background.

The young man said nothing.

But a quarter of an hour later, the area was strewn with corpses. In the end, only one person remained - Yan Fadu, trembling and unable to walk. This heir of the Yan Family from the northern region wore an ugly expression. He stared at the sickly young man before him, at the saber in his hand dripping with blood, and shouted with feigned courage, “You’re out of your mind! Do you know who those people were?!”

The young man looked at the unfamiliar middle-aged man and said slowly, “That one with the long spear was a captain. The rest were clearly his subordinates. As for you... probably the employer. Anything else you want to say?”

“Since you know they were officials of the imperial court, yet you dared kill them? Are you trying to get yourself killed?!”

Yan Fadu never imagined things would end this way. But the others were already dead, he did not want to die too.

All he could hope for now was to scare the young man into backing down.

The young man coughed a few times. “After killing so many people, what’s there left to fear?”

“If I were you, I’d spill everything I know. Maybe you’ll keep your life.”

The young man leaned on his saber, barely able to stand. But Yan Fadu no longer dared look down on him in the slightest. Had not this young man just looked like he could be blown over by the wind? And what was the result? He simply drew his saber at a snail’s pace, yet all those battle-hardened soldiers were killed in an instant.

They could not even put up a fight.

“Immortal master, spare me!”

Yan Fadu had still been hesitating, but the moment he met the young man’s eyes, his legs gave out.

“It wasn’t out of greed for the Gu Family’s estate, it was General Su from the commandery who ordered it. If he hadn’t given the word, Captain Li wouldn’t have moved either. This lowly one is just a merchant,how could I have the authority to command a captain?” “Immortal master, every word that this lowly one speaks is true. I dare not deceive you in the slightest!”

Yan Fadu kowtowed repeatedly, spilling everything just to keep himself alive.

”Which... General Su.”

The young man coughed and asked slowly.

“Su Tong of Jiang’an Commandery.”

Yan Fadu knelt on the ground, not daring to conceal a thing.

The young man thought for a moment but was not in a hurry to speak. At that moment, the woman walked over from a distance and said, “That General Su... he once visited my home...”

The young man nodded, still saying nothing.

The woman hesitated, then suddenly knelt. When she did, the girl and the surviving guards behind her all knelt as well.

“Many thanks to our benefactor for saving our lives. I have no way to repay you, only endless gratitude.”

The young man replied calmly, “You saved me once... I’m just returning the favor. No need for thanks.”

When he had fallen into the river earlier, he had regained consciousness fairly quickly, but his injuries were too severe. Though his mind was clear, he could not control his body.

“Benefactor, although you saved us... I fear you’ve also offended that General Su... Benefactor, you…”

The woman opened her mouth, her eyes showing some urgency. But before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted by the young man. He looked at the woman and said, “Do you think I’m in any condition to walk?”

The woman was taken aback. She truly had not considered this matter. The young man before her, although he had killed quite a few people earlier, now looked to be in bad shape, how could he possibly travel far?

“Get up first.”

The young man slowly walked over to the carriage and sat down, rubbing his brows, then leaned to the side, finally letting out a breath of turbid air.

The woman signaled Liu Tong to clean up the aftermath and comforted her daughter with a few words. Only then, did she walk toward the young man.

Liu Tong could be considered lucky. Although he had been pierced through by that spear earlier, it had not hit a vital point. Though seriously injured, his life was not in danger, and he could still walk.

He tied Yan Fadu up. Originally, he had intended to kill this Yan family member outright, but his madam did not seem to have that intention, so he endured.

Looking at the corpses of his many dead brothers, Liu Tong’s face was full of grief. He could not utter a single word.

......

......

By the carriage, the young man looked at the woman before him whose face still bore tear stains. After hesitating for a moment, he took the initiative to speak: “Did your husband die on the battlefield in the Northern Frontier?”

The woman nodded and said softly, “My husband, along with his two elder brothers, all died in the North.”

In Xinliu Prefecture, men who died in the Northern Frontier were not limited to just her husband.

The young man said, “Among ten households in Xinliu Prefecture, five or six have names written in black on the wooden plaques at their doors.”

All these years, Great Liang had been bleeding nonstop.

“My husband originally loved studying, but later he said he wanted to go to the battlefield. I knew I couldn’t persuade him, and in fact didn’t try. Since we were born in Great Liang, if we can do something for the common people, it’s actually a good thing. My husband also didn’t want to live a mediocre life.”

The woman’s tears which had just stopped, could not help but flow again.

“Letting Benefactor see such a sight, how shameful.”

The woman shook her head and wiped the tears from her eyes.

The young man nodded, frowned slightly, and said, “Now these people are court officials, yet they came to bully a mere woman. Do you feel disappointed in this world?”

The woman seemed to have never considered that the young man before her would ask such a question. She was stunned and did not answer immediately. Only after a while did she say softly, “No. Although people have been dying continuously in the prefecture these years, the imperial court has been paying attention. Many things have been done, truly good things. Not long ago, I heard that over in the Divine Capital they wanted to reduce the annual tax silver sent to the prefectures, though it didn’t pass. Since even the Crown Prince still thinks of us, then my husband and his brothers did not die in vain. I also know that Great Liang is too vast, and there are too many officials. To say that everyone from top to bottom is perfectly upright is unrealistic. I simply encountered something bad, but I absolutely do not dare to blame the entire world for it.”

After hearing the woman’s words, the young man sighed with vicissitudes of emotion, “Madam’s words should make many officials feel ashamed.”

The woman sighed lightly.

The young man asked, “Is Madam worried that what happened today will not end well?”

The woman originally did not want to speak, but since the young man brought it up, she simply no longer hid it and nodded, “The man who died was a captain. I’m afraid that even if we make it to the Divine Capital, we won’t escape the crime of killing an official. It’s fine if I die, but my daughter is the only bloodline my husband left behind. If she... so I have a presumptuous request.”

The young man took the words and said directly, “Madam wishes for me to take your daughter away, to avoid inviting death upon her.”

“Although Benefactor is currently unable to move freely, I believe my daughter will fare far better at your side than with me. If Benefactor does not mind, just make that girl a servant girl.”

The woman looked at the young man and was about to kneel after she finished speaking.

The young man shook his head, not to refuse her, but rather to lament, “Two years ago, there was an incident in Xuanling Commandery involving the embezzlement of money intended for the widows of the war dead. His Majesty was still alive at the time and was furious. As a result, all the officials in Xinliu Prefecture were replaced. I originally thought Xinliu Prefecture would behave better these past few years, but I didn’t expect something like this to still happen.”

The woman did not know what to say, and could only say softly, “There are too many people, so there will always be a few bad ones.”

“But there are still some good ones.”

The young man looked at the woman and asked, “Jiang’an Commandery is just up ahead. Could Madam detour slightly and go with me to Jiang’an Commandery?”

“Absolutely not!”

The woman was clever and immediately understood the young man’s intention. “Benefactor, that is the commanding general of a commandery, a major figure. Even if you can kill him, you’d have no choice but to flee for your life afterward!”

Such a thing must never be done.

The young man asked curiously, “Then let him live, only to bring harm to others in the future?”

The woman was taken aback, not knowing how to respond.

The young man looked very seriously at the woman before him and said, “I earnestly ask Madam to believe me: for this trip to Jiang’an Commandery, Madam and your daughter will both leave safely.”

The woman was silent for a while before asking hesitantly, “Who exactly is Benefactor?”

The young man glanced at her and replied self-deprecatingly, “Someone who draws a higher stipend than that captain and general, but probably isn’t worthy of such pay.”