Li Daoxuan let out a surprised “Huh?”, feeling a bit curious.

Cheng Xu was an official, a ninth-rank inspector! A commissioned military officer of the imperial court. Who dared chase him down trying to kill him? Bandit army? But these people in pursuit seemed decently dressed, not much like bandits.

He quickly grabbed the magnifying glass for a closer look.

The magnifying glass revealed the embroidery on their garments: flying fish design.

Imperial Guards!

Tsk. Well, this just got interesting.

Even without using his brains, he knew a big spectacle was starting. He got his snacks ready, activated all camera angles, zoomed in, turned on auto-tracking mode, and projected the feed onto the wall.

Instantly, the viewing experience was maximized.

The fastest Imperial Guard caught up to Cheng Xu. A flash of blade light – an embroidered spring blade cut towards the vital spot on Cheng Xu’s back.

Cheng Xu, still running forward, seemed to have eyes in the back; he twisted aside, dodged the strike, and simultaneously swung his own blade backward with a reverse slash, thrusting upward with a wet “thwuck!”, burying the blade in the guard’s belly.

The Imperial Guard shrieked and tumbled to the ground.

Two more guards behind roared: “Damn you!”

Two figures lunged forward together, two embroidered spring blades cleaving down simultaneously.

Cheng Xu dodged left, evading one blade. The blade from the right, however, he didn’t evade. With a clang, he took the blow on his iron armor. Simultaneously, he swung his own broadsword fiercely at the two guards.

Both guards leaped backwards. One shouted, “This one’s trouble! The bastard has decent skill!”

Cheng Xu was also tired from running. He paused, drawing ragged breaths. Gnashing his teeth, he roared, “Stone and Mud! My skills? They were earned slash by slash, thrust by thrust on the battlefield! I’m no match for useless slugs like you, lounging in the capital watching plays and listening to songs!”

“Hmph!” A man with a pale, beardless face stepped out from among the guards. His voice was soft and cutting. “It matters not how well you fight. Armed with but one sword, do you honestly believe you can stand against all the Imperial Guards? Cease your resistance. Put down your weapon. Come quietly to the capital with us. Explain yourself properly to His Majesty regarding your false military report. Perhaps there remains a sliver of hope.”

Cheng Xu: “Take me for a three-year-old child? Go with you to the capital? That’s a death sentence! Even blameless, I’d be tortured into a confession!”

The pale-faced man sneered coldly. “Have the nerve to say ‘blameless’? Then tell me, whose head was it exactly – the one you hung on the city gate of Chengcheng County some days past?”

Cheng Xu: “Bai Shui Wang Er’s!”

“Bullshit!” The pale-faced man raged. “See for yourself in this urgent military report!”

He threw a scroll – an urgent military report – at Cheng Xu’s feet.

Cheng Xu picked it up and read it. His face instantly turned ashen. The report stated: Bai Shui Wang Er, leading three thousand bandits, had breached the defenses of Yijun County, freed the incarcerated, and then continued north, entering Luochuan County.

“Impossible! Utterly impossible!” Cheng Xu yelled. “When I chased that Wang Er out of Chengcheng County, he was gravely wounded! He only had about a hundred men left! How could he possibly muster three thousand and storm Yijun County in such a short time? Impossible!”

The pale-faced man said icily, “So now you admit it yourself. You never actually killed Wang Er.”

Cheng Xu’s face was corpse-pale. “You forged false military intelligence to trick me into this! I falsified Wang Er’s death that time solely to intimidate the other bandits! And it was effective! I mopped up all the remaining bandits in Chengcheng! That maneuver achieved great results! It was expedient!”

The pale-faced man’s voice turned sinister. “No. This report is genuine. We are not so base as to resort to such underhanded tricks. Wang Er truly did capture Yijun County. His reputation among the outlaws is formidable! A mere call to arms, and followers flock to him like clouds. You let him escape. Worse, you forged proof of his head, leading the court to believe him dead and slacken the hunt. Thus, you gave him this opportunity to rise again! How dare you stand before us claiming innocence?”

Cheng Xu: “!!!”

Alright. Now he understood. He was truly trapped on a path leading only to death.

His desperate gaze swept around frantically. A grandmother peeked out from behind a roadside tree, waving at him. On the valley walls… behind rocks… on earthen slopes… grandmothers were everywhere. A sea of them, wave upon wave, beckoning him relentlessly.

The path of life was severed. Cut off completely. All avenues of escape had vanished. His fate was sealed!

No way to escape!

Screw it! Fight!

Anyway, any death would do, just not offering my head to someone else’s blade.

“Everyone thinks I’m a soft persimmon. Heh, soft persimmon.” Cheng Xu raised his blade. “Come on then. Let’s see how much skill you privileged young masters from the capital really have to take this soft persimmon’s head.”

Three Imperial Guards charged simultaneously, three embroidered spring blades gleaming coldly.

Cheng Xu slashed left, cut right, then spun and struck. Clang! Clang! Clang! He drove all three back, even wounding one of them.

The pale-faced man who lacked facial hair couldn’t help but be startled, thinking: I’ve always heard Cheng Xu was a coward, but who knew this guy’s martial skill was actually so strong? Could this be wrong? If your skills are this good, what was with all that cowardice?

“Attack!”

Several more Imperial Guards leaped forward. The group surrounded Cheng Xu. Attacks came from the left; retreats happened on the right. Pincer attacks from front and back, swirling strikes.

But Cheng Xu did have some skill. Swinging his broadsword open, he blocked left and parried right, moving fluidly between offense and defense. Convinced of his impending death, he cast aside his usual cowardice. Fighting with his back to the wall, he battled fiercely, eyes crimson with a death-seeking frenzy. Intimidated by his ferocity, the group of Imperial Guards actually found they couldn’t defeat him.

Li Daoxuan secretly delighted: How entertaining! Both Bai Yuan and Thirty-Two said this Cheng Xu was a huge coward, always thinking of running as soon as fighting started, unwilling to charge without absolute certainty of victory. I thought he was useless. Didn’t expect his martial arts to be this good!

Thinking this, Li Daoxuan felt a flicker of interest.

Bai Yuan could help the Gaojia villagers coordinate some tactics and such, but he leaned more toward unconventional methods. Furthermore, he couldn’t teach the villagers martial arts. Bai Yuan also had his own family business; Gaojia Village couldn’t just call him over every time something happened, could it?

But this Cheng Xu not only knew martial arts but could teach tactics, and he also had experience leading regular troops. These were precisely what Gaojia Village currently lacked.

This person might be useful.

Currently hunted by the Imperial Guards and with nowhere to turn, this was actually a good opportunity to lure him into Gaojia Village. Later, let him and Thirty-Two run things together, one handling civil matters and the other martial, each responsible for their own duties. That might be quite useful.

Having reached this conclusion, Li Daoxuan decided to intervene.

He glanced toward where Cheng Xu and the Imperial Guards were fighting. It happened to be in a small valley. That worked perfectly.

Reaching into the box, he aimed his hand at a rocky cliff face beside the valley… Smack! He slapped it down.

The cliff face shook. Loose rocks and mudslides surged down along the valley slope.

Cheng Xu was in the midst of battling the Imperial Guards when he suddenly heard a rumbling crash from the nearby mountain peak. Next, rocks and mud cascaded down the valley walls, an overwhelming force.

The fighting parties, terrified, instantly broke apart.

The Imperial Guards frantically scrambled backwards.

Cheng Xu also wanted to retreat, but Li Daoxuan’s other hand, seizing the moment before the debris fully fell, curved the back of his hand… Thump! …and silently pressed it down over Cheng Xu’s head. He sealed his escape routes – front, back, left, right. Cheng Xu couldn’t move an inch.

Cheng Xu retreated a few steps, his back hitting Li Daoxuan’s palm. An invisible wall blocked the path to survival.

Enough… Enough!

Cheng Xu burst into mad laughter. “Grandmother, your great-grandson is coming to see you!”

The cascading rocks surged, instantly burying Li Daoxuan’s hand.

Dust swirled wildly!

The group of Imperial Guards, having escaped death by a hair, were scared out of their wits. The power of Heaven and Earth truly could not be opposed.

The pale, beardless man, his panic just subsiding, swallowed some saliva. “Cheng Xu died in a landslide. His body is buried. Digging it out is out of the question. Everyone witnessed it. Let’s report back together to the Emperor in the capital.”