As night fell, the Peddler and Lu Qianjiao, along with the driver and the Haichi old carriage, waited together along the border. Lu Qianjiao grew somewhat impatient. "Is this Li Seven reliable? He couldn't have botched the job and run off, could he?"
The Peddler tidied his cart. "He wouldn't run off, though botching the job is certainly possible. The Boundary at Santoucha is far too peculiar."
Lu Qianjiao asked, "If he can't pull this off, will you still trust him in the future?"
"Why wouldn't I? Who doesn't slip up now and then?" Leaning against his cart, the Peddler lit a cigarette. "It wasn't supposed to be him originally, but through twists of fate it became him. Life and death come down to destiny, yet through nine turns to completion, it's still him. With such a dependable brother, why wouldn't I trust him?"
"What do you mean, 'not him, then became him'?" Lu Qianjiao didn't quite understand. "Didn't you take a liking to him long ago...?"
As she spoke, two figures emerged from the night.
Li Seven hauled the Dark Bridge Cannon. Everyone recognized his figure, but who was that behind him?
What a gorgeous figure.
What a stunning face.
"Zhao Xiaowan!" Lu Qianjiao bellowed in fury. She drew a fletched arrow from behind her back and hurled it toward Li Banfeng and Zhao Xiaowan. The arrow split into two, then four, and halfway through its flight, it had already multiplied into more than a hundred.
Li Banfeng set the Dark Bridge Cannon aside and scooped up his lady, preparing to dodge, when a figure barred the way before them. Snatching a handful of incoming arrows, the figure snapped them with one hand and tossed them to the ground. Lu Qianjiao smiled inwardly.
The most foolish way to neutralize an arrow cultivator's technique was to confront the arrows directly. The shafts were numerous, swift, and multiplied exponentially. If you fought the arrows themselves, when would it ever end?
As the remaining arrows continued duplicating, Lu Qianjiao felt victory was already in hand. Yet the figure's hands moved with astonishing speed—faster at snapping arrows than the technique was at reproducing them. In the blink of an eye, nothing remained on the ground but a scatter of broken arrowheads. The arrow cultivator technique had been dismantled, and the figure stood before Lu Qianjiao, completely unharmed.
Who was this?
Not only did Lu Qianjiao fail to recognize her, but even Li Banfeng had to scrutinize her for quite a while.
The person was a woman with tied-back hair, clad in a suit of armor, holding a spear in her right hand and toying with a few arrowheads in her left. Lu Qianjiao reached out, another fletched arrow appearing in her palm, but before she could throw it, the woman vanished into thin air. When she reappeared, a spear tip was pressed against Lu Qianjiao's chest.
Lu Qianjiao looked at the woman's face, yet still could not recognize it—the features were far too unusual. But judging by the footwork and spearmanship, Lu Qianjiao knew at once. "Hong Ying! It's you, you bitch!"
Taking in Hong Ying's current appearance, Lu Qianjiao said nothing more about it, as this was a matter of life and death. The Peddler pressed his lips tightly together, pinching them so hard his chin trembled in spasms.
The driver paid little heed to the two women. He stroked the carriage shafts and carriage box, as though whispering secrets to the old carriage.
Hong Ying glanced at the fletched arrow in Lu Qianjiao's hand, gave her spear a light roll, and asked, "Are you thinking of throwing that arrow?"
The shaft shifted between her fingertips; Lu Qianjiao indeed had every intention of doing so.
Hong Ying gave a slight nod. "Go on, throw it. Don't hesitate. I remember you used to be quite fast."
Lu Qianjiao's fingertips twitched. Hong Ying remained utterly calm, the spear in her hand pointed steadily at Lu Qianjiao's face. "Throw it. It's been a long time since I watched you play with your arrows."
"Qianjiao, put the arrow down," the Peddler called out.
With that, the Peddler looked over at Li Banfeng.
Li Banfeng called out, "Yingying, come back."
Hong Ying returned to Li Banfeng's side.
A long silence fell between both sides before the driver finally spoke up. "Look, did you all go to so much trouble getting together just to fight a battle? If this is really about fighting, count me out. I'm leaving right now!"
Hong Ying cast a glance at the driver and suddenly exclaimed, "Well, look who it is! Isn't this Che Wushang? You're actually still alive?"
His lady let out a chuckle. "Of course he's alive. Out of all the people on the battlefield, who could outlive him?"
Hong Ying nodded. "That's true. Back then, that Mad Artisan was blind enough to make him a vanguard. He fought three battles against me and retreated over three hundred li, running so fast even the Mad Artisan couldn't catch up to him."
The crowd fell quiet for a moment before Lu Qianjiao failed to hold back and broke into laughter first. "Back then, I thought he was luring the enemy in deep and rushed over to outflank them. In the end, my cavalry couldn't even outrun his infantry! I had no idea where on earth to find him."
Hong Ying laughed. "I sent cavalry to pursue him, and even they couldn't catch him. People say an incompetent general exhausts the entire army, but his troops certainly picked the right commander—every last one ran faster than the next."
Laughter echoed through Qingshuigou.
Li Banfeng didn't laugh, having never experienced that earlier war.
Nor did the driver laugh. "Are you here to do business, or to reminisce about old times? If you keep dredging up these stale old stories, I'm not sticking around. I'd rather head back to Yaowanggou and take hauling jobs!"
With that bout of laughter, the tension eased considerably. The Peddler addressed Zhao Xiaowan and Hong Ying: "Today we're doing business together, so let's put past grudges aside. I originally intended for Qianjiao to guard the entrance here, but since the two of you have come, I'll leave that task in your hands. Qianjiao, go with Li Seven and escort Che Wushang up Mount Zhouzi!"
Li Banfeng looked at his lady. She opened the Dark Bridge Cannon, chose the proper angle, and fired the first shot.
The shot succeeded. A colossal shadow covered the entire Boundary, but something went wrong with the subsequent adjustments. Before the dark bridge could fully stabilize, it vanished in less than ten seconds.
Lu Qianjiao snorted. "General Zhao, you aren't trying to sabotage us with this contraption, are you?"
Zhao Xiaowan scoffed. "Sabotaging you would only be fair, but I could never bear to harm my husband."
Lu Qianjiao looked at Li Banfeng. "Brother, what great fortune you have. The world's foremost beauty actually chose to be with you."
Zhao Xiaowan sounded a bit surprised. "General Lu, you flatter me. You'd actually call me the world's foremost beauty?"
Lu Qianjiao sighed. "I hate to say it, but who told so many blind men to think women like you look good?"
Hong Ying twirled her spear and glared at Lu Qianjiao. "Bitch, do you still want to fight?"
Lu Qianjiao glared back. "Think I'm afraid of you?"
Li Banfeng walked over to his lady and tried to press the key into her hand. "If I don't make it back, remember to go home on your own."
His lady shook her head. "Keep the key with you, Husband. Knowing the Old Master is watching over you puts my mind more at ease."
Li Banfeng gently patted her palm, preparing to lead the others onto the bridge.
The Peddler took out a pair of shoes and handed them to Lu Qianjiao. "Both of them move fast. Make sure you keep up."
Lu Qianjiao put on the shoes and touched the Peddler's cheek.
The Peddler produced two bottles and handed them to Li Banfeng. "Once you cross the Boundary, apply the vanishing cream from the blue bottle to your faces first. It can block the heavenly light, but it's toxic, so wash it off immediately once you're back across. When you get near Mount Zhouzi, wait for an opportune moment to apply the white bottle's cream. That one is even more toxic, but it grants temporary invisibility. Remember to give a bit extra to the driver—he has to cover the Haichi old carriage too. When heading up the mountain, don't rush. Wait until I stir up a commotion and draw the people away before making your ascent. Avoid fighting wherever possible on the way. Best if you can bring those ten thousand people out without making a sound."
Zhao Xiaowan fired another shot. This time, the dark bridge held firm.
Li Banfeng prepared to lead the group onto the bridge, while the Peddler pushed his cart toward the mouth of the valley.
"You're not taking the bridge?"
The Peddler shook his head. "I have other ways across. Take utmost care!"
Inside the dark bridge, Lu Qianjiao found everything novel and looked about the entire way. The driver cared only about watching the road and pulling the carriage, disregarding everything else.
Li Banfeng kept sensing that someone was outside the dark bridge, yet saw no shadows of people. Worried the bridge might collapse, he dared not delay. Sprinting at full tilt, the three swiftly exited the wormhole.
Looking back, Lu Qianjiao saw that the Boundary—over a hundred meters wide—now lay behind them. She praised repeatedly, "That Zhao Xiaowan truly has some skill. But then again, I heard she died by Hong Ying's hands back then; how did the two of them make up? Brother, seeing them both standing by your side, you haven't married both of them, have you? Marrying Zhao Xiaowan is your blessing, but Hong Ying turned into such a ghostly monstrosity—what would you marry her for? Back in the military camp, I heard she read Tianxiang Cihua and Xiushangji every day. I bet she tricked you with that glib tongue of hers. She might talk a fancy game, but she has no real substance..."
"Sister-in-law, can we tend to business first?" Li Banfeng smeared vanishing cream from the blue bottle over his face, applied some to the driver, and handed the bottle to Lu Qianjiao.
Lu Qianjiao glanced at the bottle. "This stuff is too toxic. Avoid it if you can."
A beam of intense light plunged down onto the wilderness, barely three to five li from the three of them.
"This place called Santoucha is simply terrifying." Helpless, Lu Qianjiao applied the vanishing cream as well.
Following the map, they reached the foot of Mount Zhouzi. True to its name, the mountain resembled a plump pork shank—its slopes were not particularly steep, and the terrain was relatively gentle. A clamor echoed across the mountain. Li Banfeng activated Discerning Spiritual Sound, and through the Qiansi earring, he faintly heard the rattle of a pellet drum.
"Block him at the intersection!"
"This guy isn't much of a fighter—he's not the real Peddler!"
"Capture him alive and hand him over to the Garrison Commissioner!"
The Peddler had arrived a step ahead. He wasn't fighting with full force yet, merely trying to lure the three-headed people away.
Growing anxious, Lu Qianjiao said to Li Banfeng, "Let's head up and see!"
"No rush." Li Banfeng concealed the two in the woods at the foot of the mountain. Before long, a dozen or so three-headed people entered the forest.
"Search the woods thoroughly! Don't overlook anything!"
"I see cart tracks over here!"
The driver gripped the shafts, poised to haul the carriage and flee. Regardless of his opponents' caliber—even if they were mere rabble—he would never cross blades with them. Far too many heroes had capsized in the gutters. He was here to pull a carriage, and on that point, he maintained absolute clarity.
As the three-headed people drew nearer, Li Banfeng weighed whether to apply the white bottle's vanishing cream.
The Peddler had urged them to avoid combat on the ascent if possible, and Lu Qianjiao also looked toward the bottle. Applying it seemed the best choice right now. But thinking it through calmly, the situation was not that simple.
If they applied it now, Li Banfeng and Lu Qianjiao could vanish smoothly, and the driver could conceal himself along with the Haichi old carriage, but the carriage tracks could not be hidden. That was unavoidable: unlike ordinary carts, the Haichi old carriage's wheels could not leave the ground for long.
If wheel tracks were left behind, these three-headed people were bound to spot them. In other words, whether they turned invisible or not was meaningless in these woods. Furthermore, an undeniable problem remained: would the ten thousand people atop Mount Zhouzi even agree to board the carriage?
Trapped in a life-or-death siege on that summit, they now viewed everyone as an enemy. Winning their trust would be no easy feat.
In the forest, the three-headed people crept closer. Lu Qianjiao looked to Li Banfeng.
Li Banfeng extended his right hand, palm up, and slashed it horizontally across.
A veteran of countless battles, Lu Qianjiao naturally understood what that meant: none of these dozen-odd three-headed people could be left alive.
According to the Peddler, all these three-headed people were dark-energy users. Now it was time to test their mettle.
Li Banfeng first used Unimpeded Passage to glide straight to the forest edge, cutting off their retreat. If they chose to fight, no survivors could remain; under no circumstances could these people escape alive to sound the alarm.
With both in position, Li Banfeng struck first.
No Viewing Flowers from Horseback, no Treading Ten Thousand Rivers—any technique that made too much noise had to be avoided.
Levitating in midair, Li Banfeng swept his Tang dao across, slitting three throats in a single stroke. One of the three-headed men collapsed instantly.
Hearing a faint sound, Lu Qianjiao knew Li Banfeng was in place. She flicked her wrist and released three fletched arrows in three different directions. The arrows multiplied as they flew, turning three of the three-headed people into sieves in rapid succession.
The other three-headed people in the woods realized something was amiss. One reached for the gong at his waist to raise the alarm, but Li Banfeng appeared behind him and ran the boundary of Close the Doors and Bar the Gates through his torso.
Severely wounded, the three-headed man had no time to resist before Li Banfeng tossed him into the companion dwelling.
Five three-headed people had fallen in quick succession. While it seemed smooth sailing, the remaining eight had raised their guard; the advantage of ambush had ended. One three-headed man charged toward Lu Qianjiao at astonishing speed—he was likely a Strider.
Lu Qianjiao threw an arrow, which split into two, then four, locking onto the attacker. There was no dodging these arrows; under Lu Qianjiao's control, they would pursue their quarry even if evaded. Yet to her surprise, the three-headed man didn't dodge at all, charging headlong into them.
Just as the four arrows were about to strike—a hit that should have spelled certain death—their trajectories suddenly veered. Two embedded themselves into a tree trunk, and one nearly struck the driver.
The last arrow struck the three-headed man's chest, but it lacked force and merely grazed the flesh.
With Lu Qianjiao's prowess as an arrow cultivator grandmaster, such an egregious mistake was absurd. The reason was that she hadn't grasped the opponent's cultivation.
The central head of this three-headed man was indeed a Strider, possessing speed comparable to a Travel Cultivator. But the head on his right was a Disrupter, whose abilities mirrored those of a mind cultivator. When Lu Qianjiao tried to guide the arrows, her thoughts suddenly scrambled, causing the arrows to split only twice and swerve wildly off course.
In that single exchange, Lu Qianjiao tasted the prowess of the three-headed people. Leaping out from behind a tree, she pricked her palm with an arrowhead. This was her hard-won experience against mind cultivators: using sharp pain to focus her mind.
The three-headed man closed in swiftly. Lu Qianjiao spun and released another arrow.
The head on the left shouted, "Miss!"
The arrow multiplied into dozens of shafts, yet not a single one hit the target.
That left head was a Scholar, akin to a literary cultivator, and he had invoked the technique Words Become Reality.
Lu Qianjiao was slightly stunned. What tier was this three-headed man? Could his Words Become Reality actually take effect against her? Could he have reached above the clouds?
The three-headed man was certainly not above the clouds. He was a dark-energy user, not a cultivator, and dark-energy users peaked at the seventh layer of the ground floor.
The reason Words Become Reality worked was solely that this particular head wielded the technique with singular focus. He didn't control the body; positioning, footwork, movements, and distance were completely disregarded.
He didn't even worry about offensive or defensive tactics. He focused entirely on one task: preparing the technique and releasing it at the precise moment.
Having suffered two setbacks in a row, Lu Qianjiao turned cautious. Shifting her position three times, she unleashed three arrows in succession, calculating that the three-headed man couldn't interfere with three arrows at once.
"Miss!"
"Do not split!"
"Lose strength!"
Two arrows failed to split and missed entirely.
One arrow managed to split into eight, but all dropped limply to the ground.
Lu Qianjiao had miscalculated on one point: there was more than one three-headed person here.
These people were soldiers trained systematically by the Outer States. Against powerful foes, once they found an effective tactic, the entire unit executed it in unison. Their coordination and consistency were astonishingly high.
Battle-hardened as she was, Lu Qianjiao was genuinely caught off guard. Surrounded by eight three-headed men, each had only one head dedicated to controlling the physical body—either a Brawler or a Strider, putting them at no physical disadvantage.
The other two heads possessed different specializations, and the three heads coordinated seamlessly. The eight three-headed men coordinated with flawless tacit understanding; across several clashes, Lu Qianjiao couldn't find a single opening.
Seeing the unfavorable turn, the driver turned the carriage around, preparing to retreat to the border.
Yet a renowned general was never a hollow title. Unable to find a clean tactic, Lu Qianjiao simply resorted to brute force. With a whip of her sleeves, several thousand fletched arrows burst from her person all at once. This technique had only one feature: forget accuracy, just saturate the area. Before long, six of the three-headed men were pinned like hedgehogs and collapsed one after another.
The remaining two attempted to flee, but Li Banfeng intercepted them directly, sending both into the companion dwelling.
With the group eliminated, Lu Qianjiao had expended considerable energy. She truly hadn't expected eight three-headed men could force her to resort to such a move.
Fortunately, their numbers hadn't been large. If one or two hundred had shown up, that move might not have worked. A hundred literary cultivators concentrating together to chant Words Become Reality might have rendered several thousand arrows completely unable to fly.
Still, if she couldn't even handle a couple hundred enemy troops, Lu Qianjiao would hardly deserve her battlefield renown.
Retrieving her arrows, Lu Qianjiao sighed. "The Outer States' fighting style truly is different. I've slacked off over the years; I'll have to put more effort into drilling troops in the future."
"Sister-in-law, take the driver to scout outside the woods. Just make sure he doesn't run off while I clean up the bodies."
"Make sure he doesn't run off?" Lu Qianjiao glanced at the driver with a bitter laugh. "That might not be so easy."
The two exited the forest. Alone, Li Banfeng swept all the three-headed corpses into the companion dwelling, while the glove and the liquor gourd cleaned the bloodstains from the snow.
At the mountain's foot, the commotion was far quieter than before. The Peddler had drawn most of the Sinless Army toward the eastern slope, leaving very few enemies on the southern side.
Li Banfeng handed the vanishing cream bottle to Lu Qianjiao. "Sister-in-law, use it whenever you see fit. I'll take the lead; you follow closely behind."
The driver pulled his carriage forward. "Don't lead. Leave it to me; I'll guide you."
Lu Qianjiao was taken aback. "Where did you get that kind of courage?"
"This isn't about courage. We're going up the mountain either way, and neither of you knows what's waiting up there. Might as well let me walk in front."
Having the driver lead turned out to be the right choice—his mindset was entirely different from Li Banfeng's.
Li Banfeng's idea was to rely on a homestead cultivator's knack for going unnoticed to scout ahead, ensuring that even if he ran into three-headed people, they most likely wouldn't spot him. But the driver relied on pursuing good fortune and avoiding disaster—an instinct second to none in all of Puluo Province.
Li Banfeng's approach was to avoid detection when encountering people; the driver's approach was to avoid encountering anyone at all.
Walking ahead, he led them up the slope, winding through the mountain forest from the foot to the mountainside. Amazingly, they didn't run into a single three-headed person!
After walking further uphill, the driver halted the carriage. "Can't dodge past what's ahead. There are tons of people, and every one of them is harboring malice."
Were these still the Sinless Army?
Judging by their position, they weren't the Sinless Army. They were likely the three-headed people trapped on the mountaintop—the very ones meant to be rescued. Trapped in a desperate, last-ditch stand, they held hostility toward anyone ascending the mountain.
Li Banfeng warned the driver and Lu Qianjiao, "Neither of you go up. I'll negotiate with them alone."
"Don't worry, I never intended to go up with you," the driver said, turning his shafts around, ready to bolt downhill at any second.
Lu Qianjiao said, "I'll go with you."
Li Banfeng shook his head. "More people will only spoil things. Stay here and watch the old carriage. I'll bring them down shortly."
Employing Riding the Wind and Clouds, Li Banfeng skimmed over the snow toward the summit. A three-headed sentry crouching in the grass was tired and hungry, nearly nodding off, when he suddenly jolted awake.
The middle head asked, "Did something just go past?"
The left head said, "Looked like a person."
The right head hadn't even opened his eyes. "Was there really someone? How come I didn't see him?"
"There really is someone," Li Banfeng said. "Don't you make a sound."
The three-headed man was terrified and moved to strike his gong.
Li Banfeng pinned him down and explained, "Don't be afraid. If I wanted you dead, you'd already be dead. I'm here to save you. Do you recognize this?"
As he spoke, Li Banfeng took a severed head from his waist—one he had just chopped off inside the companion dwelling.
The three-headed sentry peered at the head, finding it unfamiliar.
Li Banfeng pulled out another head. "Recognize this one?"
Judging by the expression, he didn't recognize this one either.
Li Banfeng sighed in exasperation. "How do you people fight a war when you don't even recognize your enemies?"
After trying six heads in a row, the right head finally spoke up. "I know this one! He's with the Sinless Army!"
"You finally got one right. This is a Sinless Army soldier, and so are all the others," Li Banfeng said, laying the heads before the sentry. "The Sinless Army is your enemy. I killed your enemies, which makes me your benefactor. Now take me to your leader, and I'll lead you all down the mountain."
All three heads stared at Li Banfeng together. "Are you really our benefactor?"
Li Banfeng shook the head in his hand. "The proof is as solid as iron!"
The sentry led Li Banfeng near the mountaintop, where he finally met the leader of the three-headed people.
This leader's three heads consisted of a woman in her thirties, a man in his early forties, and an elderly man around seventy. The forty-something man, named Tu Heng, sat in the center and was the one in charge. He regarded this late-night visitor with deep suspicion. "Where are you taking us? We're not going to Sinners' City!"
"I never said I was taking you to Sinners' City. I'm taking you out of Santoucha."
Tu Heng sneered. "Tricking us again. Back then, the Outer States people said they'd let us leave Santoucha, but didn't they go back on their word in the end?"
"Who went back on their word?" Li Banfeng didn't follow.
The head to Tu Heng's left was named Tu Min, possessing a somewhat gentler temperament. "Where else could we go if we left Santoucha? Li Seven originally intended to take us in, but then he changed his mind and cast us aside, insisting on sending us to Sinners' City. Tell me, where else could we possibly go?"
"Li Seven?" Li Banfeng froze for a moment. With a brief explanation from those nearby, he understood the whole story.
The reason these ten thousand-odd people were gathered here was that Liao Zihui had initially selected them to hand over to Li Seven. Later, for whatever reason, Liao Zihui swapped them for a different group and gave those to Li Seven instead.
Fearing the originally chosen group would cause trouble, Liao Zihui prepared to send them into Sinners' City.
Originally, these three-headed people believed they were leaving Santoucha to regain their freedom, but ending up in Sinners' City was equivalent to falling into a bottomless abyss. The devastating plunge from hope to despair caused them to spiral out of control. They fled to Mount Zhouzi, ready to fight the Garrison Office to the bitter end.
None of this could be blamed on Li Seven, of course, but to appease these three-headed people, Liao Zihui had dumped the blame squarely on Li Seven's head. If word of this spread through Santoucha, Li Seven's reputation would be thoroughly ruined.
*These ten thousand people—I ought to save them, but no one can force me to save them, because the fault is not mine.* Li Banfeng finally grasped the meaning behind those words.
He had indeed saved an extra ten thousand three-headed people, but he had also inadvertently doomed the ten thousand standing before him. Originally, they could have scraped by; now, their lives hung by a thread—even if none of it was truly his fault.
How should he tell them?
Tell them that Li Seven was standing right before their eyes?
All their resentment was directed at Li Seven. Revealing it now would only destroy any chance of gaining their trust.
Li Banfeng looked at Tu Heng, then at the crowd of three-headed people. "Come with me. I'm a friend of Li Seven. As long as you leave Santoucha, Li Seven will definitely take you in."
Tu Heng shook his head. "Then why didn't he take us in before?"
"Because Li Seven prefers to take in friends, and you weren't his friends back then."
The old man to Tu Heng's right was named Tu Mang. He sighed. "We aren't his friends now either. Who are we? What kind of fate do we have? How could we ever claim kinship with someone in such high standing?"
"You are Li Seven's friends right now," Li Banfeng patiently explained. "You are my friends, and I am Li Seven's friend. A friend of a friend is a friend. Look down—walk down along this slope. We are all friends. If we keep following this slope all the way down, we can walk right out of Santoucha!"
This line of reasoning flowed so smoothly down the slope that the surrounding crowd was completely carried along by it. They all turned their eyes to their leader.
Tu Min and Tu Mang both looked to Tu Heng in the middle.
Tu Heng deliberated for a long time, then gave the order to assemble.
Along the border, Zhao Xiaowan kept her eyes fixed on the other side, waiting for Li Banfeng's silhouette.
Hong Ying took a few deep breaths of the icy wind. "How many years has it been since I last saw snow? Maybe I've stayed at home too long; coming out into weather this cold really feels unfamiliar."
As she spoke, Hong Ying shivered.
Zhao Xiaowan blinked in surprise. "Is it really that cold?"
Hong Ying glanced at the Dark Bridge Cannon. "Can you pack this thing up for now?"
"If I pack the cannon up, how will Husband get out?"
Hong Ying glanced around. "Enemies are coming—and quite a few of them."
Chapter 624