Chapter 126: Chapter 127: He’s Like a Different Person
Zhao Qinghe’s eyes were sharp and his hands were fast. He yanked the man out. "Trying to run?"
The man’s face was drenched in sweat. "Lord Official, I’m in a hurry!"
"You’re the one who told your accomplice to throw the child off the mountain, aren’t you?" Zhao Qinghe’s eyes were sharp as daggers.
The man waved his hands frantically. "It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me!"
Hee Lingchuan tilted his head, and by the firelight, he also got a clear look at the man’s face.
Seeing his bluff had failed, the man suddenly pulled a short dagger from his waist and stabbed at Zhao Qinghe’s ribs.
The move was incredibly fast. Just as Zhao Qinghe was about to block, a cold glint flashed before his eyes, and then—
—the bandit in front of him flew sideways off the cliff.
A long, miserable scream was all that remained.
Zhao Qinghe stood stunned for a moment. He touched his chest before turning to Hee Lingchuan. "My thanks, Eldest Young Master!"
The Light Armor over his ribs had been pierced, leaving a small hole—a testament to the force behind the attack. If Hee Lingchuan hadn’t acted so quickly and kicked the man off the mountain path, Zhao Qinghe would have been wounded for sure.
"Don’t thank me. Get moving!" After herding the last of the old men up the mountain, Hee Lingchuan ordered everyone to close the gap with the carriages. They were to pick Madam Ying’s heaviest chests and move them on top to weigh the whole thing down.
These chests were filled with miscellaneous things Madam Ying couldn’t bear to throw away in the decade-plus since her marriage. Before closing one of the lids, Hee Lingchuan spotted a Peach Wood Mirror. The wood was old and its silver inlays had tarnished, but the Mirror’s surface was polished to a brilliant shine.
’Huh, this looks like one of the most treasured items from Madam Ying’s dowry.’
Hee Lingchuan casually picked it up and tucked it inside his robes.
Fuzzy Peach and the others saw his plan and cooperated enthusiastically. So, despite working against an onslaught of bandits, they barricaded the road with surprising speed.
This road was even narrower than the riverbed Hee Lingchuan had defended in his dream; just two carriages placed sideways could block it completely. With his prior experience, Eldest Young Master Hee commanded with practiced ease.
The carriages, and the chests upon them, became veritable Money, each weighing no less than seven or eight hundred jin. The officials saw this tactic to delay the enemy and save their own necks had a real shot, and they worked all the harder for it.
Hee Lingchuan’s eyes glinted. "Take off the wheels."
The axles all had linchpins; removing them would allow the wheels to be taken off.
Everyone did as he said, and the carriages settled completely onto the road.
Hee Lingchuan then had them stack several more carriages on top. He used the thick ropes for binding chests to lash the upper and lower carriages together, forming a tall, heavy barricade. He then had them tie the other end of the ropes to several trees by the roadside, making it exponentially harder for the approaching Mountain Bandits to clear the way.
Of course, the Mountain Bandits didn’t just sit back and wait. But the terrain was easy to defend and difficult to assault, and Hee Lingchuan and his men repelled several desperate charges. The officials didn’t escape unscathed, either. One unlucky man, while lashing the carriages, was stabbed in the side by a Long Spear thrust from the other side. It punctured his kidney, and blood gushed out like a fountain.
While others were trying to stop the bleeding, Hee Lingchuan quickly stuffed some Shituo Powder into the man’s mouth. "Swallow it. It’s for the pain."
The medicine Liu Baobao had given him as a parting gift was finally proving useful.
Afterward, Hee Lingchuan found a soldier to help the injured man onto a horse and sent him to catch up with the main contingent.
They had a medic who could stop the bleeding and save his life.
Hee Lingchuan yelled, "They’re just a disorganized mob! Hold your positions! They won’t get through!"
Just then, Wu Shaoyi’s Bandit Army, in pursuit of their rivals, began to converge on this location. The Lui Bandits clawed at the carriages in desperation, but they couldn’t get past.
And so, the officials behind the barricade and the bandits before it began a desperate tug-of-war.
The bandits tried to pull the barricade apart, but Hee Lingchuan and his men wouldn’t give an inch.
On opposite sides of the carriages, they could see each other’s eyes were bloodshot with fury.
"Hold fast!" Hee Lingchuan roared. "Don’t stick your heads out! Everybody, hunker down and stay hidden!"
Zhao Qinghe and the others didn’t quite understand the slang, but they certainly had no intention of sticking their heads out.
The more agile bandits naturally tried to climb the carriages and jump over. But with a reception of blades, spears, and axes waiting for them, the difficulty of that task increased several times over.
Two bandits were run through by spears thrust from behind the carriages and fell screaming from the cliff.
Any who managed to leap over couldn’t escape the blades of Hee Lingchuan and his men.
A few slashes, and they were down. Fast.
Anyone with half a brain could see this path was a dead end and scrambled to find another way.
Having won the first wave, the officials’ confidence soared, and they let out a cheer.
Soon, Wu Shaoyi’s Bandit Army also reached West Mountain and began to encircle and annihilate Lui Yao’s men.
Although the two rows of carriages separated them, the stray arrows flying from the Bandit Army had no eyes. An arrowhead grazed Hee Lingchuan’s forehead, leaving a long, bloody scratch. If it had been off by half an inch, it would have pierced him right between the eyes.
’Fucking hell, that was close.’
He had no desire for the Water Spirit’s prophecy to be fulfilled tonight.
Hee Lingchuan grabbed a shield and held it in front of him, and the others did likewise.
Soon, the clash of blades and the screams of agony from the other side of the barricade began to fade.
Wu Shaoyi’s forces were close to victory.
Of course, they had also noticed the officials behind the barricade and had no intention of letting them go.
From the start, Xianling Village had two sets of enemies: Lui Yao and the officials.
The officials had slipped away and hadn’t helped Lui Yao, but that didn’t mean Wu Shaoyi’s forces would be merciful.
Just then, the sound of a low whistle echoed from within Xianling Village.
Upon hearing it, the Wu Bandits in front of the barricade immediately broke off the fight and ran back toward the village.
Clearly, something was happening there that required them to return and defend.
The area in front of the barricade quickly fell quiet, with only a few bandits still peeking around.
Seven or eight bandit corpses lay on the ground. Fuzzy Peach, Zhao Qinghe, and the others were all panting for breath, giving Hee Lingchuan a thumbs-up. "Eldest Young Master, that trick of turning trash into treasure was brilliant!"
The two of them had stayed behind to control the situation and, incidentally, to protect Hee Lingchuan. Zeng Feixiong, who had given the order, never imagined Hee Lingchuan would take the lead.
Turning the abandoned carriages into a barricade on such a narrow mountain path was the perfect strategy for the terrain. It couldn’t have been more fitting.
Zhao Qinghe had considered it, but who besides the Eldest Young Master would dare to just abandon Madam Ying’s carriages and chests?
But to complete such a difficult rearguard action with only one man seriously wounded and seven with minor injuries was something Zhao Qinghe would never have dared to imagine.
"Do I need you two to praise me?" Hee Lingchuan shot them a sidelong glance. "Look at you, panting like that. Your stamina is pathetic!"
’Back then,’ he thought, ’I fought a bloody battle in that riverbed for two full double-hours. The situation was more dangerous, and the ordeal lasted much longer than this!’
But at the same time, he firmly reminded himself that this was reality.
In the dream, he could die and come back to life, but in the real world, he only had one life to live.
He absolutely could not let that old turtle’s prophecy come true!
Fuzzy Peach watched him, feeling that in battle, Hee Lingchuan was like a different person—fierce, calm, and commanding with unshakable confidence.
Although they had adventured together in the Coiling Dragon Illusion Realm, the Hee Lingchuan back then was skilled at improvising and avoiding direct confrontation, never showing the kind of courage and responsibility he did now.
’Is this really the same profligate young master he once knew?’
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