Chapter 226: Chapter 226: The Whole Story
"A Governor, of all people, sending his own men to plunder the territory under his jurisdiction... He’s completely lawless." Ye Xuan’s gaze turned cold. "So, you’re saying the rest of your men are all on Weihu Mountain right now?"
"Hmph. Today is the day we collect our dues. All my brothers are nearby. If they realize I’m missing, they’ll be here in no time. So, I suggest you just let me go. You guys are pretty strong. I could even introduce you to my leader. Who knows, he might even give you an official position."
The burly man was stunned by how swiftly and decisively they had killed. He tried to entice them with an empty promise, but inwardly, he was sneering. ’Hmph, as soon as my leader gets here, every last one of you is dead.’
"Still talking big when you’re at death’s door." Ouyang Xiaoshan snorted. "Young Master Xuan, what’s our move? These bandits are close. We could just go and wipe them all out."
"No need to go to all that trouble." Ye Xuan picked up the signal flare the bandit had been holding and abruptly pulled the cord.
With a WHOOSH, a streak of black light shot high into the air and suddenly burst apart.
The streak of light split into eight, jetting out in all directions. Even from a great distance, the trails left by the eight black streaks were clearly visible.
"That signal flare is definitely not something a common bandit could get his hands on," Ouyang Xiaoshan said gravely. "A flare like that is called ’Aid from Eight Directions.’ It’s almost on par with military-grade flares. Not something just anyone can acquire."
Ye Xuan’s expression turned frigid. It seemed what the burly man had said was, more than likely, the truth.
The burly man was both shocked and delighted. He was shocked that they had actually fired the signal flare, but delighted that once it was launched, all the surrounding bandits would come rushing over. Then, he would be saved.
Just as he’d expected, it wasn’t long before a deafening rumble echoed from the distance.
Squadrons of horsemen rapidly approached Molin Village. An hour later, nearly three hundred men had surrounded the village, every one of them radiating a murderous aura.
Seeing this, the Molin Village chief and the other villagers nearly fainted. They all had the same thought: ’It’s over. It’s all over.’
As everyone watched, a troop with an aura distinctly different from the other bandits finally arrived. The surrounding bandits quickly parted to form a path for them. The leader, clad in silver armor, approached Ye Xuan’s group. His gaze was stern, and his eyes shone with an intimidating light.
"Sir, save me! Save me!" the burly man cried out upon seeing the man in silver armor.
"Useless trash." The silver-armored man shot him a cold glance before turning his attention to Ye Xuan’s group. His eyes narrowed as he spoke in a frigid tone, "And just who are you? Do you have any idea what the consequences are for daring to kill members of my Weihu Bandit Gang?!"
Ye Xuan didn’t answer. He simply gave a cold smile and waved his hand. Beside him, Liu Xiaolong’s blade rose and fell in a flash. With a SQUELCH, the burly man, who had just been begging for his life, let out a muffled grunt as his head tumbled to the ground.
All of the Imperial Guards watched the assembled bandits with cold smiles.
Arrogant. Utterly arrogant.
The expressions of every bandit on the scene turned savage. A fierce glint shot from the silver-armored man’s eyes. "You killed men from my Weihu Bandit Gang... It seems none of you want to live. I don’t care who you are or where you come from. Today, none of you will leave this place alive. Kill them all!"
Without another word, the silver-armored man’s raised hand chopped down, signaling the attack on Ye Xuan and his men.
"Kill!"
Over three hundred bandits charged forward without hesitation.
The silver-armored man, for his part, locked his sights on Ye Xuan. He launched himself from his horse’s back, swooping down like a great roc spreading its wings.
But before his attack could land, he was intercepted by Ouyang Xiaoshan, who stood guard at Ye Xuan’s side.
BOOM!
A powerful shockwave erupted from the center of their clash, radiating outward. The immense force sent the silver-armored man flying back over ten meters. The blood roiled in his veins, and he nearly coughed up a mouthful. Ouyang Xiaoshan, in contrast, remained perfectly still, a faint smile playing on his lips.
The silver-armored man was aghast. ’I’m a commander in the provincial City Guard, a Third Heaven Celestial Martial Artist! In all of Tianxu Province, I’m considered one of the top experts, yet I couldn’t even block a single one of his punches.’
’Just who are these people?’
Before the silver-armored man could even recover from his shock, his gaze swept his surroundings, and what he saw filled him with utter dread.
In just a few moments, his force of over three hundred men had been decimated. More than half were dead, and the hundred or so who remained were barely holding on.
The enemy’s force of nearly one hundred experts seemed to have formed some kind of mystical Array. It was like a giant meat grinder; any bandit swept into it was instantly annihilated, utterly incapable of putting up any resistance.
’Where in the world did a force like this come from?’
The silver-armored man had assumed Ye Xuan’s group was merely some young lord from a nearby city out on an excursion. He never imagined their strength would so completely exceed his expectations.
"Stop! We can negotiate!" the silver-armored man yelled to Ye Xuan and his men, the thought of retreat already taking root in his mind.
Ye Xuan shot him an indifferent glance. "Capture him."
"Yes, sir!" Ouyang Xiaoshan stepped forward, his hand reaching down toward the top of the silver-armored man’s head. The man, seeing this, was both shocked and furious. He mustered all his strength and met the attack with a palm strike.
"You dare show off such insignificant power?" Ouyang Xiaoshan sneered. As his hand descended, a fierce gust of wind seemed to sweep out, completely enveloping the silver-armored man.
The silver-armored man found it difficult to breathe. Overwhelmed by the oppressive Profound Power, he spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed to one knee, his body limp and powerless. Before he even had a chance to resist, Ouyang Xiaoshan seized his hands, capturing him in an instant.
’A Tier Five Martial Sect!’
He stared at Ouyang Xiaoshan in shock, his body trembling like a leaf. To be captured so easily... his opponent had to be a Tier Five Martial Sect expert.
The screams went on and on. After the time it took for an incense stick to burn, not a single bandit was left standing at the entrance to Molin Village. All that remained was a river of blood, formed from countless streams flowing and pooling together.
"Young Master Xuan, all three hundred and twenty-six bandits have been beheaded."
Liu Xiaolong came before Ye Xuan and knelt, his voice filled with reverence and his face flushed with a fanatical fervor.
He was not alone. At that moment, nearly every Imperial Guard was gazing at Ye Xuan with the same fervor, their eyes filled with pure adoration.
Among the ranks of the more than three hundred bandits, the weakest had been a Tier Two Martial Artist. A number of them were Tier Three Earth Martial Artists, and there were even a few Tier Four Celestial Martial Artists.
In terms of overall strength, the Imperial Guard could have completely overwhelmed the enemy, but the bandits had superior numbers. Everyone had initially thought that in such a battle, some injuries on their side were inevitable. It wouldn’t have even been surprising if some of them had fallen.
Yet, the result was far beyond anyone’s expectations.
By the end of the battle, over three hundred bandits had been beheaded, and yet their company of Imperial Guards had not suffered a single injury or death.
This was all thanks to the Hundred Linked Array that Ye Xuan had taught them.
They had long been aware of the Hundred Linked Array’s power, but only in theory. They had never tested it in actual combat. They never imagined that when put to a real test, its effectiveness would so completely surpass their wildest dreams.
For their company of nearly one hundred Imperial Guards to kill over three hundred bandits... forget about deaths, there wasn’t even a single injury. Such an outcome was something they would not have dared to imagine at the outset.
After this single battle, every Imperial Guard present was thoroughly and utterly convinced of Ye Xuan’s prowess. They had submitted to him completely, in both body and soul.
The captured leader in silver armor was equally stunned.
He knew the strength of his subordinates. They were a force that could run rampant through Tianxu Province without fear of reprisal. Yet, in the time it took an incense stick to burn, they had been completely annihilated. ’Just where did this group of freaks come from?’
"If I’m not mistaken, you’re from Governor Wei Hong’s Mansion, aren’t you?" Ye Xuan asked, his eyes narrowed. "So, tell me. Why are you all masquerading as bandits and running amok in this region?"
The silver-armored man’s heart lurched, and he stared at Ye Xuan in horror. He was about to issue an instinctive denial when Ye Xuan gave a cold laugh. "If you’re planning to deny it, you can save your breath. I already know whether it’s true or not. You’d be wise to tell me the truth willingly. If you dare to deliberately conceal anything... believe me when I say I have plenty of ways to make you talk. And I assure you, none of them will be as pleasant as this."
Ye Xuan’s words weren’t exceptionally vicious, but as they fell on the silver-armored man’s ears, an inexplicable terror began to well up from the depths of his heart.
He had a gut feeling that this young man’s words were no empty threat.
"Alright, I’ll talk..." Gritting his teeth, the silver-armored man finally began his slow account.
"I don’t know all the details, but Governor Wei Hong is doing this because of the new lord coming to Tianxu Province..."
It turned out that the matter of Zhao Jing bestowing Tianxu Province upon someone as a personal fief, while not yet publicly announced throughout the kingdom, had reached the ears of some powerful nobles as a rumor.
As Governor of Tianxu Province and a Count of the kingdom, Wei Hong had naturally caught wind of this rumor as well.
Although he wasn’t sure if the rumor was true and didn’t know who was being appointed as the new lord of Tianxu Province, the source of the information led Wei Hong to believe it was credible.
Once Tianxu Province became someone else’s personal domain, he, the Governor, would very likely be dismissed from his post. So he devised a plan: before the new lord was officially installed, he would fleece Tianxu Province of all its wealth.
Simply looting the provincial treasury was too risky and would easily expose him. Thus, he came up with another idea: have his own men from the Wei family, along with the provincial capital’s City Guard, pose as bandits and extort "protection fees" from the major towns under his jurisdiction.
That way, if His Majesty truly did grant Tianxu Province to someone else, the new lord, upon taking his post, could only go after some fictitious group of bandits. The blame would never fall on him.
