Chapter 37: Old Wang’s Request

“Master, that isn’t exactly something we can buy. But this subordinate can go capture the finest painter in the world, have him paint the most beautiful sunset, then hang the painting at the head of Master’s bed. That way, every morning when Master wakes, you can admire the glow of the setting sun.

“Though it would be fake, it would still represent this subordinate’s heartfelt devotion to Master. But please rest assured, Master. One day, when all seven of us have fully recovered our strength, we will surely pluck the blazing sun from the heavens and present it to Master as a toy!”

At that moment, Fan Li suddenly spoke.

“Why not just strip the painter naked and tie him to the head of Master’s bed? Then every morning when Master wakes up, he can directly—”

“...”

The Blind Man Bei.

“...”

Zheng Fan.

It seemed that no matter what dish was being served, the moment a seasoning called Fan Li was added, the flavor would immediately become strange.

“They’re killing each other now.”

Liang Cheng’s reminder broke the awkward silence created by the honest man.

Zheng Fan and the others, watching the fire from the opposite bank, did not know the assassins’ true identities. But they could clearly tell that in both equipment and combat ability, the assassins were superior to the Tiger Head City soldiers.

If there had been twice as many assassins instead of only twenty-odd, the Tiger Head City troops might have collapsed outright after that first volley of crossbow bolts.

“They’re deathsworn retainers raised by the Liu Clan of Beifeng.”

Ding Hao showed little reaction to the fighting outside.

From the moment the Zhenbei Army handed him over to Beikang City, he had already prepared himself mentally for what would come.

A Ninth Grade Martial Artist was already someone of standing among ordinary people.

But before a great aristocratic clan, he was nothing more than a slightly larger ant.

He already knew how his story would end.

Now, events were merely unfolding exactly as he had expected.

“Wang Li, kill me.

“Stop hesitating.

“Didn’t you say that before you left this morning, you saw your wife throwing up?”

At those words, a vicious look immediately flashed through Wang Li’s eyes.

He raised the saber in his hand.

Pfft!

An assassin who had just leapt onto the prison cart suddenly had a saber driven into his back.

Wang Li yanked the blade free.

He smiled toward Ding Hao inside the cage, then wheeled his horse around and charged into the assassins locked in battle with his men.

Ding Hao lowered his head and murmured, “Why bother...”

...

“Master, shouldn’t we make our move now?”

Xue San was already growing impatient beside him.

As an assassin, he loved chaotic battles like this most.

Sneak around.

Strike from the shadows.

Steal kills.

What could be more enjoyable?

Zheng Fan pursed his lips.

He wanted to wait a little longer.

Ideally, they would let one side win by the narrowest of margins before intervening. That would naturally reduce the danger to their own group.

The problem was that Zheng Fan had already realized the assassins were not here to rescue anyone.

They were here to silence Ding Hao permanently.

If not for the Patrol Lieutenant Commander protecting him, Zheng Fan’s bargain-bin teacher might already be dead.

“No more waiting.

“Move.

“San’er, be careful. You may be disguised, but your height is too distinctive.”

“Got it, Master.”

Everyone else had already been disguised under the Fourth Lady’s arrangements.

They had, in effect, become completely different people.

But they could hardly make Xue San fight on stilts.

The Blind Man Bei received the order and closed his eyes.

The next instant, his voice sounded inside Zheng Fan’s mind.

“Master has given the order.

“Everyone, take your positions!”

Immediately afterward, the Blind Man Bei added, “Remember.

“Once the target is secured, disengage immediately.

“Do not become entangled in the fighting!”

...

Today should originally have been an ordinary day.

According to plan, before he went to “work,” Zheng Fan should have spent the morning giving Liang Cheng his daily martial-arts “guidance.”

But events had changed far too quickly, dazzling the eyes like a Sichuan wok blazing red with chilies over a roaring flame.

Zheng Fan held his saber in one hand and the reins in the other.

His assignment was the most important of all.

Once his subordinates extracted the target, Zheng Fan had to transport him to the prepared safe area as quickly as possible.

Well.

The Blind Man Bei and the others had said this was the most important part.

So he would treat it as the most important part.

Zheng Fan had not insisted on charging into the melee saber in hand.

Was the Fourth Lady’s daily massage not comfortable enough?

Was the savory tofu pudding at breakfast not delicious enough?

At the very least, until the day he himself started glowing, Zheng Fan had decided that if he could play safe, then he would play safe.

The Blind Man Bei’s voice sounded inside Zheng Fan’s mind from time to time.

One moment he was directing the Fourth Lady.

The next he was directing Xue San.

Everyone was closing on the target area according to the rhythm they had established.

Zheng Fan felt like a staff officer sitting in a combat command center.

He could hear all sorts of voices through the “radio,” yet somehow none of it involved him.

At last, once everyone confirmed they were in position and the Tiger Head City soldiers visibly began to falter, even showing signs of breaking, the Blind Man Bei issued the command.

“Go!”

...

Ding Hao sat like a wooden puppet, watching Wang Li lead his men in a desperate struggle against the assassins.

But although the Liu Clan of Beifeng could not bypass the residence of the Marquis of Zhenbei and reach into the Zhenbei Army, it was still an ancient, wealthy great clan with deep roots.

Its household retainers and deathsworn were no easy opponents.

And these men were not even among the true elite forces of the Liu Clan.

The Tiger Head City soldiers under Wang Li were no match for them.

At first, their numerical advantage and Wang Li’s personal prowess allowed them to hold the line for a while.

But as the numbers on both sides steadily evened out, and a black-clad burly man knocked the weapon from Wang Li’s hand with a single saber strike, the situation began to collapse completely.

Gray light flashed intermittently around the black-clad man.

Under his vicious, relentless assault, Wang Li was already losing ground.

From Zheng Fan’s distant perspective, there were two glowing fellows in the middle of the battle.

Like two kings fighting one another.

But whether in the quality of their men or the quality of the leaders themselves, the gap between the two sides was comprehensive.

Bang!

Wang Li was swept away by a saber strike.

He crashed into the prison cart and rolled to the ground.

Ding Hao shook his head helplessly.

But inside, his heart was already filled with rage.

Even Ding Hao himself had never expected that in Tiger Head City, at a moment like this, there would still be one former subordinate willing to risk his life to protect him.

Their relationship had actually faded after Ding Hao was promoted and transferred to Tuman City.

Even after he later became an outlaw, Ding Hao had never thought of contacting Wang Li.

Yet now, Wang Li had made his own choice.

A long-buried unwillingness and hatred surged inside Ding Hao.

If only the Zhenbei Army had not severed the tendons in his hands and feet.

If only he still had his strength.

He could have smashed this cage apart with one punch and charged out.

At the very least, he could have saved this former subordinate!

But now, he was only a cripple.

The battle had become completely one-sided.

Some Tiger Head City soldiers had already begun fleeing in panic.

Bang!

Gray light flashed again around the black-clad man.

He chopped downward.

Wang Li twisted aside and dodged.

But the opponent’s saber suddenly changed direction and slashed straight toward Ding Hao inside the prison cart.

The assassins’ objective was only to kill their target!

Wang Li had no choice but to turn back and block.

Pfft!

The saber pierced straight through Wang Li’s chest.

Yet at that moment, Wang Li released a hoarse roar.

White light flashed around his body.

He raised a fist and smashed it directly into the assassin’s chest!

The black-clad man tried to pull his saber free, but failed.

He was forced to take the punch head-on.

His body staggered backward several steps.

Blood soaked through the black cloth over his face.

...

Zheng Fan had originally assumed the Blind Man Bei would only provide support from the edge of the battlefield.

He had never imagined that once everyone was ready, the first person to enter the fight would actually be the Blind Man!

The Blind Man Bei held an erhu in his arms and charged straight toward the prison cart.

Dashing.

Flashy.

His speed truly was remarkable.

But if one looked closely, his running posture and the points where his body exerted force were slightly different from those of an ordinary person.

It looked almost as though someone behind him were pushing him forward and accelerating him.

This was mental power reinforcing his movement!

Just as the black-clad man was knocked backward by Wang Li’s punch, the Blind Man Bei appeared directly behind him.

The timing was perfect.

The string of the erhu suddenly snapped loose from the instrument.

It traced a graceful arc through the air, then wrapped around the black-clad man’s neck like the scythe of the Grim Reaper.

“One song to rend the liver and gut—where beneath heaven shall I find a kindred soul?”

As the final word fell, the string tightened.

Pfft!

The whole sequence including the line in the middle flowed with incomparable smoothness.

The black-clad man’s head parted cleanly from his body.

Perhaps because the cut was so fast, after the head hit the ground, its eyelids were still fluttering.

It seemed unable to believe what had just happened.

The Blind Man’s sudden appearance stunned the other assassins.

But when they saw their leader had been killed outright, they displayed a quality completely different from that of the Tiger Head City soldiers.

They abandoned the opponents in front of them one after another and rushed toward the Blind Man toward the prison cart.

“Oh-ho-ho-ho...”

The Fourth Lady’s laughter rang out.

Thread after thread shot from the soil beneath the assassins’ feet.

Caught completely off guard, many of them were tripped and crashed to the ground.

At the same time, A’Ming, Xue San, Liang Cheng, and Fan Li charged together from the same direction.

After killing the glowing fellow, the Blind Man Bei reached the prison cart and prepared to open it.

At that moment, Wang Li—who still had a saber embedded through his chest and was already at death’s door reached into his clothes, took out the key, and held it toward the Blind Man.

He did not know who the Blind Man was.

But he knew this group did not appear to belong to the Liu Clan assassins.

The assassins had come to kill Ding Hao.

So these strangers were probably here to rescue him.

The Blind Man Bei, as though he had eyes in the back of his head, said, “No need.”

He did not need a key to pick locks.

A little teasing of the lock mechanism with mental power was enough.

Click.

Click.

A series of sounds rang out.

The lock dropped away.

The cage door opened.

Ding Hao, sitting inside the prison cart, did not waste a single word.

He immediately crawled forward.

He did not ask who they were.

He did not ask why they were rescuing him.

At a moment like this, anyone who wasted time asking pointless questions was an idiot.

Get out first.

Everything else could wait!

Fan Li had already fought his way to the prison cart, axe in hand like Li Kui.

Without the slightest hesitation, his huge hand seized Ding Hao and threw him onto his back.

Although the tendons in Ding Hao’s hands and feet had been severed, he still desperately clamped his arms around Fan Li’s neck to stabilize himself.

“A’Ming, Liang Cheng, San’er—cover the rear.

“Fourth Lady—clear the path.

“We break out!”

The Blind Man Bei issued the new order directly into everyone’s minds.

But at that moment, he suddenly realized someone had grabbed his ankle.

It was Wang Li.

“Hero... could you... could you help me... take a few words... to my wife...?”

The Blind Man Bei:

“Uh...”