Is This Reasonable?

The moon hung over the branches, beneath Ox Horn Mountain.

Under cover of night, a group of Imperial Guards lay in ambush at the foot of Ox Horn Mountain.

At their head, Commander Official Xu Quan looked up at the bright moon and asked in a low voice.

"What time is it?"

A lieutenant estimated, "It should be around the Hour of the Ox."

Xu Quan nodded, his gaze turning resolute. "Keep your spirits up. Commander Yang's side should already be in position."

"Once tonight is over, I'll treat you all to a day of drunken revelry at Yihong House."

With the Commander Official dangling such a carrot before them, whether it was real or not, the Imperial Guards perked up considerably.

Suddenly, the sound of sparrows chirping came from the woods.

It was the Imperial Guards' secret signal.

Xu Quan waved his hand.

"Move!"

The moment he spoke, two crossbow bolts shot out from the forest and pierced straight through the throats of the bandits guarding the mountain.

Rustling rose from the woods—the sound of Imperial Guard robes brushing through the leaves.

The Imperial Guards rushed up the mountain at once.

Just then, a scream rang out from Ox Horn Mountain.

It was followed by a furious roar.

"Night attack! It's the Imperial Guards!"

Everyone looked up the mountain, inwardly crying out in alarm. This was bad—they'd been exposed.

The lieutenant was at a loss as well. "Sir, what do we do?"

Xu Quan's face darkened. He roared and yanked the steel saber from his waist.

"Get up there, all of you! Our goal is to hold Xu Lao Er back—take him down!"

"Kill!"

A figure charged out of the night. It was Xu Lao Er.

Xu Lao Er stood nearly two meters tall, even more powerfully built than Xu Lao San.

He gripped a massive tiger-head saber, his eyes round as bronze bells as he stared at the Imperial Guards.

"What? Do you all have dog noses? I've only been on Ox Horn Mountain for three days, and you've already tracked me down?"

"Oh, oh, oh! You old fool, and you're still putting on airs? Come back to the Pacification Bureau with me for a chat. I guarantee you'll have some good fruit to eat."

Xu Quan sneered and waved his hand. "You handle the lackeys. Leave this old fool to me."

The Imperial Guards immediately scattered, charging toward the bandits spread throughout the woods, leaving an open space for Xu Quan and Xu Lao Er.

Yet neither of them moved.

Then a breeze swept through, stirring several fallen leaves. Xu Quan moved.

Warm internal energy wrapped around the tip of his saber as he thrust it toward Xu Lao Er's chest.

But Xu Lao Er was no ordinary man if he had escaped the Imperial Guards' pursuit time and again. He raised his tiger-head saber and swept out a silver half-arc, colliding with Xu Quan's steel saber.

Bang!

In an instant, a violent shockwave burst forth. Saber energy howled through the air, pressing the surrounding shrubs flat against the ground.

Now that they had clashed head-on, neither held anything back.

Xu Quan's steel saber whirled wildly, sending several consecutive slashes at Xu Lao Er.

Though Xu Lao Er looked bulky, the tiger-head saber in his hand was truly not slow.

Sparks flew through the air. Yet Xu Lao Er ultimately held the advantage in strength. The tremendous force made Xu Quan's tiger's mouth ache, and he fell a fraction behind one of the slashes.

Xu Lao Er seized that tiny opening and bellowed.

"Die!"

The tiger-head saber suddenly swept upward at an angle, and Xu Quan hurriedly raised his weapon to block.

The next moment, Xu Quan was blasted backward by the enormous force. He staggered back several meters, and when he regained his footing, the web between his thumb and forefinger had split open and begun to bleed.

Xu Lao Er burst into laughter at the sight, resting his tiger-head saber on his shoulder.

"Xu Quan, and you think you can compete with me in saber work?"

"I, Xu Hu, started practicing the saber at three. At five, I used a wooden saber to beat down boys two years older than me. At twelve, with my saber bolstering my courage, I entered the mountains alone with a single blade. By seventeen—"

Suddenly, a voice came from atop a tall tree nearby. "What happened at seventeen?"

Xu Quan and Xu Lao Er were startled and abruptly looked up.

Shen Qing stood atop the tall tree in a black Flying Fish Robe, the full moon at his back. Several crows even flew past at just the right moment.

What a show-off.

Xu Lao Er's face sank. "Xu Quan, you even called reinforcements?"

Xu Quan was bewildered as well. Reinforcements? When had he called for reinforcements? How did he not know about it?

And when had Shen Qing gotten up into that tree?

Xu Lao Er snorted, flicked his wrist, and threw three red darts at Xu Quan. Xu Quan raised his hand and struck three times, knocking aside the hidden weapons one by one.

But Xu Lao Er had already fled dozens of meters away.

Xu Quan's expression changed. "Not good!"

Yet the next moment, a black figure flashed past him, racing low across the ground toward Xu Lao Er at terrifying speed.

After running a hundred meters, Xu Lao Er even looked back. Xu Quan was still standing there stupidly.

"Everyone says I, Xu Hu, am stupid, but now that I look at it, Xu Quan is the real fool. I've already run away, yet he isn't even chasing me."

"Still, now isn't the time to be happy. Xu Quan has reinforcements. I need to notify Big Brother, Third Brother, and Mister Lan at once."

Just then, Shen Qing's voice sounded beside his ear again.

"I think so too. You really should notify them. But there's no need to notify your third brother—he doesn't need it anymore."

Xu Lao Er turned his head, and his soul nearly flew out of his body. Shen Qing was right beside him, smiling as he watched him.

By instinct, he threw a punch at Shen Qing.

A scream rang out as a thick arm flew high into the air.

Xu Lao Er's eyes filled with terror as he clutched his wound tightly.

Ignoring the pain, he plunged into the forest like a madman.

With just that one strike, he understood that he was absolutely no match for Shen Qing.

Xu Lao Er howled in a voice like a broken gong.

"Help! Help!"

Shen Qing's lips curved slightly upward.

Yes, yes. That's it.

Cry louder. The louder you cry, the happier I'll be.

It would be best if you called your big brother out too. That would save me the trouble of looking for him myself.

Only then did Scholar and the others hurriedly catch up, each bracing himself on his knees and gasping for breath.

"Boss, Lord Shen... please wait... we can't keep up..."

Xu Quan arrived beside them at that moment and asked.

"Which Imperial Guard unit are you from?"

Only then did Scholar and the others notice there was another Commander Official present. They hurriedly stood and saluted.

"Reporting to Commander Official, we are from Baiyun County's General's Office."

Xu Quan's thoughts churned.

Baiyun County? A Commander Official from a county General's Office?

Was that right?

He was a Commander Official from Wan An City's Hundred Households Office. Even among its Commander Officials, his strength ranked in the upper tier.

Even so, Xu Lao Er had utterly crushed him.

Yet Xu Lao Er, who had utterly crushed him, was being beaten every which way by a Commander Official from some county town?

Wasn't this strength already on par with some Hundred Household Officers?

And yet, instead of going to the Pacification Bureau to make a name for himself and achieve greatness, he hid in a county town as a Commander Official, stealing his livelihood.

Was this reasonable? This wasn't reasonable!

Xu Quan took a deep breath, steadied his emotions, and continued asking.

"Whose orders did you receive to come here as reinforcements? How come I didn't receive even a hint of news?"

Scholar explained the entire sequence of events.

Xu Quan's expression turned strange.

Good heavens, he had thought Shen Qing's strength was unreasonable enough already.

He had not expected there to be someone even more ruthless.

Because they feared retaliation, they had gone straight to their door in advance and chopped off their heads.

But when he thought about it, there seemed to be nothing wrong with that.

If you killed them in advance, then they couldn't retaliate, could they?

That was perfectly reasonable.