Nine Deaths, One Life

At dusk.

Within a sparse willow grove.

The lead guard captain, a scar-faced Old Soldier, reined in his horse with a frown and reported solemnly toward a carriage:

"Boss, the willow grove is difficult to pass through, and it'll be dark soon."

"We won't make it into the city. We should camp here."

A corner of the carriage curtain lifted, and the plump boss poked out half his shrewd face. He merely nodded slightly.

"Old Seven, make the arrangements. Make sure everything is in order!"

"Understood!"

Old Seven swung down from his horse, his roar like thunder.

"Stop the carts! Unload the goods and form a circle!"

"Get the fires going! Send out hidden sentries!"

Battle-hardened Old Seven was highly experienced.

He commanded with perfect composure.

The cart wheels were quickly locked and drawn together, forming the first line of defense. The leather-armored guards formed tight circular formations in groups of three, blades and spears pointed outward.

Several men worked together.

They deftly erected simple tents within the circle.

Soon.

Cooking smoke curled up through the twilight.

Beside a campfire.

Chen Sheng gathered with seven or eight Scouts who had also joined the caravan midway.

After more than a month of traveling and fighting together.

These men had already come to regard Chen Sheng as their backbone.

They hurriedly set up a shelter together.

Then they sat around the campfire, drinking and boasting.

A bearded man patted Chen Sheng's shoulder with lingering fear, his voice booming.

"Brother Chen, your martial skills are truly incredible."

"Last time, if Brother Chen hadn't saved me—charging alone and scattering dozens of Bandits—I, Old Huang, would've been dead long ago."

"In the terms of those storybooks, you're a match for ten thousand men, one rider against a thousand, taking an enemy general's head amid an army of ten thousand!"

Another man added excitedly:

"Brother Chen, your archery is just as extraordinary. From two hundred paces away, you shot that Red Turban Bandit right through the eye."

A tall, thin man said longingly:

"If you ask me, Brother Chen ought to join the army."

"Maybe you could win yourself a title and secure honor for your wife and children."

Chen Sheng piled a hearty smile onto his face and answered casually:

"You brothers flatter me!"

"I'm only trying to earn a living. It's hardly worth mentioning."

"We fought our way out side by side, so we're family. Why talk about all that empty nonsense?"

Amid the laughter.

The dry rations roasting over the fire sizzled.

Though they called each other brothers openly, Chen Sheng remained constantly on high alert.

He casually found an excuse.

And politely declined the wine gourd Old Huang offered him.

Throughout this journey.

Chen Sheng had never drunk wine or water offered by others.

His own waterskin never left his side.

As for food, he ate only the hard flatbread he carried himself, mixed with minced meat and salt.

After several rounds of drinks.

Weariness and carelessness began to spread.

The men's laughter grew louder, mixed with their yearning for the ladies of Willow Leaf City's pleasure houses.

"Whoosh—!"

Suddenly.

A shrill, miserable bone-whistle blast erupted from deep within the willow grove without warning.

Whistles from every direction immediately followed!

Crack!

The clay bowl in Chen Sheng's hand shattered instantly beneath his grip.

His sharp gaze swept toward the sources of the sounds like a blade.

Chen Sheng roared in a low voice:

"That's the assembly whistle Roaming Bandits always use!"

"We're surrounded!"

These men were all seasoned veterans.

At those words, they felt as though Cold Water had been poured over their heads.

Their drunkenness vanished in an instant!

The wine jug in Old Huang's hand smashed into the fire, and a foot-high tongue of ghostly blue flame burst upward with a boom.

He cursed madly:

"What the hell are the hidden sentries doing!"

"Fuck!"

Almost at the same time.

Old Seven, the guard captain, let out a loud roar.

"Grab your weapons!"

"Meet the enemy—!"

However.

Everything happened too fast.

Behind the willow trees lining both sides of the road, which had been silent moments ago.

In the blink of an eye.

Countless black figures emerged in a dense mass.

The Roaming Bandits wore tattered clothes.

Barely enough to cover their bodies.

They clutched bloody woodcutters' blades, rusted manure forks, sharpened wooden sticks...

These Roaming Bandits were starving mad.

Like vicious wolves, they stared fixedly at the caravan's goods, horses, and food.

Elsewhere.

Chen Sheng hurriedly gathered the Scouts in front of him.

He swiftly mounted his horse.

The height gave him a tremendous advantage.

Chen Sheng's field of vision broadened considerably.

As far as his eyes could see, in every direction.

There was a vast sea of black.

The willow grove had nearly been submerged beneath the surging tide of people.

An endless expanse of Roaming Bandits.

Several Scouts copied him and mounted their horses to look.

Their hands were all trembling.

"Good heavens, how many people are there?!"

"With this many people, how did the hidden sentries fail to notice them?"

"Damn it, what useless idiots!"

The men cursed frantically.

All they could see were heads packed together, in every direction.

Endless!

They had fallen into a tight encirclement.

Chen Sheng was also tense to the extreme.

He could not help cursing inwardly:

I was just traveling, and now I've been surrounded by an army!

Across all my lives, this one has been the unluckiest.

At the start, I nearly drowned.

And now I'll probably die amid a rebel army.

Chen Sheng unconsciously tightened his grip on the Long Spear in his hand.

He exhaled sharply.

Forcing himself to calm down.

Only by staying calm.

Could he find even the slightest chance of survival.

Chen Sheng observed carefully.

There were too many people; even he could not tell how many.

Ten thousand?

Probably no fewer than that!

Not only had this group of Roaming Bandits swept up a vast number of civilians.

They were clearly more elite as well.

Chen Sheng slowly scanned the crowd.

Veteran bandits with vicious eyes, headscarves of every color, and all kinds of iron weapons in hand.

There were no fewer than two thousand of them. They faintly formed an encircling ring, clearly serving as the main force of the siege.

Most likely, these veteran bandits had eliminated the outer sentries, led the encirclement, and laid down an inescapable net before releasing the Refugees to charge.

Chen Sheng gritted his teeth.

"Are they using us to train their troops?"

"Pulling this stunt of sweeping up people to storm a city!"

"Damn it!"

"Leave the goods and the women behind!"

"Your grandfathers will let you keep a whole corpse!"

A bandit chief wearing a dark red headscarf shouted loudly.

His voice was hoarse as a broken gong.

"Kill!"

"Kill them all!"

"The food is on the carts!"

"The women are in the tents!"

Another leader in a yellow headscarf waved a ring-pommel saber.

He let out a beastlike howl.

"Kill—!"

The frenzied, greedy tide of people erupted completely.

They instantly charged toward the besieged caravan.

At the center of the caravan.

The curtain of a carriage was abruptly lowered.

From inside came the boss's shriek, thick with tears:

"Old Seven! Quick... stop them! Hold them back!"

But Old Seven had already been entangled by the surging mass of people.

Though he slashed and killed with all his strength.

And kept roaring orders for the men to form up.

At the edge of the formation.

The enormous number of Refugees had already torn open a breach.

Chaos!

Complete chaos!

The wagon formation collapsed.

The guards could barely fend for themselves, divided and surrounded for slaughter.

Countless refugees pressed against the guards' blades and spears.

Clambering onto the cargo wagons.

Crying, screams, clashing weapons, and the sound of flesh tearing reached a fever pitch!

Chen Sheng watched the scene with icy eyes, making a swift decision:

"No saving this!"

"Only by breaking out can we survive!"

He quickly surveyed the enemy formation.

The height advantage from horseback gave him a clear view of the whole field.

At this moment.

Chen Sheng's gaze was like that of a hawk.

Swiftly sweeping across the chaotic battlefield.

Very soon.

His eyes stopped.

The southwest corner!

The Roaming Bandits there were packed together, unsteady on their feet, their weapons a complete mess.

Their ranks were loose and thin.

They were clearly starving people swept up on the spot.

Driven forward by a few lackeys to bolster their numbers.

And behind them.

Lay a dense stretch of thorny brush.

Chen Sheng took down his bow and growled at the people beside him:

"Follow me!"

"Charge the southwest corner!"

"If you want to live, stay close! This is our only chance!"

At the same time.

The fully drawn hard bow in his hand fired arrow after arrow!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The arrows streaked like flashes of light, incredibly fast and immensely powerful.

Three black lines shot forward like lightning.

Burying themselves in the throats of three old bandits in the distant southwest corner who were waving signal flags.

The force was so great that it even pinned one of them to the tree behind him.

The arrow shaft still hummed!

This precise, ruthless decapitation strike instantly threw the Roaming Bandits in that area into panic.

Now!

Chen Sheng seized the opportunity.

"Kill—!"

Chen Sheng drove his heels into his horse's flanks.

Neigh!

His horse shot forward like an arrow released from a bowstring, all four hooves pounding as it lunged toward the chaotic southwest corner.

With a long howl, Chen Sheng charged out first with his Long Spear in hand, the weapon striking like a venomous dragon bursting from its lair.

"Charge the southwest corner with me!"

"If you don't want to die, keep up!"

His roar exploded through the air.

Forcibly suppressing part of the chaos.

Seven or eight Scouts spurred their horses after him.

More than ten guards who heard the shout amid the confusion.

Also instinctively gathered in this direction.

They followed behind Chen Sheng.

More than twenty riders!

Barely forming an irregular wedge.

Charging into an army of thousands!

Chen Sheng charged at the very front!

His Long Spear shook, cold points of light flickering.

The bandits blocking his path.

Whether they were old bandits wielding sharp blades.

Or vacant-eyed starving people.

Were like paper before absolute strength.

Splat!

A spear tip pierced through an old bandit's chest!

Kacha!

The slashing spear shaft smashed the saber from another attacker's hand, then swept on without losing momentum and snapped his neck!

Whoosh!

His waist saber left its sheath!

Carving a fan-shaped spray of blood through the air!

It severed another two thrusting spears!

Men shouted, horses screamed, and flesh flew!

Wherever Chen Sheng passed.

He left behind a horrifying corridor of blood!

He was like a tireless killing machine.

Precisely and efficiently tearing through every obstacle.

In the formation.

Chen Sheng tore open a gap.

The others promptly followed.

Widening that opening.

The blades in their hands chopped in every direction.

Mixed with the screams of the Roaming Bandits.

"Keep up! Don't fall behind!"

Chen Sheng shouted.

The point of the wedge kept advancing.

Only to be continually worn away by the Roaming Bandits surging in from both flanks.

Some people were swallowed by the enemy ranks, instantly trampled beneath countless feet until bone and flesh became pulp.

Painful shrieks!

But Chen Sheng's heart was hard as iron.

He plunged straight into the weak corner.

Killing one obstacle after another as he rapidly broke through the formation.

Charge!

He had not even shielded the others in front of him.

He was already leading the charge. What else could he do?

Turn back and rescue them?

At last!

After fighting their way out through blood and death, they burst from the formation.

The thorny brushwood lay right ahead.

There were fewer Roaming Bandits here, and they were more hesitant.

"Break!"

Chen Sheng roared as he swung his spear shaft sideways.

Forcibly sweeping aside the last few lackeys attempting to block them.

He fiercely drove his legs into his horse's flanks!

"Hyah!"

The horse leaped high into the air!

The tough brush was violently smashed aside by the horse and the several riders following close behind.

Sharp barbs tore open the horse's belly.

And slashed the riders' legs and feet.

Yet not one of them stopped!

The dense thorny brush.

Became their only path to survival.

When the yellow horse carrying Chen Sheng crashed out of that thorny thicket, the view before him suddenly opened up.

Behind them.

The cries of battle were cut off by the dense vegetation.

Chen Sheng still did not dare slow down.

They fled desperately for more than twenty li.

Only when there was no sound behind them did Chen Sheng rein in his horse atop a low hill with a broad view.

At this moment.

Of the more than twenty riders who had charged together.

Only six remained.

The six survivors and their six horses were all heaving violently for breath.

Everyone was wounded.

Blood had soaked through their tattered clothes.

Their grimy faces held only the dazed look of those who had survived death.

And the weakness that came after every last ounce of strength had drained away.

"W-We... survived..."

Old Huang's voice was incredibly hoarse.

His hand trembled as he reached for his waist, wanting a drink.

Only to discover that his waterskin had long since been lost somewhere.

Of the seven or eight Scouts.

Only Old Huang had survived.

The rest were caravan guards.

These guards had formed up in an organized formation.

Their survival rate had clearly increased dramatically.

Chen Sheng, who had served as the spearhead, was also covered in blood, his chest rising and falling constantly.

Weariness showed in his eyes.

This time truly had been perilous to the extreme.

Twenty riders had broken out from an encirclement of thousands!

It could only be called surviving nine deaths out of ten!

Chen Sheng turned his head.

He looked at his utterly exhausted companions.

Then gazed from afar toward that willow grove.

Where towering flames could faintly be seen.

Chen Sheng steadied his breathing and turned his horse around.

He cupped his fists toward the five people still shaken by terror, his movement crisp and decisive:

"Everyone, farewell!"

Before his words had even faded.

He was already spurring his horse toward Yan Land.

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