Becoming a Great Hero

The remaining Hu people, seeing this, abandoned the captives they were escorting and, under their leader's command, gathered together, drew their bows, and fired a volley of arrows at him.

Lin Xiao let out a cold snort. An invisible wall of energy, nearly a foot thick, appeared around him, deflecting all the incoming arrows.

With inner force reaching this level, it could be described as extremely, extremely profound. Most of the techniques described in martial arts legends could now be employed, such as protective energy walls, sword light, sword energy, the Hundred Pace Divine Fist, and so on, though their power wasn't as terrifying as in the legends.

For instance, Lin Xiao's current two hundred and fifty years of inner force, compared to his previous one hundred and twenty years, seemed only twice as strong. However, in reality, the power was definitely more than double, possibly even triple, and the effects displayed were incredibly exaggerated.

He endured the arrows and charged forward, striking one Hu person after another with a palm, completely routing the Haige'er Khan Hu people. Even those who tried to escape were caught and killed by his palm strikes; not a single one got away.

As the last Hu person was killed, the captured Han people erupted in cheers, kneeling down to thank him for saving their lives.

Lin Xiao's gaze swept over the several thousand people. He pointed to an old man who didn't look like an ordinary person and said:

"I just returned from outside the pass. Old man, tell me, what exactly happened here?"

This old man was the steward of a wealthy family and knew quite a lot. He said:

"Great Hero, you may not know, but the Hu people have moved south. They colluded with Dushan Fortress, launching a pincer attack to break through Shanhaiguan Pass and let the Hu people enter. Now, more than half of the north has fallen into the hands of the Hu people, and even the capital has been besieged for half a year."

"It was really Dushan Fortress?"

Lin Xiao still found it hard to believe. When he heard the general at Zushan Pass mention Dushan Fortress's rebellion, he had thought they were just making up an excuse. But hearing it again now, he had to admit that seeing was believing, though he still didn't fully believe it. He was wavering.

After all, it was truly far-fetched. For a mere Jianghu force to rebel wouldn't be so easy. Most importantly, although the lord of Dushan Fortress was a Grandmaster, he was already seventy or eighty years old. At such an age, what would he gain from rebelling?

To rebel painstakingly, conquer the empire, and then pass it on to someone else?

It was known that the lord of Dushan Fortress had no heir; his children had all died at the hands of enemies decades ago. If the rebellion succeeded, to whom would he pass the throne?

Therefore, no matter how Lin Xiao thought about it, he couldn't find a reason for Dushan Fortress to rebel.

But the facts were as they were. The Jianghu was abuzz with rumors, and even ordinary commoners knew about it. Such a thing couldn't possibly be impersonated; it was most likely true.

"This is truly f***ing ridiculous!"

But there was something even more ridiculous: what should be done with these rescued Han people?

The area outside the pass was entirely Hu territory. These people had been saved, but they had nowhere to go.

They couldn't return to the pass. Not to mention Shanhaiguan Pass, which was right in front of them, even Zushan Pass, not far away, and the more distant border passes had all been breached by the Hu people. From what he learned from the old man, the Hu people's large-scale southern invasion this time involved three major tribes and many smaller tribes united, claiming a combined fighting force of over seven hundred thousand. All the passes east of the Great Wall, except for Juyong Pass, had been broken.

And Juyong Pass was currently facing a heavy siege by the Hu people. They couldn't go there either.

As the saying goes: "Send the Buddha all the way to the West; save the people all the way to the end." Since he had saved them, he couldn't abandon them.

Looking at the hopeful eyes of the many ragged commoners, Lin Xiao sighed and said loudly:

"Are there any among you who are educated and literate, or who have served in the army?"

A commotion arose from the more than two thousand people. After a while, people began to come forward one after another. After waiting for nearly the time it takes an incense stick to burn, and confirming no one else, Lin Xiao saw more than twenty people before him. The majority had served in the army before, while fewer than five were educated and literate, which disappointed him somewhat.

However, he thought it was normal. In this era, education was a privilege of the powerful. Ordinary people might have attended a private school for a few years as children and could recognize some characters, but most couldn't even write their own names.

He didn't dwell on it too much. He directly asked these educated individuals to assist him, then gathered the remaining dozen or so who had served in the army. He instructed them to select some men from the crowd, strip the weapons and armor from the dead Hu people to arm themselves, and then led them away from there.

Fortunately, he had killed all the Hu people, and none had escaped alive. Otherwise, if they had lingered here for so long, other Hu people would have already come upon hearing the news.

Lin Xiao rode on a captured horse, holding a map in his hand. It was a map purchased from the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion at Shanhaiguan Pass, and it was now proving useful.

The map was very detailed. He studied it carefully and decided to lead them into the nearby Zushan Mountain.

There was no other choice. The map he bought only covered this area, and he was only familiar with the surroundings. Moreover, they had no food on them and couldn't travel too far. Fortunately, there were some experienced hunters among the group. In ancient times, wild food was abundant, and Lin Xiao instructed them to dig up anything edible they saw along the way and bring it with them.

According to the map, Zushan Mountain spanned several hundred li. Deep within the mountains, there was a basin. It wasn't large, but it was enough to accommodate them.

Most importantly, it was deep in the mountains, so the Hu army couldn't enter. They could only send small detachments. Furthermore, the Hu cavalry, their specialty, couldn't enter. As long as there was enough food, self-preservation wouldn't be a problem.

The group of over two thousand people moved very slowly, covering only about fifty to sixty kilometers in a day. Once they entered Zushan Mountain, their speed decreased further. Fortunately, the distance wasn't too great, and they entered the mountains on the third day.

Although the many refugees were confused, at this time, everyone lacked a leader, and they all followed him into the mountains until they arrived in front of the small mountain basin.

There were no paths in the mountains originally, but where people walk, a path is formed. He had half of those riding horses go ahead, naturally creating a path.

Lin Xiao looked at the small peaks on either side of the basin's entrance in the mountains. He pointed forward, channeled inner force into his tongue, and his voice echoed all around:

"Everyone, look! This is our paradise, a place where enemies cannot enter."

Regardless of whether they were willing or not, they had no choice. He immediately ordered the guards, who had somewhat organized themselves over the past three days, to split into five groups of ten and enter the valley first, with the main force following.

This was a very ordinary small mountain valley, oval-shaped, about three to four kilometers in diameter. The space was vast enough to accommodate tens of thousands of people. Most importantly, in the northwest part of the valley, a waterfall flowed down, forming a rather large pool. The water flowed out of the pool, forming a small river that flowed along the edge of the valley for about two kilometers before exiting the valley through an opening.

Seeing this, Lin Xiao happily announced that they would settle here.

Together with a few literate refugees, he made a rough plan and began assigning tasks to the refugees: some to chop wood, some to build houses, some to hunt. Even the elderly were assigned simple tasks, such as gathering wild fruits or weeding.