Becoming a Great Hero

The Hu people who remained had no time to worry about the prisoners they were escorting. Under their leader's command, they gathered together, raised their bows, and let loose a volley of arrows at him.

Lin Xiao snorted coldly. An invisible wall of energy nearly a foot thick appeared around him, and the incoming arrows were all deflected.

Once one's inner power reached this level, it could be said to be extraordinarily profound. Many of the methods spoken of in martial-arts legends could basically be used—protective energy walls, sword radiance, Sword Qi, the Hundred-Step Divine Fist, and so on. Their power, however, was nowhere near as terrifying as the legends claimed.

It was like Lin Xiao's current two hundred and fifty years of inner power. Compared with the one hundred and twenty years he had possessed before, it seemed to have merely doubled. In practice, however, its power was absolutely more than twice that of his former strength. It might even be two or three times greater, and the effects it displayed were even more exaggerated.

He charged forward head-on through the arrows, striking down one Hu person with each palm. He battered them into defeat, and even those who fled were overtaken and killed with a single palm. Not one escaped.

When the last Hu person was killed, the captured Han people immediately erupted in cheers. They fell to their knees one after another, thanking him for saving their lives.

Lin Xiao's gaze swept over the several thousand people. Pointing at an old man who looked unlike an ordinary person, he said:

"I just returned from beyond the pass. Old sir, tell me—what exactly happened here?"

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

"Great Hero, you may not know this, but the Hu people have come south. They colluded with Dushan Fortress, attacking from within and without to break through Shanhaiguan and let the Hu people into the pass. By now, most of the north has fallen into their hands. Even the capital has been surrounded for half a year."

"It really was Dushan Fortress?"

Lin Xiao still found it somewhat hard to believe. Earlier, at Zushan Pass, when he had heard the defending general say that Dushan Fortress had rebelled, he had thought it was merely some excuse they had come up with. Now that he had heard it again, he still could not quite believe it. After all, seeing was believing, and he had not witnessed it himself. Yet he no longer disbelieved it completely as before. He was beginning to waver.

After all, the matter was simply too outrageous. How could a mere martial-arts faction rebel so easily? Most importantly, although the master of Dushan Fortress was a Grandmaster, he was already seventy or eighty years old. At such an age, what could he possibly want by rebelling?

After painstakingly overthrowing the dynasty and claiming the realm, would he then hand it over to someone else?

The master of Dushan Fortress had no heirs. His children had been killed by enemies decades ago. If the rebellion succeeded, to whom would he pass the throne?

No matter how Lin Xiao thought about it, he could not see any reason for Dushan Fortress to rebel.

Yet that was exactly how things were. The rumor had spread like wildfire throughout the martial world, and even ordinary commoners knew about it. No one could possibly be impersonating them in a matter like this. It was almost certainly true.

"This is fucking ridiculous!"

But there was something even more ridiculous: what was he supposed to do with the Han people he had rescued?

The entire area beyond the pass belonged to the Hu people. He had saved these people, but they had nowhere to go.

They certainly could not return inside the pass. Not to mention Shanhaiguan right before them—even Zushan Pass nearby, as well as the more distant frontier passes, had all been breached by the Hu people. From what the old man had said, the Hu people had launched a massive invasion this time. Three major tribes, along with numerous smaller tribes, had joined forces, claiming to have more than seven hundred thousand mounted warriors. Every pass in the eastern section of the Great Wall except Juyong Pass had fallen.

Juyong Pass was now surrounded on all sides by the Hu people as well. They had even less chance of getting there.

As the saying went, if you sent the Buddha off, you had to send him all the way west; if you saved someone, you had to save them to the end. Since he had rescued them, he could not simply abandon them.

Looking at the hopeful eyes of the ragged commoners, Lin Xiao sighed and called out:

"Are there any among you who have read books and can recognize characters, or who have served as soldiers?"

A commotion rippled through the more than two thousand people. Only after quite some time did individuals gradually step forward to him. After waiting nearly the time it took an incense stick to burn and confirming that no one else was coming, Lin Xiao found more than twenty people gathered before him. Most had served as soldiers in the past, while fewer than five had studied and could read. This left him somewhat disappointed.

But thinking about it, that was only normal. In ancient times, education was a privilege of the powerful and wealthy. Ordinary people might spend a few years listening to lessons at a village school when they were young and learn a few characters at most. Most could not even write their own names.

He did not dwell on it. He simply had those who could read assist him, then gathered the dozen or so former soldiers together. He ordered them to choose some men from among the crowd and gather them up. They stripped the dead Hu people of all their weapons and armor and used them to arm themselves before setting off with the group.

Fortunately, he had killed all the Hu people without leaving a single survivor to escape. Otherwise, after lingering there for so long, other Hu people would have arrived after hearing the news.

Lin Xiao rode a confiscated horse, a map in his hand. It was the map he had bought from the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion in Shanhaiguan earlier, and it happened to come in handy now.

The map was very detailed. After studying it carefully, he decided to lead them into the nearby Zushan Mountains and hide there.

There was no other choice. The map he had bought only covered this much territory, so he was familiar only with the surrounding area. Moreover, they had no food on them and could not travel too far. Fortunately, there were several old hunters in the group. The wilderness in ancient times was rich in food, so Lin Xiao had them dig up and carry along anything edible they spotted on the way.

According to the map, the Zushan Mountains stretched for several hundred miles. Deep in the mountains was a basin. It was not very large, but it was enough to accommodate them.

Most importantly, it lay deep in the mountains, where the Hu army could not bring its forces. They could only send in small detachments. The Hu people's greatest strength, their cavalry, could not enter either. As long as they had enough food, defending themselves would not be a problem.

The procession of more than two thousand people moved extremely slowly. They covered only fifty or sixty kilometers in a day, and once they entered the Zushan Mountains, their pace slowed even further. Fortunately, the distance was not too great, and on the third day they entered the mountains.

Although the many refugees were puzzled, no one had any leader to rely on at that point, so they all followed him into the mountains until they reached the small basin.

There had originally been no road through the mountains, but when enough people walked along a route, a road appeared. He had half the mounted men travel at the front, and they naturally trampled out a path.

Looking at the small peaks on either side of the basin's entrance, Lin Xiao pointed ahead, channelling his inner power into his tongue so that his voice carried throughout the surroundings:

"Everyone, look closely. This is our paradise beyond the mortal world. If we live here, the enemy won't be able to get in."

Whether they were willing or not did not matter—they had no other choice. He immediately ordered the guards, who had taken shape over the past three days, to split into five groups of ten and enter the valley first, with the main force following afterward.

It was a very ordinary little valley, oval-shaped, with an inner diameter of three or four kilometers. Its vast space was enough to accommodate tens of thousands of people. Most importantly, a waterfall descended in the valley's northwest, forming a fairly large pool. Water flowed from the pool into a small river that ran along the edge of the valley for roughly two kilometers before finally flowing out through an opening.

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

Together with several refugees who could read, he made some simple plans and began assigning the refugees their tasks: some cut trees, some built houses, and some hunted. Even the elderly were given simple jobs, such as gathering wild fruit or pulling weeds.