Lawless (Please Keep Reading)

A group of people escorted him from Little Ink Village toward the county as if they were escorting a criminal.

From his memories, Li Yuan knew there was a blacksmith shop along the way. Besides farming tools, it also sold ordinary weapons such as swords and sabers.

When he had come to sell game last year, he had vaguely seen bows hanging inside the blacksmith shop, but he had not gone in.

First, his archery was only half-baked. He could not even draw a stronger bow.

Second, his pockets had been empty.

But times had changed. Li Yuan had a hundred Big Coins tucked away—an entire ten taels of silver!

Normally, he would have headed straight for the government office and checked out the blacksmith shop after the matter was settled.

But when Li Yuan reached the entrance of the blacksmith shop, he suddenly said, "Please wait for me a moment."

Then he asked, "Who can hold the rope for me?"

No one answered.

Li Yuan was about to offer more money when a voice suddenly said, "Brother Yuan, I'll watch him for you."

Li Yuan looked over. It was a tall, skinny young man named Tian Bao, Uncle Youcai's son from the village. He was usually quiet and rarely interacted with others. The reason he had not been conscripted this time was because he had an older brother.

Each family only had to provide one man. His brother had gone, so naturally he did not have to.

As for Uncle Youcai, his leg was broken, and he spent every day lying in bed, so he had not been included in the drawing of lots.

Perhaps stimulated by everything that had happened, this boy, quiet as a stuffed gourd, had begun stepping out of his own world.

"Fine." Li Yuan handed the rope to Tian Bao and walked into the blacksmith shop.

To him, sending Old Master Ma to the authorities was only a secondary matter.

His real priority was buying a bow.

Inside the blacksmith shop.

After some haggling, Li Yuan spent twenty Big Coins on a decent iron bow.

Because of the famine, grain prices had risen four or fivefold, yet weapon prices had not increased much.

Last year, an iron bow would have cost sixteen Big Coins.

After buying the iron bow, he naturally needed arrows. He bought a small quiver of around ten arrows for another twenty Big Coins.

The blacksmith threw in a decent arrow bag for free.

In the blink of an eye, forty of his hundred Big Coins were gone.

Li Yuan gripped the bow and checked his own stats.

Good heavens, they had risen quite a bit!

When he had held the Earthen Bow, his overall strength had been "24~25." Now, it had actually become "(27)39~(28)40."

Li Yuan instantly gained a few more measures of confidence. He slung the bow over his back, and even his entire bearing changed slightly. But then he quickly adjusted himself and walked out of the blacksmith shop without drawing too much attention.

Still, he knew that from now on, he could openly display strength below an overall rating of 10.

And that level of strength was practically the peak among Not Ranked martial artists.

When Li Yuan stepped outside, everyone stared blankly at him in complete silence.

Tian Bao spoke up, asking with a hint of admiration, "Brother Yuan, can you even draw that bow?"

Without a word, Li Yuan flicked his left hand and swiftly took down the great bow. With his right hand, he drew an arrow, nocked it, and pulled the string back in one smooth motion.

In an instant, a dangerous aura radiated from his body.

The villagers following along were dumbfounded.

Brother Yuan had been half-dead just two days ago. How had he become this mighty today?

The others had harbored a few crooked thoughts, but after seeing this, those thoughts began to fade away.

When they looked at Old Master Ma again, their eyes were filled with sympathy.

Old Master Ma was dumbfounded too.

Damn it! If I'd known you'd recover so quickly, if I'd known you were this fierce, I'd have had to be out of my mind to sneak into your house with a knife in the middle of the night to steal money!

After drawing the bow, Li Yuan calmly lowered it again. In truth, drawing a bow and lowering it without firing was an even greater test of arm strength.

"Brother Yuan, I was wrong."

Old Master Ma stopped acting tough. He wanted to admit his mistake.

"We're all neighbors, and I'm already an old man. How about we just let this go?"

Li Yuan glanced at him. "Why didn't you think of that when you brought a knife and blew sleeping powder yesterday?"

"Be merciful when you can, Yuan Ge'er," Old Master Ma continued pleading.

Li Yuan said coldly, "You used a knife yesterday.

If my body had been weaker, if I had been a little less strong, what would have happened?

And if it had not been me, but my wife, what would have happened to her?"

Old Master Ma fell silent.

Li Yuan took the rope from Tian Bao and led Old Master Ma onward toward the government office in the county.

As Li Yuan walked through the streets of Shanbao County, his gaze swept over his surroundings.

This County Son was far livelier than Little Ink Village.

Vendors had set up stalls along both sides of the street, selling all sorts of things: fruit and tea drinks, cloth and made-to-order clothing, steamed buns, stuffed buns, and meat soup, wine, women's hair ornaments and hairpins, children's toys, sugar figurines, and candied hawthorns.

In short, there was a scattered variety of goods that Little Ink Village could not possibly compare with.

As for public order, one only had to look at the people walking the streets to get a sense of it.

Here, people could at least buy and sell goods openly.

Who would have thought that even after the County Soldiers had suffered a crushing defeat, the County Magistrate was gone, and the County Commandant was gone, the county's public order would still be this good?

Amid his astonishment, Li Yuan could not help feeling a trace of longing.

If they could live here, then at the very least, he could bring Sister Yan out to stroll the streets now and then and buy her a couple of new outfits.

At night, they could still come out for a walk and enjoy a little romance, stealing a moment of luxurious ease amid the tension of these troubled times. It would not be like Little Ink Village, where once night fell, all they could do was make babies.

Before long, the group arrived at the county government office.

Its doors were shut. There was nowhere even to submit a written complaint.

Li Yuan handed the rope to Tian Bao and stepped forward to beat the drum.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

He beat the drum for quite a while, but the government office doors remained closed.

Li Yuan waited a little longer, but there was still no movement.

He picked up the drumstick again, swung both arms, and began pounding away.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sound carried far into the distance.

After a long, long while, the government office doors finally opened slowly, and a young man dressed as a yamen runner came out.

Li Yuan glanced at the yamen runner with the saber. His overall strength was "7~8."

He took out the written complaint Sister Yan had prepared and presented it with both hands. "Sir, yesterday, Ma Liu of Little Ink Village entered my home with a knife, intending to steal my money and commit violence. I captured him.

The villagers can all testify."

The yamen runner glanced at the mud-legged villagers before him but did not accept the complaint. He merely looked at Old Master Ma and asked, "Did you enter his home with a knife? Did you steal money and commit violence?"

Old Master Ma hurriedly said, "I've been wronged, sir! I didn't—"

The yamen runner looked at Li Yuan. "Enough. Go home."

Li Yuan froze. "The man and evidence were both caught. Why not investigate? Besides, whether it should be investigated or not ought to be decided by the chief clerk, shouldn't it?"

The yamen runner frowned. "Are you questioning me?"

Beside them, Old Master Ma's eyes rolled around. Suddenly, he said, "Sir, sir, I have something to report!"

The yamen runner asked impatiently, "What is it?"

Old Master Ma stared at Li Yuan. "Him! It's him!

He's the strongest man in our village, yet he dodged military service!

Over a month ago, when the officials came to Little Ink Village to conscript soldiers, he fled into the mountains!"

The villagers fell silent, but Tian Bao snapped angrily, "That's fucking bullshit! When Brother Yuan came back, everyone saw how miserable he looked. Did that look like someone who had been hiding?"

Old Master Ma snorted. "Isn't he perfectly fine now? That means he hid!"

Tian Bao said, "That was because Sister-in-law was willing to spend money on good medicine for Brother Yuan!"

Old Master Ma ignored him and merely looked at the yamen runner. "Sir, dodging military service is a serious crime. If you report this, wouldn't it be a great merit as well?"

The yamen runner gave him a strange look, then glanced at Li Yuan. "Did you flee into the mountains to dodge military service?"

Li Yuan shook his head. "No. Absolutely not."

The yamen runner waved a hand. "Enough. All of you, go home."

Then he glanced at the iron bow on Li Yuan's back and asked, "Can you draw it?"

Li Yuan nodded.

The yamen runner looked at him. "Show me."

Li Yuan took down the great bow with a flick of his hand, nocked an arrow, and drew the string. When he felt he had pulled it to around an overall strength of 10, he stopped.

The yamen runner nodded and praised, "Fine man! Put it away!"

Li Yuan did so.

The yamen runner stepped forward and lowered his voice. "Since you look like a real man, I'll tell you the truth. Consider it making a friend.

The county's chief clerk is already dead. Shanbao County is now controlled by two families and one clan.

They're the ones maintaining public order.

If that Old Man comes after you and you don't like it, just quietly deal with him. No one's in charge anymore."

With that, the yamen runner patted Li Yuan on the shoulder.

Li Yuan smoothly handed over ten Big Coins and asked, "What should I call you, brother?"

"Cai Ze. And you?"

"My name is Li Yuan."

The two cupped their fists to each other, and the yamen runner shut the doors again.

Behind the doors, Old Master Ma stared in disbelief. He was so frightened that he pissed and shit himself, collapsing onto the ground.