Six Gates Arrives

Ten days had passed since Creek River Village was ransacked.

Over those ten days, Shuang'an Town grew tenser by the day.

First, the young militia members sent out on patrol discovered large swathes of fresh campfire traces and footprints in the forests beyond the town.

Judging by the scale, there had to be at least several dozen people.

Then, the road from the town to the county seat seemed to have been cut off.

Traveling merchants and peddlers who usually came and went through Shuang'an Town around the year's end were nowhere to be seen now.

Two townsfolk who had wanted to visit relatives in the county seat vanished halfway there. The next day, their bodies were dumped outside the town gate.

No one dared leave town again.

Wang Chong increased the daily training. They had originally trained only for half a day in the mornings, but now another session was added in the afternoon, focusing on alley fighting and wall defense.

He also gathered every usable piece of iron in town and had the blacksmith work through the night forging iron hoops for the shafts and spearheads.

Ditches began to be dug into the earthen slopes outside the town walls, while waist-high stone barricades were piled up at the town gate.

He also had the townsfolk skilled in carpentry nail a row of sharpened wooden stakes atop the walls, their points facing outward.

Wang Chong went door to door once more, dragging every strong young man with courage onto the training ground.

The militia now numbered more than eighty men.

More than eighty men stood in formation on the training ground, a dense black mass.

The weapons in their hands came in all shapes and sizes.

There were staff poles, woodcutting knives, hoes bound with iron hoops, and several hunters carrying homemade hunting forks.

Though their weapons were a mess, their eyes were not.

Standing before them, Wang Chong said no grand words. He only asked one question. "Behind you are your parents, your wives, and your children. Can you retreat?"

"No retreat!" The roar of over eighty men shook the old locust tree beside the training ground until its leaves rustled down.

Wang Chong judged that the bandits were highly likely to strike during the New Year, so he intensified the training and troop arrangements.

Among them, Wang Chong noticed that Chen Jing's Fierce Tiger Stance had reached minor accomplishment. He patted Chen Jing's shoulder and said he had talent.

But he was simply too busy to say more.

As for the county yamen, there had been no news at all, infuriating Instructor Wang so much that he cursed his mother.

Still, curses were curses. Wang Chong could not simply throw in the towel.

After cursing, he continued arranging the defenses with a face as dark as iron.

He divided the more than eighty militia members into four teams to guard the town gate, the eastern side of town, the western side of town, and the small path behind the mountain.

Each team was assigned a captain, taking shifts so that the men could rest but the posts never stood empty.

He also had the town's gongs and drums distributed, agreeing on signals: three short gong strikes meant enemies had been spotted, while continuous long strikes meant the bandits were attacking the town.

The whole of Shuang'an Town was like a bow drawn taut.

Its string was gradually being pulled to its limit.

In such an atmosphere, Chen Jing remained orderly and methodical.

It was not that he was not nervous. On the contrary, precisely because he knew they would truly have to fight for their lives, he dared not slacken in the slightest.

After ten days—

Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique had increased by 242 points, Basic Spear Technique by 200 points, and with an extra shichen of stance training each day, Fierce Tiger Stance proficiency had increased by 180 points.

From morning to night, Chen Jing's schedule was packed solid, so full that he had no time at all to worry about the future.

Name: Chen Jing

Realm: Body Tempering (Minor Accomplishment)

Martial Arts:

Fierce Tiger Stance (Minor Accomplishment: 195/500)

Basic Spear Technique (Minor Accomplishment: 330/500)

Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique (Entering the Hall: 242/2000)

[Butcher] You are extremely familiar with the Butcher Knife. While holding a Butcher Knife, your attack speed increases by 25%, and your strength increases by 25%.

[Spear Like a Dragon] You are thoroughly familiar with spears and staffs. When using a spear or staff, accuracy increases by 10%.

[Tiger Valiance] You have grasped the mystery of circulating Inner Force, allowing you to unleash the strength of your entire body in an instant. Your strength increases by 50% momentarily.

Just as the people of Shuang'an Town were consumed by fear, a group silently appeared at the town entrance.

They arrived after nightfall, taking the mountain road that was suspected to have been sealed off by the bandits, yet it seemed they had alerted no one.

No one knew how they had passed through the bandits' layers upon layers of watchful eyes.

The militia guarding the town walls did not see the nine figures below until they came within ten paces of the stone barricade, illuminated by the moonlight.

All nine wore bamboo hats and dark cloaks.

The weapons at their waists were concealed beneath their cloaks, leaving only the vague outlines of hilts and scabbards visible.

They stood at the boundary between moonlight and torchlight, utterly still, like nine black pines brushed by the night wind.

The militia men guarding the walls looked at one another.

No one dared open the gate.

Wang Chong strode over with an iron spear in hand, followed by seven or eight fully armed militia members.

He stood behind the stone barricade.

Squinting, he assessed the nine unfamiliar visitors before him.

Though there were few of them, their staggered line formation was exquisitely arranged. They could support one another without obstructing each other's angles of attack.

The leader's full face was hidden beneath his bamboo hat, but the line of his exposed jaw was hard as if carved by a blade.

His breathing was long and steady, nothing like that of someone who had just traveled a great distance.

Wang Chong had served in the army for years. His fighting skill and eyesight far surpassed those of ordinary men, and with one glance he could tell these people were not to be trifled with.

"State your names and business."

The leader raised his head slightly.

The brim of his bamboo hat lifted, revealing a pair of narrow, tranquil eyes and a lean face with sharply defined features.

He reached into his robes and took out an iron waist token, holding it up to the torchlight.

A Xiezhi was engraved upon the token, its single horn raised and furious eyes glaring, lifelike in every detail.

"I am Li Dingfang, a Green-Clad Officer of Six Gates in Green Mountain City."

His voice was neither hurried nor slow.

Yet it carried clearly into the ears of every militia member present.

Chen Jing happened to be on night watch, and he witnessed this unforgettable scene.

The Green-Clad Officer put away the token, one hand resting on the hilt at his waist. His voice was cold and crisp.

"We have come to resolve the bandit scourge."

Six Gates?

Wang Chong's pupils suddenly contracted.

He had served in the army and fought in wars. Of course he knew the weight carried by the words Six Gates.

These were not ordinary constables from the county yamen who carried iron rulers and caught chicken thieves. They were a yamen of pursuit and arrest directly under the imperial court.

They handled major cases, captured vicious outlaws, and suppressed turmoil in the martial world.

Their authority was not subject to local officials. Let alone a county magistrate, even the chief official of a commandery city might not be able to order around a Green-Clad Officer of Six Gates.

Wang Chong felt something indescribable in his heart. After calling out until their throats were hoarse, Shuang'an Town had finally received people from the county seat.

Only, those who had come were not government troops, but Six Gates.

This showed that the county magistrate had never intended to care about Shuang'an Town at all. It was Six Gates that had taken pity on them and sent people to deal with the bandits under their jurisdiction.

Li Dingfang put away the token and raised his gaze from beneath the bamboo hat, sweeping it blandly across Wang Chong's face.

"Who is in charge here?"

"It's me."

Wang Chong straightened his back instinctively.

"I am Wang Chong, the Militia Instructor of Shuang'an Town."

Even Wang Chong himself did not realize that his voice had unconsciously dropped several degrees lower than usual.

"Find a quiet room. Listen to my arrangements."

From the line atop the wall, Chen Jing watched the scene and inwardly cried out in admiration. Impressive. Truly impressive.

The bearing of these nine people was utterly incomparable to that of their own militia youths.

They stood there without speaking or moving, like nine blades sheathed in scabbards, making people instinctively want to avoid their edges.

And that Li Dingfang at their head had seized the attention of everyone present the moment he opened his mouth.

Who was Wang Chong?

A veteran who had served in the border army, killed barbarians, and led dozens of brothers; in Shuang'an Town, he was a figure whose word was law.

Yet before this Green-Clad Officer, his bearing had been completely crushed. His tone of voice, his stance, his reactions—every one of them showed unconscious obedience.

This was the bearing of one in authority.

Chen Jing thought silently that official rank could cultivate such bearing, and formidable martial strength could do the same.

This Green-Clad Officer of Six Gates likely possessed both.

"Good. Please follow me." Wang Chong stepped aside to make way and gestured for them to proceed.

Chen Jing watched Wang Chong lead the way ahead, watched the nine Six Gates constables in bamboo hats and cloaks file inside, and felt an unexpected sense of peace. The bandit calamity plaguing Shuang'an Town should finally have a solution.