Breaking Through the Siege

Wang Chong and Chen Jing moved swiftly through the dense forest.

The curses and footsteps behind them never stopped. Judging from the noise, at least six or seven mountain bandits were dogging their heels.

As Wang Chong ran, he lowered his voice and said to Chen Jing, "First pull some distance between us, separate the pursuers from the main force, then find favorable terrain and cut off the tail. Understood?"

Chen Jing nodded.

He knew Wang Chong was teaching him through real combat.

The two ran for another while before the terrain ahead suddenly changed. The dense forest fell away, and a rocky highland appeared before their eyes.

Several large bluestones half a man tall lay strewn across the slope, occupying the high ground with a broad field of vision.

Wang Chong's eyes lit up, and he made a hand signal.

In a few steps, the two rushed onto the highest bluestone.

They turned and stood firm.

The pursuers soon arrived.

There were seven mountain bandits in all. After chasing them the whole way, they were all somewhat out of breath. When the two in front saw them standing on the bluestone instead of running, they grinned savagely and said, "Damn it! I'll make you run!"

Before the words had even fallen, they raised their blades and charged up the slope.

From his commanding height, Wang Chong thrust out with his iron spear and pierced the first mountain bandit through the chest in one strike.

Chen Jing held the other side of the bluestone. His White-Shaft Spear shot out like a venomous snake, the talent [Spear Like a Dragon] continuing to exert its force, and his spear stabbed into the second mountain bandit's chest.

The spear tip pulled free, blood sprayed out, and the man tumbled backward down the slope.

In two exchanges, two mountain bandits had lost their lives.

The five mountain bandits coming up from behind all faltered at once, clearly not expecting these two fleeing targets to be so thorny to handle.

But the mountain bandits had the advantage in numbers after all. The remaining few quickly steadied themselves; three feinted from the front, while the other two flickered aside and burrowed into the bushes nearby.

Chen Jing gripped the White-Shaft Spear tightly, its tip aimed at the three mountain bandits in front, while the corner of his eye kept sweeping over the movement on both sides.

Suddenly, a loud roar came from behind him, and two figures burst out of the bushes beyond the bluestone.

They had flanked him from the side, and their blades came chopping down.

Chen Jing had no time to retract his spear. He made an instant decision, swept his right hand to the small of his back, and the pig-slaughtering knife came out of its sheath, as if the Butcher had descended into the world.

The blade hummed, as though it had come alive.

With a swish, the mountain bandit's arm instantly flew up.

Under the enhancement of the [Bone-Breaking] attribute, chopping off an arm was as simple as slicing vegetables for Chen Jing.

The mountain bandit screamed miserably and dropped to his knees. Chen Jing turned his wrist, the blade swept across his throat, and the scream came to an abrupt end.

Pig-Slaughtering Blade Technique proficiency +10.

The mountain bandits below the bluestone were so terrified by this scene that they all took a step back, but it was already too late.

With one blade in hand, Chen Jing's entire aura suddenly changed, becoming a Butcher who killed men as if slaughtering pigs.

He pounced down from the bluestone like a fierce tiger descending the mountain. Blade light flashed again and again, and there were two wet sounds.

Of the two mountain bandits, one was stabbed through the heart and the other had his throat slit. They fell backward to the ground.

On Wang Chong's side, he had already dealt with the bandits in front. With a flick of his iron spear, he also knocked the flanking mountain bandit to the ground.

He looked back at Chen Jing.

Those few cuts from this kid just now had been fast and ruthless.

He cut people down as neatly as chopping ribs. Compared with when he had killed those wandering bandits, he seemed to have improved by another large step.

Chen Jing wiped the blood from the pig-slaughtering knife on a mountain bandit's clothes and slid it back into the small of his back. The blood and qi throughout his body were scalding hot, but his breathing was not disordered.

Along this road, he had stabbed and hacked, killing four or five mountain bandits and gaining quite a bit of proficiency, but now was not the time to examine the panel closely.

There could still be pursuers on the mountain path at any moment.

"Stop looking. Let's go."

Wang Chong put away his spear and led Chen Jing away.

At this moment, Chen Jing only felt fortunate that the two of them had been traveling with the merchant caravan, with a large group of people to draw attention for them, allowing the two of them to escape smoothly.

If just the two of them had encountered Clear Wind Stronghold alone, with over a hundred men surrounding them from front, back, left, and right, they would definitely have been dead.

If you can't find it by searching the book title, you can try searching the author. Maybe the title was just changed!

After shaking off Clear Wind Stronghold's pursuers, Wang Chong speculated, "The mountain bandits have very likely blocked the main roads both ahead and behind."

"If we want to enter Green Mountain City, we can only take a detour."

He picked up a dry branch and roughly drew a few lines in the mud, simply indicating the terrain of the mountains, rivers, and valleys around Green Mountain City.

"To be safe, we'll make a big loop south, cross two mountain ridges, and circle into Green Mountain City from the south."

"The men of Clear Wind Stronghold couldn't spread themselves that wide."

"And besides, they've always been the sort to fire one shot and move to another place. The county yamen and Six Gates weren't fools either; they wouldn't let them run rampant for long."

"One more day's walk."

Wang Chong tossed aside the dead branch and rose to his feet.

"Save your strength while we're on the road. If you get tired, tell me. Clear Wind Stronghold will definitely scatter their men to search the mountains."

"We have to be ready to break out again at any moment."

Chen Jing nodded. "I'll listen to Uncle Wang."

The two said no more. One in front and one behind, they slipped into the deeper forest.

Wang Chong opened the way ahead, his footsteps very light. After every stretch, he stopped and cocked his ear to listen for a while.

Only after confirming the way ahead was safe did he continue forward.

Chen Jing followed behind, watching and learning intently as he went.

He stepped with the footwork of the Fierce Tiger Stance, each step planted steadily into the thick fallen leaves, doing his best not to make a sound.

The forest was terrifyingly quiet.

Now and then, a bird would burst up in a flurry of wings, enough to make a man's heart clench hard.

After walking for about four hours, the sun tilted west.

Wang Chong found a hidden hollow in the mountain, its back against a sheer cliff face, dense shrubs in front. From outside, it was impossible to see what was within.

The two sat down, took out their dry rations and waterskins, and silently gnawed a few mouthfuls of coarse-grain flatbread.

After resting for half an hour, the two continued on their way.

They walked until dusk brushed the sky black, and the light in the mountain forest had dimmed so much that the road underfoot could hardly be seen, before Wang Chong finally stopped.

"We can't keep going."

He looked up at the sky overhead, sealed tight by the tree crowns, with only a few threads of dark purple afterglow left.

"Walking mountain paths at night is too dangerous."

"Not only might we run into bandit sentries, we might also meet wild beasts. And if we're careless and step into empty air, fall into a mountain gully, then we'd die too unjustly."

He looked around, then led Chen Jing down along the lie of the mountain for a while and found a dried-up mountain gully.

On both sides of the gully were weathered rock walls.

The bottom was covered in broken stones and dead leaves.

Wang Chong groped along the rock wall for a while, and behind a clump of wild vines, found a natural cleft in the mountain.

It was called a mountain cleft, but in truth it was just a split in the rock wall, just wide enough for two people to squeeze in sideways.

There was not much space inside, but it was more than enough for hiding, and the entrance was tightly covered by wild vines. From outside, nothing could be seen at all.

"We'll stay here tonight."

"No fire. We'll take turns keeping watch."

Wang Chong leaned his iron spear against the stone wall and sat cross-legged.

"The men of Clear Wind Stronghold won't search the mountains all night, but just in case, you sleep the first half of the night and I'll keep watch. We'll switch for the second half."

Chen Jing acknowledged him, laid the White-Shaft Spear across his knees, leaned his back against the stone wall, and closed his eyes.

But he could not sleep. It was not that he did not want to sleep.

It was that the string in his mind was still drawn taut, and no matter what, it would not loosen.

What he had experienced that day was even more perilous than when they had charged and killed bandits back in Creek River Village. Back then, at least the nine constables of Six Gates had led the vanguard, and an expert like Li Dingfang had held the field. The militia like them had only followed behind, single-mindedly killing the enemy.

But now, there were only the two of them, he and Wang Chong.

No reinforcements, no backup plan. Everything could only depend on themselves.

He closed his eyes, and his breathing gradually slowed, but he did not truly fall asleep. Instead, he sank into a state half asleep and half awake.

His body was resting, but his ears remained pricked, catching every slightest movement in the mountain gully.