The Man with Five Blades Was Cutting Down Everything in His Path!

"Zuo Qianhu." A hoarse but steady voice came from the prison cart. "Night is falling, and the mountains ahead look treacherous. I fear this is no safe place."

"Please be careful."

The man with five blades strapped to his back reined in his horse and turned. "Rest assured, Lord Fu. I was ordered to escort you, and I will do everything in my power to see you safely to the capital. Petty villains and evil spirits will not dare come near."

"You there, fetch another waterskin for Lord Fu."

"Yes, Lord Zuo."

It was against the rules, but the soldier promptly took a waterskin from a small cart behind them and respectfully handed it to the old man in the prison cart.

The man carried five gleaming blades on his back, had a whip and another blade at his waist, and held a weapon in his hand. He clearly commanded great respect. No one in the convoy objected; they all followed his lead.

His faded reddish-brown cloak had several tears, yet it still snapped in the wind.

Inside the prison cart, Fu Tianchou wore a filthy prison uniform. His graying hair hung loose, and shackles bound his hands and feet. After taking a little water, he held the waterskin against his chest.

Despite his sickly complexion, the old man did not huddle in on himself. He leaned against the bars instead, straining to open his clouded eyes wide as he studied the distant mountains.

Night had not fully fallen, yet a thin veil of dusk already shrouded the peaks over there.

A faint, strange sound drifted on the wind. Several crows perched motionless in the dead trees along a distant mountain ridge, their red eyes fixed on the convoy traveling the official road.

"This is bad! There may really be