A slaughtered village, the Northern Barbarians again

At that moment, inside Peach Spring Village.

Not long before, this had still been a peaceful, tranquil village.

But ever since a squad of Northern Barbarian cavalry had entered, all that peace and tranquility had been shattered.

"Hahaha! Kill and loot, boys! Kill everyone except the women!"

A cavalry commander clad in Northern Barbarian armor laughed loudly, then shouted orders to his men.

"Hahaha! Here I come, ladies!"

"I'm going to kill ten this time!"

"The people of Great Qian are weak. How could ten be enough? I could kill a hundred!"

"Then let's see who kills more."

"You're on! Who's afraid of you?"

As the Northern Barbarian cavalry laughed savagely, every villager in Peach Spring Village panicked and began fleeing in all directions.

Their reaction only made the cavalrymen more excited.

Shouting and drawing their long sabers, they slaughtered the unarmed villagers around them. For a time, a blood-red veil seemed to shroud all of Peach Spring Village.

In an alley.

An ordinary-looking man hurried down the narrow path, his face tense as he sheltered his wife and son.

"Haha! Three more little mice here."

A voice rang out, instantly putting all three on edge.

At one end of the alley, a Northern Barbarian cavalryman stood holding a saber, watching the three with a mocking expression.

"Take our boy and run! I'll hold him off!"

Despair flooded the man's heart at the sight of the cavalryman. He hastily shielded his wife and child behind him and shouted.

"But, husband..."

His wife clutched their child, her face streaked with tears and unwillingness to leave. Having never faced anything like this, she could only shuffle in place, unable to decide what to do.

Thinking of his wife and son, the man watched the slowly approaching cavalryman, and a sudden surge of courage rose in his heart.

"I'll fight you to the death!"

He pulled the sickle he used most often from his waist and charged straight at the cavalryman.

If I can just kill him, my wife, my boy, and I can escape.

"Hehehe."

The cavalryman paid no heed to the man's charge, his face full of mocking amusement.

Whoosh!

Gritting his teeth, the man raised his sickle and swung with all his strength.

But the cavalryman merely stepped back, and the attack missed.

His momentum sent him tumbling straight to the cavalryman's feet.

"Husband!"

A short distance behind him, his wife clutched their child, her expression turning horrified.

"Hmph. Useless Great Qian scum."

The cavalryman sneered and drew the long saber at his waist.

"Die!"

"No!"

His wife could only watch from nearby as that gleaming blade plunged into her husband's chest, despair filling her eyes.

"You're a pretty little thing. Come back with me."

The cavalryman's eyes lit up as he glanced at the woman nearby, and a lecherous grin spread across his face.

The next instant, his expression changed. Looking down, he discovered that the man was still alive, a bloody hand clamped tightly around his calf.

"Run! Run!"

The man used the last of his strength to shout to his wife.

"Hmph."

The cavalryman snorted coldly and swung his saber down without mercy.

Slash!

The man's eyes remained wide as he breathed his last.

"Husband!"

His wife did not know where her courage came from. Though she had been terrified only moments ago, she now gritted her teeth and stared with red, hate-filled eyes at the cavalryman who had killed her husband.

"I'll fight you to the death!"

No longer able to spare a thought for her child, she charged at the cavalryman just as her husband had, blood surging to her head.

"Heh. Delivering yourself right to me."

As the wife rushed up, the cavalryman shifted aside and caught her squarely in his arms.

"Woman, isn't it a little early to be throwing yourself into my arms?"

But the moment he finished speaking, he suddenly cried out in pain.

At some point, the woman had sunk her teeth into one of his fingers.

"Let go! Let go of me!"

The intense pain made the cavalryman rain punches and kicks on her.

But nothing else remained in the woman's eyes. She endured the pain and kept her teeth locked around the finger in her mouth.

"You-!"

The cavalryman was just about to do something when he suddenly heard a voice.

"You hit my mother! I'll fight you!"

At some point, the child had also run up beside the cavalryman. He grabbed the man's thigh and bit down hard, sending another jolt of agonizing pain through him.

"Both of you can die!"

In his fury, the cavalryman no longer cared about the woman's beauty. He raised his saber and hacked at the child beside his leg.

That single stroke instantly snuffed out the child's life.

Seeing this, the woman's heart gave a violent lurch, and a surge of strength welled up within her.

Crunch!

The cavalryman's expression changed sharply. The woman had released his hand, but one of his fingers was missing.

"Give me back my finger!"

It suddenly occurred to him that a severed finger could still be reattached within a short time if preserved properly, and he hurriedly shouted at the woman.

Her hair hung in disarray, her eyes blood-red. Suddenly, she spread her lips in a grin and began to chew.

As though to let the cavalryman see clearly, she deliberately opened her mouth wide, forcing him to watch his finger being chewed into minced flesh.

"Aaargh!"

Enraged by the sight, the cavalryman drew his saber and slashed down.

Slash!

The woman fell to the ground with a crazed smile on her face.

"Damned lunatic."

The cavalryman instinctively glanced down and saw that even in death, the woman's eyes remained fixed on him, as though she meant to carve his face into her heart.

"Damn you."

That glance sent a chill through him. Driven by fear, he could not help hacking at the woman's corpse with his saber.

Only when her face was unrecognizable did he finally stop.

"Whew."

After breathing a sigh of relief, he listened to the cries of people still fleeing outside and decided to grab a woman to vent his frustration on.

At that moment, the same tragedy was unfolding not just in this alley, but throughout Peach Spring Village.

On a long street, a group of Northern Barbarian cavalrymen had killed the men, the elderly, and the children, then chased a group of women around for amusement.

They surrounded and intercepted them from every direction, watching the women flee in despair, as though this could satisfy the evil in their hearts.

"Hahaha! Where do you think you're running, little ladies?"

"Hehehe. This way's blocked. Why not come into my arms?"

"I'll give you a chance. Strip naked and run, and I'll let you go."

"..."

Surrounded by the Northern Barbarian cavalrymen, the women were trapped in the middle of the road.

They huddled together in fear, leaning against one another, their eyes filled with terror and despair.

Those who had watched their own families die gruesomely before their eyes were in even greater anguish.

At that point, one cavalryman stepped out and said, "All right, that's enough playing around. Don't forget we're still on Great Qian soil. Quit while we're ahead. If the Great Qian Dynasty's army discovers us, this won't be fun anymore."

At his words, the others immediately reined themselves in.

But the cavalryman who had spoken suddenly smiled again. "Don't look so disappointed. Today was just a little warm-up. Before long, you'll be able to rampage across this land however you please. Then you can play any way you like, and no one will stop you."

At once, excitement spread across every cavalryman's face, as though they could already see that scene before them.

"All right."

The squad leader looked at the women and said, "Find a rope and tie them all up first. Once the others have cleaned this place out, we'll leave."

Just then, a carriage slowly approached from the other end of the long street.

"Squad leader, look! There's an unfamiliar carriage coming!"

One cavalryman spotted it and hurriedly reported to his leader.

The dozen or so cavalrymen all turned to look down the street and saw the carriage.

One with particularly keen eyesight suddenly pointed at it in delight. "Captain, look! There's a real beauty on that carriage!"

"Oh?"

The captain's eyes lit up. He looked over and spotted her too, but he also noticed the man beside the beauty, which made him frown.

He gave an order. "Who's going to kill the man and bring me the woman?"

"I'll go!"

Someone quickly volunteered. Though he knew a beauty like that would never fall to him, he could at least enjoy getting his hands on her while bringing her over.

As for the man beside her, he did not take him seriously at all.

He had the build of an ordinary Great Qian man, nothing like their Northern Barbarian men. One look marked him as a pretty boy. He could cut down ten of those with a single stroke.

Meanwhile.

The two sitting on the carriage were none other than Li Dao and his personal young maid, Jiu'er.

"Young master, they're..."

Jiu'er had spent most of her life in the Imperial Capital, and this was her first visit to eastern Great Qian. She had never seen Northern Barbarians before, so she did not recognize the people ahead.

Every mission Li Dao had undertaken in the Death Row Camp had involved the Northern Barbarians, and he recognized their attire at a glance.

"They're Northern Barbarians."

"Northern Barbarians?"

Jiu'er looked innocent and puzzled. "Why would Northern Barbarians be here?"

"Because they're no good."

Even before entering the village, Li Dao's superhuman senses had picked up the faint scent of blood in the air and the commotion inside.

After they entered, the smell of blood grew stronger, while the commotion gradually faded to nothing.

Seeing the Northern Barbarian cavalrymen nearby, how could he not know what had happened in this village?

Especially now that he had seen the women surrounded by a group of cavalrymen. Everything pointed to a tragedy that had struck this village not long before.

Just then, Jiu'er noticed a Northern Barbarian cavalryman riding toward them.

Frightened, she caught her young master's sleeve. "Young master, he's coming. What should we do? Should we go around?"

"Go around?"

Li Dao shook his head and gently reassured her. "Don't worry. It'll be fine."

Jiu'er obediently nodded. She trusted her young master completely.

Soon, the cavalryman reached them.

Without the slightest restraint, he sneered at Li Dao. "Great Qian pretty boy, thanks for delivering such a fine gift to us. In return, I've decided to give you an easy death. Why don't you kneel and thank me?"

Seeing the beauty pressed so close to the pretty boy annoyed the cavalryman. That handsome face, in particular, made him angrier the longer he looked at it. He now dearly wanted to see the pretty boy grovel before him and submit to his humiliation.

"Young master."

Though frightened, Jiu'er merely clung tightly to Li Dao's sleeve.

Li Dao understood her reaction.

After all, in Jiu'er's mind, her impression of him was still that of the wastrel he had once been.

"Don't worry. You won't have to look at him much longer."

Li Dao reassured her.

Meanwhile.

The cavalryman froze when neither of them paid him any attention, but he soon grew furious. Had they not seen what kind of situation they were in? They actually dared to ignore him.

"Boy, you'd better-"

Shluck!

The cavalryman's words cut off halfway through.

Looking down, he discovered that a gleaming silver saber had pierced his throat at some point, leaving him unable to make a sound.

Thud!

The cavalryman died and fell from his horse, crashing to the ground.

Beside Li Dao, Jiu'er covered her mouth in fright, her face full of disbelief.

She had just seen her young master throw the saber. Though it had happened very quickly, she had still noticed because she was so close.

When had her young master become so powerful?

And just what had he gone through during the time he had disappeared?

[One enemy killed. Attributes gained: 0.21]

Li Dao jumped down from the carriage, walked over to the Northern Barbarian cavalryman's corpse, and pulled the Black Iron Saber from his throat.

"Jiu'er, what comes next might be a little ugly. Go inside first."

"Mm-hmm."

Jiu'er nodded with some concern, but obediently sat back inside the carriage.

By then, the other Northern Barbarian cavalrymen nearby had also noticed something amiss.

Seeing his subordinate dead, the cavalry captain frowned. "Looks like we've run into a tough nut to crack."

"Captain, what do we do now? Should we all attack together?"

"Wait. There's something strange about him. Call for reinforcements first."

With that, he took a bamboo tube from inside his clothes, aimed it at the sky, and pulled a cord attached to it.

Bang!

The mouth of the bamboo tube burst open, followed immediately by a loud report in the sky.

"Calling for reinforcements?"

Li Dao could see what they intended.

But he did little in response. After all, as far as he was concerned, the more people, the better.

Before long, the sound of hoofbeats suddenly rose all around them.

Soon, Northern Barbarian cavalrymen came rushing over from every corner of the village.

In less than half an incense stick's time, all the Northern Barbarian cavalrymen who had entered the village had gathered on the long street.

Most of their horses were laden with plunder, and some cavalrymen were dragging women they had abducted from the village behind them.

"What happened here?"

The Northern Barbarian commander emerged from among the cavalrymen and asked with a frown.

The cavalry captain hurried forward. "Reporting to the commander: I found an exquisite woman here and intended to capture her as an offering to you, but there was a man beside her who seemed quite powerful, so I sent word to you."

"An exquisite woman?"

The Northern Barbarian commander's eyes lit up as he looked around. "Where is she?"

The cavalry captain pointed down the long street. "That man hid her inside that carriage."

The Northern Barbarian commander glanced over. Along with Li Dao, he saw the Northern Barbarian cavalryman lying on the ground. His eyes narrowed slightly as he assessed the situation. "Looks like he's a martial artist."

"A martial artist? Could he be trouble?"

The cavalry captain sounded a little uneasy.

"Hmph!"

The Northern Barbarian commander snorted coldly. "So what if he's a martial artist? He looks barely twenty. At most, he's a mid Houtian martial artist, while I've already reached third grade Houtian."

"Besides, I have all these cavalrymen at my disposal. As long as he isn't a Xiantian Martial Artist, there won't be much of a problem."

"Could he be a Xiantian Martial Artist?"

"Impossible. Why would a genius like that turn up in this godforsaken place?"

Thus, the Northern Barbarian commander felt no alarm at all. On the contrary, he felt this was firmly in the bag.