The Rebel Army's Objective

The tea stall fell deathly silent.

Those words-"They say the Prince of Xiushan has already discovered that the Yellow Robe Army was behind it, that they abducted the princess consort"-were like a needle, instantly puncturing all the clamor.

Chen Fan's hand, holding his tea bowl, came to a steady halt in midair.

So that was it.

In an instant, all the clues fell into place.

That stubborn woman in brocade, who claimed to be the family member of a merchant fleeing the chaos. The pointed threat from Zhou Tong, a Yellow Robe Army chiliarch. The movements of the imperial army. And the disappearance of the princess consort, which had the whole city in an uproar.

What a move, shifting the blame east of the river. What a move, killing with a borrowed knife.

The Yellow Robe Army did not have the guts to touch the Prince of Xiushan's woman. They only needed a target, one conspicuous enough to draw all the Prince of Xiushan's fury.

A mountain bandit chief who had just driven the imperial troops out of Qinghe County and made a name for himself by "robbing the rich to help the poor," and whose star was on the rise.

Black Wind Baleful Intent.

In other words, his present self.

That fellow Zhou Tong had not come to recruit him, but to confirm something: that he, the chess piece, was still sitting safe and sound on the board.

As long as the princess consort went missing and the Prince of Xiushan flew into a rage, all it would take was for "someone with an agenda" to let slip that the bandits of Black Wind Mountain had abducted her...

When the time came, the imperial army would not even need to lift a finger. The Prince of Xiushan's private soldiers alone would be enough to grind little Black Wind Mountain to powder.

And the Yellow Robe Army could take advantage of the chaos in Xiushan Province to shed their shells like golden cicadas and make a leisurely escape.

What a clever calculation.

"Chief, what's wrong?" Smiling Tiger leaned closer, excitement written all over his plump face. "Now there's going to be a good show! The Yellow Robe Army and the Prince of Xiushan are going at it!"

Chen Fan set down his tea bowl, its base making a soft clink against the table.

He offered no explanation.

Explaining all those twists and turns to this bunch of simple-minded bandits would only make them fall apart before the time came.

"The show's over. Time to get down to business." He rose and tossed a few copper coins onto the table.

Smiling Tiger froze, then hurried after him. "Chief, where are we going?"

"To scout a target."

Life on Black Wind Mountain went on as before.

The bandits had no idea that an invisible mountain was already bearing down on their heads. All they knew was that their stronghold's granary was about to be full again, enough for them to enjoy themselves for quite some time.

Three days later, at Liu Family Village east of Qinghe County, cries and screams rang out through half the night.

Squire Liu was a notorious local bully, known far and wide. Relying on his family ties to the county commandant, he had seized land, driven tenant farmers to their deaths, and committed every kind of evil.

Iron-Armed Monkey led his men to Liu Family Village and kicked its tightly shut gates open.

Once again, the operation went smoothly.

Squire Liu's handful of guards and household servants were no match at all for the bandits, who fell upon them like wolves and tigers.

Gold, silver, treasure, grain, and bolts of cloth filled more than a dozen carts to the brim.

In accordance with Chen Fan's new rules, when they returned to the foot of the mountain, Smiling Tiger once again directed his men to unload three cartloads of grain, cursing all the while.

Even more refugees had gathered at the foot of the mountain than last time.

They looked at the fierce, murderous bandits with fear, but also a trace of hope.

"The heroes of Black Wind Mountain are truly living bodhisattvas!"

"That's right! If not for them, my whole family, young and old, would have starved to death!"

Someone in the crowd called out.

The bandit in charge of distributing the grain paused, and an extremely unnatural, peculiar expression flickered across his face.

Living bodhisattvas?

They were robbers who killed without blinking.

Yet that praise... was surprisingly pleasant to hear.

Chen Fan stood up high, taking it all in. He felt no sense of accomplishment, only a sense of absurdity.

He turned to return to the rear hall and continue studying the true meaning of life.

Just then, down on the mountain path, two scouts who had just returned from the county town were boasting about something to the bandit leader guarding the mountain, spittle flying.

"You should have seen it! That scene! The whole Yuelai Inn erupted!"

"Isn't that the truth! A Martial Dao genius! One you'd be hard-pressed to find in a hundred years!"

Chen Fan stopped in his tracks.

He had heard that familiar word again.

Genius.

"What genius? Let's hear it." He walked over with his blade over his shoulder.

The bandits immediately bowed when they saw him.

"Chief!"

"Heh heh, Chief, we were just talking about some news we heard in the county town!" the scout said, his face animated. "The Azure Yang Temple has produced an extraordinary figure!"

The Azure Yang Temple.

Something stirred in Chen Fan's heart.

"A young Daoist named Zhang Shan. Guess what happened?" The scout deliberately paused to build suspense. "In less than three months, he went from an ordinary person too weak to truss a chicken to breaking through all the way to an Eighth Rank martial artist!"

"Eighth Rank!" The bandit leader beside him sucked in a breath.

What did that mean?

That meant he was an expert at the same realm as their chief!

"Is that true? Eighth Rank in three months? You're making it up!" someone said, unconvinced.

"It's absolutely true! Several heroes of the jianghu saw it with their own eyes at the Yuelai Inn! The young Daoist came down the mountain to gain experience and got into a conflict with someone. The moment he made his move, Sword Qi crisscrossed the air, and he frightened off a Seventh Rank expert who'd been famous for years, right then and there!"

"Everyone says an immortal passed his teachings on to him, that he's the Great Emperor Zhenwu descended to the mortal world!"

The scout made it sound positively miraculous, and the bandits around him listened, dumbstruck.

Chen Fan listened quietly.

Zhang Shan.

That boy who had knelt on the ground, skinny as a bean sprout.

An Eighth Rank martial artist.

How long had it been?

The boy who had not even dared raise his head back then had now grown enough to stand at the same height as Chen Fan's current identity.

Genius was ninety percent hard work and ten percent talent.

That boy really had carved those words into his bones.

But the ultimate goal of all that hard work, all that perseverance, was to kill "Black Wind Baleful Intent."

To kill him.

A subtle feeling spread through Chen Fan's heart.

It was neither a sense of danger nor fear.

It was a strange feeling, rather like watching a pet he had raised from scratch in a raising game shoot up in level, nearly catching up to him.

He felt a little gratified, and a little inclined to laugh.

"Chief, this kid... he's not coming for us, is he?" Iron-Armed Monkey had joined them at some point. He remembered that the young Daoist who had killed several of their brothers last time was named Zhang Shan.

Chen Fan did not answer.

He simply turned around and walked step by step back to the stone chamber in the rear hall, the enormous ghost-head broadsword over his shoulder.

Coming for me?

Of course.

But he wondered: when Zhang Shan had endured countless hardships and finally stood before "Black Wind Baleful Intent," ready to kill his enemy with his own hands, what if he discovered that "Black Wind Baleful Intent" was the very "Young Master Zhao Long" whose kindness he had never stopped thinking of repaying?

What a marvelous expression would appear on that delicate face?

Chen Fan's fingertip tapped lightly once on the rough hilt.

Of course, he could not reveal that he had once been Zhao Long.

Death-Substitution Rebirth was his greatest secret. There was no way he could let outsiders know about it.

As for Zhang Shan, he was indeed somewhat troublesome.

It was not that he feared death. What worried him was that if he really died at Zhang Shan's hands, Zhang Shan would die too.

As for Zhang Shan, his former underling, he did not want that to happen.

What he had once done on a whim had turned into this, beyond anything he had expected...

Chen Fan reflected that Xuanyangzi truly had a good eye. Zhang Shan really did have the makings of a Grandmaster!