Chapter 21: Startled Horse
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Chapter 21: Startled Horse
By the mountain road, beneath the barren hills.
The disheveled young Taoist gripped the steel blade tightly, its tip piercing into the Cheng family servant’s heart. The next moment, the surrounding mountain bandits erupted in thunderous cheers.
The Cheng family servant, who had originally given up resistance and wanted to watch the other kill him with his own eyes, suddenly mustered all his strength for some unknown reason and grabbed hold of the steel blade.
While forcefully moving his body backward, he shouted viciously: “A life for a life, debts must be repaid! You kill me today, someone will kill you tomorrow! When I die and become an evil ghost, I’ll haunt you, you murderer! What kind of path do you cultivate? The path of Yama or the path of evil spirits? Bah!”
Bloody spittle sprayed directly onto Xu Yan’s body. The dying man’s curses once again caused the mountain bandits to burst into laughter. The young Taoist, whose eyes had turned completely red, screamed hysterically while desperately pressing down on the knife handle, but was firmly held back by the other’s single hand. The two of them continued moving and retreating between life and death, getting farther and farther from the mountain road and the carriages on it.
Inside the carriage, the old man who had closed his eyes suddenly opened them after hearing his servant’s curses. A trace of surprise flashed in his eyes, followed by a glimmer of hope rising.
Cheng family servants never spoke out of turn—this was a rule of the Left Prime Minister’s residence.
The loyal servants of the Cheng family, even in death, would never utter such vicious curses. Such strange abuse and malicious curses should never come from those fearless loyal servants.
Was it fear in the face of approaching death, or did it have another meaning?
Through the thin carriage curtain, the old man noticed the crowd that had moved farther away. He couldn’t see Xu Yan in the crowd, but he could see that the bandits blocking the carriage had decreased from over a hundred to merely a dozen or so.
Some were standing on tiptoe to watch, while other mountain bandits, unable to see the distant drama clearly, simply walked directly toward the crowd.
The blood-covered Cheng family servant and that clumsy young Taoist, under this spectacle of killing and being killed, had completely captured all the bandits’ attention.
A chance for survival!
A flash of understanding suddenly crossed Cheng Yu’s mind. At this moment, the old man slowly extended one hand outside the carriage and grasped the horse’s reins. He gave them a sharp shake, and the horse that had been standing still immediately began moving forward, gradually breaking into a trot.
More than ten bandits still blocked the front of the carriage, standing scattered about, all grinning as they watched the young Taoist in the crowd. Suddenly someone noticed the carriage moving. After a moment of confusion, that person immediately shouted: “Stop! They’re trying to escape!”
The bandit’s cry drew the cold gazes of the three leaders of Yuanshan Stronghold. Almost all the bandits turned their heads back, and at the same time, Xu Yan’s hand gripping the knife suddenly applied more force.
Puff!
Blood spurted once again, spraying across Xu Yan’s face. The knife tip pressed against the other’s heart finally sank into his chest and abdomen, piercing through the Cheng family servant’s back.
When people are dying, their faces inevitably contort, especially when killed alive.
The Cheng family servant’s eyes had already lost their luster. Even in death, he stared viciously at the panicked young Taoist before him. But no one knew that in his dying moment, deep in his eyes was a trace of unknown approval.
As he died, he heard two sounds: one was Xu Yan silently roaring “retreat,” and the other was the sound of a whip cracking.
Yes, only by retreating farther could he draw the mountain bandits to his side, allowing the old man’s family in that carriage to find a chance for survival in this place of certain death!
The sound of the blade sinking into flesh drew the mountain bandits’ attention back again—not because they wanted to watch, but as an unconscious behavior.
Although the mountain bandits all knew the carriage had escaped, and if they didn’t catch up quickly, the fat meat at their lips might fly away, the previous show had been too exciting. At the final conclusion, no one wanted to miss it.
They wanted to see the young Taoist’s killing process, to see the force of that final stab.
“Stop them!”
Flying Centipede’s furious roar finally awakened all the mountain bandits. This group wasn’t too far from the carriage—they could catch up with just a few dozen steps, especially since there were still more than ten people in front of the carriage, each wielding steel blades to intercept.
Just one horse—one person with one blade could chop it to pieces.
“I killed someone? I killed someone!”
The blood-covered young Taoist suddenly shouted loudly in the crowd: “I’m a Taoist, I should be merciful… I killed someone! Ahhhh!”
The sight of personally killing a living person finally drove the young Taoist mad. He screamed desperately, and the steel blade in his hand was thrown out as he flailed wildly. The direction was neither off nor crooked—it happened to pierce right into the horse’s rump.
Puff!
Neigh!
Rearing up on its hind legs, the horse that had been stabbed showed an expression of extreme terror in its eyes. The fear brought by pain finally startled this horse. The two mountain bandits who had just rushed forward were kicked flying by the horse’s hooves. Sand and dust rose as the carriage carrying Cheng Yu’s family sped away in a cloud of dust.
A startled horse is invincible!
Legend had it that a great general once broke ten thousand enemies with a startled horse. When a horse is frightened, the power it displays is almost double that of normal.
The originally modest speed became lightning-fast after the steel blade flew over. Not only did it kick away the bandits blocking the road, but the startled horse also trampled several people under its hooves. One mountain bandit was even crushed by the carriage wheel until his intestines burst.
Breaking through a bloody path in the chaos, the carriage sped toward the distance. Several unwilling mountain bandits had just put their hands on the carriage shaft when they were thrown far away, their steel blades flying from their hands.
At the horse’s rump, the steel blade that had penetrated more than a foot had sunk in less than halfway. It hadn’t injured the horse’s legs but was stuck in the muscle at the tip of the rump. If someone examined it carefully, they might discover that the depth and force of the steel blade were precisely calculated to startle the horse to the maximum degree while still allowing it to retain all its strength to gallop away.
An exquisitely precise stab!
This kind of control over force and positioning was beyond what ordinary warriors could achieve—it required years of practice.
The carriage had already broken through the encirclement. No one would pay attention to the force and position of that blade anymore. The leader of Yuanshan Stronghold roared from behind: “Chase them down! Leave no survivors, not a single one!”
With a rush of movement, heads bobbed and footsteps scattered.
The mountain bandits did chase after them—on two legs. They had no horses.
The second and third leaders were also furious at this moment. The second leader Han Lei strode forward like a small mountain charging out. His initial speed was actually comparable to that startled horse, but he was soon left far behind. The third leader Lu Hai was more cunning—he didn’t chase after them but headed straight for the second carriage.
Human strength could hardly catch up with horses. Although the three leaders had extraordinary skills, they couldn’t catch up with a startled horse. But the second carriage was different—as long as they commandeered this carriage to pursue, when the startled horse exhausted its strength, they should be able to catch up.
“I killed someone! I killed someone!”
Lu Hai had just reached the carriage when he saw the blood-covered young Taoist had somehow gotten onto the carriage, rummaging around while muttering: “Little Black, Little Black, where are you! I killed someone, I’m so scared! Little Black, come save me quickly!”
Little Black?
Lu Hai was stunned, wondering what this Little Black thing was.
Clatter, clatter!
While this third leader was in a daze, as Xu Yan rummaged wildly, some silver scattered down from the carriage. Seeing the gleaming white silver, many mountain bandits had long forgotten about chasing any carriage, their eyes darting about greedily.
What fell from the carriage wasn’t just silver, but also some gold leaf fragments, followed by landscape paintings and calligraphy scrolls, as well as valuable jade artifacts. A white jade inkstone shattered to pieces by the roadside, and thick ink with spring fragrance spilled all over the carriage and ground.
Perhaps ordinary mountain bandits had no discernment, but the leader of Yuanshan Stronghold had considerable insight. Flying Centipede looked at the calligraphy scroll trampled under Xu Yan’s feet and the powder of what was certainly an extremely valuable white jade inkstone scattered on the ground. His heart twitched, and he roared in hatred: “Third Brother! Stop that kid! Don’t let him throw any more!”
Chasing after a group of old, weak women and children was just momentary amusement, but if all these precious belongings were destroyed by that kid, it would truly be a waste of effort.
That was all money—real gold and silver were the foundation of these mountain bandits’ livelihood.
