Chapter 866: Chapter 517: Young Master
In moments, bodies lay prostrate within the blood-soaked ancestral hall.
A group of unarmed villagers, despite fighting for their lives, ultimately couldn’t inflict significant damage on these foreign invaders.
"Immortal Master, a group of children have escaped." The leading officer in black armor wiped the blood off his blade on Scholar Song’s corpse and said bleakly.
The White-clothed Mage inhaled deeply the thick mourning energy in the air and squinted, saying, "Kill them all."
"Yes." The officer in black armor led a few men, mounted his horse, and chased out of Song Family Manor.
On the country road leading to the Prefecture, a boy named Little Wu lay on the horse’s back, crying and desperately whipping the horse, biting his lip hard to suppress his sobs.
As the "king of kids" in the village, after escaping from the ancestral hall, he and the other youths split into different paths, fleeing and searching for safe places nearby to hide, while the most skilled rider, Little Wu, headed to the Prefecture for help.
"Dada dada..."
The horse’s hooves thundered like a storm, leaving the burning village behind. Little Wu clenched his teeth, the wind whistling past his ears, as burning fields lined the road.
He suddenly remembered last autumn when he went out of the village to seek aid too, but compared to the thrilling safety of last time, today’s event was a true catastrophe.
The Prefecture wasn’t close to the village; by the time he returned for rescue, would anyone be alive in the village? So the old scholar’s call for aid was actually a message to run as far as they could. But the boy deliberately ignored this answer; he was determined to reach the Prefecture and bring soldiers back to kill those criminals.
But the pursuers were closing in behind.
The officer in black armor easily caught up to the fleeing boy, tightly gripping the horse’s belly with his legs, and took up his bow and arrow, laughing: "Want to bet how many arrows it’ll take to shoot him dead?"
The soldiers riding alongside joked: "We all know squad leader, your archery is excellent, but on horseback, it’d take at least three arrows... maybe even five."
The officer in black armor smirked as he nocked an arrow: "Two arrows are enough. Let me show you a trick; on the battlefield, shoot the horse first."
Whoosh—
The first arrow whistled through the air, and the horse beneath the boy neighed painfully, stumbled, and fell, throwing the boy via inertia. He rolled on the ground, head bloodied, unable to stand.
The officer in black armor leisurely pulled out a second arrow from the Arrow Quiver, bent his bow aiming at the boy’s struggling back, then suddenly heard exclamations from his men: "Ahead, there’s..."
Whoosh—
The second arrow was already flying, and Little Wu, seated on the ground, struggled to turn his head; in his pupils, the arrowhead expanded swiftly. His face turned ashen, his body cold as ice, but at the brink of death, a streak of golden light flashed, the arrow blade splitting it into two, falling to the ground.
In his daze, Little Wu heard thunderous hooves, the sunlight shrouded by shadows. The rebel soldiers chasing him suddenly paled, turning tail to flee.
"Hold your head up."
The boy looked up dazed, seeing the heavily armored light cavalry, seeing the Jinyi noble who blocked out the sun on horseback.
He opened his mouth, recognizing the face, choked up, tears welling: "Lord Envoy?"
Zhao Douan raised his hand, reinstating the flying dagger into his sleeve, examining this boy covered in blood and dirt, recalling briefly, saying: "It’s you."
He remembered, last autumn, when he and the Commandery Princess first arrived at Song Family Manor, this arrogant boy had provoked him and even received a beating.
The annoying, bratty boy seemed to have grown due to this extermination disaster, showing no vile expressions, falling to his knees, kowtowing repeatedly: "I beg you for vengeance for my clan."
Zhao Douan’s face slightly changed: "Scholar Song?"
The half-grown boy trembled, breaking into tears.
Zhao Douan was silent, and behind him, over a hundred light cavalry were silent.
Suddenly, Zhao Douan laughed coldly:
"In fairness, my reputation outside isn’t great, and your Song Family Manor didn’t leave a good impression either. Scholar Song even followed Zhengyang to the Capital to trouble me..."
Little Wu’s face grew disappointed, losing all color bit by bit.
Zhao Douan shifted his tone, slowly grasping the Chasing Saber at his waist:
"But Zhengyang, that rigid Confucian, for some reason, insisted on calling me ’Master’. Your Clan Leader was Zhengyang’s student, therefore, considering relationships, this matter of blood debts must be settled. Everyone, listen up: disperse now, slaughter the rebels, leave none behind!"
Over a hundred light cavalry answered loudly!
Zhao Douan’s warhorse shot forward like an arrow, sweeping towards the fleeing rebels. The Chasing Saber was drawn with a "shing", gathering thick Sword Energy at its tip like a tornado.
The officer in black armor, who killed with arrows, had no time to resist, blood gushing like a fountain from his armor as his body fell to the ground, eyes reflecting the falling corpses of his comrades.
In a flash, the light cavalry scattered, surrounding and slaughtering the rebels strewn across the entire village, leaving Little Wu kneeling on the dusty road, stunned and speechless.
...
Song Family Manor was vast. Zhao Douan, with a glance, saw at least a hundred rebels setting fires and killing, seemingly the main force of this sneak attack... or at least one of them.
He immediately ordered Ji Yue to call forth rain to extinguish fires, to put out the burning fields.
He then divided into two groups with Lang Shiba, attacking both ends of the town while leaving Tang Jinzhong and other Tributors at the silver mine to guard, uneasy without skilled experts overseeing it, relying solely on Tang Ping and others there.
As he followed the Qi Mechanism, weaving through the burning architecture to reach the Song Family ancestral shrine, he saw five White-clothed Mages standing quietly outside, seemingly... waiting for him?