With the Blade

Only Jiang Wenyuan and Shan Bing, hiding in the nearby mountains and forests, were left staring at each other wide-eyed.

"Have you really received any...blessings from ghosts or deities?"

Even though Jiang Wenyuan usually didn’t believe in such things, at this moment he found it hard to tell for sure.

Those Burly Men exuding an eerie aura were clearly not to be trifled with. The fierce tattoos on their bodies vaguely reminded him of some unpleasant memories—so it was understandable that they could track them here. But his companion having some kind of prophetic ability, that was truly hard to rationalize.

"When you were in the South..."

"No!"

Shan Bing decisively shook his head. Although he did serve as a War Soldier near the Southern Barbarians, he had never worshiped any of those strange deities they believed in.

Such a thing couldn’t be admitted, especially since the deities of the barbarians were notoriously sinister, often demanding human sacrifices just to entertain. If someone were considered a believer in the Southern Barbarians’ deities, they’d basically be labeled as mentally unstable.

Looking at it this way... those tattoos on the Songzhou people seemed somewhat reminiscent of Southern Barbarians?

"Hard to say, it might be something even more dangerous."

Jiang Wenyuan thought for a moment, but ultimately chose not to continue fighting, and instead, silently left Songzhou with Shan Bing.

Although Jiang Wenyuan personally didn’t know it when choosing to leave Songzhou, events proved his decision to be wise. In Songzhou City, a great cauldron was set up, burning day and night, and in the end, because they couldn’t find these two court spies, the local forces in Songzhou had no choice but to throw the four tattooed men into the pot as sacrificial offerings to the deities.

Thanks to this right decision, Jiang Wenyuan and Shan Bing were fortunate enough not to become cooked sacrifices, and luckier still, they encountered a patrol team of soldiers as soon as they left the Songzhou territory.

"Are you from the court?"

The leading corporal looked curiously at Jiang Wenyuan and Shan Bing. After all, they were both agile and armed, especially with Shan Bing’s large shield, which looked quite formidable.

Seeing the familiar armor of the soldiers opposite them, Shan Bing instinctively wanted to reveal his identity, feeling a sense of kinship. But recalling their ordeal in Songzhou, Shan Bing and Jiang Wenyuan exchanged a glance and decided it was wiser to be cautious.

"We are not from the court."

Shan Bing introduced himself.

"We brothers are wandering adventurers, I’m..."

"Great! We’re also not from the court!"

Before Shan Bing could finish, the soldiers cheered in advance.

"Brother! With your stature, wandering is a waste! Why not join us instead!"

"Join, join who?"

Shan Bing was dumbfounded by the corporal’s overwhelming enthusiasm.

How did it come to joining them when he hadn’t even introduced himself yet...

"It’s obvious! To rebel against the little emperor of Jiankang City!"

The corporal dressed as a soldier clasped Shan Bing’s hand.

"Hero, as you’ve roamed the world, you must’ve seen it! The world is filled with demons, and the common people are suffering. Why? Because the Southern Chen court is corrupt and incompetent!"

As he said this, the corporal raised his arm and shouted.

"As long as we overthrow this corrupt Southern Chen, everything will become better!"

"This..."

Shan Bing and Jiang Wenyuan immediately broke out in cold sweats.

Though in theory, they needed to echo such sentiments to fit in with this group of soldiers and avoid trouble, the radical nature of their speech was alarming, and they couldn’t be sure if this was a setup—if they agreed and it turned out the soldiers were secretly loyal to the court, then their words, if reported to Jiankang, would spell disaster...

"Sorry to bother you, we’re not interested in such grand undertakings."

Shan Bing and Jiang Wenyuan saluted this group of soldiers before quickly fleeing.

It was terrifying, truly terrifying, that these soldiers, whose loyalties were unknown, were even more frightening than those four tattooed men earlier!

"So do you really know where we’re heading?"

Only after watching the soldiers disappear from view did the still-shaken Shan Bing turn to Jiang Wenyuan.

"You must know... right?"

"Uh... I know."

Facing Shan Bing’s scrutinizing glance, Jiang Wenyuan awkwardly scratched his head.

"From what I’ve gathered, Master Du was last seen in Songzhou. As long as we enter Songzhou City, we should be able to gather some intelligence... But the question is, do you want to go back?"

No.

It was clear Jiang Wenyuan didn’t want to go back, and Shan Bing even less so. He’d be crazy to return to Songzhou. What if they ran into those four bare-chested men again?

Although those four didn’t even carry weapons, just looking at their fierce tattoo patterns on their bodies made him feel a sense of defeat.

As a War Soldier, Shan Bing had always trusted his instincts. They had saved him countless times in battle.

This was also why he found Jiang Wenyuan a good partner, unlike his previous commanding corporal, who dismissed his intuition and even ordered their squad to hold position against savage barbarians—results later proved his judgment correct. Those barbarians, wielding crude cudgels, smashed the iron armor of that corporal easily.

After that battle, he was the only one left in the squad, along with the wounded yet living corporal, who unfairly blamed their annihilation on Shan Bing, a mere common soldier.

He certainly wouldn’t indulge that corporal because he survived by fighting the barbarians ferociously. So, he crushed the corporal under his large shield and stabbed him in the kidney with his Short Sword.

Afterward, having killed an officer, he was imprisoned, awaiting execution by autumn.

Until the old eunuch appeared before him.

Until his deadly skills were needed by the Chen dynasty once more.

"...what’s wrong with you?"

His companion’s voice broke into his thoughts.

"Are you alright? Why did you zone out while talking?"

"No... just recalled something from the past."

Seeing Jiang Wenyuan by his side, Shan Bing smiled, choosing not to dwell on the lost lead.

In truth, even without any leads, it didn’t really matter; or if they couldn’t find him, it was still fine. After all, the old eunuch only tasked them with finding the person, without setting a deadline—meaning there was no need to rush, they could take their time.

Just like now, returning to Songzhou wasn’t favorable, but couldn’t they find clues elsewhere?

"This is actually what I was getting at."

Seeing that Shan Bing was okay, Jiang Wenyuan continued.

Though they lacked clues in Songzhou City, the rest were not hard to find—Jiang Wenyuan recalled that Master Du left not alone, but with a large group of refugees following him.

A refugee herd that substantial must’ve been noticed along the way, considering their need for massive supplies. Finding out about them wouldn’t be difficult with a little effort.

"This is certainly a lead."

Shan Bing nodded in agreement.

He knew, his partner was a truly reliable person.

"So what do we do now?"

"Being a Ranger is too conspicuous, it’s not suitable to continue this way."

Jiang Wenyuan pondered for a moment, then made a decision.

"Since we need to hunt for refugee clues, let’s first disguise ourselves as refugees."