With the Blade

"...Is that really your leader?"

On the ground, Shan Bing, with blood-red eyes, turned his head and looked at Bai Wujiu with suspicion in his eyes.

Catching Bai Wujiu alive happened yesterday. At the time, he had thought of just chopping this guy to death—simply because of the way he swung his fan with a roguish air, which made him look like no good person. However, he ultimately held back, only because Jiang Wenyuan over there needed emergency treatment.

The severe bleeding from his shoulder, coupled with his entire lower leg being crushed, left Jiang Wenyuan barely hanging on to life by a thread, and at that moment, the only person in the entire Dengzhou City who could muster resources to treat Jiang Wenyuan was this man named Bai Wujiu.

Moreover, Bai Wujiu knelt very promptly.

Apart from that battle at the city gate, Shan Bing encountered no further resistance, and during the treatment of Jiang Wenyuan, this man called Bai Wujiu acted more like a loyal steward, arranging everything properly on Wenyuan’s behalf—which made Shan Bing temporarily quell his killing intent, as even if he came personally, he likely couldn’t manage everything so meticulously.

A compliant, useful, and very capable person, and one that is currently needed to handle matters, made it so Shan Bing couldn’t find any reason to kill him for the moment.

"Perhaps it’s better to wait until Old Jiang recovers first."

That was what Shan Bing thought.

He also needed some time to adapt to his new identity.

Not a War Soldier, not even a Commander, but a strongman.

After experiencing Bai Wujiu’s nearly immaculate service, Shan Bing finally realized that he, at present, was indeed different from the past—this was a feeling he, who was born as a War Soldier, had never experienced before, not even after becoming a Commander; he was just someone else’s lackey.

But this time, seeing Bai Wujiu, who was completely submissive to him, not daring to utter even a half dissenting word, he indeed felt something different.

No need to mind any rules, nor to follow any orders; with power in hand, he was holding authority and strength.

Ultimate violence brought ultimate power.

Although at the moment, his mind was still on the severely injured Jiang Wenyuan, he nonetheless savored that unique position exclusive to strongmen.

"But...we did have a previous leader."

Shan Bing still remembered, Bai Wujiu told him this way.

"We’ve always listened to him... What? You asked why he isn’t here? He’s just not here temporarily; he’s probably coming back soon. Please, don’t look at me like this. I’m someone who doesn’t even know how to use Evil Qi, practically tiny like an ant, like a flea before you superior beings with strong Evil Qi. What can a person as ordinary as me do? Isn’t it just doing whatever you strongmen say?"

Theoretically, it seemed correct; after all, in Shan Bing’s eyes, Bai Wujiu didn’t seem capable of achieving anything decisive—ultimately, after experiencing power and becoming strong, his perspective was completely different from that of ordinary people.

To ordinary people, Bai Wujiu might look like someone holding great power, able to kill a bunch of people with just one command. But in the eyes of Shan Bing, who had become strong, or rather in the eyes of all strongmen, Bai Wujiu’s existence meant merely those meager management skills, nothing more.

Simply because such ordinary people like Bai Wujiu, they could kill a cartload of them with a puff of air.

Hence, there must be some strongman backing Bai Wujiu; otherwise, it made no sense that Bai Wujiu hadn’t been killed yet under such frontier chaos—once knowing who’s behind it, handling it became simpler. Of course, previously, Shan Bing might have been task-oriented, preferring less over more, but now, he’d become stronger, very strong.

Strongmen need not make room for such trivialities; just eliminate the potential adversaries.

But before that, Shan Bing had a question.

"Let me ask once more, are you sure that’s your leader?"

Shan Bing looked Bai Wujiu up and down.

"Why does he seem to not recognize you?"

"Well, this, um, err..."

Bai Wujiu was already a bit sweaty; things were completely beyond his expectations.

Originally, in his expectation, for such a small matter, Forget Sorrow Village should’ve dispatched only Mr. Cui—who was a swordsman of few words, practically a pure Sword Fool, a Sword Fool who only knew how to hack people, with Shan Bing who also wielded military might, as soon as they met, they would certainly fight.

Moreover, throughout the process, there wouldn’t be much communication, the confrontation would probably end with someone lying on the ground, and Bai Wujiu could be sure that the one who died would definitely be Shan Bing.

Because Shan Bing was overly reliant on that large shield; his first reaction to encountering Sword Qi would undoubtedly be to raise his shield, but Bai Wujiu had seen that Cui swordsman kill horse thieves; the Sword Qi, once released, would even turn a corner.

So, when Shan Bing raised the shield to his face, the Sword Qi that bypassed the shield would instantly slit Shan Bing’s throat.

And on Bai Wujiu’s own side, just needing a dagger, he could deal with Jiang Wenyuan, who was still in a drug-induced coma.

A perfect plan where everything would revert to normal.

But Bai Wujiu didn’t anticipate that with plans, they never keep up with changes.