Chapter 835

The barking of dogs shook the heavens.

The ground spikes were pulled out one after another.

The hired workers reeled in the long ropes, and the hundreds of large tents that had been propped up were folded away like umbrellas, revealing the brown soil and the messy cups and plates.

"They're finally withdrawing!"

The tree canopy was lush and green, and dust danced in the shafts of light.

Ding Fengmian leaned against the tree trunk, tilted his head back, and exhaled a breath of turbid air, venting the stifling frustration of the past ten-plus days.

Half a month.

A full half-month!

At first, there were hundreds of people, dozens of horses, a few old dogs, and a smattering of experienced Bronze-badge and Silver-badge investigators with special techniques leading the teams.

Xu Xu.

The people became more numerous, the dogs became stronger, and the caravan stretched on without end.

Until five days ago, dozens of spirit-beast hunting dogs, hundreds of short-legged horses, and thousands of people were searching the mountains.

Villagers repaired roads, and fortune-tellers cast lots.

A dozen Gold-badge Imperial Guards led the way! Every one of them had hawk eyes and dog noses, seeing through everything like a blazing fire. A single glance, and they could see clearly everything—how many times you slept with which woman after not returning home in the middle of the night!

Yesterday evening, Ding Fengmian saw with his own eyes that even the Gyrfalcons specially raised in Liaodong had been brought out!

One white falcon led more than ten golden eagles, circling the sky, refusing to land for a long time!

His subordinates were almost discovered.

A narrow escape from death, a rare hawk.

The scale of the formation was unimaginable.

Who the hell could endure this?

He had thought the Xige Prefecture had received some superior order, with the imperial court providing strong support and sparing no cost in manpower and material resources. Who would have thought that after inquiring, it was all bullshit! There was no such thing at all! From beginning to end, it was all the good work of the three great families of Xige Prefecture, and the reason was so simple it was outrageous.

One Hunting Tiger or five Wolf Smokes in exchange for a promise of a sparring match, just to send their own three boys onto a bigger stage.

Ding Fengmian had nothing to say; it was the law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak. His strength was inferior to others, so he sent a single sentence to both sides.

F**k your mother!

Having lived in Xige Prefecture for more than a decade, how could he not know the names of the Three Heroes?

The Yin, Jiang, and Peng families—three great snakes coiled on the land.

It just so happened that within five years of each other, each family had a young talent, two with natural martial bones, and one with supreme comprehension. The three families had good relations and intermarried, so they simply tied themselves together to "operate." Their fame was quite large; it wasn't exactly fake. First came the opportunity, then the "Three Heroes." Under careful cultivation, the three of them had quite impressive strength.

After a few decades of wandering and publicity, their fame had reached the prefecture level, below the province level, and was still quite far from the province.

There was no help for it. Who told Nanzhili to be different from other provinces? As one of the two capitals, Nanzhili was too prosperous, with experts as numerous as clouds. It was too difficult for the Three Heroes to squeeze onto this stage; the hope was slim.

Ding Fengmian had also heard of Liang Qu.

Not to mention other places, at the very least, he was famous around Jianghuai, like thunder piercing the ear; no one didn't know him.

An eighteen-year-old Hunting Tiger who defeated one of the Eight Tribes of the Northern Court, the barbarian genius Haruhan, upon promotion; a Hunting Tiger Perfection at twenty-one—he was more than just a prefecture or province-level figure; he was a pillar of the nation, even above the nation and below the heavens!

Space was especially insufficient; one had to count by time.

The two were completely not on the same level.

The three families' wishful thinking was clear: they wanted to borrow Liang Qu's hand to let the "Three Heroes" take a step upward. They didn't ask for victory, only for two words of praise, a "not bad," which would be enough to step onto the entire great stage of Nanzhili and subsequently drive the family's influence.

For this, they were simply sparing no effort to scour for roving bandits to satisfy the other party's requirements.

When gods fight, mortals suffer.

Because of a sentence someone said half-thoughtfully and half-recklessly, the Hunting Tiger mid-level bandit Ding Fengmian inexplicably became a hot commodity, a "permit" for the three families to enter Nanzhili for development.

The formation dragged on and grew larger.

Disaster did not reach himself. To let the three families leave as soon as possible, Ding Fengmian learned the number of five Wolf Smoke bandits, lacking only two...

Beasts hunt to eat meat.

Once they ate the meat and satisfied the three families' appetites, those people would naturally retreat.

He sighed.

"Fatty has been with me for more than a decade, eating well, drinking well, and playing well; it was worth it. Old Deng, you have a penchant for playing with decent women and love picking flowers; I advised you repeatedly but you wouldn't listen. Over the years, I've cleaned up your mess quite a few times. No matter how you look at it, I haven't let either of you down..."

Patter.

His forehead felt cool.

Ding Fengmian reached out to touch it, and clear water stains blurred.

"It's raining?"

Whoosh~

The shafts of light piercing through the leaves disappeared.

The heavy rain was dense, and water droplets flowed and dripped along the leaf tips, soaking the earth.

The camp at the foot of the mountain was shrouded in rain, becoming hazy. The hired workers buried their heads and ran quickly, working even faster.

To ensure all personnel had left, Ding Fengmian did not leave. He observed silently, then noticed someone in a corner look up, subsequently calling to others and pointing at the sky.

One after another, more and more people looked up, gazing at the sky behind him in a posture almost like worshipping a miracle.

The hunting dogs on leashes whined and crawled to the ground.

The horses tossed their front hooves, restless and uneasy.

The golden eagle landed on the iron frame and lowered its head; only the pure white Gyrfalcon held its head high, extending its sharp claws to hook unconsciously.

What was going on?

At such a bizarre scene, Ding Fengmian frowned deeply. He wanted to turn his head, but the sweat hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood on end, like steel needles piercing out, jamming his rotating cervical vertebrae.

A crimson-gold shaft of light pierced through the leaves and reappeared, instantly illuminating Ding Fengmian's palms as he rubbed away the rainwater.

"Rain in the sunshine?"

Boom!

Excruciating pain eroded the bones!

Flesh, blood, and spirit disintegrated!

A pale-green great dragon spat out a stream of crimson-gold light, straightly blasting apart half a mountain peak. The heavens and earth shook, shattered rocks tumbled and fell, large clusters of white mist rose, and it poured down like a suspended waterfall!

The gale blew so hard the hired workers at the foot of the mountain couldn't stand firm. The white mist rolled and flowed, like a huge white peony blooming on the mountain peak, its soft petals slowly drooping, tightly sticking to the mountain peak.

The heavy rain paused briefly, and flocks of birds flew away in fright.

The large horses neighed in fear, moving their four hooves to flee, only to be forcibly pulled to the ground by martial artists, mud splashing everywhere.

"A method of heavenly punishment!"

Yin Yingbo clapped his hands in admiration.

Ordinary people had limited eyesight and couldn't see clearly, taking it for granted that the crimson-gold great dragon spat it out from its mouth, but the three of them saw it clearly.

It was clearly Liang Qu, standing on the dragon's head, who had shot an astonishingly brilliant arrow!

"For no reason, why shoot an arrow at the mountain peak? To show us?" Jiang Jixi asked.

"First let us provide disaster relief, then let us suppress bandits. Although Baron Xingyi is only in his early twenties, he is not such a person." Yin Yingbo shook his head in denial.

"Could it be..." Peng Chuji's eyes flickered.

"It should be."

"How is that possible!?"

Jiang Jixi was incredulous.

The Gold-badge Imperial Guards were not freeloaders. The reason the three families stuck to this place and didn't go elsewhere was that they had sensed Ding Fengmian's approximate location.

But they hadn't found him in half a month. Why did Liang Qu find him as soon as he arrived?

It was true that Baron Xingyi's combat power was extraordinary, but was he better at finding people than the Purple-gold Imperial Guards?

Facts spoke louder than words.

The pale-green great dragon's wings were like flowing clouds, swooping down. Passing through the "peony flower stamen," the dragon's claw scooped up a person and plunged straight toward the camp at the foot of the mountain.

Countless hired workers had trembling thighs and weak legs, closing their eyes tightly.

"My life is over!"

It was just as the man and dragon collided.

Bang!

The green dragon dissipated, and clear currents rolled over.

A slow, gentle breeze brushed their faces, wrapping around water vapor, slightly cool and moist.

Huh.

Nothing happened?

The hired workers boldly opened their eyes, feeling themselves up and down, overjoyed.

With robes fluttering, Liang Qu and Long Eying landed gracefully, following the inertia, they raised their hands and flicked.

Clatter~

The unconscious Ding Fengmian, covered in mud, rolled to the feet of the Three Heroes like a dead dog.

Slap!

Peng Chuji kicked him, revealing his face.

Ding Fengmian had lived in Xige Prefecture for a period of time, running a martial arts school and doing business; he was a small force, not big or small. After the Ghost Mother Sect incident broke out, he fled. Several people had met him, and even if his face was covered in blood, they could still vaguely identify him.

The two looked at each other.

It was him.

"One guest shouldn't trouble two hosts. I'll trouble the three families to send this person to the government office." Liang Qu smiled.

(End of chapter)