Chapter 280

If that's the case, Zhang Xu Tu might be in danger—don't think that being surrounded by a million troops with Luo Shixin and Qin Qiong etc. as fierce generals guarding him on both sides makes him safe. Bai Lang can immediately think of several people who could assassinate Zhang Xu Tu—without mentioning the Three Grandmasters, even the Buddhist Sect's Four Great Holy Monks wouldn't act, because it would go against their beliefs; all it would take is an assassin from the Demonic Sect's Heaven-Mending Pavilion. The current pavilion master is the Evil King Shi Zhixuan, and Bai Lang believes that if he were to carry out the assassination, success would be quite likely.

Demonic Sect's Heaven-Mending Pavilion...... Chasing Wave Strike, White Rainbow Piercing the Sun. Those assassins who forsake life and death...... are not killing for money, but fighting for their beliefs; is Shi Zhixuan nowadays the same? 'Surely they must disturb the Sui world? Slay the Sui's last pillar.' Bai Lang doesn't remember this book very clearly; what he can't figure out is why Shi Zhixuan ended up like this.

"I recall he used to be a high-ranking official of the Sui, right? Was it to unify the Demonic Sect? After he slept with Zhu Yuyan back then, he could have just gone along with it...... probably just insanity." Bai Lang muttered, he also had no choice. Zhang Xu Tu must do this; if there were no limits in this world, Bai Lang could merge his true qi with the heavenly and earthly vital energy, expand a hundred‑li violent wind circle to keep watch on him—it wouldn't be impossible......

"If the limit were truly raised, I think those old‑hand experts in this world would probably not be inferior to me one by one—after all, what restricts them is also this limit, not their talent." Bai Lang's thoughts turned quickly, yet he still couldn't figure out how to protect Zhang Xu Tu—and the thing he doesn't realize is that he himself is actually one of the assassination targets.

He garrisoned Yingyang City, stabilizing the whole Yingyang Commandery—if Yingyang stays peaceful, Henan Circuit remains stable, those granaries won't be lost, and the Sui realm won't fall for now. So Bai Lang is actually also one of this world's "balances"—although he doesn't have Zhang Xu Tu's stature of a national pillar, his importance isn't much less than that of Wang Shichong guarding Luoyang. Using captured prisoners to fill the ranks? Bai Lang never considered that; he had the acting commandery governor send those who surrendered voluntarily to farm— that's the real approach.

"What use are such people? Feeding them as soldiers just to eat grain? What good are they? Is the realm short of soldiers and overrun with bandits?" Bai Lang's words left the acting commandery governor speechless—there's really nothing to discuss with such a martial man. Zhang Xu Tu must leave; Bai Lang can't stop him, so he can only occasionally take the commandery troops on a patrol around Yingyang Commandery, mainly following Zhang Xu Tu's main force—before even leaving Yingyang Commandery, one couldn't say Bai Lang overstepped his duties and violated Zhang Xu Tu's orders.

Upon reaching the border of Yingyang Commandery, Bai Lang had to bring the commandery troops back. The journey was extremely quiet, not a single bandit raised its head—any bandit daring to cause trouble in Yingyang has basically become material for the Skull Mound. Consequently, the whole Henan Circuit is quite peaceful—after Zhang Xu Tu's slaughter, nearly all matured rebel armies were crushed and destroyed, forced to seek livelihoods in other circuits. In Jianghuai Circuit, lacking Zhang Xu Tu, Du Fuwei is now causing a great disturbance.

No matter how big a disturbance Du Fuwei stirs up, as soon as Yang Guang makes a move, he's a dead man—Yang Guang's personal Xiaoguo Army of a hundred thousand is the era's elite; a mere Jianghuai force could never withstand it. Thus men of insight mostly regard Du Fuwei as a clown jumping on beams, and this is also because he lacks a distinguished family name, being neither Jiangnan nobility nor Guanzhong aristocracy.

The fame of the Twin Dragons is also gradually growing; even Bai Lang in Yingyang Commandery has heard their names—some say they are Du Fuwei's adopted sons, others say they hold the secrets of Yang Gong's Treasure Vault. Poor Du Fuwei looks old; being a few years older than those two lads, he became their father. But that's history; in this world Du Fuwei really is a middle‑aged man, a major underworld boss—after all, he was originally a sheep thief.

These two are quite capable of stirring up wind and rain, truly worthy of being central figures of this world—looking at their appearance, they are also heading all the way toward Luoyang, seeming to intend to find a way to extract Yang Gong's Treasure Vault.

"I still owe you quite a bit of money." Bai Lang muttered. He had just returned to Yingyang City, arranging for the commandery troops to return to camp while he himself headed back to his manor. Bai Lang had no guards around him; he has always refused to keep a personal guard, which is purely a reliance on his own martial prowess. He rode his Raindrop Azure slowly along the street; at this moment his killing intent had turned into aura, so he didn't become a street‑sweeping tiger, yet he could still make passersby bow their heads.

He walked about feeling proud and satisfied; the furtive glances of the townsfolk in Bai Lang's mind were probably much like how Yang Su was seen by the Southern Chen populace back then—"The Duke of Qinghe was regarded as a river god, so perhaps this household could also be seen as a god by the common folk." But as he walked, Bai Lang's drooping eyebrows twitched slightly; the White Tiger Heart's perception of killing intent is acutely sensitive, and Bai Lang sensed far too much killing intent—just within this city, many people wished him dead.

But the killing intent he now perceives is what truly makes Bai Lang twitch slightly—ordinary people's killing intent merely lets him "notice" it. This strand of killing intent is extremely faint, even thinner than that of ordinary folk—yet its essence is completely different. In Bai Lang's perception, this killing intent was rapidly dissipating and finally vanished completely. "Huh?" Bai Lang's brow twitched, but he showed no other reaction, still acting as if nothing were happening.

The sound of hooves clattered; Bai Lang had indeed had horseshoes put on his warhorse—but in this era, horseshoes are rarely used; in China's regions, even the Turks heat the hooves with a branding iron to achieve hardening. Bai Lang had someone forge horseshoes, and the specific trimming and fitting were done by an old horse‑hand he found, feeling his way— in the days without horseshoes, one still had to trim the hooves regularly, otherwise the horse would soon split its hooves and be ruined.

Thus Bai Lang's warhorse has a distinctly different hoofbeat and strikes with greater force. He was about to reach his manor when Wei Zhenzhen was already standing at the gate to greet him. At that very moment, a sword suddenly flew out from the shadow on one side, thrusting straight at Wei Zhenzhen. This woman had no combat awareness whatsoever; the sword struck and she simply froze with an "ah". Bai Lang leapt from his horseback like wind from a tiger, acting after the strike but arriving first—he appeared fully capable of intercepting that sword.

The swordsman was a typical black‑clad masked assassin, but what was the point of assassinating Wei Zhenzhen? This woman is utterly worthless. Bai Lang hadn't considered that; he merely didn't want to see a maid die before his eyes, so his instinct to rescue her was just like his instinct to kill. And at the instant he seized the assassin's sword with one hand, twisted it, and with the other claw tore away, nearly splitting the assassin's half‑body into four blade‑like strips formed by his four fingers.

A strange and ferocious sword light suddenly shot out from beneath the assassin, whose body was torn open and blood spraying everywhere, thrusting straight at Bai Lang...