Chapter 74: The Figure on the Sword-Watching Plateau

Linjiang Commandery, Qingfeng Mountain.

Guanjian Gorge.

Several dozen sturdy demon horses ran without rest day or night, hooves churning, kicking up wave after wave of dust.

With a long sigh.

The vice-captain, draped in a black cloak, swung down from his horse and looked toward a neat row of tents ahead.

It was early morning; the campfire had caught the dew, the charcoal crackling and popping, sending up wisps of white smoke.

Some ten-odd corpses of Golden Eagle Captains had been gathered together, every body covered in sword wounds, flesh split open, bone visible deep within.

Hong Lei led his demon horse, his eyelid twitching slightly.

If the outer-camp Captains were more like wandering knights of the jianghu, skilled at joining forces in small groups to investigate cases and handle matters, then the inner-camp Captains were an army — a hundred or more joining into a Great Demon-Suppression Formation, sweeping through demon lairs like splitting bamboo.

Once casualties appeared, it meant the severity of the situation was nearly out of control.

Perhaps hearing the hoofbeats.

A youth, also wearing a cloak but with a Golden Eagle embroidered on his shoulder, walked out of the tent.

He looked at least ten years younger than Hong Lei.

His right arm was wrapped in bandages, his face pale, his breath unsteady.

He frowned slightly, displeasure in his voice: "Why so late?"

"I'm the one who wants to ask you that, Vice-Captain Zhao." Hong Lei's words carried a cold edge; his other hand rested on the scabbard. "I gave you forty men and horses, just to hold Guanjian Gorge, to keep Qingfeng disciples from leaving the mountain on their own — and this is how you held it?"

As he spoke, he turned his gaze toward those dozen-odd corpses.

Guanjian Gorge was a high cliff, the terrain treacherous, easy to defend and hard to attack; if Qingfeng disciples wished to descend, not a single move could escape the ears and eyes of the Demon Suppression Bureau.

Any unusual movement at all would leave enough time to report upward and request reinforcements.

"I don't make a habit of sitting around idle here."

Zhao Kanglin raised a contemptuous brow and sneered: "If that old Rage Sword hadn't suddenly shown up, I'd have led my men straight through long ago, and before General Chen it would have counted as a great merit for me."

Hearing this, Hong Lei barely restrained the urge to slap him across the face.

He raised his eyes toward the top of that high cliff.

There, at the cliff's edge, a grey-robed figure sat cross-legged; sparse silver hair was gathered into a topknot with a wooden pin, eyes slightly closed, face withered, both palms spread flat on his knees, an unremarkable iron sword laid across them.

The Rage Sword Elder of Qingfeng Gate — many years ago he had already been a swordsman at the peak of the Jade Liquid Realm, and within Outside Qingzhou he was quite renowned.

If not for his aged and failing body, his lifespan already past three hundred, his fear of failure, his unwillingness to waste a precious chance at the Sword Pool to condense a Core, there was in fact a probability he could have achieved the Nascent Core Realm.

"Though I'm wounded, he took a hidden loss too — he won't recover in less than ten days to half a month."

Self-satisfaction rose in Zhao Kanglin's eyes.

He came from a famous house, used his family's secret art, and with mid-stage of Jade Liquid Realm cultivation crossed realms to trade wounds with a renowned jianghu elder — and still escaped back. No matter to whom he told it, it was enough to be proud of.

Seeing him in high spirits.

Whether the Golden Eagle Captains by the tents or the outer-camp Captains mounted on demon horses, every face looked rather grim.

"..."

Shen Yi held the reins with an expression as usual.

So this was the reason they had been forcibly reassigned here.

"Heh, merit." Hong Lei bared his teeth, gave the other a deep look: "You'd better go back and prepare for the whip."

"You!" Zhao Kanglin clenched his teeth — if not for his bad luck, stranded here, in desperate need of men to hold the position.

A mere outer-camp vice-captain, daring to speak to him like that — a thing with no manners at all.

Hong Lei paid him no more heed, turned and said: "Outer-camp disciples, dismount!"

Some forty-odd men dropped to the ground in unison.

Hong Lei walked past them one by one: "We left in a hurry earlier, no time to talk. Most of you aren't my men. My surname is Hong; I've served as vice-captain in the Zhen Mo Si for sixty years, mid-stage of Jade Liquid Realm cultivation, working all along for General Chen — yes, the very Chen Qiankun old gentleman now atop Qingfeng Mountain."

"I know you all harbor resentment, being made to clean up the mess for these fools who've gone soft in Outside Qingzhou."

"Don't worry — as long as you don't make mistakes, once we return, every one of you will be credited with one Nascent Core Realm merit."

At these words, excitement finally showed on many Captains' faces.

One had to know: to go from one stripe to two, for demon calamities of the Jade Liquid Realm, one had to take part in five; from two stripes to three, it took twenty or more.

And taking part in one Nascent Core Realm demon incident, converted down, was worth at least twenty of the Jade Liquid Realm.

Besides, this time it was called Nascent Core Realm, but in truth they didn't need to act at all — only hold this mountain for General Chen Qiankun.

"Three bottles of precious pills, a top-grade martial art of the early realm with no restrictions, one lower-grade martial art of the Jade Liquid Realm."

"Three years' salary, two months' leave."

As Hong Lei raised his palm.

Forget the others — even Shen Yi's eyes shifted slightly.

The Zhen Mo Si was harsh, harsh indeed, but when it paid out, it really was generous.

Back in Bai Yun County, these things were beyond even dreaming of; now every one of them had a share.

"And what you have to do is hold this long cliff for me."

Hong Lei said in a low voice, lowered his palm, and came before the first man: "Name and realm?"

"Liu Daqian, late-stage of the early realm, skilled with the saber."

"Wang Meng, late-stage of the early realm, know a bit of fist and palm."

"Dai Bing, early stage of Jade Liquid Realm, I… use the sword."

Hong Lei's steps paused slightly; his gaze lingered a moment on the woman's sleeve cuff — three cloud stripes, very eye-catching.

Such a young early-stage of Jade Liquid Realm — naturally she could not be a nobody.

He casually reached a hand toward the long sword at her waist; Dai Bing's expression turned complicated, she stepped back half a pace, her palm guarding her sword.

Hong Lei tugged at the corner of his mouth, a thoughtful look on his face.

He then walked toward the next person.

The young man was tall and slender, his back ramrod straight, a pitch-black ceremonial saber slanting at his waist, and a robe of ink-black that seemed tailored for him.

His features were proper and handsome; aside from a rather fair complexion, it was hard to find any fault.

His gaze swept over the two cloud patterns on the other's sleeve cuff, and Hong Lei asked slowly, "Perfect Initial Realm?"

Shen Yi shook his head and said coolly, "Jade Liquid Realm."

The moment the words fell, an uproar broke out among the captains.

Though they were all well-traveled scions of Outside Qingzhou, ordinarily speaking, anyone who could break through to Jade Liquid Realm by their seventies or eighties would already count as a high-level expert capable of holding down a household.

A man of about thirty at the early stage of Jade Liquid Realm — that could only be achieved with the foundation of a first-rate sect, combined with exceptional natural talent.

Even if the other party had ways of preserving their looks and were actually forty, it would still be utterly shocking.

Of course, what was hardest to accept of all was—

Such a figure had only just asked a few people, and already two had appeared.

"..."

Hong Lei paused slightly, suddenly recalling the other's face.

In that little side courtyard, there had stood two experts — the Commandant's disciple and the Li family's Young Lady — and the big-bellied burly fellow beside them, though he looked faint in aura, being able to stand alongside them meant he must be a person of some renown as well, simply employing an unfathomably profound method of concealing his aura.

Likewise, for the man before him to possess such strength was hardly surprising.

The other clearly had the ability to refuse, yet still came with him to Qingfeng Mountain — a young hero ought to be just so.

Thinking of this, Hong Lei's expression softened considerably: "Don't worry, it's only guarding the cliff. Old Master Chen hasn't truly set his mind to it, to draw the butcher's blade against the Qingfeng Sect. As long as they hand over that person, we'll naturally beat the drums and head home."

"The premise is — don't be like that young master spoiled rotten by his family, a man in his forties acting like a pig's brain."

(End of this chapter)