Chapter 33: 33 Tense Nerves

Luoning had considered many scenarios on the road to Shanlin Town, but even the wisest person may have a lapse in judgment.

Without sufficient intelligence, there were still some things Luoning could not account for.

Thinking about it now, since Baron Leisen had decided to take a desperate risk to eliminate Luoning, he had to ensure it was foolproof.

Perhaps in the eyes of his opponent, Pulinsite and the others were enough to deal with Luoning and his Guards.

But to prevent any accidents, Baron Leisen had Knight Feilidun lead troops to strike from the rear, enough to ensure Luoning had no way to escape.

Just imagine, if Luoning were no match for Pulinsite and chose to flee, he would inevitably face a pincer attack, leaving him with no path to the heavens and no door to the earth.

This was the entirety of Baron Leisen's plan to put Luoning to death.

Luoning's heart was in a bit of turmoil; Shanlin Town was close at hand, yet he did not know whether to advance or retreat.

Advance, and he knew nothing of the situation inside the town, nor could he gather the manpower to oppose Baron Sain;

Retreat, and his path back was blocked; there was no good way to retreat.

"What should I do?"

He had to think of a countermeasure as soon as possible, otherwise, if the time dragged on and the enemy arrived from the rear, his situation would become even more dangerous.

Luoning looked up and gazed at the rolling forests on both sides of the road; perhaps taking Maiken and the others to flee into the forest would save their lives.

But if he chose this path, he was destined to be unable to take the twenty-nine Guards with him.

Although this group of people were commoners, Luoning had invested quite a bit in them, and he also hoped that among them, two more potential young men like Dawei who had awakened a Battle Qi Seed would appear.

He was unwilling to just abandon this group of people.

What's more, even if he survived in the forest, he could only return to Wushan Castle. At that time, could he use the excuse that Sain Territory wanted to kill him to make Wushan Castle send troops?

It would likely be difficult.

It wasn't that Wushan Castle didn't care if he lived or died, but even if he made an accusation, it would require Along time to process, and it wasn't certain he could topple Baron Leisen.

After all, at that time, he would still be nothing more than a Baron of Shanlin Town who had nothing, had been stripped of his inheritance, and only had a title, while the other party was a Baron who truly commanded a Knight Squad, had operated for decades, and possessed connections.

What could Luoning rely on?

Just by relying on the bloodline of the Wushan family, he could accuse a noble, and then Wushan Castle would go and kill that noble?

This was clearly quite impossible.

It was estimated that in the end, at most, Sain Territory would be ordered to compensate for the taxes of Shanlin Town that had been embezzled over the years.

But at that time, if Luoning still wanted to come to Shanlin Town to continue serving as the Lord of Shanlin, the situation he faced would be basically similar to the present.

The other party would not let go of this territory they viewed as something already in their pocket.

"I need to gain a firm foothold in Shanlin Town as soon as possible!"

Luoning's expression was tense, his brows tightly locked, and he fell into deep thought.

It would be best if he could come up with a way that would neither require fleeing into the forest nor escalate the conflict with Sain Territory.

But just at this moment, Aierlong approached Luoning and whispered a reminder: "My Lord, I hear the sound of hooves coming from the distance."

While speaking, Aierlong pointed to the road they had come from.

Luoning was startled, his face becoming increasingly ugly, "They came so quickly?"

"Hehe, from Sain Territory to Shanlin Town, four hours of full-speed galloping is enough!"

Pulinsite's voice was full of schadenfreude, "From the moment I met you, you have appeared very calm, but now I have finally seen the emotion of fear on your face, hahaha!"

He began to become arrogant, as if he had already shaken off his status as a prisoner.

"Now, you can only hand us over to Knight Feilidun; only then is it possible to trade for a chance to survive."

"Is that so?"

Luoning's voice was icy, and he glanced at Maiken, "Smash his mouth, knock out his teeth; I don't want to hear him say a complete sentence ever again!"

"Understood, My Lord!"

Maiken went up and delivered a kick, then followed up with two punches to Pulinsite's mouth, knocking out all the teeth in the man's mouth, with blood foam mixed with saliva flowing down the corners of his mouth.

Luoning looked up at the road they had come from; now even he could hear the sound of hooves.

"What to do!"

The more nervous and critical the moment was, the more Luoning suddenly became calm.

Facing Feilidun, he had to ensure he was calm enough—calm enough that the other party would not dare to act rashly, which would be best.

"Fear is an emotion everyone has; I will feel fear, and Baron Leisen will feel fear as well!"

Luoning's thoughts raced; what would Baron Leisen be afraid of?

Nothing more than two things.

First, the other party feared that the matter of embezzling the taxes of Shanlin Town would be known to Wushan Castle;

Second, the other party feared that the matter of murdering Luoning would be known to Wushan Castle.

Embezzling resources could perhaps be covered up with an excuse and then compensated for;

But as a vassal of Wushan Castle, to turn around and murder the bloodline of Wushan Castle—that was not as simple as a fine.

Nowadays, the deterrent power of Wushan Castle was weakening, but it was not gone; the old Marquis was only seriously ill, not dead.

In order to maintain the dignity of Wushan Castle, whether it was Lulansi or Weijinsi, they would send troops to Sain Territory in the name of avenging Luoning to deter those who were restless.

He believed the Haide Family would not block this matter either.

Therefore, by comparison, Baron Leisen was more afraid of the second matter.

So, as long as there was even a tiny possibility that he could not take down Luoning, the other party would put away their revealed murderous intent.

Luoning only needed to deter the other party, make them miscalculate the strength of both sides, and make them think that even if they acted, they could not completely annihilate everyone with Luoning.

As long as there was a shred of risk that information could be passed out, the other party would be wary.

If Luoning wanted to complete this "deterrence," he had to act out a play to make the other party miscalculate his strength.

And the most critical part of this play was to make Pulinsite and the others shut their mouths completely, so that the other party would have no possibility of learning their true strength.

"All units, listen to my command!"

Having finished his thought, Luoning shouted loudly, "Execute all the prisoners!"

The Guards were stunned for a moment; they had assumed the few Infantry who were fortunate enough to survive would be pardoned by their Lord, but they had not expected them to meet such a fatal end.

After a momentary lapse, the Guards raised their swords and ended the lives of the prisoners.

Luoning looked at Pulinsite, whose eyes widened, as he had not anticipated that Luoning would make such a choice.

"I see fear on your face."

Luoning repeated the words the other had just spoken, then gave Maiken a look.

Maiken gave Pulinsite almost no time to react, directly swinging his sword to sever the man's head!

"You... you all!"

Disen, standing to the side, was dumbstruck; his companion Kaite had just woken up, only to faint again upon seeing this scene.

In the moment of their shock, Maiken and Dawei ended the lives of the two.

From this point on, ninety-nine percent of all the men Pulinsite had brought with him had died in battle, leaving only one person remaining.

Luoning looked toward Ma'erte.

Ma'erte met Luoning's cold, seemingly emotionless gaze and immediately broke into a cold sweat, terrified to the point of kneeling on the ground.

"My Lord, please believe in my loyalty! Even if you ordered me to challenge Feilidun, I would not hesitate!"

Ma'erte was truly afraid; he had not expected such a young Baron to execute prisoners without a second thought.

Luoning narrowed his eyes, but in the end, he did not strike him down. "You should be grateful that you have value in staying alive."

"Ma'erte is grateful for your mercy, my Lord!!"

The sound of horse hooves was becoming clearer, and Luoning took a deep breath.

In truth, from the moment Aierlong had notified him, he had already run out of time to flee.

From that moment on, Luoning had no choice; he could only stake everything on one final gamble.

"Now, lie on the ground and play dead."

Luoning commanded, "Remember to make it look convincing; if it doesn't look real, I will make it real."

"O-okay..."

Ma'erte lay down on the ground in a panic, but perhaps considering that playing dead this way didn't look realistic enough, he hurriedly crawled up to smear blood from the ground onto his neck and body, then lay back down.

Perhaps still feeling it didn't look convincing enough, Ma'erte steeled his heart, picked up a sword, and slashed his left arm twice, causing his clothes to tear and blood to flow out.

After doing all this, he lay face down and stopped moving.

Luoning couldn't help but raise an eyebrow; this guy was playing the part quite well, and it was fortunate the wounds on his arm were not deep, otherwise he would have bled to death.

However, it is better to be safe than sorry. "Dawei, stand by Ma'erte's side later; if he makes any move, you know what to do."

"Dawei understands!"

Luoning raised his longsword and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Everyone, show your spirit! Form up and meet the enemy!"

(End of chapter)