Chapter 357: On the Riverbank — Greed-Provoked Slaughter

The thugs and ruffians who had not yet given up were all fellows confident in their short-distance running ability. They saw that Jier had been riding his horse very fast within the checkpoint, and they could not catch up. However, once he left the checkpoint where the streets were easy to travel and reached the dirt road outside, he slowed down. They felt that if they gave chase, they could still catch up to the mounted Jier.

Jier indeed slowed his horse down gradually, just as they had expected.

But what they did not know was that it was not that Jier could not leave this place faster on horseback, but that he had intentionally slowed his pace.

His hands were itching, and being intimidated by these fellows' intent to rob him also made him extremely annoyed.

Why should he have to flee on horseback? Just because he was carrying a lot of Gold Coins by himself? And this was while fleeing within a managed checkpoint town? If not for the fact that he found it troublesome, and that he hadn't worn his armor or carried his usual weapons when he came over, he would have long since swaggered out of the north gate of the checkpoint with long strides to see exactly who dared to come and rob him!

If it really came to a fight and blood was shed, and the soldiers at the checkpoint wanted to make things difficult for him, those soft-footed checkpoint soldiers—who in his view had never killed a single person—could never stop him, a man determined to leave, before they could gather in large numbers.

Thinking of this, Jier became angrier the more he thought about it. He tightened his clothes and wolf-fur Cloak, and hung the Backpack containing the heavy money bag behind him, tying it securely to the Muan. Then, he took a handful of coins from his personal money bag and gripped them in his hand.

He looked around and discovered that although he could occasionally see traveling Caravans on the road, the ones closest to him were still those persistent, greedy fellows following behind.

He smiled, then used his fingers to flick a Silver Coin onto a frozen, black mud pit by the side of the road; the pitch-black and silver-white were very conspicuous. Next, he flipped off his horse and led it into the bushes by the road.

However, before he turned toward the wasteland, he scattered a few eye-catching Copper Coins where he had just dismounted. The bronze-colored coins landed by the side of the road, which still had snow on it, and were very conspicuous; this was the effect Jier wanted.

As he walked into the wilderness to the east of the road, he flicked and scattered a coin under his feet every few steps. Of course, since Silver Coins were so valuable, he was only willing to use one as bait to lure them; for the rest of the way, he used Copper Coins and Iron Coins as lures.

Walking north from Bingxun Pass, running parallel to the north-south road, was the most important river in the entire Kendall County, the Kendall River.

After Jier left the road and walked east toward the river, it didn't take long for him to cross a gentle slope meant to prevent spring floods and pass through some leafless bushes; he soon arrived at the banks of the Kendall River, which was still rolling along in the cold winter.

The riverbank was open, and because a gentle slope blocked the view, one could not see the nearby road from here. On the river that still flowed in winter, many large and small scattered ice chunks were floating.

These were floating ice from the river surface that had frozen on the plains of Kendall City a distance upstream. After the wide river surface passed near Kendall City, it gradually narrowed. These floating ice chunks were then squeezed and shattered, tumbling and colliding as they drifted downstream with the gradually accelerating current.

Most of them would pile up at the artificial water gate of Bingxun Pass, and then be taken away in large quantities by the populace, hidden in ice cellars under the Merchant Guilds that had the conditions, to be used for making cooling items for the wealthy when the weather turned hot the following year.

Jier listened to the sound of these ice shards rubbing and colliding, and nodded with satisfaction. These complex sounds would certainly be able to mask the terrified, dying screams that would come later.

While scattering low-denomination coins, he arrived at the riverbank, pretending that he was panicked and had lost his way, wanting to cross the turbulent river channel.

He paced back and forth, and soon, chaotic and disorderly voices appeared on the gentle slope behind him.

Jier looked behind him with a face full of panic, then placed the coins in his hand onto the Muan and hurriedly led the horse to flee north along the riverbank.

In the eyes of those pursuing, coins were constantly falling in bits and pieces from the other side of Jier's horse. The reflection of the coins could be seen by them even from a short distance away.

"It's him! He can't run away! Haha!"

"Chase him! Chase him! Stop picking up the loose change on the ground, just go and rob that guy, isn't that enough?"

"Don't mind me, with so many of you, how could you possibly share my money? It's better to pick up the loose coins this guy is dropping along the way. Be careful, I don't know where that guy got a blade."

"Got it, there are eight of us, everyone has a weapon in their hands, are we afraid of him alone? What a joke! We'll just swarm him and hack him to death."

"Aren't the Militia clearing out the Bandits? If you hack someone to death, won't you be unable to stay in the checkpoint anymore?"

"You blockhead! Stupid brain! That guy has so much money on him, even if everyone gets a share, the money I get will be enough for me to go home and buy a large piece of land! I could marry both of the neighbor's daughters, and I could even build a big house with a wall for a real man! A lifetime's gamble is right now! Charge, brothers! Carrying cargo for people only earns enough for food and clothing, rob this haul and you'll have it for a lifetime!" The young man leading them roared, and he was the first to lead the others in a charge.

Jier kept turning his head to look at them, acting panicked and lost, and there were many round Stones washed down from upstream on the riverbank; tripped by one of these, Jier fell to the ground, while the horse continued to walk forward with small, clattering steps.

"Hahahaha! Kill him first! Kill him first! There's a lot of money, it must be on the horse!" Someone yelled and rushed over, holding a sharp kitchen knife for cutting meat in his right hand and a defensive Dagger in his left.

The others were much the same; some held Iron-wrapped Clubs borrowed from thugs, some held kitchen knives, some held a short-handled axe for chopping firewood at home, and some held Daggers in both hands—one was their own, and the other was one someone else didn't need. Even more exaggerated, there was one guy who only held a pair of iron Scissors in his hand; as he came over, the scissors opening and closing with a 'click-clack' sound was quite eye-catching.

When Jier saw this, he couldn't hold back the panicked expression he was faking anymore; he laughed out loud, pointing at the guy with the scissors with one hand while clutching his stomach with the other, sitting on the ground.

The thugs who rushed over saw Jier's mockery and became even angrier, especially the one who had only managed to find a metal pointed thing from his home; he had already been mocked by others back at the checkpoint, and now, here you are, a guy about to die, and you're mocking me too!

This guy's face turned beet red; ignoring the need to maintain the encirclement with the others, he rushed out with quick steps, carrying the scissors to give this guy who mocked him a taste of his own medicine!

The other thugs did not stop him, each gripping their weapons tightly and slowly surrounding and closing in on Jier.

Laughing was one thing, but Jier saw this guy rushing straight at him and couldn't keep up the act anymore; he directly put the leather Shield hanging at his waist onto his left arm and drew the long blade gifted by Mr. Xiao Simengsi from his left waist with his right hand.

Unlike the Cleaver often used by the local populace, this type of long blade specifically used to fight Human beings had a thin, long, and sharp blade with appropriate weight, making it very effective against unarmored or lightly armored humanoid enemies, but it was not as useful against thick-skinned beasts.

As it happened, Jier's current opponent was a vicious criminal blinded by greed and fighting for his life.

The iron Scissors in the opponent's hand proved that this guy was not a professional who relied on violence to make a living; he probably worked odd jobs all over Bingxun Pass to survive. Today, for the sake of getting rich overnight, he had chosen a field he was unfamiliar with: robbery!

Clang!

The long blade left its sheath, and Jier also flipped himself up from the ground. Looking at the guy who was not much older than him and rushing over in a panic, Jier thrust his shield forward to strike the opponent's right arm.

Thud!

The arm snapped, and the ridiculous iron Scissors flew to the side, spinning. Just as this guy was about to scream in pain, Jier's long blade followed his rapid step backward and slashed across the front of his neck, which was completely exposed.

Hissing blood gushed out from the opponent's neck. He wanted to turn around and call for help, but after his windpipe was also cut, he couldn't make a sound at all.

Just as he turned around, he collapsed to the ground.

The other vicious criminals who were surrounding him paused, unable to move forward anymore. Someone looked at the guy twitching and twisting on the ground, swallowed hard, their hands trembling, and their legs refusing to obey.

"Don't be afraid! There are many of us, let's charge together and kill him! That guy is an idiot, he went over alone, not even looking at what kind of thing he is." The leader shouted to encourage the others, and then everyone looked greedily at the horse stopped not far away, knowing that as long as they finished off this sole defender, the large amount of Gold Coins in the rumors would be theirs.

Jier swung the long blade in his hand a few times, feeling the sensation of the hilt and the change in force when swinging it. Then he used the blade of the long blade to strike the front of the leather Shield, feeling the sturdiness of the shield.

Actually, it was fine; although it wasn't an outstanding weapon or shield, it was at least sturdy enough to handle a few low-level fights.

"A bunch of soft-footed shrimp, guys crawling on the riverbed. Want money? Then kill me and come take it yourself! Don't be all shy like a little girl going to play in the barn for the first time; do you guys not have 'tools' down there? Or is it that your 'tools' are all grown in your mouths? Or on your faces?" Jier laughed and insulted them.

But the guys who usually hung around everywhere, stealing and pilfering, had a vocabulary that far exceeded Jier's. After Jier's insults, they began to counter-insult him.

Listening to these filthy words, Jier felt some regret, so the smile on his face faded, and he stopped talking, charging directly at the guy closest to the horse.

Bullying the opponent for having short Daggers, Jier led the way with his long blade, forcing the opponent to not dare to take the hit head-on and only be able to retreat and dodge.

But firstly, the opponent was not a professional Warrior, and secondly, this was not flat ground; the riverbank was covered with round Stones of all sizes. The thug, staring intently at Jier, did not anticipate the situation under his feet and was tripped directly to the ground.

The look of terror was still on his face when Jier's long blade slashed down.

This person had no choice but to barely cross his Daggers in a cross shape, trying to block Jier's attack.

With just a slight adjustment of his wrist strength, Jier's long blade avoided the opponent's defense and directly curved to hack off one of the fallen guy's hands.

"Ah!! My hand!" This person ignored everything else; after staring blankly at his severed arm for a moment, he immediately dropped the Daggers in his hands, picked up his severed hand, and pressed it against his stump, attempting to reattach it.

This person was truly ridiculous; did he think he was a robot, that he could reattach his hand on the spot after it was hacked off?

Turning around, he blocked with his shield, parrying the short-handled axe of a Bandit who had rushed over. Jier's arm didn't even shake; the opponent's axe head was too small, and its light weight meant it lacked sufficient impact, and the short handle meant the force could not be transmitted exponentially.

Such a small axe only broke the surface leather of the leather Shield and did not cut through the sturdy hardwood structure beneath the leather. It even got stuck between the leather surface and the wooden shield, unable to be pushed or pulled back.

Jier slashed his Changdao horizontally, slicing open the guy's belly.

Fresh blood immediately gushed out along the torn clothes and abdominal fat; amidst the blood-red gore, one could even see the intestines inside.

Jier followed up by kicking the opponent directly in the wound. The powerful, heavy kick not only caused the opponent pain but even compressed his abdomen, forcing a section of intestine out of his belly.

The thugs nearby who had intended to attack Jier were so terrified that they stared fixedly at this blood-drenched scene, all forgetting what they were supposed to do next.

But Jier had not forgotten; he carefully dodged two steps, using the guy lying on the ground trying to piece his severed hands back together as a physical obstacle, separating himself from the battle with the other thugs.

The guy whose intestines had been kicked out screamed in terrified pain after falling to the ground, covered in blood and some fluid gushing from his abdomen; the contents inside had actually been squeezed out through the rupture.

"Ugh." Someone nearby was so scared they vomited. This person vomited while throwing themselves onto the ground, trying to stop their friend from pushing so hard.

"It's okay! It's okay! It's okay!" This person looked panicked, their hands trembling from the exertion.

"Stop pushing, let go, I'll do it, I'll help you. Ugh, vomit! #￥#@." Halfway through speaking, this person couldn't help it and vomited directly onto their friend's belly.

"Get away from me, get away! Get lost!" The two pushed and shoved each other, struggling.

The others were stunned, and so was Jier. But he realized this was a good opportunity, so he first swung his blade to cut off the other hand of the man on the ground with the severed hands, letting him go play with his pain by himself.

Then, Jier charged head-on at the enemy closest to his side. This person used an Iron-wrapped Club; to be honest, this thing was the biggest threat among what these people had, because even if he didn't dodge their other things and took a hit, it would only be a minor injury, as these people's weapons were not specifically designed for killing.

But this Iron-wrapped Club was different; if he took a hit on his arms or legs, he would have them broken, or at the very least suffer severe contusions, making him unable to hold things or walk. And once he took a hit to the head, he would be knocked down instantly; unconsciousness would be the minimum damage, and if he were unlucky, the Blood Vessel inside his brain could be ruptured, making it possible for him to die directly from a cerebral hemorrhage.

Jier's shield slammed in quickly, and the thug immediately held the two ends of the Iron-wrapped Club with both hands, assuming a defensive posture.

Thud, the two collided; this person was not as heavy as Jier, and having never undergone combat training, he did not know how to position his legs to avoid being knocked over when resisting an impact.

Therefore, with just one strike, Jier knocked the man to the ground, and the Changdao in his right hand swung in a full circle from behind, moving from bottom to top and then down, splitting the thug's head open in one stroke.

Blood and brains splattered, and the man rolled his eyes, twitching and convulsing on the ground.

Jier ignored the rest and kicked the Iron-wrapped Club still held in the opponent's hand far away, then killed the next person.

Once that person was locked onto by Jier, he was so scared he turned and ran, dropping the meat-trimming knife in his hand. But this person was truly ridiculous; after he threw the knife, it hit a Shitou, spun around, and flew back, stabbing directly into the top of his own foot.

The man felt the pain in his foot, flipped onto the ground, and screamed, begging not to be killed and the like, his lower body seemingly devoid of strength, and he just crawled away to one side like that.

At this moment, the gathered leader of these thugs gritted his teeth and stepped out, holding a kitchen knife with a somewhat long blade in one hand, his other hand empty, blocking Jier's path of attack.

Jier had long since seen that this person was the leader of these thugs, but seeing that he hadn't attacked earlier, he had assumed this person had some skill and disdained attacking with his subordinates. But now, looking at the man's trembling legs and the way his right hand was gripping the kitchen knife with such great force,

Jier knew that this person had absolutely no combat experience.

With trembling legs, how could you flexibly turn, move, or dodge?

By gripping the weapon too tightly, you overuse the muscles in your hand; when the time comes to actually grip the weapon, will you still be able to?

Jier curled the corners of his mouth, eyes fixed on this person, his footsteps moving to the side of the thug whose hands had both been severed. Without even looking, he smashed his left arm downward, the bottom edge of his leather shield striking the neck.

The fragile neck emitted a crack, pulling the thug's head to turn at an angle no living person could achieve.

Jier saw that the thug leader confronting him trembled all over, the weapon in his hand began to shake, and his legs had a moment of sinking downward.

This person was almost scared into sitting on the ground.

Jier continued to move, quietly walking behind the thug who was currently stuffing his friend's intestines back into his belly.

"Watch out, watch out behind you." The voice was trembling and weak; if Jier hadn't been concentrating, he wouldn't even have heard the guy confronting him trying to warn his companion.

The thug who was focused on trying to save his friend naturally couldn't hear this weak warning. With such a focused person, unless you speak loudly right in their ear, they won't hear a single sound at all. It's not that they can't hear, but that even if they do, their brain has no energy left to process it.

The thug lying on the ground with his intestines out did see Jier approaching quietly, but he had no strength to call out a warning to his friend, and could only constantly shake his head, trying to lift his powerless arms.

But he failed; he could only watch helplessly as Jier pulled a Dagger from his right waist and stabbed it into his friend's back, the tip of the Dagger emerging from his chest, killing his friend instantly.

At this, the thug who had previously had no strength suddenly found some, and ignoring the blood gushing from his waist, he prepared to pounce on Jier.

But Jier dodged to the side, no longer paying attention to this thug who, aside from the strength of a single pounce, had no stamina left.