Chapter 38: Mutual Admiration

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“He merely wants to earn himself some fame. We brothers won’t stand in his way, but he can’t go this far—using our brothers’ heads as bargaining chips!”

The bandits all voiced their agreement.

“No. I just can’t swallow this insult.” The bandit chief’s face darkened. “We have to find a way to give him a taste of our strength, so he’ll stop bullying us!”

“Big Brother, I heard that a group of women belonging to that fellow goes to the spring behind the mountain every day to wash clothes. Why don’t we try our luck there?”

“Really?!”

Those words were like a spark falling into a pile of dry tinder. Dozens of bandits, their hungry eyes gleaming green, immediately seized their swords and axes.

The women the bandits spoke of were none other than the logistical team Chen An had just assembled.

At the mountain spring, Li Duo was beating clothes clean with several other girls. The crisp thudding of the laundry sticks mingled with the burbling water, sending cheerful echoes through the valley.

The day before, she had been busy organizing the granary. Today, she had actually forgotten to bring Chen An’s freshly washed blue shirt. It was only when she glanced at the empty clothesline that she slapped her forehead in annoyance.

“Damn it, I forgot to bring Chen An’s shirt.”

Hearing Li Duo reproach herself, the girls immediately began teasing her.

“Sister Li Duo, have you been so busy delivering the grain tax these past few days that you forgot what really matters?”

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“Oh, please, as if nobody knows. But young heroes like Chen An are rare. You’d better hold on to him tightly and not let him get away.”

“You little minx, what nonsense are you talking about?”

“You won’t even let us say it? Just look at yourself—you’re blushing!”

“All right, all right. I’m not going to argue with you anymore. Keep washing. I’ll go back and fetch something.”

Li Duo had just turned around when rustling footsteps came from the woods, followed by a coarse shout:

“Little sluts, hand over everything valuable!”

Blades flashed with a dazzling chill beneath the sun. The girls screamed and huddled together in terror.

The bandits wore vicious expressions. They were clearly a pack of starving wolves.

“What do you want?”

“Nothing much. We just came to have a little fun.”

“How dare you! Do you know who we are?”

“Still a feisty one, are you? Don’t worry. Once you’re on my bed, I’ll be sure to tell you exactly who I am!”

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Li Duo snatched up a laundry pestle and hurled it at the bandit in front, but he kicked her to the ground.

Her bamboo basket rolled away. Her plain dress was soaked in muddy water, and her embroidered shoes were trampled beyond recognition by the panicked footsteps.

As she watched the bandits stride toward her, she cried out,

“Chen An! Chen An! Where are you?”

When she saw the great saber descending toward her, Li Duo closed her eyes in despair.

At that critical moment, the rapid thunder of hooves came rushing from the end of the mountain path. A dark cloak cut a sharp arc through the wind.

The instant Chen An reined in his horse, he saw the bandit chief’s blade about to cleave into the crown of Li Duo’s head.

He had seen Li Duo leave her clean clothes in the barracks the previous night and had merely been bringing them to her on his way. Now, his pupils contracted abruptly.

Seeing Li Duo surrounded in the center, his eyes turned as cold and deep as a wintry pool.

“In broad daylight, you dare run wild here? You’re courting death!”

Before the words had fully left his mouth, he spurred his horse into the air. His long saber left its sheath with a sharp whistle.

The bandit chief grinned savagely and swung his weapon at him.

“Chen An! I was just planning to come looking for you. I never expected you to come straight to me!”

What the bandit chief could never have imagined was that Chen An was already consumed by fury.

Before the chief’s blade could reach him, Chen An flicked his own sword backward and severed the man’s wrist. As the scream began, the blade had already cut across his throat. Scalding blood sprayed across the flagstones.

Chen An did not even dismount. With merely a light tap of his toe against the stirrup, he shot toward the crowd like an arrow loosed from a bow.

Wherever he passed, cries of agony rang out. One bandit had not even seen Chen An’s face clearly before clutching his throat and collapsing to his knees.

With a turn of his wrist, Chen An struck the elbows of two bandits precisely with the tip of his sword. The crisp sound of breaking bones mingled with their screams as their cleavers flew from their hands.

“It’s Chen An! Damn it, run!” someone shouted.

With their leader dead, the remaining bandits instantly lost their nerve.

But Chen An, consumed by rage, had no intention of giving them the chance.

He wove through the crowd, cutting them down as effortlessly as a farmer chopping melons and vegetables.

In less than the time it took for a stick of incense to burn, more than half of the twenty-odd bandits had fallen. The few who remained sprawled on the ground, trembling so violently that they no longer had the strength to flee.

“Don’t kill us! Please!”

The surviving bandits fell to their knees and begged desperately.

Chen An naturally had no intention of sparing them. But just as his attention wavered, one of the bandits, hoping to buy time and save his own life, snatched up a short knife from the ground and hurled it at Li Duo.

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Li Duo cried out, but Chen An seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He merely swept his sword through a graceful flourish.

Amid a series of bright metallic chimes, the short knife fell to the ground.

Several bandits tried to escape, but a handful of arrows ended their lives.

“Is that you?”

“I had intended to save your life in return for yesterday. It seems you no longer need my help.”

The cool voice came from above. A streak of blue swept across the treetops like a gibbon.

Zhong Miao landed squarely before Chen An. Her dark, close-fitting clothes were beaded with morning dew, and the jade pendant at her waist swayed gently with each breath.

“I always thought your arrows were fast. I didn’t realize your blade was faster.”

Chen An stood with his sword lowered. Looking at the assassin he had met only once the previous day—the same assassin who had tried to kill him—he suddenly smiled.

“Then what would you call your appearance now?” Chen An pointed behind Zhong Miao.

The sound of hooves approached from the distance, accompanied by the ringing clash of armor.

When Zhang Xiaojing, leading the patrol, reined in at the edge of the spring, his Adam’s apple rolled involuntarily twice.

The stench of blood was overpowering, and corpses lay scattered everywhere. The sight was enough to make anyone’s hair stand on end.

Chen An and Zhong Miao stood shoulder to shoulder amid the wreckage, radiating a murderous aura that warned all others to keep their distance.

“Chen An! Are you all right?”

Zhang Xiaojing dismounted. His long saber was half drawn, while thirty cavalrymen swiftly formed a ring around the area, their bowstrings creaking under tension.

His gaze swept over Zhong Miao, and his brows knotted tightly.

“Zhong Miao, I wasn’t even looking for you, yet you came straight to me. Excellent—you’ve saved me the trouble.”

Zhong Miao raised an eyebrow at Chen An and gave a cold laugh, spinning her longbow once around her fingertip.

“I know killing you won’t be easy. But do you really think this rabble under your command can catch me?”

“Overestimating yourself! Seize her!”

Before Zhang Xiaojing could finish speaking, Chen An raised a hand and pressed down on the hilt of his saber.

“Let her go.”

His voice was calm and unruffled.

Zhang Xiaojing whipped around, disbelief filling his eyes.

“Chen An, she tried to kill you! How can you let her go?”

“If not for her today, something might have happened to them.”

Chen An stepped aside, revealing Li Duo and the other girls behind him.

The girls immediately began speaking over one another in explanation.

“That’s right, Deputy Battalion Commander Zhang! She was the one who saved us just now.”