Chapter Eighteen: Loyalty and Compassion!

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There were quite a few people surnamed Sima in the Great Qian Dynasty. In the capital especially, the Sima clan was enormous, and many of its members held posts in the imperial court.

“If you do not even know his name, what use are you to me?”

Chen Xuan’s voice was icy cold. A murderous glint flashed in his eyes as killing intent surged within him.

In an instant, the bandit chief felt a chill spread through his body.

“Y-You’d better not do anything reckless!”

He hurriedly spoke up.

But Chen Xuan could not be bothered to waste another word on him. He simply swung his sword.

“You—!”

The bandit chief’s pupils contracted sharply. He tried desperately to flee, but Chen Xuan’s eighth-level martial strength completely overwhelmed him in every respect.

Escape? It was nothing more than a fool’s dream!

With a sharp splatter, Chen Xuan’s sword swept across the bandit chief’s neck.

A fountain of blood burst forth, and a fully formed head was sent flying high into the air.

It bounced and rolled several times across the ground before coming to rest at the feet of a young bandit.

The chief’s eyes were wide with terror, his face filled with disbelief.

Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that, after dominating Bandit Mountain for decades, he would ultimately die at Chen Xuan’s hands.

For a moment, the entire scene fell utterly silent.

Every eye was fixed on the bandit chief’s severed head.

The man who had been so vigorous only moments ago was actually dead?

Then something even more horrifying happened.

Chen Xuan’s expression remained impassive as he uttered in a voice colder than ice, “From this day forth, Jinfeng Stronghold will be wiped out in blood!”

Swish!

The instant his words fell, Chen Xuan raised his sword and began a massacre.

The strongest fighter in Jinfeng Stronghold, its bandit chief, had already become a dead soul beneath his blade.

The remaining bandits were nothing more than an unruly rabble unworthy of notice.

“That man is a merciless god of slaughter!”

“Run!”

The bandits cried out in panic and fled in every direction.

Some of them tried to seize Yang Ying’er and use her as a hostage to threaten Chen Xuan.

But how could Chen Xuan possibly give them such an opportunity?

With every swing of his sword, another head was sent flying into the air.

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Chen Xuan was like a death god descended from hell, ceaselessly reaping lives. In no time, this entire region had been transformed into a battlefield of slaughter, and endless blood stained all of Jinfeng Stronghold crimson.

Yang Ying’er followed closely behind Chen Xuan. With every life taken, the hatred in her heart diminished by another fraction. By the end, she herself had grown numb.

No one knew how much time had passed.

Corpses lay scattered throughout Jinfeng Stronghold, and rivers of blood flowed across the ground.

Even the sword in Chen Xuan’s hand had been hacked dull and warped.

From that moment on, every bandit in Jinfeng Stronghold, from top to bottom, had been annihilated without exception.

Chen Xuan had fulfilled his promise.

“Do you feel any better now?”

Chen Xuan drove his sword into the ground. His face and clothes were covered in blood, making him look as though he had been soaked in a pool of it.

He, too, had become numb from the killing.

“Whether I feel better or not, my father still isn’t coming back.”

Yang Ying’er was overcome with sorrow. She had no interest in killing. Her only wish had been for her father to return.

But now, that was clearly impossible.

At her words, Chen Xuan sighed softly.

It was a pity that his eighth-level martial cultivation had come too late.

If he had possessed such strength when One-Eyed Dragon and the others had ambushed them with their arrows, not a single person at the Peaceful Escort Agency would have died.

“In any case, thank you. You avenged my father.”

Yang Ying’er bit her lip and forced a smile.

At least she had seen that Chen Xuan was a man of responsibility. This scoundrel truly kept his word.

Afterward, Chen Xuan rested for a while.

Then he set fire to Jinfeng Stronghold, reducing it entirely to flames.

The mountaintop of Jinfeng Stronghold blazed into the heavens, illuminating half of Bandit Mountain.

…

Dawn was breaking, and the eastern horizon had already begun to pale.

At the entrance to Bandit Mountain—

“Why hasn’t my husband returned yet? Could something really have happened to him?”

Li Xuanxuan’s face was filled with worry.

“Why don’t we divide the luggage now? Once daylight comes, those bandits will start moving about again. If they happen to see us, we’ll be in grave danger. If we divide the luggage and flee now, perhaps we can all survive and find somewhere to settle.”

Xu Ruolan hurriedly voiced her suggestion.

She had been keeping her eyes fixed on the several hundred taels of gold inside the carriage.

At her words, several of the women began to waver.

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There was no helping it. If Chen Xuan truly failed to return, they could not simply sit here and wait for death.

If they encountered the bandits again, they would have no chance of escaping.

Though Xu Ruolan’s proposal was somewhat cold and unfeeling, it was indeed the best course of action.

“Let us wait another half an hour.”

Li Xiuning’s brows were tightly furrowed.

She understood perfectly well that if something had happened to Chen Xuan, all of them would have to go their separate ways.

A group of women like them could not accomplish much together. Disbanding was probably the wisest choice.

But what if Chen Xuan returned alive?

“Another half an hour? Princess Li, you haven’t actually fallen in love with my husband, have you? You’ve only known him for a day.”

Xu Ruolan could not resist speaking up.

Li Xiuning immediately shot her a glare and scolded her irritably, “What nonsense are you spouting? The only reason I am willing to keep waiting is to repay him for saving my life.”

“I, Li Xiuning, am a woman who values loyalty. Whatever I do, I must be able to face my own conscience.”

“So you mean the rest of us are heartless and ungrateful?” Xu Ruolan replied sarcastically.

She had been born and raised in a pleasure house, and her character was practical and worldly. For women like them, doing everything possible to stay alive was the only principle that mattered.

As for benevolence, justice, propriety, wisdom, and trust, they had no interest in such things.

If Chen Xuan was alive, she would follow him. If he was dead, she would flee at once. That was simply the normal choice of a sensible person.

“Hmph. Whether you are heartless and ungrateful, you know that best yourself.”

Li Xiuning glanced at Xu Ruolan and snorted coldly.

Xu Ruolan opened her mouth, wanting to argue, but in the end she swallowed the words.

For one thing, Li Xiuning’s status was far above hers. Not to mention that she was a princess of Great Tang, she was also Chen Xuan’s principal wife and the head of the household.

Xu Ruolan, by contrast, was merely a concubine.

If she angered Li Xiuning, Li Xiuning could kill her on the spot without consequence.

“Someone is coming!”

Suddenly, An Ruxue—who had been standing nearby with a sword in her arms, her face expressionless and seemingly indifferent to everything around her—opened her eyes wide.

She had sensed a powerful aura rapidly approaching.

“Who is coming?”

“Could the bandits have found us? We’re finished! I told you long ago that we should divide the belongings and flee, but you refused. Look what’s happened now—the bandits have come looking for us! We won’t be able to escape!”

Xu Ruolan nearly burst into tears.

The thought of what a miserable fate awaited her should she fall into the bandits’ hands sent tears rushing to her eyes.

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