Translator: Tuiwen Editor: Tuiwen
15 days later…
It was late at night and a few bandits were keeping watch on the city wall of Qi Hua City. They kept dozing off constantly.
“Bam!”
A small sound was heard all of a sudden, but it didn’t alert the bandits.
At first, the bandits guarding the city were worried that the army might attack soon. But recently, they had become far too slack.
Some bandits even felt this new life they were living was not as happy and fulfilling as living in the mountains.
But even at that, their forces kept growing over time.
However, as a result of having people from several places, fighting had become a normal occurrence.
Although the chief settled quarrels and disputes, the complaints he was getting were becoming more intense.
“Bam!”
“Bam!”
This sound was heard again. One of the bandits rubbed his sleepy eyes and stared into the darkness.
When he didn’t see anything, he closed his eyes again to sleep.
After a while, the bandit opened his eyes again. He felt that he saw someone climbing up the city wall.
Startled, he became fully awake and tried to run, but bumped into someone.
Before he could react, the person was so swift that he slashed the bandit down with his longsword.
The light from the torch shone on this person’s face — it was Shen Ling!
This was a night attack!
Shen Ling stood on the city wall of Qi Hua City and looked toward the center of the city.
This place had been occupied by the Green Mountain Bandits for a month.
But right now, it was time to take it back.
A man walked towards Shen Ling and said respectfully, “Young Master Shen, everyone is here now.”
Shen Ling nodded with satisfaction and said, “Act according to the plan.”
“Right away!”
Da Zhuang said with a nod.
Shen Ling stared into the distance. His foot missed a step which made him fall flat. He missed his target.
Step!
Shen Ling stepped on the eaves and walked forward carefully.
He came to the roof of the second floor that was originally a restaurant and opened the tiles.
There was no sign of the madman!
Shen Ling checked the rooms one after the other in search of him. Very soon, he saw the person he was looking for – alone!
In his excitement, the tiles under his feet made a crisp sound. Instantly, the madman looked up. “Who is it?”
Shen Ling quickly turned around and left.
“Boom!”
With a loud sound, the madman shattered the eaves.
Looking at Shen Ling’s back, he charged forward like a raging bull.
The tiles under his feet continued to shatter, but the distance between him and Shen Ling kept growing.
In the end, he didn’t know where he was, but Shen Ling was standing opposite him.
“You shouldn’t have chased after me!”
Shen Ling turned around as he looked at the madman with a blank face.
“So it’s you!”
When the madman saw Shen Ling, he put up his fist immediately.
“Clap, clap!”
Shen Ling clapped twice.
Instantly, the madman sensed countless gazes.
“Whoosh!”
“Whoosh!”
Before he could understand what was going on, countless arrows flew from all directions.
The madman stood on the spot without moving. He was about to activate his body-refining cultivation technique to defend himself.
A wave of triple crossbows shot out without harming him in any way. However, he couldn’t move if he wanted to.
Another round of arrows came close.
Shen Ling watched with a cold expression from a distance.
After three rounds of arrows were fired, it seemed like the madman’s defense started to show a crack.
Just when he was about to run, Shen Ling shot out a stream of Saber Qi.
“You are so despicable!”
The madman shouted with a glare at Shen Ling.
He did not expect that Shen Ling would use such a trap to force him into a dead end.
“That makes the two of us.”
Shen Ling smiled and looked at him still breathing.
With that, another round of arrows was fired with so much vigor.
The madman collapsed and died on the spot.
The madman was dead and the sound of killing could be heard from the surroundings.
Shen Ling had brought 100 young sharecroppers with him. 60 were used to set up an ambush while the other 40 were responsible for opening the city gates.
From the sound they heard, the soldiers who had undergone a month of special training should have charged in by now.
Two thousand against twenty thousand!
The difference in number was quite huge, but Shen Ling wasn’t bothered at all.
“Freedom of movement!”
With his command, the surrounding young sharecroppers turned around and left the scene.
Shen Ling searched the body of the madman and found an iron body technique book.
“Wow!”
When he saw how well-preserved the book was, he took it and put it in his pocket.
Now that the madman was dead, as long as he could get hold of the chief and deal with him, he could easily win this battle.
As for the rest of the bandits…
He didn’t even have to worry about them.
“Kill!”
As soon as they entered the city, the soldiers’ morale was greatly boosted.
The front row held longswords, while the back row held crossbows. Ten people were in a group, looking after the front and back.
Under the formation that Shen Ling had arranged, the soldiers got rid of all the bandits.
Soon it was daytime.
The bandits, who had been beaten without mercy, threw off their arms and fled in panic.
They were just two thousand soldiers, but they ended up defeating the rebel army, which was ten times their own. This could be regarded as a good example of defeating the strong with the weak.
Even at that, the soldiers who participated in the battle knew that they didn’t feel so much pressure because the pressure that they should have felt was shouldered by Shen Ling and the young sharecroppers.
“We won!”
“We won!”
The soldiers began to celebrate, but the young sharecroppers remained very calm.
To them, Shen Ling was the target of the bandit. So, this battle was not worth celebrating because some of them had been injured in the process.
However, Shen Ling was very happy. “You have all performed well. Thank you so much for your hard work. It was worth it.”
When the sharecroppers heard this, they felt flattered.
Shen Ling smiled at them.
Never could he have thought that the young sharecroppers, who didn’t have a foundation in martial arts before, could have made such great progress.
What moved him even more was how loyal they all were.
It was his honor to deserve such loyalty from them.
Just then, Shen Ling closed his eyes.
‘Perseverance and Hard Work 3.0.’
‘Name: Shen Ling.’
‘Age: 17.’
‘Cultivation method: Longevity Technique [rank-seven upper-grade cultivation method, level 5, proficiency 12,000/100,000]
‘Cultivation method: Mountain-splitting Saber Technique [rank-six middle-grade saber technique, level 6, proficiency 18,800/150,000]
‘Cultivation method: Iron Shirt [rank-eight middle-grade cultivation method, level 4, proficiency 13,000/50,000] .’
‘Cultivation method: Treading on Air [rank-three low-grade cultivation method, level 3, proficiency 3,900/30,000].’
‘Cultivation method: Regretless Mountain Fist [rank-seven low-grade cultivation method, level 4, proficiency 24,990/50,000].’
After looking at his information, Shen Ling turned around and walked into the city.
After the rampage the previous day, Qi Hua City was now in tatters and covered in blood.
He couldn’t stand it. The sight was horrific.
Shen Ling shook his head and brought his men back to the sharecroppers’ village.
To be honest, he was already used to living in the sharecroppers’ village, so he didn’t feel any particular feelings for Qi Hua City.
As soon as he returned, he went to his residence.
Old Master Shen looked at Shen Ling and asked, “How did it go?”
“We won,” Shen Ling said calmly. He picked up the teapot by the side and poured himself a cup.
Old Master Shen comforted him, “It’s okay. It’s normal to win. Next time, look for a better opportunity. Don’t be discouraged about this.”
Shen Ling sipped his tea and said softly, “I said we won.”
“I know.” Old Master Shen nodded.
Shen Ling didn’t say anything else.
After a moment, Old Master Shen raised his head. “Wait… What did you just say? You won?”
“Yes.”
Shen Ling nodded in reply.
Old Master Shen said doubtfully, “Then why do you look so depressed? I thought you lost.”
Shen Ling shook his head. “Well, although we won, the chief ran away..”