Chapter 1: The Sun Rises for the First Time Section 31

  Li Hong, who was picking up his weapon on the ground, heard a cheer from the small crowd. Several big kids ran over like flying, and the biggest one excitedly said: "Uncle Leopard, Snow sister said you will walk with us, it's really great! What can we help you with?"

  Li Hong heard someone call him "uncle" for the first time and thought it was very novel. He burst out laughing, "What's your name?"

  "My name is Quan Kun."

  "Alright, Qiao Kun, you and the kids go get the war horses and gather them together." Qiao Kun happily agreed and led a group of boys to scatter. Li Hong immediately saw the little boy who had reported the alarm to him. He stood in the distance, looking at Li Hong with trepidation. Li Hong walked up to him, squatted down, and smiled: "What's your name?"

  Keroppi.

  "Oh, you're Ke Da's child. You're really very brave. Why don't you go help Uncle with them?"

  "Was it you who killed Uncle Kuo?" asked Kobi Bear suddenly. From a distance, Kobi Bear's mother saw her son talking to Li Hong and hurried over with two little girls in tow. Feng Xue put down what he was doing and followed after them. In the past, Li Hong and Tie Lang were both slaves of their family. To these children, if it weren't for those two rescuing Murong Feng from the tiger's den, none of this would have happened. But as a Xianbei person who revered bravery, seeing how fearless Li Hong was, they couldn't help but admire him greatly. As for revenge, that could wait until they grew up.

  Li Hong stared at him for a moment, unsure whether he should tell the truth or not. Kobi Xiong's small eyes were fixed tightly on him.

  "When you grow up, come find me to take revenge." Li Hong's expression was serious as he patted the child's shoulder forcefully. Cobie Bear glared at him furiously and shouted loudly: "I will definitely kill you!"

  Kerbie's mother rushed over, flustered and hugged Kerbie tightly, apologizing profusely. Feng Xue followed behind, looking at Li Hong with difficulty, not knowing what to say.

  Kobi Bear struggled hard, his small face flushed red, "How did my dad die? Qiao Kun and the others all said that my dad committed suicide. My dad wouldn't commit suicide, he must have died in battle."

  The Xianbei people despise those who commit suicide, considering them weak and cowardly. Their families will also be looked down upon by their own tribe. Li Hong gazed at the stubborn Kobi Bear and suddenly felt that this child had a lot of personality and would definitely achieve something in the future. Just now, he didn't go with Quan Kun and the others, probably because there was a conflict between the two families' children.

  Li Hong suddenly shouted loudly and called over several of Qiao Kun's children.

  Li Hong looked at them and said word by word: "Ke Da was killed in battle. He was killed by Gong Sunhu's men."

  Kobe Bear's mother and Feng Xue looked at Li Hong with extremely grateful eyes. For a growing child, having a brave father would make him stand up straight in front of his peers and be proud of his own father.

  Li Hong set out with a strange team. They continued northward. Li Hong thought that going north was the most unexpected for the enemy, because that direction was towards the Tuoba tribe. After the fierce battle, Li Hong made many fake southbound disguises around the site, not afraid of being deceived by the enemy.

  Hao Shuai Tuoba led sixty or seventy men, escorting a thousand wild horses purchased from Tianma Yuan, rushing north to catch up with Tuoba Kui. According to the plan, Tuoba Kui should have waited for him in Hu Du and then set off together. But Tuoba Kui wanted to show off in front of his grandmother, so he didn't wait for him and set off ahead of time.

  On Murong Feng's territory, nothing should have happened in theory. However, the central Xianbei had just experienced internal strife, and there were many scattered soldiers and brave warriors between the mountains. If something did happen, it would be difficult to explain. Therefore, Tuoba Kui ordered everyone to pursue with all their might.

  Tuoba Gui saw four tribal soldiers rushing over, and he had a bad premonition in his heart. After listening to it, his whole body was cold. Tuoba Kui was dead, killed by someone with one move on the face. The war horse ran back and forth for four rounds, killing 26 soldiers. Tuoba Gui almost doubted that his ears heard wrong.

  He arrived at the scene with forty soldiers ahead of time. The dead soldiers were lying all over the ground. The carts had been abandoned, and all the war horses had been ridden away by the enemy.

  Tuoba Wei sat on his horse, trying to calm himself down. He first sent two men to rush to Huoyunyuan to inform Murong Feng. This matter must be related to the Fēng Xuě of the Niu Tou tribe. She was the one who led her people to attack Tuoba Kui first. At the same time, he hoped that Murong Feng could send someone to help search. Tuoba Kui is dead, and no matter what, Murong Feng cannot escape responsibility. Then, he arranged for two soldiers to rush back to the Tuoba tribe day and night, to report the details to Tuoba Feng, and ask him to quickly dispatch reinforcements to arrive at the central Xianbei region. At the same time, he ordered a soldier to immediately return to the cavalry team, to inform them to drive the horse herd to the nearest Baixi pasture to wait for reinforcements. Tuoba Kui is already dead, and the thousand war horses cannot have any more accidents.

  Looking at the obvious footprints heading south, Tuoba Kui did not hesitate and immediately led his troops in pursuit.

  Li Hong led everyone for thirty miles and then turned into a small mountain nearby. He immediately chose a low-lying place, called on everyone to dismount and set up camp, not going any further.

  Li Hong sat alone on the top of a small hill, gazing out at the distant plains. Feng Xue brought two pieces of dried meat up to him, handing them over. Li Hong took them without hesitation and began eating slowly.

  "I'm really sorry to have dragged you into this," Feng Xue said softly.

  Li Hong didn't make a sound, he just smiled unintentionally. Since he had memory, for the first time he sat with a girl, and it was a very beautiful girl, which made him feel fresh and enjoyable. Smelling the faint fragrance floating from Feng Xue's body, he was infatuated, and for the first time he felt an impulse towards the opposite sex.

  Two people sat silently, neither of them speaking.

  "Brother Leopard, can we escape to Mount Yan?" Feng Xue asked with some concern.

  Li Hong nodded, "Of course."

  Looking at the golden hair dancing in the mountain wind, Li Hong suddenly asked strangely: "Why are you a head of golden hair?"

  "I am not a Xianbei person, I am a Dīng Líng person, I was picked up by Father."

  Li Hong almost thought he had misheard. Feng Xue was not the biological daughter of Feng Lie after all, but rather a girl picked up by Master Feng in Ding Ling country. The world's affairs were indeed wondrous.

  "The Dīng people live in the distant north, and most of them have blonde hair and blue eyes. When I grew up, my father sent me to Fuyu State to follow his friend to learn martial arts. I really like the living habits of the Fuyu people, growing long hair, wearing high hats, and wearing embroidered clothes. It was only because of Father's trouble that I returned from Fuyu State."

  "Are you practicing martial arts?" Li Hong looked at her in disbelief.

  Feng Xue nodded, "I followed Master Changfeng in Fuyu State to learn swordsmanship. My martial arts skills are quite good."

  Looking at Feng Xue's serious face, Li Hong almost fainted. Seeing Li Hong's absolutely disbelieving expression, Feng Xue became anxious, "Don't think that I was caught by Tuoba Kui because my martial arts are no good. That little brat couldn't beat me, so he had his subordinates use a capture net to grab me. As a result, I got caught." After saying this, she also felt somewhat disheartened.

  Li Hong saw her dejected look and hastily comforted her: "It's okay, it's okay. It's common for people with high martial arts skills to be captured after losing their hand. Now that I know you're a skilled martial artist, we'll return to Mount Da Yan much faster."

  "Really?" Feng Xue gazed at him skeptically.

  "Of course. By the way, have you ever killed anyone?" Li Hong asked solemnly.

  The snowstorm suddenly blinded everyone's eyes.

  The next morning, Li Hong led them in a southeast direction.

  "Feng Xue asked strangely, 'Brother Leopard, if we keep walking like this, won't we be getting farther and farther away from the Great Yan Mountain?'"

  "We're going to Baixi Pasture." Li Hong said with a smile.

  Feng Xue's expression changed as she stared at Li Hong in surprise, saying: "According to the route, the 1,000 wild horses that Tuoba Wei bought at Tianma Yuan might have rested there yesterday. Isn't it pointless for us to rush over now?"

  "Now Tuoba Zhen is leading his men south to hunt us down, and there shouldn't be many soldiers left on the pasture. With Tuoba Kui dead, Tuoba Zhen has lost face and can't return to see Tuoba Feng again. If he loses another thousand warhorses, he might as well take his own life."

  The wind and snow and several children around them saw Li Hong say something funny and burst out laughing.

  Kerbie Bear probably regained his companions' respect and looked very excited. He shouted out loud: "Uncle Leopard, we can help you."

  Kuang also rubbed his fists and palms on the side, "Uncle Leopard, what do you say we do?"

  Li Hong burst out laughing: "Haha... The Xianbei warriors are really numerous. It's simple, just wait for you kids to split into two groups and run to the pasture to steal horses."

  The children became excited and rode their horses wildly.

  Murong Feng couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh upon hearing the report from the Tuoba tribe's scouts.

  No need to think, he already knew it was done by the leopard. I don't know how Feng Xue, that girl, managed to intercept him and caused such a big trouble. Now we have to think of a way to stabilize Tuoba Feng first.

  That day, when Feng Xue was running away in a huff, she had threatened Murong Feng that she would bring people to intercept and kidnap Qu Ge and Ke Zui's families on the road. Murong Feng didn't take it seriously. At most, Feng Xue would be caught by the Tuoba tribe, and he would just send someone to the Tuoba tribe to get her back. But unexpectedly, Baozi appeared. As soon as he thought of Baozi, Murong Feng knew that trouble had arrived. If he didn't go to control him, things would only get bigger and more out of hand.

  Murong Feng called in his own guards. They were familiar with the leopard, and it was convenient to do things. Some things that are understood without being said cannot be spoken out loud.

  "You twelve people immediately bring the Black Wood Token and rush to several tribes in the west, gather men and horses to prepare for intercepting the leopard."

  The guards were stunned.

  "General, didn't you promise Leopard to let him return to the Great Han State?"

  "This fool. He robbed the families of Kezi and Qianyu on the road, and killed Tuoba Kui and twenty-six soldiers of the Tuoba tribe."

  The guards were shocked and looked at each other in dismay. They had only been on the road for a few days and already stirred up a hornet's nest.

  "So I deliberately let you go. After all, since someone died here, we should try our best."

  "Great General, using this black wooden token, isn't that making a big deal out of a small matter? Leopard will become the target of capture for the entire Xianbei state, and will be wanted for life."

  "He will never come back again." Murong Feng said with some sadness.

  Li Hong was like a nimble leopard, pouncing forward in a flash. The seven soldiers inside the tent were stunned. They were having dinner when they suddenly saw an unkempt big man appear out of nowhere in the tent.

  A soldier still had a piece of meat in his mouth, and his head was already flying up. Next to him, someone's entire face was kicked by Li Hong into a bloody mess, unable to distinguish between the nose and mouth. Li Hong took two more steps forward and killed two soldiers who were trying to get back on their feet with one knife. Taking advantage of the momentum, Li Hong kicked another soldier in the chest who was desperately trying to pounce over empty-handed. The soldier let out a miserable cry and retreated seven or eight steps, spitting blood, before crashing to the ground. The remaining two soldiers roared with anger, each holding a war knife as they charged forward. One of them was dodged by Li Hong, while the other clashed with him in a dual-knife strike. However, that person did not have Li Hong's strength and was immediately knocked back by the counter-attacking knife, crying out in pain as he retreated repeatedly. Li Hong turned around to face the soldier who had turned back to attack him with his war knife, let out an angry roar, and clashed with him again in a fierce dual-knife strike. The man's wrist was severely shaken, and he could no longer hold onto his war knife. In that instant, Li Hong raised another knife and chopped it down on the man's neck, causing blood to spurt out as the knife fell to the ground and the person collapsed. Li Hong walked up to the soldier who had been knocked back by the counter-attacking knife and swung his knife down at him.

  On the pasture, a dozen or so soldiers were shouting and chasing after several children on horseback. The soldiers thought they were the children of nearby herders playing pranks, so they chased them while threatening and laughing loudly, unaware that danger was quietly approaching.

  In a temporary horse shed set up on the left side of the tent, eleven soldiers were leaning on the wooden railing, pointing and watching the excitement.

  A soldier suddenly heard the sound of an arrow piercing his body, and hastily turned around to look. He saw an arrow, a straight one inserted into the temple of his comrade, with blood threads overflowing from the arrow shaft.

  His mouth opened wide in shock, just as he was about to shout, a faster arrow suddenly shot into his mouth, through his neck, and nailed him to the wooden pillar, making a "thud" sound, the arrow shaft violently trembling.

  The sound startled the other soldiers, and everyone involuntarily looked to the right. A tall, burly man with disheveled hair was standing in the horse shed, his drawn bow holding two arrows.

  Li Hong drew his bowstring back and released it, sending two arrows flying out with a piercing whistle. Two soldiers fell to the ground, not even having time to cry out in pain.

  The soldiers finally reacted, letting out a uniform roar and charging forward towards Li Hong. Li Hong remained calm and composed, shooting another arrow ahead of time. A soldier who had rushed up with his sword let out a miserable cry and fell to the ground on his back.

  Li Hong's right hand was too late to draw an arrow, so he drew out the small axe from his bosom and swung it out. The small axe wailed strangely in mid-air, spinning around, and with a "pu" sound, chopped into a soldier's chest. That soldier let out a miserable cry, dropped his war knife, and used both hands to try and pull out the axe, but his legs had already begun to kneel down uncontrollably. Fresh blood immediately soaked through his entire body. He slowly lifted his head, seeing that giant of a man, like a murderous demon, was pouncing on his comrades like a fierce tiger. All he saw was flashing knife light, moving figures, mixed with the sound of metal clashing, miserable cries, and in an instant, all his comrades were lying on the ground.

  He saw the battle knife in the man's hand dripping with blood, bright red blood.