Chapter Twelve: Da Xi's Long Journey

  Thank you for the gods' reward, thank you all for your support, I am touched in my heart, warm as the tide.

  Before long, the pretty maid returned with a cup of tea and placed it on the table beside Li Xian, saying: "Young master, please have some tea."

  Li Xian bowed his head and said sincerely: "Thank you, sister."

  That maid's face turned red, and she glared at Li Xian before turning around to stand beside Ye Dajia. Li Xian thought to himself, "I called you sister, why did you glare at me?" This master and servant were indeed strange, both lacking in manners. But he had forgotten that earlier downstairs, he had a whole house full of sisters.

  Seeing the two women ignoring him, Li Xian awkwardly smiled and walked back to sit down, picking up that cup of hot tea and taking a big gulp. Then he stuck out his tongue and shook it vigorously. Seeing that he had scalded his mouth, the pretty maid covered her mouth and laughed. Li Xian was afraid of being impolite so he didn't spit out the water, instead swallowing it with a stiff upper lip. His throat was scalded and painful, but the fire in his lower abdomen was extinguished completely.

  "Wasted my pre-rain good tea."

  The elegant woman raised her head and slightly furrowed her brow: "You can leave now."

  Li Xian stood up, slightly bowed his waist, then turned around and walked out of the room without saying a word. The woman saw him leave decisively and was slightly taken aback, then smiled and said: "What an interesting little guy."

  Li Xian stopped in his tracks and turned around to look at the woman, saying seriously: "There will always be a time when we become one of them."

  The woman didn't seem to be angry at his provocative and sarcastic words, but instead smiled slyly and said: "Then wait until that time, you come find me again. At that time I'll take a look... whether it's really big or not."

  This smile can bring chaos to all living things.

  Li Xian was stunned by the woman's smile and swallowed hard. The woman had been sitting there reading a book, looking calm and elegant. Suddenly, she showed an extremely charming smile and said something that made Li Xian feel very uncomfortable, this ambiguous play was too strong. Li Xian took a deep breath, puffed out his chest and said: "I won't let you see it!"

  Then Li Xian turned around and walked away with a proud and arrogant attitude.

  The woman known as Ye Dajia walked lightly to the door, looking at Li Xian's back and smiled. She reached out to tidy up her hair that fell in front of her forehead, and her eyes became somewhat hazy. "Really looks like him."

  "Miss, do you want to leave him behind?"

  The maid in green clothes asked in a low voice.

  Everyone laughed and said, "After all, he's just a kid, and he looks quite similar to how he looked when he was young. Forget it... Jia'er, it's going to rain outside, get him an umbrella. Tell him that in the future, he shouldn't casually enter this kind of place. For men to be respected, ultimately it depends on... how great their prospects are."

  The little maid called Jia'er responded with a "yes" and took an umbrella from the doorway, chasing after her.

  Li Xian walked out of the Yihong Courtyard with a sullen face, ignoring Chen Queer's complaints about how quickly he had spent all his silver. Just as he was about to leave, Jia'er rushed out and called him back, handing him an umbrella and saying: "Ye Dajie asked me to tell you that if you want to be respected by others, it ultimately depends on how great your future prospects are."

  After finishing speaking, Jia'er ran back to Yihongyuan.

  Li Xian held his umbrella and stared blankly ahead, sighing inwardly that the kind of greatness you spoke of was indeed a hundred or thousand times more difficult than the kind I mentioned.

  Chen Que'er leaned over and asked in a low voice: "What's wrong, 'young master', been looked down upon by someone?"

  Li Xian shook his head and said, "No, it's just a boring bet with a boring person."

  Chen Que'er saw that he was a bit down, so she said apologetically: "It's all my fault. I originally wanted to take you on an exciting adventure and let you have some fun before you leave, but the women here really are disappointing. If you're angry, Little Bird Brother can go demolish that broken building for you to vent your anger, how about it?"

  Li Xian smiled and said: "No, the people here... are all right."

  Two people chose to buy some things and started walking back, Li Xian also had some interest, just constantly thinking about the woman called Ye Dajia. He thought for a long time but couldn't figure out why such an outstanding woman would appear in such a dirty building? Nor did he know if she was a fallen noblewoman who had drifted to the brothel, although she looked good when she smiled, Li Xian could see the desolation and loneliness in her eyes. Would such a woman have some tragic love story with a certain man?

  What kind of man would ruthlessly abandon such a woman?

  "Get him!"

  Li suddenly gritted his teeth and said a sentence as he walked.

  Chen Que'er's face showed a difficult expression: "Go kill now? No, it's not good. If things go wrong, it will ruin Big Brother's affairs. In the future, when I have time, I'll definitely come back and kill all those demons in that building to help you vent your anger!"

  Li Xian stopped in his tracks and smiled, saying: "Let's go, Little Bird. We'll head back to the inn for a drink."

  Two people returned to the inn and had Xiao Er send some wine and dishes to their room. The two of them opened the window, looking at the scenery on the street while drinking and waiting for Zhang Zhongjian and others to return after killing someone. They stayed in the inn, but it was just a preparation made because they couldn't make a move today. If Zhang Zhongjian and others couldn't find an opportunity today, then they would have to stay overnight and wait again. However, the brothers who had entered Weiyang first had already investigated that Pei Yan's route and time for returning home from the government office every day. Killing an unguarded prefect was not a difficult task for the people of Tie Fotuo.

  Li Xian may not be old, but his drinking capacity is astonishing. If it were a one-on-one competition, Chen Que Er wouldn't stand a chance. The liquor of this era isn't hard for Li Xian to accept; in his opinion, the alcohol content isn't much higher than beer. But when he drinks it, it tastes much better than beer, with a hint of sweetness.

  When two people had drunk a catty and a half of wine, suddenly there was a great commotion in the distance on the main street.

  Li Xian's eyes narrowed, and he pulled over the large package that had been placed on one side. Chen Que'er also drew out a horizontal knife from the package, cracked open his mouth and smiled: "Making such a big commotion, Big Brother's craftsmanship is getting more and more trendy."

  Li Xian didn't say a word, opened the package, took out the somewhat old crossbow, and placed the quiver by the window. Before long, chaos spread over the street like an incoming tide. Pedestrians on the street started screaming and scattering in all directions.

  Zhang Zhongjian and the other two took big strides and ran over, behind them was a cavalry of at least more than 200 people!

  "Damn it," Li Xian cursed in a low voice, "Can't a county head with the size of a fart have a team of guards on and off duty?"

  "Something's off, how can the soldiers of Youyang County react so quickly?"

  Chen Queer frowned and said.

  Li Xian placed an arrow on his bow and said to the approaching cavalry: "I'll kill the man, you grab the horse!"

  Chen Que'er nodded.

  Whoosh!

  From the moment Li Xian's first arrow was shot to the fifth arrow, the time used did not exceed one minute! Five cavalrymen were shot down by feathered arrows, and the cavalry stopped immediately after being attacked by feathered arrows. The neighing of war horses echoed through the streets. Li Xian's shooting speed was too fast, and for a while, the cavalry had difficulty judging how many archers were ambushing nearby. The leader of the team shouted loudly, and the cavalrymen formed a team to prepare for a speedy charge. Li Xian aimed at the leader, and it was not difficult for him to shoot and kill such a big target at a distance of over ten meters.

  Whoosh! An arrow shot out suddenly!

  With a "poof" sound, the traveler was shot through the throat and died.

  The cavalry was in disarray, and someone immediately discovered Li Xian's position.

  Chen Que'er let out a loud shout and leaped down from the second floor. He slashed to death a cavalryman who was charging towards him, then kicked off the warhorse to eliminate his downward inertia. Rolling on the spot, he swung his sword and severed the two front legs of another warhorse, which let out a mournful cry as it fell forward. Chen Que'er took advantage of the momentum to slash the fallen cavalryman to death. His horizontal sword struck the cavalryman's neck, and blood gushed out like a waterfall, splashing Chen Que'er's face with blood.

  At this time, the iron floating pagoda horse thieves who were hiding on the main street also came out to kill. Although there were only five or six of them, they were extremely ferocious. The cavalry was caught off guard and immediately many riders fell off their horses and were beheaded. The horse thieves killed people and stole horses with swift and decisive movements. Only when they got on horseback did the horse thieves show their true strength, and their combat power suddenly increased greatly. Including Chen Que'er, the seven horse thieves killed the government army and then galloped forward on horseback. Chen Que'er shouted under the window, and Li Xian jumped down from the second floor. Chen Que'er caught Li Xian, and Li Xian flipped over and sat on half of the saddle with his back to Chen Que'er. Chen Que'er controlled the warhorse with one hand and held Li Xian's waist with the other.

  Li Xian faced the pursuing soldiers behind him and fired arrow after arrow, killing several more cavalrymen in an instant.

  When the crowd chased to the city gate, Zhang Zhongjian, Lü Fū and Hu Nú had already knocked down the county soldiers at the city gate. The horse bandits pulled Zhang Zhongjian and the others onto their horses and galloped out of the city gate. Li Xian sat behind, shooting arrow after arrow like flowing clouds and running water. The cavalry behind continued to fall off their horses, but still pursued relentlessly.

  "Why so persistent?"

  Li Xian furrowed his brow and said.

  Zhang Zhongjian sat behind a horse thief, reached out to take Li Xian's hard bow, drew the bow like a full moon, and shot an arrow through the head of a pursuing soldier. The skull was hard, and this arrow penetrated the brain, showing how strong Zhang Zhongjian's arm strength and archery skills were. If the teacher wasn't so arrogant, Li Xian's archery skills wouldn't be so outstanding either. Shooting arrows isn't just about having strength, wind power, angle, distance must all be considered. And it's even harder to hit the target on a galloping horse.

  "It's just bad luck. I had just beheaded Pei Yan, and it so happens that the Prefect of Youyang is leading a cavalry patrol back."

  Zhang Zhongjian explained.

  "They're chasing so tightly, aren't they afraid of death?"

  Li Xian handed arrow after arrow to Zhang Zhongjian.

  The arrows in the quiver were soon depleted, and Zhang Zhongjian smiled and said: "Cui Huan, the governor of Guyang County, has a set of military training. If he doesn't give orders, those cavalrymen will keep chasing."

  Li Xian said: "Can you still laugh? Are they going to chase us all the way to Mount Baxian?"

  Zhang Zhongjian shook his head: "They can't catch up with Baxian Mountain, and Daxi Changru is waiting for them in the forest ahead."

  In the woods there is Blood Knight, what else can be feared?

  The men of Tiefutu ran past the edge of the forest, and the Yu Yang cavalry rushed over. Suddenly, a shower of arrows shot out from the forest, and dozens of cavalrymen immediately fell off their horses. Daxi Zhangru led the team of Tiefutu and Xuer with more than 150 people to rush out of the forest, and immediately killed those Yu Yangjun soldiers in chaos.

  Li Xian watched as Da Xi Chang Ru swung his sword and struck down a cavalryman, and he sneered: "A general of the Great Sui beheading a soldier of the Great Sui - how can he bring himself to do it?"

  Zhang Zhongjian sighed, "Does he still think of himself as a general of the Great Sui? In the battle of Honghua, if someone had come to his rescue, would his cavalry have fought for three days and nights before breaking out of the encirclement? The merit of beheading ten thousand enemies was instead used to promote others' official ranks!"

  Li Xian was silent.