Chapter 3: How Can You Not Die

  Li Xian was not idle at all, while his uncles and elder brothers were busy killing people, he was busy saving lives.

  After successfully driving away those seven or eight laborers, Li Xian smiled and leaned against the large stone, taking out a cloth package from his pocket. He opened it and took out half of a still-warm pancake, eating it in big mouthfuls. This group of laborers was the fourth batch he had driven back this morning, adding up to around thirty or so lives saved by him. He didn't want to know how many people had already died on the other side of the forest near the official road that turned a bend ahead. He just didn't want those innocent civilians to die in vain.

  Those uncles and brothers were working very efficiently, but today they seemed a bit slow. It was probably because of the thorny task at hand. Li Xian didn't plan to go over and help, instead he waited for the messenger arrow to fly up and then made a run for it.

  Those three horse-drawn carriages were not the family members of any official or noble family, and their hands were stained with more blood than anyone else. Since General Luo Yi could bring people from Sai Bei into the pass, they could also keep people here forever and never let them return. Li Xian was very disgusted with General Luo Yi's methods.

  It is worth noting that Mǎ Zéi Tiě Fú Tǎ seems to have been opposing Hu Bīng Dà Jiàng Jūn all along.

  The title of Great General Tiger Guard was actually just a respectful term used by the people of Youzhou to refer to Luo Yi. Li Xian knew that at this time, Luo Yi was still just a Lang Jiang, and was one rank below the official title of Da Jiangjun. However, in both the imperial court and among the common people, including the Turkic, Khitan, and Xi tribes north of the Great Wall, everyone thought that Luo Yi was indeed a renowned general. Anyone who could stab the Khan of the Turks in the buttocks would be considered a hero, no matter what. Especially if the price of stabbing the Khan was being pierced by dozens of wolf-tooth arrows, this heroism was not something that just anyone could achieve.

  However, Luo Yi is not as pure as the Great Wall in people's hearts.

  Whoever has a clump of grass called ambition in their heart will no longer be pure.

  Luo Yi was a knife user, Li Xian curled his lips, originally a poor and miserable little boy who couldn't even afford a decent pair of shoes, who would have thought that one day he would become the tallest person in the hundreds of miles around Zhuo County?

  Li Xian's sword is ordinary and he won't use a spear, he likes bows and arrows.

  A ten-year-old child, who had practiced knife skills for several years and also worked hard on archery, did not deign to use Luo Yi as a goal to strive for. That year, Luo Yi led three hundred elite soldiers of the Sui Dynasty into the Turkic army formation, staining his saber with the blood of over a hundred people, wearing dozens of arrows on his body, and injuring the Khan of the Turks with one knife in the midst of thousands of horses and men. Although many years had passed since then, many people still talked about it with relish after meals and tea. And he was just a small horse thief among a group of horse thieves. Li Xian actually felt that this comparison was unfair, using Luo Yi to compare himself... was too humiliating for himself. Anyway, an old nun who had supported the Sui Emperor in his later years said on her deathbed that Li Xian was the reincarnation of the true dragon.

  The official road became increasingly deserted, and Li Xian finished half a pancake. There was still no one in his line of sight. However, he didn't plan to leave like this because his mission wasn't to intercept innocent civilians, that was just his hobby. The task he applied for himself was to intercept those scoundrels who colluded with the horse-drawn carriage and committed evil together.

  A few days ago, when those people entered Baizhou, they were escorted by a large team of Sui cavalry. It is said that the person being protected was from the Bailing Cui family. Although Baizhou is called a state, it is actually just a county. The county magistrate of Baizhou is surnamed Cui, named Cui Chen, and his courtesy name is Yuanmou. Without a doubt, he also comes from the Bailing Cui family. The Cui family has produced dozens of prime ministers and generals, but Cui Chen is just a small county magistrate, an insignificant person within the Cui clan.

  The people of the Cui family went to see the people of the Cui family, and there were cavalry escorts, it seemed like nothing was wrong. But when Li Xian's adoptive father, Zhang Zhongjian, also known as Qiu Rui Ke, a notorious horse thief, heard this news, he let out a long sigh. Cui Chen, that small county magistrate who dared to oppose General Luo Yi, had submitted a memorial to Emperor Taizong of Tang, accusing General Luo Yi of allowing his soldiers to disguise themselves as horse thieves and plunder villages, was probably going to leave this world soon.

  Luo Yi was known to the world as the Tiger General, and his Youzhou army was called the Tiger Army. However, he did not know that what he had been doing these days had thoroughly enraged a group of fierce tigers.

  And Little Li Xian was a young tiger raised by this group of fierce tigers, who had already shown his sharp teeth.

  A group of tigers went to kill people, killing those northern wolf-like men.

  A small tiger leaned against a stone by the roadside, resting with its eyes closed, looking harmless. Half of the pancake had entered that small rubber belly and actually didn't take up much space. If he was idle, Li Xian could eat one and a half pancakes of this size, not to mention those little dishes like roasted lamb legs or braised beef.

  But today Li Xian couldn't eat too much, eating too much would make people lazy and bloated. After finishing the pancake, Li Xian subconsciously went to touch the water bag at his waist, suddenly remembering that he had given it to that escaped soldier. He didn't mind if the escaped soldier recognized the words written on the water bag, because even if he did recognize them, he wouldn't understand the nostalgia hidden behind those seemingly carefree and humorous words.

  Li Xian is ten years old this year, or it can be said that he has been for ten years.

  With his eyes closed, pretending to be asleep, when the stone behind him was finally warmed up by his body heat, a horseshoe sound came from afar. Li Xian closed his eyes and listened carefully with his ears perked up, at least forty horses. This wasn't some kind of supernatural skill, but rather an ordinary one for someone who had been riding horses since the age of four and had been living off horse thievery. Fortunately, Li Xian's legs were straight as a pen, not having been trained into bowlegs by years of horseback riding.

  When the cavalry was two hundred and fifty steps away from Li Xian, he stood up, adjusted the quiver on his back, as well as the small straight knife tied to the side of the quiver that Zhang Zhongjian had specially made for him.

  There are thirty arrows in the quiver, and there are almost forty enemies.

  Li Xian stood in the middle of the official road, his left hand holding a bow and his right hand shading his eyes from the sun. It was indeed the regular cavalry of the Great Sui. The earth-yellow armor they wore and the large horizontal knives they held, shining brightly in the sunlight, all proclaimed their identity. The military power of the Great Sui was unparalleled in the world, especially the elite troops of the Great Sui, who had never been defeated in battle.

  A cavalry team of forty men, not a large number, but from afar, the horse team that set off rolling dust and smoke, had a bit of the style of thousands of troops and horses. The Tiger Guard General Luo Yi's command was mostly made up of skilled cavalrymen, even those who were known as natural-born riders, the infamous Turkic Wolf Riders, did not have much resistance in front of Luo Yi's elite Tiger Guard cavalry. These forty riders were not from the six thousand elite heavy armor of the Tiger Guard, but judging by their momentum, they were also seasoned veterans who had been through battles.

  Li Xian stood in the middle of the official road station and squinted his eyes to take a look.

  Two hundred and fifty steps, two hundred steps, one hundred and eighty steps, one hundred and fifty steps.

  The cavalry charging at high speed did not have anyone telling him to dodge, Li Xian sighed and shook his head.

  One hundred and fifty paces, Li Xian's right hand raised from behind his back, drew out an arrow from the quiver, and in the time it took to raise his hand, draw the arrow, and pull open the two-stone hard bow like a full moon, it was done. How long is a moment? The Buddha said, one snap of the fingers has sixty moments, and in one moment, nine hundred births and deaths occur.

  Li Xian's arrow flew nine hundred miles without killing anyone, but it took away one person's life.

  With a "poof" sound, the commander of the vanguard cavalry regiment was pierced through the throat by an arrow!

  Even these cavalrymen who had killed people did not see the young man draw his bow!

  From the moment he shot his first arrow, Li Xian's movements were as smooth and continuous as a machine, without any pause. The arrows flew out of the bowstring like flowing water, emotionless, and into the throat, as if falling flowers had intention. One arrow followed another, raising his arm, drawing the arrow, placing it on the bow, releasing the string, each movement was precise to an astonishing degree. Standing there, with a physique that looked rather slender, only reaching the shoulder of a grown man, he was as firm and stable as the huge rock by the roadside at this moment.

  Pearls of wisdom, sharp as can be.

  临阵不过三矢 means that when facing a cavalry charge, from entering range to having to retreat, a well-trained archer can shoot three arrows. A distance of 150 steps, the cavalry rushed up in just six breaths. And within these six breaths, Li Xian shot out eleven arrows!

  Eleven arrows fell on eleven people, what a stunning young man!

  Li Xian deceived Wu Lai Lu, his killing intent had actually been broken since he was six years old.

  That year, by the banks of the E River in spring, that young man with flowing black hair shot out an arrow. The setting sun was like blood. His face calm, he survived the ordeal of taking a life. To die for one's faith is to survive an ordeal; can it be said that the killer is not also surviving an ordeal?

  The cavalry of the Great Sui were indeed valiant, and after a brief moment of chaos, they quickly regained their formation. The remaining cavalry, under the command of a squad leader, formed an attacking array and approached Li Xian. At this point, the distance was already less than thirty meters. Thirty meters, at the speed of the cavalry, would be reached in the blink of an eye.

  At this time, Li Xian, who had been as still as a mountain, moved.

  He kicked up a cloud of dust, like a crouching leopard, like a young tiger descending the mountain, moving as swiftly as the wind! He suddenly sprinted to one side of the official road, his legs spinning like wheels, his speed leaving onlookers aghast. What was shocking was that this youth's upper body remained straight as a pen!

  Drawing the bow, nocking the arrow, shooting the arrow, and running are all done in one breath.

  A well-trained cavalry of the Sui Dynasty turned a beautiful arc from the official road and rushed down, continuing to pursue that murderous young man. The young man's face was rosy, his breathing slightly heavy, but his eyes were still calm as water, cold as ice. He constantly changed direction, constantly leaped up, and then used those exceptionally stable hands to accurately send arrow after arrow into the bodies of the cavalrymen.

  The quiver is empty!

  The cavalry had twenty-five men left. Thirty arrows killed sixteen riders, and even in rapid motion, there was still some unsteadiness.

  The young man shook his head, feeling a little dissatisfied with his archery skills.

  Li Xian, without his arrows, no longer looked intimidating. The cavalrymen were shocked by his archery skills and now that he had run out of arrows, they regained their ferocity. They charged towards the demon-like youth, seemingly intent on trampling him to death. Li Xian was out of arrows, abandoned his bow, but still had that knife.

  Crouching low, waiting for the moment when the war horse was about to collide with him, Li Xian suddenly flashed and grabbed the saddle of the war horse, turned over and jumped onto the war horse, sticking close behind the cavalry!

  The cavalryman felt a sudden weight on his back, he turned around and saw a gleaming knife. The knife was like a rainbow, like water, like solid ice. The sharp blade swiftly swept across the cavalryman's throat, leaving a thin line of crimson.

  Li Xian leaned in close to the cavalryman's ear and spoke, slowly sheathing his knife: "As a warrior of Great Sui, as a Han from the Central Plains, you actually went to collude with the Turkic wolves of the northern border to kill our good officials in the Central Plains - how can you not die?"

  What reason do you have for not dying?