Chapter 1: The Intersection of Parallel Time and Space (Revised)

  During the National Day Golden Week, Junfeng Mountain Scenic Area in Huaxi Province's Xijiang Province welcomed another peak tourist season. To ensure the safety of tourists on vacation, the Municipal Public Security Bureau dispatched all personnel, including special police who usually do not perform general duties, wearing plain clothes and patrolling every tourist spot in Junfeng Mountain to prevent any accidental accidents from happening in such crowded environments.

  At the peak with a guardrail, a plainclothes special police officer in his thirties was carefully watching the tourists coming and going. If he saw any tourist trying to climb over the guardrail, he would patiently persuade them not to take such a dangerous action. Because outside the guardrail is a cliff of several hundred meters deep. Once an accident occurs, the consequences are unthinkable.

  He was a plainclothes special police officer who worked as a persuader. For those tourists who were stopped from climbing over the fence, he would sigh and lament that he had been wronged by his superiors again. However, thinking that he had only transferred to the local area for more than a year and was the most junior in the special police team, this temporary assignment could not be given to him, and it really couldn't think of a second person.

  No choice! In order to make a living, Xu Bin could only continue to dryly persuade those enthusiastic tourists who wanted to climb over the railing to take a look at the cloud masses in the valley below. Don't sacrifice lifelong regret for temporary pleasure.

  Just after receiving a group of tourists and temporarily having a chance to catch his breath, Xu Bin suddenly felt a deadly dangerous aura coming from the front, which made his back feel numb. This kind of fatal danger, Xu Bin asked himself how long he hadn't felt it since his retirement.

  Just as he turned around to search for the person or thing that brought him danger, a faint muffled sound suddenly came from the opposite mountain. By the time Xu Bin realized where the danger was coming from, it was too late to dodge and he felt a severe blow to his chest.

  After some difficulty, Xu Bin spat out the three words "sniper" and then fell from the cliff that he had just been guarding, under the stunned gaze of a group of tourists who had just climbed to the top of the mountain. The excited tourists were shocked for a moment, and then began to shout loudly, adding a tense atmosphere to the originally lively Junfeng Mountain.

  "Someone has fallen off a cliff! Come quickly and save them!"

  Xu Bin, who was slowly falling off the cliff, lost all his consciousness in this noisy shouting voice. In the moment he closed his eyes, he clearly knew what would happen to him next. As for the sniper who killed him, he also understood that except for the wealthy and powerful family that made him change his career to a local one, there was probably no second person with such great ability.

  Just as he was about to lose consciousness, Xu Bin suddenly felt that if he had solved the heir of that family with a single shot back then, maybe he wouldn't have ended up dying in such a miserable way. However, he himself was an orphan who grew up in an orphanage and was sent to the army, eventually serving for over ten years.

  It can be said that when someone with such a background passes away, it won't cause much of a stir. Even if he is eventually recognized as a martyr, it's likely that no one will come to collect his compensation. This is the sorrow of being a small person, this is the helplessness of a hot-blooded soldier in peacetime.

  If there was a chance to come back, Xu Bin would definitely choose to be the one on top. Let those arrogant and powerful families also tremble with fear under his authority. If there was a chance to come back, he shouldn't have shown mercy when capturing that young master who had committed adultery and murder of over a hundred girls, giving him a chance to take revenge. What a huge loss!

  Just as Xu Bin was losing consciousness with endless regret and remorse, a fierce gun battle was unfolding in the valley below the cliff in another time and space.

  A bandit gang from the nearby Black Wind Stockade, led by their leader Xu Yiren, were excitedly preparing to go down to the village at the foot of the mountain to make some extra money. Unexpectedly, as they walked through this mountain valley, they were ambushed by government troops from the city. The bandits, who had been caught off guard, were desperately trying to break out of the valley under the command of their seriously injured leader.

  "Great leader, you must hold on! Brothers, charge! As long as we break out, we'll have a way to survive!"

  A middle-aged bandit, shot through the chest with two bullet holes, tearfully commanded the surviving bandits to engage in a desperate fight to the death with the surrounding government soldiers.

  Xu Yiren, feeling increasingly weak, looked at the middle-aged bandit beside him and stumbled out of the valley while gasping for air: "Cheng Bing, don't worry about me, take Xiaobin and break through. I'm done for, can't let brothers sacrifice themselves for me again."

  "As long as you break out, there will be opportunities to avenge Zhu Sandao in the future. If Xiaobin has the ability, you can support him a bit more. If Xiaobin really doesn't have the ability to manage Heifengzhai, then this position of leader will be taken over by you. Did you hear clearly?"

  Upon hearing Xu Yiren's instructions, which sounded like a final will, the middle-aged bandit Li Chengbing gritted his teeth and said: "It won't happen, Master Ji is a lucky man with a heavenly aura, he'll definitely be fine. These government troops think they can keep us here? Daydreaming! Charge! Brothers, we must rescue Master Ji and Young Master. As long as we break out, we'll have the chance to avenge our brothers in the future. Kill!"

  Some of them didn't listen and started walking on the road, Xu Yiren ordered, Li Chengbing hugged this master who had saved his life, in the midst of gunfire, he kept using the pistol in his hand to shoot those slowly approaching soldiers, making them lower their heads to dodge.

  Just as the bandits were desperately trying to break out of the valley, a faint void suddenly appeared at the junction of the two time and space. Xǔ Bīn, who had fallen to the bottom of the valley, his soul passed through this void, and without anyone noticing, floated onto the body of the young master of Hei Feng Zhai, who had been knocked unconscious by a shell during the battle. None of the bandits noticed any of this as they were busy trying to break out.

  Li Chengbing, who had finally escaped the valley after several more brothers were killed or injured, looked at Da Dangjia Xu Yiren in his hand and found that he had stopped breathing at some point. For a time, the Heifengzhai bandits, who had just escaped the encirclement without having time to cheer, fell into boundless sorrow once again.

  Li Chengbing, who had been wailing loudly on top of Xu Yiren's body, only stopped when he realized that the government troops were still chasing after them. He took a look at the young master, who was being guarded by the bandits and seemed to still be breathing, and let out a sigh of relief. If even this young master had died here, he couldn't bear to think about how chaotic the mountain stronghold would become.

  Although Xu Yiren was still alive, he had already stated that for the future of Shan Zhai, as long as this young master did not have the ability to grasp Shan Zhai. This oldest qualified big head of Shan Zhai would take over as the master of Hei Feng Zhai.

  Li Chengbing was very clear that even if this young master was useless, the second-in-command of Heifeng Gang was more suitable to take over as the new leader. However, thinking about the second-in-command, who was also the younger brother of the current leader, and his arrogant attitude, Li Chengbing didn't dare imagine what Heifeng Gang would become without Xu Yiren in the future.

  These worries Li Chengbing did not dare to show here, wiping away tears and looking at the bandits sitting on the ground: "Brothers, although the big boss has left, we still have the second boss and the young boss. The most urgent task is that we must hurry up and send the big boss and the young boss back to the mountain stronghold, waiting for the second boss's disposal. I swear, today Zhu San Dao owes our Heifeng Gang a great revenge, and in the future, we will definitely report it. Come on, carry the big boss and the young boss on your backs, go back to the mountain!

  Under Li Chengbing's command, these lucky bandits who escaped also had to continue sneaking towards the mountain stronghold. When they entered the mountain stronghold and met up with the remaining bandits, seeing that the Big Master was already dead and the Second Master's life or death was uncertain, the usually quiet and gloomy Black Wind Stockade suddenly became a scene of chaos and panic.

  Looking at the corpse with a face full of blood in the main hall of the mountain stronghold, Xu Yizhong, who usually served as the second-in-command and accountant of the stronghold, was also heartbroken. From the day he and his brother joined the bandits, they had long been aware that they would end up dying in vain in the wilderness. However, Xu Yizhong had never thought that the Black Wind Stronghold, which had prospered for over a decade, would meet with such a disastrous fate today.

  Compared to his elder brother, this book-smart younger brother can handle the logistics and accounting of the mountain stronghold without any issues. However, when it comes to leading these bandits down the mountain to do business, he knows he doesn't have what it takes.

  Hei Feng Village has today's scale, it can be said that it is directly related to Xu Yiren's dare to fight and kill. Now, more than 200 mountain bandits are all recruited by Xu Yiren. In this mountain, the two brothers of the Xu family, one literary and one martial, have a great reputation, who doesn't know who?

  Moreover, Xu Yiren is a generous person and has some reputation among the local bandits. In addition, according to the rules set by the two brothers in those years, they never robbed ordinary civilians, but had been engaging in robbing rich merchants and local officials for many years, making them a thorn in the side of the city's officials.

  In the past few times, the government troops in the city came to the mountain to besiege Heifengzhai, but were beaten by Xu Yiren and the bandits in the mountain stronghold, relying on the easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack terrain of Heifengzhai and their familiarity with the landform, making those government troops in the city flee in disarray.

  Who would have thought that the government troops, who were usually afraid to enter the mountains, would set up an ambush on their way down today? As a result, the notorious Black Wind Fortress's leader became a cold corpse, along with dozens of his skilled bandits.

  Xu Yizhong, who clearly knew he was not capable of taking over as the head of the mountain stronghold, was heartbroken but also aware that the most important thing at present was to appease these fierce bandits who were normally only kept in check by their big brother.

  Fortunately, Li Chengbing, who had a high prestige among the bandits, clearly stated that he would listen to his orders and would not let the bandits below him cause trouble. Otherwise, he really couldn't imagine what the situation in the mountain stronghold would become.

  What's even more heart-wrenching is that the nephew, who was rescued by the bandits at the cost of their lives and was both literary and martially accomplished, now lies in bed with an uncertain fate. If something unexpected were to happen to this last remaining blood relative of the two brothers, Xu Yizhong truly wouldn't know how they would be able to face their ancestors in the future. After all, this nephew is the only one who can carry on the Xu family's lineage!