Chapter Thirty-One: The Young Man Who Came with Fan Gong

  Fang Jie was very curious about what Xiao Ding was holding in his hand, because the old cripple's eyes widened immediately after seeing it. His face, which had turned a purplish-red color due to difficulty breathing, actually flushed with excitement.

  It can be seen from Fang Jie's eyes that when he sees the token, there is a very sincere and deep respect in his eyes.

  The old cripple loosened his grip and looked at Ya Li with a cold hum.

  Li Luo took big mouthfuls of air, gasping for a while before recovering. Even as a sixth-grade strongman being choked would be equally unbearable. After his breathing had barely returned to normal, Li Luo did something that shocked Fang Jie.

  He tidied up his battle robe and then knelt down on one knee, solemnly performing a grand bow of the Sui army.

  Suddenly, Fang Jie became more interested in the thing in Xiao Ding's hand.

  "No wonder there's such an expert around, forgive me for not knowing that the master is here. The one who should be saluted is the owner of this thing, although I don't know who currently possesses this thing or how it ended up in your hands. As a soldier, seeing this thing requires a salute."

  After finishing his speech, Li Luo stood up and glanced at Fang Jie: "But I have a responsibility to fulfill, and Fang Jie is a major fugitive wanted by the Ministry of War. You have this thing in your hands, and I don't dare make things difficult for you. But please also don't make things difficult for me, I must take Fang Jie down and bring him away, military orders are at stake, please give me an opportunity."

  "Go to hell!"

  Fang Jie couldn't help but scold from behind the old cripple: "Is this the kind of thing that a dignified and upright official of the Sui Dynasty's five-product general does? They have something in their hands that you're afraid of, so earlier when you shouted 'Kill them all', it could be dispersed into nothingness like a fart? I don't have anything in my hands that would make you afraid, so you must obey the military order of the Sui Dynasty?"

  "You tell me, where did the military order come from? Who issued the military order? And the Ministry of War's document, bring it out and let me see. If you can show me these two things, I'll strangle myself to death without needing your help! Although I'm young and haven't seen much of the world, I'm still a member of the Great Sui Dynasty's border army! In Fan'er City, I achieved 21 military merits, beheading dozens of bandits! You think you can kill me with just one military order and one Ministry of War document?"

  Li Luo's face turned red in an instant.

  He is a qualified soldier of the Great Wei, so he cannot but follow the orders handed down from above. But Fang's words really made him feel ashamed, precisely because he was a qualified soldier, that's why he felt guilty, he knew the hardships of the border soldiers and also knew what twenty-one military achievements represented.

  How many times have you been born and died to come back, as a soldier, how can he not understand?

  Fang Jie took two steps forward with his horizontal knife, walking right up to Li Luo's face. He slowly raised the knife and placed it on his own neck, stretching out his other hand to demand: "Hand over the Ministry of War's documents! I'll die a clear and just death!"

  After this loud shout, a whispering voice immediately spread among the distant Da Wei soldiers. Li Ru couldn't help but turn his head to glance at his subordinates, and on those familiar faces were expressions of doubt.

  "I don't have the Ministry of War's letter."

  Li took a deep breath: "I am acting according to military orders, follow me. If you are really being wronged, no one will make things difficult for you. You should trust me, the army cannot tolerate personal favors and bending the law."

  "Believe you? Believe your old man has already turned into a hedgehog!"

  "Fang Jie let out a cold snort and sneered, 'You've disgraced the great Sui army! You're unworthy of wearing this suit of armor! If it's true that the Sui army can't tolerate personal favors and bending the law, then what were you doing when you recklessly ordered a barrage of arrows to be fired over here earlier? If you have a clear conscience, why didn't your troops unfurl the Sui army's battle flag?!'"

  The old cripple looked at Fang Jie and quietly raised a big thumb.

  After Fang finished speaking, he fell silent and stared coldly at Li Luo. His horizontal knife was placed on his own neck, the sharp blade only needing a slight turn to cut through his throat.

  Li Lu's face was extremely ugly, and after a long silence, he suddenly turned around and left: "You have his things in your hands, so you won't really do anything to betray Da Sui. After I go back, I will naturally ask the general about it, if you really committed a capital offense, even if I have to chase you all the way to the imperial capital, I will catch you."

  "Don't worry!"

  "Fang Jie looked at his back and said: 'You can come to the Martial Arts Institute to find me!'"

  Li Lu's footsteps paused, without turning back, said: "I'm also from the Martial Arts Academy, so I hope you can get in. But what you need to know is that the place where heaven and earth cannot tolerate waste and traitors is the Martial Arts Academy."

  He quickened his pace, shouting an order to return to camp as he walked. The five hundred elite soldiers of the Great Yu army turned around and left, their movements still swift and orderly. After those soldiers had gone far away, Fang Jie finally couldn't hold on any longer and sat down on the ground with a thud. It was only then that he discovered his back had long been soaked through.

  "What's that thing in your hand, Little Ding?"

  Even though he had been drained of energy, his first question was still what that thing was.

  Xiao Ding gave him a white eye: "I thought you were really that brave, but it turns out that when someone leaves, you become timid... What's not your business, go find a place to catch your breath."

  The little girl turned around and ran back to the horse carriage with her ponytail swinging.

  ……

  ……

  "Little guy, I didn't think you actually had some guts."

  The old cripple sat in Fang Jie's carriage, took a big sip of northwest burn and laughed: "That Li Luo is a straightforward guy, the army of Datang has never lacked such people. What I admire most is that the soldiers of Datang are so direct, whether they are soldiers or generals, they are all lovable. It's just because they are straightforward, after going back, it's likely to be a bad outcome... Not completing the military order and letting you go, he won't die but will lose his skin."

  "Get out!"

  Fang Jie almost shouted out the word with all his might, then pointed at the old cripple's nose and scolded loudly: "I didn't take you as a heroic chivalrous person from the start, but I didn't expect you to be a despicable person who kicks others when they're down! Originally because of Xiao Yao's sister, because you yourself claimed to be a high-ranking master of the ninth grade, I still had some respect for you in my heart. But you are really not a good thing... Get out! Go back to your own carriage!"

  Unexpectedly, the old cripple didn't get angry.

  It seems that there is no trace of the demeanor a true strong person should have on him.

  He rubbed his nose and chuckled, saying: "Do you really think that old master is afraid of those five hundred little rascals? Even if they were five hundred cultivators from the elite Right Vanguard's Precise Step Battalion, would I, a ninth-grade master, be afraid of them? The Precise Step Battalion and Heavy Cavalry are Li Yuanshan's two fierce tigers. But I have the Dragon-Slaying Knife, so why should I fear his two little kittens?"

  He paused for a moment and nudged the supplier with his shoulder: "Think about it yourself, why would I, an old cripple, wait until after the arrow was released to take action?"

  "You're just a coward!"

  Fang Jie glared at him fiercely and turned his head to look away.

  "Idiot!"

  The old cripple cursed and said, "It's because I'm a 9th-grade strongman that I won't do something stupid like killing 500 elite soldiers with one breath. It's not that I can't do it, but rather I choose not to... Do you understand? The right choice is to achieve the greatest results with the smallest cost. You're still saying you're a qualified scout and have achieved 21 merits in battle... Bah! I deliberately let that little kid give the order to fire arrows, and although the two people beside you aren't top-notch, they can block arrows, right?"

  "Taking advantage of their momentary lapse after shooting the arrow, I seized the opportunity to strike back. To capture the thief, one must first capture the king... This requires not only extraordinary skill but also exceptional courage and wisdom. If you weren't so dim-witted, I wouldn't have bothered telling you all this!"

  Fang Jie let out a cold snort and didn't say another word.

  The old cripple drank wine while asking: "You finally stood out and walked to the front of that tooth, I, an old man, appreciate you more."

  "Ah, now this is what I call courage!"

  "Damn it!"

  The old cripple said: "Do you think I'm admiring your bravery? What bravery is that? You stopped two and a half steps away from the tooth general, exactly the length of his arm stretched out plus the horizontal knife. If you took one more inch forward, his horizontal knife could easily cut open your throat..."

  He let out a sigh of relief and couldn't help but glance at the old cripple.

  The old cripple chuckled and said, "Your eyesight, calculation, and wit are all impressive... what a pity... if you could cultivate your skills, I'd be willing to take on another closed-door disciple. What a shame..."

  "You're here to mock me for being unable to cultivate?"

  Fang Jie Meng sat up straight and scolded: "Get out!"

  He scolded to relieve his anger, but Daquan and Moxiaoyao were frightened by what they heard. Moxiaoyao gripped the red silk tightly, and Daquan put on his gloves, fearing that the old cripple would tear up the contract in a fit of rage. You see, in the eyes of the old cripple, the contract was as easy to manipulate as a piece of paper. It could be torn to shreds or crumpled into a ball.

  "Haha!"

  The old cripple still didn't get angry, laughed loudly and jumped off the carriage, suddenly disappeared from sight, and when looked again, he was already on the horse-drawn carriage in front with red sleeves waving. He was leisurely drinking wine with his legs crossed, humming a tune that no one knew.

  Northwest wind

  Rolling heavens

  Border Town Tragedy

  Smoke everywhere

  A farewell song has been sung to its end... The bones of heroes have rotted away, the blood of great warriors has dried up...

  The following sentence was unclear, and I didn't know if it was his own thoughts or a real song. The voice was hoarse, but there was a different flavor to it that made people feel uncomfortable in their hearts.

  "You actually dare to scold..."

  The big dog came over, wiped the sweat from his forehead and sighed: "Do you know that with just a slight movement of his little finger, he can poke another asshole on your forehead?"

  Fang Jie laughed and said in a low voice, "Don't mention him in the same breath as Lu Xiaofeng. He's even more despicable... The more you scold him, the happier he'll be. Believe it or not, if I were to scold him every day, maybe after a few days, he'd come crying and begging me to take him on as my apprentice!"

  "Who is Luk Siu Fung?"

  The horse carriage swayed slightly, and the old lame man seemed to have fallen asleep. The two women in the carriage were playing chess, starting from when Li Luo arrived, until Li Luo left the team and continued on the road for another fifteen miles, this game of chess was finally finished. Jiang was still spicy as ever, but after playing for so long she only won by a margin of one and a half pieces.

  To know that ten years ago in the imperial capital of Chang'an, the Minister of Rites Huai Qiu Gong, such a great national hand, also had wins and losses when playing against her.

  "Can you see it?"

  Xia Daigne asked while picking up the chess pieces.

  The person sitting opposite her didn't say a word, but just slightly furrowed his brow.

  The old cripple outside the train car chuckled and said in a strange tone: "Freak."

  ……

  ……

  At the same time

  The Great Sui Emperor's capital is Chang'an City

  The most magnificent building in Chang'an City must be the Taiji Palace, and the most important place in the Taiji Palace must be... the Imperial Study.

  A middle-aged man wearing a black dragon-embroidered imperial robe suddenly stood up, his face normally as calm as an ancient well, but now he couldn't help but get excited. He quickly walked out from behind the dragon-shaped desk and asked the eunuch who brought the news in front of him urgently: "Say it again, where is it?"

  Six-beam crown, flying fish robe, the sleeve mouth is still embroidered with flowing cloud patterns. In the Sui court, only two people can wear such clothes. One is Luo Weiran, the leader of the Imperial Guard, and the other is Hou Wenji, the deputy leader of the Imperial Guard and the governor of Qingyang Mansion.

  "The flying pigeon delivered a message that he had appeared in the northwest border town of Fan Gufu for only one day before leaving."

  "Who did you see? What did you do? What did you say?"

  "First went to Hongxiu Zhao, then had a drink and played finger-guessing game with a border army scout in a dog meat shop, seemingly having an unusual relationship with the scout. Lost the game and was even slapped on the butt by that little scout... Left Fan Gu that night and disappeared without a trace afterwards."

  "Haha... where did this interesting border scout come from? Dare to hit his butt?"

  The second most powerful person in the world, who had always wanted to challenge the most powerful person, Emperor Yang of Sui's eyes lit up: "Send someone to bring that scout to me in the imperial capital!"

  "That young man seems to have accumulated twenty-one military achievements and has set out for the imperial capital, participating in the examination at the Martial Arts Academy... Not a common person, only fifteen years old."

  Township Magistrate Hou Wen said in a low voice.

  "How could someone he fancies possibly be an ordinary person?"

  The Emperor couldn't help but burst out laughing, rubbing his hands together and saying: "At the age of 15, he has already accumulated 21 military achievements, he has a bright future! Send someone to pick him up, when he arrives in Chang'an, bring him directly to the palace, I want to see... what kind of young man this youngster is. Wen Ji, you go to Qingluan Mountain... and invite Director Zhou to come, I have something to discuss with him!"