"If you listen to me, your life... can be spared."
Bai Youan's smile was careless, but his upturned eyes seemed frozen a thousand feet deep.
"What exactly do you want?"
The man on the bed rose, cautiously staring at Bai Youan.
His bear-like physique was steady, but his shadow trembled slightly with the flickering lamplight.
"Alas," Bai Youan casually sat by the table and poured himself a cup of tea, "Didn't I already say? Just abdicate to me."
He brought the tea to his lips but put it down without drinking.
With a "bang," the shadow moved more boldly.
The man's Adam's apple bobbed, then he rose as if making a great decision, and walked to the table with a smile.
"This tea must be cold. I'll find someone to brew a fresh pot for the warrior."
Bai Youan smiled, looking down, and made no move to stop him.
The moment the man left, countless figures holding gleaming swords emerged from the dim corners.
"Chieftain, this is no fun this way."
Bai Youan tapped lightly on the table, smiling as if basking in the spring breeze.
The man's formerly ingratiating expression turned somber, "Let's see where you run this time!"
His attendant whispered into his ear, "Chieftain, the anesthetic has taken effect, it's just that he hasn't drunk the tea yet..."
The man glared at his attendant, who immediately retreated, only to scurry back with a fresh pot of tea.
Bai Youan watched the steaming cup and let out a low, muffled chuckle from his chest, "Chieftain, you are too kind."
The man spat disdainfully onto the ground, "This was brewed especially for the warrior."
Bai Youan's slender fingers stroked the rim of the cup, "Is that so?"
He picked up the cup and savored it, "Originally, I intended to save you, and the lives of your entire clan."
"Do you consider yourself a god?" The man waved his hand, "Attack."
Instantly, flashes of blades and swords lunged towards Bai Youan.
But he remained seated, fending them off with one hand.
By the time the tea was finished, he didn't even look up, directly flinging the cup at the Chieftain's face.
Struck in the face, the Chieftain became even more enraged, ordering his subordinates to attack Bai Youan with greater ferocity.
Bai Youan, however, moved as if playing, weaving through the bandits without sustaining a scratch.
The Chieftain, beside himself with anger, grabbed his attendant, "Didn't you say the medicine took effect! And what about that tea! Didn't he drink it!"
His already ferocious face contorted further with fear and fury, resembling a malevolent god of plague brandishing an axe.
The attendant whimpered, a yellowish liquid trickling down his pant leg and onto the ground.
"Chieftain, why trouble this humble servant?" Bai Youan used his fan to block a long saber reaching from behind, then with a charming smile, opened the fan and slit the throat of the man to his left.
"If you have a grievance, direct it at me."
A rich red sprayed onto his fair face, making him appear like a beautiful white lotus bathed in the sunset, exceptionally alluring and seductive.
The man threw down the person in his hand and cursed, "Useless!" then personally charged in with his axe.
Bai Youan's interest finally reached its peak.
He no longer bothered with the surrounding grunts, diving forward to engage the man in combat.
A white jade fan was like a minnow before a massive iron axe.
He deliberately feigned defeat, retreating towards the door.
But the man's eyes gleamed with cunning; wanting to finish him off, he swung his axe down with force.
Outside, the sun had already risen above the horizon.
Bai Youan stood sideways, holding his fan, the soft sunlight gilding his form.
He bit his lip, blood trickling down his chin.
This only excited the man further. He laughed heartily, "You have days like this too!"
The iron axe swung down, "You dare threaten me again!"
Bai Youan leaned in close, speaking softly, "Chieftain, I am not threatening, I warned you long ago, and even pointed you towards a clear path, didn't I?"
"Silence!"
"How tedious." He retreated while fighting, his aim to allow more people in the stronghold to witness.
Bai Youan asked, "I ask you, what business does the Prime Minister have with you?"
"The dead need not know so much!"
Bai Youan smiled, "I offered you a way out, but you refused it."
He suddenly exerted his strength, closing the distance, abandoning his previous tactic of retreat.
The man was startled, a flicker of surprise crossing his face.
"You're unharmed?"
A devil-may-care smile curved Bai Youan's lips, his eyes filled with mockery, "Why would I be harmed?"
His attacks grew more vicious, but he played with the man like a cat with a mouse.
"Forgot to mention, I am immune to all poisons."
The man's expression finally changed, and he could no longer hold his iron axe steady.
"I'll tell you everything! The Prime Minister wants the iron ore! Don't kill me!"
"Too late."
Bai Youan, as if he had tired of the game, opened his fan and, under the man's disbelieving gaze, directly slit his throat.
He watched the man's falling form and chuckled softly, "I am no god, but the heavens favor me, do they not?"
"Drip, drip."
Blood droplets fell from the fan's ribs into a pool of blood on the ground, splashing his snow-white hem.
Bai Youan tilted his head, his slender ring finger wiping a drop of blood from his face, "The dead need not know so much."
"Second Master."
Lin Zhong, clad in black, knelt on one knee. "Your subordinate is late."
He looked with a cold expression at the chaotic scene in the courtyard, "Those who surrender will not be killed."
"Yes."
As Lin Zhong rose to leave,
Bai Youan called him back, pulled out a short blade, and turned to depart.
With a single stroke, he severed the Chieftain's head, then stood by the pavilion's edge, holding the head aloft in the air, "Those who surrender will not be killed."
Those who had been resisting fiercely lost their will to fight for a few moments.
But he clearly saw Lin Zhong plunge his sharp sword mercilessly into those people, just as he had done to himself in his previous life.
Fierce, ruthless.
He paid them no further mind.
This group had engaged in arson, murder, plunder, and the abduction of women and children.
His original intention was the same as Xie Yan had done in his previous life: to kill them all.
Bai Youan, carrying the Chieftain's head, leaped onto the watchtower atop the mountain gate.
Mountains and valleys stretched out, undulating.
In his previous life, Xie Yan had been impeached for the excessive bloodiness of his bandit suppression, which consequently hindered his career. It was truly a shame for such a talent.
Bai Youan's gaze locked onto a certain mountain forest.
In this life, it wouldn't hurt to help him a little, though it was a pity about the iron ore in this mountain.
Behind the mountain forest, in a patch of grass, Xie Yan was lying in wait.
The moment Bai Youan leaped up, he saw him.
The man in white, stained with blood, arrived with an imposing aura, wild and untamed.
And that gaze was directed precisely at him.
Bai Youan raised the severed head in his hand, then dropped it lightly, disappearing thereafter.
Xie Yan shot to his feet, but was pulled back by a soldier, "Young Marquis! Do not be hasty!"
His sharp, resolute eyebrows softened as he turned his head, "I was just checking if there was a fight starting inside."
The leading general, however, still held him back.
The general was covered in cold sweat. It wasn't that he was disobedient, but that the old Marquis had repeatedly instructed him before they left.
If so much as a single strand of the Young Marquis's hair were to be lost, he would be as good as dead.