Time had long passed midnight. A crescent moon hung in the western sky, quietly spilling its light.

The thin, silvery glow didn't provide much visibility. Six night travelers moved along the side of the official road, their clothes all black, but their pace was quite upright. Because so few people walked at this hour, Ning Ji took a few more glances. He had a familiar feeling about the figures and movements of two of them. He hid behind a tree by the road, secretly watching for a while.

Two… at least one of them had followed the Wu steward to the inn during the day. At the time, he'd been in the mood to hit someone, so Ning Ji first identified whether these people had a stable lower body and how strong their foundation was. He couldn't judge much in a short time, but he roughly remembered the gait and physical characteristics of one or two people.

At this time… heading in this direction?

When he suddenly realized a certain possibility, Ning Ji's mood was stunned to almost shocked. He shook his head slightly after the six people walked past talking, and followed all the way.

The six people traveling together carried weapons such as long knives and bows and arrows. Although their clothes were black, the style wasn't furtive night clothes, but short outfits that could be seen during the day. The roads outside the city at night weren't suitable for horses to gallop on, so the six people probably didn't ride horses. As they moved forward, they spoke in the local dialect about little girls and young widows, family matters. Ning Ji could understand part of it. Because the content was too vulgar and rural, it didn't sound like something from a Green Forest story, but more like some vulgar nonsense that farmers said in private when no one was around.

In the night wind, he could vaguely smell a faint scent of alcohol on several people.

Ning Ji's emotions were a bit confused. His anger rose, then subsided.

The past day had made him feel angry, just as he had questioned the Wu steward, the Chief Constable Xu bullied men and dominated women, not only did he not think there was a problem, but he also dared to threaten him, "I'll remember you." His wife was angry that her husband was looking for women, but seeing the miserable situation of Sister Xiu Niang and Uncle Wang, she actually didn't have the slightest sympathy, and even felt that these people's complaints were disturbing her mood, shouting "Drive them away."

At the time the incident happened, it could be said that she was overwhelmed by anger, but then the Wu guy came… Facing Sister Xiu Niang and himself who could have their lives ruined, he could still arrogantly say "You have to leave today."

Couldn't they even apologize for doing something wrong?

Of course, now was wartime. It was understandable that some such rude people had power. Even in the Hua Xia Army, there would be some unreasonable people who would argue even if they were wrong. But… after hitting someone, almost killing them, and almost raping a woman, they turned around and drove people away, and then sent people out again at night. What was this for?

To exterminate them?

Did these people… really think of themselves as emperors?

He followed with such anger, but then, the anger gradually subsided. One of the people in the back was obviously a hunter in the past. His every word was about trivial family matters. The person in the middle seemed honest, tall and sturdy, but without any martial arts foundation. His gait looked like someone used to working in the fields, and his voice sounded naive. The six people probably had some simple military training. Three of them had practiced martial arts. One had traces of simple internal energy, and his gait was slightly more stable, but just looking at the sound of his voice, he seemed like a simple country farmer.

Most importantly… you can't drink alcohol before such an action!

Ning Ji shouted in his heart.

Because the six people didn't mention the purpose of their trip in their conversation, Ning Ji couldn't judge for a moment whether they were going to kill people to silence them—after all, this matter was too vicious. Even people with a little conscience probably couldn't do it. He and his group of weak scholars hadn't offended anyone in the county town. The Wang Jiang father and daughter hadn't offended anyone either. Now they had been turned into this, and they had been driven away. How could they do more things?

There had been such stories in storybooks, but everything in front of him had nothing to do with the villains and knights in the storybooks.

After walking like this for a while, Ning Ji thought for a while, took a few stones, and made some noise in the mountains and forests by the road.

The six people by the road heard the subtle noises and stopped.

"Who—"

The first person shouted by the road. They had seemed to swagger when walking earlier, but at this moment, they were particularly wary of anyone who might be by the road.

Naturally, there was no answer in the forest. Then, a strange, wailing wind sounded, like a wolf howling, but it sounded too far away, so it was distorted.

"W-what person..."

"Go take a look..."

"Get out!"

The few people looked at each other. Then, they shouted and screamed. Someone rushed into the forest to patrol, but this forest was very small. In the blink of an eye, they walked through it several times and found nothing. The wind gradually stopped, the moonlight hung high in the sky, the shadows of the trees were heavy, and everything was silent.

The six people patrolled several times without success. They gathered by the road and discussed it. Someone said, "Could it be—"

"Ghosts?"

"Nonsense, there are no ghosts in the world!" the leader cursed. "It's just the wind, look at your appearances."

After such a commotion, everyone temporarily lost the mood to talk about little girls and young widows. They turned around and continued to move forward. One of them said, "Do you think that group of scholars is really staying in Tangjia Village?"

Everyone walked forward. For a moment, no one answered. After such silence for a moment, someone seemed to open their mouth to break the awkwardness, "There's only one road south from the mountain. Where can they stay if they don't stay in Tangjia Village?"

Another moment of silence.

"They offended someone. Can't they go a little further away? Are they that ignorant?"

Silence.

"Don't forget, they have injured people in their carriage. They can't hurry on the road. What's wrong? Are you afraid?"

"Who's afraid? I've never been afraid when I've done anything. I just think that these scholars are too bookish and don't understand worldly affairs..."

"They've read themselves silly, that's it."

"...Speaking of which, Master Wu's kick in the shop today was really beautiful."

"That's right. You young people don't understand. Kicking a stool away is simple, but kicking it up and then sweeping it off in front with one kick is really skillful... I'm telling you, that's because the stool is in the air and can't borrow any strength... Not to mention that the stool was hard in the first place..."

"Haha, at that time, the faces of those scholars turned pale..."

"They said they were going to sue the officials, but in the end, they didn't sue."

"They're still sensible."

"...Speaking of which, our Master Wu despises these scholars the most. Look, there's a reason why he told them to leave before dark... If you leave the city to the south before dark, you're bound to stay in Tangjia Village, in Tang Niu'er's house. What kind of person is Tang Niu'er? We say hello, and it's easy to talk about anything. Alas, these scholars, their route out of the city has been calculated, so it's easy to deal with them."

"What if they're not there..."

"If they're not there, then they're smart. We chase after them a bit and then go back. If they are, we'll wait until they leave Tangjia Village, do the job, divide the money, and that's that. Master Wu is right. We've already offended these scholars. Rather than let them talk nonsense outside, it's better to do it and be done with it... They have money on them, and some of them look like they have family backgrounds. It's a big taboo in the martial arts world to not eliminate the roots of a grudge..."

"How much money do they have?"

"I think they have a lot. After the job is done, we can divide it up. You can marry a concubine. I think there's more than enough. Maybe Master Xu will give us some rewards..."

"The son-in-law and the young lady have fallen out..."

"A night of marriage is worth a hundred nights of favor. They fight at the head of the bed and make up at the foot of the bed. You're still young and haven't seen much. Don't think that Master Xu is a little flawed, he's very fierce when he does things... Don't fall into his hands..."

Seemingly to combat the silence in the night, these people spoke about things in a rhythmic and organized manner. Their pace was rustic, their words were rustic, and their clothes were rustic, but what they were saying was indeed about killing people.

The things in the world are truly wonderful.

Ning Ji had also seen the expressions of people when they talked about killing people in the Hua Xia Army. At that time, they were talking about how to kill enemies, how to kill Jurchens. They used almost every means they knew. When they talked about it, they were calm and cautious, because while killing people, they also had to take care of the harm their own people would suffer.

But there are also such people in the world. Usually, they may live lives that seem like ordinary people. They haven't undergone too much training. They used to farm, hunt, and gather together to talk about women in a lewd way. Some of them look naive. At this moment, they also talked about killing people indifferently, as if no one would be harmed, and they were excited.

Ning Ji's eyes were gloomy. He followed from behind. He no longer concealed his figure. He had stood up straight, walked past the tree, and crossed the grass. At this time, the moon was walking in the sky, there were faint shadows of people on the ground, and the night wind was howling. The person walking in the back seemed to feel something was wrong. He glanced to the side, and the figure of a young man carrying a bundle fell into his eyes.

"Hey..."

He didn't have time to react. The hunter walking second to last heard his voice. Beside him, the figure of the young man rushed over. A cracking sound erupted in the night sky. The body of the person walking in the back folded to the ground. One of his legs was stepped on by the young man from the side. This step broke his calf. He hadn't even had time to scream when he fell.

The hunter walking second to last, carrying a longbow on his back and a knife at his waist, also didn't have time to react, because the young man directly approached him after breaking that calf. His left hand grabbed the back of the hunter's neck, who was a head taller than him, and a violent punch, along with his advance, slammed into the opponent's stomach. At that moment, the hunter felt as if he had been pierced from his chest to his back. Something spurted out of his mouth. All of his internal organs seemed to be shattered, or stirred together.

"What person..."

The sounds of speech and screams only then suddenly sounded. The figure rushing out of the darkness was like a tank. He punched the hunter in the chest and abdomen, his body still moving forward. His hands grabbed the scabbard of the long knife on the hunter's waist.

The third person from the back turned around and drew his knife backhandedly. The black shadow had already drawn the scabbard long knife from the hunter's waist and waved it in the air. This person drew his knife out, and the scabbard that was waved in the air suddenly smashed down on this person's knee with a powerful chop of Mount Hua, following the advance of the figure.

His kneecap shattered at that moment. He staggered back, holding his knife.

The youth separated the crowd, approaching everyone with violent means.