Under the lonely moonlight, the suddenly appearing figure of the young man advanced like a ferocious beast.

As if to quell the sudden anger rising within him, his fists and feet were fierce and violent. His forward steps didn't seem fast, but the simple movements were decisive. Finally, the calf of one man was broken with a single kick. The second-to-last hunter's body trembled in the air as if struck by immense force. The third-to-last person quickly drew his knife, but the young man had already grabbed the long knife from the hunter's waist and smashed it down, sheath and all.

The man swung his long knife in the air, but his kneecap was already shattered. He staggered backward, while the young man's steps continued forward.

Now he faced the burly, seemingly憨憨 farmer. This man had large bones and joints and appeared simple, but he was clearly an "old timer" among these thugs. He instinctively tried to support his companion, who was hopping backward on one leg, while reaching out with his other hand towards the attacking enemy.

As he reached out, the advancing young man released the knife sheath and extended his left hand, directly gripping two of the farmer's fingers and pressing down hard. The burly man clenched his teeth. His body held out for a moment, then his knees buckled, and he knelt to the ground with a thump. His right hand, index finger, and middle finger were all twisted backward. He tried to pry the young man's hand open with his left hand, but the young man had already moved closer. With a crisp snap, his fingers were broken. He opened his mouth to scream, but the young man's left hand, which had broken his fingers, pushed upward, slamming into his chin. His jaws snapped shut, and blood spurted from the corner of his mouth.

The man whose kneecap had been shattered hadn't even fallen yet. The young man grabbed the burly man's fingers with his left hand, pressed down, twisted, and pushed. Each strike was incredibly fierce. The burly man's thick knuckles broke as cleanly in his hand as dry wood. The burly man knelt on the ground, his body leaning backward, the scream cut off in his mouth by the upward push to his chin. The young man's left hand then rose into the sky, and his right hand joined it in the air, forming a heavy hammer, which he smashed down onto the burly man's face.

From start to finish, almost all the moves utilized joint locks. The burly man's body crashed onto the ground, sending gravel flying, and his body contorted.

The man with the shattered kneecap fell to the ground, the long knife dropping from his hand in fright.

Under the faint moonlight, this suddenly appearing figure opened his arms wide, stretching them.

Six companions hadn't even figured out what had happened before four of them had fallen victim to the violent assault. Now, seeing the figure's hands stretched outwards, his posture of relaxation seemed almost inhuman. He only stretched for that moment, then continued to advance, step by step.

Someone called out, "You're...he's the one from the daytime..."

The leader, who possessed some martial skill, drew his knives with both hands and, with a wild shout of "Ah—," lunged forward, slashing down. The whistling blade landed beside the young man. The young man had already closed in, one hand pressing down on the leader's wrist. He struggled twice, "Ah, ah, ah, ah—," but his wrist went limp. He didn't feel pain but no longer had the strength to grip the knife. He didn't know what had injured him.

The long knife fell to the ground. The leader punched out, but an even more violent fist struck him in the abdomen. He took two heavy punches to the stomach, then another to his left jaw, followed by two more to the stomach. Feeling two more punches land on his jaw, he collapsed on the slope beside the official road, sending dust flying.

The remaining person was already running away into the darkness.

The attacking figure turned around, walked to the hunter struggling on the ground, kicked him in the head, then bent down to pick up the longbow on his back. Taking three arrows, he shot them towards the distance. The fleeing man was struck in the legs by two arrows, then by a third in his body, collapsing in the faint moonlight.

Screams and groans echoed under the moonlight. The fallen men rolled or writhed, like maggots squirming in the darkness. The only standing figure looked around at the roadside, then slowly walked towards the distance. He reached the man who was still crawling on the ground after being shot with arrows, and after a while, dragged him back along the official road by one foot, throwing him into the midst of the others.

Falling from the night sky was only the chilling moonlight.

Except for the one who had fled, who had recognized the shadow's identity earlier, the others were only now able to somewhat clearly see the figure's general appearance. He was just a teenager, carrying a bundle on his back, but now he resembled a monster dragging food back to its lair, scrutinizing them with cold eyes.

In the night wind, he was even humming a strange tune. None of them could understand what he was humming.

"The sky is clear, the flowers are blooming... by the pond, under the banyan tree, a little frog is being cooked... I've grown up, don't call me a kid anymore... um, um, um, little frog, the frog is home alone..."

He counted everyone, standing by the roadside, somewhat unwilling to speak. He just stood there by the dark road, humming his favorite children's song. After a while, he finally turned back and spoke.

"Who sent you? This isn't the first time, is it?"

The men groaned or wailed. One cried, "Your Majesty..."

"I already heard it. It doesn't matter if you don't say it."

He paused.

"If you don't say it, you'll die here."

The military regulations of the Hua Xia Army were strict. To maintain their humanity, they usually didn't mistreat prisoners of war. Ning Ji hadn't learned any torture techniques. In the teachings of Aunt Gua, a life for a life, a debt to be repaid. These people came to kill, so dying here was perfectly reasonable.

He didn't plan to put in too much effort.

…

A very friendly conversation was conducted with the six prisoners.

Inspired by Ning Ji's frank attitude, the six injured men also recounted the whole story and the various things the Li family of Tongshan had done with great sincerity.

In the chaotic backdrop of the Jurchen invasion, the rise of a martial arts family was simpler and more brutal than imagined. According to several people, before the Jurchen's fourth southward invasion, the Li family had accumulated some wealth through their connections with the Great Brightness Sect, but they still lagged behind the old gentry and aristocratic families near Tongshan.

Then a Jurchen force arrived in Tongshan. The officials and scholars of Tongshan were weak and incompetent, and most chose to kneel to the Jurchens. But Li Yanfeng seized the opportunity. He led and encouraged the villagers around him to flee into the nearby mountains. Because he possessed martial strength, he received a large-scale response at the time, even clashing with some of the powerful aristocratic families.

The aristocratic families who knelt and surrendered at the time thought they would receive the support of the Jurchens, but in fact, Tongshan was a small place. The Jurchens who came here only wanted to loot and leave. Because of Li Yanfeng's obstruction, Tongshan County was unable to produce much "ransom money." This Jurchen force then raided the homes of several large households nearby and set fire to Tongshan County, but they didn't bother going into the mountains to collect more.

After coming out of the mountains, Li Yanfeng became the *de facto* controller of Tongshan County—even some of the aristocratic families who had joined him in the mountains were later annexed by Li Yanfeng. Because he had a reputation for resisting the Jin at the time, he smoothly joined Liu Guangshi's command. After that, he recruited various people, built fortified villages, and eliminated dissidents, trying to build the Li family into a martial arts clan like the Overlord Saber Clan of Tiannan.

Under the guise of resisting the Jin, the Li family ran rampant in Tongshan and naturally did many things. For example, when Liu Guangshi wanted to go to war with the north and conscripted soldiers in the Tongshan area, this was mainly done by the Li family. At the same time, the Li family plundered the local people's wealth, collecting large amounts of money and ironware, which was because they were going to do business with the Hua Xia Army in the southwest, a task that Liu Guangshi had forced down. In other words, although the Li family had committed many evils here, most of the looted goods had already been transported to the "damn" southwest.

The six men who had been beaten badly believed: this was all the fault of the Hua Xia Army of the Southwest.

Moreover, speaking of which, the Li family had a feud with that Great Devil of the Southwest. Li Yanfeng's father, Li Ruoque, had been killed by the Great Devil. Therefore, Li Yanfeng had always been irreconcilable with the people of the Southwest. But in order to plan slowly for revenge in the future, he learned from the methods of the Overlord Saber Clan, raising private soldiers, and at the same time, he had to help plunder the people's wealth to support the Southwest. In all fairness, he was, of course, very unwilling, but Liu Guangshi wanted it that way, so he could only do it.

Hearing such statements, Ning Ji's mood became slightly complicated. He wanted to laugh, but because the scene was rather serious, he suppressed it.

At the same time, in order to eliminate dissidents, the Li family ran rampant and killed people locally, which could be confirmed. Even the Li family's fortified village had private prisons, specially used to detain some locals who opposed the Li family, slowly torturing them. But while confessing these things, the six men, facing the threat of death, also said that although the Li family had made mistakes in small matters, they were at least morally upright in the big picture! He was resisting the Jin! The local scholars didn't resist the Jin, so what else could he do?

Later, perhaps the threat of death gradually faded, and the leader even tried to kneel on the ground to plead for mercy for the Li family, saying: "Since the righteous men are fine, just leave Tongshan. Why must you oppose the Li family? If the Li family falls, what will become of the people of Tongshan? The Li family is resisting the Jin. They are morally upright!"

The sky gradually darkened, the night wind turned cold, and the clouds covered the moonlight. It was the moment before dawn. Ning Ji dragged the six men to a nearby forest and tied them up, breaking one leg of each of them—these people relied on their strength to kill, and originally killing them all would have been fine, but since they had all confessed well, then removing their strength and making them worse than ordinary people in the future, and then studying how to live, Ning Ji felt, this should be a very reasonable punishment. After all, they said, this was a chaotic world.

Ning Ji was, of course, angry about the Li family and the Steward Wu who sent them to eradicate the root—although this subjective anger had faded somewhat after hearing about the connection between Tongshan and the Southwest, the things that should be done still had to be done. The few people in front of him emphasized the importance of "big picture" things, and the reasoning seemed very complicated, but this kind of bullshit reasoning was not a complicated topic in the Southwest.

If Confucian scholars were ineffective in resisting the Jin, and gangsters resisted the Jin, then would the gangsters be good people? Ning Ji had always scoffed at this. Moreover, the situation of resisting the Jin was no longer urgent. After the Jin's defeat in the southwest, it was hard to say whether they would be able to reach the Central Plains in the future. Ning Ji basically didn't care whether these people were "at least resisting the Jin." The Hua Xia Army didn't care either.

Of course, after asking in detail, he hesitated slightly about the next steps to take. According to these people, that Steward Wu usually lived in the fortified village outside the city, while Li Xiaoqing and his wife, Xu Dong, lived in Tongshan County. According to the Li family's power in the area, if he killed any one of them, the Li family's forces inside and outside the city would probably be mobilized. He wasn't afraid of this, but Wang Jiang, Wang Xiuniang, and the five corrupt Confucians were still in Tangjiaji. If the Li family's forces were mobilized, wouldn't they be captured again?

And these six people had their legs broken and hadn't been killed for the time being. The news would probably reach the Li family sooner or later. He couldn't delay for too long or it would be difficult to get things done.

The wind howled at dawn. He considered the matter, walking towards Tongshan County. The situation was somewhat complicated, but his grand and exciting journey into the *jianghu* had finally begun, and he felt very happy. Then he thought that his father had named him Ning Ji with great foresight.

Because his name was Ning Ji, his birthday could also be called "Ji Ri"—which was the death anniversary of some bad people.

"La la la, little frog... the frog is home alone..."

The first glimmer of dawn appeared in the sky. Dragon Pride Heaven hummed a song, walking forward all the way. At this time, many of the bad people, including Steward Wu, were at home alone, and hadn't gotten up yet…

****************

After dawn, in the inn at Tangjiaji, Wang Xiuniang and a group of scholars also got up one after another.

None of them had slept well, their eyes were bloodshot, and they had dark circles around their eyes. After learning that Little Dragon had left in the middle of the night last night, Wang Xiuniang cried again at the breakfast table in the morning. Everyone remained silent, feeling quite awkward.

"Do you think Little Dragon, being young and impulsive, won't run back to Tongshan again?" Someone suggested such a thought while eating breakfast.

Everyone thought about it. Fan Heng shook his head and said, "No, what can he do by going back? He's not really a blockhead."

Chen Junsheng said, "At this time, being able to travel alone outside, Little Dragon isn't stupid."

No one refuted these words. No one dared to add anything to this concern: after all, if the young and impulsive Little Dragon was really a blockhead and ran back to Tongshan to report or take revenge, wouldn't they, out of a sense of morality, have to go back and rescue him?

Could they rescue him? It seemed impossible. They would only be putting themselves in danger.

Wang Xiuniang cried for a while over Little Dragon's matter. Lu Wenke, his eyes red, buried his head in his meal. Throughout the whole process, Wang Xiuniang secretly glanced at Lu Wenke several times, but Lu Wenke didn't look at her. Both of them had knots in their hearts that should be untied. They should have had a talk, but from yesterday to today, such a conversation had not occurred.

In the second half of breakfast, Fan Heng and others talked about the next itinerary. They should have left earlier, but Xiuniang's father had woken up in the morning. According to Little Dragon, his body was temporarily not suitable for long journeys and needed to rest for two days. Out of a sense of morality, everyone couldn't just set off.

Everyone's mood was therefore a bit strange.

After Wang Xiuniang finished breakfast, she went back to take care of her father. The injuries on her face and body remained, but her mind had cleared. She decided to talk to the Confucian scholars later, thanking them for their care along the way, and also asking them to leave here immediately, without having to continue together. At the same time, she desperately wanted to talk to Lu Wenke. If Lu Wenke still wanted her, she would advise him to let go of these matters here—this would undoubtedly be a very good home for her.

And if Lu Wenke couldn't let go of this knot in his heart, she didn't plan to shamelessly attach herself to him. She would try to enlighten him and let him go home.

Such thoughts were undoubtedly extremely painful for her, who was falling in love for the first time. Thinking about the two of them clearing things up and Lu Wenke going home, while she took her seriously injured father on the road again—what would happen to such a future? In such a mood, she secretly wiped away tears several times. Before lunch, she left the room, trying to find Lu Wenke to talk to him alone.

She walked around the inn several times, but couldn't find Lu Wenke.

Then she found Fan Heng and others to search together. At this time, Lu Wenke's baggage was gone. After inquiring around, they learned where he had gone: not long ago, their companion with red eyes had left here with his baggage. As for where he went, some people said he had gone in the direction of Tongshan, while others said they had seen him go south.

Everyone was stunned for a moment, and Wang Xiuniang cried again. Now there were two possibilities: either Lu Wenke was really unable to let go of his anger, and since Little Dragon didn't return, he had run back; or Lu Wenke felt humiliated and had secretly gone home. After all, everyone had gathered together from all over the country, and they would never see each other again in the future. His humiliation this time would be able to stay in his heart and never be mentioned again.

After discussing for a while, Wang Xiuniang suppressed her heartache and thanked Fan Heng and others, then asked them to leave here. Fan Heng and others did not answer directly, all sighing deeply.

By this afternoon, a group of scholars, with their luggage and attendants, left here silently without formally saying goodbye. Just like the accidental meeting, their departure was as fleeting as duckweed. These people didn't go towards Tongshan again.

On the same afternoon, Lu Wenke returned to Tongshan County. He found the location of the county government and stood by the roadside for a long time with red eyes and trembling arms.

Thinking about this trip to the Southwest, back and forth for five or six thousand *li*, he had seen many, many things. The Southwest wasn't as vicious as everyone thought. Even under the circumstances of Dai Mengwei's rule, one could see many gentlemen's actions. Now that the heinous Jurchens had left, this was General Liu Guangshi's rule. General Liu had always been the most admired general by scholars.

I don't believe that this world will be so dark...

I don't believe that a mere martial artist can really dominate everything...

I don't believe...

…

He beat the big drum at the entrance of the county government.

Wanting to see,

--the truth of this world.