Chapter 1 The Measure of Success

The measure of a successful boss lies in whether his subordinates are willing to take a bullet for him.

How many bosses, when disaster strikes, find their followers scattering like frightened monkeys? Forget taking a bullet; not stabbing you in the back is considered a great act of loyalty.

Of course, there's a shortcut:

To borrow the phrasing of an advertisement:

Want to quickly become a qualified and successful boss?

Then what are you waiting for?

Find a subordinate with vampire blood!

Zheng Fan felt he had achieved this in one step.

A'ming proactively stood in front of him. Of course, perhaps because A'ming was a vampire, he knew he wouldn't die, and Zheng Fan knew he wouldn't die either, so the "atmosphere" of a subordinate taking a bullet for his boss wasn't that strong.

However, this allowed him to skip some melodramatic steps:

Like A'ming lying in his arms while he loudly questioned:

"Why are you so foolish? Why are you so foolish?"

Of course, here, what was shot out wasn't a bullet, but fine needles, more like something Zheng Fan recognized as a "Storm of Pear Blossoms Needles."

Surrounding scatter, indiscriminate coverage of rapid shots; in the mourning hall, apart from a few extremely lucky individuals, most were hit by the needles.

Just then, a burst of shouts and killing sounds suddenly came from outside. The Daoists, who had been sitting there quietly chanting scriptures, suddenly drew their weapons and charged directly into the mourning hall.

This scene struck Zheng Fan as absurd.

This was Nanwang City, the first important town on Yan Country's southern front line, and this was the Garrison General's residence. Inside the Garrison General's residence, first, an assassin hid in a coffin, and then a group of assassins burst out.

This was simply… too absurd.

In fact, tearing apart the layer of reality called "reason," perhaps "absurdity" was the true essence of reality.

These Daoists, who had previously appeared otherworldly and ethereal, now looked ferocious, wielding their weapons and hacking at the guests who had come to offer condolences.

In an instant, blood splattered and screams rang out at the main entrance of the mourning hall.

The funniest thing was,

Because of the Garrison General's own arrangements, four sides of worship positions were set up around the coffin in the mourning hall. The position at the main entrance was naturally reserved for the real lords and big shots.

Such as the Prefect and the group of local clan leaders around him, including the widowed wife and filial sons and grandsons of General Xiao Dahai himself, were all basically there.

And Zheng Fan and Zuo Jiqian could only offer condolences and burn incense at the other three positions.

So, when the assassins charged in from outside, the first to be hacked were these true dignitaries.

Zheng Fan even saw a Daoist emitting a red glow, and with one slash, he chopped off the Prefect's fine head.

Heaven have mercy,

Zheng Fan had just taken office as the garrison commander of Cuiliu Fort. Although the military and administration weren't strictly subordinate, this Prefect was, in fact, a member of Zheng Fan's superiors.

But Zheng Fan hadn't even had time to learn his name before he was gone…

From the coffin, a guy dressed in official robes jumped out. This should be the General's clothes when he was put into the coffin, similar to the later Qing Dynasty zombies, the deceased would definitely wear the clothes that the family considered the most decent when they were put into the coffin.

But what jumped out was clearly not a man; under the official robe, instead of boots, was a pair of red embroidered shoes.

Zheng Fan looked up again and saw the assassin's face, almond-shaped eyes, melon-seed face, cold eyes. After flipping out, without the slightest delay, she rushed directly to the main entrance and joined the group of Daoists who were clearly her companions.

"Go!"

The woman ordered directly, obviously, her goal had been achieved.

A'ming made to stand up at this moment, but Zheng Fan reached out and pressed his shoulder.

When the Storm of Pear Blossoms Needles were shot out earlier, many people around had fallen to the ground, people crowded together, falling into a heap.

"There might be poison on the needles; control the poison first."

There was no need to show off, and besides, they were already preparing to retreat.

A'ming hesitated for a moment, nodded, and began to control the blood in his body to isolate the blood at the wound that might be contaminated by venom.

He was a vampire, but he and Liang Cheng had one thing that couldn't be compared. Liang Cheng, as a zombie, was a great poison himself; he wasn't afraid of poison, but A'ming was afraid, at least the current A'ming wasn't immune to all poisons.

Zheng Fan chose to back down directly.

He wasn't familiar with the General, and in this world, there were no portraits, and that painting was particularly abstract…

In short, Zheng Fan had never even seen Xiao Dahai's face, and didn't even know the Prefect's name. There was really no motivation to jump out at this time to avenge them and stop the assassins.

This was a very selfish mentality, but Zheng Fan made this choice without hesitation.

After the Daoists rampaged at the main entrance, they quickly rushed out again under the woman's orders.

Many people were hacked to death in the mourning hall, but most of them were still lying on the ground shouting in pain, with extremely painful expressions.

Seeing that A'ming had signaled that he had controlled the poison, Zheng Fan turned his head to look at Zuo Jiqian, who had been standing beside him earlier.

Zuo Jiqian was also lying on the ground, but when Zheng Fan looked at him, he found that he was just covering his chest with his hand, and his eyes were vigilantly looking around.

Based on this detail alone, Zheng Fan could confirm that this guy wasn't poisoned!

Moreover, this guy actually made the same choice as himself, also pretending to be a coward.

The garrison commander was a higher rank than a captain, already considered the pinnacle of middle-level officers, and above that was the guerrilla general.

And Zuo Jiqian was from the Huwei Zuo family, so his cultivation resources must have been very good since he was a child, and his aptitude must be good, otherwise, he wouldn't have been pushed out by the family to be an official.

This meant that this guy was at least a martial artist. Zheng Fan wasn't sure if he was ranked, but he was definitely not an easy character.

Sure enough, scions of aristocratic families were all unreliable paper tigers.

Zheng Fan excluded himself from the equation when despising others, according to basic principles.

The Daoists quickly charged out, seeming to have encountered the guards outside the Garrison General's residence, and the sounds of fighting soon came from outside again.

In any case, this was, after all, the Garrison General's residence, and this was, after all, Nanwang City.

Those assassins could certainly appear suddenly and catch them off guard, but this was, after all, the territory of Great Yan.

He had shrunk his head earlier to avoid being a target, but now it was time to grab heads and steal credit!

"You lie here and don't move; I'll go outside and pick up some heads."

After saying that, Zheng Fan slowly stood up, and Zuo Jiqian also stood up.

The gazes of the two big cowards and extra big coward met in the air for a short distance, and they very tacitly walked out of the mourning hall together.

"Brother Zheng, I really envy you for having such a loyal subordinate."

Obviously, A'ming's scene of proactively blocking needles for Zheng Fan had fallen into Zuo Jiqian's eyes.

However, what Zuo Jiqian didn't know was that A'ming wouldn't die from being pricked by the needles.

"I also admire Brother Zuo's good luck."

"I'm wearing soft armor. After this matter is over, I'll send one to Brother Zheng when I get back. This soft armor is very useless in battle, but it's indeed useful for defending against these small tricks in normal times."

"Then I'll thank Brother Zuo."

"You're welcome, you're welcome."

In fact, what Zheng Fan was thinking was that when he got back, he would immediately have Si Niang weave a soft armor for him.

The two walked quickly, and in the front yard, the Daoists had already started fighting with the Garrison General's residence guards.

These Daoists were all agile, and the Garrison General's residence guards were not their opponents for a while, even though they had the advantage in numbers, they were still beaten back steadily.

This gave Zheng Fan a deeper understanding of the quality of the southern front line of Yan Country. Similar things could never happen in the Zhenbei Marquis's residence.

Sure enough, being born in hardship and dying in comfort was an objective law everywhere.

"Brother Zheng, please go first."

"Brother Zuo, you're too polite; please go first."

"You go first."

"You go first."

At this moment, a Daoist had just hacked down the guard in front of him, and retreated many steps to avoid another guard's blade, just retreating to the front of Zheng Fan and Zuo Jiqian.

Zuo Jiqian immediately released a gray light from his body,

Zheng Fan also quickly released a black light from his body,

The two, who had been polite to each other, didn't say a word and charged towards the same target.

The Daoist sensed danger coming from behind, and when he turned his head, he actually saw two light sources rushing towards him, and a look of horror immediately appeared in his eyes.

Zheng Fan's figure stalled for half a step at this moment, and Zuo Jiqian therefore extended half a body forward. The Daoist immediately slashed at Zuo Jiqian with his knife.

Zuo Jiqian let out a low shout, clapped his hands together, and actually used his palms to forcibly clamp the blade of the knife.

This was a genuine barehanded blade grab!

Zheng Fan silently gave Zuo Jiqian a thumbs up in his heart, and then stepped forward, taking advantage of the opportunity when the Daoist's weapon was controlled by Zuo Jiqian, and punched the Daoist in the neck.

"Ah!"

"Crack!"

The power and speed attached when the qi and blood flowed, coupled with the blessing of Zheng Fan's "roar" output, the Daoist's neck was twisted with one punch.

"Brother Zheng, good skill."

Zuo Jiqian picked up the Daoist's knife and continued to charge forward.

Zheng Fan had no interest in playing barehanded blade grabbing like Zuo Jiqian, but picked up a knife next to a guard's corpse and began to wander around.

Although he had been taking time to "guide" Liang Cheng in martial arts on weekdays,

But since Zheng Fan woke up, there were too few occasions where he really needed to fight himself. No matter how many routines there were, without practical application, they were just fancy moves.

Therefore, Zheng Fan had a good understanding of his level, just relying on the fact that he was a ninth-rank martial artist player, following behind Zuo Jiqian, specializing in helping Zuo Jiqian make up for the kills.

On the other hand, Zuo Jiqian wielded a big knife with great power, but he was also very aggrieved by Zheng Fan's "cooperation," but what could he do if he was aggrieved? He couldn't turn his knife to Zheng Fan now, could he?

However, with the addition of Zheng Fan and Zuo Jiqian, the guards also had a backbone, and their morale also increased a lot. In addition to their inherent advantage in numbers, they began to gradually reverse the decline and suppress the enemy.

Outside the Garrison General's residence, teams of armored soldiers were rushing over frantically. These were all city defense soldiers who had gathered to come to the rescue after hearing the movement in the Garrison General's residence.

And just as Zheng Fan chopped down the third Daoist and prepared to continue drawing his knife and retreating behind Zuo Jiqian,

He saw a figure dart directly into the cloister, which led to the Garrison General's residence's garden and backyard.

And that figure had a head wrapped around his waist, which was the Prefect's head!

"Thief, where are you running!"

This was a big fish!

Zuo Jiqian let out a low roar and chased after him directly.

Zheng Fan didn't hide in the grass anymore. He had to be a coward when he should be, but he must not hesitate when he should grab credit!

It had only been a few months since he woke up, and the reason he could sit in this position was simply that he knew how to steal credit!

Zuo Jiqian was running, and he also noticed Zheng Fan chasing in with him out of the corner of his eye, gritted his teeth, and further increased his speed.

However, just as he chased past the pavilion, from the flowerbeds beside him, the Daoist's figure suddenly rushed out in the opposite direction, and the blade was directly chopped down towards Zuo Jiqian's head.

Zuo Jiqian reacted extremely quickly, raised his blade, and instead of retreating, he advanced, using a block to forcibly create an opening, wanting to open the opponent and create space for his next counterattack.

The application of this set of fighting skills by the scion of an aristocratic family was indeed much better than that of Zheng Fan, a mud-legged man.

"Clang!"

The blades of both sides collided together.

A familiar scene,

A familiar head,

Zheng Fan, who was once again half a step late, immediately raised his knife and detoured to the rear, planning to take advantage of the opportunity to steal the head of this big fish.

Zuo Jiqian was simply furious at the sight. At the critical moment of fighting for credit, no one could maintain the so-called peace of mind.

Whoever killed this leading Daoist would have it written on the merit record that so-and-so led the crowd to counterattack and capture the assassin,

And the other person, no matter how much contribution they made, could only be reduced to one of the "crowd" on the merit record!

However,

At this moment,

A whistling sound came, and a shocking ray flew out from the Daoist's chest.

"Qi Refiner!"

Zuo Jiqian let out an exclamation.

But the distance was too close,

Zuo Jiqian barely retreated half a step, dodging his vitals, but his left arm was directly pierced by the shocking ray. At the same time, because of Zuo Jiqian's retreat, the previous defense was directly scattered, and the knife in the Daoist's hand also unceremoniously swept across Zuo Jiqian's chest.

"Bang!"

Zuo Jiqian was knocked to the ground, but fortunately, there was soft armor on his chest. Although the soft armor was still damaged, it also offset most of the damage from this knife.

"Brother Zheng, be careful!"

Zuo Jiqian, who was knocked to the ground, could only shout this.

Earlier, he hated Zheng Fan's way of stealing heads because it was so shameless.

But at this moment, he was really afraid that Zheng Fan would also go up and be solved by the Daoist. If that was the case, before the reinforcements arrived, this Daoist would have plenty of time to calmly stab himself and then leave.

How could Zheng Fan not be anxious in his heart,

He had been stealing heads so happily,

Suddenly, the guy who was acting as a tank to attract hatred for him was overturned,

For a moment,

Zheng Fan really didn't know how to continue.

But there was no turning back once the bow was drawn, Zheng Fan could only continue to let out a low roar:

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!"

With one slash, he chopped down at the Daoist.

The Daoist had just chopped down Zuo Jiqian with one slash, and he had also consumed a lot of energy himself. Zheng Fan came aggressively and didn't give him time to catch his breath, and at the beginning of the fight, he was forced into a very embarrassing position by Zheng Fan continuously.

But after several consecutive confrontations, even though the Daoist was only in a passive blocking position, he immediately discovered that the opponent in front of him only had the qi and blood strength of a ninth-rank martial artist, but his on-the-spot experience was slightly immature.

Indeed, other ninth-rank martial artists, no matter how talented, were also honed step by step.

And Zheng Fan came from a crash course. In order to make him a crash course, Liang Cheng's nails and Si Niang's hands were used, and everything was used.

This was also the drawback of the crash course. Without years of accumulation and honing, even if you gave Zheng Fan a Bixie Sword Manual, it would be difficult for him to understand the deep meaning.

The Daoist turned his blade and forcibly moved Zheng Fan's next knife away, while at the same time, he opened a gap for Zheng Fan.

"Buzz!"

The shocking ray appeared again, directly heading for Zheng Fan's neck.

This Daoist was clearly a dual cultivator of martial arts and Qi Refinement!

Zheng Fan saw the shocking ray, but it was too late to dodge it, because this distance was really too close.

The shadow of death directly enveloped Zheng Fan's heart.

Zuo Jiqian, who was lying on the ground on the side, showed a look of despair on his face after seeing the shocking ray flying out. It was over, it was over, it was all over.

At this time, Zuo Jiqian couldn't help but regret a little, regretting why he was so greedy and rash. If he had waited for the Wangfu guards to come together or the city defense army outside to come in together, things could never have been the current situation.

Although it might not be possible to catch this big fish,

But at least he wouldn't have to give his life here.

However,

At this critical moment,

"Gurgle gurgle…………"

"Buzz!"

A black stone broke through Zheng Fan's clothes pocket.

"Bang!"

The ancient stone hit the shocking ray. The shocking ray was actually a dagger with runes engraved on it. The moment the two came into contact, the dagger broke directly, and it was not a match for this stone!

The Daoist was horrified: No wonder the martial artist in front of him had some immature fighting skills. The one in front of him was actually the same as himself, also a dual cultivator of martial arts and Qi Refinement!

However,

Not only that,

After smashing the shocking ray, this stone was not satisfied,

And rushed directly towards the Daoist.

The Daoist had dealt with Zuo Jiqian earlier, and now basically followed the original script again.

It was just that Zuo Jiqian had reacted a step earlier and had soft armor on his body at the same time,

But this Daoist's luck was very bad,

Because this stone was coming directly at his forehead.

"Pa!"

The Daoist's head was directly smashed by the stone.

Zheng Fan, who had escaped from death, breathed a sigh of relief,

Smiled,

Said:

"Son."

Zuo Jiqian opened his mouth,

His eyes were full of horror.

As expected…… he was a man from the Li family;

Although the Zhenbei Marquis's residence was not prosperous, it did not mean that there were no talents in the Marquis's residence!

"Brother Zheng, good skill……"

However,

Before Zuo Jiqian could finish speaking,

An even more shocking scene appeared to him,

After the stone smashed the Daoist's head,

It drew a circle in the air,

The next moment,

It actually rushed directly towards Zheng Fan's head!

In the stone,

There was an extremely strong resentment and frustration mixed in,

In the dark,

It seemed that he could see the face of a resentful baby,

What was the point of living for a father like this waste?

Or,

Kill him!

"…………" Zheng Fan.