Chapter 773: Ambush and Counter-Ambush

The patrol guards were wary-eyed and rarely joked among themselves. They did not purchase food from the post station either. The moment their horses had drunk their fill, they intended to leave.

He Lingchuan slammed a fist against the table, making the jug, plates, and cups clatter violently. “Put your leg down, you ill-bred bastard with no parents to teach you any manners!”

The bearded man’s eyes narrowed. He lowered his leg, rose slowly, and asked in a sinister voice, “Say that again?”

The commotion carried into the post station. Several Yuheng City patrol guards followed the noise over. “What’s happening here?”

The thin, dark-skinned young man hurried forward to mediate. “The weather is hot, so everyone’s tempers are running high. Please calm down, both of you! These skewers are on me. There aren’t any empty tables left beside the pond, so I ask our guests to be understanding.”

He Lingchuan gave a mocking chuckle and pointed at the burly man across from him. “I’m reporting him. This man is a Longchuan water bandit!”

A ring of people around the nearby tables abruptly rose to their feet.

The burly man’s expression changed drastically. “What nonsense are you spouting?”

“I saw him kill someone at Turbid Dragon Ridge with my own eyes a few days ago!”

Hearing that, the patrol guards looked the man over. “Hands on the table. Spread your legs!”

With such a vicious-looking face, they searched him first and asked questions afterward.

The burly man slowly placed his hands on the table.

At that moment, a chair toppled over not far away.

The patrol guards instinctively turned toward the sound.

The burly man’s other hand flashed to his waist and drew a dagger. Taking advantage of their distraction, he slashed viciously toward the nearest guard’s throat!

The move was both fast and ruthless. At the same time, he shouted, “Attack!”

More than a dozen people beside the pond and nearly a hundred inside the post station drew weapons at once and charged toward the resting patrol guards and merchant travelers!

He Lingchuan’s accusation had not been false.

They really were water bandits.

There were only slightly more than thirty patrol guards, while the water bandits numbered over a hundred.

Yet the burly leader’s dagger failed to cut through the guard’s throat.

The thin, dark-skinned young man, who had been smiling and trying to smooth things over only moments before, suddenly raised the wine jug and flung its contents at him!

The jug had clearly been used to hold bayberry wine, yet what splashed from it was smoking, boiling oil!

The young man stood diagonally across from the burly leader, so it looked almost as if the latter had delivered himself straight into the attack.

The burly man was quick-eyed and fast-handed. Catching the yellow liquid in the edge of his vision, he instinctively recoiled and released his protective vigorous qi, preventing the oil from reaching him.

However, the water bandit rushing in from behind to support him was not so fortunate.

The boiling oil struck him squarely in the head and face. He immediately screamed and collapsed, rolling wildly across the ground.

The patrol guards drew their weapons without the slightest fear. While fending off their attackers, they shouted, “Kill the bandits! Kill the thieves! All bystanders, stand back!”

Another group of customers beside the lotus pond suddenly rose.

They appeared to be coachmen, merchants, and laborers, but each somehow produced a saber or sword and joined the fight against the water bandits with a great clamor of clashing steel.

Martial artists?

No, these were well-trained soldiers!

One glance was enough for the burly man to realize that the situation was wrong. He immediately roared, “Brothers, retreat! Fall back!”

This was a trap.

They had walked straight into an ambush!

His cultivation was formidable. With two moves, he forced three patrol guards backward. Then he swung the table toward the thin, dark-skinned young man, intending to rely on sheer ferocity to carve himself a path out.

Suddenly, he heard the sharp rush of wind behind his head.

Not daring to be careless, the burly man ducked.

A sleeve arrow hissed over him. Had he not moved, it would have punched straight through the back of his skull.

That angle... The burly man flew into a rage. That bastard who fought over the seat!

How vicious!

He was just about to draw his saber when a burst of excruciating pain exploded through the back of his thigh along with a sharp crack.

“Ah!” The burly man screamed and lowered his head.

His thigh bone had snapped!

A length of stark white bone protruded through the flesh, and blood sprayed out at once. An ordinary person might have fainted from the pain on the spot.

Behind him, the young man calmly lowered his leg.

He had broken the burly man’s thigh with a single kick.

Though crippled, the man’s will remained fierce. He desperately swung his saber backward, but his movements were already clumsy. He Lingchuan avoided it easily.

Two moves later, another crack sounded as He Lingchuan kicked apart his left leg as well.

The man could no longer remain standing. He rolled twice across the ground and shouted, “Forget me! Retreat! Hurry!”

The patrol guards nearby surged forward, tied him up from head to toe, and stuffed a rag into his mouth.

He Lingchuan drew his blade and killed two bandits in quick succession, as smoothly as a farmer harvesting wheat in a field. Flecks of blood splashed across his cheek, lending his face an even more savage appearance.

A nearby water bandit froze in terror, then turned and fled.

He Lingchuan casually hurled Fleeting Life.

With a heavy thunk, the blade pierced through the man’s back and pinned him to the wall!

Commander He wiped the blood from his face and ordered, “Bring back their heads for military merit. Don’t let a single one escape!”

“Yes!” the surrounding patrol guards answered in unison.

The burly man stared fixedly at He Lingchuan, his eyes nearly bulging from their sockets.

This bastard... He’s the commander?

The official troops clearly intended to leave no survivors. The moment the water bandits heard the order, they scattered in every direction.

The entire battle lasted a little over half an hour.

The patrol guards spent more time chasing people down than actually killing them.

By the time everyone returned and began reporting their achievements, the killing ground at the Azure Wolf Post Station had already been mostly cleared.

He Lingchuan alone had killed six men.

When he walked over to the burly man, the final drop of blood happened to slide from the edge of his blade.

The thin, dark-skinned young man pulled the rag from the captive’s mouth.

He Lingchuan raised one leg and planted his foot on the bench beside the man’s head. “Brother Hao, how have you been?”

The burly man clenched his teeth and glared at him without speaking. Cold sweat streamed down his forehead from the pain.

“What? You don’t dare admit who you are?”

The thin young man kicked him. The captive grunted in agony. “I never change my name or hide my surname! I am Chen Hao! How do you know who I am?”

“We owe that to Gang Leader Xu of the Qiuhua Gang. Their information was remarkably accurate.” He Lingchuan smiled pleasantly. “They told me exactly who would lead the raid on the Azure Wolf Post Station and precisely how many men you would bring.”

Chen Hao swallowed hard. “That bastard Xu is as good as dead. So are all of you!”

“This is the first time I’ve seen such an arrogant captive.” He Lingchuan dropped onto the bench. “Judging by your accent, you aren’t a local, are you?”

He looked as though he were merely making idle conversation.

Chen Hao pressed his lips together.

“Beijia?”

The moment those two words left He Lingchuan’s mouth, Chen Hao instinctively looked up at him.

He Lingchuan continued, “I heard you’re one of Fushan Lie’s favored men. Beijia is such a comfortable place to live, so why has Fushan Lie come running into my territory?”

Chen Hao’s Adam’s apple bobbed twice. “Did that bastard Xu tell you this too?”

By then, the patrol guards and plainclothes soldiers who had gone out in pursuit had returned to the station. They presented all the severed heads they had collected.

The wounded water bandits groaning on the ground had no time to beg for mercy. They were finished off and beheaded as well.

Yuheng City had long since issued a proclamation throughout its territory: bandits who surrendered of their own accord would receive lenient treatment, but anyone who dared oppose Yuheng City’s army would be executed.

The present situation fell into the latter category.

Once someone had fought the army, had their legs broken, and only then lay on the ground begging for mercy, it was already too late.

This combination of severity and leniency was one of the main reasons the number of bandit gangs in Longchuan had fallen so rapidly.

The merchants inside the post station stared at the headless corpses scattered across the ground and the blood flowing in every direction. Their bodies trembled, but their faces were filled with relief.

These terrifying soldiers were on their side.

The fiercer and stronger Yuheng City’s army was, the safer their journeys as merchants would be.

Chen Hao watched everything with his own eyes, his expression darkening.

Yuheng City’s methods were truly ruthless.

Aside from him, they had genuinely left no one alive!

“Report! 67 bandits eliminated and 67 heads recovered. 7 of them were wanted felons!”

“Excellent.” He Lingchuan looked at Chen Hao and asked, “Are there any of your people from Beijia among those?”