The sun had already set beyond the mountains, leaving only fire-tinged clouds staining half the sky red where mountain and firmament met. Xiao Li rinsed his blade clean in the river water, the bloodstains flowing into the current and quickly vanishing without a trace. On the riverbank lay a dozen or so bodies scattered haphazardly, all wearing ochre-colored military uniforms—official soldiers with large pools of blood spreading beneath them, clearly already dead. He shook the water droplets from his blade, returned it to its sheath, and without sparing those soldiers another glance, walked straight toward the tree where his horse was tethered.

Ever since that day when he had rescued those commoners who were being pursued and brutally killed by Jincheng troops, it seemed Jincheng had issued a warrant for his arrest. For several consecutive days, Jincheng soldiers had come to hunt him down and kill him.

Xiao Li untied the rope fastened to the tree and stroked the mane on his horse’s neck. Just as he was about to mount, he suddenly heard shouts and battle cries coming from the distance. The horse became startled, stamping its hooves restlessly. Xiao Li raised his eyes to look and saw a group of cavalry pursuing a man also dressed in military uniform. That man had a robust build, his height already approaching nine chi, and seemed to be carrying someone on his back as he ran frantically. The cavalrymen occasionally released arrows, but it appeared they were deliberately sparing the two men’s lives, not aiming for vital points. Thanks to this, the man successfully escaped toward Xiao Li’s direction while carrying his burden.

Xiao Li recognized that the cavalrymen on horseback were also wearing Jincheng military uniforms. His eyes darkened slightly, and his hand had already reached for the bow and arrows at the side of his saddle. That man running with someone on his back also caught sight of him from afar and was loudly calling out to him for help.

Xiao Li found the voice somewhat familiar. After squinting for a closer look, he immediately nocked an arrow and drew his bow. Several white-feathered arrows instantly shot down the cavalrymen running at the front from their horses. The cavalry close behind couldn’t control their horses in time and yanked hard on their reins. The warhorses reared up on their front legs with piercing neighs, but still ended up frightened and trampling chaotically. Even those who hadn’t died from arrow wounds successfully perished under the trampling hooves. For a moment, the cavalry’s pursuit momentum was disrupted, and they fell into disarray on the spot.

With this brief moment of respite, the man carrying someone on his back finally managed to open up a small distance from the pursuing soldiers. He was panting like a bellows, only focused on running forward with all his might, completely unable to look back at what was happening behind him. Though his build was as robust as a small mountain, he was crying like a young child, his face covered with tears and snot. He vigorously jostled the old man higher onto his back and spoke with childish innocence: “Grandpa, don’t be afraid, A’niu will take you and escape…”

Those few arrows had not made the cavalry unit lose their will to fight. They quickly regrouped and resumed their chase. The man heard the increasingly approaching sound of hoofbeats. He was already desperately running while carrying the old man on his back, but two legs still couldn’t outrun four. Sweat mixed with dust and dirt slid down his eyelids into his eyes, stinging painfully. He grimaced and cried out, straining to keep his eyes open to see the road ahead.

Then he saw that the person who had shot the arrows earlier was standing backlit in the vast evening glow. The fire-tinged clouds at the edge of the sky cast a thin red veil over the distant mountain ranges and nearby river. That human figure once again drew the longbow, and the arrows that shrieked through the air from the bowstring seemed to carry tremendous force, directly shooting down the several cavalrymen who were pursuing most closely, causing them to flip backward and fall from their horses.

The man finally collapsed before Xiao Li while carrying the old man on his back. His face was covered with dust and blood. He tried to thank Xiao Li incoherently, but when he clearly saw Xiao Li’s appearance, whether from surviving the ordeal or the wild joy of reuniting with an old friend, he directly burst into tears: “Big Brother… save Grandpa, please save Grandpa…”

Xiao Li had already recognized from afar, when A’niu called out to him for help, that those being pursued were the grandfather and grandson pair of Doctor Tao who had once saved him and Wen Yu. At this moment, seeing Doctor Tao fall to the ground with A’niu, his eyes still tightly closed, not knowing whether he was alive or dead, with his coarse hemp brown robe torn open on his back and covered with spots of blood—clearly caused by whipping—his expression turned suddenly cold. He put away his bow and arrows, drew out the long blade that had just been cleaned of bloodstains, and stared at the leader among the cavalry as he said to A’niu: “Take your grandpa and hide behind me.”

Although A’niu had the mental capacity of a seven or eight-year-old child, he understood that the pursuing soldiers were numerous and that Xiao Li alone might find it difficult to handle them. He thought that after moving Doctor Tao to a somewhat safer place, he would come help Xiao Li. But when he picked up Doctor Tao again to go to the back, he caught sight of the corpses of those soldiers scattered all over the ground. A’niu froze for a moment.

The military officer leading the cavalry had originally thought he had only encountered some young upstart who didn’t know his own limits. Now, from horseback, he saw from afar the corpses of those soldiers behind Xiao Li, and his expression couldn’t help but change. The veins at his temple quickly bulged, and he pointed his curved whip at Xiao Li: “How dare you so cruelly harm our Jincheng warriors! Capture this mad bandit!”

This cavalry unit was clearly a regular army, different from those soldiers who were everywhere capturing commoners and those who were searching for Xiao Li like casting a net without direction. Each one was skilled in horsemanship, and they maintained formation even while attacking. When a dozen or so men surrounded Xiao Li, they also sent out two men to capture A’niu and Doctor Tao.

A’niu relied on his brute strength. When the two cavalrymen spurred their horses to charge at him, he rolled on the ground and picked up a blade from the corpses of the soldiers killed by Xiao Li. He swung the blade and slashed at the warhorse charging toward him. The warhorse immediately neighed once, its neck stretched out as it crashed to the ground, bringing the soldier on its back to fall headfirst to the ground as well.

The other cavalryman following close behind quickly tightened his reins and turned his horse’s head around, only then avoiding being tripped by the fallen warhorse. A’niu rushed forward and directly grabbed the horse’s reins with one hand, pulling forcefully to the side, raw strength causing the horse to lose balance on all four legs and flip over on its side. One of that soldier’s legs was pinned under the horse. He couldn’t break free no matter how he struggled and could only scream in agony.

A’niu swung his fists down on that soldier’s head, punching while crying: “This is for beating my grandpa, for killing my grandma…”

The cavalryman who had been thrown far away when his warhorse with a broken leg fell got up in a daze. Seeing his companion already beaten by A’niu until blood flowed from all seven orifices, he picked up a blade from the ground and was about to slash at A’niu’s neck from behind, but was pierced through the heart by a long spear and finally fell to the ground with eyes wide open, spitting fresh blood.

Xiao Li had already dealt with those dozen or so cavalrymen. After kicking a spear that had fallen to the ground toward the cavalryman who was about to kill A’niu, he pointed his blade at the injured military officer who had rolled to the ground: “They are not people of Yizhou, nor are they among the registered households who must relocate with Yizhou’s counties. Why must you pursue and capture them?”

That military officer was also a tough character. He spat bloody saliva at Xiao Li and said viciously: “The remnants of the Great Liang have no shame, colluding with the Chen Kingdom to attack our Central Plains. As sons of the Central Plains, we should naturally join the army and fight the enemy. That fool didn’t know what’s good for him—after being conscripted into the army, he repeatedly violated military discipline and was even so audacious as to escape while taking a conscript laborer with him. The Grand Protector had a heart that cherished talent, which is why he ordered us not to harm their lives but bring them back. I am a direct subordinate of Grand Protector Han. How dare you kill me—”

Xiao Li’s blade fell, and the military officer’s head was already separated from his body.

He had noticed that A’niu’s build was tall and large, different from ordinary people, yet he was wearing a set of Jinzhou military uniform that fit him quite well—not like something casually stripped from some soldier’s body. That was why he had asked the military officer that question. After clarifying the reason, he naturally was too lazy to listen to any more of that officer’s nonsense.

Xiao Li sheathed his blade. Seeing that A’niu was still venting by swinging his fists at the cavalryman who had already been beaten beyond recognition by him, he walked over and pressed down on his shoulder. When A’niu had caught his breath and looked toward him, he said: “The man is already dead.”

A’niu’s eyes were completely red. On his face covered with dust and blood, the original color could no longer be seen, but from his neck to his chest, everything was flushed red. He looked at Xiao Li and cried like a young child: “They beat Grandma to death, beat Auntie to death, stripped Sister-in-law Yinqiao’s clothes, killed Big Brother Dazhu…”

Xiao Li knew that the grandma he mentioned must be Granny Tao, and as for the others, they should all be villagers from the same village. When the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact—he just hadn’t expected this day would come so quickly that even the secluded Tao Family Village couldn’t escape this calamity of troubled times.

He silently pressed down on his shoulder for a while, and in the end only said: “You’ve avenged them.”

Then he glanced at Doctor Tao who had been placed to the side: “I’ll first check your grandpa’s injuries.”

Only then did A’niu awkwardly wipe his eyes several times. Like a lost puppy, he helplessly shuffled over to Doctor Tao’s side, watching as Xiao Li took the old man’s pulse.

Xiao Li was not a physician and could only superficially examine the pulse. Doctor Tao’s injuries were severe. His entire back was crisscrossed with whip marks, covered with bloodstains. At his advanced age, suffering such torment, his body naturally couldn’t endure it.

Xiao Li took out wound medicine and tossed a bottle to A’niu, telling him to treat the various large and small wounds on his own body. He then helped Doctor Tao roughly treat the injuries on his back. The wound medicine he used had potent medicinal properties. Midway through, Doctor Tao was jolted awake by the pain. Upon seeing Xiao Li, he struggled with a breath of energy, tears streaming down his face as he tried to entrust A’niu to Xiao Li’s care. Xiao Li had no choice but to agree for the time being in order to prevent Doctor Tao’s emotions from becoming so agitated.

Doctor Tao lay on the ground, his entire face ashen, tearfully looking at Xiao Li as he said: “That this old fool could save young brother’s life back then was perhaps fate ordained by heaven. My A’niu… is a good child, just a bit simple-minded. From now on, young brother need only manage a bowl of rice for him, and make sure he doesn’t do… doesn’t do those things that harm heaven and reason. For everything else, just feel free to order him about… order him about…”

A’niu was so anxious he kept crying. Tears rolled from his eye sockets, sliding down that face covered with bloody dust and sweat, falling in large drops. When he opened his mouth, he could only call out the two words “Grandpa.”

Xiao Li said: “Old sir, please rest assured. From now on, I, Xiao Li, will naturally treat Brother A’niu as my own brother. Your injuries are mostly external wounds. Although you’ve suffered greatly, they can be healed with care.”

But Doctor Tao only shook his head, saying sorrowfully: “These old bones of mine will only be a burden following you. Young brother, take my A’niu and escape. Don’t let him be captured by those wolves again and forced to do those unconscionable things for them…”

A’niu quickly shook his head, crying that he wouldn’t leave, and said: “They killed Grandma, A’niu won’t listen to them anymore…”

Xiao Li had already learned from that military officer earlier that A’niu had been conscripted as a soldier. He couldn’t help but ask: “Why did those Jincheng soldiers, after conscripting Brother A’niu as a soldier, also conscript you together to do hard labor? They didn’t even spare Grandma?”

Doctor Tao, reminded of his wife’s death, couldn’t help but redden his eyes again and shed turbid tears: “They herded the entire village toward Jinzhou. How could it just be for conscripting soldiers? They wanted us to do hard labor building Jinzhou’s defenses! My wife and I with our old bones—how could we move those bricks and stones for building city walls? It was also us who dragged down that child A’niu. Otherwise, with his abilities, he could have escaped. How would he have been yelled at and ordered about by those wolves to do things for them…”

Xiao Li’s expression changed slightly. In that instant, he understood Pei Song’s true purpose in having Yizhou implement a scorched earth policy while his subordinates drove commoners from other counties to Jinzhou—he was abandoning Yizhou, and when he lured Northern Wei and Southern Chen to fight like snipe and clam, he had already set the battlefield to stop the Southern Chen army from advancing north at Jinzhou.

And for Jinzhou to rapidly expand its army, the most effective method was naturally to forcibly conscript soldiers, then detain their families in the city to do hard labor building defenses. In this way, firstly there would be enough conscript laborers to repair the defenses, and secondly it could maximally constrain these newly conscripted soldiers.

Doctor Tao clearly had no will to live. After speaking those words, he said on his own: “After entrusting A’niu to young brother, this old fool has no more attachments and can go seek my wife in peace…”

From birth until now, A’niu had never faced so many partings of life and death as he had today. He curled up in a ball, sobbing and continuously shaking his head, fragile and pitiful, like a large dog about to be abandoned.

Seeing this, Xiao Li said: “That Grandma met with such misfortune—I know you must feel extremely terrible in your heart. But Brother A’niu risked his life to bring you out. You must not let down his heartfelt intention, especially since in this world, he only has you as his one remaining relative. As for the matter of pursuing soldiers, with me, Xiao, here, please rest assured.”