The First Order

The snow in the forest was already melting, but the wind was still freezing. Even a strong person like Xiahou Sang couldn’t help shivering. He stabbed his sword into a desolate patch of grass and said in a low voice filled with anger, “This group of traitors interrupting someone’s sleep is truly hateful. Sir, we will kill them all later, right?”

Lin Mu Yu softly said, “What do you think?”

A sharp glow flashed in Xiahou Sang’s eyes as he said, “Kill!”

Lin Mu Yu asked again, “Wei Chou, what do you think?”

Wei Chou grasped his Demon Devouring Bow as his eyes faintly flickered under the moonlight. He said with a serious expression, “Although most of these people from Swordsman Hall are commoners, they have been instilled with the Swordsman Hall ideas, so even if we show mercy, they won’t. Like this, our Imperial Guards will suffer if we show mercy.”

Lin Mu Yu gave a sigh and said in a soft voice, “Then kill them.”

“Yes, commander!”

The moonlight fell down on his white temple cape and Lin Mu Yu narrowed his eyes. Many people would die tonight and what he was doing, was he degrading into the empire’s lackey? He forcefully shook his head, no, definitely not. He had his own thoughts, he would not be misled. Here, killing the Swordsman Hall people was the right thing, after all, his Imperial Guard subordinates wouldn’t bully civilians and that was enough.

There were the fragmented sounds of horse hooves and footsteps in the distance, they were here. Under the moonlight, over two hundred Swordsman Hall people appeared in the forest, charging in from the west of the valley. There were few cavalry, only having around twenty people, with most of them being rangers walking with blades. Their cultivation were average, there was no need to think to know that this was a part of the troops of the Guan Ling Province’s Swordsman Hall.

A ranger with a scar on his face charged forward with a long blade in his hand and he roared, “Charge into their camp, don’t leave a single one! Damn, these empire dogs, they actually don’t leave anyone as a sentry! This is simply seeking death!”

That ranger with a face scar was wearing a gold token on his chest, it was a Gold Ranger, but he wasn’t that strong, only being in the First Earth Tier. Under his orders, a group of rangers charged into the camp. They broke through the tents, stomped the campfire and Imperial Guard flags, looking very arrogant.

Wei Chou tightly held his bow and turned to Lin Mu Yu, asking for his orders.

Lin Mu Yu gave a slight nod.

“Sou!”

The Demon Devouring Bow sent out an arrow, directly going through scar face’s neck, sending blood everywhere. A Gold Ranger was actually killed by a single arrow from Wei Chou!

“Fire!” Xiahou Sang loudly ordered.

Of the hundred imperial guards, almost all of them had bows, which sent a rain of arrows into the camp. Pitiful cries rang out and before the rangers even knew where the enemies were, almost half of them were dead.

“Dang!”

Lin Mu Yu pulled out his Dragon Spirit Sword and shouted, “Mount and charge!”

“Yes!”

The imperial guards mounted their horses and quickly charged out. With Lin Mu, Wei Chou, and the other Imperial Guards in front, they all released their martial spirit. How could these rangers resist this?

“Pu!”

Lin Mu Yu’s sword fell down to cut a ranger in half with his shield. Waving his left hand, the Dragon Spirit Sword cut off the heads of two halberds aimed at him, sending out sword qi that created two more pitiful cries.

In front, there were seven rangers on horses charging forward with their spears.

Lin Mu Yu placed his sword into the sheath as he placed one hand into his Qiankun Bag, pulling out the Pear Flower Spear. He charged forward and the spear had a cold glow as three snow white pear flowers bloomed in the air, sending three rangers falling to the ground. Lin Mu Yu continued forward, using the spearmanship he learned from Zhao Jin. His spear touched the head of the enemy’s spear, piercing through his chest with a golden dragon.

But this ranger had some skills as he reached out to grab the Pear Flower Spear and angrily roared, “Empire dog, father will go to hell with you!”

Lin Mu Yu gave a cold snort and his battle qi covered his arm. He swung the Pear Flower Spear, which slammed into two people beside with this person on it. There were pitiful cries as their heads clashed and shattered, causing thick blood to pour from their noses, almost making Lin Mu Yu vomit. He quickly raised his gourd wall and a golden light shined out. It protected him while also protecting him from this vulgar scene.

The battle ended very quickly. When Xiahou Sang cut off the head of the final ranger, over two hundred rangers had turned into corpses. Of the Imperial Guards, there were only a few people who were slightly injured. This was a complete one sided victory.

“Pei!”

Xiahou Sang spat out at a corpse and his eyes were filled with anger as he said, “You want to take over the empire with a group of trash like you, it’s simply a fool’s dream!”

Wei Chou said, “Sir, what do we do now?”

Lin Mu Yu wiped the blood off his Pear Flower Spear and said, “Search the corpses for anything value and then bury them all. We’ll set off tomorrow morning.”

“Yes!”

Xiahou Sang mumbled, “Sir, why do we need to bury these traitors’ corpses? In my opinion, we should leave their corpses in the wilderness and let beasts swallow. Or we can cut off their heads and place them on wooden stakes, to send a message to all the rebels of the empire and see if they dare act this arrogant anymore.”

Lin Mu Yu knit his brows and said, “We’ll really become the empire’s dogs if we do this. His majesty Qin Jin is a benevolent ruler and not willing to kill to send a message. We’ll really be matching their thoughts if we act this cruel.”

Xiahou Sang was stunned and quickly cupped his hands to say, “This subordinate didn’t consider this, I ask for sir’s forgiveness.”

“There’s nothing to forgive, just move quickly.”

“Yes!”

Not long passed before Wei Chou came over with a bloody document and said, “Sir, there’s something you have to see.”

“Oh, what is it?”

“This, a clearance document.”

Lin Mu Yu opened the scroll and although it was covered in blood, it didn’t cover the content. It was a clearance document for passing through the Cangnan Province to the Ling Bei Province which had the Cangnan Governor’s seal on it, with clearance for a hundred people of the Swordsman Hall.

Wei Chou coldly said, “Look, this Cangnan Governor Hu Tie Ning is not simple! His majesty has ordered for the destruction of Swordsman Hall and he actually dare give the Swordsman Hall people a clearance document.”

“Could it be from before?”

“It can’t.” Wei Chou decisively said, “His majesty sent out messages to the entire world after the Deer Cry Court assassination, but this document was signed five days ago. It can’t be explained no matter what.”

Lin Mu Yu rolled up the document and placed it into his Qiankun Bag before saying with a smile, “Pretend you didn’t see this document!”

Wei Chou understood, “Yes, sir.”

Hu Tie Ning was a province’s governor, having close to a hundred thousand soldiers. This kind of person can’t be moved against randomly, just a single document wasn’t enough to prove his crime. Not to mention that Lin Mu Yu was coming to Cangnan Province to ask Hu Tie Ning a favour, so he would have to move against him after taking the hibiscus duckweed plum flower.

Three days later, the Imperial Guard cavalry arrived at the Cangnan Province’s core city, Five Valleys City. Five Valleys City was one of the seven large cities of the empire, it was famous in the world and had a population of 2.4 million people. It had a fertile lands, so the people were well fed. It’s said that the half of Orchid Goose City’s food came from Five Valleys City. It’s because of this product of Five Valleys City that Qin Jin ordered for a “supply line” main road to be built ten years ago.

Looking at it from a distance, Five Valleys City had a very dignified look. Although it didn’t have as many high peaks as Orchid Goose City, but it had a different style. There was a ten meter tall ring around Five Valleys City that one couldn’t see the end to. On the main road, there were many merchants and civilians walking through, as well as the occasional patrolling guards.

When Lin Mu Yu’s group appeared in sights of the city, a cavalry group from within came to welcome them. The leader was a person that looked like a scholar, but he had a monkey face. He smiled as he cupped his hands and said, “This one is the Governor Palace’s general Hu Yang, we greet the second of the Orchid Goose Four Heroes, sir Lin Mu Yu. For your honourable self to come to Five Valleys City, it is Five Valleys City’s honour! Sir governor has sent this little one to welcome sir!”

Lin Mu Yu revealed a faint smile, “Sir is too polite.”

“Commander Lin has come from afar, you must be tired. Please follow this little one into the city, governor Hu Tie Ning has already prepared a banquet in the Governor’s Palace.”

“Alright, many thanks!”

Xiahou Sang secretly laughed, “This Hu Tie Ning can be considered understanding.”

Lin Mu Yu turned back to glare at him and Xiahou Sang didn’t dare say anything else.

Their group entered into Five Valleys City. When they came to the market, they saw many young girls wearing foreign clothes being led by a group of soldiers. There were several hundred of them and there were some that were crying and some that were looking around with cold eyes, with eyes that were filled with anger and hatred.

Lin Mu Yu asked with a smile, “Sir Hu Yang, what is going on with those girls?”

Hu Yang looked over and had a faint look of contempt before he said with a smile, “Those are the barbarian slaves from the Ling Dong Province and twenty thousand barbarians crossed the Tian Shu Province to attack our Five Valleys City. However, our governor Hu Tie Ning quickly charged out of camp with our cavalry, calming this chaos with ten thousand cavalry with no losses.”

After saying this, Hu Yang curled his lips and said with a smile, “Here, these are the barbarian slaves. They will be sold as maids after being captured and they are very cheap, one for several gold coins. Some of the more fiercer barbarian women can be bought with only several silver coins. Hei, is sir interested in these women?”

Lin Mu Yu shook his head and said with a smile, “How could that be, I’m not that kind of person.”

“Hei!”

Hu Yang also smiled, “Sir is born with abundant looks, you indeed don’t need these kind of low grade barbarian women.”

“That’s right, sir Hu Yang, how will these maids be processed?”

Hu Yang said, “The beautiful ones will be bought by nobles or rich people for their own use. For the less beautiful ones, most of them will be sold as camp women. Of course, when a large enemy army is defeated, most of the caught woman will be sent to being camp women and won’t need to be sold.”

Lin Mu Yu was a bit surprised, “The royal army’s regulation is to plunder the woman every time we attack a city?”

Hu Yang nodded, “Un, this is an unwritten rule, otherwise the army’s morale will fall.”

“It’s like this……”