knife

Chapter 5 Assassination
The sound of horses' hooves became clearer, and the people in the temple looked at each other in surprise. Judging from the sound alone, there must have been no less than a hundred riders coming.

Li Dachui, however, was bold. He ran to the door, opened it a crack, peeked out, and then quickly ran back.

“It’s Ao Hu,” he said to the crowd.

"Who is Ao Hu?" This group of people all came from Chang'an and had absolutely no recollection of this person.

"A gang of ruthless bandits!" Li Dachui said with some disdain. "The leader, Ao Hu, is a guy whose brain is all muscle, but he is indeed quite skilled. His henchmen are nothing special except for being brutal and bloodthirsty."

After a pause, Li Dachui chuckled and said, "It's perfect to send this brainless guy to scout ahead and test your strength."

Everyone looked rather grim.

Even a single scout sent to probe can gather over a hundred men; wouldn't those who haven't shown up yet be even more difficult to deal with?
"Everyone, disperse!" Zhang Ruo said. "There's no need to risk your lives for me."

Yuan Rong shook his head: "My brother and I have been entrusted with this task, and we will certainly deliver the scholar to Zhenwu City."

Wu De sighed: "If the scholar dies, I will also die. If I abandon the scholar and flee, I will still die."

Looking at everyone, Li Dachui coughed lightly and said, "I forgot to tell you all, this Ao Hu never leaves any survivors when he commits crimes. He kills all the men and rapes all the women, so there's no point in running away from this guy."

"Let's prepare for battle!" Wu De clasped his hands in a fist salute to the Yuan brothers and said, "We'll have to trouble you, Brother Yuan, with that Ao Hu!"

Yuan Rong nodded: "There's nothing to say, but can you few hold off his men?"

"Do your best and leave the rest to fate!"

Yuan Rong looked at Li Dachui, and then Wu De, Zhang Ruo, and Zhang Qingyun also turned their gazes. Li Dachui waved his fist and said, "Xiao Mao and I will definitely protect Scholar Zhang and Miss Qingyun! Xiao Mao, you protect Scholar Zhang, and I will protect Miss Qingyun!"

"Yes, young master!" Fang Xiaomao walked straight to Zhang Ruo's side, while Li Dachui drew his ceremonial sword from his waist without hesitation and stood next to Zhang Qingyun.

Yuan Rong glanced at it and, sure enough, it hadn't been sharpened.

But right now, there's nothing to worry about.

One more person means one more source of strength.

At least Li Dachui has practiced kung fu for a few days, hasn't he?
Wu De dragged the bundle beside him, opened it, and everyone in the temple was somewhat surprised to find that it contained a suit of iron armor.

Two constables came over and helped Wu De quickly put on his armor.

"You, a criminal investigator, are equipped with iron armor?" Li Dachui asked in surprise.

"When a chief criminal arrests bandits across the land, sometimes it's necessary to storm fortified strongholds and capture enemy strongholds. What's so strange about him wearing armor?"

As they spoke, the eight constables under his command also opened the bundles at their feet. Compared to Wu De, they were only wearing half-body armor.

Although there were only eight people, once they put on their armor, their aura seemed to change considerably.

Three men carried small round shields, three men held horizontal swords, and the remaining two men each held a crossbow. The wide leather belts around their waists were filled with small crossbow bolts.

Wu De, however, took out several sections of iron pipe from his bundle, and with a few clicks, a spear took shape in his hand.

Including Wu De and nine others, in a short period of time, they actually formed a respectable military formation in front of Zhang Ruo.

"Director Wu, are all the constables from the Dali Temple this capable?" Li Dachui asked, his mouth agape.

Anyone with eyes could see that this small team was no different from an army.

“Young Master Li is overthinking it. My brothers are just following me around. We practice together when we have free time. Ten years ago, there were nine of us, and ten years later, there are still nine of us,” Wu De said. “As for the other chief judges, their subordinates have changed batch after batch.”

Li Dachui laughed loudly: "I knew it! If all the constables in the Qin Dynasty were this good, then our Qin Dynasty would have been invincible long ago, wouldn't it? How could we have ended up in this mess?"

The laughter was abruptly cut off by a loud bang.

The once sturdy temple gate was smashed to pieces amidst billowing smoke and dust.

A huge, barbed iron hammer paused briefly in the air before retracting with a thud.

The brothers Yuan Rong and Yuan Tong, one holding a knife in his left hand and the other in his right, slowly moved forward.

Outside the door, a giant man, at least nine feet tall, gripped an iron chain. At each end of the chain were two spiked iron hammers, each the size of a child's head.

This is the Ao Hu.

The top of her head was shiny, surrounded by a ring of hair, with two thick black braids hanging over her shoulders. She had two straight eyebrows, and her face was full of flesh, which made her bright red, bulbous nose look sunken in, and even her mouth looked small and delicate.

"So ugly!"

Li Dachui gasped.

Wu De, standing in front of him, turned around in astonishment to look at Li Dachui, who was clicking his tongue in disbelief. This young master's focus was far too strange. At this critical moment of life and death, he actually cared about whether the other person was ugly or not.

Wu De glanced at Fang Xiaomao next to Zhang Ruo again. The burly man there was also calm and composed, showing no sign of panic. For some reason, Wu De felt much more at ease.

Although Li Dachui is unreliable, Fang Xiaomao is definitely a skilled fighter.

Otherwise, the adults in Li Dachui's family would never have felt comfortable letting this guy out.

Without capable guards, such a fat sheep would probably not last a day outside the pass.

"Miss Qingyun, hide behind me. This tiger is too ugly. I don't want to scare you."

Hearing Li Dachui praising the woman behind him, Wu De couldn't help but twitch.

Ahead, Yuan Rong gave a soft shout and leaped out. He absolutely could not let that tiger rush into the temple. Otherwise, given the attack range of that guy's meteor hammer, those of them crammed inside would definitely not gain any advantage.

Ao Hu let out a wild laugh, and the hammer head that was hanging on the ground rose up like a venomous snake. With a clang, the iron chain shook straight and struck Yuan Rong head-on.

The moment Yuan Rong moved, triggering Ao Hu's counterattack, Yuan Tong also moved. He emerged close to the ground, like a venomous snake, his blade aimed at his opponent's lower body.

Ao Hu did not back down at all. Instead, he stepped forward, grabbed the middle of the iron chain with one hand, and strangely drew half a circle in his hand with the other hammer before smashing it down on Yuan Tong from top to bottom.

"Men, charge in and kill them all!"

He was fighting two opponents simultaneously, and he still had the leisure to give orders.

With a shout, the bandits outside the temple rushed towards the temple gate.

Without Wu De giving the order, the two crossbowmen raised their hands, and with two sharp cracks, the two bandits in front of them fell backward. Although the crossbow bolts were small, they were easy to deal with these people who were not wearing armor.

"Kill!" Wu De roared, and the small army suddenly moved forward, blocking the gate.

Three shield bearers blocked the gate, and Wu De had already reached behind them, his spear flashing. Two swordsmen stood on his left and right, guarding his flanks, while two crossbowmen half-crouched on the ground, nocked their crossbow bolts, stood up, aimed, fired, then crouched down again, nocked their bolts, aimed, and fired.

The entire set of movements was so fluid and graceful that it was a pleasure to watch.

As Wu De's spear pierced a bandit's heart, he flicked his wrist and threw the bandit directly towards the swarming enemies outside. The man's shrill screams and ferocious face were clearly visible to the people inside the temple.

“Don’t be afraid, Miss Qingyun…” Li Dachui considerately unfolded his sleeve and held it up in front of Zhang Qingyun beside him. But as soon as he unfolded the sleeve, he found that there was not a trace of fear in Zhang Qingyun’s two bright eyes. He couldn’t help but put the sleeve down awkwardly.

"Miss Qingyun is truly a heroine among women, quite different from ordinary people!"

“It’s nothing! I’ve seen too many dead people in Chang’an, and many of them were relatives.” Zhang Qingyun said softly, “My eldest brother died in prison. The way he died was much more gruesome than what just happened. My father has no eldest son, and I have no elder brother. If I survive this, I will help my father support the family and not tarnish the Zhang family name.”

Hearing what the other person said, Li Dachui couldn't help but give him a deep look, and a hint of appreciation appeared in his eyes.

Outside the door, Yuan Rong and Yuan Tong joined forces and fought Ao Hu until he was drenched in sweat. Although they had the upper hand, it was impossible for them to completely defeat their opponent in the short term. Ao Hu clearly only wanted to hold off these two experts so that his subordinates could kill the people inside the temple first, and then deal with the rest later.

At the temple gate, Wu De's squad, after killing several people, finally suffered losses themselves. A skilled member of the bandits first engaged Wu De, then launched a fierce attack on the shield bearers. After losing several more men, they finally found an opening and stabbed one of the shield bearers through the heart.

Amid Wu De's furious roar, the bandits laughed wildly as they attacked the small breach, and in an instant, two more constables died under their blades.

“Brave warrior Fang!” Zhang Ruo turned to look at Fang Xiaomao, who seemed to know that Li Dachui was not very reliable.

Fang Xiaomao glanced at Li Dachui, who smiled and nodded.

Fang Xiaomao took a step forward and placed her hand on the hilt of the knife at her waist.

The next moment, Zhang Ruo felt a blur before her eyes and could no longer see Fang Xiaomao's figure, but she heard a series of screams in her ears.

Immediately afterwards, the temple gate, which had been almost completely blocked, suddenly opened wide.

Fang Xiaomao's figure also reappeared in everyone's sight.

Wu De leaned on his gun, panting heavily, staring intently at Fang Xiaomao outside.

Today he witnessed what it means to kill someone as easily as slaughtering a chicken.

Wherever Fang Xiaomao went, the bandits fell down in rows like wooden stakes.

He's definitely a master.

He turned around and looked at Zhang Ruo. In that instant, his eyes suddenly contorted with rage.

"Master Zhang!"

(End of this chapter)