The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 695 Shen Le: You just escaped, why are you going back again?

"Phew... Phew... We finally escaped..."

Shen Le summoned a gentle breeze, soared into the sky, and then flew desperately outwards. He dared not fly low, nor dared he fly in a straight line—

What if someone anticipates your movements and shoots an arrow down?
He chose a direction far from human habitation and close to the water, and accelerated to top speed. He soared onto the water in one breath, then quickly glanced down:
Thankfully, no one drew their bow and arrow; no one wanted to take him down. The Taoist priest had been left far behind and was no longer visible. It was unclear whether he couldn't fly or his flying ability was too poor, but in any case, he couldn't keep up.

Dou Jiande, however, mounted his horse and galloped to the water's edge, seemingly shouting something to him. The distance was too great for Shen Le to hear clearly. Dou Jiande shouted a few times, then stopped and bowed deeply to him.

Shen Le thought for a moment, then waved his arm forcefully at him. Seeing that there was no reaction from the other side, he thought for a moment, then activated his palm lightning, which crackled a few times.

Dou Jiande was startled. He stared at Shen Le for a moment, then knelt down with a thud... knelt down...

What are you doing?!
Shen Le was startled by his kneeling, and the swirling wind around him swayed, almost shaking him off. Upon closer inspection, Dou Jiande was kneeling on the ground, pointing one finger to the sky, seemingly very excited.

Judging from this gesture, he's probably making a vow...?
Whether it's vowing to treat the people well or vowing not to have ambitions, in short, probably, maybe, possibly... as long as you make a vow, the road ahead should be easier, right?

Perhaps one day when he faces Li Shimin, he will remember today's oath, surrender, and survive.
Although this might change history... oh well, it's a memory anyway, we can just start over and do whatever we want!
He smiled and nodded to Dou Jiande, then urged the gentle breeze on, quickly flying away from the water. The clear water grew smaller and smaller in his vision until it disappeared completely. Shen Le breathed a sigh of relief and slowly landed on the ground.
Thank goodness, we're finally out of Dou Jiande's clutches. Where to next?

According to Dou Jiande, there were more than one rebel army or bandit group in the vicinity, as well as scattered and defeated soldiers and Sui Dynasty government troops...

He should perhaps be more low-key and more careful in concealing himself, so that he doesn't get caught up in things by some force that forces him to join them, or even force him to use his magic to do strange things.

Shen Le tightened his belt and then his cuffs, and walked forward steadily, no longer daring to use magic to lift himself up.

After walking for a whole day, they finally found a village. As dusk was falling, Shen Le didn't go into the village to ask for lodging. Instead, he looked around and simply climbed up a big tree at the village entrance and spent the night leaning against it.

He slowly extended his spiritual power, listening to the sounds of men and women talking, babies crying, old people coughing, firewood crackling, and even the high and low barks of dogs gradually subsiding, until he felt his whole body and mind quiet down:

It seems that the villages near Gaojibo are well protected by Dou Jiande and his gang, and are living relatively peacefully.

Hopefully, they can enjoy peace for as long as possible...

Shen Le silently prayed, regulated her breathing, and gradually drifted off to sleep. Until the night grew deeper, a sudden commotion erupted outside the village, as thunderous hooves thundered past:
Shen Le was startled awake from the darkness. She swayed and almost fell off the tree, but luckily she managed to use the whirlwind to steady herself.

The barking of dogs in the village quickly intensified, then stopped briefly. From the thatched huts and sheds, gasps of surprise rose in waves, only to be quickly suppressed.

With a rustling sound, the villagers bent over, held their breath, pushed open the thatched huts, peered out, and greeted each other in low voices:

"Bandits are coming! Run! Run!!!"

The man carried his elderly mother on his back, and the woman held the infant in her arms. They sternly stopped the barking dogs, bent over, and tried to escape out of the village.

However, the villagers were no match for the mounted bandits. Their horses' hooves pounded the ground, and they quickly reached the village entrance, scattering in all directions.

There's a village here!

"A village? Great! Call everyone out, tell them to vacate their houses, bring out rice and flour, and drive out the chickens and ducks! Boss—no, the rebel army, as soon as the rebel army arrives, arrange for food and lodging!"

"Where are these rebels?" Shen Le clenched his fist slightly on the treetop. A dozen horses circled around and soon saw the ragged farmers being driven in panic to the village's threshing ground.

The men were held together, while the women were taken by the "righteous army"—no, bandits and outlaws—who searched house by house.

"This house is nice! Quickly clean it up; Your Majesty must be tired from your journey and needs to rest well!"

"Slaughter all the chickens! We grandfathers are protecting you from the government troops, preventing the officials from taking people to Liaodong at will. What's wrong with eating a few of your chickens!"

"You actually dared to steal and hide rice! I think you're one of the bandits!"

"Young lady—"

What followed unfolded almost exactly as Shen Le had been stereotyped. Shen Le hid among the leaves, his hands clenching and unclenching repeatedly.

Wait a minute, wait a little longer. This "righteous army"—no, this bandit, this roving brigand—their main force is still behind.

If we attack them now, the main force will arrive later and they will most likely massacre the village—when that "King" arrives, we'll give him a good beating and capture the leader to catch the thief!

Fortunately, even bandits have their own rules. The best houses, the best food, and the most beautiful women all belong to the leader. Although there were some scuffles, fights, and robberies, no one was killed.

Shen Le suppressed his anger and waited for half an hour. Finally, a crooked and unsteady troop approached the village. The cavalrymen who had been there earlier quickly went up to report and guide them.
"Your Majesty, this way—this village doesn't have much of value, but at least there are two decent houses and a few chickens and ducks to eat..."

Shen Le squinted in the darkness. The person surrounded by so many admirers didn't look like a good person, unlike Dou Jiande, who looked magnanimous and approachable.

This man had a rough, even somewhat ferocious appearance. As he rode forward, he even had a disheveled young girl wrapped around his arm.

Seeing the terrified and trembling villagers being herded to the threshing ground, and then looking at the woman who had been specially pushed out, he shook his head with disinterest and waved his hand:

"There isn't even a pretty woman in this poor place. You two should break up! — But don't go too far, or we'll need them as a stepping stone when we fight Gaojibo later!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty is benevolent and righteous!"

The bizarre-looking bandits chanted in unison, then began driving away the villagers and dividing up the women. Shen Le summoned a cloud of mist to conceal himself, floating behind the eaves and secretly watching them. His eyes instantly turned red.

Should we put them at the forefront?
What does it mean to "lead the charge"?
Is the plan to capture these villagers and use them to launch the first wave of attacks on the enemy camp's defenses, to wear down the enemy's arrow rain, logs, and rocks?

In other words, these villagers were forced to give up their houses, had their food stolen, and were even raped and humiliated, yet in the end, they still couldn't save their lives?!

He took a deep breath, then a deep breath. One breath, two breaths, three breaths—his mental energy expanded, locking onto the "King" and several other high-ranking leaders:
A white light shone from his fingertip, and he quickly drew a silver-white talisman in the air, then swung it downwards!
"Boom!!!"

A thunderous roar resounded. The silver-white talisman transformed into a blinding flash of lightning, striking directly at the "King's" head. After a pause, it branched outwards from him, multiplying from one to three, then from three to nine—the King fell, his highest-ranking subordinates fell, and the arrogant bandits around him, the ones with the most shady dealings, fell as well.

The girl held in the "King's" arms was unharmed; her eyes rolled back, and she fainted. Beside her, a village woman who had been rushed over knelt down and kowtowed:

"God! God has opened his eyes!"

"God is angry! God struck someone dead with lightning—"

"What nonsense!" Seeing their brothers fall beside them, most of the bandits who weren't struck by the sword knelt down with a thud, kowtowing repeatedly to God to apologize. A few, however, went berserk on the spot, drawing their swords and swinging wildly.

"What? Heaven is angry! Someone must be up to something! Get up, all of you, follow me and search—"

Shen Le tapped his fingertip again. He couldn't summon lightning for the time being. The palm lightning that killed more than a dozen people in one go had reached his limit. He would need some time to recover before he could summon new lightning.

However, the inability to summon lightning didn't mean he lacked other attack methods. With a flick of his fingertips, two flying swords leaped out like fish, disappearing into the night. Throat slit, throat slit, heart piercing, decapitation…

Blood splattered everywhere. However, to Shen Le's surprise, the entire bandit group suddenly erupted in uproar:

"It's not thunder!"

"It wasn't struck by lightning!"

"It's a demonic cultivator! A demonic cultivator is causing trouble!"

"Find that evil Taoist!"

"kill him!"

Clang, clang, clang—a chorus of swords being drawn echoed, and some even nocked arrows and fired aimlessly into the surrounding darkness. In the midst of the chaos, Shen Le rolled down the rooftop to avoid the first volley of arrows, and was instantly enraged:
You bunch of scum, I haven't even wiped you all out yet, and you're already attacking me!
They even called me a heretical Taoist priest!
You are the real bandits!
He stood beneath the eaves, using the reverse slope to avoid the first wave of arrows, and then leaped back onto the roof. With a flick of his hand, a bolt of lightning struck down on the bandits below who were jumping the most fiercely and brandishing their knives and bows the most menacingly.

With a deafening roar, another group of bandits fell, their bodies silently and swiftly reaped by two flying swords, creating waves of blood in the crowd.

Finally, these men who relied solely on killing to intimidate civilians, unsurprisingly, collapsed. They roared and desperately fled, brandishing their swords at anything that blocked their path:

Villagers, women and children, fellow countrymen, house pillars...

Flying swords pursued them relentlessly. Anyone who dared kill a villager had their throat slit; anyone who dared injure a villager had their hand severed; anyone who dared to cut down a comrade or a pillar—oh, let them do whatever they want…

Panic spread from the village to beyond. Shen Le, using the lightning's glow, could see the ranks of soldiers, swept along by the chaos, retreating rapidly. Further away, the crowd writhed and dispersed.

Many of them were already bandits, but the majority were displaced people forced into this situation. Old and young, men and women—it's easy to imagine that if they hadn't met Shen Le, they would probably have been among those "leading the charge in the attack on Gaojibo."
The quick-thinking refugees took advantage of the disintegration of the group and desperately ran into the darkness, while the slow-thinking ones huddled on the ground, looking around blankly.

Without a doubt, the vast majority of them suffer from night blindness; in the dead of night, if you ask them to walk, they wouldn't know where to go...

A short stretch of paddy field ridge or a small mound could easily cause them to slip and break their legs, or at least sprain their ankles. And in the dead of winter, a sprained ankle would most likely result in freezing to death…

All Shen Le could do for them was to throw out a barrage of lightning and fire, hitting the area where the bandits and outlaws were most concentrated, and incidentally setting the camp ablaze.

With fire and light, will the lives of the refugees be a little better?

Lei Huo killed many bandits, and even more bandits lay prostrate on the ground, trembling, their heads pressed to the ground, kowtowing repeatedly.

A stench filled the air, and Shen Le frowned, even somewhat disliking his own intuition; sometimes it moved a little too fast.
"Get out." He opened his mouth, then stopped a second before the words left his lips. He turned to the villagers and refugees, casting a spell on himself to make his voice roll through the sky like thunder:
"Fine, you guys figure it out—you're the ones who get robbed and beaten up anyway."

The farmers looked at each other in bewilderment. Finally, a young man shouted, grabbed a hoe, and slammed it down hard:
Red, white, and black splashed everywhere.

Chaos quickly erupted. Shen Le stood on the roof with his hands in his sleeves, coldly observing the revenge, directing his flying swords to wound one or two bandits as they attempted to resist.

Wailing cries filled the air. The villagers were almost unanimously focused on revenge, while the forces outside the village grew increasingly chaotic. The refugees and bandits brandished their fists, knives, and guns, gritting their teeth as they fought, with men falling every now and then.

Some people, along with the elderly and children, desperately ran to a place where the firelight could reach, and then found a barely sheltered spot to huddle together.

However, this does not solve the problem, not even a little bit: they may escape the killing temporarily, but after just one night and one day, the stark crisis will be laid bare before everyone.

As the sun rose, Shen Le stood high on the treetop at the village entrance, facing the eager eyes on both sides looking up at him, his face full of embarrassment.

The local villagers and the migrant workers stood facing each other, clearly separated, their eyes filled with wariness.

Only when they looked up at Shen Le could their gaze soften briefly.

"Chang Immortal!"

They knelt down in rows, kowtowing and looking up at him as if he were their only hope:
"Save us! Please, save us!"

"Please have pity on us—use your magic one more time! Give the child a bowl of porridge! Just the child! The child is starving..."

But there was no food left.

Or rather, the food supplies for this group of refugees and the villagers of this village were definitely not enough to last until the summer harvest, or even until next month.

At this moment, Shen Le, who can fly, summon lightning, and control flying swords, is their only hope.

Shen Le: "..."

Knowing a little magic doesn't mean I can instantly grow ten acres of land! You can look at me, but it's useless!
"Wait quietly! I'll send someone to save you!" He leaped up again, shooting like an arrow towards the path he had come from:
Sigh, I just escaped from Dou Jiande's place, why do I have to go back again?

(End of this chapter)