A sickly fellow ridiculed by the entire army? I'll be the most beautiful woman in the barracks!

Before long, Gao Yuan and his group arrived at the impregnable pass in the Daliang Mountains.

But at this moment, the checkpoint was wide open, and the surroundings were completely silent. As everyone slowly passed through the narrow mountain path and entered the checkpoint, they all gasped in shock at the scene before them.

Inside the checkpoint, a mountain of corpses made up of dozens of bandit bodies appeared, with blood flowing like a river at its base, and a strong stench of blood permeating the entire checkpoint.

After someone checked and returned to report, it was found that all the corpses had been killed instantly, with arrow wounds on their bodies, clearly indicating that they had all been shot. Their deaths were similar to those of the bandits encountered on the way, suggesting that they had all died at the hands of the same group.

Gao Yuan frowned, not expecting the other party to be so ruthless, leaving not a single survivor along the way.

For a moment, he hesitated whether to continue. What if that mysterious force was not on their side and attacked them? He feared they would not be able to cope.

After hesitating for a moment, Gao Yuan made his decision and continued on his way.

After all, such a major event had occurred. If he retreated without understanding the situation, he would certainly be unable to explain himself to his superiors.

This only made everyone more vigilant and continue forward. Along the way, they discovered many more bandit corpses. By this time, everyone had become somewhat numb to the sight and were no longer as startled as they had been at the beginning.

However, everyone had one question in their minds: why, despite the fact that hundreds of bandits had already died along the way, there were no bodies of the vanguard members or any other news?

Could it be that the vanguard didn't take this route, but went in another direction? Or perhaps the vanguard not only avoided encountering the bandits but also the mysterious force, and managed to escape unscathed from behind them?

Everyone unconsciously quickened their pace again, eager to find out the answer as soon as possible.

Just as everyone was rushing on their way, a cheer suddenly came from ahead. Even though they were still some distance away, they could still hear it clearly.

Everyone's eyes lit up immediately; it seemed the answer would be revealed soon.

Before long, many figures appeared before everyone's eyes.

About half of them were soldiers dressed in the uniform of the city guards, lining up to receive something.

Nearly half of the people, dressed as bandits, were kneeling on the ground, their limbs tightly bound and unable to move.

Apart from that, there were no other notable figures.

Everyone was immediately filled with doubt. Where was that mysterious force? Did they retreat after wiping out the bandits in Daliang Mountain?

In that case, wouldn't Deng Rong and his vanguard team have gotten a huge advantage?

Looking at the bandits bound and gagged in front of him, and then back at the bandit corpses lying on the ground in the distance, these bandits were no longer living people, but rather military merits.

Many people were filled with regret, wishing they had volunteered to join the vanguard team, as this would have been a windfall of military merit.

At this moment, many sharp-eyed people saw the city guards queuing up in front of them. The things they received in their hands were shiny silver. Weren't those pieces of silver?

Immediately, many people exclaimed, "It's silver! They're distributing silver!"

Immediately, Gao Yuan stepped forward with a sullen face, squinting at the things the people in front of him were receiving – they were pieces of silver!

He was already harboring resentment because he hadn't succeeded in using the bandits to kill Zhao Daxuan. Now, these people were openly dividing up the spoils from the battlefield, which was practically taking money out of his pocket. They didn't respect him at all.

At this moment, Gao Yuan could no longer contain his anger and roared, "What are you all doing! Stop it now!"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked up and saw that Gao Yuan had arrived here with the main force of the city guards at some point.

Gao Yuan walked forward with a gloomy face, glanced around at the bandits who were tied up like dumplings, and his pupils suddenly contracted when he looked at the leader, whose face was ashen. He paused for a moment and then looked away at the loose silver in the hands of Li Erhu and the others.

Gao Yuan, his face cold, rebuked, "Who gave you the audacity to divide the spoils of war among yourselves! Are you courting death?"

Li Erhu and the others panicked and turned to look at Zhao Daxuan.

Zhao Daxuan smiled slightly and said, "Which eye of yours saw that we were dividing up spoils of war? It was clearly my private money. What's wrong with that, Lord Gao?"

Upon hearing this, Gao Yuan's face turned ashen. He looked at Zhao Daxuan and said, "Zhao Daxuan, do you think I can't tell whether it's spoils of war or not? Even if it isn't, I say it is!"

Zhao Daxuan sneered, pulled out the letter Li Erhu had taken from the bandit leader, waved it in front of Gao Yuan, and said, "Lord Gao, you're quite the show-off!"

Upon seeing the familiar envelope, Gao Yuan was startled. Wasn't this the envelope that Deng Rong had given to deliver to the contact person of the bandits in Daliang Mountain last night? Why had it ended up in Zhao Daxuan's hands?

Gao Yuan glared angrily at Deng Rong, his eyes seemingly spitting fire. Deng Rong, seeing the envelope in Zhao Daxuan's hand, also panicked.

Gao Yuan then seemed to understand something, and looked at the leader behind him who was kneeling on the ground and tied up like a dumpling. It must have been him who had leaked the information.

A fierce glint flashed in Gao Yuan's eyes. He made up his mind: this leader cannot be allowed to live! And the envelope in Zhao Daxuan's hand must be taken back!

Gao Yuan suppressed his killing intent, coldly looked at Zhao Daxuan, and said, "What is that in your hand? Give it to me!"

As he spoke, he quickly reached out to take it, but Zhao Daxuan was quick and had already put the envelope back into his pocket before Gao Yuan could reach out.

Zhao Daxuan said with a smile, "Lord Gao, don't be in a hurry. You'll find out what it is in time."

Gao Yuan snorted coldly, knowing there was no point in rushing, and spoke again: "Such a big thing happened along the way, why didn't you report it!"

Zhao Daxuan shrugged, looking completely innocent, and said, "Lord Gao, didn't you tell us we could only move forward and not backward?"

Gao Yuan paused upon hearing this, speechless for a moment, realizing that he had shot himself in the foot.

Suddenly, he caught sight of a figure out of the corner of his eye—Deng Rong, who had been in a daze ever since the leader was captured. He pointed at Deng Rong and roared, "Deng Rong, your men are ignorant! Aren't you the one who's ignorant?! Why didn't you report this?"

Upon hearing this, Deng Rong felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

He wanted to go back and report, but he didn't expect Zhao Daxuan to act so quickly. Before he could react, Zhao Daxuan had already attacked the leader.

Moreover, given Zhao Daxuan's unstoppable momentum, he wouldn't dare to do anything under Zhao's nose.

Deng Rong opened his mouth, but didn't know how to answer.

Having received no reply, Gao Yuan lost interest in such a trivial matter and immediately snorted, "Hmph! I'll settle this score with you when we get back."

"Now tell me in detail, what exactly was the force that wiped out the bandits in the Liangshan Mountains? What was its strength? And where is it now?"

Deng Rong was taken aback, thinking he had misheard, and asked again, "Sir, what power did you say?"