Frontier Hero: From Receiving a Convicted Woman to Becoming an Emperor for All Time

After this battle, Shen Chuxiao lost the will to continue training.

The brothers who had fought alongside him all the way were now covered in blood, leaning against a tree trunk, panting heavily, and barely had the strength to even curse.

Shen Chuxiao took a deep breath, the word "home" rolled around on his lips a few times, and he was about to speak—

"Vice Captain..." Liu Dazhu, lying on the ground, clutched the knife wound on his arm and muttered through gritted teeth, "Those barbarians ran way too fast, I couldn't even catch up with them, so frustrating."

Running too fast.

These four words were like a needle, piercing Shen Chuxiao's mind. He paused for a moment, swallowing back the words that were about to come out, and instead silently unfolded the geomantic map.

Tie Niu, his eyes bloodshot with rage over Zhang Tiezhu's death, leaned forward impatiently when he saw Zhang Tiezhu remain motionless: "Vice Captain, what are we waiting for? Let's chase after them now and chop those barbarians to pieces!"

Shen Chuxiao did not respond.

His gaze was fixed on the geomantic map—the northern foot of Black Wind Ridge, a narrow valley running east to west, with steep cliffs on both sides as if cleaved by a knife, and a road in the middle so narrow that it seemed as if someone had choked his throat.

Upon seeing this, the inexplicable unease I had felt earlier finally exploded from the bottom of my heart.

"Zhao Wu".

"exist."

Zhao Wu leaned over the fire, and blood seeped from the strips of cloth wrapped around his hands.

"Did you see which way those barbarians retreated?"

Zhao Wu frowned and thought for a moment: "They run very fast from the northwest, know the routes well, and treat this mountainous area like their own home."

"northwest……"

Shen Chuxiao closed his eyes, and the terrain of Black Wind Ridge flashed through his mind frame by frame.

Tie Niu couldn't hold back any longer, his voice booming, "Vice Captain, the Northwest is barbarian territory. Isn't it normal for them to run northwest? What are you thinking?"

"Normal?" Shen Chuxiao didn't open his eyes, but his voice turned cold. "It's true that the Northwest is under barbarian control, but there are still more than thirty miles of mountain road to the border. More than thirty barbarians, including the wounded, fleeing thirty miles overnight if I sent men to pursue them—do you think that's normal?"

Tie Niu was speechless for a moment when asked the question. He opened his mouth but couldn't say anything.

Shen Chuxiao suddenly opened his eyes: "They never intended to go far at all."

Tie Niu was taken aback by that look: "What do you mean? What are they planning to do if we don't run far?"

"They're not here to attack us."

Shen Chuxiao stood up, his gaze falling on the geomantic map illuminated by the campfire—a location he had circled with cinnabar deep in the northern foothills of Black Wind Ridge.

Grain storage point on the northern line of Lingshuang Pass.

A secluded valley.

It's less than 20 miles from here.

"From the beginning, our target was not us."

Tie Niu looked bewildered: "Then what are they doing here? Coming into the mountains in the middle of the night to fight and then run away, are they just bored?"

"Testing the waters."

After realizing what was happening, Shen Chuxiao almost laughed in anger: "What a brilliant two-birds-with-one-stone strategy. It seems that not all barbarians are brutes."

And that wolf-skin boy

They are by no means easy to deal with.

He turned around, his gaze sweeping over the people sitting around the fire, over their tired but unyielding faces.

"While they were gathering information about the terrain and troop strength around the granary, they also received intelligence from their spies inside the pass, knowing we were heading into the mountains, and decided to ambush us. However, they didn't expect us to be more difficult to deal with than anticipated. After realizing they couldn't achieve a quick victory, they decisively withdrew—not out of fear, but because they didn't want to waste time here."

Shen Chuxiao paused, his voice lowering, "Their true target, from beginning to end, has always been the grain depot."

In an instant, the people around the fire fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone knows what the granary means to Ling Shuang Pass.

Zhao Wu's expression changed gradually, from bewilderment to shock, from shock to deathly pale: "Vice Captain...the barbarians are going to raid the granary?"

"It's not that we're about to move, it's that we're ready to move."

Shen Chuxiao threw the branch in his hand into the fire. Sparks flew, and the flickering light shone on his face. "Today is the twelfth of the twelfth lunar month. In another half month, it will be the end of the year. The barbarians are running out of food. If they don't seize the grain, the entire tribe will not survive this winter. The grain depot on the northern front has enough food to feed the garrison for three months. It is the lifeblood of our entire Ling Shuang Pass defense line."

"If we run out of food, we'll starve to death even before the barbarians come to fight us."

Tie Niu jumped to his feet, overturning the stool, and slung his broadsword over his shoulder: "What are you all standing there for? Go back to the pass and report to the general!"

"It's too late."

Shen Chuxiao glanced at the sky; the east was still pitch black, at least two hours until dawn. "Even at the fastest horse, it would take an hour and a half to get back to Ling Shuang Pass from here. By the time we get back, the general mobilizes the troops, and we arrive again, it will take at least three or four hours. In three or four hours, the barbarians will have burned the granary to ashes."

Tie Niu panicked and kicked away some loose stones at his feet: "What can we do! We can't just stand by and watch!"

Shen Chuxiao did not answer immediately.

He turned around and looked at each of the faces one by one.

Fifteen men were scattered about, some leaning against rocks, some sitting on the ground, and some still bandaging their wounds. Their faces were stained with blood, weary, and exhausted from the fierce battle. But not one of them closed their eyes.

They were all waiting for him.

Shen Chuxiao took a deep breath, his voice soft but clear: "Brothers, can we still fight?"

Iron Bull Head stood up.

He gripped his broadsword tightly, the blade gleaming coldly in the thin moonlight. His rough voice was like stone striking stone: "Fight! Why can't we fight! Those damn barbarians just killed my brother Zhang Tiezhu! I've been dreaming about how to avenge him! ...This life isn't even mine anymore. It's worth it to trade it for a few barbarians!"

Sun Ergou stood up as well.

The nineteen-year-old's hands were still trembling, but his voice was surprisingly steady: "Vice Captain, I'm from the same village as Tiezhu. He told me yesterday that he'd treat me to drinks after the training. Now that he's gone, there's no one to treat me. This debt, Manzi, must be repaid."

"A blood debt must be paid in blood!"

"Fuck him!"

"They're just a few hundred barbarians? Killing one is enough to break even, killing two is a bonus!"

One by one, they stood up.

No one hesitated; swords were drawn, quivers were refilled, and leather armor buckles were fastened tightly. The night wind howled, but it couldn't dispel the surging killing intent emanating from these fifteen men.

Shen Chuxiao looked at them, his Adam's apple bobbing, but he said nothing.

He turned to Zhao Wu, his voice regaining its calm: "Zhao Wu, ride my horse back to the pass immediately to find the general. Remember, do not tell anyone else about this. Just say that the Black Stone tribe of the barbarians is very likely to launch a surprise attack on the northern granary tonight or tomorrow morning, with at least two hundred men. Please ask the general to immediately dispatch three hundred elite soldiers to reinforce them."

He took off the bronze token that Lin Shang had given him from his waist and stuffed it into Zhao Wu's hand.

"Take this, and the checkpoints along the way won't stop you. After you see the general, tell her everything that happened tonight, without omitting a single word."

Zhao Wu took the token, his hands trembling.

It wasn't fear, it was anxiety, it was resentment that I couldn't stay and fight together.

Northern grain depots

This is of utmost importance.

"Vice-captain, what about you?"

"I'll lead my men to ambush them on the way to the granary." Shen Chuxiao holstered his crossbow at his waist, tucked his short sword into his boot, and quickly slung his quiver diagonally across his back. "Don't worry, we're not going to our deaths. We're just taking advantage of the situation to ambush them on their inevitable route before they launch their attack. We'll buy them time until you bring reinforcements."

"Fifteen men dragging hundreds of barbarians?"

Zhao Wu's voice changed, and his eyes were so red they looked like they were about to bleed.

Tie Niu stood tall and straight, like an iron tower: "Vice Captain, let's hurry up and leave. Anyone who wants to touch the granary will have to step over my dead body first."

"I'll go too."

"And me!"

Count me in!

Of the fifteen people, not one retreated, and not one looked back.

Zhao Wu opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but looking at Shen Chuxiao's calm, deep eyes, and at those fifteen faces that seemed ready to die, he swallowed his words back.

"Go quickly and come back quickly."

Shen Chuxiao patted his shoulder, "Remember, our lives are in your hands."

Zhao Wu was startled.

It felt like someone had hit him hard in the chest with a hammer.

He wanted to say something, to tell them that they must hold on, that he would definitely bring reinforcements, to tell them not to die, that no one should die—but all those words were stuck in his throat, and he couldn't squeeze out a single one.

He could only glance back at the moment the horse's hoof struck the ground.

He was very scared.

This is the last time I'll see it.

The wind howled in his ears, the campfire crackled, and fifteen pairs of eyes were all fixed on Shen Chuxiao. He didn't speak immediately, but slowly looked over—at Tie Niu's rough face covered in blood, at Sun Ergou's still trembling fingers, and at every young face soaked with gunpowder and exhaustion.

Then he smiled.

"I, Shen Chuxiao, have no special abilities in this life, nor can I lead you to wealth and promotion." He paused, his voice suddenly becoming slightly hoarse, "I only ask one thing of you—"

"Hold them off until reinforcements arrive, then we'll go home together."

"I made it home alive."

He took a step forward, his boot crushing a withered leaf with a soft crack that was particularly clear in the silence.

No one spoke.

Tie Niu's breathing became heavy.

"So—" Shen Chuxiao's voice suddenly became loud, "I will not allow anyone to die. That's an order. Do you all understand?"

Fifteen people stood up straight in unison.

In that instant, no one uttered a sound, but all the winds in the mountains answered for them—

"clear!"

A muffled rumble came from Tie Niu's throat. Sun Er Gou wiped away his tears fiercely, his grip on the knife handle creaking loudly.

Shen Chuxiao turned around, his back to the campfire, facing the dark mountain path. The night was still long, and the road was still difficult, but the footsteps of the fifteen people behind him had already started, following closely behind him, each step making the ground tremble slightly.

He didn't turn around, but lowered his voice to a whisper, as if speaking to the wind, or perhaps to himself.

"Let's go."

Walk forward, into the darkness, onto the edge of a knife.

Some things just have to be done by someone.

Someone has to take this step.