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

That night, Ling Shuang Pass was unusually quiet.

……

Shen Chuxiao sat on the north gate tower, with a pot of cold tea in front of him.

He didn't use a brazier; he was half-hidden in the darkness, with only his knife across his knees, the brass fittings on the scabbard occasionally reflecting a glimmer of light.

Zhao Wu crept up from below the horse track, his footsteps so light they were almost inaudible.

"Boss, General Han's men are in place. There are two guards at each of the fourteen courtyards near Xiangfei Pavilion. Old Zhou, who sells wontons at the street corner, and his wife have been replaced by our men. There are crossbows hidden under the wonton cart."

Shen Chuxiao didn't respond, but simply placed the teacup on the crenellations of the city wall.

"What about Shen Qiao?"

"It's been two hours since we left the city, and there's still no news. No news means we haven't run into them."

Shen Chuxiao nodded.

He looked up and gazed at the mountain path to the north.

"We'll run into him," Shen Chuxiao said in a low voice. "Pei Jue is a proud man. With He Jinzhong down, he's even more eager to prove himself. If he doesn't come tonight, he'll definitely come tomorrow night."

Before he could finish speaking, a dark figure climbed up from the outside of the north gate city wall.

Nobody saw how he got up there.

Zhao Wu had already drawn his knife halfway out, but Shen Chuxiao held him down and whispered, "One of our own."

Shen Qiao landed on the city wall, slid half a step close to the ground like a piece of black cloth, and then touched the ground with one knee.

He was dressed in black, with a mask covering his face, revealing only a pair of cold, gray eyes.

"Ten miles to the north, in the black pine forest, there is some activity."

Shen Chuxiao sat up straight and his gaze immediately fell on Shen Qiao.

"explain."

"About three hundred men, without torches, crept along the northern mountain path. There were scouts ahead, a dozen or so, all light-footed and trained. When I returned, they had already dispersed into the woods."

Shen Chuxiao raised an eyebrow.

"A dozen or so people, all of them trained?"

"There are two skilled fighters, no less capable than the Seven Star Guardians. I was almost discovered."

The moment those three words "inside the tent" were uttered, everyone's expression changed.

Shen Qiao's lightness skill, while not top-notch, rarely resulted in a mistake.

If the other party could almost discover him, then they are no ordinary martial arts person.

"So, Pei Jue really did make a move tonight."

Shen Chuxiao stood up, gripping the knife in his hand. "You've come at the perfect time, saving me from having trouble sleeping."

Zhao Wu grinned maliciously: "Boss, how should we attack? Let them in and then kill them, or go out of the city and intercept them?"

"Let them in?" Shen Chuxiao sneered. "Pei Jue isn't stupid. These three hundred men are just here to scout the city. The real ones who are going to make a move are still hiding behind them."

He stepped out of the city tower, and the north wind whipped up the hem of his cloak, making it look like a dark red flame swirling in the night.

"Shen Qiao, go again. Follow these three hundred people and see where they're headed. If there are any more people behind them, come back and report immediately."

Shen Qiao nodded, and with a flicker, disappeared into the darkness outside the city wall.

Shen Chuxiao turned to Zhao Wu and said, "Pass down the order: half of the crossbowmen at the north gate are to withdraw. Leave three braziers on the city wall, and extinguish the rest. Make the north gate as loosely guarded as possible. Pei Jue wants to sneak in, doesn't he? Let him try."

Zhao Wu's eyes lit up immediately: "Understood. Loosen the outside but tighten the inside. Wait until they're all inside, then devour them in one bite."

"No."

Shen Chuxiao waved his hand. "What I need to do tonight is turn these three hundred people into three hundred corpses, and quickly, so quickly that Pei Jue won't have time to react. After we're done, hang the corpses on the city wall."

He sat down again, speaking as softly as if he were arranging a meal.

"Have Tie Niu lead his men to circle around from the east to the back of the Black Pine Forest. You lead the Dragon Tiger Team to approach from the west. Replace all the crossbowmen on the north gate with the new repeating crossbows; I'll stay at the front. Wait for Shen Qiao's signal, then surround them from three sides. Don't let a single one escape."

Zhao Wu accepted the order and left, his steps as light as if he were going to a banquet.

Deep in the black pine forest, Yan Wuhen leaned against the trunk of an old pine tree, a dry blade of grass between his teeth, and a very thin and narrow short sword in his hand, slowly slicing the grass stem.

Three hundred men in black were crouching in front of him, like a shadow lying close to the ground.

"Shen Chuxiao, you think he's in the south of the city, but he's in the north. You think he'll defend the city, but he'll fight his way out. So tonight, no one should make the first move; wait for my order."

Yan Wuhen's voice was low and had a feminine quality.

Standing next to him was a short, stocky man with a fierce face; he was Pei Jue's deputy, named Zhou Tong.

Zhou Tong spat, "He's just a captain? I'll lead two hundred men and charge in to chop him down!"

Yan Wuhen glanced at him, said nothing, and simply pointed his short sword towards the outside of the forest.

Zhou Tong followed his gaze.

Outside the woods, the flames on the north gate city wall had mostly died down. From a distance, the entire wall resembled a sleeping giant python, its silence sending chills down one's spine.

"What did you figure out?" Yan Wuhen asked.

Zhou Tong stared for a long time, then scratched his head: "It looks... not very well guarded?"

"Shen Chuxiao has never laid all his troops out in the open." Yan Wuhen sheathed his short sword and straightened up. "This city looks secure, but who knows how many crossbowmen are hiding inside. Have the men I asked for arrived yet?"

Before he could finish speaking, a man in black ran in from outside the woods and whispered, "Young Master Yan, there are no visible sentries two miles outside the north gate. There are patrols on the city wall, but they are spaced far apart."

"How long is the interval?"

"About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn."

Yan Wuhen laughed: "One incense stick's time is enough for a round trip. Zhou Tong, you take a hundred men and circle around to the east, sticking close to the foot of the mountain to the east gate. Make a feint attack, don't actually fight, retreat once you make a commotion. I'll personally lead men to the north gate to see how many men they've left behind."

Upon hearing that a fight was planned, Zhou Tong grinned widely and exclaimed, "Fine!"

The three hundred men split into two groups, with Zhou Tong leading one hundred men to circle eastward.

Yan Wuhen led the remaining people, crawling like snakes along the ditch on the north side of the mountain road toward the north gate.

He believed his lightness skill had reached perfection, making him as swift as a ghost in the night, but little did he know that the moment he emerged from the Black Pine Forest, his every move had already been observed by Shen Qiao.

Shen Qiao lay prone on a cliff, like a piece of ice fused with the mountain rocks, watching Yan Wuhen's team gradually approach the North Gate.

Then he slowly got up, took a whistling arrow from his quiver, nocked it, and shot it toward the north gate.

A piercingly sharp sound ripped through the night sky.

"Ugh—!"

On the north gate city wall, the braziers that had been mostly extinguished suddenly lit up at the same time.

"Release the arrows!"

Shen Chuxiao's voice boomed from the city wall.

Behind the battlements, hundreds of crossbowmen simultaneously pulled their triggers.

The new repeating crossbow unleashed a fifteen-shot burst in the darkness, arrows raining down like a storm, pinning the first dozen or so men in black directly to the frozen ground.

Yan Wuhen's pupils suddenly contracted.

"How is that possible—"

He didn't have time to think and retreated rapidly.

He drew his short sword, drawing a silver arc in front of him, and slashed down the incoming arrows.

But the crossbow bolts were too dense.

A hundred repeating crossbows were positioned on the city wall, while Zhao Wu and his Dragon Tiger team surged forth from the front, charging diagonally down from the western high ground. To the east, Tie Niu's battle axe had already rammed into the backs of Zhou Tong's hundred men.

"Boss! It's my turn on the east side!" Tie Niu chopped down two enemies with one swing of his axe and yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Hold down that ringleader!" Shen Chuxiao, who had a clear view from the city wall, pointed at Zhou Tong, "That short, fat guy, don't kill him, leave him alive for questioning!"

Zhou Tong was so frightened that he ran westward with his head in his hands, only to be ambushed by Zhao Wu and his men.

Zhao Wu brandished his embroidered spring knife: "Run! Keep running! Did your mother give birth to you with two legs so you could run away? Let's fight!"

Zhou Tong yelled and drew his sword to slash wildly, but Zhao Wu dodged to the side and slashed at the hilt of the sword with his backhand, causing his hand to split open and the sword to fly three zhang away.

"Kneel down!"

Zhao Wu kicked Zhou Tong in the back of the knee.

Zhou Tong knelt down with a thud, his fat face jiggling wildly, tears and snot streaming down his face: "Hero, spare my life! I surrender! I surrender! I'll tell you everything!"

Yan Wuhen rushed out of the rain of arrows, already struck in the arm by one.

He dared not linger and charged toward the northern mountain path.

Shen Chuxiao jumped off the city wall.

He stepped on the grain sacks piled up below the city walls, and with a few leaps, blocked Yan Wuhen's path directly in front of him.

"Seven Star Guard, Yan Wuhen." Shen Chuxiao, sword in hand, slowly walked towards him. "He Jinzhong said you walk on the city wall as if it were flat ground. What, you only know how to run away when you see me?"

Yan Wuhen was panting heavily, the broken arrow still stuck in his left arm, blood dripping from his sleeve into the snow.

He looked up, a chilling smile appearing on his effeminate face: "Shen Chuxiao, you've won tonight, but don't be so smug. You haven't even seen a tenth of Mr. Pei's methods. I, Yan Wuhen, admit defeat. If I'm going to kill—"

"Who said I was going to kill you?" Shen Chuxiao interrupted him, flicking the blade.

Yan Wuhen was taken aback.

"I want you to go back and give Pei Jue a message." Shen Chuxiao sheathed his sword, stepped on Yan Wuhen's chest, and kicked him to the ground.

"Tell Pei Jue, don't send out a three-hundred-man raid. It's a waste of lives. Let him come by himself if he's so capable. I, Shen Chuxiao, will be waiting for him at Ling Shuang Pass. If he doesn't even dare to show his face, from now on, he shouldn't call himself the leader of the martial world, but a coward."

Yan Wuhen's face turned ashen, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

Shen Chuxiao took a step back and said coldly, "Break his remaining leg and make him crawl back."

Tie Niu stepped forward and smashed the back of his axe into Yan Wuhen's right knee.

The sound of bone cracking was crisp and clear.

Yan Wuhen let out a muffled groan, but managed not to utter a single scream.

Shen Chuxiao looked at him and smiled.

"That's backbone. Go back and tell Pei Jue that I'll arrest and execute every single one of his men I see. I'll leave him a spot on the north gate city wall; I'll be waiting for him."

Yan Wuhen gritted his teeth, using his short sword to support his body, and slowly crawled northward.

Behind him were three hundred men in black; more than a hundred had died, and more than a hundred had surrendered, their corpses strewn across the field.

The fire at the north gate blazed fiercely, as if the entire winter night was ablaze.

Shen Chuxiao turned and went back to the city.

"Boss, did Yan Wuhen really release him?" Tie Niu caught up, looking puzzled.

"Release him." Shen Chuxiao tossed the knife to Zhao Wu. "A crippled Seven Star Guard is far more useful than a dead man. If he crawls back to Pei Jue, how furious will Pei Jue be? Next time, he won't just send three hundred men."

Shen Chuxiao grinned, revealing his gleaming white teeth.

"When Pei Jue comes in person, Ling Shuang Pass will be his graveyard."