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

After leaving the pass, Shen Chuxiao did not head straight for Qingfeng Pass, but instead detoured to the northeast of Liuhe Town, to the site of the burning and looting mentioned by the scouts.

After inspecting the current situation, the group moved on to Qingfeng Mountain.

Tie Niu, who had been holding back all the way, couldn't help but ask, "Boss, are we really going to our deaths? Four people against thirty barbarians, isn't that—"

"Not barbarians."

Tie Niu was taken aback: "What?"

"That's not the Red Wolf Tribe." Shen Chuxiao reined in his horse, glanced back at the three of them, and said, "The Black Stone Tribe just retreated, and the Red Wolf Tribe has already arrived? What a coincidence. This is clearly someone in disguise."

Sun Ergou nodded in agreement: "I had my suspicions before, and the hoofprints I saw at the scene just now were also wrong—the barbarians' narrow horseshoes are lighter than ours, so the marks are shallower. The hoofprints I saw just now were all deep, somewhat like those of border army horses whose horseshoes had been replaced."

Zhao Wu's expression changed: "You mean, the scout's report was false?"

"The scouts are real, but the news is false."

Shen Chuxiao took out a piece of cloth from his pocket.

This was picked up at the scene just now.

He pointed to the dark red bloodstains on the tree and said, "The so-called scene of burning and looting shows no signs of the caravan's destruction. There's blood on the trees, but no footprints of struggle on the ground—it was staged beforehand."

Tie Niu gasped, "Those are Han Shi'an's men?"

"Who else could it be but him?" Shen Chuxiao's gaze turned cold. "He brought three hundred personal guards to Ling Shuang Pass. His purpose is obvious. I'm afraid he has something on Zhou Henian."

Zhao Wu gripped the hilt of his knife tightly: "Then let's go back and expose him!"

"Expose us?" Shen Chuxiao glanced at him. "Where's the evidence? That bloodstained rag? Han Shi'an can bury us all with just one sentence: you forged it."

Tie Niu panicked: "What do we do then? Are we really going to our deaths?"

Shen Chuxiao did not answer.

He dismounted, squatted down, and drew a few strokes in the mud with his finger.

"Qingfeng Pass is a valley between two mountains. The mountain path is narrow, with rocky slopes on both sides." He raised his head and glanced at the three of them. "If someone is lying in ambush on both sides, we'll be trapped like turtles in a jar once we enter the pass."

Tie Niu and Zhao Wu exchanged a glance, and cold sweat broke out on their backs at the same time.

"But on the other hand..." Shen Chuxiao stood up, a slight smile playing on his lips, "If we don't go into the mountain pass, but instead go around it from the side, from a high vantage point, then the mountain pass will become their graveyard."

Sun Ergou's eyes lit up: "Captain, you mean...?"

"Tie Niu, Zhao Wu, you two walk along the mountain path, slowly, make sure the sound of your horses' hooves is loud. Stop when you reach the mountain pass, don't go in."

Shen Chuxiao drew his short knife, weighed it in his palm, and said, "Ergou, come with me and sneak up from the side. When you hear the commotion upstairs, block the exit and don't let a single one escape."

Tie Niu grinned, a ruthless, bloodthirsty smile in his eyes: "Captain, are you planning to turn them into dumplings?"

Shen Chuxiao didn't say much, and mounted his horse.

"Walk."

At Qingfeng Pass, the moon was dark and the wind was high.

Thirty men dressed in black lay motionless behind the rocks on either side of the mountain path. The leader was a middle-aged man with a scar on his face.

"Big brother, the people are here," a skinny man beside him whispered.

Two horses came slowly from below the mountain path.

The sound of horses' hooves was particularly clear in the night wind.

The scarred man narrowed his eyes, his gaze burning with murderous intent.

If he kills these people, he can be exonerated and return to the border army; this was a promise the man himself made.

"Why are there only two people here?" the scarred man frowned.

"They might have split up, Brother Long. Let's take these two down first."

The scarred man stared at the two horses for a few moments, sensing something was off. The two men were moving too slowly, not like they were in a hurry, but like they were waiting for something.

"No!" He jumped to his feet. "They've found us—"

Before he could finish speaking, a sharp whooshing sound swept past overhead.

It's not an arrow.

It's a stone.

A fist-sized boulder tumbled down from the top of the cliff, crashing into the rubble with a dull thud. Then came a second, a third—like an avalanche, fragments of rock, shrouded in dust, rained down upon them.

"There are people up there!" the skinny man exclaimed.

The scarred man suddenly looked up.

Twenty feet above the cliff, a figure stood on a rock, the moonlight revealing his silhouette—who else could it be but Shen Chuxiao?

When did he get up there?

Shen Chuxiao didn't give them time to react.

He raised his hand, and the sound of the crossbow's trigger mechanism was as crisp as bones breaking in the valley.

"Whoosh—"

An arrow struck the skinny man squarely in the throat.

"Scatter! Scatter!" the scarred man shouted.

But it was too late.

The rubble was still rolling downhill. The mountain path was narrow, and with thirty people crammed together, there was nowhere to hide. Some were hit on the head, some tripped and fell, and many more were disoriented in the darkness, in complete chaos.

Standing on high ground, Shen Chuxiao looked down upon his opponent and fired one crossbow bolt after another. He didn't waste a single arrow—each one precisely pierced a person's chest or throat.

It's not uncommon for the few to win against the many. In his previous life, he had witnessed the legendary battles of his predecessors where three people wiped out an entire regiment. He never expected that he would do something similar himself today.

"Charge!" the scarred man shouted, his eyes bloodshot. "He's all alone; once he runs out of arrows, he's useless!"

Several men in black gritted their teeth and charged upwards.

The cliff was steep, and they climbed with difficulty, but Shen Chuxiao remained calm and unhurried. He drew a short knife from his waist and loaded the last three crossbow bolts into the slot.

"Puff puff puff—"

Three muffled thuds followed, and the three people at the front tumbled to the ground.

The crossbow bolt missed its target.

Shen Chuxiao slung the crossbow over his back, drew his short sword, and leaped off the rock.

The remaining seven or eight men in black, already terrified by the stones, and seeing the crossbow bolts raining down, turned and ran when he pounced on them like a ghost.

Shen Chuxiao cleaved the last runner in two with a single blow, blood splattering all over his face. He didn't wipe it away, and instead stabbed another man in the chest with his own hand.

One man, with a short knife, slaughtered the remaining people until their souls were scattered.

It's not that he's not afraid of death.

He knew that the two brothers behind him had entrusted their lives to him.

Below the mountain road,

Upon hearing the commotion above, Tie Niu and Zhao Wu moved simultaneously.

"kill--!"

Tie Niu's voice was as loud as thunder, and he cleaved the person running in front of him in two with a single stroke.

Blood splattered all over his face, but he didn't stop. He swung the scabbard and smashed it into the second man's head—the sound of bones cracking echoed through the valley.

Zhao Wu remained silent, each strike deadly.

He was the most steady of the three, each strike landing precisely on the most vital spots. Caught in a pincer attack, the thirty men were trapped in the narrow mountain path, with no way to escape.

Someone tried to run up the mountain, but Shen Chuxiao kicked them down.

Someone tried to run away, but was cleaved back by Tie Niu's sword.

The battle lasted less than half an incense stick's time from start to finish.

Shen Chuxiao leaned against the rock, panting heavily. Blood dripped from the tip of the dagger, pooling at his feet.

Tie Niu plopped down on the ground, his face covered in blood, but he grinned widely: "Boss, that was ruthless. Thirty men, and only four of us, and we beat them to a pulp."

Zhao Wu squatted on the ground counting the corpses, then looked up and said, "Twenty-two corpses. Seven escaped, and one was captured alive."

Shen Chuxiao nodded, walked to the survivor, and squatted down.

The man had been stabbed twice and hit on the leg by a rock; he couldn't even stand up.

Shen Chuxiao pulled open his collar—below his collarbone, an old knife scar was clearly visible. Looking at the knife beside the man, it was a standard-issue horizontal sword of the border army, not a barbarian's curved sword.

"The border troops."

Tie Niu leaned over and kicked the man: "Tell me, who sent you?"

The man gritted his teeth and remained silent.

Shen Chuxiao didn't press for answers; he simply searched the man's clothes but found no tokens or letters. He stood up and glanced at the corpses and scattered weapons on the ground.

"It's better that they don't have identity tags." Shen Chuxiao's lips curled up slightly. "Han Shi'an can't even frame them anymore. These people are clean—which actually shows that their identities have been deliberately erased. Who has that kind of ability?"

He picked up the border soldier's sword and tucked it into his waistband.

"This is enough. This kind of person is stubborn. Take him back and hand him over to Lin Shangshen."

Looking up at the sky, I saw that the eastern sky was already turning a pale white.

"Let's go back to the pass."

As soon as they entered the pass, Lin Shang came up to them and said solemnly, "Regarding the matter you asked me to keep an eye on, last night at the post station, a dozen or so of my personal guards went north and didn't return until almost dawn. I had someone follow them for a while, and they circled around the Qingfeng Pass before coming back."

Shen Chuxiao paused, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"As expected, it seems Han Shi'an can't sit still any longer."