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

Tie Niu rushed over instantly.

Sun Ergou's arrow had already left the bowstring, heading straight for the straw-clothed man's back.

The man in the straw raincoat didn't even turn his head. With a casual flick of his longsword, he deflected the arrow with a clang. At the same time, he held his curved saber horizontally in front of him, blocking the blade that Tie Niu was about to swat at.

As the swords clashed, Tie Niu was jolted backward.

"stop!"

Shen Chuxiao shouted.

Tie Niu and Sun Er Gou stopped at the same time.

Shen Chuxiao looked down at his ribs. His clothes had been pierced, leaving a shallow bloodstain on his skin. If it had been an inch deeper, it would have reached the bone.

The swordsman in the straw raincoat missed his target.

It's not that I missed, it's that I didn't want to.

"Captain Shen is indeed courageous."

The man in the straw raincoat sheathed his sword, and his curved saber slowly returned to its sheath as well.

He stood there, the wind and snow ruffling his bangs, revealing a face so fair it was almost translucent. "You're the first person who can shout so steadily even when injured."

Shen Chuxiao sheathed the dagger back at his waist and patted the snow off his shoulder.

"If you really wanted to kill me, that sword strike wouldn't have missed."

The man in the straw raincoat did not deny it.

"Again."

This time, Shen Chuxiao didn't give him a chance to speak. He switched the short sword to his left hand, drew a repeating crossbow with his right hand, and fired three arrows in quick succession.

Whoosh whoosh!

The crossbow bolts cut through the wind, shooting in a triangular pattern toward the face, throat, and heart.

The man in the straw raincoat spun around quickly, his curved blade drawing an arc in the air, knocking two blades away, and a third flew past his cheek, severing a few strands of hair.

He had barely steadied himself when Shen Chuxiao pounced on him.

The short sword came crashing down on his head.

The man in the straw raincoat parried with his sword, and with a clang, sparks flew everywhere.

Before he could change his move, Shen Chuxiao slammed his knee into the man's lower abdomen. The man in the straw raincoat dodged to the side, but Shen Chuxiao slammed his right elbow into the man's temple while pressing his crossbow against the man's lower back with his left hand.

A series of attacks, swift as lightning.

The man in the straw raincoat retreated three steps, his curved blade forming a net in front of him, blocking all the attacks.

His swordsmanship was exquisite, but Shen Chuxiao's fighting style was too wild—there were no set patterns, only killing moves, each one aimed at taking a life.

"You!" The man in the straw raincoat had barely opened his mouth when the short knife arrived again.

Forced to take three steps back, his back bumped into a dead tree.

Shen Chuxiao's dagger was instantly pressed against his throat.

"You lost."

The man in the straw raincoat glanced down at the blade pressed against his throat, then looked up at Shen Chuxiao.

There was no fear on that strangely handsome face; instead, a smile appeared on it.

"Captain Shen is indeed skilled; no wonder he was able to kill so many barbarians."

"Where are the supplies?" Shen Chuxiao didn't waste any more words with him.

The man in the straw raincoat did not answer.

The next instant, he suddenly exerted force, his curved blade slamming upwards to deflect the short sword. He slid along the tree trunk, flipped onto the ground, and created distance between himself and the tree.

Shen Chuxiao chased after him.

This time, the man in the straw raincoat didn't confront him directly; he turned and ran.

The two rushed into the dead forest, one after the other.

Tie Niu, anxiously stamping his feet behind, cried out, "Boss, don't chase after them!"

Shen Chuxiao ignored him.

The man in the straw raincoat kept a steady pace, maintaining a distance of about ten steps from him. Every time Shen Chuxiao was about to catch up, the man in the straw raincoat would turn around and attack with his sword, forcing him to stop and block before continuing to run.

Shen Chuxiao knew there might be a trap, but he couldn't stop for a moment. The clues to the grain and the jade pendant were all on this man; he absolutely couldn't let him escape.

The two fought and ran, quickly passing through the dead trees.

Then, the man in the straw raincoat suddenly accelerated and disappeared behind a mountain ridge ahead.

Shen Chuxiao gritted his teeth and chased after him, crossing the mountain ridge.

Then, he froze on the spot as if struck by lightning.

The wind blew down from the mountain ridges, carrying a strong, nauseating smell.

It wasn't the stench of rotting flesh, but the smell of burnt, decaying matter mixed with excrement and death—a smell Shen Chuxiao had encountered in his previous life during international peacekeeping missions. Every time he smelled it, it meant hell on earth.

Below the mountain ridge was a dried-up riverbed.

The ditch was crowded with people.

Hundreds of people huddled together in the narrow river channel.

They were dressed in rags, their faces pale and emaciated. Some lay motionless, covered with a thin layer of snow, their condition indistinguishable from that of the dead.

There were no tents, no campfires.

There was nothing there.

Those pale, emaciated faces were devoid of life, only showing a numbness as they awaited death.

The man in the straw raincoat suddenly appeared behind him, his curved saber sheathed and his long sword slung over his back.

He took off his straw hat, revealing an expressionless face.

"Is this why you deliberately lured me here?"

Shen Chuxiao stared at the scene before him, which resembled a living hell, and his heart trembled. He managed to squeeze out these words.

The man in the straw raincoat remained silent.

The refugees in the ditch saw Shen Chuxiao.

The first person to find him was an old man huddled on the edge of a ditch.

His eyes widened suddenly, all color drained from his face, and his lips began to tremble. He struggled to his feet, then knelt down in the snow with a thud, slamming his head against the frozen ground.

"Sir! Sir, spare my life!"

The voice was shrill, like the howl of a pig being slaughtered.

That shout was like a knife plunged into a dead, silent ditch.

Everyone moved.

They struggled to their feet, knelt down, and kowtowed.

"Sir, spare our lives! We're not deserters! We're farmers!"

"Sir, please don't take us back... We'll die anyway..."

"The child is still young... Please, sir, have mercy..."

A young woman, cradling a baby, knelt on the ground, her forehead striking a stone until it bled. Her lips were purple from the cold, and her voice was hoarse and almost inaudible, but she kept striking. Once, twice, three times. Blood from her forehead blurred her vision, but she didn't stop.

"Sir...Sir...Please...Don't kill my child..."

The old man who first found him lay prostrate on the ground, his hands raised above his head, repeatedly bowing: "Sir, we have nothing left. Our grain has been requisitioned, our houses have been burned down. Please spare us... We'll give you anything you want..."

But many more people don't even have the strength to stand up.

They collapsed to the ground, repeatedly pleading, "Spare me... spare me..."

Shen Chuxiao looked at the people kowtowing, and his heart felt like it was being squeezed tightly.

These people weren't afraid of him, but of his armor and his status as a border soldier. The fear in their eyes made it seem as if the Great Jing border army was more terrifying than the barbarians.

It's hard to believe that the people of an empire are so afraid of the border troops who are supposed to protect them.

But the facts are right in front of us.

Shen Chuxiao tilted his head back and took a deep breath.

At that moment, a thought surfaced in his mind for the first time, like a thorn, piercing deep into his bones.

Is it right to risk one's life for the Great Jing?

Behind them, Tie Niu and Sun Er Gou caught up. When they saw this scene, they were so shocked that they couldn't speak. They just stood there in the wind and snow, like two frozen wooden stakes.

Seeing that Shen Chuxiao remained silent, the old man tremblingly pulled a small cloth bag from his robes. "Sir, this is the last bit of food I have... Take it all... Take it all... Please spare the children in the village... Let us go to the barbarian grasslands, I beg you."

The cloth bag was opened, revealing several handfuls of moldy rice husks, dark and mixed with soil and pebbles.

That's grain?

That's something even pigs wouldn't eat.

Shen Chuxiao squatted down.

The old man recoiled in fear, lying face down on the ground, burying his head in the snow: "Sir, spare my life! Sir, spare my life!"

Shen Chuxiao reached out and gently pressed down on the old man's shoulder.

The old man froze, then began to tremble violently.

"I'm not here to arrest you."