After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

The horse let out a miserable cry and lost a hind hoof.

It cried out pitifully as it galloped forward a few more feet, then collapsed to the ground after shaking its neck a few times. It lay there panting heavily, with excrement and urine spilled all over its rear end, emitting a foul odor.

Horses spend most of their day standing. If they lose a hoof, even if the injury is healed, their three legs cannot support such a heavy body for long, so they will not live long.

As the horse tumbled forward, Xu Tianji rolled onto the sand ahead to dissipate much of the force. But when he turned around and saw that the handsome horse he had raised since it was a foal was dying, his eyes involuntarily reddened.

A breeze blows from the river, and the shadows of the trees sway in the moonlight.

Du Gui and his four henchmen formed a battle formation, standing under the shade of a tree, and thrust their four spears forward.

"when!"

The fat woman opposite roared, "You're asking for death!" and with one axe she actually swung away four spears!

"What incredible strength!"

Du Gui and his three companions were horrified!

The field was a scene of carnage, with five or six horses already dead, their entrails exposed as they were trampled and crushed by the horses behind them.

Some horses were startled and kept dropping manure on the ground, while a few that had just fallen were helped up by others.

After Du Gui and his three companions succeeded, they immediately rushed out, pulled out their spears, and together stabbed to death a man who was pinned to the ground by a horse and was screaming in pain.

Just as they were about to poke the second person.

The fat woman reacted incredibly quickly, wielding two axes and hacking at them.

This man was incredibly strong; each of his two axes weighed at least twenty pounds.

Several people struggled to stop them.

Just then, a man not far away helped the two horses to their feet and called out, "Wife!"

Having just faced death, Madam Huang disregarded her frail husband and went to deal with these servant-like men. Now, hearing her husband's strong voice, she knew he was alright. Her heart eased, and tears welled up in her eyes. She unconsciously increased the weight of her axes.

Du Gui gritted his teeth and roared, "Send the young master up the mountain first!"

The four men sheathed their spears and rushed toward Erlai and Ningnan, who had fallen to the ground.

They were anxious. Big Black and the others should have been following behind this group, so why couldn't they see a single one of them?

If Big Black had joined them in flanking the group, they could have easily wiped out the thieves.

As Du Gui ran, he looked back and saw that in the scene of blood and flesh flying everywhere, seven or eight thieves had stood up one after another, cursing and helping up a few horses that could still move. He felt a chill run down his spine.

There were only four of them. Erlai was lying on the ground, his life hanging in the balance. Their only chance of survival was to get the young master up the mountain as soon as possible. Perhaps they could rescue him by navigating the complicated mountain paths.

It was at this moment.

They saw the young master stand up.

They also saw several vicious thieves who had escaped their ambush riding towards the young master.

One rider even anticipated their intention to go up the mountain and circled around to the foot of the mountain.

Du Gui and his companions broke out in a cold sweat.

The enemy rider, wielding a long sword, moved with incredible speed, and suddenly found himself very close to the young master.

"Young Master!"

The four men, their eyes bulging and their limbs weak, stumbled and ran towards the young master.

It was at this moment.

The young master, whom they remembered as kind and gentle, and who treated them with mildness and cheerfulness, raised his hand, and in a flash, squatted down and slashed with his sword!

As one hoof flew out.

The enemy rider had already pounced into the sand dune.

"Young Master!"

The four were initially terrified, but upon seeing this scene, they were both overjoyed and shocked, as if they had survived a catastrophe.

call.

Ning Nan gripped his right wrist tightly with his left hand and let out a long breath.

If he hadn't used both hands together and then smeared sand on the horse's face, even if he had used Erlai's long-sharpened butcher knife, he probably wouldn't have been able to cut off the horse's hoof.

"Yo."

He blinked his long-sore eyes and looked at Erlai lying on the ground.

"How is it?"

Erlai's face was deathly pale, covered in hot horse blood. He grinned and said:

"The spine is fine, but a few ribs are probably broken."

Ning Nan felt relieved. Er Lai had been slaughtering pigs for many years and had killed several people, so he knew what was important.

He exhaled a puff of white breath and chuckled, "Just you alone?"

Erlai said haltingly, "Not only... but also Dahei, Xingge'er, and the others... but... it seems... something's wrong..."

Ning Nan gripped the knife in his hand and nodded: "Rest first."

He had been jostled on horseback the whole way, his hands and feet were bound, his mouth was stuffed with a rag, and his head was covered with a sack. He had no idea what had happened.

All I could hear was the incessant clatter of horses' hooves, like the constant beating of drums and gongs.

There were many moments when he thought he was going to go deaf.

Once he was in a state of weightlessness, he regained his senses and realized that something might have happened to the thieves.

Then, with a "thud," he landed on the ground, his lungs and internal organs jolted, and he felt extremely uncomfortable, as if his liver and gallbladder were about to be vomited out.

After taking a few breaths.

He felt his hands and feet loosen and the ropes binding him snap.

He gritted his teeth and stood up in a daze. His lungs, which had been shaken all the way, were now so weak from the shock that he couldn't speak.

I don't know what exactly happened.

He stood up unsteadily, raised his hands which were sore and numb from being tied up, and took off the cloth bag from his head. Even though it was just cold moonlight outside, his eyes, which had been in the darkness for a long time, were not used to it and his pupils contracted slightly.

After a breath, I opened my eyes and saw the bright moon over the river and the mighty river flowing on.

After being cooped up for so long, I involuntarily inhaled a breath of air carrying the fishy smell of the river, and finally felt much better.

Just then, Erlai, lying on the ground, called out, "Big Brother!"

Ning Nan lowered his head, his mind still in a state of confusion, but his body had already taken action.

His right hand instinctively bent down to take the sharp knife that Erlai had used to cut the rope for him, and with a quick pinch of his fingers, he also picked up a piece of rope.

He instinctively grabbed a handful of sand with his left hand and put it into his pocket.

The sounds of horses' hooves and fighting grew closer.

He wrapped the knife around his right hand and stared blankly at the large horse galloping towards him.

When the other party got closer, he remembered that the young man on horseback who was gritting his teeth and shouting something was the one who had thrown the wine bottle to deflect his knife and saved Peng Liangang.

His hazy consciousness finally returned, and he murmured, "Oh...it's you..."

Dust storm.

Squat down.

Swing a knife.

Cut off the horse's leg.

A sharp pain shot through his wrist, a horse's hooves flew before his eyes, and the horse's scalding blood splattered on his face. He caught a strong whiff of blood... and his eyes finally lit up.

"Ning Baixuan! You can't escape!"

The young man holding the ring-pommel sword pulled it out of the sand.

Ning Nan looked around and saw three more riders approaching, one of whom was his old acquaintance, Feng Yu.

Besides, to the west, seven or eight horses were getting up from the mess, and seven or eight people were getting up one after another and mounting their horses.

Fortunately, his four servants also arrived. None of them were afraid of death. They shouted "Young Master" while holding their spears to protect him and Erlai, and turned their spears towards the group of people.

Ning Nan glanced around, took a breath, and realized that his own side was at a disadvantage. He had two options: go up the mountain or take advantage of his swimming skills to go down the river.

Most of these people, like Zhang Zhuzi, were from the north, and their swimming skills were certainly not as good as his, who had been splashing around in the Erhu River since childhood.