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

Xiao Chun's face regained its relaxed and sincere smile: "Hehe, everyone, since Miss isn't here... how about I kill you all after my brothers in Li Family Village bring her here?"

"After all," he said, his eyes sweeping over Qin Yuanyao and the Imperial Guards in the room, his gaze calm and mocking, finally settling on the two figures in the carriage, "you all used methods like laying down your weapons and offering your necks for slaughter."

He chuckled slightly, raising an eyebrow at the young cook and the young actress. "In exchange for an opportunity for this young cook and actress to kill me..." Unfortunately, their methods were too crude; they were practically treating him like a fool. Such a scheme... ha...

Xiao Chun's lips curled slightly, and he nodded his head slightly, his mocking expression growing stronger: "Moreover, you all deliberately chose such a desperate situation with no way to escape... Since you've all come to my door so deliberately, saving me the trouble, I must give you some time... to say your last words to that young lady..."

Snapped!

At this moment, Ning Nan, who was on the carriage, threw the musket to the ground and sighed with some regret... Hmm, little cook... that's not a very good title.

As the musket hit the ground with a "bang," all the Imperial Guards, including Qin Yuanyao, simultaneously lowered their bodies and reached for the black cloth bag hanging on the other side of the horse.

"You've got at least three things wrong." Ning Nan lifted the robe behind him, revealing a leather sheath tucked behind his waist. Inside the sheath were two other muskets already loaded with gunpowder.

blah blah blah!

He pulled out a gun, flicked it deftly, and aimed it at Xiao Chun.

chap!

The fuse was lit, and the smell of burning filled the nostrils.

"First thing," Ning Nan squinted one eye to aim, "this is a feng shui treasure land that I, the great chef, specially selected seven days ago, a treasure land for frying you all... not some kind of deadly place."

Bang!

The muskets were fired!

Xiao Chun's eyes widened, and his instinctive reaction, honed by years of martial arts training, made him immediately turn his head to the left.

The next moment, a loud bang came from behind, and a soldier was shot in the head!

His head splattered blood like a watermelon being smashed on the ground!

The smells of blood and gunpowder instantly filled the air.

General Chen Mu raised his long spear expressionlessly, his thick, powerful arms bulging, and he pulled it back sideways, forming a throwing stance like a crescent moon!

"The second thing!"

Ning Nan threw the musket to the ground again and quickly drew a third musket from his waist...

call out--!

Chen Mu's long spear was hurled over with a whooshing sound. Shangguan Xiu gritted his teeth and raised his shield to block it!

boom!

The long spear struck the iron shield like a meteor!

Sparks flew everywhere!

The shield shattered into pieces in an instant!

Shangguan Xiu cried out "Ah ah!" as blood flowed from his tiger's mouth and his arms trembled violently!

Fortunately, I was wearing a breastplate, and although my chest hurt, I managed to withstand the sharp point of the spear!

Ning Nan's tone was calm and deep as he stated his second point firmly and simply: "Secondly, I could kill eight hundred slackers like you who like to cosplay Zhuge Liang a year! There's no need for me to offer my neck for slaughter or devise any schemes!"

Xiao Chun subconsciously raised his right hand, making a gesture to order the cavalry to charge.

"withdraw!--"

At this moment, Qin Yuanyao revealed a set of white teeth, roared to the sky, and reached into the black cloth bag. After pulling it out, she took out an iron grappling hook.

"A grappling hook?!"

Xiao Chun's pupils contracted sharply. Without further hesitation, he swung his hand down!

"Kill!" The scholar-general opened his mouth wide, his throat trembled violently, and he roared wildly without any decorum!

At the same time, more than thirty iron grappling hooks were thrown at the two cliffs on either side, making a series of cracking sounds!

The grappling hook got stuck in a crevice in the rock.

The Imperial Guards gritted their teeth, stomped their feet on their horses' backs, and soared into the air!

Ta-da!

More than thirty grappling hooks and ropes soared into the sky like nimble snakes!

More than thirty people skilled in martial arts stepped onto the cliff, grabbed the ropes with both hands, and ran up the mountain like monkeys and antelopes.

"Bang!"

Just as Xiao Chun was watching the Imperial Guards escape in an instant, a loud explosion rang out beside him!

Warm, fresh blood and foul-smelling yellowish-white matter splashed into my eyes.

His stunned gaze returned, and he glanced to his side... General Chen Mu, who wore a breastplate, black armor, chainmail, and fish-scale skirt armor on both sides of his thighs, with three layers of armor protecting his body, and whose right hand had just taken a spear from the soldier beside him... was now a headless corpse!

The third musket in Ningnan was emitting plumes of white smoke from its muzzle!

"Why...why...can I still hit accurately from such a distance...and the power hasn't decreased...why..." Time seemed to stand still, and the general's mind was filled with a cacophony of thoughts.

"No...they're still...killing...killing...killing..." In the next instant, a vicious thought, like a lifeline, surfaced in his mind.

"At least kill them..." Xiao Chun suddenly turned his head, his eyes bloodshot and ferocious.

Inside the carriage, the young cook put away his musket.

Da da da da!

The cavalrymen brandished their lances and shouted as they launched a surprise attack.

Cavalrymen continuously leaped out from both sides of Xiao Chun, throwing spears at the Imperial Guards climbing the ropes along the side wall while charging towards the carriage in the middle!

"The third thing!"

Ning Nan smiled and threw the last musket, which had been emptied, onto the ground.

At this moment, two ropes were thrown down from the cliffs on both sides, the ends of which were tied and fell onto the second carriage.

Ning Nan and Xiu Xiu, dressed in women's clothing, each grabbed one of the ropes on either side. With the help of the pulley system at the top of the cliff, the two figures quickly ascended.

The soldiers were shouting too loudly.

Xiao Chun could no longer hear the other person's voice clearly.

But they were able to read the lip movements of the person flying into the air.

"...How stupid do you have to be to think I'd actually trust a spy like Wang Fu...and actually leave Miss Zhu in that mountain stronghold..."

Xiao Chun's heart sank!

He immediately gritted his teeth!

As the gaze followed the figure upwards, it seemed as if countless sparks of light were emerging on both sides of the canyon.

"Fire...arrow..."

"It's an arrow!...A fire arrow!"

"Grass!"

"Fight your way out! Fight your way out!"

"Don't be afraid! Don't panic!"

"Formation!"

"Damn it!...I can't break free!"

"Discard the horse! Discard the horse!"

A cacophony of sounds boomed into my ears.

Xiao Chun's mind went blank, his heart clenched, and his hands and feet felt cold. Suddenly, he felt his body move. Looking down, he saw Qi Qiao, the old captain, on horseback, reaching out his old hand to turn his horse around, seemingly trying to help him escape.

"Uncle Qi..." Xiao Chun made two unconscious "ah ah" sounds, his hands seemingly too weak to hold the reins tight!

At that moment, tiny sparks of fire fell.

The rain of arrows, carrying the glow of fire, was more merciless than nature's hail, crashing down upon the chaotic cavalrymen lining the canyon road.

"Don't panic! Escape from the west side! Otherwise, it'll be crowded!"

"Move all to the west!"

"Fuck you! Which way is west, you son of a bitch!"

"We have armor!"

"Armor!"

The shouts and cries of fear from the soldiers filled the air.

Xiao Chun, lying on his horse, let out an "Ah!" and turned around. Instantly, his eyes widened in shock. The area where the rockets landed didn't seem to be aimed at the cavalrymen... Most of the rockets seemed to be aimed at the two wagons carrying luggage in front and behind...

Rockets rained down, some landing on the roof of the carriage, some on the crossbeams, and some on the curtains... Then, the roof, the frame, and the curtains burst into flames, revealing layers of wooden crates inside. Around the crates were tinder such as dry grass, which quickly ignited the fire... And so, the canyon was ablaze with flames.

In just a few breaths, the fire burned through the wooden crate.

As if remembering something, Xiao Chun's eyes suddenly shifted from confusion and pain to fear...

"Gunpowder...run...run fast...run fast...it's gunpowder inside...gunpowder..."

As he watched the layers of cavalry clashing and jostling, these syllables kept escaping from his parched mouth.

Xiao Chun turned his head on horseback, wanting to tell Uncle Qi in front to stop. He wanted the horse to stop and wanted to give orders to the cavalry behind him...

But in that very instant...

A deafening explosion came from behind!

"BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—!"

The gunpowder in both carriages was ignited, and the explosions were like thunderclaps echoing through the narrow road!

Gray clouds are rolling in!

Rocks keep falling!

Armor and limbs flew off!

Xiao Chun's vision went black, and he felt dizzy. He fell headfirst off his horse... Flames chased after the two riders behind him, and the scholar-general could no longer hear anything.

"Escape...escape...escape...I must escape...only by escaping can I take revenge..."

These thoughts churned within me like knives.

But they didn't run away for long.

A forest of spears appeared at the mouth of the canyon ahead... Inside the scorching canyon, Xiao Chun felt ice-cold all over, and in the blink of an eye, his face turned ashen.

At this moment, the old captain Qi Shu in front loosened Xiao Chun's horse reins.

Qi Qiao remained calm.

His white hair and beard fluttered and danced in the hot wind like the unrestrained whiskers of a white dragon.

With a whoosh, Qi Qiao drew his embroidered spring knife from the side of his horse.

His old eyes were like dry wells; after a moment of stillness, he slowly closed them.

Lips murmured:

"The Eternal Mother... the Pure Land of Emptiness... disciple Qi Qiao... worldly duties are complete..."

billowing gray clouds…

Falling rocks kept rolling down...

Flames surged forth...

A meticulously designed killing trap…

An ambush with no escape...

When the old man opened his eyes again, they were the same tiger-like eyes he had forty years ago!

"Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The old captain's face contorted, his lips gaped open, and he raised his sword. The terrifying aura that had been hidden in the countryside for forty years was completely unleashed at this moment!

The old man's eyes were wide open, and he roared incessantly!

Like a trapped beast!

Like a hidden dragon!

He charged ahead into the forest of unparalleled spears!