Chapter 43 - As It Should Be

Mu Jiu snatched the sword from his comrade next to him and swung it towards Shen Leng. When Shen Leng swung his sword in an attempt to block his attack, Mu Jiu’s sword changed direction immediately. It was a bluff. The sword tilted and headed straight for Li Tuming’s neck. Shen Leng’s right hand was holding his sword; he was about to swing his sword again but it was too late. He extended his left hand and grabbed Mu Jiu’s hair, pulling him backwards. As a result, Mu Jiu’s sword cut Shen Leng on his left arm.

Li Tuming went pale with fright. When he saw Shen Leng’s arm bleeding profusely, he grabbed his arm. “Squad leader, you are bleeding!”

Shen Leng could not move as a result. It was Mu Jiu’s second attack.

Shen Leng kicked Li Tuming. “Scram.”

As he kicked Li Tuming, Shen Leng used the momentum to dodge Mu Jiu’s attack. Thereafter, he quickly counter attacked - every attack was swifter than the one before. Mu Jiu was forced to retreat multiple steps. Behind him, his soldiers lifted their repeating crossbows and aimed them at Shen Leng before shooting their arrows consecutively. Shen Leng brandished his sword and managed to hit away the majority of the arrows. However, he was being shot in the chest three times. Fortunately, he tied a wooden plank to his chest, hence the arrows could not pierce through to his chest.

Mu Jiu took the chance to advance. His sword attacks were swift and powerful, like fallen leaves that were blown away by strong winds. Every attack was fatal.

Shen Leng retreated three steps back before he stabilizing himself. He tried to counter attack, and managed to force Mu Jiu into retreating. At this moment, the water bandits’ leader, Mu Dengke, recognized that the person who was attacking Shen Leng was his point of contact. He took dozens of men with him and charged forward. Shen Leng was immediately being tightly surrounded.

“Squad leader!”

Wang Kuohai yelled out loud. His right hand lifted the heavy shield up as he charged forward, striking four to five men. A man in black lifted his hand and shot two arrows at him using a repeating crossbow. Wang Kuohai raised his left arm to block his face, and an arrow pierced it.

Wang Kuohai groaned in pain. He tossed the heavy shield aside. The heavy shield spun and struck the few people at the front, causing them to fall to the ground. He leapt forward and provided assistance for Shen Leng.

One of the water bandits swung his sword at Wang Kuohai. Wang Kuohai reached out his right hand; it was faster than the sword. His huge hand, which was like a palm-leaf fan, grabbed the fella by the throat. He exerted strength and broke his neck.

After he tossed the corpse aside, the second water bandit swung his sword at him. Wang Kuohai dodged it and used his right hand to grab the repeating crossbow on his left arm. Thereafter, he jabbed it right into the temple of the water bandit. Blood spurted out immediately.

At this moment, Du Weiming had also brought his men with him and charged over. His members of his five-man team coordinated with one another and advanced. The five to six water bandits were slashed up in a jiffy and fell to the ground, as though they were being put into a meat grinder.

Mu Jiu turned around and yelled at Zhao Dengke, “If you kill him today, I will let you go. If he’s not dead, you people will have to die.”

Zhao Dengke was shocked by the look in Mu Jiu’s eyes. He called out to his men to attack Shen Leng.”

Wang Kuohai and Du Weiming’s five-man squads had charged over. The ten men got into their mini formation as they took cover alternately, while advancing. They blocked the dozens of men to the point they were unable to inch forward.

Shen Leng shot Mu Jiu a glance. He tore a piece of cloth from his clothes and tied it around the wound on his left arm. “Your master is still looking at you from the Xiong Niu battleship, right? If you don’t kill me, you’ll be unable to return without completing your mission.”

Mu Jiu scoffed. “Blame yourself.”

Shen Leng pointed to his left arm and pointed at it again. “You already hurt me twice.”

“And so?

“You have to pay.”

Mu Jiu cursed. His attacks became faster and faster.The technique he used was adopted by assassins in triads. Unlike the sword technique used in the military, it was a lot more agile and ruthless. Shen Leng’s speed seemed to be slower than his. After their exchange, it gradually became more passive.

“You can’t defeat me.”

Mu Jiu swung his sword directly at Shen Leng’s throat and saw that that fella lifted his right arm to block his throat. At the same time, Shen Leng took half a step back. The sword cut across his sleeve, which ripped immediately, causing some items to fall from within it.

Instinctively, Mu Jiu looked down. He realized that they were small sandbags.

This fella! He actually tied sandbags to his arms!

There were at least ten small sandbags tied to Shen Leng’s arm. They looked rather heavy. He took the opportunity to free his arm of the sandbags using Mu Jiu’s attack. His arm became a lot lighter immediately…Mu Jiu saw Shen Leng smirking before he swung his black cord sword. Instictively, Mu Jiu lifted his sword to block the attack. However, he missed…

Without the additional weight from the sandbags on his arm, Shen Leng’s speed became a lot faster. He was even faster than Mu Jiu. Before Mu Jiu could block it, it had already pierced Mu Jiu’s chest. Shen Leng’s foot exerted strength and lunged forward, the sword punctured his chest further. He pressed his black cord sword downwards with all his might and it sliced into Mu Jiu’s stomach.

Shen Leng drew out his sword as he kicked Mu Jiu. “This is for the arrow that you shot me during the competitoin.”

Mu Jiu fell to the ground. Shen Leng stabbed him in the neck. “This is payback for today. In other news, you are only but a six.”

He used his left hand to lift Mu Jiu’s head up high and waved it towards the the Xiong Niu battleship at the river bank.

Mu Xiaofeng stood up abruptly. His face was extremely pale.

Shen Leng tossed the head aside and charged right into the group of water bandits.

At this moment, another group of water bandits rushed over to come to the aid of Zhao Dengke. However, they were stopped by someone. That man brandished his sword, as though he was drawing a traditional Chinese painting. If his sword was the brush, the blood of his enemies was the ink. The water bandits were so frightened that they turned around and fled.

It was Battalion Commander Wang Gendong!

The bugle horn sounded. Navy troops started charging over from afar. They were not from the three Xiong Niu battleships; they were the troops specially arranged by Mu Xiaofeng. Mu Jiu had already died, and at this moment, the water bandits were being killed all over the place. Last but not least, Shen Leng was still alive. Mu Xiaofeng’s plans were thoroughly foiled, but it was impossible for him to sit behind and watch Shen Leng receive such a huge military merit.

The three hundred over Navy troops were extremely swift. They killed all the water bandits that had escaped effortlessly. Thereafter, the leading military officer led his men over to Shen Leng. From a distance away, he yelled out, “Go over and behead the remaining water bandits!”

Shen Leng and his men had killed more than a hundred people, and at this moment, that military officer was evidently trying to claim credit.

Du Weiming stepped forward and stopped them. “We were the ones who killed them!”

That military officer kicked Du Weiming. “You have the guts to stop a military officer? Are you courting death?!”

One of his men walked over and tossed Du Weiming aside. Thereafter, he was about to behead corpse of the water bandit behind Du Weiming, when a blade light flashed across, cutting the soldier on the chest. The soldier was so frightened that he took multiple steps back. When he looked down, he saw that his leather armor had already been cut into half, and there was a long wound that stretched from his chest to his stomach. If the cut was any deeper, he would have been disemboweled.

Shen Leng went over and pointed at the military officer’s nose with his sword. “If you come over, you die.”

The military officer’s face went pale with fright. He had been serving in the military for so many years but he had never seen a new recruit who was that arrogant. “Do you not know what your status is? Squad leader!”

“I know that I am a squad leader, but please don’t forget that you are Great Ning’s Navy military officer!”

The difference between the two ranks was extremely huge. However, when it came to power, the military officer had already lost. Being pointed at by Shen Leng with his sword in front of so many subordinates, he started to feel his blood boiling. He took a huge step forward. “Today, I want all the heads of these water bandits. I sure would like to see if you dare to attack me.”

Shen Leng replied, “My men risked their lives and fought hard to eliminate these water bandits. Whoever tries to take credit for their work, I will kill their entire family. Military Officer, you should trust me. After I change out of my uniform, I will pay your family a visit and see if they treat their guests well.”

The military officer was so furious that he almost exploded. He took a step back.

“You will have to pay for what you did today, Squad Leader.”

“Anytime."

Shen Leng used his black cord sword and carved a long line on the ground. “I don’t care who it is, as long as it’s not one of my men, if he crosses this line, he will be killed!”

The soldiers behind Shen Leng lifted up their repeating crossbows. It sounded like a group of grim reapers pulling out their sickles. The military officer’s men did not dare to move. The ten odd new recruits did not look like soldiers at all; they looked more like wild beasts.

“I will leave the heads for you people. I would like to see if you jackasses are qualified enough to claim credit.”

The military officer pointed at Shen Leng, “You pointed your sword at your superior and even hurt your comrades. I shall wait and see how you are going to explain yourself. I have seen way too many people like you - people who are so full of themselves. You think that you’re tough, but haven’t seen the rules of this world clearly.”

Shen Leng smiled. “Dumbass, and you think you have?”

The military officer was enraged. He was about to order his men to capture Shen Leng, but suddenly, he sensed something amiss. He turned around and looked.

At this moment, a sound of a bugle horn was heard. More than a hundred light cavalry could be seen charging over from afar; they were extremely swift, like the wind, as they swept through. The Great Ning war flag that fluttered in the wind caused one to be in awe.

Upon seeing them, the military officer instantly went pale.

The hundred odd elite light cavalry that were protecting the Navy general, Zhuang Yong, had arrived. They charged over and separated the three hundred over troops from Shen Leng. A bugle call was heard and all the cavalry held up their repeating crossbows. None of them pointed it towards Shen Leng. Those troops panicked immediately.

Zhuang Yong was sitting on his horse as he looked at Shen Leng. He then turned around towards the military officer. “Li Yong, who allowed you to leave the camp with the soldiers?”

The military officer Li Yong fell to his knees. “General, it’s…”

“Strip him of his weapons, and remove his helmet.”

Zhuang Yong instructed his men, before waiting for Li Yong to continue talking.

His soldiers got off their horse and took off Li Yong’s iron helmet immediately and stripped him of his weapons. Both of them each grabbed Li Yong’s arm and held him down.

Li Yong lifted his head abruptly. “The reason why you don’t want me to talk is because you can’t afford to offend the Great Scholar, right? You don’t dare to do anything to Mu Xiaofeng either. All you can do is take it out on me!”

Zhuang Yong was not furious. He narrowed his eyes. “If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being full of tricks, forgetting who the decision maker in the Navy is.”

A soldier went over and hit Li Yong in the mouth. Li Yong started vomiting blood, as he struggled to make sounds but was unable to say a single word.

Zhuang Yong looked at the three hundred odd navy soldiers. “Get into formation and go back to the camp. Get into position on the drill ground and wait for me.”

Who dared to fight against more than three hundred people?

Those people turned around and walked away. Every single one of their faces was pale.

Zhuang Yong got off the horse and went over to Shen Leng. He realized that Shen Leng’s arm was still bleeding. He gestured to the new recruit to bring some medication over. “You fought well.”

Shen Leng’s lips curled. “You are welcome.”

“That’s all?”

Zhuang Yong glared at Shen Leng.

Shen Leng added, “Oh…thank you, general, for the compliment. As it should be.”

Zhuang Yong was speechless.