Chapter 77

Editor: Atlas Studios

As the ten horses charged forward with three in the front, four in the middle, and three in the back, Mu Shi stared at them intently. The people on the horses had clearly discovered the villagers in front of them, for they were accelerating and brandishing their sabers. Mu Shi let out a long roar as they got closer and closer. When they were only 20 steps away, Liu Yong and the others, who were lying in ambush, closed their eyes and pulled up the heel rope with all their might.

It was already too late for the three cavalrymen in front to rein in their horses by the time they heard the long whistle. The horses’ hooves tripped on the rope, causing them to lose their footing. The men fell from the horses, and the horses behind immediately plunged into chaos. Three horses in the middle fell amidst the chaos. As for the others, they accidentally stepped on the small traps in the ground because of their confusion. The horses collapsed to the side, and the cavalrymen fell from them…

The minute the first team fell down, before the situation even settled down, Mu Shi rushed forward and hit a cavalryman on the head with his stick, killing him immediately. Flipping over, he snatched the man’s saber before immediately turning around and slitting another person’s neck.

The person behind had just fallen off his horse when he was killed by Mu Shi before he could even react.

The last group of Hus had no choice but to dismount because of the chaos created by the horses. They surrounded Mu Shi with the remaining two Hus in front.

Since it was five against one, Mu Shi gripped his saber tightly, not daring to be careless.

The cavalryman let out a strange cry and rushed forward with his saber, but he was blocked by Mu Shi’s saber. Mu Shi kicked his abdomen, causing him to fly out. Then, he turned around and blocked another person…

By then, Liu Yong had already gotten up from the ground. When he saw Mu Shi fighting with the Hus, a ruthless glint flashed across his eyes. He quietly crawled out and grabbed a saber. Seeing that the Hu who had been kicked away by Mu Shi had gotten up and was about to rush over again, he secretly hid behind him and stabbed him…

Liu Yong’s hand trembled slightly, but his eyes were fierce as he stared fixedly at the other party. Seeing that the other party was not dead, he even pulled out his saber and stabbed him again.

The young men surrounding them couldn’t help but gulp when they saw this. They said in a low voice, “Liu Yong is really ruthless.”

However, Liu Zhi watched intently as Mu Shi fought four Hus all by himself. He lowered his voice and said, “Let’s go help too. Uncle Mu is being restrained and can’t kill them at all. Why don’t we go over with our saber? Even if we don’t manage to kill them, we can at least help stall them.”

As soon as Liu Zhi finished speaking, Liu Yong had already rushed forward with his saber. He had never learned saber techniques and could only slash randomly. Although he failed to slash the Hus, he did force them to divert their attention to deal with him.

The Hu person originally wanted to get away from Mu Shi to kill Liu Yong, but unexpectedly Mu Shi suddenly slashed at him. He had no choice but to turn around and defend. This way, they could neither kill Mu Shi nor Liu Yong.

Seeing this, Liu Zhi ran over without hesitation, picked up a saber from the ground, and rushed over to deal with a Hu person with Liu Yong.

Extremely annoyed to see that it was two against one, the Hu person turned around and was about to kill Liu Yong and Liu Zhi when Mu Shi kicked him on the waist and sent him flying. Liu Yong chased after him and slit his opponent’s neck before he could even raise his head…

When the other young men hiding saw this, they ran out one after another. They either picked up the saber on the ground or helped Mu Shi with a pole stick.

Covered in blood, Mu Shi went forward to check on the horses and realized that the good horses had all run into the forest and could not be chased back. The rest had injured their legs and could not be ridden at all.

Mu Shi was a little vexed that he didn’t retain a good horse. This way, they would have a means of transport to bring news to the troops.

“Rocky.” Madam Ma-Liu stumbled out of the forest. “How is it? Wanniang was worried about you.”

Mu Shi wiped the blood off his face and said, “It’s fine. We’ve already dealt with them. Ask them to carry on moving.” He turned around to see Shu Wanniang.

Shu Wanniang wrapped a cotton cloth around her children’s heads so that only their noses was exposed. Seeing Mu Shi coming over, she couldn’t help but sit up and look eagerly behind him. When she didn’t see her daughter, she felt disappointed and worried. “Ah Ling isn’t back yet?”

Mu Shi shook his head. “This child has probably gone far. Don’t worry, she’s better at escaping than me. She’ll definitely be fine.”

Poor Mu Shi did not know that Mu Yangling had brought people to ambush the Hus in Nearhill Village again.

As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Yong walked over with a saber in his hand. He hesitated and did not go forward.

When Shu Wanniang saw him, she paused for a moment before asking gently, “Ah Yong, why are you here?”

Liu Yong looked up at Shu Wanniang and immediately lowered his head. “Uncle Mu, the village chief is here. He wants to see the heads of households.”

Mu Shi frowned slightly. Hadn’t they already discussed beforehand that his daughter would scout the way at the back while he would scout the way in front?

What other requests did they have when the Mu family was already in charge of the most dangerous positions?

However, in front of Shu Wanniang, Mu Shi could not ask, lest she worry.

Mu Shi stood up and patted her shoulder. “I’ll go take a look first. Rest for a while.” Seeing that his aunt and Xiuhong were both having difficulty holding on, he cleared a corner of the things at the back of the cart and handed them two large cotton-padded jackets. “Aunt, you and Xiuhong sit at the back and rest for a while. We’ll continue on our way when I return. Watch your surroundings. If there’s anything, shout loudly. I’m not far away.”

Madam Ma-Liu agreed and helped her eldest granddaughter onto the cart.

When Mu Shi reached the road, he realized that Liu He had gathered all the heads of households and young adults in the village. Liu He glanced at Mu Shi before quickly looking away in shame.

Since Mu Shi was the only young man and only son in the Mu family, his family actually did not need to send anyone. But in the entire village, only he and Mu Yangling had some martial arts skills and could unite the villagers.

Liu He sighed and raised his voice to tell them about Mu Yangling’s request. “Now that Ah Ling has already brought her uncles to block the Hus from coming out of the village, I have to count the number of people here.” Sighing, Liu He said, “Fellow villagers, this isn’t the first time the Hus have attacked our village. 12 autumns ago, Mu Shi brought us into the mountains and Mu Yan led people to block the Hus behind. But even so, many of us died.”

“This time, it’s even more serious. The snow in the forest is as deep as a finger. Not to mention the elderly and children, even the young and strong might not be able to survive a night inside. Therefore, we can only escape into the county. However, it’s not only our village that’s invaded by Hus now. Ah Ling said that there’s another team behind us. We don’t know how many people there are. If we don’t send people to stop them, I’m afraid not a single one of the 300 people in our village will be able to make it to the county…”

The heads of households lowered their heads.

Liu He continued, “Ah Ling also said that she has parents and younger siblings, she will be the sole representative from her family. You guys should discuss it now. One person from each family. Other than those with only one son in the family, every household has to give up one person. When she comes back, if it’s not decided yet, she’ll just leave with her father and family. If that should happen, everyone can only fend for themselves.”

Choosing between possibly sacrificing one member or gambling with their entire family was a no-brainer. However, for each family, deciding who to choose was the toughest decision of their lives.