“Hm?” Liu Mang frowned. The voice belonged to one of Jia Xu’s spies. The sound of a sword being unsheathed could also be heard.
“What’s going on?” Kuai Ran asked Liu Mang. Those outside the carriage were all Liu Mang’s men.
“I also do not know.” Liu Mang shook his head. “They may have encountered a thief.” Liu Mang tried to comfort Kuai Ran. However, he himself became more worried as the sounds of battle only grew louder. If it was just a thief, Jia Xu and the spies would have been able to get rid of the thief easily as the spies were all chosen from the army. They were people that crawled themselves up from piles of corpses. Even if the enemy was a soldier, they wouldn’t have any problems.
“How dare you! Do you know who is inside this carriage?” Hearing Jia Xu’s men shout this, Liu Mang could not endure himself anymore. “Brother Kuai. Wait inside the carriage. I am going out to take a look.”
“Brother Wang! It is dangerous outside! It is best to wait inside the carriage!” Kuai Ran was more of an intellectual. Even if he had learned how to use a sword, it was only the minimum required for self-defense. For him, it would be better to stay in the carriage and wait for the incident to be over. After all, they were only at the outer city of Xiangyang instead of outside the city. There would be patrols that would come to assist once they hear the commotion.
“Brother Kuai. It is better for you to remain in the carriage!” Liu Mang was different from Kuai Ran. He had to ability to protect himself and was even stronger compared to Jia Xu’s subordinates. There was no reason for him to remain in the carriage.
After Liu Mang got out of the carriage, he saw a man holding a pitchfork1 with one hand and was carrying a woman the other. The stranger was facing towards Jia Xu and his subordinate.
“Young master.” Jia Xu addressed when he saw Liu Mang come out. He still called Liu Mang that as they were in front of Kuai Ran.
“Kuai Ran is still in the carriage. What is going on here? Who is this man?” Liu Mang asked.
“I also do not know!” Jia Xu shook his head. He too, had only just got off his carriage.
“Move aside! Get me a carriage! Get me a carriage!” The stranger shouted towards Liu Mang’s group repeatedly. His eyes showed his killing intent.
“Milord, be careful. This person is strong. My subordinates could not capture him at all. One of them was even injured by him!” Jia Xu warned. He had brought four subordinates with him. Each of them had the strength of a Third Grade warrior. However, one of them even got himself injured despite there only being one opponent. The stranger had the advantage and his strength could be seen.
“The man is injured.” Liu Mang suddenly said.
“Hm?” Jia Xu looked at Liu Mang skeptically.
“He is injured?” Jia Xu was shocked that the pitchfork wielding stranger was injured. He then smelled the blood.
Liu Mang nodded. “Look at the man’s waist. Isn’t it bleeding?” Although it was dark, the moon still made it bright enough to see that the stranger’s waist was wet, either with water or with blood.
What kind of battle did this man go through such that even his clothes is soaked in blood? The pitchfork the man held was the one used by the common masses.2 He was also dressed like a common Han. However, he was a barbarian.
“A barbarian?” Jia Xu’s insight were sharp. He could tell that something was different about the stranger.
“A barbarian?” Liu Mang did not know when he offended a barbarian. He did not know why this powerful fighter was obstructing their path.
“Milord. This barbarian is not here to obstruct us. He is probably trying to escape.” Jia Xu said to Liu Mang.
“Escape?” Liu Mang finally remembered that the barbarian was asking for the carriage. He probably needed it to escape.
“Milord. Look at that woman behind him!” Jia Xu pointed at the woman carried behind the barbarian. Although she was covered in bedding, they could still see that she was a woman.
“Kidnapping women in Xiangyang!” Liu Mang became angry. This barbarian really did not show any face to the Han. They even dared to come all the way to Xiangyang to kidnap women.
“Give me a carriage!” The barbarian shouted again.
“A carriage? Hmph! You will be staying here today!” Liu Mang then stretched out his hand. “Give me a sword!” One guard from the carriage then came out and gave Liu Mang a longsword. “Liu Biao. I will protect the safety of Xiangyang! You better thank me for this!”
“Milord. More is worse than less!” Jia Xu tried to stop Liu Mang. Liu Mang may not be able to capture this barbarian on his own, within a short moment. If the patrol arrives before Liu Mang was finished, his identity could no longer be kept.
“Then what should we do?” Liu Mang frowned and put away his sword. He really should not be exposing his identity.
“We make this barbarian back away.” Jia Xu simply wanted them to be on their way. The less problems the better. What they needed now was to quickly reach Kuai Liang’s residence.
“Fine. Let your men push him back.” Liu Mang nodded, ordering Jia Xu’s men to force the barbarian to back off. Although the four warriors were no match for the barbarian, the barbarian was injured and also needed to protect the woman.
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