Chapter 423 - Chapter 424: Chapter 393 Invasion_1

Chapter 424: Chapter 393 Invasion_1

“My lord! We have travelled from our village, on the road for a full day. Could you possibly let us pass?”

A villager, who was adept at such negotiations, and used to do small businesses in various villages, stepped forward to communicate with the guards.

While talking, he discreetly slid some coins across to the guard.

In a grand city, it would be normal for common folk to be barred entrance once the gates were closed at night.

But LeFeng City is merely a small town, even its walls were so dilapidated they hardly served any defensive purpose, the gate was mostly decorative. Whether the gate was closed or open, there was not much difference.

The reason they were being prevented from entering the town, was merely to extort some benefits.

He had dealt with such situations quite often before, which was why he opted to travel directly instead of stopping for a rest midway, planning to enter the town next day.

Unusually, the guard captain weighed the money he received for a moment, then suddenly burst out cursing: “You dog! Daring to give this meager amount, do you think you are tipping a beggar? Get lost!”

Hearing the guard captain’s words, the villager who had been negotiating turned pale, obviously enraged.

This was not his first time doing this, and the money he gave was certainly not insignificant, but he did not expect the guard to be so greedy.

Resigned, he painfully dug out some more money, laughing apologetically as he handed it over.

“Sir, it is I who has failed to understand the rules, I hope you will not take it to heart,” he said.

“Hmph!”

The guard captain took the silver coins, weighed them for a moment, then put them away. From his expression, it seemed he was grudgingly satisfied.

“Check it!”

The guard captain called to his subordinates, who held sharp weapons in their hands, and went to inspect the ox-cart.

Xu Mu, who was standing next to the cart, watched all this without uttering a word.

Given his abilities, he could have ousted them with force, but if a bit of money was enough to solve the problem, that seemed a more appropriate choice.

Facing the approaching guards, the villagers naturally did not dare to obstruct. They didn’t need to, after all, they weren’t carrying any contraband.

On the contrary, they felt a sense of pride.

After all, hunting down a monster was quite an impressive feat.

The guard captain frowned, using his saber to lift the straw mat on the cart.

The straw mat was not there to deceive onlookers, rather it was to prevent the black bear monster’s corpse from decaying quickly under the heat of the sun.

Their haste to enter the city was largely because they were worried the corpse of the black bear monster would decay on the road, and this would affect their reward.

The guard captain, who had initially been suspicious of the cargo, was startled when he saw the corpse of the black bear monster, and he couldn’t help but step back.

The guards at his side quickly drew their blades, their faces turning pale. Clearly, they were frightened.

This reaction suggested that such monsters, transformed from martial artists, were rare occurrences, even in a town, otherwise these people would not have been so horrified.

“I-Is this… a monster?!”

The guard captain asked uncertainly.

This question reaffirmed that monsters were rare, and indirectly highlighted that there were not many martial artists around.

“Indeed, your insight is impressive. This was the monster that had been wreaking havoc near our village. It was slain by Brother Xu Mu yesterday. We brought it here to claim the reward from the county yamen.” The negotiating villager said with some pride.

Seeing the previously arrogant guards appearing so frightened, the villagers suddenly felt a sense of superiority.

Though they had been even more frightened when they first saw the monster, in this moment they felt somewhat superior.

What of city folk? Could they slay a monster? They are not as good as us villagers!

That was their current thinking.

One by one, they puffed up their chests with pride.

However, Xu Mu noticed the change in the guard captain’s expression.

Initially, he was shocked, then his eyes began to gleam. Soon after, he struggled to suppress his excitement.

“Whether it’s a monster or not, it’s not for you to decide!”

Despite denying the claims of the villagers, the guard captain turned to look at Xu Mu, squinting skeptically, he asked: “You killed it?”

Xu Mu, with his excessively youthful face and the image of a disabled, looked incapable of killing such a monstrous creature no matter how one looked at him.

“Indeed.” Xu Mu nodded, speaking calmly.

Examining Xu Mu from head to toe, the captain seemed to be considering something. Then he suddenly declared: “This is serious matter, you wait here while I report it.”

With that, the captain instructed his men to watch the villagers and he hurriedly entered the city.

Xu Mu frowned, but he did not stop this sequence of events from unfolding.

If he were alone, adopting some other approach wouldn’t matter, but now with a group of ordinary villagers following him, if there were any sudden development, these people were likely to encounter trouble.

He was confident in his own abilities, not fearing any ordinary individual.

But these villagers couldn’t handle it, so he decided to quietly observe, trying not to cause additional trouble.

Not long thereafter, the guard reappeared, leading a group of armored soldiers who were riding bizarre deer-horned horses. Leading them was a pale young man in a purple robe, whose appearance emitted an air of excitement and impatience.

“Move aside! Where is the corpse? Where is it?” The purple-robed youth bellowed, brandishing his whip.

“Sir, it’s right on that ox-cart!”

The guard captain hastily dismounted and pointed to the ox-cart amidst the crowd.

The guards who had been left behind immediately pushed the villagers to one side, creating a passage for the purple-robed youth to inspect.

The purple-robed youth did not dismount, he directed his mount directly to the cart, then yanked hard on the reins, causing the hind legs of his mount to rise high into the air.

Seeing the half-human half-bear corpse on the cart, a fanatic look flashed across the eyes of the purple-robed youth.

“It’s a beast-variant. Indeed, it’s a beast-variant!” he exclaimed.

The purple-robed youth dismounted, handed his reins to an alert guard, then walked up to the ox-cart. He inspected the monster’s corpse from head to toe, his happiness growing more pronounced.

Now, not only Xu Mu, but even the unsophisticated villagers sensed that something was not right.

The air of importance the purple-robed youth carried was significant. Followed by twenty or thirty armored cavalrymen, every one of them exuded bloodlust, carrying themselves with a fierce air. None of them looked like ordinary soldiers.

Accompanied by such a mighty force, even a fool could tell the status of the purple-robed youth was not ordinary.

Intimidated by this display, the villagers dared not utter a word.

“Men, take it away!”

The purple-robed youth ordered casually, having finished his examination of the corpse.

Immediately, the guards approached. Some pushed the cart, some covered the corpse with straw mats, some drove the cart, all appearing ready to move the cart into the city.

The villagers were all momentarily at a loss as to what to do, and all eyes turned to Xu Mu, as he was, after all, the one who laid claim to this trophy.

“Wait!”

Xu Mu stepped forward and put his hand on the shoulder of the guard who was trying to drive the cart away.

Immediately, all soldiers’ and guards’ eyes fell on Xu Mu, their gaze filled with intense pressure.

“Who are you to obstruct my way?”

The purple-robed youth said coldly, then raised the whip in his hand aiming at Xu Mu.