The heavy sound struck everyone's hearts. The subordinates couldn't understand why they didn't take a detour.

Their situation was not favorable for confronting the bandits, but the young general went off to practice martial arts on his own.

That night, apart from Mingyue and her men who slept exceptionally well, the others basically trained all night. Ji Yong'an rode his horse and led the way.

With one kilometer to go before reaching Jinghu Town, Ji Yong'an tightened the reins and stopped. "Whoa!"

Mingyue, "What's wrong?"

Ji Yong'an gripped the red-tasseled spear, frowned, and replied loudly, "Someone is coming from ahead."

Mingyue stepped out of the carriage, twirling the jade beads. Sure enough, two figures were walking towards them. "Let's go down and take a look."

Ji Yong'an: "Yes."

Ji Yong'an summoned two men to stop the other party and coldly demanded, "Who are you?"

“General, I am Li Er, the village chief of Jinghu Town, and this is Lord Li, the town’s magistrate. We have come here specifically to pay our respects to the Grand Preceptor.”

Ji Yong'an's sharp gaze swept over the two of them, and he clasped his hands in a fist salute to Mingyue, replying, "Grand Preceptor, what should we do now?"

Mingyue walked up to Li Er, ignoring his fawning gaze, and said indifferently, "How did you get here? Didn't you encounter any bandits?"

"My lords, you may not know this, but these bandits are running rampant in the village. I only came here after paying a fine. Now that I heard the imperial court has sent people north, I thought I'd offer some money to ask you gentlemen to suppress the bandits and restore peace to the village."

Li Er spoke sincerely, and his tone showed deep hatred for those bandits.

Lord Li's eyes were obsequious, glancing occasionally at the back of the convoy. "Li Er is right. Why don't you rest in town for the night, my lord? And then we can reconsider the matter of suppressing the bandits?"

Mingyue drew the sword from the guard beside her, weighed it in her hand, and asked, "Is that so?"

"Yes, bandit suppression is a matter that needs to be planned in the long term. Seeing how hard the officials are working, this is what we, as their local officials, should do."

Mingyue looked at Lord Li with a smile, her sword blade resting directly on Lord Li's neck. "Lord Li has thought things through."

Lord Li's expression changed slightly. "What do you mean by this, sir?"

Li Er, feigning leniency, tried to remove the sword from Lord Li's neck, but as soon as he raised his hand, Ji Yong'an's red-tasseled spear was pressed against his throat.

Terrified, I dared not move, swallowing nervously, my legs trembling like a sieve.

"It doesn't mean anything. As Lord Li said, we're suppressing bandits."

Without giving Lord Li a chance to speak, Mingyue swiftly and decisively beheaded him.

Li Er, his face splattered with blood, was choked with fear, preventing him from screaming. A pool of yellow liquid slowly oozed from below. "My lord, spare me! My lord, spare me!"

Mingyue wiped her sword clean and sheathed it. "Who sent you?"

Li Er dared not hide anything, and with trembling lips, he confessed word by word, "It was the bandit leader Li Daqiang. Our village dared not resist. We were just trying to survive, sir!"

Ji Yong'an hadn't expected the Grand Preceptor to be so swift and efficient, but after hearing Li Er's reply, he guessed what was going on. "My lord, I'm afraid the bandits in this area are colluding with the local officials."

Otherwise, how could they have been so clear about calling them "General" and "Sir" from the start? Clearly, someone had given these bandits a message.

“It’s normal. It was an oversight during the previous bandit suppression efforts. We never imagined that bandits and officials would collude.” Mingyue showed no surprise and glanced at Li Er. “Take us into the mountains.”

"Go, go into the mountains? The mountains are full of bandits, those people are ruthless killers, sir, you'd better take a detour..."

Thinking back to Mingyue's methods, Li Er realized that this person was also a ruthless killer.