Under the watchful eyes of everyone, two burly men swayed forward, grinning wickedly as they tried to lift Huan'er up and drag her away.
Huan'er looked at the two men in terror, shouting and cursing at them as she struggled desperately in their grasp: "What are you doing? Let me go, let me go, you bandits and robbers..."
"Sister Huan'er, Sister Huan'er..."
"Huan'er, Huan'er, please, please let her go! She's just a child..."
In an instant, the shouts and pleas of adults in the crowd, and the cries of babies who had been sleeping soundly in the arms of women, were all mixed together and boiled over once again.
Just then, a thunderclap suddenly appeared in the sky, the thunder rumbled past, and then a particularly loud and stern voice rang in everyone's ears: "His Highness the King of Qin is here! Who dares to harm the people of Western Qin!"
Suddenly, all was silent. Everyone's expression changed drastically, and they looked around in shock, but they couldn't find a single person in the pitch-black night.
The red-clad leader, who had been smirking and conspiring with Long Ye, who sat regally on the grand chair in front of the ancestral hall, froze in his fawning smile upon hearing the words "King Qin." His eyes widened in shock, as if he had seen a ghost, and he turned around abruptly in the direction of the voice, scanning the area with wide eyes, but saw nothing at all.
Enraged, he raised his broadsword, bared his teeth, and charged towards the villagers, baring his sharp blade at each one, roaring and demanding answers:
"Who's the reckless fool trying to create this mystery again? Who shouted just now? Where is the King of Qin? Where is that brat? Was it you?... Or you... Did you shout? Are you testing my patience? Speak, speak now, who shouted? Speak or not, or I'll send you to the Western Paradise to meet Buddha right now."
Upon seeing this, the villagers were so frightened by the terrifying appearance of the man with the ferocious face, who looked like a demon, that they retreated one after another.
Just as he raised his broadsword high, about to strike the woman who was bowing her head, tightly protecting the infant in her arms, her shoulders trembling with fear, the demonic figure suddenly had its head severed. A spurt of blood erupted from its neck, but its disoriented body remained upright in its previous posture. It swayed for a moment, then the broadsword clattered to the ground, and its body collapsed heavily to the ground with a thud.
Seeing the head of the red-clad leader, who had just been full of vigor and brandishing his knife at the villagers, suddenly roll towards them like a ball on the ground, all the burly men in red present shrank back and retreated.
Long Ye suddenly stood up, staring wide-eyed at the bizarre scene unfolding before him. He was speechless and swallowed hard.
The villagers quickly reached out and covered the children's terrified eyes.
Quickly regaining his senses, Long Ye abruptly looked up and glared fiercely at the villager in front of him, angrily demanding, "Who did this?"
Just then, a horse's neigh suddenly came from behind. A young man in the crowd frowned and turned around to look at it. He scratched his forehead and thought about the strange sound from before. Suddenly, he realized what it was and excitedly shouted, "It's His Highness Prince Qin! His Highness Prince Qin is here! His Highness Prince Qin has really come!"
"Long live the King of Qin!" Immediately, everyone turned around and saw the noble, extraordinary, and dignified figure behind them, and immediately bowed and knelt down to him.
Seeing this, Long Ye belatedly realized what had just happened. His eyes flashed with cold light, he clenched his fists, and with a powerful push of his feet, he flew out of the ancestral hall entrance, landing right in front of Xuan Yuanhan.
The thirty or forty burly men in red who had enclosed the land and imprisoned the villagers, upon seeing the true form of the War God Qin Wang, who was awe-inspiring throughout the entire spiritual realm, capable of fighting a hundred men single-handedly and looking down upon the world, had already retreated hastily without waiting for orders, shrinking into a ball and timidly hiding behind Long Ye for protection.
On horseback, Xuan Yuanhan, with a solemn expression, glanced at the mess in front of him, then narrowed his eyes and stepped off the horse.
After standing still, he gently raised one of his large hands, and the villagers kneeling in front of him helped each other to stand up slowly and straighten their backs. He walked over and stood behind the omnipresent and benevolent King Qin, and angrily snorted contemptuously at the group of burly men in red opposite him. The men in red avoided eye contact, and none of them dared to raise their heads even slightly.
After their eyes met for a moment, Long Ye completely ignored Cheng Liang, who silently passed by him to retrieve his sword from the headless corpse. He chuckled and then loudly and arrogantly addressed Xuan Yuanhan:
"So you are King Xuanyuan Han of Qin?... Hmph, just as the rumors say, in the Western Qin Kingdom, the King of Qin is indeed the guardian deity of the people, omnipresent, comparable to that cowardly Emperor Jing in the deep palace! Originally, I wanted to let you live a few more days, but I didn't expect you to lose your temper first. It seems the time has come, daring to attack my men. Today, I will take your head first, and tomorrow I will take it to scare that old man Emperor Jing. Maybe that bastard won't be frightened and will just hand over this great land to others, hahahahaha... hahahahahaha!"
Faced with Long Ye's unbridled verbal provocation, Xuan Yuanhan remained calm and composed, his gaze deep and sharp, showing no emotion.
Seeing this, Long Ye suddenly lost his confidence and stopped laughing.
He never expected that what he thought was just an inexperienced child with some rudimentary kung fu skills, a mere greenhorn, would possess such composure and calmness in the face of adversity.
Presumably, he has truly met his match today. Had he known this would happen, he should have brought more elite troops to assist him when he set out.
They were able to enter the village so stealthily; surely all the men I had sent out on lookouts must have been captured by their men.
But why is he the only one here with two guards? How did he suddenly end up in this little-known village? Could it be that the traitor he imprisoned in the secret dungeon betrayed him? But that shouldn't be the case; he had already ordered his men to intercept all the information…
There was no time for further deliberation. Faced with such a formidable enemy, the only option was to act swiftly and decisively. With this thought in mind, he took a deep breath, drew his long sword, and raised his voice to command his men behind him: "Today, whoever takes the head of the King of Qin will be rewarded with a hundred taels of gold by this gang leader! Charge!"
Upon hearing this, most of the burly men in red remained standing timidly in place, trembling. Only seven or eight of them followed Long Ye, raised their knives, and charged out.
Meanwhile, Cheng Liang, together with several guards who had gone ahead to scout, had quickly cleared out the enemy's defenses outside. He then deployed his dozen or so guards around the ancestral hall square, all of whom were ready to pounce. They would fly out from all directions at Cheng Liang's signal and fight back with all their might.
It's hardly their master's place to deal with these bandits and petty thieves.
Just as Cheng Liang was about to raise his hand to signal, a continuous roar of mountain beasts suddenly came from the other side of the mountain. The sound was so loud that it resounded throughout the heavens and the earth.
In an instant, everyone stopped in their tracks, their expressions changed, and they nervously gazed at the mountain peak.
Suddenly, all the villagers knelt down and began to kowtow towards the mountain, chanting, "The goddess has returned! The goddess has returned..."
Upon hearing this, the men who had followed Long Ye exchanged glances for a moment, then dropped their weapons in alarm and scrambled back to the group behind them.
"Come back, all of you come back! You're all trash, utterly trash!" Upon seeing this, Long Ye roared angrily at their backs, then turned around in a hurry, touched the ground with both feet, and flew out on his own.
He landed close to Xuan Yuanhan and thrust his sword straight at Xuan Yuanhan's left shoulder.
Xuanyuan Han remained tight-lipped, only glaring coldly at him. When Cheng Liang saw that Long Ye actually dared to attack his master, he quickly drew his sword to protect him. With a clang, the tip of Long Ye's sword was knocked away by another sword, and Long Ye was instantly thrown into the air before landing on the ground.
Cheng Liang held his sword horizontally in front of him, blocking his master's path not far away, and raised an eyebrow with disdain, saying, "So you are Long Ye?"
"And who are you?" Long Ye finally looked at him closely and asked with disdain.
Cheng Liang smiled and said, "I'll tell you after you beat me!"
"What arrogance!" Long Ye said, and then a flash of blue light appeared in his hand, and a sharp sword suddenly stabbed straight towards Cheng Liang.
Cheng Liang also stepped forward to fight without showing any weakness. The two swords clashed, their blades flashing and buzzing. Before the sound of the clash had even subsided, the two swords were already locked in fierce combat.
Before long, perhaps unable to hold on any longer, Long Ye suddenly leaped up and flew out of the ancestral hall square, taking the opportunity to escape. Cheng Liang followed closely behind and chased after him, but the two disappeared in an instant.
Upon seeing this, the remaining nearly one hundred burly men from the Xiaolong Society scattered like monkeys falling from a tree. They all bowed their heads and prostrated themselves on the ground, raising their broadswords above their heads and shouting in unison, "We beg Your Highness Qin to have mercy and spare our lives. From now on, we will follow Your Highness Qin's lead without wavering."
"Rise, all of you. I will give you another chance to start anew, considering your willingness to repent. I hope you will abandon evil and do good from now on. If you are truly loyal to my Western Qin court, I will certainly give you an important position," Xuan Yuanhan said coldly, taking a breath.
"Thank you, Your Highness Prince Qin, for sparing our lives!" the crowd shouted in unison again, thanking him before rising to their feet.
At this moment, Xuanyuan Han gestured for the guard beside him to step forward. The guard stepped forward and slowly unfurled an official notice...
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