He staggered and looked around, trying to distinguish the appearance of his former relatives among the countless bloody bodies, but he was afraid to actually recognize one or two.
Finally, he stopped looking at the bodies and only checked their breath one by one, just to confirm if anyone was still alive. However, he checked 79 bodies and found no breath at all. That is until he found his aunt, almost hacked to pieces, in a dry well in the backyard.
Xiao Dai still had a breath left, but she was no different from a dead person. He had never seen such wounds in his life. The murder weapon had clearly left the body, but it seemed as if the sword energy still lingered in the blood, severing tendons and veins and separating flesh and skin wherever it touched.
He pulled his aunt out of the well, trembling, forcing himself not to look at her shattered face. He tied his unconscious aunt behind him with two ropes used to tie buckets in the well, and tried to find help nearby. He knew that the murderers might not have gone far, and he had to leave Yu'an City before they found him.
Relying on the instinct of hunting he had learned with his father in the northern mountains since childhood, he galloped on his horse on the mountain path of Douchen Ridge.
Thunder rumbled in the distance, gradually gathering behind him as it got closer and closer.
It's not thunder, it's the sound of horse hooves.
There were about dozens of people, all well-trained, approaching from behind him.
He took advantage of the winding mountain road and thought that as long as the opponent couldn't get close to him, he still had a chance of winning.
But he was carrying someone on his back after all, and the black horse he was riding had reached its limit. Even if he whipped his hand until it bled, he still couldn't escape the sound of horse hooves getting closer and closer behind him.
Suddenly, another sound broke through the night, sharp and noisy, like the roaring of some small animals.
The sound of horse hooves behind him began to become chaotic, and the sound of golden clashes became more and more frequent like a storm, stirring the wind in the valley and bringing the smell of blood to his nose.
His father once taught him that when marching, one should never look back.
Looking back means hesitation, looking ahead and behind, and being eager to get results.
It means that all efforts will fail.
But the shrieks that came one after another were getting closer and closer, and the sound of human bodies being cut seemed to be right next to his ears. He could almost feel the heat of the blood splashing on the back of his head.
He still couldn't help it and just turned his face slightly.
In the dark night before the rainstorm, he saw a web of interwoven silver threads shifting behind him. The group of swordsmen in black clothes and riding black horses were trapped within it, still charging at him with desperate force...
The moment he looked back, he felt something quickly pass by his left shoulder, followed by a sharp pain in his shoulder blade.
As his vision swayed, he vaguely felt that the thing that pierced his left shoulder was a black arrow.
Crows cry at night.
There was a sudden commotion in the forest. It was a flock of birds taking off after being startled.
The past disappeared like smoke. Xiao Zhun opened his eyes and saw his subordinates walking towards him quickly.
"Report to the general, there is an ambush and killing team of about a thousand people in the east. They may be the remnants of the Bai family. Should we..."
Sure enough, what is supposed to come has come.
"Has the head of the account sent down any orders?"
"They said that each battalion must defend its position, and nothing else... that's all."
Xiao Zhun looked at the firelight on the distant plain.
That was the site of the Beast-Subduing Terrace, also home to the royal tent. The entire Beast-Subduing Terrace was surrounded by a small, unobstructed plain, surrounded by endless forests and mountains. This made the small, mountain-clinging plain resemble a pocket, with no way out, its opening facing the newly opened Emperor's Hunting Grounds.
What a great show it is to reopen the spring hunt and settle old accounts.
The Spring Hunt was the time for the throne to leave the capital, and it was also the Bai family's last chance. The emperor would not be unaware of this, nor would he be unprepared.
Long before setting off, the generals of each camp had received secret orders to go deep into the hunting grounds of Yulin Villa under the pretext of spring hunting, using defense as offense and waiting for the enemy to fall into the trap.
All these schemes are but a trick to lure the enemy into a trap. The so-called "spring hunt" is not about hunting birds or beasts, but about old troubles that have been dormant in the dark for a long time.
"Hold still for now, have the guards on high alert, and wait and see what happens."
"yes."
The subordinates received the order and retreated, but before leaving, they couldn't help but look at the general again.
Qing Huaihou, who is in his thirties, already looks more solemn than his peers. Tonight he seems particularly heavy. His figure stands on a protruding rock, as if he has merged with the earth beneath his feet and turned into a stone statue in the wind and rain.
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