Ch 79: Bandits? Sun’s Death!

Weiyang County’s disaster was indeed more severe than elsewhere. The earthquake triggered floods, and two consecutive days of torrential rain caused the already fragile dams to collapse. Starting with Weiyang County, several counties suffered disasters. Thousands of acres of fertile farmland were turned into a swamp. The government office was negligent, and the common people did not even have the ability to collect the corpses of their relatives, only able to flee their homes with their families.

The more the exile procession walked, the more refugees they saw. When they reached Weiyang County, countless refugees were crowded outside.

“Continue on the road.”

Because it was still early, and they had replenished their rations in the last county, seeing this scene, Zhao Shan did not lead the exile procession into the city, but instead had the constables urge everyone to continue on their way. Along the way, they also drove away any begging refugees with whips. At this time, mercy would only harm them.

“What are you dawdling for? Hurry up, all of you!”

After escaping another group of over a hundred refugees, their pace slowed down again. After all, they did not eat enough every day, only two steamed bread barely keeping them alive. But the constables would not tolerate them, each acting like a fierce god, waving whips. They were currently between mountains, where bandits frequently appeared, and the longer they stayed, the more dangerous it became.

Although bandits generally did not target government officials, nor did they usually target exiles—everyone knew that these people wouldn’t have much to offer—who knew if someone might not play by the rules? The only thing they could do was leave as quickly as possible.

“Giddy up, giddy up…”

“Move aside, all of you, move aside!”

At the same time, a chaotic sound of horse hooves suddenly came from the front. To avoid attracting unwanted attention, the constables quickly drove everyone to the side, but…

“No good, it’s bandits!”

Seeing those people’s attire from afar, Zhao Shan and Old Zhou, who were at the front, suddenly changed their expressions. What they feared had indeed happened; this was trouble!

More bandits?

Everyone was momentarily stunned, then their faces became grimmer. Even a three-year-old child knew how ferocious bandits were. Was Old Heaven trying to force them to death?

Gazing at the approaching bandits, Shen Xiangwan’s brows furrowed slightly. Although her martial arts were still poor, her mental strength was high, and she vaguely sensed a strong internal energy fluctuation from those people—almost all of them were martial arts experts. The leader was especially unfathomable. Which bandit gang had such high quality members?

“You go first, I’ll hold them off.”

If Shen Xiangwan could feel it, how could Wei Chengyi not feel it?

As he spoke, he had already tightened the reins, forcing the donkey cart to turn around.

“Ah, what’s wrong?”

“Second Brother, Sister-in-law, what’s happening?”

The donkey cart turned too abruptly, causing Zhao Yuping and others in the cart body to cry out in pain. Wei Chenghé quickly lifted the curtain of the cart body to inquire.

“Let’s talk inside.”

Without time to respond to him, Shen Xiangwan turned and climbed into the cart body.

“Jun Ling, protect everyone and follow behind the donkey cart. Don’t get lost.”

Beside them, Yan Lang was also giving orders to his eldest son in a low voice.

“Father, you should lead everyone. I’ll go with Brother Yi to stop those bandits.”

Since his injury years ago, Yan Lang’s internal energy had been almost entirely ruined, only his maternal family’s martial arts remaining. In this situation, how could Yan Junling let him stay and fight those bandits?

“Damn it, do you think I’m incompetent?”

His eyes narrowed, Yan Lang roared angrily.

Yan Junling looked helpless: “Father, you know that’s not what I meant.”

His father was good in every way, except for this bandit-like temperament he’d cultivated in the military camp, which was particularly troublesome.

“We’ve encountered bandits.”

Inside the cart body, Shen Xiangwan said as she picked up the young child, took out a baby carrier and strapped him to her chest: “Chenghé, protect Mother and Linger.”

“Auntie, are there bad guys?”

Comfortably nestled in her arms, the young child asked in a milky voice.

“Are you scared?”

“Not scared, Auntie is amazing!”

Shaking his head, the young child grinned, giving two thumbs up. For almost a month now, he had almost gotten used to encountering bad guys.

“Good.”

Stroking his head affectionately, Shen Xiangwan then raised her head and said: “Chenghé, Mother, Linger, those bandits aren’t ordinary people. If we have to abandon the donkey cart, remember, stay close to me, don’t get lost.”

“Oh, okay.”

Although somewhat flustered, the three reflexively nodded, reminding themselves to be vigilant.

“Kill!”

“Kill!”

“Run, run quickly!”

“Ah…”

Zhao Shan and Old Zhou originally wanted to try to reason with the bandits, hoping they would let them go, but the bandits didn’t give them a chance to speak, slashing at them with their blades without hesitation. Zhao Shan and the others’ pupils constricted, quickly drawing their swords to defend while desperately urging others to flee.

But they were too slow. The bandits charged into the crowd on horseback, several people instantly beheaded.

“Kill, they’re killing people, the bandits are killing people…”

“Aaaaaah…help… “

“Run…ah…”

The procession instantly fell into chaos. Everyone lost their composure, fleeing in terror. Many still suffered from wind-cold, and coupled with extreme fear, they couldn’t run, only standing there stupidly waiting to die. This included Sun, who had been ill for a long time. Her two filial sons had already disappeared, and the others from the second and third branches were each fleeing for their lives, having no time to care for her.

“Ah…”

A bloodstained long dao cleaved the air, and Sun’s head flew off instantly, her wide eyes still filled with terror and fear.

“Older Brother, I’m scared, woohoo…”

On the other side, Shen Xiangyue clutched Shen Xiangdong tightly, tears streaming down her face. This time, she wasn’t pretending; she was truly crying. The bandits were hacking at anyone they saw; it was terrifying. This didn’t happen in her past life; where did it go wrong?

“Don’t be afraid, Older Brother will protect you.”

Glancing back at the bandits who were carrying out the massacre, Shen Xiangdong scooped her up, running much faster, almost flying.

“Xiangdong, Xiangdong…”

“Father…woohoo…”

Among the Shen family, Shen Xiangdong had the best martial arts. Shen Yishan and his wife, Shen Xiangnan and his wife, and Wang Wan’er and her daughter were all chasing after them. But seeing him run further and further away with Shen Xiangyue, everyone’s hearts sank, especially Shen Yishan and Jiang. They never imagined that in such a crisis, their eldest son would only care about Shen Xiangyue.

“Ah…”

While chasing, Wang Wan’er stumbled and fell, but she didn’t care about the pain, shouting at Shen Xiangdong’s receding back: “Shen Xiangdong, come back, come back and take Mingya, she’s your daughter!”

Unfortunately, the scene was too chaotic, and Shen Xiangdong was only focused on escaping, not hearing her. Even if he had heard, he probably wouldn’t have turned back to get her, because Shen Xiangyue would absolutely not allow it. As long as she shed a few more tears, Shen Xiangdong would probably lose all sense of direction.

Please vote!!!