Shuiyou City, Southern Border
Leaving Longyang Village, Qiye followed the mountain road and headed south. By noon, the sun was blazing and insects were chirping. Feeling a little thirsty, he found a shady place by the roadside and rested against a tree.
Gulu gulu... A few mouthfuls of mountain spring water filled his stomach with coolness. Qiye took out two sweet potatoes covered with wood ash in his arms. Although he had high-quality dry food such as dried meat, noodles, and steamed buns with him, it still couldn't match the importance of these two pieces of sweet potatoes in his heart.
Holding two heavy pieces of sweet potatoes in my hands, I felt mixed emotions. I don’t know what to do: I’m very reluctant to part with it if I eat it; if I don’t eat it, I won’t be able to store it for long in this hot day...
Alas, Qiye let out a helpless sigh, then picked up the sweet potato and chewed it carefully and slowly. The soft sweetness and sweet potato aroma continued to ripple on the tip of the tongue while chewing. Along with the burnt black skin and wood ash, he swallowed it without any care...
As I ate, I didn’t know why, but tears fell uncontrollably. Thinking that grandma left her last ration to herself, but he didn't even have time to ask her last name, and he didn't even have time to say her final goodbye.
Qiye felt guilty, and his feelings could not be made up or expressed, as if a precious piece of the puzzle was missing forever.
There were insects buzzing around and people shouting distractedly, but Qiye ate sweet potatoes in the shade of the tree in unusual silence. I chewed two small sweet potatoes carefully for half an hour before wiping my dark mouth with the last trace of aftertaste.
I silently thanked you in my heart: "Thank you...Grandma."
After eating and drinking, the sky was clear and the air was clear, just when Qiye got up and planned to continue on his way. There was a noise from behind the distant hillside. Listen carefully, the noise includes the neighing of horses, the crying of women, and the shouting of men.
Qiye immediately rushed into the woods and bushes with vigilance and observed the situation behind the hillside from a distance. Now, his spiritual power has recovered one-tenth, which is equivalent to possessing the first-level strength of the early stage of war. However, he does not dare to make any bold moves without clarifying the matter.
Gradually, the noise became closer and clearer. And there seemed to be the sound of whips in the noise, which made him frown slightly.
"It seems like it's not a good thing..." Qiye muttered in his heart.
Soon, a large number of people appeared behind the hillside. Take a closer look: there are five to six hundred people in this group, and there are twenty or thirty soldiers, riding tall horses, walking on both sides of the team, as if they are escorting this group of people.
In the middle of the crowd were hundreds of civilians in tattered clothes, men, women, old and young, of varying numbers. Each civilian's arm was branded with a dazzling word "slave" in blood. These people had their hands tightly tied with reins and were connected in a string. They were led all the way by soldiers on horseback, and they walked slowly. Those who do will be severely beaten with a whip.
"Hurry up, speed up! Talk to you, old man!" A soldier wearing bronze armor who looked like a leader urged tirelessly.
Then he raised his whip and whipped it viciously at a staggering old man behind the crowd. After the old man groaned in pain, he staggered a few steps, and then continued to move forward in silence. The crowd slowly moved from far to near, and Qiye behind the bushes watched all this motionlessly.
When the crowd came to the road in front of him, Qiye carefully used his spiritual consciousness to scan the entire team.
Although his soul is now in a coma, his spiritual perception has been greatly improved because of his soul. It's just that due to the current coma of the soul, the detection range of the spiritual consciousness is relatively close. It can only clearly perceive things within ten meters around itself, and it becomes blurry any further away...
"One is the first level of the initial war level, two are the ninth level of the elementary level, and the remaining more than 20 people have no spiritual power." After a brief survey, Qiye had a clear idea.
Such a team would pose no challenge to him before. It's just that the recovery of spiritual power is slow now, and he can't display the most ordinary martial arts, so his strength is greatly reduced, and it may only be equivalent to the first level of the early war level. However, it is more than enough to urge Shadow Step.
Although he didn't know why the group of people in front of him were imprisoned, since he had encountered such brutal expropriation, he couldn't pretend to turn a blind eye or remain indifferent.
The unforgivable slave life made Qiye feel sympathy for the slaves. However, it was impossible to successfully rescue this group of people in broad daylight, so the actions had to be carefully calculated.
Although there were only a few pedestrians on the border mountain road, they came to the rescue after all. A close encounter would inevitably lead to complications. Besides, how will the rescued people be kept? …
At this moment, Qiye's mind was rapidly contemplating the various factors of the action. Although he looked like an eight or nine-year-old child, his mind and thinking were extremely mature. After all, Qiye has the mind of three people in his lifetime, so he is naturally shrewd and prudent in dealing with things.
In just a few moments, Qiye made a decision: wait for the opportunity and take action at night.
After making up his mind, Qiye hid in the bushes and followed the escort team all the way. The mountain road was rugged and crisscrossed, and Qiye followed the escort team unnoticed. Surrounded by mountains and rivers, and taking countless forked mountain roads, he suddenly discovered that the escort team was getting deeper and deeper into the mountains to the east...
Dusk is dark and night falls. The escort team was exhausted after a long journey. Many barefoot slaves have their feet bruised to pieces.
The soldiers on horseback dismounted and arranged for camping. The bonfire was lit and the tent was set up. Twenty or thirty soldiers gathered around the fire to eat meat and drink alcohol without restraint, while the slaves were also surrounded by ropes between a few trees, like Livestock are generally kept in captivity. A pair of dimly blazing eyes behind the bushes were looking at the group of people coldly.
After three rounds of drinking, some of the soldiers were responsible for night watch, while others slept on the spot. As midnight approached, everyone was extremely sleepy. Seeing that the time was ripe, Qiye behind the bush spit out the dead grass in his mouth, twisted his stiff neck, covered his face with black gauze, and silently moved towards the camp with a bright weapon.
At night, there is silence in the mountain forest, except for the quiet chirping of insects and the murmuring of mountain birds. In the forest, in the deep darkness, Qiye's night pupils were slightly opened, and he moved towards the night guard soldiers smoothly and without making a sound.
Perhaps due to the effect of alcohol or paralysis, the night watch soldiers lowered their heads and fell asleep, completely unaware of Qiye standing close behind the bushes around them.
Seeing this opportunity, Qiye's eyes widened. The body shot out like an arrow, and with a single movement, it was close to a soldier who was sleeping against a tree. Quietly, he covered his mouth and cut his throat, then slightly supported his dying body and gently leaned his back against the tree trunk. Everything was calm and natural.
The whole process was done in one go, skillfully and without any unnecessary movements. It is simply unbelievable that a little boy of eight or nine years old could assassinate a living adult so smoothly, just like chopping melons and vegetables, with no obstruction and no blood on the neck.
In fact, Qiye had an inner struggle before this. From his true heart, he did not want to kill anyone. After all, his kindness has not disappeared, and he is not so cold-blooded that he would kill without blinking an eye. But after seeing soldiers treating civilians brutally, especially the unscrupulous beating of women and children along the way, Qiye no longer had any kind thoughts.
With a few shadow steps in a row, Qiye Shen disappeared and silently perfectly eliminated the outermost vigil soldiers. The soldiers did not react at all in their sleep, and their lives were harvested.
For seven nights, he was like the God of Death in his night dream, silently, without sadness or joy, picking up the lives in his sleep.
Although he has killed hundreds of people so far, his heart has long been calm and full of murder. During the killing, the indifferent murderous nature dominates the soul, suppressing the good thoughts, and the whole person seems to have changed. Among peers and even adults, there are very few winners who are so decisive in killing and indifferent to killing.
In the quiet night, the bonfire was dim. The soldiers beside the fire didn't even notice that the outermost night watch soldiers had been perfectly eliminated. The soldiers in twos and threes still sat around the fire with sleepy eyes and stayed on watch all night.
After Qiye dealt with the outermost soldiers, he bypassed the sentry at the front of the fire and slipped outside the officer's tent at the end. In the tent is the only strong man among this group of soldiers whose strength has reached the first level of the early war level. He is also the only obstacle to Qiye's rescue of the crowd this time.
In the dead of night, everyone is sleeping peacefully, a rare opportunity for assassination. Although his strength is greatly reduced and he is unable to attack head-on, he can only use sneak attacks to surprise and clear obstacles with the lowest consumption of spiritual power, which is also a good choice.
Calmly and calmly, Qiye held the scimitar in his hand and prepared to attack, and cautiously moved towards the tent camp step by step.
Just as he walked four or five meters outside the tent and was about to walk out of the bushes, a dead soldier standing with his back against a big tree on the outermost edge fell to the ground without warning. This movement and sound attracted the attention of the soldiers beside the fire. Someone stepped forward to check. This check completely woke up the soldier from his sleepiness.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!..." The soldier who stepped forward to check opened his voice and shouted loudly to the surroundings.
This voice also completely woke up all the soldiers in the camp. The soldiers who came after hearing the inquiry immediately looked around. Only then did they be shocked to find that at some point, all the soldiers on guard at the outermost perimeter were killed silently.
"Where is the enemy!" In the officer's tent, a soldier in bronze armor shouted before he could walk out of the tent.
"Shadow Step, Ling Bu!" At this moment, Qiye burst out at Ling Bu's peak speed, shot out of the bushes in the blink of an eye, and instantly dived in front of the tent.
The opportunity for assassination has been lost. Qiye must kill the target with lightning speed while the target is still confused and unable to prepare for the future. Otherwise, by the time the target regains his attention, it will be too late. He must face an unavoidable head-on confrontation.
At that time, if the enemy sees his intention and jumps over the wall to kill the slaves, it will mean that the rescue fails, and he will never allow it to fail! I don’t know when, but in the memory of my spiritual consciousness, my self-esteem and determination have been growing stronger and I will not allow myself to fail! This is also the obsession swallowed by the black demonic flames...
"Go!" Qiye flashed in front of Bingtou in an instant, with his right hand holding a faintly visible silver needle between his two fingers. This silver needle was naturally taken from Liu Bingwei's body.
The soldier hurried out of the tent and was killed by surprise before he could recover from the moment he just opened the curtain. The soldier never thought that the person who attacked the barracks at night was an eight or nine-year-old child, so he did not even see the short Qiye in front of him.
With the flick of a finger and the flying needle, such a short distance face-to-face attack, the soldier had no time to resist, and the silver needle was instantly shot into the soldier's throat.
"Damn...Damn, cough cough..." Bingtou's eyes were filled with anger, and he spat out a few words vaguely. He grabbed his neck tightly with both hands, and lost control of his body and fell to the ground, looking like he was suffocating.
"Bold villain!" Two junior ninth-level guards came out behind Bingtou. When they saw Bingtou fall, they shouted. Then he drew out his saber and slashed at Qiye.
They believed that the reason why the soldier was hit just now was because the little kid in front of them took advantage of his unpreparedness to sneak attack. After the two were briefly shocked, they woke up as if from a dream and launched an attack on Qiye, as if they wanted to execute him on the spot.
"Kill!" Qiye shouted in a low voice. As soon as his footsteps moved, his figure instantly disappeared in front of the two guards. Then two sword lights lightly crossed the void, bringing out two jets of blood.
"Pfft~" The two junior ninth-level guards spat out a mouthful of blood and fell to the ground with disbelief in their eyes. Their vitality slowly disappeared and they died without resting in peace.
Looking back, Qiye looked at the soldier who was struggling to get up from the ground with cold eyes. It turned out that the silver needle was not stained with poison that could kill immediately, but neurotoxin that paralyzed the whole body. Because it had been used to kill Yanahei Wei before, there was not much toxin left on the silver needle.
After a brief period of paralysis, the toxins gradually dissipated. However, this brief paralysis was enough for Qiye.
Tsk~! Qiye simply drew his sword and beheaded the soldier without mercy. This scene was seen by the surrounding soldiers who came to encircle and suppress them. Everyone was in disbelief, it was simply too unreal. A little kid actually killed their leader.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!"
After killing the soldier, Qiye did not hesitate at all. Several shadow steps flashed into the soldiers. The soldiers who were still in shock had no resistance at all, and were eliminated by Qiye three times, five times, five times and two times. The sound of fighting here naturally woke up the civilians who were trapped in the woods.
In the blazing forest, a small dark ghostly figure flashed everywhere, and there was the wail of death, which was creepy...
