The Sword of Smiling and Proud

Chapter 196 Jianghuai Banditry
Guan Yuan kept chasing the mark for several days, day and night.

The enemy intercepted Yue Lingshan three or four days ago and was moving very fast. Guan Yuan chased her for four or five days without catching up.

When he realized that something was wrong with the surrounding atmosphere, he realized that he had chased all the way and had reached the boundary of Linquan.I heard that there was a bandit trouble here before, and many surrounding counties were looted. Now it is getting worse and worse, and it has the potential to be a big one.

From time to time, groups of disaster victims would appear along the official road. These were the people who had fled their homes after their homes were destroyed during the banditry.

At this time, these victims could not tell whether they were civilians or bandits. They were headed by young and middle-aged people, and they were attacking the homes of rich and powerful people in surrounding towns and villages.

If you meet someone easy to talk to, eat him for a few days, and the victims will disperse.When they met the squire, who had a tough temper and a bad reputation before, they all swarmed up, broke through the defense line of the guards, and rushed into the rich family's home.

Outside, I could only hear the cry of father and mother in the courtyard, and bursts of exclamations and cries from women and children.

Guan Yuan still had business to attend to and didn't want to meddle in other people's affairs or commit more crimes. He only warned him when he really couldn't stand it.

However, the further he went to the Huaihe River, the more chaotic the situation became. Even when Guan Yuan wanted to cross the river at Yingzhou, he couldn't even find a boatman, so he had to go down the river to see if there was an available ferry downstream.

Just when he was riding a horse by the river looking for a ferry, he saw a small boat in the middle of the river. The man on the boat waved to him. Guan Yuan took a closer look and saw that it was an acquaintance, Shen Lian of Jin Yiwei.

"Why are you everywhere? What business does Mr. Shen have here?"

The two have been friends for many years, but Guan Yuan's tone was not so polite.

"Now that the situation in Jianghuai is corrupt, as a Jin Yiwei, I naturally have to come." Shen Lian chuckled and gave way to the two people behind him. Guan Yuan looked at Mian Shan, but he couldn't remember it.

"Two Taoist priests, Cheng Gao and Cheng Yuan, have officially joined Jinyiwei as guest ministers. They come with me this time to find out the information about the leader of the bandit."

Guan Yuan suddenly realized that the Cheng Gao of the Wudang Sect was not the Chongxu Taoist Master Gao in the original work, who was armed with thousands of kilograms of explosives and was about to blow up the Hengshan Sect in minutes.

This was a ruthless man. He slightly cupped his hands and bowed to each other.

"Some thieves have robbed my junior sister, and I'm here to chase the enemy." Guan Yuan was not polite, "I just want to borrow your boat to cross the river."

I saw him leaping up from his horse, tapping a few points on the water, and then got on the boat.He took the boat pole from Taoist Cheng Gao's hand and tapped it gently. He saw the small boat moving forward through the waves as if it were in the rapids.Several members of Jinyiwei had to hold on tightly to the gang of the boat before they could barely sit still.

Cheng Gao and others were horrified, "This person is just a junior disciple of the Huashan Sect, but he actually has such power. As the master said, the Huashan Sect's hidden dragons and crouching tigers should not be underestimated. It is really possible that the big devil Dongfang Bubai fell in Huashan .”

Shen Lian was familiar with the details of Guan Yuan and smiled softly, "With your skills, I'm afraid you could eat all the strange toads given to you by the Holy One."

Guan Yuan replied angrily, "What do you know about your little martial arts? In my current state, I no longer rely on those external objects."

When the boat was about to dock, Guan Yuan flew away again, and was already far away in the blink of an eye, "I still have business to do, see you later!"

Guan Yuan left in such a hurry. In addition to being anxious to recover Yue Lingshan, he was also afraid of what tasks Shen Lian would shamelessly arrange for him.

For some reason, every time I see him, something is bothering me.

After Guan Yuan crossed the Huaihe River, he began to search hard for the marks left by Yue Lingshan in the previous direction.Across the Huaihe River, it is indeed difficult to find.

It wasn't until the next day that Guan Yuan saw the Huashan sect's mark again on the east path. According to the mark, Yue Lingshan should have been pressed all the way to the foot of Bagong Mountain on the edge of the Huaihe River.Although Guan Yuan was chasing after him, he kept muttering in his heart as to what the thief's purpose was in robbing Yue Lingshan so far.If he wanted to get some benefits from the Huashan Sect, he did not contact anyone from the Huashan Sect.

Arriving at the southern foot of Bagong Mountain, Guan Yuan touched the sword-shaped carvings on the tree stumps on the roadside with his hands. He saw that the carvings were only made a day ago.It looked like he was about to catch up with them.

Just when he was still thinking secretly, there was another rapid sound of horse hooves behind him. When he looked back, it was Shen Lian and others.

"I'm not following you. We also found out about the leader of this banditry. We are on the Bagong Mountain at this time, and we came here to investigate."

Shen Lian got off his horse, spread his hands, and smiled.

Guan Yuan curled his lips slightly, without comment, and turned his head to look at the small Bagong Mountain.

"This place is extraordinary. The battle of Feishui between the Qin and Jin Dynasties will be fought here, but it is a place where the wind is roaring and the trees and grass are surrounded by soldiers." Shen Lianyao pointed to Bagong Mountain, which stretched for dozens of miles from north to south.

That's not what Guan Yuan was thinking about. As a top gourmet, he was even more impressed by the rumors that Liu An, the king of Huainan, practiced immortality and alchemy here during the Western Han Dynasty and invented tofu by accident.

It seems that Yue Lingshan was kidnapped up the mountain by thieves, but it is not yet clear what the relationship between the thieves and the leader of the bandits in Jianghuai is.

"Let's go all the way up and see what's going on before leaving." Shen Lian suggested that it's better to be careful. They were here to inquire about information, so naturally they could just sneak up and take a look.

"Why bother? Come with me." Guan Yuan raised his sword and strode up the mountain.

Now that his strength is extraordinary, there may be people who are confident that they can beat him in this world, but there may not be anyone who wants to keep him.

Two Wudang disciples, Cheng Gao and Cheng Yuan, protected Shen Lian and followed him up the mountain.

Along the way, Guan Yuan also asked about some information that Jin Yiwei had.

"The leader of the banditry is known as the Holy Duke. He is eager for public justice and loves charity. He started from the Dabie Mountains. As soon as he raised his rebellion flag, he swept across the Jianghuai River in three or two months."

"This person is quite good at deceiving people. After disturbing one party, he instead entrenched himself in the Jianghuai area, hesitating and not knowing what his plans are."

"But I haven't heard of any martial arts warriors under the command of the Holy Duke."

As soon as Shen Lian finished speaking, he was slapped in the face.

With a few hisses, a dark green shot shot out from the trees not far away and in front. The sound was so fast and the angle was so tricky that it looked like it was the action of a hidden weapon expert.

Shen Lian and others were shocked. They thought the mountains were just bandits and victims, but they did not expect such a thing.

Guan Yuan, who was walking in front, could be seen not moving. With a wave of his long sleeves, he covered them all. Then he fluttered his sleeves and robes, and those dark green stones flew back very fast and plunged into the place. Bordering dense forest.

The person who wielded the hidden weapon probably didn't expect that the person coming was so skilled in martial arts and couldn't avoid it.

Guan Yuan heard the sound of a sharp knife piercing his flesh. The man didn't even groan. There was a sound of branches and leaves being crushed from the bushes. He must have fallen to the ground.

(End of this chapter)