Xiyan Town, the seat of the county government, was in turmoil. Upon receiving the news, County Magistrate Cui Youde was as frantic as an ant on a hot pan.
Over a thousand fierce bandits had breached the Black Wind Pass, and Xiyan Town was as defenseless as a young maiden stripped bare, helpless in their grasp.
The magistrate's office had only a handful of constables on its roster—barely enough to manage the occasional local ruffian. Even with the retired veterans scattered in the surrounding villages, it was doubtful they could wield a blade. A mere dozen constables could barely handle petty criminals, let alone face the might of such a savage force. The total number barely equaled a fraction of the invaders.
As for the local aides, most had already packed up and fled, unwilling to risk their lives alongside the magistrate.
Cui Youde had thought of fleeing, but as the head of the county, he was bound by duty to protect the land. The law was merciless. The moment he stepped beyond the town's gates, the imperial censors would descend upon him, ready to use their overwhelming power to execute him and erase his family from existence.
Stay, and it was death. Flee, and the same fate awaited his kin. It was a grim equation, one that could be framed as a matter of honor, or, less charitably, one of sheer helplessness.
After ensuring his family's escape, Cui Youde bellowed, "Liu Zizheng! Liu County Officer!"
Liu, the county's martial officer, appeared, drenched in sweat and accompanied by two constables.
"Where is everyone else?" Cui Youde asked, noticing the unsettling emptiness in the office, even lacking a messenger to deliver orders.
"Ha! Other than us? They've all run!" Liu replied, his face marked with the same resigned sorrow he saw mirrored in the magistrate's eyes.
"Your Majesty, I shall fulfill my duty!" Liu added, the grim sense of inevitability settling in.
Ignoring the incongruity of his official attire, Cui Youde grabbed his steel sword with resolve. "Rally everyone, we will fight those bandits to the death!" Beneath his noble robes, his legs trembled with fear, an ironic testament to ancient wisdom: the art of deception.
Strategems and eloquent speeches belonged to the theater, but in this moment, the only recourse was the blade. It was a brutal reality—those who died were fools, and those who survived were kings.
Liu, gritting his teeth, replied, "Naturally, we will fight!"
A civil official's resolve was to be expected, but even Liu, a soldier, could not shrink from his duty.
"Wait—have you notified Suiye City?" Cui Youde, still clinging to a faint hope, asked just as Liu prepared to rally the townspeople.
"Before the Black Wind Pass was breached, we had already sent word to Suiye and the surrounding military officials," Liu replied. "Help may already be on the way."
"May the Buddha and all gods protect us. Please let the reinforcements arrive swiftly!" Cui Youde clasped his hands in fervent prayer.
Before the reinforcements could arrive, it seemed only divine intervention could save Xiyan Town—or perhaps Cui Youde's own neck.
Just then, the air was filled with the sounds of battle, the earth trembling as though a thousand horses galloped towards them.
"The horse bandits are here! The horse bandits—ah!"
A man's scream was cut short, followed by a blood-curdling cry.
Cui Youde and Liu exchanged glances in disbelief. The bandits had arrived faster than they could prepare. In a flash, over a thousand men stormed Xiyan Town, sparking chaos and fear.
The streets were filled with wailing, smoke rising as though the town had turned into a hellish furnace.
"Kill! Kill! Steal the money, the grain, the women! Kill anyone who can't be carried off! Burn everything down!" The leader of the bandits, his face marred by a scar from his left eye to his right cheek, rode through the streets, his bloodstained silver armor gleaming. He swung his blade with reckless abandon, cutting down panicked civilians who scrambled in all directions.
"Money! Grain! Women! Kill everything else! Burn it all!" The bandits echoed, their voices savage and bloodthirsty, as more innocent lives were cut down.
Amid the bloodbath, one man stood apart—a figure without weapon or armor, his hair disheveled. Yet, within a one-pace radius around him, no bandit dared approach.
He swiftly pulled a piece of yellow paper from his chest, folding it into a bird while muttering incantations. Then, with a brush, he marked the bird's eyes with vermillion ink, causing it to spontaneously ignite. Without fear of the flames, he held the burning bird aloft and shouted, "Go!"
The firebird shot into the sky, growing larger as it soared. It circled above Xiyan Town, scattering fire rain down onto the streets below. Fires erupted everywhere, and the cries of the suffering grew louder.
Among the bandits, a sorcerer had hidden himself.
The man raised a small black flag to the heavens, his eyes glowing with malevolent energy. Dark winds, carrying the wails of countless souls, swirled around him, drawn to the flag as though the bloodshed empowered them.
The townspeople of Xiyan were fully immersed in despair.
Meanwhile, some bandits, in groups of three or five, stormed into homes, regardless of whether they were rich or poor. Within moments, the shrill sounds of laughter from the bandits mingled with the desperate cries of the victims.
Not long after, the bandits, their arms laden with stolen goods and blood-soaked weapons, moved on to their next target.
Even those who dared to resist with whatever makeshift weapons they could find were swiftly overwhelmed, falling to the ruthless blades of the seasoned bandits.
At the Li family's mansion, the bullock carts filled with riches became prime targets for the marauding bandits.
The street was overrun with bandits—at least two or three hundred of them. They greedily eyed the carts, pushing forward to claim their prize. Fights broke out among them as some struggled for better positions.
"Master, there are too many of them. We must break through now, or it will be too late!" The Li family's steward, Li Fugui, wielded a spear with skill, fending off the wolves of bandits and tossing one of them from his horse, driving the spear into his throat before it was quickly withdrawn.
"Fugui, have your second son lead the others and protect my three boys, and that girl from the Wu family—she's to be my son's bride. Keep her safe!"
At this moment, wealth no longer mattered. The protection of their loved ones was all that mattered.
Li Dahu, with the grace of a seasoned warrior, deftly avoided a slash aimed at his neck, sidestepping and disarming the bandit in one fluid motion, pulling the man from his mount and snapping his neck with a single, brutal step.
The bandits had underestimated Li Dahu—he was no mere noble. The Li family was far from ordinary.
The ruthless marauders, eager to seize the wealth of the Li family, met an unexpected foe at the mansion gates, and soon found themselves overwhelmed.
Had the Wu family not left earlier, they would have likely found themselves trapped with the Li family.
"Young masters, stay close to me!" The second steward, Li Mancang, agile as a monkey, wielded two blades, cutting through the bandits with precision, while a dozen burly servants swung long halberds, scattering the attackers with deadly force.
In the chaos, only those who could fight remained; the rest had fallen or fled, while several maidservants had been captured by the bandits, their screams filling the air.
Amid the turmoil, the Li brothers—Li Mo, Li Qing, and Li Xiaobai—had no time to consider the newfound bravery of their father or the stewards. They could only follow the second steward and the household guards in their desperate attempt to escape.
"Go! Don't look back!" Li Dahu called to his sons, trying to draw the bandits' attention away from his family.
Without hesitation, he snatched an incoming arrow from the air and hurled it back, the shaft piercing a bandit's chest, sending him crashing to the ground.
"Second son, little son, Miss Xiang, stay close!" Li Mo, the eldest, shouted as he followed behind, wielding a three-foot long sword. His years of wandering had not yielded any immortals, but they had honed his martial skill. Even against the bandits, he was more than a match, swiftly dispatching two of them with his blade.
"Little brother, Miss Xiang, don't be afraid. I'm here!" Despite their flight, Li Qing, still holding his copy of the Analects of Confucius, tried to reassure his younger brother and future sister-in-law, though his face was pale from exhaustion.
"Don't let go!" Li Xiaobai gripped Wu Xiangjun's delicate hand tightly, unwilling to let the bandits take her without a fight.
"Rest assured, little brother," Wu Xiangjun said, fear evident in her eyes, but she pulled a golden hairpin from her head, ready to sacrifice herself if necessary to protect her chastity.
In this dire moment, even the gentlest of women could display incredible strength.