Chief, don't hit me in the face

Chapter 23: The Blade Rises, the Head Falls

“This is unbelievable!” He’d actually been shot down by a four- or five-year-old girl. Cao Mu cursed under his breath, drew his bow, and nocked an arrow, intending to intimidate Xia Ye and keep him from approaching—but the wound in his lung was too painful, and he simply couldn’t muster the strength. Whoosh! The arrow flew out with a limp, feeble trajectory. Smack! Xia Ye swung his dog-leg sword and easily knocked it away. “Cao Ang, hurry over here!” At that moment, Cao Mu felt a sense of despair. With such a severe injury, he certainly couldn’t run far—he might as well conserve his strength, hold his ground, and wait for reinforcements. “Song Guo, be careful! Shoot him with your crossbow!” Xia Ye warned. Seeing the ambusher drawing his bow to aim again, he pulled out his tactical axe and hurled it. Whoosh! The axe flew toward him with a whistling wind, forcing Cao Mu to dodge. Crack! The tactical axe embedded itself in the large tree, sending wood chips flying. “It’s over!” Seeing the little girl raise her crossbow, Cao Mu let out a bitter laugh, lowered his own crossbow, and called out in surrender: “Don’t kill me. I’m Cao Mu of the Cao Clan. Who are you?” “Drop your weapon and get on your knees!” Xia Ye charged forward. With a blade pressed against him, Cao Mu had no choice but to comply; he tossed aside his long sword and dagger: “This is the Cao clan’s territory. Our commander, Cao Ang, is nearby. If you kill me, you won’t get away.” “Since when did the Fengjing Ruins become the Cao clan’s? Did the surrounding tribes agree to that?” Xia Ye quipped. “As long as your blade is sharp and you’re ruthless, that’s all that matters!” Cao Mu glared at Xia Ye, reminding him that the Cao clan was a powerful force—hoping this would make him think twice and spare his life. “Is that so?” Xia Ye immediately looked around, feigning fear. “Haha!” Just as Cao Mu was about to mock him as a coward, he saw Xia Ye lift his leg. Xia Ye swung his leg and kicked Cao Mu squarely in the chin. Thud! Cao Mu threw his head back and was sent flying; half his cheek went numb. Only then did he realize that the other guy’s expression had been nothing more than a taunt. “I hate being threatened more than anything!” Xia Ye grabbed Cao Mu by the collar and yanked him to his feet: “Well? Do you have any important intel to trade for your life?” “I do! But why should I trust you?” Cao Mu demanded. “Do you think you have a choice?” Xia Ye sneered. “Hah, you fool!” Cao Mu wore a gloomy expression, but inside he was chuckling. Who’s going to give you any intel? He was just stalling for time. But why wasn’t Cao Ang here yet? “Clean up the battlefield!” Xia Ye ordered Song Guo, then searched Cao Mu. The guy was wearing a full set of leather armor, and his longbow—made of pear wood—was exceptionally well-crafted; it would fetch five hundred dao coins on the market. Surprisingly, his self-defense dagger was made of bronze, yet it was exquisitely crafted with intricate patterns—clearly the work of a master. “This guy’s loaded!” Song Guo pulled out a money pouch—it actually contained twelve dao coins. “What’s your name?” Cao Mu’s eyes were filled with hatred; he felt deeply humiliated as the other man stripped off his leather armor. “Haha, looking for revenge?” Xia Ye chuckled lightly, then his expression suddenly changed as he pressed the dog-leg knife against Cao Mu’s neck: “Everyone, get out here, or I’ll slit his throat!” A cool breeze swept through the woods, but no one appeared. Xia Ye didn’t waste any words; he stomped hard on Cao Mu’s ankle. Crack! “Ah!” Cao Mu screamed in agony, breaking out in a cold sweat. His right foot visibly twisted in the wrong direction—it was broken. “Don’t hurt him!” A young man with a long face spoke sternly as he stepped out from behind a stone wall several dozen meters to the right. “There’s someone else!” Xia Ye roared. “Kid, if you dare hurt him, I, Cao Xiong, will hunt you down to the ends of the earth!” This time, the speaker was a teenager nearly 1. 9 meters tall, with bulging muscles, clutching a battle axe, and a fierce expression. One by one, three more people emerged, forming a semicircle around him. If Xia Ye had spotted them even a moment later, he would have been surrounded. “All of you, stand together and drop your bows and arrows!” Xia Ye removed his eye patch and shielded his eyes with his palm to hide the abnormality in his left eye, then scanned his surroundings. “There’s someone else over there!” Xia Ye roared, “This is your last chance. If you don’t comply, I’ll kill him!” The long-faced young man snapped his fingers, summoning the hidden Cao Xu—an archer who had intended to take advantage of the situation to shoot Xia Ye and rescue Cao Mu. “How did he spot him?” Everyone looked puzzled. Among the team, Cao Xu—thanks to years of hunting—was the best at hiding, so how had he still been discovered? “Are you Cao Ang?” Xia Ye looked at the young man with the long face; since he was giving orders, he was clearly the team leader. “And you?” Cao Ang sized up Xia Ye. Leather armor, a crossbow, a tactical axe, and a strangely shaped curved sword—he was armed to the teeth. But what was most frightening was his composure; even surrounded by six people, he showed not a trace of panic. “Good grief, look at his weapons—they’re all made of bronze!” Cao Bing let out a startled cry. In this day and age, anyone who could afford bronze weapons was a bona fide tycoon. The group had already noticed this, so their eyes turned greedy—they couldn’t wait to strip Xia Ye bare right then and there. “How could Cao Mu have been captured alive?” Standing next to Cao Ang was a girl named Cao Lan. She couldn’t quite wrap her head around it—Cao Mu was an archer, skilled in long-range attacks and incredibly fast. Even if he couldn’t win, he could have escaped! Cao Mu couldn’t figure it out himself either. If he’d been taken down in a fair fight, that would’ve been one thing, but he’d only managed to escape a few times before getting hit by that little girl’s arrow. “Luck!” Cao Mu absolutely refused to admit it was a difference in intelligence. “Everyone, be careful—this guy must be pretty sharp!” Cao Ang warned. To defeat Cao Mu one-on-one without drawing a single drop of blood meant only one thing: the opponent’s tactics had completely outclassed Cao Mu’s. “And don’t underestimate that little girl either!” “Heh heh, I’ll tell you what—I’m super fierce!” Song Guo was quite smug. “Grab the loot!” Xia Ye didn’t want to beat around the bush: “Throw away the bow and arrows—didn’t you hear me?” Cao Xu hesitated for a moment, and before he could react, Xia Ye swung his sword and slashed Cao Mu’s thigh, causing blood to gush out. “Did you think I was kidding?” Xia Ye roared. He hadn’t mentioned the stone knives and axes because there was absolutely no way they’d throw them away and leave themselves at the mercy of others. “The Fengjing Ruins have already been sealed off and placed under martial law by our Cao clan. If you release him now and leave on your own, we’ll let the past go!” Cao Ang suggested they couldn’t delay any longer; otherwise, Cao Mu would bleed to death. He waved his hand, signaling his men to drop their bows and arrows as a gesture of goodwill. “Do you really believe that?” Xia Ye sneered. “Whether you believe it or not, you’ll have to!” Cao Xiong’s face twisted into a ferocious grimace as he took a few steps forward: “Do you have a choice?” “Try taking one more step!” Xia Ye kicked Cao Mu to the ground, stepped on his back, and raised his dog-leg knife: “I hate being threatened more than anything!” “Do you know who he is? He’s the youngest son of Cao Ren, the Fifth Hero of the Xia Clan. Kill him, and you’re as good as dead!” Cao Lan threatened. “Is that so?” Xia Ye grinned, revealing eight handsome white teeth: “Song Guo, grab the loot and head out first. Wait for me in the woods!” “Just look at his gear—could an ordinary person afford that?” Cao Xiong laughed smugly: “You folks in the Xia Clan must be quite familiar with Uncle Cao Ren’s reputation, right? After all, he’s the one who’s chopped off the heads of many of your clan members.” “Yeah, we know him very well!” Xia Ye nodded, then raised his scimitar. “Stop!” Cao Ang turned pale with shock and tried to say a few soothing words, but it was too late. Xia Ye swung his scimitar. “What? Scared?” Cao Mu, still on his knees, sneered and looked up, hoping to catch a glimpse of Xia Ye’s terrified expression—only to see a bronze-glinting scimitar swooping down. Its arc was so graceful, like the alluring curves of a lover. Whoosh! Blood spurted out, and a head rolled to the ground. Instantly, deathly silence fell over the ruins, with only the echo of Cao Mu’s mocking laughter still lingering. Cao Ang and his party were completely dumbfounded. No one had expected this half-blind man to actually strike. Did he even know the power represented by the Cao clan’s Fifth Hero? “Is he mentally disabled?” Cao Lan wondered. “I told you, I hate being threatened more than anything!” Xia Ye curled the corner of his mouth, flipped them off, then turned and ran, dashing like a cheetah into the dense forest outside the ruins. “Kill him!” Cao Ang was furious. With Cao Mu dead, how was he supposed to explain this when he got back? Cao Xu darted forward, flicked the longbow and quiver on the ground with his right foot—sending them flying into the air—then caught them, nocked an arrow, and took aim. Xia Ye was running incredibly fast; he had already sprinted a hundred meters away. Moreover, using the crumbling walls and ruins as cover, his figure kept appearing and disappearing, making him extremely difficult to hit. “Damn it!” Watching the arrow miss its mark, Cao Xu cursed. “You coward! Get back here and face your Grandpa Cao Xiong in a fair fight!” Cao Xiong roared, his face contorted in fury, yet deep down, he felt the same resolve and ruthlessness that had flashed in his right eye after Xia Ye had severed Cao Mu’s head. In that instant, even the confident and domineering Cao Xiong felt a flicker of fear—that half-blind man from the Xia clan was definitely a ruthless fighter! Running frantically, gasping for breath, and roaring with fury, Cao Ang and his group gave chase. But the terrain in the forest was too complex; the slightest misstep could cause them to lose track of their target. “What should we do?” Watching them leave the ruins, Cao Xu’s expression grew grave. There were other members of the Xia clan still inside—if they got their hands on the secret treasure before him, he’d be furious enough to die. “That half-blind man isn’t going anywhere. We’ll have plenty of chances to kill him later. Let’s just get our hands on the treasure first,” Cao Lan suggested. “Let’s go back and find the secret treasure first!” Cao Ang’s face turned ashen: “That kid will almost certainly take part in the Blood Survival Trial. When that time comes, I’ll make him a salted fish!” “Drying him like a salted fish” meant hanging him to death. “Tsk, so we’re not going after him?” Xia Ye pursed his lips; the fact that the other party had turned back only made him more certain that there were valuable items inside the ruins. “Ah-woo!” Song Guo returned, carrying her loot on her back. “You sure ran fast!” Xia Ye ruffled the little girl’s hair. “See? I told you I’m super awesome!” Song Guo beamed with joy, pulled out a sugar-coated hawthorn on a stick, took a bite—sweet and sour, absolutely delicious! “Come on, let’s go back and grab the treasure!” A cordoned-off ruin? A no-entry order? Xia Ye couldn’t care less. With a knife in hand and courage in his heart, he’d dare to venture into anything—heaven or hell. Worried they might be ambushed, the two took a wide detour and sneaked into the ruins from another direction. But this time, they had some bad luck—they ran into a group.