Chapter 101: The Cornered Foe

The figure on the roof performed a mid-air somersault, landing firmly in front of Qi Jun. Holding their blade horizontally, they scanned the bandits with a wary gaze.

"Why is it you?" Qi Jun recognized the woman who had held him hostage in the backyard of the Meng estate, and could not help but exclaim in surprise.

"Leave these bandits to me; consider it repayment for the medicine you gave me," the woman said with a faint chuckle, not bothering to look back.

"Damn it! Where did this foul bitch come from? Such arrogance! Brothers, kill that spineless scholar and drag this woman back to the stronghold!" The bandit leader felt deeply insulted by her words.

It was one thing for a lone scholar to confront them with a blade, but now a woman stood before them, claiming she would finish them all off and using them as mere currency for a favor. The sheer contempt in her attitude filled the bandits with extreme rage and humiliation.

As the leader charged forward, blade raised, the woman barely seemed to acknowledge his presence. With a swift movement of her right hand, she drew her blade. Before Qi Jun could even process her technique, a thin line of blood appeared across the bandit leader’s neck. The leader’s face remained twisted in fury, though his eyes betrayed a flicker of shock and disbelief.

The bandits behind him hesitated, seeing their leader frozen before the woman, his blade still held high, yet failing to strike. With a look of disgust, the woman gave the leader a light shove, and his corpse toppled backward, causing the other bandits to recoil in terror.

*What a fast blade!* Qi Jun sighed inwardly, realizing she was a master of the highest caliber. He felt a wave of relief that she hadn't taken him up on his earlier attempt to test her skills. Her precise use of stones to incapacitate bandits and that lightning-fast throat-slitting strike clearly revealed her hidden prowess. He realized he was no match for her; to be her enemy would be a dire misfortune. He wondered, if she possessed such skill, why had she been imprisoned in Meng Wanhe’s cellar? He stared at the enigmatic woman, sensing she was a tapestry of mysteries and hidden tales.

"Big brother! That foul woman killed him! Brothers, charge! Avenge our brother!" A bandit snapped back to reality, roaring with grief at the sight of the corpse. He and the remaining bandits rushed at her with blades drawn.

The woman nimbly backflipped to avoid their reach, landed with grace, and offered a cold smile before diving into the fray to begin her slaughter. Standing to the side, Qi Jun watched as she flitted through the group like a nimble sparrow, her blades and kicks flashing. Despite the density of the bandits' blades, they could not lay a scratch on her.

In less time than it took for a stick of incense to burn, over half the bandits lay dead. The survivors, finally grasping the terrifying nature of their opponent, dropped their weapons and fled, howling in terror.

However, this high-speed killing machine had no intention of letting them escape. She took a few steps back, gathered her strength, sprinted up the wall, and vaulted over the bandits, landing squarely in their path.

"Spare me, kind lady! Please, have mercy! I have an eighty-year-old mother at home and..." One bandit fell to his knees, weeping and begging for his life.

The woman, showing no patience, swung her blade and decapitated him before he could finish his plea. "You have a mother, but what of the commoners you murdered? Did they not have families too?" Feeling her anger unspent, she kicked the bandit’s severed head aside.

"We’re dead either way! Fight her to the death!" Driven by the desperation of their plight, the remaining bandits found a final, frantic burst of courage and charged. In the blink of an eye, more corpses lay at the woman's feet.

Having dispatched over a dozen, she seemed to have only just warmed up. Scanning the area and finding no more standing foes, she tossed the scavenged blade aside and walked toward Qi Jun.

"You’re quite the honest sort, aren't you? Just standing there and not helping at all." Despite her complaint, a light, playful smile touched her lips. Qi Jun felt a sense of helplessness as he watched her crouch down and wipe the blood from her hands onto the clothing of the fallen.

"We’re even now; I owe you nothing. Look, your people are here. I’m off." The woman gestured with her chin toward the space behind Qi Jun, then leaped onto the roof and vanished.

Qi Jun turned to look. In the distance, the sounds of battle echoed. He knew it must be Xiao Ming and the third squad of county guards coming to reinforce them.

"Wait!" Qi Jun called out to her departing figure. "Could you do me one more favor?"

The woman paused, frowning with irritation. "How can you be so greedy? A bottle of medicine for a dozen bandits—that’s a fair trade, isn't it?"

"There is a little girl in that house. Her parents were murdered by the bandits. Please, look after her for a while; I’ll come for her as soon as I finish off these bandits!" Qi Jun pointed to the house, and without waiting for her reply, he turned and sprinted toward the fighting.

"You..." The woman froze, watching his retreating back. She shook her head with a resigned sigh, but after casting a look at the house he had indicated, she leaped back down to the ground.

As Zhao Gui and the third squad arrived, the remaining bandits were flushed out of alleys and houses, cut down or driven toward the city gates.

"Pursue them! Don't let them escape!" Zhao Gui led the charge at the front. They had all assumed that after their failure under He Wenxing, they would be executed or exiled. However, when the bandit uprising broke out and Feng Qinian found himself powerless to act, he had followed Qi Jun’s advice: he went to the guard barracks, laid out the stakes to the imprisoned Zhao Gui and his men, and demanded their assistance to suppress the chaos.

The guards, sensing a chance at redemption, had fought with frantic desperation, terrified that if they didn't collect enough heads to prove their worth, they would be thrown back into chains.

"They're mad! They're all fucking mad!" a minor bandit leader screamed as he fled. "I’ll never trust the government soldiers again! 'Defend the city together, share the spoils'—it’s all bullshit!"

"Stop cursing, boss... let's just get out of—" His subordinate was cut short by a crossbow bolt from the pursuing guards.

The horizon was beginning to pale. After a night of brutal fighting, the city was littered with bodies. On Anxiu Bridge, the carnage was at its worst; the corpses of bandits and guards lay in layers, and the dry riverbed below was stained red, like a river of blood.

The remaining dozen bandits converged, rushing toward the nearest city gate.

"Open the gate, quickly!" a bandit leader shrieked. The guards on the tower, seeing the desperate mob, dared not block them and fled after firing a few token arrows. If the bandits could slide the bolt and open the gate, they might yet find a sliver of hope.

"Pursue them! Don't let a single one escape!" Seeing the bandits swarm the gate, Qi Jun urged the guards forward with desperate intensity. These bandits were stained with the blood of the people of Anqiang and the guards themselves; to let even one escape would be a betrayal of the dead.

The bandits, knowing the gravity of their crimes and the certain torture that awaited them if captured, fought with the strength of the damned, scrambling to lift the heavy bolt as the guards closed in.