Chapter 194.

As soon as his feet stepped on the stirrups, this warhorse transferred from the Qingzhou military camp wailed and knelt on all four hooves as Xu Qi’an flew into the dense forest like a big bird.

With a flash of the long black and gold blade, it took away a human head, and a fountain of blood erupted from the severed neck.

Don’t look, don’t look… Xu Qi’an’s heart hardened as his mind recalled the miserably dead merchant caravan, his hand rising and falling, his hand rising and falling, taking away the lives of each and every mountain bandit.

With his cultivation that had half a foot in the God Refining Realm, hacking and slashing this group of bandits was like chopping melons and cutting vegetables, and with the sharpness of the black and gold long knife that cut iron like mud, no one could stop him for a round.

“Snort!”

A blazing blade slashed from behind him, the branches and leaves along the way slipping noiselessly, the cuts flush.

Xu Qi’an’s powerful mental power allowed him to detect the attack in advance, twisting his waist, whirling around, his black and gold longsword shattering its blade, and he saw a man who made a large steel sword.

He slashed away the Huben guards that blocked the way and ran towards Xu Qi’an with a fierce smile, while two lean men gripping their standardized sabers pinched Xu Qi’an from the left and right sides.

All of a sudden, Xu Qi’an was in a dangerous situation where he was left and right for the men and full of big men.

On the official road, Jiang Ruizhong, who always narrowed his eyes and watched the battle, saw the situation and laughed with a heave, “Those three are bandits with good hands, one is at the peak of practicing qi, and the two are slightly weaker in qi, but they are not weak hands who are at the beginning of practicing qi realm.”

Upon hearing this, a silver gong spoke out, “Should we help him?”

The night watchmen looked at Jiang Ruizhong together, waiting for him to give the order.

In their opinion, Xu Qi’an, whose cultivation was only at the Qi Practicing Realm, could not possibly block the siege of three experts of the same realm. Moreover, he was still tender, hadn’t killed many people, and lacked real-world combat experience.

On the battlefield, practical experience was sometimes more important than cultivation.

Zhu Guangxiao and Song Tingfeng knew that Xu Qi’an was impacting the God Refining Realm, however, this was not a good thing as he was in a state of exhaustion, affecting his battle power.

Jiang Lunzhong quietly joined his fingers like swords, gazing at Xu Qi’an, who was caught in a heavy siege, ready to make a move to rescue him at any time, “Wait a little longer.”

Three qi practicing realm…the man who makes the steel sword has a strong breath and is at the peak of qi practicing…the other two are much worse …. Are the bandits in Yunzhou so high quality? You just ran into three Qi Practicing Realms?

Xu Qi’an held his sword, his face calm as he took the initiative to meet him, swinging his sword at the han who made the steel blade, while at the same time, visualizing the golden lion roaring diagram within his mind.

“Roar!”

A deep and majestic roar erupted from his throat, shaking the mountains and forests, and causing both sides of the fight to briefly freeze.

The ear of the man who made the steel sword seemed to explode as if it were scorched thunder, his pupils were briefly lax, and his mind was stuck in a stagnant state.

It was that fraction of a second of stasis that decided whether he lived or died.

“Pfft!”

In the sharp light of the black and gold long knife, the Han who made the steel knife was cut into two halves alive, broken organs mixed with blood flowing all over the place.

After Xu Qi’an killed one person, he took advantage of the victory to pursue the attack, without half a moment of stagnation to return to his body, once again visualizing the Giant Diagram in his mind, and in an instant, it was as if he had turned into a god of war that fought against the heavens and the earth, and his aura skyrocketed.

Ding…pfft…

One of the lean men swung his sword to block, and it was easily broken, the long black and gold blade slicing through his chest.

The other lean man saw the situation and turned to flee, being stopped by the dense save of the Huben guards, Xu Qi’an caught up and once again visualized the golden lion roar, shocking the other party’s spirit, and killed him with a slash.

The whole process was just a dozen or so breaths.

This… gasps erupted from the watchful beatniks.

“The thickness of his qi completely exceeds that of an unusual peak qi practitioner, even I would only dare to say that I am slightly stronger than him.” A silver gong was shocked.

“The question we should be concerned about is, where did he get the Buddhist viewpoint? That’s a lion’s roar.” A silver gong added.

“There’s another problem, he seems to be practicing both kinds of visualizations together…and both have already ascended. This can already impact the God Refining Realm.”

“It’s only been two months since he joined the beat.”

As they spoke, the silver gongs fell silent, their faces complicated.

Cauldron’s reaction was even more exaggerated, his jaw dropping as he looked at Xu Qi’an’s figure, his mind reverberating with the image of Fang dryly decapitating three Qi Practicing Realms.

The same Qi Practicing Realm, different people’s battle power was different, the Qi Practicing Realm of the Shiftman Yamen was generally more powerful than the ordinary martial artists.

But it’s not quite that dramatic.

Xu Qi’an was able to decapitate three Jianghu martial artists in a short period of time without injuring himself in the slightest, which meant that no one in the presence of the gongs could go past ten moves in a single battle with him, which had already factored in the role played by the magic weapon gongs.

Usually we are all cheeky and get along equally, but now we realize that you can beat ten of us?

Jiang Lizhong even knew that Xu Qi’an’s mastery was the Heaven and Earth One-Sword Slash, which had not been used.

….

After clearing the group of bandits, Hubenwei brought out a group of commoners tied up in the dense forest, totaling 25 people, and after questioning them, came up with the identities of their merchants.

One of the women is particularly colorful, not a young girl kind of slim and slender, but like a peach as rich and seductive, only the old hand in the flower world can understand the beauty of this kind of fleshy women.

“Many thanks to all the officials, many thanks to all the officials…”

The rescued businessman thanked him profusely and kept kneeling and kowtowing.

Inspector Zhang pacified them in a pleasant manner and revealed his identity, assuring them that he would send them back to Baidi City, the center of Yunzhou.

“Bury all these bodies, then organize the goods and bring them along.” Inspector Zhang said.

Jiang Lizhong nodded and ordered the Huben Guards to work.

“Wait!”

Xu Qi’an, who had been surveying the scene, returned and called out to stop the Huben guards.

Inspector Zhang and Jiang Ruizhong cast inquiring glances, and Xu Qi’an walked up to the two and frowned, “Something is not right.”

“Hmm?” Jiang Lizhong looked around and gazed and sensed for a moment, “There is no ambush around.”

This was just a simple bandit roadblock robbery incident, similar things are staged every day in Yunzhou.

“It wasn’t an ambush,” Xu Qi’an shook his head, “I examined the scene and found that most of the dead were dart masters, these traders and ordinary people were unharmed instead, the goods remained intact, and the robbers didn’t even tear the waterproof tarpaulin to count the loot.”

“Don’t you two lords find it strange that the bandits cut a path, yet they allow goods of great value to be strewn about and ignored.”

Inspector Zhang mused, “Perhaps there was no time to clean up.”

Xu Qi’an asked, ”Then why would there be time to kidnap someone? If I were a robber, then I would definitely seek wealth, and this cartload of goods would be my target. I would have killed even those ordinary people, so why bother tying them up. Unless ….”

Jiang Ruizhong and Inspector Zhang looked at each other, and the former frowned and said, “Unless their target is not goods, but people?”

Xu Qi’an nodded, sweeping over the crowd of people who had escaped death and still had palpitations, “Just ask.”

He beckoned, summoning a middle-aged traveler, and asked, “What are you?”

“I am a silk merchant from the Baidi City territory, bringing two thousand pieces of silk to Qingzhou to do business, and because of the long distance, I was afraid of being attacked by bandits, so I went to Qingzhou with Master Zhao s merchant fleet …. Oh, it is Zhao Long. This person is quite capable, black and white, his merchant fleet in the past is very safe.

“The villain has worked with him many times, who wants to …. today Hey, all day long fighting geese, finally pecked blind by geese. This Zhao Long is also a character, and trustworthy, it’s a pity.”

Xu Qi’an instantly looked towards the caravan of sprawled corpses, that Master Zhao was inside.

Asking one by one, he found that they were all merchants and in company, and finally only the buxom woman was left.

She looked to be in her early thirties, and in Xu Qi’an’s time, she was actually still a lightly matured woman.

“What about you?” Xu Qi’an scrutinized her, “Why did you, a weak woman, go to Qingzhou alone?”

Yang Yingying was a little hesitant, hung her head and softly said: “Some years ago, my husband went to Qingzhou to make a living. A while ago, he sent a letter back, saying that his business in Qingzhou was doing well, and he wanted to come back personally to take my wife to settle in Qingzhou, but because of his business, he couldn’t get away. He asked her to go to Qingzhou with a trustworthy merchant team.

“The people’s women have been asking around for a long time, and they all say that Master Zhao’s caravan is top-notch, safe and trustworthy.”

This is a well-reasoned statement that at first glance appears flawless.

The expression is very calm. …. But as an ordinary folk woman, seeing a blood-soaked scene, shouldn’t she be pale and wooing everyone? Moreover, when you speak, you keep looking at the ground, as if you are memorizing your lines, this is a sign of lack of confidence ….

Xu Qi’an said, “This official asks you a few questions.”

Yang Yingying looked up at him, then lowered herself again and said in a soft tone, “Please ask, my lord.”

“What’s your husband’s name?”

Yang Yingying pondered.

“Where does your family live?”

“….”

“What are the physical characteristics of your husband?”

“….”

“How many feet tall is your husband?”

“….”

“What did your husband write in his letter, please repeat a few sentences. What does your husband do for a living?”

Yang Yingying stayed there, bewildered and helpless, and after a long period of silence, she recovered and said in a thin voice, “My husband’s name is…”

“Alright you stop talking.” Xu Qi’an greeted the Huben guards, “Search her.”

“???” Yang Yingying looked at him blankly at a loss for words, what this lord did was completely beyond her expectations.

She took a step back in horror, her arms wrapped around her chest, biting her lip with an expression of shame and indignation.

“Thinking for too long,” Xu Qi’an smiled as he scrutinized the beautiful woman, “If a wife needs to think for a long time before she can even say her husband’s name and features, then how can others believe it?

“Lies aren’t something you can just make up a few sentences to convince people. If you don’t want to be searched, give an honest account. Why did those mountain bandits stop you?”

After giving the big stick, seeing the woman’s face gradually pale, Xu Qi’an again pacified, “My lord is the governor from the imperial court, there is no official in this Yunzhou who is bigger than him. If there is anything, just say it.”

Yang Yingying looked at Inspector Zhang, who nodded and said, “This official has been ordered by the Emperor to inspect Yunzhou, and you’re just a mere civilian woman who is not worthy of this official’s deception.”

Yang Yingying lowered her head and weighed her options, realizing that she had no choice, she suddenly clenched her silver teeth and fell to her knees:

“My wife, Yang Yingying, is going to Qingzhou to avoid trouble, and at the same time to find Lord Yang, the Prefect of Qingzhou, to do justice to my husband and avenge his death.”

Inspector Zhang did not speak immediately and pondered for a moment, “Who is your husband? What is it that you want to seek justice from Lord Yang?”

Yang Yingying cried, “My husband is Zhou Min.”

Inspector Zhang lost his voice, “What?!”

Xu Qi’an and Jiang Lizhong turned their heads openly and stared at Yang Yingying.

Zhou Min, that dark son of the night watchman who died in Yunzhou, was the one who exposed Yunzhou Commandant Yang Chuannan for colluding with mountain bandits, channeling military funds for his own benefit, and feeding the bandits.

Soon after the secret message was sent back to the capital, he died without a word.