Tang Dynasty Bandits

Chapter 90: The Flame of the Wind
"You can get out." These four short words were spoken in a very calm voice, but they had a natural charm that made Bo Chulong's heart flutter, but he did not dare to show the slightest emotion on his face.

Otherwise, even if he was Marshal Yan's favorite general and one of the "Five Swords of Burning Sky"; he would inevitably be invited to come up and experience the heads of soldiers who had violated discipline and were blown dry by the wind and hung on the high poles in the military camp.

Bo Chulong naturally knew that their commander-in-chief, the Valkyrie of the Tang Dynasty, Zhen Ranyu, the "Huaying Flame Dance", did not like men.

Even though this heroine possesses a natural charm that can make most men in the world fall at her feet and even be willing to risk their lives for her.

Just now in the commander's tent, Bo Chulong could only vaguely see through the screen that the commander was wearing a red brocade dress and lying on his side on an exquisite embroidered military couch.

Even though he couldn't see clearly, Bo Chulong could be sure that what Zhen Ranyu was wearing was definitely not pajamas, but just ordinary women's clothes for going out, and there was no exposure at all.

However, she just lay on her side with the pillow on, and the curve of her body revealed a faint outline, which was enough to make people imagine a lot.

The glazed screen was the color of a bright moon, with patterns resembling draperies. Under the dim light of the tent, it seemed as if a gentle breeze would flutter, revealing the scenery behind it. And the fiery red curves behind the screen, separated by the bright moonlight, seemed even more enchanting and captivating.

When Bo Chulong turned around and walked out of the tent, he secretly took a breath of the fragrant breeze in the tent. This subtle movement was heard clearly by Zhen Ranyu who was lying on the couch.

She frowned slightly, revealing a look of disgust.

Ever since she was thirteen or fourteen, she had been unable to develop any affection for men. Even when it came to dealing with men, she could only suppress her resistance and disgust...

Except that man...

All this started decades ago.

As the legitimate daughter of the Zhen family of Zhongshan, she drank a cup of "Liu Lingzui" during a family banquet. In an instant, she felt dizzy and unconscious.

When she slowly woke up, she was already wrapped in a phoenix coronet and bridal robe, and the lights in the bridal chamber were brightly lit. The fat pig-like Wei Abao was tearing her clothes violently, and even wanted to move his fat, trembling face close to her lips!

Zhen Ranyu understood everything in an instant.

She was proud and arrogant since childhood, unwilling to lose to men. At a young age, she disguised herself as a man and worked for her family's escort business, traveling far and wide and gaining a considerable reputation.

However, her greedy parents, inspired by the fact that Wei Abao, the head of the Wei family, was several times richer than the Zhen family, accepted the betrothal letter and promised to marry their beautiful daughter to the ugly, over thirty-year-old widower Wei Abao! Previously, her uncle had doted on her and worked hard to delay the marriage. Unexpectedly, her uncle suddenly passed away, and the Zhen couple, as parents, unleashed this evil upon their own daughter!
"Ah!" she screamed and struggled hard.

"Madam Ranyu, you and I have already bowed to Heaven and Earth, and now you are my destined wife. From now on, these vast acres of fertile land and magnificent mansions will all be yours. Why are you struggling?"

Wei Abao's voice was greasy, like that of a middle-aged fat man, and it made her feel like vomiting.

He discovered Zhen Ranyu's female body during a business deal, and from then on he regarded the budding girl as his dream prey.

This man was no ordinary wealthy family lord; his skills were not bad, and he was three times her age. Furthermore, men were inherently stronger than women, and with the pushing and pulling and struggling, Zhen Ranyu's bright red wedding gown was quickly torn to shreds.

The young girl's bud, which had not yet fully blossomed, made Wei Abao even more excited. His eyes shone like a wolf, and he pounced on her like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey. This time he finally pinned her down completely, allowing her to scream and curse while he just pushed his pig head in front of her still relatively flat body.

Such a youthful and innocent age of "the beginning of February" can arouse Wei Abao's wild desire even more.

"No, you pig, let me go!"

At that moment, she only wished she could die immediately to escape this heart-wrenching humiliation.

"Your mother won't bloom, little bitch, don't be ungrateful!" Wei Abao suddenly raised his voice and laughed like an owl, "Yu'er, you've worked hard for your family and sacrificed so much, but what have you gained? Your biological parents only treat you as a commodity to be traded, hahahahaha! You'd better think clearly. Marrying me is actually a great thing for you. Everything in this farm is something you could never have in your lifetime in that cold and indifferent family!"

"In short, whether you obey me or not today, you are my new wife. Once you enter my Wei family, it is not up to you, little girl."

Zhen Ranyu felt so sick that she wanted to throw up. The greasy name "Yu'er" made her feel sick. Remembering her father stroking her braids when she was a child, calling her "Yu'er" all the time, suddenly chilled her heart and made her want to cry but couldn't.

But just when she fell into the deepest despair, the man appeared.

The glazed tile roof collapsed with a loud bang, the wooden beams broke and fell to the ground, and Wei Abao was instantly covered with broken tiles and wood chips.

"Who dares to ruin my good deeds? I want you to die without a complete corpse!"

Wei Abao screamed hysterically, not considering at all what kind of skills it would take to completely smash the roof to pieces with one blow.

A tall and strong man holding a spear stared indifferently at Wei Abao who stood up and cursed, then looked at Zhen Ranyu who was thrown on the wedding bed in dishevel. His eyes fell on her naked white skin, but they were as clear as ice, without a trace of desire.

"Unfortunately, I'm still a little late. Your uncle sent me a message asking me to take care of you after he dies."

The man smiled in amusement. "Come to think of it, this kind of thing should be the style of my junior fellow apprentice. Shi, an official appointed by the imperial court, has acted like a bandit. But I owe your uncle a favor. It's not my style to not repay a favor."

Hearing the words "official appointed by the imperial court", Wei Abao's expression changed, but he thought that he could easily buy off ordinary officials with his wealth and influence, so he immediately shouted, "Guards of the village, come and kill the thieves! There are thieves coming..."

The tall man swung his spear, creating a gust of wind. At the same time, Wei Abao realized that no one outside could hear a single word of the words he had shouted out with such luck.

And no one knew what the man had done - in fact, from beginning to end, neither the man nor the spear in his hand touched him, but Wei Abao was as if he had been cast under a mythical spell of immobilization, unable to move.

The man took off his moon-white robe, draped it over the ragged and disheveled Zhen Ranyu, and spoke slowly.

"Do you hate him?"

Only after recovering from her shock did Zhen Ranyu have the heart to examine the man's face. He looked to be in his thirties, with a slender build, a square face, and well-proportioned features, flawless and well-proportioned. He lacked the delicate beauty of Pan An and Song Yu. Yet, upon closer inspection, the tough, distinguished demeanor, honed by military service, was indescribably captivating.

She pondered for a moment, gritted her teeth and said, "Hate!"

Her eyes seemed to be spitting fire.

The man drew a long sword as smooth as autumn water from his waist and handed it to her.

"Then, make your own decision. You were betrayed by your parents. Nothing this man did violated the laws of the Tang Dynasty."

"But Shi is not just a minor official. If you decide to kill him, I can help you settle the matter."

The man spoke very calmly, but both Zhen Ranyu and Wei Abao realized that he was not lying at all!

Wei Abao's expression changed drastically in an instant, with a look of fear and pleading in his eyes, but he couldn't speak.

Zhen Ranyu took the sword, but fell into hesitation.

She is good at martial arts, but she has never killed anyone.

Escorting depends on the relationships among people in the underworld, and there are not many opportunities to kill people.

But she was torn between her conscience and her desires, and the sword in her hand seemed out of control, moving towards Wei Abao's fat body.

The sword rested on Wei Abao's bucket-like neck, and time seemed to slow down. Zhen Ranyu's hands trembled, and the sword's edge drew bloody streaks on the thick skin.

But she remembered it clearly. Apart from the nervousness, at that moment, looking at Wei Abao's begging eyes, she actually felt a hint of excitement.

Is this what it feels like to dominate another person's life?
Why did this feeling send shivers down my spine?

The long sword suddenly slashed downwards, leaving a red gash from Wei Abao's neck to his chest. With great force, he cut open Wei Abao's chest with a swish sound, penetrated through the white gap between his ribs, and went straight into his heart!
With a loud noise like tearing cloth, Wei Abao's lips opened and closed, but he could only make a low humming sound. His already fat face was twisted like a ball of bad dough. Fear, resentment and unwillingness mixed in his dilated pupils, and the light gradually faded.

When she finally realized that she had killed someone, tears silently burst out from Zhen Ranyu's eyes. In her frightened eyes, there was a sense of pleasure in revenge.

Blood and fat spurted out, but the man just rolled up his sleeves, and all the bloody red and bright yellow liquids fell to the ground, without a drop splashing on Zhen Ran's body.

"Then, whether it's the Zhen family, the Wei family, or the local government, there's no way they'll tolerate you."

The man smiled, suddenly grasping her hand and wiping away her tears with his sleeve, appearing perfectly natural. "Since I promised your uncle I'd take care of you, I can't break my promise. By the way, Shi Xiong hasn't introduced himself yet. I'm Shi Xiong, Deputy Envoy of the Tiande Defense of the Tang Dynasty and Governor of Shuozhou. I'm currently the aide-de-camp and designated successor to Liu Mian, the Tang Dynasty's top military commander. Little girl, are you interested in learning how to become a famous general from Shi? Spots are limited, first come, first served."

Decades later, Zhen Ranyu still remembered it clearly. Although her heart was in turmoil because of her first murder, she was also amused by Shi Xiong's last two words and burst into laughter.

This was her first meeting with her teacher, and it will be unforgettable and engraved in her mind forever.

And who among the fellow disciples didn’t feel the same when they first met their teacher?

The years after she entered the sect flew by. She felt as if she had, in a daze, participated in a war unprecedented in history. Her teacher had easily decapitated the mighty Ujie Khan of the northern frontier, and with only three thousand cavalrymen, he had defeated a hundred thousand enemy troops, thus destroying the Uighur Khanate, which had been at odds with the Tang Dynasty for over a century.

This was described by people at the time as a feat comparable to the one during the reign of Emperor Taizong, when Duke Weiguo Li Jing led 3,000 cavalrymen to Dingxiang and conquer the Turks.

On the battlefield, she killed the second person she would ever kill: a blue-eyed, high-nosed Uighur from the other tribes. After the battle, her teacher told her he was proud of her.

Zhen Ranyu discovered that his teacher, like many cheerful and open-minded people like him, loved drinking.

Strangely, after drinking, the teacher often becomes depressed and locks himself in the room.

She had vowed to quit drinking after her parents plotted against her, but she started drinking again.

Finally one day, after getting herself half drunk, she swayed past the teacher's tent.

Through the gap, I could see Shi Xiong drinking alone again. In the dim candlelight, his handsome and strong face looked unusually thin.

Zhen Ranyu looked up and saw that the moonlight was just right.

Under the influence of alcohol, she suddenly mustered up a burst of courage, opened the tent door, and walked over gently.

Seeing that the teacher didn't respond, she trembled and leaned her grown body into the teacher's arms.

Shi Xiong had always been single, which was known to all the soldiers, so she didn't think she did anything wrong.

After being stunned for a moment, Shi Xiong stood up and quickly supported her with his hands to prevent her from falling to the ground.

"Ran Yu, what are you doing?" The tone was as calm as the autumn water in the mirror lake.

"Teacher, I..."

Zhen Ranyu wanted to muster up the courage to say the following words, but for some reason he couldn't.

"The most important thing for a woman living in the world is to control her own destiny. This is what you told me shortly after you became my disciple, right?" Shi Xiong's eyes suddenly became as gentle as the moonlight outside the tent.

Zhen Ranyu couldn't help but feel pleasantly surprised.

"So this is your choice?" Shi Xiong asked.

"Yes!" Zhen Ranyu answered without hesitation.

"But it's the same for men. The most important thing is to control their own destiny. For example, being loyal to my wife is the destiny that the teacher has chosen for himself." Shi Xiong's brows suddenly showed a little melancholy.

The word "wife" made Zhen Ranyu's body tremble instantly.

She had never heard that Shi Xiong had any other wives.

"We were childhood sweethearts," Shi Xiong said slowly. "We simply grew up together and got married. Back then, we didn't even really understand the relationship between men and women."

"This is the bad thing about being born poor. You don't know that getting married too early is not good for women. There is nothing else to worry about." Shi Xiong said calmly.

Zhen Ranyu certainly knew that what the teacher said was all true and that money was of no use to the teacher.

Aside from military tactics, the teacher was also well-versed in medicine, divination, astrology, and everything in between. Everyone only vaguely knew of his humble origins, but no one knew his teachers, let alone the source of his unique skills.

People call him the new generation of the Tang Dynasty's God of War, but other than that, everything about him is shrouded in mystery.

Such a strange man who seemed to be omnipotent and had a good understanding of all kinds of elegant knowledge, did not have the slightest desire for material things. "He was honest in money, and whenever the court gave him money, he would place it in the army, take a piece of silk for himself, and distribute the rest to the soldiers. As a result, everyone was inspired and motivated." His daily life was extremely frugal.

Zhen Ranyu didn't know what to say, so he had to kneel on the ground respectfully and listen to the teacher's story.

"We had five children, but none of them lived long. The last time I went to her room was five years ago. The bed was covered in dust, but I always felt like she was still lying on it, breastfeeding our children."

"After losing our last child, she finally collapsed, her fever lingering. When she passed away, she clutched my hand tightly and told me to find another good girl. But I couldn't do it. You know, she wasn't even twenty at the time..."

"Deng You knew his fate when he had no children, and Pan Yue's mourning was eloquent. What hope is there for us to be buried together in the dark? It will be even harder to expect a reunion in the next life. I think that this is the fate of me, Shi Xiong, to be a lonely star in this life."

"I treat you guys as my own children. Tell me, is there any parent who would have that kind of thought about their own children?"

Zhen Ranyu was silent for a long time, and then she felt tears flowing out of her eyes uncontrollably.

Shi Xiong gently wiped away her tears with a handkerchief: "This is the fate I chose myself, so there is nothing much to say. I am very happy now that I have you guys by my side."

"Ranyu, remember that when your teacher is gone one day, don't cry."

She nodded dejectedly.

Later, the teacher left so suddenly, catching her off guard.

Zhen Ranyu knew that his teacher could have become a Jiedushi when he was in his twenties, but he refused the soldiers' request because he did not want to kill his superiors and fall into injustice.

The teacher's untimely death was also due to a similar choice.

She didn't know if this choice really helped her control her destiny, but she kept her promise and didn't shed another tear.

Since her tears were only shed for her teacher, now that the teacher is gone, there is of course no need to shed tears anymore.

But Zhen Ranyu still wants to pursue what he wants.

Whether it's defending the country or suppressing rebellion, it's all just killing. Killing is both a means of displaying power and a way to gain greater power.

It's ironic, but countless heroes in history have enjoyed it.

Of course, she herself is one of them.

Yan Shuai Zhen Ranyu slowly sat up and came back to his memories.

The enemy has fallen into the dragnet.

And tomorrow is the day when the leader of the martial arts world, the commander-in-chief of the grass army, the world's number one master, and the land immortal Wang Xianzhi will be killed.

She believed that she had only learned 50% of her teacher's military tactics at most.

However, killing Wang Xianzhi, the "land immortal", and achieving the feat of "slaying the immortal" will break the backbone of the Caoye people, making them scared to death and dare not have the idea of ​​rebelling against the court again.

And the trap she set was enough to take Wang Xianzhi's head.

(End of this chapter)