Heaven rewards diligence; he fought his way through chaos to become a saint.

Ye Ci had never heard of this sect before, so he inquired about it in detail.

Last year, this area suffered a famine, and a large number of refugees were blocked by the government's checkpoints and had nowhere to go. Later, an old woman came here.

She claimed to be the Heavenly Mother, and that she could cure diseases with talismanic water, thus gathering a group of refugees.

She wasn't a bad person; she promoted doctrines of following nature and not opposing the government.

Later, the government stopped paying attention to her.

"I also heard that last year, a tiger in the mountains ran into her and died, feeding the people with its flesh. The Heavenly Mother said that the tiger had gained sentience, understood goodness, and finally achieved enlightenment, escaping the cycle of reincarnation."

"That's pretty far-fetched. What kind of good intentions could a tiger possibly have?"

The bodyguard was talking to Ye Ci.

Ye Ci felt that the Heavenly Mother seemed a bit confused. Following nature should be retribution in this life, while Buddhism talks about the next life.

That doesn't make sense. If tigers were to follow nature, they should be sending starving people to be reincarnated.

That makes sense.

After crossing a mountain, you can see hills in the distance that look like cut tofu blocks, forming terraced fields, but there are no crops on them.

"With the influx of refugees, the Heavenly Mother taught them to cultivate this land," Jiang Qian said.

"We'll have provisions next year, and sooner or later we'll become a force to be reckoned with."

Ye Ci replied, he could roughly guess what the Heavenly Mother wanted to do. As they spoke, the carriages moved forward, and more people in tattered clothes appeared in the fields by the roadside.

Those people were emaciated and sallow, bending over to gather wild vegetables and firewood.

Jiang Qian nodded and said, "We delivered transportation money to the refugee camp at the beginning of the year, so they shouldn't be making things difficult for us."

Sure enough, none of those people approached when they saw the escort agency's flag.

The caravan traveled another twenty miles, and the wind and waves subsided.

Ye Ci didn't see the refugee camp either, and heard that it was another ten miles or so to get to the side road.

The other party must have recognized Ping An Escort Agency, as the journey was still smooth.

In the evening, they arrived at an abandoned village, originally named Dog Tooth Village, which had been deserted after a plague broke out.

Jiang Qian was familiar with the area, so he didn't go into the village. Instead, he set up camp next to a dilapidated house at the village entrance.

The group lit a campfire and surrounded the caravan and horses in a semi-circle. They ate dried meat and flatbread with water from their water bags.

"Young Master Ye, how about you take the first half of the night's watch, and I'll take the second half?"

Jiang Qian asked in a questioning tone.

"OK."

Ye Ci accepted the arrangement, quickly ate some dry food, and then found a secluded spot by the wall to begin his cultivation.

Jiang Qian, without taking a break, turned around and went to count the number of people and assign guards. His figure was busy in the dim light.

After a few hours, perhaps because they were tired from the day, the sound of snoring soon filled the air.

The dilapidated house and crooked walls stood there, just enough to block the cold night wind. The people traveling with me leaned against the walls in twos and threes, wrapped their coarse clothes tightly around themselves, and slept soundly.

The guard duty arrangements were already in place, with three people each guarding one corner of the wall, forming a triangular formation to prevent any unexpected incidents.

Ye Ci didn't want to squeeze in with the crowd, so he simply stepped out of the dilapidated house and stood alone under the moonlight to practice his stance training.

As night deepened, the chirping of insects filled the air.

The moonlight poured down like shattered silver, landing on the treetops, wild grass, and unnamed wildflowers, coating them with a layer of cold, silvery radiance.

Suddenly, Ye Ci stopped what he was doing and casually swung his arm.

The next second, his figure shot out like an arrow, and he grabbed the longbow that had been placed aside. The moment the bowstring was fully drawn, with a crisp "whoosh," the arrow shot straight into the forest.

The entire movement was fluid and seamless.

He swiftly drew three arrows with his right hand, simultaneously nocking them onto the bowstring. With a sudden burst of strength, he pulled the bowstring to its fullest extent.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Three crisp sounds rang out almost simultaneously as three iron arrows shot out in a triangular formation, their speed so fast that they left only a blur.

Without pausing, Ye Ci nocked an arrow and drew his bow again.

With a loud "bang," the longbow snapped in two.

At the same time, a sudden change occurred!

A dark figure darted out like a ghost, moving at an astonishing speed, heading straight for Ye Ci!

Ye Ci flicked his wrist, and the longbow was held diagonally in front of him to block the short knife. In the instant he deflected the knife, he gathered all his strength in his right fist and, with a whistling wind, slammed it hard into the man's face.

A crisp "crack" was the sound of bones breaking.

Before the man could even scream, his face caved in and his eyes bulged out.

Beneath the silver moon, blood splattered.

Warm blood splattered on half of Ye Ci's sleeve, and he slowly backed away.

Whoosh whoosh—

Three flying stones shot towards him at high speed. Ye Ci pushed off with his feet and dodged back to the broken wall.

The entire exchange took only a few breaths, so much so that the other two guards only just reacted and shouted:

"Enemy attack!"

The snoring around them had long since ceased, and the bodyguards all stood up, gripping their weapons tightly as they gazed outside.

"Who goes there!"

Jiang Qian drew his sword and roared.

But all around was quiet, and there was no sound.

The group lit torches and surveyed their surroundings.

"What happened?"

Jiang Qian asked in surprise.

Ye Ci shook his head, staring into the darkness. He noticed that there was only a pool of blood on the ground, and even the body was gone.

This indicates that there were indeed other people involved.

"Chief Ye is impressive! He's very alert!"

The other two on night watch praised Ye Ci repeatedly, calling him "head镖师" (镖头, head镖师, escort) instead of an ordinary apprentice.

One of them asked, "How is that person? Are they injured...?"

Ye Ci calmly said, "They ran away."

Another person couldn't help but ask, "I didn't even see the assassin when I heard the bowstring, how did you... manage to sneak up on them and launch the attack first?"

"The insects have stopped chirping."

Ye Ci calmly explained, "The worst thing for scouts is to travel through the forest. The best approach is usually to lie in wait, even if it means missing an opportunity, rather than revealing themselves. But they... lack experience."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Qian was filled with respect, realizing that Ye Ci's knowledge was no less than that of their bodyguards, and then said with a hint of relief:

"Thank goodness you were on watch, you scared the thieves away. If they had succeeded in their attack, we would have lost many men."

Everyone felt the same way. After discussing it for a while, Jiang Qian spoke up:

"After enduring a night of hardship, we can rest once we enter the city. What do you all think?"

"no problem."

"I'm fine with that too, I'll travel through the night."

The other镖师 (bodyguards/escorts) had no objections, quickly harnessed their horses, and left Dogtooth Village with torches in hand.

******

In the darkness, I watched the escort agency's convoy depart.

"Seventh Brother is dead!"

Outside the dilapidated house in Dogtooth Village, a group of six or seven people appeared, one of whom spoke with grief and indignation.

Another person asked, "We're familiar with the Ping An Escort Agency. Didn't we scout them out on the road before and only find four Ming Jin masters? How come there's an unfamiliar face here?"

"Should we chase after them?"

Someone suggested with resentment, "We also have four Ming Jin masters. Even if Lao Qi dies, we still have three. Let's rush up and kill a few of his 'Tangzi' (a type of fighter). Killing one is a bonus, killing two is a bonus."

"Don't provoke them; they're no match for us anymore."

The leader, dressed in a black robe, spoke slowly from under his hood: "It's true that the Ping An Escort Agency brought four Ming Jin experts on this mission, but the one on night watch is the real tough guy. Just now... his bow broke."

He raised his hand.

Under the moonlight, everyone then noticed that blood was flowing down the back of his hand, like earthworms, and dripping onto the ground.

"I was hit by four arrows... My sneak attack failed, and I was ambushed instead. I was injured before I could even muster my strength. So, chasing after him would just be suicide."

Everyone was startled. They were all hiding in the woods, and could only hear the sound of arrows, but had no idea where they were being shot.

As a result... all of them hit the boss.

You should know that Ming Jin's skin is like cowhide, making it very difficult to get injured.

Of course, to completely avoid harm, one must also muster one's inner strength.

In other words, the leader must have been stunned and reacted a beat too slow. If the other side hadn't broken the bow, he probably would have taken a few more arrows.

"But there's the mission of the Heavenly Mother, and our benefits..." someone whispered.

The eldest brother pondered for a moment: "Let's pick a manor to gather firewood. As for the money, we'll figure that out later..."

Gazing at the faint light fading into the distance on the official road, the leader in black closed his eyes and meditated:

"This man scouted ahead with one arrow, and after hitting the target, he immediately fired three more without hesitation. This is no ordinary镖头 (bodyguard/escort)... he's a seasoned killer."