After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

The old man slumped forward and cried out in pain.

"My lord!" The guards were shocked and rushed to help the old man in black robes, but Dahei's arrow was cunning, with a barb inside, and the old man in black robes felt pain as soon as he moved his foot.

San Zhuang had already scrambled away to a distance.

Xu Tong and Qian Sijin had also been driven back by the guards, but when they saw the big black righteous man shoot through the old man's right calf, slowing down his escape, their eyes lit up with joy. They wiped away their sweat and prepared to close in and chase after him.

The opposing guard leader was no pushover. He gritted his teeth and ordered his men to take the master away while he dealt with the Imperial Guards. The guard leader then swung his sword down with a loud clang!

Xu Tong's already dulled blade was instantly cut in two.

The lead guard raised his foot and kicked Qian Sijin, who had come to his rescue, to the ground. Then, he raised his dagger, aimed at Xu Tong's neck, and slashed down with a blank expression.

The blades were sharp and cold, and the wind pressure was immense!

Xu Tong's pupils contracted sharply, his face turning deathly pale from the force of the blade's attack. But strangely, he suddenly felt a strange calm within him, as if he were no longer afraid of death... If he were to watch the old man in black escape and let Young Master Ning and Commander Qin's plans of the past few days fall apart in his hands, he would rather die here...

The thought had barely crossed my mind when the clatter of hooves came from behind.

then……

Like a thunderclap from a clear sky... "Boom!"

A thunderous sound exploded behind his head!

Xu Tong's mind went blank.

Almost at the same moment as that sound... the fierce face of the leading guard in front of me also exploded like a shattered watermelon!

The warm juice splashed onto Xu Tong's face, his mind went blank, and he collapsed to the ground. A buzzing sound seemed to linger in his ears, and his pupils kept contracting, but he didn't blink.

Just as his soul was still reeling from the shock.

A jumble of horse reins rang out behind them.

Within a few breaths, the sound of hurried, fine footsteps rang out, and a figure dressed in a white robe passed by.

The figure moved swiftly, carrying a musket with white smoke rising from its muzzle, and chased straight after the black-robed old man who was fleeing not far away.

At this moment, Xiao Chun, who was about ten zhang ahead, glanced at the scene, paused, snatched a knife from one of the guards surrounding him, turned around and rushed forward, seemingly shouting, "Dumb guy—! Kill him!"

The iron man, who resembled a Vajra demon, turned around and pounced on the figure!

"Young Master Ning... be careful..." Xu Tong's eyes widened as he recognized the figure. He opened his mouth as if to warn the other party, but he was too weak to make a sound.

Snapped!

Ning Nan threw away the musket he had just fired.

He lifted the back of his robe with his right hand, revealing two more muskets that had already been loaded with gunpowder.

With his right hand gripping the gun handle, he pulled hard, and the leather holster loosened under the force. Ning Nan pulled out a new musket and lit the fuse with his left hand.

The black fuse was ignited with a "whoosh"!

It takes three breaths from lighting the fuse to firing the shotgun.

But at that moment, the mute man's figure pounced over.

Ning Nan narrowed one eye and began to hold his gun.

"Three," he uttered a number.

The mute man's iron fist came straight for his face.

Just then, a red figure passed over Ning Nan's shoulder.

Wearing a red flying fish robe, Qin Yuanyao took a slender and agile step forward.

A straight leg suddenly kicked upwards, swatting away the mute man's iron hand!

The mute let out a strange cry and kicked at the female commander. Qin Yuanyao raised her left hand and unleashed a powerful strike, sending the mute stagger back several steps!

"Two!" Qin Yuanyao heard the deep voice of the man behind her and stepped to the left without turning her head.

Just as the mute was about to attack again, a large hand suddenly appeared from behind, protecting his neck… Xiao Chun was filled with remorse; he shouldn't have ordered the mute to return… He placed his hand in front of the mute and roared, “Mute, run!”

"one!"

"Bang!"

Thunder roars again!

Xiao Chun's hand, which was protecting the mute man, was instantly shattered into pieces!

Warm blood and bits of flesh splattered on his face, and Xiao Chun's painful screams reached his ears. The mute man's expression froze for a moment, then he became ferocious!

He roared "Ahhh!" as he lunged at Ning Nan.

Qin Yuanyao sneered, took off her sword and threw it on the ground, then faced her enemy with only her fists and feet!

Bang!

The mute man threw a punch, but Qin Yuanyao countered with a powerful whip kick, deflecting the punch. Then, she threw another punch, and the mute man let out a "ha!" as he actually took Qin Yuanyao's punch head-on with his chest, only managing a muffled thud!

"Heh, I didn't expect someone to actually master the Iron Formless Technique... It's a pity, it's only at a minor level." The female commander sneered, but her eyes were quite serious.

The mute man's arms came together like iron whips, striking out at the female commander in front of him.

Qin Yuanyao bent her arms to block!

He then kicked his opponent in the abdomen at the right moment, using the force to retreat, thus avoiding being hit by the two steel whips.

At this moment, "Two!"

The cold voice rose again.

Qin Yuanyao quickly moved a step to the left, making way for him once again.

The mute man saw that the thing that had shattered Xiao Chun's left hand was pointing at him again, but he neither dodged nor avoided it, and his face showed a solemn and proud expression.

Bang bang bang!

The veins on his neck bulged, and he slapped his chest hard, letting out two strange "ah ah" cries.

Ning Nan understood what the other party meant, so he lowered the muzzle of the gun by an inch and aimed it at the other party's chest.

"Tsk," Ning Nan smacked his lips, a bead of sweat dripping from his forehead, and chuckled, "If you're really fucking indestructible... I'll kowtow three times and become your disciple..."

The fuse burned to the end, igniting the gunpowder.

With a "bang!", the bullet was fired.

The next instant, the bullet blasted a large hole in the mute man's chest and passed right through him.

The stench of blood filled the air, and the mute man, whose face turned almost instantly pale, froze for a moment. He looked down at his chest, his eyes vacant, and mumbled something unintelligible before his body went completely limp.

Ning Nan put the gunpowder-smelling musket back into the leather bag behind him and stared intently at the mute man's corpse for a moment.

After confirming that the other person was really dead, he finally let out a soft sigh of relief... Ah, no need to kowtow anymore.

As this battle was over, the thirty-odd Imperial Guards who had come with him and Qin Yuanyao had almost completely captured the twenty-odd guards, and the man in black robes had also been captured.

Ning Nan glanced at him and immediately looked away... Once he captured this man in black robes, his matter would be settled.

As for who this man in black was, and what he looked like, he didn't even want to look at him, and had absolutely no desire to get involved.

"Ningnan—!"

At that moment, a frantic roar, like that of a trapped beast, rang out.

Ning Nan turned his head to look... uh, it was Xiao Chun.

Xiao Chun knelt on the ground, his face pale, spitting out black blood, and blood was flowing from his broken wrist. Two Imperial Guards were holding knives to his neck.

Black blood… Ning Nan frowned. “What’s going on?”

"He took poison." Qin Yuanyao sighed slightly. One look was enough to tell that Xiao Chun must have taken poison when he saw that there was no hope of escape... Xiao Chun was actually an important witness, and this time he had miscalculated.

"Hehe," Xiao Chun knelt on the ground, laughing and speaking, as if repeating something, "A real man, a real man, live..."

Ning Nan strode toward him.

Xiao Chun's eyes were unfocused, and black poisonous blood kept gushing from his throat.

But he was still gritting his teeth and saying something.

Ning Nan walked up to him, reached out, and took a knife from a Jinyiwei guard.

At that moment, he understood what Xiao Chun was saying.

"A true man...lives to feast on five tripods, dies to be cooked in five tripods...dies to be cooked in five tripods!"

Ning Nan remained silent.

He didn't know the people who died in Pangjiazhuang, and they weren't important to him. He also didn't know the villagers and caravans that Xiao Chun had robbed and killed, and they weren't important to him either.

Some people also died in Hangezhuang, which is nearby. They may or may not have known each other.

But he knew all eight people who died in the back hill of Lijia Village.

He recognized those three Imperial Guards, and the other five were even more familiar—they were from the same village, he knew them all. Two of them were quite young, and they died without leaving any children. He wondered if their mothers would cry themselves blind… Ha…

Ning Nan narrowed his eyes. "Brother Xiao, we have no five tripods, no food, no cooking. You're just like me for life..."

His voice was icy, "...They're all fucking nobodys."

immediately.

While Xiao Chun still had a breath left.

The cold, white moonlight danced across the blade... Ning Nan suddenly swung his blade, aiming for Xiao Chun's neck!

With a loud "bang!"

Xiao Chun... his head fell to the ground.

Blood gushed out in a stream from the severed neck, splattering Ning Nan all over!