Luo Sanlang had never been so nervous as he was today. He wasn't nervous because he was going to kill someone, but because of the environment in which he was going to kill someone. Of course, there was also a slight excitement that made his hands tremble slightly. This was the martial arts arena, one of the most solemn places in and around the capital besides the imperial palace, and he was going to kill someone in a place that ordinary people couldn't even enter.
That wasn't the reason for his excitement either. The reason his heart was pounding and his breathing was heavy was that His Majesty was also in the martial arts arena.
Killing someone under the emperor's nose was incredibly thrilling no matter how you looked at it.
Luo Sanlang was Luo Wen's retainer. Ever since Luo Wen was assigned to be Luo Wen's personal bodyguard by General Luo Yao of the Left Vanguard before Luo Wen arrived at the Imperial Martial Arts Academy, he had become Luo Gongzi's confidant.
In the capital, a place filled with power struggles, intrigues, and traps, Luo Gongzi had no choice but to trust him. Therefore, Luo Sanlang firmly believed that even after the young master left the martial arts academy and entered the military, he would still be the young master's confidant. He knew too many of the young master's secrets and had done too many shady things for him. The young master couldn't live without him now, and would need him even more in a new environment.
For example, this time, he was going to kill that disheveled boy with a missing right arm.
When the young master was in the capital, this confidant was at best a gofer. But once the young master entered the military, he would naturally rise to a not-so-low rank. It should be known that a fourth-rank Langjiang's personal guard captain could easily be promoted to a sixth-rank Xiaowei, and if the young master were to recommend him, even a fifth-rank Yajiang was not impossible.
Once he had a military rank, Luo Sanlang knew his fate would truly change.
In the Luo family, he was nothing more than a servant.
Even with some status in the Luo household, he was still, in the end, a servant.
Therefore, he pinned all his hopes on Luo Wen. As long as the one-armed boy was killed, no one would know that Luo Wen hadn't devised the plan to breach the earthen city. This way, Luo Wen could rightfully claim first place and directly enter the Sixteen Guards.
Luo Wen's future was bright, and so was his.
With a dozen or so servants from the Luo family, Luo Sanlang spurred his horse straight to the military camp where the troops had been stationed. The boy was a criminal; he could only hide in the camp, waiting to return to Chang'an with Young Master Luo Wen. Besides, even if he wanted to escape, he couldn't. He could get in, but he couldn't get out.
Without someone to guide him, even if he could get out, would the people waiting to kill him outside let him escape again?
Therefore, Luo Sanlang firmly believed that the one-armed boy was still hiding in the military camp.
A dozen warhorses galloped into the camp like lightning. The camp, capable of holding five hundred men, was quite small; dozens of tents stood scattered like large mounds. When the attack on Tu City began, Luo Wen had instructed Fang Jie to wait for news in his main tent. So Luo Sanlang led his men directly to the tent's entrance. He gestured for his men to surround the tent completely.
"Young brother, are you still there? I've been ordered by General Luo to fetch you. Come out quickly!"
Luo Sanlang called out into the tent, then listened intently for Fang Jie's reply.
After about a minute, the tent remained completely silent. Luo Sanlang's expression changed slightly. He pointed to the tent, and immediately three servants dismounted, drew their swords, and cautiously approached. One servant slowly jumped open the tent flap with his sword, peered inside, and shook his head, indicating no one was inside. The two servants behind him then lifted the flap and rushed inside. The instant the curtain was lifted, several crossbow bolts shot out of the tent like lightning. Before the two servants could even react, they were pierced through the chest by the bolts. The immense force generated by the repeating crossbow's mechanism at that distance not only caused the bolts to almost completely embed themselves in their bodies, but also knocked them back out of the tent.
"He's in the tent!" someone shouted, their voice trembling slightly.
In those few short seconds, their companions, who had just been chatting and laughing with them, were dead. Luo Sanlang's face turned extremely grim. He drew his sword and pointed it at the tent, gesturing for everyone to approach. A servant whispered a warning, "Why don't we set the tent on fire and burn him alive!"
"Bullshit!"
Luo Sanlang cursed, "You're a fucking idiot! A fire will attract attention immediately. His Majesty is in the training ground right now. If those Imperial Guards come rushing over, we'll be nothing but a handful!"
"Find shields! Charge in! He's only one man, and his right arm is missing. If we charge in, do you think he can withstand a dozen swords?"
"Yes!"
Several servants found shields in other tents. Four or five of them huddled together, using the shields as shields, and slowly squeezed into the main tent. After the curtain was pulled open, no more crossbow bolts were fired. The men breathed a sigh of relief and then rushed in with a burst of strength.
Ah!
A scream came from inside the tent, making Luo Sanlang's face even more grim.
After the servants who rushed in let out a few screams, the men behind dragged the two who had gone in first out of the tent.
The feet of the two men were pierced by something, blood flowing everywhere. It seemed the young man had buried something sharp in the ground near the entrance. The military camp had caltrops specifically for dealing with infantry charges; if they were scattered everywhere, there wouldn't be any place to step. Luo Sanlang guessed it was that; his men, in their haste to rush in, hadn't noticed anything amiss.
"He's got some skill," he cursed menacingly, jumping off his horse and shouting, "Find bows and arrows! Fire a hail of arrows in!"
...
...
The military camp in the training ground had everything; basically, all the standard equipment of the Sui Dynasty's soldiers could be found there. Not only were there strong bows, but even repeating crossbows, which weren't widely issued to the army. Because repeating crossbows were too expensive and their manufacturing process was complex, they had always been only issued to the most elite troops. The drill ground was where the most elite generals and soldiers were trained, and it lacked almost everything related to military equipment.
The crossbow bolts that killed two people earlier, fired from the tent, must have been from a repeating crossbow. This showed that the boy with the missing right arm had thoroughly familiarized himself with the camp after the army's departure.
Therefore, Luo Sanlang was somewhat troubled.
If he were fearless and charged in, killing the boy wouldn't be too difficult, but that would inevitably result in manpower losses, and he wouldn't be able to explain too many deaths to Luo Wen. Moreover, too many dead would make cleaning up the scene difficult. Any clues left behind could easily be discovered.
Therefore, unless he was desperate, he wouldn't even want to order his men to fire arrows into the tent.
But now, worrying about such trivial matters would only make things worse the longer it dragged on. Tu City had already fallen, and soon Luo Wen and his two companions would be received by His Majesty the Emperor. Then the people from the drill ground would return to clean up the camp and inventory the equipment.
Luo Sanlang didn't have much time left.
"Shoot! We can't delay!"
He hissed, drawing back a heavy bow and firing into the tent. Two men flanked the tent flaps, while the others stood at the entrance, unleashing a deluge of arrows. After each man had fired at least three arrows, Luo Sanlang shouted, leading a few men to discard their bows and charge into the tent, swords in hand.
They rushed forward like they were wading through water, none daring to take large steps.
He knew that a hail of arrows might not kill the boy, but it would certainly throw him into disarray. As long as the boy didn't have a chance to aim and pull the trigger, they could easily kill him with their swords once inside. Although they were servants of Luo Yao's household, under General Luo, even the servants were skilled in archery and horsemanship.
But once inside the tent, Luo Sanlang was dumbfounded.
The tent was empty. Several repeating crossbows were strapped to a table facing the tent door; the ropes on the triggers were broken, clearly pulled when the intruders lifted the tent flap, causing the bolts to fire automatically. There were indeed many caltrops scattered on the ground, some stained with blood.
"We've been tricked!"
Luo Sanlang exclaimed in surprise, immediately turning to leave.
Just then, a dark figure suddenly emerged from behind the servants surrounding the tent. This figure, hidden in another tent, had been waiting for its opportunity. The moment it appeared, it pulled the triggers of the repeating crossbows at the servants' backs. With muffled thuds, four or five servants fell to the ground, screaming in agony from arrows in the back.
The standard repeating crossbows of the Sui Dynasty were extremely powerful; piercing the heart from the back was effortless. The figure's aim was incredibly precise, wasting almost no bolts.
After killing four or five people, the dark figure vanished behind a tent in a flash.
Luo Sanlang's face turned grim. He cursed and led the remaining men in pursuit. The lead servant had just turned the corner of the tent when a young man grinned at him and then thrust his spear forward with one arm. With a soft thud, the spear pierced the servant's heart. Having succeeded in his sneak attack, the young man turned and ran.
When Luo Sanlang turned back, he only saw his subordinate fall limply, and a fleeting figure disappear.
"Chase!"
Luo Sanlang shouted, leading his men to continue the pursuit.
After rounding three or four tents, the young man vanished again. Just as they stopped, a javelin suddenly appeared from nowhere, instantly killing one of the servants. The remaining four or five men turned to look, but he was nowhere to be seen. Just as they were filled with fear, they heard screams in the distance. They rushed over and saw that the two servants who had been injured earlier had their necks slit, blood gushing out like waterfalls.
Luo Sanlang's heart nearly leaped out of his throat. He frantically looked around, but the elusive, demonic boy was nowhere to be seen.
"Third Brother... let's go. We can't kill him... if this continues, we'll all die here," a servant said in a trembling voice.
Before Luo Sanlang could speak, another javelin was hurled, piercing the servant's back with pinpoint accuracy. The sharp tip of the javelin emerged from the man's chest, spraying thick blood all over Luo Sanlang's face.
Watching the grotesque corpse fall, Luo Sanlang's heart involuntarily clenched. Now, he only had three men left, three men terrified out of their wits.
...
...
"From now on, don't separate. Search forward back-to-back, four people together, that way he can't ambush us!"
Luo Sanlang gave the order. The four men stood back-to-back, slowly moving forward to search for the boy's trail. Just as they moved, a dark figure scrambled to the top of a tent like a gecko. Although he only used his left hand to climb, his speed was astonishing, his movements agile and nimble.
After reaching the top of the tent, the boy took the javelin he had been holding in his mouth, looked down at the four men, and gave a cold laugh. Then, he hurled the javelin down. From above, the javelin pierced the head of a servant, all the way to his neck. He didn't even have time to scream before his throat was blocked. His body went limp, and the servant slowly collapsed. The half-spear protruding from his head rested against the tent, the corpse's posture grotesque and chilling.
Luo Sanlang and his two companions were terrified and immediately looked up. The moment they looked up, they saw the young man leap from the tent like a one-winged eagle. Mid-air, the young man drew a horizontal sword from his back and slashed down, decapitating a servant from his shoulder with a soft thud.
The next second, the young man's sword thrust straight through another servant's throat, the tip emerging from the back of his neck.
Sheathing his sword, the young man pointed the blood-dripping tip at Luo Sanlang, who had just raised his knife, and coldly said, "Be a good boy, and I won't kill you."
Luo Sanlang's heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively dropped the sword.
"Hide all the corpses in that haystack over there. Be quick, or I'll dismember you and gouge out your features."
Fang Jie gave the order, and Luo Sanlang immediately stumbled out, dragging all the corpses one by one to the haystack and covering them with hay.
"Take off your clothes."
Fang Jie pointed the tip of his knife at Luo Sanlang's nose and said, "I'm not killing you because I need you to go back and inform your young master to bring people back to dispose of the bodies. Otherwise, if things are exposed, a nobody like me is nothing to fear, but your young master's future will be ruined. If your young master is smart enough, he'll forget about today's events. If he can't forget and still wants to kill me, he won't have an easy time either… Let me remind your young master, he's about to be promoted to general. He should think more about his future."
Luo Sanlang trembled as he took off his Sui Dynasty Right Guard uniform and knelt on the ground, too afraid to move.
Fang Jie struck Luo Sanlang on the back of the head with a single blow, knocking him unconscious. Then, with swift movements, he changed his clothes. After changing, he first severed Luo Sanlang's ear, then severed the tendons in Luo Sanlang's right arm. The excruciating pain roused Luo Sanlang, who couldn't help but let out a wail.
"Get lost!"
He coldly cursed, then leaped onto a warhorse and charged away.
In Luo Sanlang's sight, the demon gradually disappeared.