Chapter 3 : A Lie Too Big to Swallow (1/2)

Hiding required careful planning. 

The mother and daughter traveled to the border between Guangyang Prefecture and Changtian Prefecture, intending to trek into Fengshan Mountain on foot.

Before entering the mountains, they needed to gather food. 

Even a few taro roots from a nearby village would be enough to sustain them.

But before they could reach the village, they caught a strong scent in the cold wind—

The stench of blood.

Having killed before, Chen Jiao was highly sensitive to the scent. 

She immediately became alert and warned, “Mother, stop walking.”

A moment later, Madam Xu also sensed something was wrong. 

She paused, sniffed the air, and whispered, “I think I smell something burning?”

Chen Jiao looked toward the distant mountains. 

A narrow path led into the village, but she no longer dared to move forward.

Suddenly, a rustling sound came from a dense patch of vines nearby.

Startled, she didn’t hesitate—

“Run!”

The two turned to flee, not daring to linger.

But before they could get far—

The sound of dogs barking erupted behind them.

The Hu raiders had watchdogs—sharp-nosed hunting dogs trained to track intruders.

Having caught their scent, the dogs gave chase, barking furiously.

The barking alerted the Hu sentries.

One of them whistled sharply, signaling the dogs.

The barking didn’t stop—it was a message being passed along.

Chen Jiao grabbed a tree branch, trying to ward off the dogs, but they stood their ground, barking and snapping viciously.

Within moments, two Hu warriors appeared.

One was a towering man with a thick beard, his hulking frame as immovable as a mountain.

The other was fat and greasy, with a bulbous red nose, oily skin, and a massive gut, his arms as thick as Chen Jiao’s thighs.

Madam Xu’s legs instantly went weak.

The two men glanced at the pair indifferently.

They weren’t interested in old women or sickly boys—instead, they muttered to each other in a language the mother and daughter couldn’t understand.

One of them gestured for them to hand over their belongings.

Chen Jiao valued her life above all else. 

Since their bundle contained nothing of value, she immediately tossed it over without hesitation.

The Hu warrior rifled through it, but found nothing of worth. 

His expression darkened with displeasure.

Meanwhile, Madam Xu clutched her own bundle tightly, her fingers turning pale from how hard she gripped it.

At first, Chen Jiao assumed she was reluctant to part with their last few coins, so she whispered urgently, “Mother, just give it to them! Staying alive is more important!”

Madam Xu remained silent.

The Hu warrior grew impatient and stepped forward, yanking at the bundle.

Despite her fear, Madam Xu refused to let go, struggling desperately.

A massive hand suddenly swung through the air.

A deafening slap landed across her face.

The world spun violently before her eyes.

A metallic taste filled her mouth.

Madam Xu was thrown to the ground from the impact, her bundle slipping from her grasp.

“Mother!”

Chen Jiao cried out in alarm.

Madam Xu lay crumpled on the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood. 

Chen Jiao rushed to help her up.

The Hu warrior rudely tore open the bundle, scattering its contents across the ground.

His face twisted in disgust at the sight of a few measly copper coins.

Annoyed, he searched further, sifting through worn clothes and forged travel documents.

Then—

A glimmer of gold caught his eye.

From the pile of rags, he pulled out a small, golden lock pendant.

The Hu warrior’s eyes instantly lit up.

Chen Jiao was stunned.

They had gold hidden all along?!

Her mind reeled in disbelief.

But what she didn’t know was that the golden lock was Madam Xu’s most treasured possession.

It had been gifted by Chen Jiao’s father, Chen En, on the day of her hundredth-day celebration.

It wasn’t just an ornament—it was a token of recognition, the key to reuniting with her long-lost husband.

Now, with the Hu raider clutching it, Madam Xu would not back down.

With reckless determination, she threw herself forward, desperate to snatch it back.

The other Hu raider watched with amusement, as if spectating a monkey performance, making no move to intervene.

Chen Jiao, panicked, tried to drag her mother away, desperately searching for an escape route.

But the Hu warrior had no intention of letting them go.

His bloodthirsty nature took over—he raised his curved blade high and swung it down at Madam Xu.

In that split second, Chen Jiao instinctively threw herself over her mother, using her own body as a shield.

Only one thought filled her mind—

If this was fate, she would pay back the debt of life owed to this body’s parents.

This wretched world—she didn’t want to live in it anymore!

She braced for death, heart pounding, waiting for the blade’s cold bite—

Then suddenly—

A sharp “whoosh” pierced through the air.

A violent gust split the wind apart.

A deadly spearhead—brimming with unstoppable force—tore through the Hu warrior’s massive body.

It happened so fast.

In a mere instant, the Hu raider’s eyes bulged in terror.

His throat emitted a grotesque gurgling sound, and he collapsed face-first like a felled tree.

The change happened so abruptly that Chen Jiao was frozen in shock.

She barely had time to register the heavy thud of the fallen corpse beside her.

The remaining Hu raider, who had been spectating, erupted in fury.

Instead of fighting back, he turned and bolted toward the village, intending to raise the alarm.

But just as he moved—

An arrow sliced through the air, striking his leg.

The Hu raider yelped in pain, struggling to rise—

A second arrow found its mark—straight through his skull.

The man dropped dead, his body convulsing once before going still.

The golden lock still lay in the dead man’s grip.

Madam Xu snatched it back immediately.

Their attackers’ hunting dogs, now terrified, tucked their tails between their legs and fled into the woods.

Chen Jiao, still in shock, turned her gaze to their rescuers.

Four men sat atop warhorses.

The leader was an imposing figure, standing at least eight feet tall, his body muscular and broad—a man of absolute strength and power.

His face was square-jawed and rugged, his thick eyebrows casting deep shadows over his sharp, hawk-like eyes.

A high-bridged nose, sun-darkened skin, and a well-groomed beard gave him an air of seasoned authority.

The red-tasseled spear that had pierced the Hu warrior had come from his hand.

Realizing she had just narrowly escaped death, Chen Jiao immediately fell to her knees.

“Thank you, brave warriors, for saving our lives!”

She kowtowed deeply, pressing her forehead to the dirt in gratitude.

The four horsemen paid her no mind.

Without a word, they rode past her toward the village.

As they passed, the leader casually reached down and snatched up the fallen Hu warrior’s curved blade.

Chen Jiao watched their figures disappear into the distance, her heart still pounding.

She hurriedly gathered the scattered belongings from the ground.

Madam Xu, having witnessed death before, had grown numb to corpses.

She quickly helped collect their things, her swollen, bruised cheek momentarily forgotten.

“This place is cursed!” she whispered anxiously. 

“Let’s leave at once!”

But Chen Jiao had other plans.

Her mind spun rapidly as she made a dangerous decision.

“Mother, those men carried themselves with great authority. Their skills are exceptional, and they acted with righteousness to save us.”

Madam Xu blinked in confusion. 

“What are you saying?”

Chen Jiao’s eyes were sharp and calculating. 

“I want to take a chance.”

Madam Xu’s blood ran cold.

“You’ve lost your mind!” she snapped. 

“What if they’re just as bad as the others?”

Chen Jiao cut her off.

“They’re on horseback. If they meant us harm, we wouldn’t escape anyway.”

Madam Xu fell silent.

Chen Jiao had already made up her mind.

It was time to act

Madam Xu: “…”

Ignoring her mother’s confusion, Chen Jiao resolutely ventured into the village to assess the situation.

Madam Xu, grumbling under her breath, knew she couldn’t stop her, so she had no choice but to follow in a flustered hurry.

The four warriors who had come to their rescue were led by Xu Zhao, a seasoned military officer.

They had originally been on their way to Minzhou for a rendezvous when they noticed strange activity among the Hu raiders.

Sensing something amiss, they decided to investigate—but they had arrived too late.

By the time they tracked the raiders to Taojia Village, over two hundred villagers had already been slaughtered.

Apart from the two Hu warriors they had just killed, eighteen more were still rampaging through the village.

These Hu raiders had previously terrorized the Minzhou region.

Upon learning that Taojia Village was wealthy, they deliberately came to plunder it.

The four warriors were all exceptionally skilled fighters.

Without hesitation, they charged into the village and engaged the raiders in a brutal battle.

Chen Jiao and Madam Xu, hearing the sounds of fierce combat, only dared to approach the village entrance—

They didn’t dare go any closer.

Instead, they hid in a concealed spot, watching from a distance.

Xu Zhao, a giant of a man, was even more physically imposing than the Hu warriors.

At one point, he snatched a massive battle axe from one of them and swung it down in a diagonal slash—

Slicing half of the man’s skull clean off.

Another warrior, an archer, was so skilled that he never missed a shot.

The four fought relentlessly, covered in blood, for half an hour before they exterminated all eighteen Hu warriors.

By the end, the village was littered with corpses.

Aside from chickens, dogs, and livestock, not a single human life remained.

Xu Zhao had sustained some minor wounds, but nothing life-threatening.

Still wary of potential survivors, the four swept through the village once more, ensuring that no Hu raiders remained alive.

To those who had experienced the horrors of Hu massacres before, the death of a few hundred villagers meant nothing.

In these chaotic times, human life was the cheapest commodity.

Afterward, the warriors gathered at the village well to wash off the blood.

They wore soft armor, so only their arms and legs had suffered flesh wounds.

Retrieving medicinal herbs from their pouches, they began treating their injuries.

Summoning every ounce of courage, Chen Jiao stepped forward, knelt down, and bowed her head to the ground.

“Please, noble warriors, save us!”

Xu Zhao, seated on a stone by the well, glanced at her sharply.

At first, he assumed she was a surviving villager.

“The Hu raiders are dead. Go report this to the authorities.”

His voice was deep and commanding, his accent precise and formal, marking him as a northerner.

Chen Jiao hesitated, then swiftly responded in the same dialect,

“To be honest, noble warrior, I am not from this village. I was merely passing through, hoping to beg for food—when I stumbled upon this tragedy…”

One of the other warriors, hot-tempered and impatient, cut her off.

“We told you to report it! Stop wasting our time!”

This bare-armed brute had a thunderous voice and a terrible temper, which frightened Chen Jiao into silence.

Xu Zhao, however, was more composed.

As he dressed his wounds, he replied, “If you do not wish to report it, then leave quickly. This is no place to linger.”

But Chen Jiao was determined.

“Warrior, you don’t understand. Even if we escape today, we will not survive tomorrow.”

Her words piqued the warriors’ interest.

They studied her and Madam Xu carefully, still failing to recognize their disguises.

Xu Zhao was not a heartless man.

After all, he had tracked down the raiders on his own initiative.

Now stroking his beard, he finally asked, “What trouble have you encountered, boy?”