Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather
Chapter 288 - 279 A Bunch of Small Fry, Step Aside!

Chapter 288: Chapter 279 A Bunch of Small Fry, Step Aside!

Qingfu Mountain, the winter sun shines on the vast snowy forest, reflecting a silvery light that dazzles the eyes.

Standing at the foot of the mountain, looking up, one can see the entire mountain adorned with beautiful icy branches and jade leaves, uniformly glistening.

"Sir, what should we do next? Should we sneak up there first?"

Song Dashan looked up at the shining light on the mountaintop and quickly lowered his head to ask.

Yang Zhenshan shook his head slightly, "It’s very difficult for us to sneak up there without making any noise!"

Qingfu Mountain is vast, but Huang Yifu’s stronghold isn’t large, and its location is no secret; they could easily find it.

The mountain terrain in front of them is steep, with cliffs on both sides; only the north and south sides are accessible up and down the mountain.

Now, the whole mountain is covered in a vast expanse of white. If dozens or hundreds of people were to climb up, a glance from the mountaintop would easily reveal them, making hiding impossible.

As for waiting until nightfall!

Yang Zhenshan stroked his beard, thought for a moment, and felt that it was unnecessary to be so cautious when attacking a group of bandits.

"Leave ten people to guard the horses, the rest will follow me up the mountain!"

Immediately, a group dismounted and started climbing towards the mountain.

There was a clear path on the hillside, which could be discerned even covered by heavy snow; if there wasn’t snow, it wouldn’t be impossible to ride horses up.

Walking along the mountain path for about an hour, they bypassed a cliff over ten meters high, and then saw a wooden gate built from logs.

The gate was three meters tall, flanked by solid stone. Yang Zhenshan looked around and found that the only way to enter the stronghold was through the gate; other areas were cliffs.

This place was an easily defendable, hard-to-attack location.

Yang Zhenshan had thought that the other party would surely discover them on their approach, but now they had reached right in front of the gate without being detected.

No one guarding the gate?

Yang Zhenshan gestured for the soldiers behind him to stop and carefully observed the surroundings, listening intently.

Many sounds came from within the stronghold, but there was no movement around.

"There seem to be no traps!"

Yang Zhenshan stepped forward alone, came to the gate, and pushed hard trying to open it, but it didn’t budge, probably bolted from inside.

Looking up at the three-meter-tall gate, Yang Zhenshan stepped back a few steps, and with a vertical leap, jumped right onto the gate.

From atop the gate, he could see everything inside the stronghold.

The mountain stronghold was naturally crude and simple, just like a village.

Yang Zhenshan could faintly see shadows moving inside, but the people there had not noticed anything.

"I knew that dealing with a bunch of bandits didn’t require such caution!"

These bandits were too disappointing, not only was there no sentry arranged, but even the gate wasn’t guarded.

Was it their carelessness, or did they feel no one would dare provoke them?

Actually, Huang Yifu and his men had been too complacent from prolonged peace, occupying here for over ten years, living mainly off tolls and only occasionally engaging in plundering. Usually, few would come looking for trouble.

Furthermore, with the chilly weather, they had no intent to stay outside, and outsiders probably wouldn’t wish to climb a freezing mountain, thus even basic guards weren’t posted.

Yang Zhenshan jumped down from the gate, unlocked the bolt, and over a hundred soldiers swaggered into the stronghold.

Inside the main hall of the stronghold, Huang Yifu was holding a pretty girl, enjoying her delicate figure.

"Hahaha~~ What a good little beauty!"

However, the little beauty was on the verge of tears, wanting to resist but not daring to.

Sensing the emotions of the woman in his arms, Huang Yifu’s expression darkened, "What? Do you despise me?"

The woman’s body trembled, involuntarily curling up in fear.

Huang Yifu suddenly grabbed her cheek, his expression savage, "Little girl, behave and follow me, and you might live a few more years. If you don’t understand, hmm~~ given your soft and delicate skin, I bet you taste very delicious!"

With his ferocious face and brutal gaze, the woman was terrified, crying softly.

"Ahahaha~~"

Huang Yifu was completely indifferent to the woman’s crying, pulling her into his embrace and roughly groping her.

"Brothers, let’s drink!"

"Hahaha, drink!"

He picked up a bowl of liquor, tilted his head back, and poured it into his mouth; the cold liquor trickled from the corner of his mouth, running down his scruffy beard onto the woman in his arms.

The woman turned pale, not daring to move.

Just then, with a bang, the closed door was suddenly smashed open from outside, the tremendous force not only forcing open the two wooden doors but also knocking a few bandits behind it to the ground.

The sudden change silenced the noisy scene in the hall.

The cold wind blew in, and the bright sunshine made the doorway somewhat dazzling.

"Who, which jerk broke the door!"

Huang Yifu never expected outsiders had entered the stronghold; he thought it was a brother who had kicked the door too hard.

He looked towards the doorway, only to see a tall figure amid the dazzling sunlight; because the sunlight was too bright, he couldn’t see the newcomer’s face.

The one who kicked open the door was naturally Yang Zhenshan; they had boldly and unobstructed made their way to the main hall.

This caused Yang Zhenshan great disappointment; it was too easy, too uninteresting.

He had thought attacking a stronghold would at least pose some challenge.

But as it turned out, they had entered right into the thieves’ lair, completely unbeknownst to the clueless bandits.

"So you are that so-called Jade Balance Swordsman, Huang Yifu!"

Yang Zhenshan raised his iron spear directly at Huang Yifu while his personal followers also rushed into the hall.

Twenty personal followers, wielding long sabers, spread out in a few breaths, surrounding a group of bandits.

At this moment, Huang Yifu and the bandits finally realized outsiders had entered.

Clang clang~~

A group of bandits quickly drew their swords, readying themselves for combat.

Huang Yifu slightly squinted his eyes, flung the woman in his arms to one side, and slowly stood up picking up the long saber beside him.

"This uninvited friend, may I have the honor of knowing your esteemed name?"

He wasn’t foolish. Although he didn’t know who the visitor was, seeing the posture of the personal followers and considering that someone dared to come directly to them, he realized their background and status were certainly not simple, thus he decided to start with courtesy before resorting to arms by asking the intentions of the visitor first.

Yang Zhenshan stepped into the hall, "I am definitely not your friend!"

"General!" Huang Yifu’s pupils sharply contracted, a bad premonition rising in his heart.

"Tenglong Guard Commander Yang Zhenshan!" Yang Zhenshan surveyed the arrangement inside the hall and said indifferently.

Bandits!

He had killed before, but it was his first time visiting the bandits’ lair.

There seemed nothing particularly special about it; well, that chair looks quite nice, just missing a tiger skin.

Yang Zhenshan felt that a bandit king should have a tiger skin to look imposing and domineering.

Well, that was just the stereotype formed by TV dramas affecting him.

"Yang Zhenshan!" Huang Yifu cast a puzzled look.

He really hadn’t heard the name Yang Zhenshan before.

Speaking of Yang Zhenshan’s reputation, in Chongshan Town he was absolutely illustrious, and all soldiers in Chongshan Town knew Yang Zhenshan as a god of slaughter.

As for Jing’an Prefecture, Yang Zhenshan was not an unknown either. As the Yang Family rose to prominence, Yang Zhenshan also entered the attention of many people in Jing’an Prefecture.

But most of those who paid attention to Yang Zhenshan were related to the official circle—officials, businessmen, Martial Arts Families—those deeply engaged with the political arena were the ones who could receive news about Yang Zhenshan.

As for a bandit like Huang Yifu, it was very hard for him to get information about Yang Zhenshan.

Yang Zhenshan did not care whether Huang Yifu had heard of his great name or not; after satisfying his curiosity, he raised his spear and pushed the bandits in front of him aside.

"A bunch of underlings, step aside!"

A few bandits seemed somewhat fearful, indeed fearful.

General!

Could they not be afraid?

Although Huang Yifu’s subordinates included many martial artists, for these weakling martial artists, a general was absolutely an existence they dared not provoke.

And who was Yang Zhenshan? He was a slaughterer who had emerged from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

When he no longer suppressed the murderous aura on his body, that tangible killing intent made everyone’s heart turn as cold as a frigid pond.

Then, without Yang Zhenshan even speaking, the bandits in front of him stepped aside.

Huang Yifu felt the murderous aura from Yang Zhenshan, and deep fear and horror emerged in the depths of his eyes.

At this time, outside the hall, waves of killing shouts and screams arose, the chaotic sounds magnifying the fear in the hearts of the bandits in the hall like devilish sounds.

The massacre had already begun, could they be spared?

Yang Zhenshan approached Huang Yifu, who stood before him not daring to move!

He saw Yang Zhenshan’s eyes, those were calm and unfathomably indifferent and unrippled eyes.

Despite lacking fierce murderous intent, they made him dare not even move.

As if the slightest movement would result in a blade piercing through his throat.

Yang Zhenshan flicked his spear, and with a thud, he sent Huang Yifu flying.

How high could the cultivation of a bandit leader be?

Perhaps the Star Moon Sect was a large organization, maybe the overall strength of the Star Moon Sect was strong, but how powerful could a blade wielder under a sect branch really be?

A postnatal fourth or fifth level of cultivation would be considered good.

Yang Zhenshan didn’t pay attention to Huang Yifu who was thrown aside, instead, he stepped forward to help up the frightened-looking girl.

The girl was about sixteen or seventeen, from unknown origins, likely to have been abducted by the bandits.

"Don’t be afraid, you are safe now!"

Yang Zhenshan’s tone became gentle.

The girl was trembling all over, merely lowering her head, not daring to look at Yang Zhenshan, nor at anything around.

"What’s your name?" Yang Zhenshan’s tone became even gentler!

"I, I, my name is Lin Xiaoyun!" the girl stammered.

"Where is your home?" Yang Zhenshan continued to ask.

"My, my home is in Dafu Village."

Naturally, Yang Zhenshan did not know where Dafu Village was, but it didn’t matter; he wasn’t asking these questions to learn Lin Xiaoyun’s identity or origins, but to divert Lin Xiaoyun’s attention to alleviate her fears and panic.

"Alright, I am the commander of Tenglong Guard, you are safe now, there’s no need to be afraid anymore!" Yang Zhenshan continued to reassured her.

A teenage girl, abducted by ruthless bandits, if nothing unexpected happened, her fate would definitely be extremely miserable.

Even though Yang Zhenshan had saved her, her current situation wouldn’t be good.

In this world, too much emphasis was placed on a woman’s chastity. Since Lin Xiaoyun had been taken to the mountains, even if the bandits had done nothing to her, her reputation was already ruined.

If she were to go back, she likely wouldn’t be able to marry.

Lin Xiaoyun didn’t yet understand her situation, she cautiously glanced up at Yang Zhenshan, "Thank you, General, for saving my life!"

Yang Zhenshan slightly nodded, "You wait here for a bit!"

Then he turned to look at Huang Yifu, who had gotten up from the ground, his tone turning cold once again, "Do you have anything else to say?"