I Don't Agree to the Terms
Chapter 473 - 262: Two Months, The Lord’s Assassin_2

Chapter 473: Chapter 262: Two Months, The Lord’s Assassin_2

Recently, it seemed that quite a few people had defected to the rebel forces, but everyone kept markedly silent about it.

People can’t live on, so you can’t expect an old farmer, who faces the yellow earth and has his back against the sky all day, to speak of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism. Letting them have enough to eat is still feasible, but if they’re starving, naturally, they’ll do whatever they need to.

It was precisely because of this that the ranks of the rebel forces grew increasingly terrifying, especially after they had captured some cities. They would open the granaries to distribute grain and kill the local gentry to divide the money. Of course, they targeted common people more often, but as the saying goes, ’a dead companion’s fate does not befall a living Daoist’; as long as there’s food and drink and money to take, it’s all good.

In fact, Gu Shanhai was quite puzzled over this. How could a bunch of ordinary people, who couldn’t even be considered soldiers, possibly defeat a group of Daoist Soldiers?

He didn’t know the specifics, and since he had never faced off with these rebels, he naturally had no idea.

However, one thing was certain: the rebels must have had other transcendental sources of power. Belief alone could never bridge the gap in power levels.

A group of people who could destroy mountains with a casual strike battling a group of ordinary people; it just didn’t seem likely for the latter to win.

"Mr. Gu, Mr. Gu..." A hurried voice came.

"Mr. Jiang has achieved victory in the first battle, slaying three thousand enemies and successfully repelling the invading rebels."

Outside, a Li Mansion house servant rushed over, panting, to bring the good news to Gu Shanhai.

"Not bad, is there any other news?" Gu Shanhai asked casually.

These house servants, after being assigned to take care of Gu Shanhai and Li Hui, had a lot more free time on their hands. Moreover, since Gu Shanhai had them go out to gather information, it turned out they were rather capable.

"Yes, the Wang and Xu Families, upon hearing the news, each led three hundred Daoist Soldiers to leave and reinforce Mr. Jiang," said the servant with a slightly displeased expression.

Any discerning person could see that this was not reinforcement but a grab for glory.

Seeing others, like Jiang Lu, eating their fill naturally made them envious. They weren’t thinking of just sharing a portion but were preparing to devour the whole piece. Their method was simple: to push Jiang Lu out of the way.

"Ha, everyone watches the thief eating meat but fails to see them being beaten," Gu Shanhai commented with a laugh upon hearing this.

Hadn’t they noticed that Lord Wen’an hadn’t made a move? Clearly, the opponent must know something. Otherwise, quelling the rebellion himself would make for a more impressive accomplishment.

"Mr. Gu, are you saying..." The quick-witted servant caught onto something.

"I’ve said nothing," Gu Shanhai reined in his smile, remaining silent.

"Yes, yes, you’ve said nothing," responded the servant, who understood that Gu Shanhai was a man of ability, hinting that he knew something.

"Should we not notify Mr. Jiang about this matter..." the servant ventured to ask again.

"You needn’t worry about such things," said Gu Shanhai, aware the servant wanted to win his favor. It wasn’t just about freeing himself from servitude; even just sticking by Gu Shanhai’s side would be beneficial.

Gu Shanhai didn’t care too much about his ulterior motives; everyone had desires and schemes. The truly terrifying were those without wants or wishes.

Even Gu Shanhai himself had desires. Should he ever meet someone without the slightest want, he would definitely recommend the Heartless Path or the Wuwei Dao to them and then stay far away, preferably never to meet them again for life.

Hearing this, the servant could only smile wryly and eventually had to leave.

"Come to think of it, order truly is a wonderful thing," Gu Shanhai couldn’t help but reflect. Without order, the two great families would’ve long since killed Jiang Lu at his doorstep.

"These gentry families are interesting though. On one hand, they rely on the court, yet on the other, they don’t need it."

Gu Shanhai lamented, considering the current Lord Wen’an, who was also from a gentry family. But unlike Wang and Xu Families in Wen’an City, who could only maintain a thousand Daoist Soldiers and would struggle with more, he hailed from a major family that could easily support fifteen-hundred Daoist Soldiers.

While contemplating, Gu Shanhai sensed something was amiss.

"Who’s that, not using the gate and instead climbing over the wall to get in?"

Gu Shanhai sensed someone scaling the wall instead of using the main gate to enter, and with his Spiritual Sense, he discovered that the intruder was a Daoist Soldier.

"Not a Golden Mist Daoist Soldier or a Mad Sand Daoist Soldier, but a new breed of Daoist Soldier," Gu Shanhai narrowed his eyes. These two types of Daoist Soldiers belonged respectively to the Wang Family and the Xu Family.

"So, it’s the Blood Armor Daoist Soldier from the current Lord Wen’an."

All around Wen’an City, aside from Jiang Lu, there were only these three forces that possessed Daoist Soldiers. Unfortunately for Gu Shanhai, he was familiar with both the Golden Mist Daoist Soldiers and Mad Sand Daoist Soldiers.

After eliminating the impossibilities, the most likely scenario was that Lord Wen’an intended to get rid of him.

"The Blood Armor Daoist Soldier is a Mid Grade Daoist Soldier with four abilities: ’Blood Explosion,’ an active ability to burn its own blood to enhance its strength; ’Blood Armor,’ another active ability to create a special armor for protection using its blood; ’Blood Siphon,’ a passive ability to absorb the opponent’s blood for recuperation; and ’Blood Ignition,’ a passive ability to burn the opponent’s blood during attacks."

It was a highly versatile Daoist Soldier, proficient in both offense and defense and capable of control, amplification, and recovery, certainly much stronger than both the Golden Mist Daoist Soldiers and Mad Sand Daoist Soldiers.

During these days, Gu Shanhai had crammed plenty of knowledge about the world’s Master Generals and Daoist Soldiers and naturally knew about the abilities of the Blood Armor Daoist Soldier.

"Is he here to kill me, or is he after Li Hui, the unlucky child?" Gu Shanhai watched with some confusion as the Blood Armor Daoist Soldier entered the courtyard.

"Well, it looks like he’s intent on killing me," Gu Shanhai realized as the figure made its way straight towards his room.

It seemed that everything had been thoroughly researched in advance: come right in and chop him down.

This Blood Armor Daoist Soldier stealthily pried open the door to Gu Shanhai’s room. As for the various house servants and the like, they had been led away earlier—Lord Wen’an had enough influence to use some simple tricks to divert these people.

Killing him would indeed save a lot of trouble, but by doing so, it would turn into a grim annihilation, and that would leave a significant stain on his record.

On the other hand, if only one person died, he could still cover it up.

"So... wasn’t it rather impolite of you to enter without knocking?" Gu Shanhai asked the Blood Armor Daoist Soldier who walked in.

The intruder also paused, clearly taken aback. He hadn’t expected Gu Shanhai to say these words upon their meeting—a more typical reaction would be to ask who the intruder was.

Fortunately, the intruder had professional training and immediately charged forward with his long knife.

The weapons used by Daoist Soldiers were mostly battlefield weapons like knives, spears, maces, shields, and bows. Swords, Heavenly Halberds, and the like seemed more like ceremonial tools meant for show and rarely appeared on the battlefield.

You charge with a Heavenly Halberd to strike someone, and it gets stuck in the enemy’s body—that would be problematic.

Such weapons were mostly used by Master Generals, like the Four Directions Marshals, who bore swords not purely as weapons but as symbols of military power, capable of complementing military potential and strategies to augment and bolster Daoist Soldiers.

Snap~

Just as the Blood Armor Daoist Soldier charged at Gu Shanhai with the knife aimed at his head, Gu Shanhai slapped him away, sending him crashing into the wall.

A handprint swiftly swelled red on his face. Gu Shanhai hadn’t used his full strength; otherwise, it wouldn’t be a swollen face but an exploded head.

The intruder got up in disarray, a look of disbelief on his face, then naturally turned to run.

But Gu Shanhai snagged him back with one hand.

"You come in without knocking, and you think you can come and go as you please?" Gu Shanhai commented sarcastically, taking it as a lack of respect.

He then proceeded to hang the intruder up.

"Very well, next we’re going to play a little game of ’I ask, you answer.’ Answer well, and I’ll grant you a quick end. Answer poorly, and I’ll take you to the lord. You wouldn’t want your lord to lose face because of you, would you?"

Gu Shanhai smiled amiably at the Blood Armor Daoist Soldier as he began his threatening interrogation.