Volume 1 Chushan Bandits Chapter 83: Questioning a Thief with a Knife in the Street
Xu Huai calmly watched the intestines flow out of the two corpses.
Although Guo Caoling did not have the chance to draw his sword in front of him in the end, the moment the sword was unsheathed, Xu Huai also felt the extraordinary power and a sense of crisis like needles piercing his back.
When the art of swordsmanship and fighting reaches a certain level, one will basically be able to master all methods.
Even if there is any trick, it is the subtle control of tendons, bones and muscles.
Xu Huai had been idle in Jinshagou during this period, constantly pondering the subtleties of the sword-drawing and slashing technique. He also spent a lot of time and effort practicing it, and the power of the technique really satisfied him.
"Who are you, you reckless fellow, to dare to die?"
The two thieves behind were shouting and cursing. They were horrified to see Ah Niu die tragically due to his reckless underestimation of the enemy. However, after years of living on the edge of a knife, this scene only aroused the cruelty in their hearts. They immediately grabbed the woman with her hands and feet bound from the saddle and threw her directly onto the stone street.
Hearing the two muffled "thumps", I knew that these two women were plump and had thick flesh.
However, now is not the time to think about this. Xu Huai's eyes narrowed slightly like an eagle, staring at the long swords drawn by the two thieves.
The main force of the Laoyatan bandits had already galloped to the east end of the long street more than a hundred feet away. Xu Huai saw that these six lustful bandits each snatched a woman from Yuehonglou and pressed her on the saddle, which was not conducive to riding and fighting, so he resolutely stood up to deal with these crazy bandits and let them know that Huaiyuan is not an uninhabited place.
Some soldiers had already appeared from the riverbank crossing on the west side of the street, but they did not dare to charge over.
Deng Gui had just defeated Pan Chenghu's bandits, and there was still some power left. The three bandits behind him hesitated for a moment, but ultimately were reluctant to throw the struggling and screaming woman off their horses. They thought that having two people should be enough to deal with these ruffians, so they grabbed the women's hips and legs on the saddle with their broad arms, stopping them from struggling.
Xu Huai narrowed his eyes and smiled in his heart when he saw that there were only two thieves who threw the woman onto the stone street and rushed towards them on horseback.
The two thieves were galloping across the mountains and fields, both of them were good riders. The thief on the left increased his speed almost in the blink of an eye. When they were three or four feet away, he clamped his legs around the horse's belly and stood up from the saddle. Xu Huai knew very well that the thief would pull the reins upwards next, forcing the horse under him to raise its front hooves and kick him in the chest.
Xu Huai had seen this kind of siege tactic once before in front of Lutai Village, but at that time there were six people surrounding him, waiting for him to dodge to the side in panic, leaving an opening.
He couldn't avoid it at that time, so he could only use his shoulder hammer to knock the running horse away regardless of the cost.
However, at this time, only two thieves were rushing towards him, while the other three thieves were still grabbing the woman's buttocks and legs, and seemed to be enjoying the plumpness and fatness there, with indescribable obscene and hideous expressions.
As the horse's hooves came at him with great force, Xu Huai suddenly shrank to the side, and quickly moved about an foot away, avoiding the horse's hooves by a hair's breadth, while at the same time using his sword to block the thief's long sword that was swinging from above.
The Fu Mang Dao seems to require the least amount of flexibility and light leaps of the body, and may even appear sluggish when fighting against the enemy. This is mainly because these are not needed in military formations and on the battlefield, but it does not mean that the Fu Mang Dao's requirements for control of the body and footwork are really weak.
The requirements of Fu Mang Dao on body shape and footwork are actually more stringent.
Horizontal slash, dragging sword slash, whip elbow move, stabbing, clustered stabs, eagle pecking move, three-step tiger pounce, which one of them does not use the corresponding body shape and footwork to coordinate, to more accurately adjust and control the muscles and bones of the whole body and specific parts, so as to stimulate and encourage greater power?
Xu Huai was born with strong bones and long tendons. Once he got on the right track in martial arts and mastered it, his talent for fine control over his tendons and bones was far superior to that of ordinary people.
This also means that at the moment of contact with the enemy, he can make more bizarre and unexpected killing moves with his sword.
Xu Huai suddenly shrank to the right and raised his knife to block the thief on the left. He was inevitably exposed to the long knife of the thief on the right.
For ordinary warriors, even the inertia of dodging to the right cannot be stopped at will. Usually, they twist the right side of the waist and armpit outward to relieve the impact.
However, when the thief on the right swung out with what he thought was a fatal blow, Xu Huai's body suddenly stopped, avoiding the knife that passed by his waist and armpit. The long knife then stabbed back from his right armpit quickly, blocking the second quick swing of the thief on the left.
Of course Xu Huai had a chance to quickly kill another thief, but he didn't know whether the Wuzu dared to surround and kill him as quickly as possible, nor did he know whether the main force of the thieves at the east end of the long street would rush to support him quickly. He had to be cautious and focus on blocking and dodging.
Fortunately, the two thieves had no intention of letting him go. After passing each other, the thief on the left did not rein in his horse and turn around immediately, but rode forward a dozen feet to have enough space to increase his speed. The thief on the right, confident of his strong skills, abandoned his horse and held a knife, and rushed straight towards Xu Huai, wanting to get rid of the childish-looking brute in front of him as quickly as possible.
Even if Xu Huai intended to hold back, it was impossible for him to allow the two men to coordinate with each other and then attack from both sides.
Seeing that the thief on the left was getting closer and the thief on the right was slashing at him with his knife, Xu Huai no longer blocked it. Instead, he jumped up slightly and chopped down with his knife with even more fierce force. In an instant, he slashed four times with a speed faster than lightning. The fifth knife slashed diagonally, cutting off the wrist holding the knife, and then he stabbed diagonally through his chest, and then suddenly retracted the knife.
At this time, the thief on the left rode towards him. Xu Huai exerted his lumbar muscles and twisted his body to the side in an instant, narrowly avoiding the galloping horse and the slashing long knife. He stabbed back from the left armpit with the force of thunder, but stopped and held the knife, watching calmly as the warhorse could no longer contain its forward momentum, and pressed its entire flank against the blade, leaving a large gash over four feet long, with its intestines and horse blood spilling all over the ground.
"My leg!" The thief fell to the ground, only to find that his left leg was cut off by the sharp blade that pierced the horse's belly, and he screamed in pain.
Xu Huai stepped forward, grabbed the man's head, and cut his neck with a knife.
A strong wind suddenly blew behind his neck. Xu Huai took a step back, twisted his body, and used the force of his palm to drive the long sword. He accurately cut off the feather arrow that was shot at the side of his neck. However, he saw the bandit chieftain Guo Junpan, who was leaning on his horse two hundred steps away, holding a longbow and looking at him in shock.
Xu Huai didn't expect that Guo Junpan's longbow was so powerful even at a distance of two hundred steps. He thought that without a strength of three or four hundred kilograms, it would be impossible to pull the bow.
Guo Junpan was shocked that Xu Huai, with his back to him, could still shoot the arrow with his knife so quickly and accurately.
"Yin Peng, pull the carriage out!" Xu Huai shouted.
Xu Huai crouched with a straight-backed long knife in his hand, like a lone wolf standing quietly in the deep grass, alert to the powerful enemies in front and behind the long street, but he still had no intention of hiding in the butcher shop to avoid the attack.
Yin Peng was smart enough to know that the bandit chieftain was holding a large bow behind him and Xu Huai would not be able to kill the other three horse thieves who were blocked west of Shi Street. He quickly pulled the carriage out of the alley and parked it across the long street, not only blocking the bandit chieftain Guo Junpan's view, but also blocking the three horse thieves on West Street from escaping to the east.
"kill!"
Almost in the blink of an eye, the three ferocious horse thieves died under Xu Huai's sword without any chance to struggle. At this time, the main force of the military camp's soldiers crossed the river to provide support. No matter how timid the farmhands, guards, and soldiers who were hiding in the courtyards of the shops on both sides and watching were, they knew to rush out and beat the fallen dogs.
Dozens of figures rushed out from the doorways on both sides, and the other three horse thieves had no chance to struggle and were killed by the swords.
When the bandit leader Guo Junpan saw Deng Gui personally leading the army to cross the river, he didn't know where the ruffian came from, and saw how brave and terrifying he was, so he dared not stay any longer. He immediately mounted his horse and fled to the mountains in the east with the remaining bandits.
"Yin Peng, move these three corpses onto the carriage so that we can exchange them for reward money from Lord Deng!" Xu Huai picked up the scabbard, sat on a stone pier beside the street, and directed Yin Peng, who looked as if he had seen a ghost, to move the corpses of the three thieves he had killed onto the carriage.
In addition to bringing over the two well-maintained horses, Xu Huai asked Yin Peng not to forget to pick up the three scattered long swords.
At this time, people from the shops on both sides came out onto the street one after another.
The fact that Xu Huai was covered in blood was secondary. One thief died with a pierced chest, which was considered a good look. One thief had his legs broken and his neck slashed, which was not considered ugly either. But one thief was actually cut into two pieces by a long and narrow straight spine knife, and fell together with a horse whose belly was cut open and its intestines were all over the ground but it was still twitching. Ordinary people would feel their scalps tingling at the sight of it. Who would have the courage to step forward?
They all stood on both sides and whispered:
"Is this Xu's killer embryo?"
"I heard that he killed more than ten bandits from Xiema Mountain in front of Lutai Village. I thought it was just Xu's boast, but I didn't expect it to be true."
"Isn't there something wrong with him?"
"There is a problem here, what does it have to do with being able to kill people? I think it's because he has a problem here that he dares to kill people like this. Didn't you see how stupid he looked when he stood in front of the galloping horse? How could an ordinary person not be afraid?"
"I'm hungry, Zheng the Butcher. Bring me a fat goose. I'll return it to you after I get the reward from Mr. Deng." Xu Huai turned around and shouted to Zheng the Butcher, who was sitting on the doorstep in a panic.
"Chen Gui, quickly get a fat goose for Master Xu!" Zheng the butcher survived the disaster and climbed up from the threshold. Seeing Chen Gui staring in amazement, he took a lotus leaf bag and wrapped a fat goose from the cooked meat counter and handed it to Xu Huai.
Xu Huai tore off a goose leg and started to chew it, and asked Zheng the butcher to hold the rest.
Deng Gui, Jin Longquan and Tang Tiande came closer, surrounded by several soldiers.
Seeing Yin Peng dragging the half-dead body onto the carriage, Tang Tiande thought of the time when he led the team to Lutainan Village to capture people. He couldn't help but wonder in fear, if he had fought with this killer at that time, would he also be chopped into two pieces, without even a complete body?
"Someone gave me ten copper coins and asked me to send a gift to Lord Deng," Xu Huai tilted his head and looked at Deng Gui, saying, "They also said that if I stayed in the military camp and killed a bandit, I could ask Lord Deng for a reward of ten strings of cash. Is this true?"
Deng Gui stared at Xu Huai. The most feared thing for the infantry was that they would lose their footing and be attacked by the cavalry, so they rushed to reorganize their formation after crossing the river. However, he saw the battle just now. He took a long breath and said, "It is true. Do you want to stay in the military camp?"
"No." Xu Huai shook his head.
"Why?" Deng Gui asked.
"This bandit is so difficult to kill. I am gasping for breath after killing him. The reward of ten strings of cash is too little. We have to raise the price." Xu Huai said.
"How much did you say?" Deng Gui asked.
"Eleven, twelve..." Xu Huai counted on his fingers for a long time before he said with certainty, "One head must be exchanged for seventeen strings of cash - and you can't let others snatch it from me. Three heads were snatched away just now. I'm so angry!"
"You intercepted these three bandits. Although you had to kill them in the end, you should be credited with half of the credit, which is equivalent to 26,500 coins. As long as you defend the military camp and as long as I am alive, I will help you get all the reward for killing the bandits!" Deng Gui said.
