CHAPTER 65: CHAPTER 65: SLAUGHTER OF THE HORSE THIEVES

"General, what’s happened?"

A girl nearby, with twin buns on her head just like Nezha at home, emerged from the water, her fair and smooth shoulders exposed above the surface, appearing quite serious.

This girl called ’General’ is none other than Deng Chanyu, the daughter of Sanshan Pass’s General Deng Jiugong.

The female General of the Women’s Army at Sanshan Pass.

And these little girls, no more than eleven or twelve, swimming naked in the hot spring, were the core members of the Women’s Army.

Deng Chanyu shook her head and spoke softly, "I’m not sure, I just felt the ground suddenly shake and then I slipped off the rock."

"An earthquake?"

One of the little girls raised her hand to scratch her head, holding a hammer and chisel in her hand, puzzled, "Is it possible for there to be an earthquake at Sanshan Pass?"

Deng Chanyu didn’t seem to mind. She kicked her feet, leaping out of the water like a fish, and when she landed, she was already wrapped in a large, white dry towel.

She declared, "No matter, keep digging. The Five-Colored Stones beneath this spring are of great use to me. Dig out some more, and this General will reward you handsomely!"

The little girls watching Deng Chanyu exude a commanding charisma felt admiration, including a girl who was slightly older, whose spirited eyes were now filled with adoration.

However, commanding movements wrapped in a towel were surely limited; as Deng Chanyu waved her hand, the towel she had just wrapped around herself fell to the ground, revealing a glimpse of spring amidst the misty warmth of the approaching autumn night.

...

Nezha paid the Wang Family’s servant triple the price, saying to reserve the pool for him as he would visit daily. The servant, delighted with the silver, readily agreed—why wouldn’t he?

One portion of the silver went to the account room, which he naturally dared not embezzle. The remaining two portions went straight into his own purse.

Nezha was not worried about others discovering anything, for the hole he had smashed appeared only bowl-sized, and it seemed to lead merely to an underground river.

He thought, could it be possible to encounter a naked beauty waiting for him inside?

After everything was settled, the servant looked at Nezha much more fondly than usual and said with feigned concern, "Young Master, you didn’t tie up your horse. It ran off on its own. This area is vast; where could you possibly find it?"

Nezha gave him a disdainful glance, pulled out a red cord hanging around his neck with a bamboo whistle attached, and blew it sharply; the piercing whistle echoing to the skies.

The puzzled servant covered his ears, but then felt the ground shaking beneath his feet. Lowering his hands, he suddenly heard the rumble of thunder, followed by a ’neigh’ as a chestnut horse broke through diagonally in front of them, raising its forehooves, the thunderous noise stopping abruptly.

Nezha patted the horse’s neck with relief, thinking that taking such great care of it had not been in vain, as it had not failed him when needed. He mounted the horse and grabbed the reins.

Turning around, he declared, "Keep the room for me, I’ll come back tomorrow!"

He drove the horse forward, sword in hand, retracing the path he had come.

Over the plain, an eagle’s shrill cry echoed.

Before long, he saw about twenty riders spreading out like a large net slowly advancing towards him, as if intending to ensnare and kill him within.

Before they drew near, a shower of arrows fell from the sky; Nezha lowered his form, crouching on the horseback.

The chestnut horse seemed to understand, its nostrils exhaling hot breath as it surged forward fiercely, flinging the myriad of arrows trailing behind it like a red arrow.

"Good horse!"

Nezha also cheered aloud, another barrage of arrows, and from a distance, he could vaguely see a bald, one-eyed forehead reflecting the sunlight, pulling the reins dead and standing still shouting at Nezha.

Nezha did not listen closely, knowing without thinking they were some foolish words like "I carved this path, I planted this tree."

He thought to himself, you’re really an idiot, setting up an ambush here, with arrows dense like locusts, so determined, did you not prepare to be killed by me?

It might sound incredible, but aside from a few extraordinary cultivators in the military, most cultivators from God Absorption Realm and even some from Golden Core Realm facing the harassment of mounted bandits and arrow rain, without initiating the Five Elements Style Technique in advance or close combat measures, were almost completely helpless.

Nezha took out a long halberd from the Qiankun Hundred Treasure Bag, this halberd left behind by Ao Bing, also a magic treasure; firstly, it wasn’t as handy as the Seven Stars Sword, secondly, apart from being sturdy, Nezha had not found other uses for this halberd.

Initially, Ao Bing mentioned that this halberd, called ’Shura Ghost-Slaying Halberd,’ was found in the Dragon Palace Treasure Vault, reportedly used to suppress the myriad evil spirits in ’Ten Palace Shura Gate’.

However, ’Ten Palace Shura Gate’ was just part of the legends of the Dragon Palace, which might not even exist, hence the origin of this halberd became even more mysterious.

Nezha did not ponder much, the chestnut horse had already accelerated to its maximum speed; the bandit leader, seeing that Nezha had no intent to dismount, was initially shocked then in fury spurred his horse, gripping his nine-ringed saber tightly.

But the chestnut horse was too fast, reducing the distance between them far quicker than the bandit leader anticipated; at this moment not only was their formed net yet to close in, even his horse hadn’t had the chance to pick up speed.

Thus, under the shocked gazes of the bandits, as horses crossed paths, Nezha swung his hand and the halberd in his grip beheaded the bandit leader.

Countless bandits were taken aback, yet before they could recover from the shock, they saw the ’fleeing sheep’ on horseback circle around and charge towards other bandits.

Nezha, laying on the horse’s back, seeing these audacious bandits not fleeing despite his charge, squeezed his legs together; the previously lazy chestnut horse neighed and picked up speed!

And not far away, in the sky above.

There sailed a three-decked ship, thirty zhang long and ten zhang high, cruising among the clouds.

The ship was not slow, surrounded by howling winds and rapidly receding clouds, yet the sashes of the ten-plus male and female disciples onboard bizarrely didn’t flutter in the wind.

By the ship’s railing, two middle-aged looking Daoists, a man and a woman, using binoculars to gaze downward, the woman said, "Such a young age yet so cruel, mere mortals understanding some martial arts unaware of the immensity of heaven and earth, wouldn’t it be necessary to teach him a lesson if not for the consideration of bigger plans."

Beside her, the male cultivator smiled and said, "Daoist Xiao Qi, in my view, although this child is ruthless, those he killed are brutal bandits, people even you and I would strike down; no need to pick on a child."

As he finished speaking, the neighboring Daoist Xiao Qi gave him a fierce stare, he tensed, feeling like a giant hand had gripped him, thinking to himself that Daoist Xiao Qi was truly petty.

But there was no choice, West Sea Purple Dragon Island was a major branch of the Jie Sect, a mighty force.

This time, they even mobilized Daoist Xiao Qi, an elder of Taiyi Golden Immortal Realm from within the sect, dragging out even him, a guest official on the island, and adding twenty exceptionally mighty third-generation disciples, acquiring Purple Cloud Divine Wood was almost guaranteed.

He initially did not want to come, but there was no choice, to take favors and handle softly; after staying in Purple Dragon Island this long, he was obliged to contribute.

He lowered his head to glance back at the ground, the struggle nearing its end, with twenty bandits only one who saw the danger and fled on horseback escaped, all others were already dead under the child’s hands.

The Daoist thought internally, "It’s probably not just martial excellence that’s so simple, with such speed on the horse, seeing the just moment his halberd clashed with that bandit’s saber, a usual child of this size, whose muscles and bones aren’t fully grown, would’ve broken bones and torn tendons from this.

Yet he was unscathed, and that bandit fell off the horse, clearly not going to make it, I won’t mention this to Daoist Xiao Qi for now, will secretly check out this kid once we reach Lingquan Town."