Fang Jie was a knowledgeable man. Not only had he traveled extensively in the past fifteen years, but he had also visited the capital in his previous life. Therefore, in his mind, Chang'an was merely an ancient city with green walls, red tiles, and numerous wooden buildings. So when Xiang Qingniu spoke of the capital's grandeur, he showed little interest.
Cui Lueshang, on the other hand, listened with great interest and quickly became captivated.
"Do you know how high the walls of the capital are?"
Xiang Qingniu, sitting next to the large dog on the red carriage, proudly raised his chin and stood up to gesture: "They're this high!"
Fang Jie, riding his horse, chuckled: "Respected Daoist, could you please not use your height as evidence of Chang'an's grandeur? Even if you're just standing up from the carriage to gesture... If the walls of Chang'an can be measured by your height plus your arm span, then I truly doubt the title of 'Number One City Under Heaven.'"
He stretched out his hand and gestured above Xiang Qingniu's head, saying, "Even the walls of Fan Gu are this high."
Xiang Qingniu felt a slightly annoying fear of this boy whose origins were unclear. He didn't know if it was because of the four intersecting lines and the red mole on Fang Jie's palm, or because this guy was slightly more shameless and ruthless than him.
So he just snorted coldly, and after a while, feeling he had to regain some face, he put on a haughty air: "You're not a candidate for the Martial Arts Academy, otherwise I guarantee you wouldn't pass."
Cui Lueshang was taken aback, then pointed at Fang Jie and said, "He is a candidate for the Martial Arts Academy, and a military candidate at that. It's easier for him than for any of us to get a candidate status. You know my aunt got her spot because she was recently made a concubine, and she had to give countless gifts to secure it. He only needed to accumulate enough military merits in the border army, and then get a recommendation to take the exam."
"Aha!"
Xiang Qingniu immediately became interested, his eyes widening: "You really are a candidate for the Martial Arts Academy? Then you're in trouble!"
Fang Jie ignored Xiang Qingniu and looked at Cui Lueshang seriously, saying: "It seems that in the eyes of you aristocratic families, soldiers in the army are simply not qualified to get a spot at the Martial Arts Academy? It seems that in your eyes, it's easier for ordinary soldiers like us without illustrious backgrounds to get a spot than for you noble children?"
Cui Lueshang paused, then asked with some surprise, "Isn't that how it is?"
Fang Jie couldn't help but laugh, a sinister laugh: "I don't know how much silver you spent, nor am I interested in knowing how much influence your family used to get you a spot. But you probably don't know what I used to get it. Perhaps even if I told you it was twenty-one military merits, you wouldn't think much of it."
He said seriously, "I'll only ask you one question: do you know what twenty-one military merits mean?"
Cui Lueshang asked, "What?"
Fang Jie said one word... He said bluntly, "It means I'm lucky, I survived twenty-one times I should have died... You people will never understand how important, how extravagant a dream, a spot in the Martial Arts Academy is to an ordinary soldier! It's an opportunity to change their fate that they might risk their lives countless times, perhaps even their entire lives. You rely on family prestige and gold and silver to get that spot, we... rely on our own lives."
He slowly exhaled, then chuckled self-deprecatingly, "Of course, in your eyes, the lives of us border soldiers might not even be worth the amount of silver you've given away."
"I..."
Cui Lueshang blushed, shaking his head and explaining, "I really didn't think that way."
Fang Jie coldly smiled and asked, "Then let me ask you something. If you or your noble friends, whether intentionally or unintentionally..." "Whatever your intentions, you killed an ordinary soldier. How will you handle this?"
"Compensation."
Cui Lueshang said earnestly, "A large sum of silver, enough for the deceased's family to live a peaceful life. Of course… some scoundrels from powerful families might use their influence to suppress the matter, never even mentioning it to the authorities. Li Yuan once killed a constable's lackey in Xiangcheng, didn't pay a single copper coin in compensation, and even drove the family out of Xiangcheng… I know it's wrong, I advised him against it…"
Fang Jie interrupted Cui Lueshang, asking again, "What if an ordinary soldier accidentally killed a nobleman like you?"
"They would… pay with their lives…"
Cui Lueshang's expression changed, realizing his voice was almost inaudible. He had never thought about this before, but now, thinking about it carefully, he was indeed somewhat moved. "Is paying with one's life enough?"
Fang Jie scoffed. "If that sycophant in Xiangcheng accidentally killed Li Yuan, it wouldn't just be a matter of paying with one's life. His family would be destroyed... and even his relatives and friends would be implicated!"
"Do you know how many bandits a border soldier needs to kill to accumulate one military merit?"
He asked.
Cui Lueshang shook his head.
Fang Jie said slowly, "Injuring one enemy earns one rank of merit, killing three or more earns nine rank. After nine rank, one accumulates one military merit. To participate in the Great Sui Martial Arts Academy's exam, one needs to accumulate at least twenty military merits... Have you calculated how many bandits that is? Do you know that for every person killed, there's a huge risk of being killed yourself?"
What Fang Jie didn't know was that Emperor Li Xiaozong had lied to him. According to the Great Sui's rules, accumulating five military merits was enough to register for the Martial Arts Academy. Emperor Li Xiaozong had been telling this lie for at least two years to keep Fang Jie.
And just as Fang Jie uttered the word "killed," a powerful crossbow bolt swiftly arrived, aimed straight for his throat! ...
...
The crossbows emerged from the ground!
Dozens of burly men dressed in black suddenly leaped from the bushes on both sides of the official road. Some had been hidden in pre-dug pits, waiting for Fang Jie and his companions to pass. Their sudden leap was like dozens of eagles taking flight from the grass. They all wielded identical single crossbows, their power astonishing.
A single crossbow bolt is naturally less lethal than a repeating crossbow, but it depends on the situation. In a battle between armies, a repeating crossbow is undoubtedly a deadly weapon. For assassination, the single crossbow's advantages are extremely obvious. It has a longer range and greater force; it can even pierce a door panel with a single shot.
Dozens of single crossbows firing simultaneously are like dozens of lightning bolts striking a single target!
Fang Jie was caught off guard, as he was already accustomed to the sensory abilities of Mu Xiaoyao and Da Quan by his side. One could sense the enemy's cultivation level, and the other could sense killing intent. Previously, no matter the crisis, these two could always give an early warning.
But this time, it happened without warning.
Mu Xiaoyao, inside the carriage, didn't sense the presence of any experts nearby, and Da Quan didn't even smell the murderous aura that he, of course, should have been able to detect.
This sudden assassination attempt was something Fang Jie had never encountered before!
He wasn't beside Da Quan, nor was he in the carriage.
He was riding a tall horse, making him an extremely conspicuous target. Apart from Cui Lueshang, who was also riding a horse a few steps away, he couldn't find a single obstacle to block the crossbow bolts. The assassins leaped into the air from both sides of the official road, the closest one only twenty paces away from Fang Jie. This distance meant an instantaneous arrival for a single crossbow bolt.
And just a second ago, Fang Jie was still indignant for the border soldiers, completely unprepared.
But the next second, the sword on his back was already in his hand.
In a flash, Fang Jie cleaved the crossbow bolt that was already in front of him with a single stroke, then leaped from his horse without hesitation. Ignoring the risk of being trampled by Cui Lueshang and his guards' horses, he rolled across the road, then adjusted his stance and pounced forward like a cheetah.
He didn't hide behind the carriage, but unexpectedly charged into the midst of the assassins. Behind him, crossbow bolts were embedded in the road.
If he had been even half a second slower, he would likely have been pierced by at least three bolts.
Just as he leaped from the road and pounced on the assassins, a red ribbon flew out of the carriage like a giant python, wrapping around the assassin closest to Fang Jie. The python tightened its grip, and with a snap, the assassin died instantly, countless ribs broken.
The next second, Mu Xiaoyao burst out of the carriage.
And the large dog had already crushed the neck of one of the assassins.
In that short span of time, the reactions of the others varied. The most skilled guard beside Cui Lüshang kicked him off his horse, then leaped down and landed on top of him. After the rain of arrows, all four of Cui Lüshang's guards were pinned to the ground; the guard protecting Cui Lüshang had been struck three arrows in the back and was clearly not going to survive.
Xiang Qingniu, however, immediately scrambled into the carriage.
Fang Jie crouched low, almost skimming the ground as he charged forward. Taking advantage of an assassin's momentary lapse in time to discard his crossbow, Fang Jie swung his broadsword. The blade flashed through the air, instantly reaching the assassin. With a soft thud, half the assassin's head was severed by the sharp blade.
Before the assassin could even cry out, before his body even fell, Fang Jie had already charged towards the second assassin. At this moment, the second assassin finally discarded his crossbow and drew his ring-pommel sword.
But he was still too slow.
Fang Jie's horizontal blade thrust upwards at an unimaginable angle from the side and below, piercing the assassin's jaw before emerging from the top of his head. With a single, decisive strike, Fang Jie twisted his wrist, the blade spinning violently inside the man's brain before being withdrawn.
As the corpse fell, white brain matter mixed with blood slowly gushed from the wound. Because the two substances were mixed together, they appeared exceptionally viscous.
With the third strike, Fang Jie sliced open the abdomen of an assassin. Intestines and entrails gushed out almost violently from the rupture, a large, sticky mass landing with a splatter at the man's feet. A piece of intestine hung from the wound, connected to the clump of rotten flesh on the ground. The assassin, about to step forward to stab Fang Jie, stepped on his own entrails; the intestines tripped his ankle, and his body immediately lurched forward uncontrollably.
Just as he was killing three people, Mu Xiaoyao had already killed seven, and Daquan had killed six.
In terms of pure killing, the novice Fang Jie seemed to be almost as fast as the other two. Keep in mind that Fang Jie was someone who couldn't cultivate; his killing speed was almost freakish. He didn't look like a coward who had never killed a single person in the border town; he looked more like a battle-hardened veteran who had crawled out of mountains of knives and seas of corpses!
"Something's wrong!"
Daquan suddenly leaped over and punched an assassin through the heart, his hand still clutching half a bleeding heart when he pulled it out of the man's chest.
"These assassins are too weak, at best ordinary martial artists! They don't even have the strength of a first-rank!"
Fang Jie severed half of an assassin's shoulder with a single strike, dodged a slashing ring-pommel sword, and retorted, "Why didn't you smell any killing intent!"
Big Dog snapped an assassin's arms off his shoulders, then kicked the bald man away: "I don't know, I haven't figured it out either!"
While Fang Jie and his two companions were busy killing, the terrified Cui Lueshang watched his guards die protecting him in a panic, completely wasting his second-rank cultivation. Xiang Qingniu, hiding in the carriage, couldn't help but let out a wail.
"Fang Jie, you bastard! Who are you? How did you get involved with these most troublesome guys in the world! Anyone targeted by them is doomed!"
But this time, Fang Jie didn't die.
After more than twenty assassins were killed or wounded, the leader whistled and turned to flee. Da Quan and Mu Xiaoyao gave chase, each capturing one assassin alive in no time. But it was all in vain, for the two assassins, upon capture, immediately crushed the poison hidden in their teeth.
Just as they were about to pursue the others, a dozen warhorses charged out of the roadside woods, carrying the surviving assassins away.
Fang Jie spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, leaped forward, and dragged Xiang Qingniu from the carriage.
"Who are they!"
Xiang Qingniu trembled in fear, his body almost collapsing. Not because of the assassination attempt, but because of Fang Jie's eyes, which had inexplicably turned crimson.