Chapter 148: Chapter 148

Eleven years ago, the tenth year of Jianchang in Great Liang, the second year of Wucheng in Great Zhou, and the first year of Baoyuan in Great Qi, a battle broke out at the border of the two nations in Jingzhou. Mo Ke, newly risen to power, led the Twenty-Four Military Commands southward to attack Great Liang with an army of 100,000 warriors, thousands of messengers, and uncountable auxiliary troops, boasting a force of 500,000.

At that time, the Emperor of Great Liang, Shao Hu, was in his prime and personally led 150,000 troops to suppress Mo Ke. The battle raged from autumn to spring, and as the weather turned warm, both sides retreated. The only proof of that war's existence were the hundreds of thousands of corpses scattered across the Jingxiang front and the countless refugees who lost everything due to conscription.

In the records of both nations, they claimed victory. Mo Ke had struck a blow to Great Liang’s arrogance, while Shao Hu had thwarted the ambitions of the northern invaders... In the more than a hundred years of the tripartite standoff, such skirmishes were far too common. Just two years later, the ambitious young Empress Ying Le of Great Zhou would beat both Great Liang and Great Qi, even sacking the northern territories, earning the fearsome title of Phoenix-Ceremonial Son of Heaven.

Nowadays, if someone mentions the Battle of Jingxiang, others would still ask, “Which year’s Battle of Jingxiang?” And even after being told, most would merely say, “Oh, that rings a bell.”

A war that failed to change the world had no right to earn anyone’s attention.

But it did change many lives — for example, that of Shi Sanren.

Shi Sanren, naturally, was not born with that name. He was originally called Deng Shitou, the son of a tenant farmer in Qingxi County, Yongzhou Commandery. All the land in Qingxi was owned by a branch of the Yuwen Family, who heavily exploited their tenant farmers. Deng Shitou grew up starving; at the age of seven, both his father and eldest brother were conscripted into the Impactor Corps and never returned — only the next year’s taxes were waived.

He barely survived to the age of fifteen. That year, the Yuwen Family came to conscript again. Deng Shitou narrowly avoided death and was rewarded with a post as a government soldier. From then on, he had his fill of white bread and beef every day — the price being that he had to participate in Secret Realm expeditions.

But Deng Shitou was quite gifted. Unlike his colleagues who died or were injured, he not only survived, but within ten years had promoted to the rank of Messenger, earning a Token. Ordinary people had to respectfully call him Messenger Lord. That was the proudest period of Deng Shitou’s life.

But Deng Shitou could only save at most four hundred a year. If he continued at this pace, he estimated he wouldn’t live another five years.

Then, either fortunately or unfortunately, the Battle of Jingxiang broke out. As a Yongzhou soldier, Deng Shitou was dispatched. He survived several large battles, and during the retreat, he was given a mission: recover Tokens from fallen corpses.

So many Masked Soldiers had died in battle, there was no way to recover them in time — nor could they be allowed to fall into enemy hands. This was a dangerous task, because Great Liang also sent people to retrieve Tokens. But the advantage was: any Spirit Jade found en route could be kept.

This was when Deng Shitou encountered the turning point of his life: he found the corpse of a Banner Commander from the Yuwen Family.

It held a rare Second-Stage defensive Token, a rare long blade, a Secret Technique Manual, and thousands of Spirit Jade.

Normally, someone of such stature would have had his body recovered by his family. But this corpse was buried under many Liang soldiers, so it was not surprising that the Yuwen Family missed it.

Deng Shitou couldn’t possibly keep such items — nor could he sell them. Anyone with the ability to buy them would know they belonged to the Yuwen Family and would more likely report him. What’s more, corpse-recovery teams worked in pairs — he wasn’t the only one who discovered it.

So, should he hand them over? Then return to the Secret Realms to keep gambling with death? If lucky, he might retire at sixty and go back to farming?

Having been a tenant farmer’s son all his life, Deng Shitou knew — farming couldn’t grow Tokens, only poverty.

So he steeled himself, and before his partner could react, he slashed him down and took all the Tokens and Spirit Jade.

That was when he realized something he’d never noticed before:

People are much easier to kill than demons.

From then on, Yongzhou lost one government soldier, and Great Zhou gained one Demon-Path Messenger. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on noᴠelfire.net

He wasn’t alone. Many deserters turned rogue. They started with eighteen, but after infighting, only five remained. They fled to the Bashan region, roaming the forests, calling themselves the Five Wanderers of Bashan — but everyone knew them as the Five Bandits of Bashan. They plundered villages and towns to replenish Spirit Jade, becoming notorious over the past ten years.

“Boss, are we really doing this?” Shi Sanren said worriedly. “If we steal the Blood Attendant’s prey, we won’t be able to operate in Shu Mountain anymore. We might even be hunted down by the Blood Minister…”

After receiving Zhong Ji’s message on the mountain, the Five Wanderers secretly decided to descend, bypassing the traps. They intended to abandon Zhong Ji and take the bounty for themselves.

“Third Brother, if we pull this off, why would we stay in Shu Mountain anyway?” Tie Sanren scoffed. “That bastard Zhong Ji only gave us five hundred Spirit Jade? I already found out — their team has only a Second-Stage and a Third-Stage, and it’s just a little girl and a woman. We can take them easily!”

“Second Brother’s right,” Tong Sanren said. “Seriously, do you really believe that little girl has Second-Stage strength? Probably just a pampered family failure — we’ve killed plenty like her.”

“That Houmo brat from last time was decent, though.” Yu Sanren licked his lips. “Boss, there are two women this time. Let me have one, will you?”

“Focus, all of you,” Jin Sanren said coldly. “Even if the girl’s nothing, the Third-Stage Messenger isn’t to be underestimated.”

“She’s from outside the mountains,” Tie Sanren sneered. “We’ve killed Third-Stagers before. Outlanders can’t match us in killing!”

Jin Sanren agreed, but added, “We go all out — don’t give them a chance to escape. Especially you, Fourth Brother. If you mess this up again because of your damn pants…”

“Got it, got it. I know when to restrain myself,” Yu Sanren raised his hand. “But after this job, can we please get off the mountain? Two months without a woman, even my sword’s going dull.”

“The Blood Attendant values this target. There must be more than one rare Token. Just one could sell for 200,000 — even 300,000 Spirit Jade,” Jin Sanren said. “Once this job’s done, we split. Whoever wants to retire, retire. Whoever wants to stay in the Demon Path, stay.”

That silenced them all. After exchanging glances, Tong Sanren muttered, “If we can really get that much…”

“I’ll go to Great Liang, buy a noble household registry, marry a few wives, and start a family,” Tie Sanren grinned. “Worked my whole life. Time to enjoy it.”

Shi Sanren looked at the faint bloody glow on their bodies and gave a bitter smile.

He had thought about it too… but he had already lost the ability to be a normal person.

He didn’t know when it began, but every time he looked at others, he saw an ominous, sharp, blinding red glow clinging to their bodies — even the Five Wanderers, who had fought life and death with him.

It was said to be Blood-Eye Syndrome, common among Demon-Path Messengers, especially the longer they stayed in the Demon Path.

It didn’t harm the body — but it had one terrifying effect: it made the Messenger perceive everyone as a mortal enemy. Many cases of Messengers killing each other had already occurred in the mountains. No one knew if it was intentional — or the syndrome.

Shi Sanren thought he could resist it — until one day, he woke up and instinctively killed the red-glowing person beside him.

She was a prostitute — his lover. The noise of the killing attracted attention, and suddenly, the whole street glowed red…

When he came to, he was standing atop a mound of corpses.

Because of this, he didn’t dare meet his elderly mother. He only left Spirit Jade by the door. The only time he saw her again in ten years was at her funeral — in a sea of hostile blood-red light, she alone looked just as he remembered — no blood glow at all.

All the other Wanderers had it too. Yu Sanren killed after every brothel visit. Tie Sanren couldn’t hold back after drinking. The skull hanging from Tong Sanren’s neck came from a family member he killed by accident… The Demon Path was full of madmen — warmed only by cold corpses.

The cure? Easy. Don’t kill for three or four years. But that would deactivate their greatest asset — the Demon-Path Tokens. Shi Sanren had never seen anyone succeed in quitting. No one would willingly give up their weapon, even if it turned them into a monster.

But if this job succeeded… so many Spirit Jade… maybe, just maybe…

“Shi Sanren·Deng Shitou, why are there only five of you?”

Shi Sanren’s pupils shrank. While dodging instinctively, he swung out a defensive slash. At the same time, the other Wanderers leapt from the grass, shouting, “Who’s there!?”

“You want to ambush us and still ask who we are?” Bunny Heroine pushed through the grass onto the mountain path. “Did your brains ride off on a horse?”

Shi Sanren had never seen blood light like hers — not glaring at all, heavy, warm, yet filled with ferocious hostility. It reminded him of the military inspector from the Garrison — if they wanted to kill you, they’d do it outright.

Medicine Master Wen emerged behind her, holding the rare Soul-Severing Spear. Her blood light burned like fire, her killing intent scalding his eyes.

“I heard Zhong Ji gathered a huge team to ambush me. Why only five kittens?” Bunny Heroine drew her long sword lazily. “Zhong Ji thinks that little of me?”

“You barbarian, so full of yourself,” Jin Sanren said coldly. “Today, we’ll show you the strength of the Five Wanderers of Bashan!”

“So it’s the Five Bandits,” Medicine Master Wen’s eyes flashed coldly. “You’re all dead today.”

“Big sister, hold off the other four. I’ll be with you shortly.”

Seeing Medicine Master Wen truly fight four alone while Bunny Heroine took him on solo, all of Shi Sanren’s doubts vanished — replaced by seething rage. A Second-Stage Demon-Path like him… being looked down on by a little girl!?

People are easier to kill than demons — even more so for Demon-Path Messengers!

If she wanted to act so arrogant, don’t blame him for being ruthless!

Shi Sanren slid his blade in a half-circle, solemn and sacred like a ritual. Bunny Heroine actually stood there watching him complete his setup. Shi Sanren looked down on her even more — just a pampered clan waste trained on manuals.

Secret Technique · Half-Moon Sweep!

This technique greatly boosted the next slash. At its peak, it would double the damage. With his rare Demon-Path long blade, even a Third-Stage Messenger would be gravely injured!

The crescent slash appeared. Shi Sanren felt bloodlust surge — he saw the arrogant blood light dimming, warm blood about to spurt. Though he’d seen it countless times, it always brought relief.

At the moment the crescent cut through the air, Bunny Heroine leapt. In Shi Sanren’s disbelieving eyes, she gripped her blue-starred rare long sword and stabbed at him — how many times?

The bizarre sight made Shi Sanren instinctively retreat. When he checked his defensive Token — it had taken no damage.

But her movements couldn’t have been fake — only Storm Messengers could do that…

“Big sister, I’m here to help!”

He turned — only to see Bunny Heroine had already joined Medicine Master Wen in fighting the others. Confused and furious, he slashed toward her back: “You think dodging once means you’ve won? Your real enemy is me!”

Bunny Heroine casually dodged without even glancing at him, cheerfully replying:

“Uncle, you’re already dead.”

Shi Sanren froze. Suddenly, ten shining sword trails exploded at once — skewering him into a blood-red hedgehog!

He collapsed in a pool of blood — and saw himself dyed completely crimson.