The moonlight was like water, draping over the continuous green mountains, casting a serene and tranquil atmosphere.
Everything appeared so peaceful and harmonious.
Yet, Skinny Wu and Officer Ge had no heart to admire this moonlit night scenery. To them, the seemingly harmonious mountain was actually fraught with danger, like a devil waiting to devour them.
Just the thought of a group of ruthless bandits hiding in those mountains made them feel like they were walking into certain death.
And it wasn’t just walking into death—it was foolishly volunteering for it.
At this moment, both of them felt incredibly heavy-hearted.
Initially, they thought it wouldn’t matter if she wanted to deal with the bandits. After all, by the time they reached the destination, it would be dawn. Acting during daylight wasn’t advisable, so surely she would understand the danger and voluntarily retreat. That way, they wouldn’t have to risk their lives along with her.
But they soon realized they had severely underestimated the situation.
Their assumptions were based on the pace of ordinary people—traveling on foot without the aid of cattle, horses, or mules. Even running the whole way would take several hours.
But was she an ordinary person?
Someone who could lift two grown men and leap over a wall certainly wasn’t ordinary!
After walking a while, she became impatient with their slow pace. Without hesitation, she grabbed the collars of their clothes and hoisted them up like cargo before taking off at a run.
The wind roared past their ears, making it nearly impossible to keep their eyes open.
This demonstrated just how fast she was.
Being carried by their collars, the fabric dug tightly into their necks, nearly choking them.
They didn’t know exactly how fast she was running—only that along the way, they were in such agony trying to breathe that they couldn’t even speak.
Their survival instincts kicked in as they began to suffocate, forcing them to struggle desperately.
Perhaps their struggling was too intense, as she finally stopped, letting them go so they could catch their breath. Once they had recovered, she resumed carrying them without the slightest guilt, as long as they weren’t dead.
The two of them: “…”
By the time they reached the base of the mountain where the bandits were hiding, the two men were more dead than alive, collapsed on the ground, gasping for air, feeling as though they had narrowly escaped death.
After finally catching their breath, they saw her preparing to head into the mountain.
Glancing up at the full moon high in the sky, they judged it was only the fourth watch of the night, far from dawn.
Officer Ge hadn’t expected her to make it here in less than two hours.
No wonder she wasn’t the least bit worried about daylight catching up with them.
“Boss… Boss Li…”
Skinny Wu’s drunkenness had completely dissipated, and he was now sober as could be. Just the thought of facing the ruthless bandits made him tremble with fear.
The three of them had rushed here empty-handed—how were they supposed to fight those bandits without weapons?
Officer Ge felt the same. Don’t be fooled by his domineering behavior back in the county town—it was only because his targets were defenseless and docile citizens as meek as sheep. Faced with murderous bandits, he wouldn’t even dare let out a fart.
Dealing with bandits? He was absolutely unwilling.
Yu Li stared at them expressionlessly, as if finally realizing how useless they were, and said, “Stay here!”
“Ah?”
The two were stunned.
Yu Li didn’t bother with them and headed straight into the mountains.
This time, she didn’t carry them along. They stood at the foot of the mountain, watching her figure disappear into the distance, finally able to see just how fast she was.
In the moonlight, her silhouette was like a phantom, flitting through the forest. The swaying shadows of the trees danced around her, and in just a moment, she vanished completely, leaving only the still and serene mountain forest bathed in moonlight.
The two men swallowed hard.
Officer Ge whispered, “She… she’s not a ghost, is she?”
How could a normal person move so fast, with such an eerie and mysterious movement? Especially in this setting, under the moonlight, her fleeting figure disappearing so suddenly—it truly gave off a strange and unsettling feeling.
Skinny Wu, terrified of ghosts, immediately shivered and cursed, “Don’t talk nonsense!”
Ghosts or not, he would much rather deal with a living person than some supernatural entity. Humans and ghosts belonged to different worlds, and if a ghost set its sights on them, there would be no chance of survival.
It was said that ghosts absorbed the life force of humans, and prolonged exposure to them would leave a person weakened and eventually dead.
Skinny Wu tried to reassure himself, “She must be human. She has a shadow, her hands are warm, and when she hit us, we could feel the burning heat…”
Officer Ge retorted, “Wasn’t that just because she hit you so hard it stung?” The wounds on his own body were still burning painfully.
Skinny Wu: “…”
Finally losing his temper, Skinny Wu snapped, “If you keep saying that, I’ll tell Boss Li!”
Officer Ge immediately shut up.
Whether she was human or ghost, they couldn’t beat her. It made no difference—they were stuck under her thumb either way.
The two didn’t dare leave. They feared Yu Li would return and find them gone; the consequences would be unimaginable. But neither did they dare to stand openly in the area, worried that if she alerted the bandits, the bandits might come down and kill them.
They decided to find a place to hide and observe the situation.
Scanning their surroundings, they were just about to pick a concealed spot when they suddenly heard rustling sounds and footsteps coming from nearby.
Startled, the two froze in terror. Could it be the bandits?
Panicking, they threw caution to the wind and dove into a dense thicket of brambles, enduring the sharp sting of thorns tearing at their skin. They crouched low and held their breath.
Just as they crouched down, the figures arrived.
“Who’s there?”
The voice was sharp and alert, barking a question in their direction.
The two were paralyzed with fear, burying their heads as low as possible, hoping desperately they wouldn’t be discovered.
But their hope was destined to be dashed. They soon heard the chilling sound of a blade being unsheathed. The person had drawn a knife and was walking toward their hiding spot.
The heavy, deliberate footsteps seemed to be an intentional warning.
“Come out!” the person commanded in a low voice, slashing the blade into the thicket where they hid.
The two of them couldn’t stay hidden any longer, fearing that the blade might swing straight into their hiding spot. Trembling with fear, they crawled out of the dense thicket of brambles.
When they emerged, they were met with the sight of a burly man standing menacingly in front of them, holding a large blade.
He stood with his back to the moonlight, his face partially obscured by the shadows. All they could make out was the thick, scraggly beard covering his face, paired with his massive, muscular frame, making him look even more like a bandit than any bandit they had imagined.
Terrified, the two shook like leaves, dropping to their knees in tears and pleading for their lives.
“Please don’t kill us, good sir! We’re just passing by and got lost!”
“We’ll leave right away!”
Though they knew this man was likely one of the mountain bandits, they clung to the principle that living miserably was still better than dying, groveling for mercy in hopes he would let them go.
It was a flimsy excuse to claim they got lost and ended up in such a place in the middle of the night.
At this moment, they desperately wished Yu Li would return and save them. They silently vowed to revere her like a living Bodhisattva if she could rescue them.
The burly man glared at them, his gaze sweeping over Skinny Wu and Officer Ge’s faces, which still bore traces of injuries. His tone was sharp and accusatory. “Are you bandits from Qingya Mountain?”
One had shifty, rat-like eyes, and the other’s face was covered in whip marks—neither looked like decent people.
The two froze in shock, their tearful faces lifting to look at him.
“Speak!” The man barked, stepping closer with his gleaming blade.
Under the moonlight, the blade emitted a cold, threatening glint. The murderous aura it exuded was palpable—it was a weapon that had taken lives and been drenched in blood.
Though the two of them were far from virtuous, they had never killed anyone, nor had they ever handled such a deadly weapon.
Terrified out of their wits, they didn’t dare lie. Skinny Wu stammered, “W-we’re not bandits! We’re good citizens—law-abiding residents of Shanping County…”
“Yes, we’re from Shanping County! We just got lost, really!”
The large blade finally pulled back slightly. The burly man asked in a deep voice, “People from Shanping County? What are you doing in a place like this in the middle of the night?”
“We… we…”
“Speak honestly, or I’ll slice you apart!”
As he spoke, the blade moved closer to them again.
Officer Ge, his face contorted in fear, blurted out, “We’re here to suppress the bandits!”
Skinny Wu shook so badly he could hardly stand, feeling utterly hopeless. He was convinced they wouldn’t make it out alive.
“Suppress the bandits?” The burly man’s expression shifted slightly. “You’re with the authorities?”
Officer Ge didn’t dare lie and answered every question truthfully. “I-I’m a yamen officer from Shanping County. He isn’t…”
A yamen officer from Shanping County?
The burly man appeared thoughtful for a moment before asking again, “How many of you are there?”
“J-just three,” Officer Ge stammered.
“……”
For a moment, the scene fell into complete silence.
This whole “suppressing bandits” plan sounded utterly unreliable. Who sends only three people to deal with bandits?
The mountain, called Qingya Mountain, was located close to Shanping County and was home to a gang of bandits.
To reach Shanping County by land, one typically had to pass through this mountain. Because of this, most people avoided this route, preferring to spend extra money to take a boat along the waterway to bypass it.
Since there was an alternative route by water, the local authorities, despite being aware of the rampant banditry in Qingya Mountain, hadn’t taken any action for the time being.
Of course, Qingya Mountain’s proximity to Shanping County meant that the bandits occasionally descended the mountain to rob the local villagers. The residents near Qingya Mountain lived in constant fear of these bandits.
Though they had appealed to the authorities for help, the lack of response left them with no choice but to move away from the area as best they could.
The burly man had initially assumed that these people were sent by the government to suppress the bandits.
It was Mid-Autumn Festival, and even bandits wanted to celebrate. Attacking during their festivities, when their guard was down, would be the perfect time to strike.
If the authorities had chosen this moment to launch an assault, it wouldn’t have been surprising. But it turned out that wasn’t the case.
Just then, a young voice asked, “You said there are three of you. Where’s the third person?”
Officer Ge and Skinny Wu froze for a moment before realizing that the “bandit” in front of them had companions.
They dared not look directly, answering softly, “She… she went up the mountain…”
The scene fell silent again.
At this point, the burly man and his companions couldn’t help but think, ‘This whole operation feels like a joke. Just three people, and only one of them actually went up the mountain—what kind of bandit suppression is this?’
It was becoming increasingly clear that these weren’t government officials sent to deal with the bandits.
The burly man standing in front of Officer Ge and Skinny Wu finally stepped aside.
Cautiously, the two peeked past him and saw that there were indeed more people present. A group of seven or eight men stood not far away, all of them burly and muscular, looking like trained fighters.
They wore clothes suited for movement and surrounded a young man in the center.
The youth didn’t appear very old, and under the moonlight, his features looked exceptionally handsome.