Cultivation Begins with Caring for Sister-in-law

Under the night sky.

The sound of shouting and killing, along with the whistling sound of arrows cutting through the air, shattered the tranquility.

On the side of the Divine Brave Guard, there were more than fifty archers, all of whom had been trained in the Wind-Chasing Arrow. Although none had reached entry level, their accuracy had improved significantly.

A volley of arrows came down, with a dozen arrows piercing through the bodies of the thieves from behind.

"Oh no, we've been discovered."

Bai Shu and the others' expressions changed, a look of panic on their faces.

They had come to steal the harvested rice, so subconsciously they considered themselves as thieves. Now, being caught by the owner, their first instinct was not to fight, but to run away.

Plus, with some of their companions shot dead, even those with strong minds lost the will to resist.

After the archers finished their round, the next batch of crossbowmen stepped up and pulled the trigger.

Another volley of arrows came, with crossbow arrows being much more lethal and penetrative than ordinary arrows.

This group of Tiger Swift Army was here to steal grain, so they dressed lightly and were not wearing armor. Bai Shu felt a sharp pain in his chest, as if he had been punched heavily.

Without looking, Bai Shu knew he was hit by an arrow.

But although he wasn't wearing armor, he had on a Heart Protection Mirror, which the crossbow arrows couldn't penetrate.

Only a bed crossbow could penetrate iron armor and the Heart Protection Mirror.

After two volleys of arrows, on Bai Shu's side, more than thirty people were down.

The Divine Brave Guard cooperated tacitly and, seeing the situation, deployed a three-by-three formation to eliminate the remaining thieves.

"Retreat, retreat quickly!"

Bai Shu felt a chill in his heart and his limbs turned cold. He never expected to be discovered so soon, especially since this place was far from Pingting County, and with so many people awake in the middle of the night.

Although he was a Seventh-Grade Martial Artist, he was still flesh and blood. With flames blazing from the other side, he couldn't tell how many people were there, so he had to retreat first.

The people of the Tiger Swift Army had been waiting for Bai Shu's words. They immediately dropped their machetes and ran, ignoring the donkey cart.

Su Qi, covered in blood, stood with his blade in hand and coldly ordered, "Kill them all!"

The Divine Brave Guard had received professional training, had killed before, and experienced fierce battles. In such advantageous conditions, they were fearless.

Each man turned into an unrivaled warrior, felling one person with a single slash.

Most of the Tiger Swift Army were not locals and were unfamiliar with the terrain. In their panicked flight, some were tripped by the field embankment, some stepped into a paddy field, getting their feet stuck in the black mud, and were cut down by the pursing Divine Brave Guard.

...

By the time Chen Mo arrived on horseback, the battle was over, and Su Wen and others had pursued the enemy to Dadong Lake but did not go further, as beyond was the territory of Qingtian County.

After ordering a rest, the exhausted soldiers immediately collapsed on the ground in disarray, with some kneeling by the lakeside, scooping up water to drink.

Seeing Chen Mo approaching, Su Qi, Hu Qiang, and Han Wu stepped forward to greet him: "Immortal Master Chen."

Chen Mo dismounted and asked, "What's the situation?"

Su Qi replied, "Divine Brave Guard's First Squadron ordinary soldier Zhang Fusheng discovered someone sneaking into our territory while night fishing. We thought it was a surprise night attack, but it turned out they were stealing rice…"

Su Qi recounted the entire incident.

"What are the casualties?" Chen Mo frowned and asked.

"We don't know about the enemies, but on our side, only three sprained their ankles while chasing, and no one else was injured," Han Wu replied.

As soon as he finished speaking, the three soldiers with sprained ankles blushed with embarrassment, lowering their heads in shame.

"Did you capture any live ones?" Chen Mo asked.

"Immortal Master Chen, we captured two. They said they were soldiers under Yuan Youchun, led by Bai Shu to steal grain to take revenge on you," Hu Qiang, who had previously questioned them, replied.

"As expected, this matter is far from over..." Chen Mo's brows furrowed tightly, and he immediately asked, "Did we recover the stolen rice?"

"Is Immortal Master Chen over here?" A Divine Brave Guard member came over, leading a donkey cart, and said, "They ran at the sight of us, not daring to fight, dropping their weapons in their haste."

"I really don't know how this bunch of cowards won against the Qingzhou Army," remarked Su Qi, somewhat disdainful after experiencing the first battle with the Celestial Master Army.

"Just because they had more people." It must be said that the powerful strength gave the subordinate soldiers reason to feel proud.

Seeing their growing conceit, Chen Mo couldn't help but reprimand them, saying, "They were merely caught off guard by us and weren't wearing armor; nothing to be proud of."

Su Qi and Han Wu lowered their heads at his words.

Hu Qiang asked, "Immortal Master Chen, what shall we do next? Yang Minggui ordered to let this matter go, but Yuan Youchun didn't stop; now we have captured witnesses, it's time to demand an explanation from him."

"Yuan Youchun definitely won't admit it." Chen Mo glanced at the dead thief's body on the road and then an idea struck him, "It's only polite to reciprocate."

"Su Qi, Han Wu, Hu Qiang."

"Yes, sir," Su Qi and the others responded loudly in unison.

"Gather your men, mask up, and follow me to storm the salt warehouse." Chen Mo ordered.

Hearing this, the three were taken aback; they had just driven away Bai Shu's group, and now they were heading to storm the enemy's salt warehouse. It seemed a bit too hasty.

But a soldier's duty is to obey orders, so the three responded in unison: "Understood."

By the time Chen Mo arrived, they had more or less recovered.

Except for the three with sprained ankles, the rest of the Divine Brave Guard followed Chen Mo straight to the Salt Lake.

...

The summer moonlight was the brightest.

The Divine Brave Guard had raided the salt warehouse twice before, and on their third visit, they appeared experienced and at ease.

The Tiger Swift Army guarding the salt warehouse certainly didn't expect anyone to raid the salt warehouse at this time.

After all, all of Qingzhou was the territory of the Celestial Master Army; there were no enemies in Qingzhou anymore.

Plus, the summer heat, and it was so late now.

The defense of the salt warehouse was extremely lax, and the few Tiger Swift Army soldiers guarding the warehouse door were leaning against it, dozing off with long spears in their arms.

The forces in the salt warehouse were not many; those who hadn't slept were gambling with dice in the barracks, as if no one was managing them.

"Whoosh!"

An ear-piercing sound of something piercing through the air suddenly rang out.

An arrow flew straight into the forehead of a Tiger Swift Army soldier, who fell to the ground with a thud.

Clatter!

The lantern in the soldier's hand fell to the ground, and the nearby Tiger Swift Army soldiers turned their eyes upon hearing the sound.

"Swish, swish, swish!"

Several sounds of wind-broken arrows followed; several crossbow arrows pierced into their chests, letting out a final muffled groan before they collapsed lifelessly.

"Kill!"

The cold voice carried an intense killing intent.

In the next moment, Chen Mo charged out first on horseback.

The Tiger Swift Army outside the barracks had no time to scream before being chopped in half by Chen Mo.

Crash!

The hoofs of the horse stomping on the lantern extinguished the dim light instantly.

"Not good, there are thieves!"

"To arms, to arms!"

Suddenly, the tranquility around the salt warehouse was thoroughly disrupted, as a dying Tiger Swift Army soldier managed to cry out a few shouts.

The Tiger Swift Army soldiers who were guessing numbers in the barracks finally realized something was wrong and hurriedly went to grab weapons at their side.

At that moment, several torches were thrown in.

Thick smoke billowed into the barracks.

"Bad, it's on fire." Someone shouted.

When they finally grabbed their weapons and rushed out of the barracks, the Divine Brave Guards waiting outside slashed them down.

The crossbowmen and archers squatted outside the barracks, shooting whoever came out.

Chen Mo, holding a Tang blade in one hand and a large saber picked up in another, charged domineeringly into the Tiger Swift Army emerging from the salt warehouse.

Several long spears immediately thrust at him, and Chen Mo, slashing with both blades, simultaneously cut off their tips, an invisible, narrow crescent blade aura slicing through the Tiger Swift Army.

Though these Tiger Swift Army were all in leather armor, they couldn't withstand Chen Mo's combined strength of nearly eight hundred points.

Several were cut in half at the waist.

"Ah!"

The miserable screams intensely stimulated the Tiger Swift Army's nerves.

At this moment, Chen Mo was like a wolf among sheep, left and right- cutting all with two blades, slaughtering hundreds of Tiger Swift Army single-handedly as they emerged from the salt warehouse.

Gasp!

Su Qi and Hu Qiang gasped in a chilled breath, their expressions horrified.

"Kill!"

Seeing the Immortal Master Chen's divine courage, the Divine Brave Guards became blood-boiled, one by one turning into gods of death.

Some Tiger Swift Army stragglers rushed out of the camp, trying to run back to the county town to report, but Han Wu, leading a group waiting outside, intercepted and killed them.

With a dreadful killing intent, Chen Mo grabbed a Tiger Swift Army soldier, slit his throat, discarded the large saber he'd picked up, and used the soldier's body to wipe his blade clean of blood, sheathing it, then ordered, "Kill them all."

After taking care of the salt warehouse's guards, Chen Mo and the group of Divine Brave Guards each carried a sack of about twenty pounds of coarse salt on their backs and quickly left the salt warehouse.

The whole process took less than half an hour, executed with extreme coordination.

By the time the Tiger Swift Army from the county town saw the fire in the direction of the salt warehouse and hurried over, Chen Mo and his men had already fled far away.

They still didn't know the specifics of what had happened or who the perpetrators were, only being shocked by the sight of corpses all over the place.

...

Qingtian County Government Office.

Yuan Youchun had just finished discussing how to proceed with the grain theft matter with Bai Shu when a personal soldier stumbled in, full of panic etched on his face, his body trembling slightly, saying: "General, Commander Bai, no...not good, something's happened, the salt warehouse was raided."

"What?!"

Upon hearing this, both Yuan Youchun and Bai Shu were visibly startled.

By the time they arrived at the scene, they were informed by their subordinates that there were no survivors among the guards at the salt warehouse that night, thus no one knew who was responsible for this.

The scene was too chaotic to find any clues as well.

But Yuan Youchun knew this was definitely Chen Mo's doing.

Before he had time to think of a countermeasure, Chen Mo personally brought people over the next day at noon, catching two survivors from the previous night, demanding Yuan Youchun give an explanation.