“Get them! Don’t let them escape!”
“Don’t let them enter the mountain! This bunch of robbers are all bastards!”
“Kill them all! We won’t take any prisoners!”
A fierce battle had taken place in the mountainous border areas of the South Jin Kingdom. In the dim twilight, one would occasionally hear the whistling of arrows and the sounds of swords crossing as well as the desperate roar one made before death.
The two parties engaged in the battle numbered less than 500. However, the battle in the south, which had been peaceful for a long time, was intense enough as dozens of bodies littered the ground.
One party was the cavalry of the South Jin Kingdom. They were trained and held the upper hand in the battle. They also had more men and quickly gained victory. They began to pursue after their enemies.
Those being pursued scattered into the mountains in fear. An occasional arrow would hit someone, and he would yell in pain before falling in the forest. Fortunately, it was dark and the mountain path was dangerous. Most of them escaped.
The sky darkened, enveloping the mountain. Deep in the dense forest, crows cawed occasionally. This mountain was part of the mountain ranges of the West-Hill Divine Kingdom but was within the territories of the South Jin Kingdom.
Beside the bonfire laid a few men. Some of them had been shot by arrows, and some had their arms taken off by axes. They groaned in pain intermittently.
There were some men in steel armor. They sat close to the bonfire nearest to the warmest spot. It was evident that they were superior to others. Their armors were engraved with patterns and looked expensive. These were not objects that mountain thieves could possess.
Their faces grew weary as they heard the painful groans of their companions and the cawing of the crows. They could not help but turn to look at their silent leader, wanting to receive some comfort from him.
Their leader was a middle-aged man dressed in the same black armor except for the more complicated gold patterns on it that emitted a vague talisman power.
The middle-aged man was called Zi Mo. He was once the cavalry commander of the West-Hill Divine Palace Judicial Department. The men by the bonfire were like him. They were all former commanders of the Divine Hall’s cavalry.
When Ye Hongyu killed the former Great Divine Priest of Judgment and ascended to the black jade throne, these powerhouses who had accomplished great deeds in the name of West-Hill Divine Palace had had to rid themselves of their cultivation powers for a trumped-up reason. Then, they were banished from the Peach Mountain.
In the past few years, they had led Papal Cavalrymen, the strongest military force of the Divine Hall’s Judicial Department. They were the ones who had gone after followers of the Devil’s Doctrine and extremists. They were remembered most because of the bloodshed caused by the Judicial Department and their cruelty.
In other words, these commanders had too much blood on their hands and no homeland to return to. There was no one else who would dare take them in at the risk of provoking the ire of the Divine Priest of Judgment.
This was the heaviest punishment Ye Hongyu had given them. She took away their rank and cultivation power. She had also taken away the wealth that they had hoarded, leaving them with only an old horse and two hundred taels of silver. Their retinues, the glory and power that their armor once represented could not even bring them back to their past and only brought them shame and fear.
They did not dare to return to the West-Hill Divine Kingdom and had nowhere else to go. They could only mill about in the periphery countries of West-Hill. When they had spent almost all their money, these commanders suddenly realized that they had to think about where to get their next meal and shelter just like the lowly commoners.
These Divine Hall commanders were not unskilled. However, they were extremely proud. How could they work as laborers?
The most troublesome was that their experience in the West-Hill Divine Palace had made them used to giving orders. They placed themselves on pedestals and looked down upon commoners. This behavior could be called being dignified in the past. But now since they had become ordinary folks after leaving West-Hill, their behaviors became a hindrance to their lives.
One day, the former commanders’ team got into a tussle with a bully from the Kingdom of Song. One of the commanders could not repress his anger and ordered his retinue to cut off the man’s head. Then, they barged into the man’s house and took all his gold.
They stayed in one of the town’s luxurious inns and enjoyed fine wine and women with the money. Suddenly, these downtrodden former commanders found that they could live without humbling themselves. The method was rather simple and direct, and they could get money quickly.
Even though they had lost their cultivation power and were not as strong as ordinary men, they were once commanders of the West-Hill Divine Palace’s cavalry. They were good at plotting and giving commands. Their retinues were also good at fighting. At least the guards in the mortal realm were no match for them. Naturally, they began to plunder for a living. In a short time, they had consecutively robbed several clans in the countryside.
Everyone, including Zi Mo had kept silent. They did not say anything, but they knew that they, who had once vowed to protect the light and righteousness, were falling into the deep dark abyss. They felt extreme shame and pain deep in their hearts.
Fortunately, they now had plenty of gold and could buy strong alcohol and women to numb themselves. They would live each day as it came. Unfortunately, this numbing also sped up their fall from grace. They grew more violent when they stole and began to rape and kill.
Zi Mo knew that problems would arise should they continue on like this and tried to end it. However, the Divine Hall commanders who had fallen into despair were like tigers released from cages. They had fallen from the lofty Peach Mountain and into the muddy dirt. This aggravated their madness and Zi Mo could not stop them.
One day in summer, when they were plundering in the middle of the night, either one of the commanders or someone from their retinue went mad. The head of a noble who had already surrendered was cut off. This atmosphere of madness spread and a massacre occurred. Everyone in that noble family died amidst the desperate cries of the night.
Death would naturally come with plundering. Rape wasn’t rare either. However, they had gotten into deep trouble by massacring an entire family of nobles of the South Jin Kingdom, especially since their estate was not far from the capital.
This tragedy that had robbed the lives of an entire family did not alarm the powerhouses in the Sword Garret, but was enough to alarm the imperial court of the South Jin Kingdom. During the investigation, the imperial court found that the attackers wore the armor of the Divine Hall’s cavalrymen commanders. They were meticulous, and sent a letter to the West-Hill Divine Palace to ascertain that the men were criminals who had been exiled from the Divine Hall and were no longer protected by them. Then, the imperial court’s prudence evolved into anger.
The South Jin Kingdom began to send out arrest warrants, providing hefty rewards to those who provided information. And on these warrants, these criminals were given a new name— The Fallen Knights.
South Jin Kingdom was powerful and was second only to the Tang Empire. Even though the Fallen Knights were sharp-witted and good commanders, the South Jin Kingdom’s serious treatment of this incident meant that they had been plunged into turmoil and had to flee in all directions.
While on the run, many died or were separated from the group. One of the commanders had died and many were seriously injured. They had over a hundred men when they left the West-Hill, but now there were only dozens of them. They had almost been completely eliminated today, after being surrounded and attacked outside the forests.
Groans continued to reverberate beside the bonfire. Everyone looked like they had lost all hope and were in despair.
“Are we waiting for death here?”
A robust follower stood up and walked to the bonfire. He looked at his companions. Most of them were injured because they did not have any armor. He said loudly, “Why don’t we leave?”
These followers were like servants of the knights. They honored loyalty and no one would take them in if they betrayed their masters. So the man’s intention to leave proved that the situation was extremely dangerous.
A cavalry commander looked at the man gravely. He bellowed, “Guo Nu, I treated you well. If not for me, would you have become who you are today? How dare you betray me? Don’t forget, all of you retinues are listed on the arrest warrant. Where would you go?”
The follower called Guo Nu looked at his master and smiled coldly, “I have slaved for you for so many years. And yet, at this moment, in our dire state, you say that you have treated me well. As for the arrest warrant… Other than the pictures of you generals, who would recognize unexceptional people like us? We have gotten many taels of silver these days. If we all go our own ways and hide, who would find us?”
The commander said angrily, “Don’t forget that the silver is with me.”
Guo Nu looked at him and said indifferently. “I know that you won’t give us the silver. Masters like you would prefer us to die than to live well. But remember, your cultivation state has been destroyed by the Great Divine Priest. You are all invalids now. Do you think you are as strong as before?”
He looked to the other retinue members around the bonfire and yelled, “Why are you all hesitating? We were the ones who worked hard to steal those taels of silver. These people are already useless. They can’t even pick up their knives. Would any of them be a match for us?”
The bonfire did not burn brightly. The forests around them were completely dark, and the expressions on the retinue members’ faces could not be made out clearly. However, one could see that they had lifted their heads.
The commanders were once high and mighty. They were free to be kind to their retinues or treat them like beasts. Now that the retinues had incited a rebellion, they could not accept this shame. However, they had to admit that the situation they were in right now was especially precarious. They might die here if they were not careful.
Then, Guo Nu’s voice suddenly stopped.
An extremely thin metal thread appeared around his neck and swiftly contracted!
The metal thread dug into his skin and blood spurted out.
Guo Nu’s eyes widened in fear and his hands clawed at his neck desperately, trying to dig the metal thread out. However, his efforts were in vain. The more he struggled, the deeper the metal thread dug in. It sliced through, layer by layer. It cut through his windpipe, his gullet and all his blood vessels.
…