Qian Jiaoniang flinched but too late; her face was smeared by his tongue. It was as if poison had been smeared upon her—disgusting, defiling.
The crowd sucked in a sharp breath. He had defiled Dingxi Marchioness before all eyes. With such public shame, how could she ever retain her honor?
Qian Jiaoniang jerked her head aside. The blade in Fang Xiong’s hand grazed her cheek, leaving a bloody line. Xing Muzheng surged forward, but Fang Xiong roared, “Don’t move! She’s my wife!”
The veins on Xing Muzheng’s forehead bulged as he froze in place.
Qian Jiaoniang drew a deep breath, her voice trembling. “Fang Xiong, go die.”
Before Fang Xiong could react, she shouted, “Lielei—come!”
From somewhere above the cabin, Lielei, the trained eagle, answered the call. With a screech, it dived like a storm, its beak stabbing into Fang Xiong’s right eye. Fang Xiong screamed, hand loosening. Qian Jiaoniang seized the moment to wrench free. Guihua lunged with her soul-hook claw, but Qian Jiaoniang had already drawn the arrowhead hidden in her sleeve. She drove it straight into Guihua’s palm. Guihua cried out in pain, head jerking up—only to see Fang Xiong collapsing.
At some point, a dagger had buried itself in his throat. Clutching his bleeding right eye, left eye bulging wide, he toppled stiffly to the ground—his gaze still fixed on Qian Jiaoniang.
Zhen Hao seized the chance to pull Qian Jiaoniang out. She only cast one glance at Fang Xiong’s corpse before coldly turning her eyes away.
Xing Muzheng and Ah Da, along with others, leapt onto the pleasure barge, wiping out the remaining stragglers in just a few moves. Ah Da stepped forward, pulled the dagger from Fang Xiong’s neck, wiped it clean, and handed it back to Xing Muzheng.
The other bandits on nearby boats didn’t even have time to draw their weapons before seeing their leader and brothers all cut down. They were nothing more than a rabble—some, hot-blooded, wanted to avenge Fang Xiong, while others rowed frantically to flee.
For a time, arrows rained in all directions, the barge rocked, and Qian Jiaoniang lost her footing, nearly falling—only to have a hand seize her wrist tightly and pull her into an embrace. She didn’t need to look up to know who it was. Pressed against his chest, she watched him swat away incoming arrows, his heartbeat pounding violently beneath her ear.
Though danger still loomed, Qian Jiaoniang strangely felt herself relax, even had the presence of mind to wonder: why was Xing Muzheng’s heartbeat so fast? Could it be that his heart always raced like this in battle?
The Minghu navy Zhen Hao had brought were no amateurs. What’s more, he had already arranged to block the largest cargo ship ahead, and when these small skiffs met the trained navy, it was like mantis arms trying to stop a carriage. By the time Xing Muzheng had boarded the military ship with Qian Jiaoniang and Zhen Hao, cannons thundered, blasting the river so fiercely it seemed to shake heaven and earth. Only then did Xu Old Six realize things had gone terribly wrong—just as he was about to spring an ambush, the navy had already wheeled around to strike.
Before one fight was finished, another enemy arrived—Daoba and his men gave chase.
Earlier, Xing Muzheng had pursued Fang Xiong and Qian Jiaoniang through the back gate of the bandit stronghold, but lost their tracks. The guards who had escorted the gold had been lying in ambush in the mountains and already discovered where Wuling Village hid their boats. They joined forces with Xing Muzheng, but by the time they reached the waterfall, the fugitives had gone far. Xing Muzheng killed the bandits guarding the boats, seized the fastest Red Horse boat, and, releasing Lielei, chased after them along the river. When Daoba and Bao Li later came down the mountain, they found the riverside strewn with corpses and immediately knew disaster had struck. Daoba quickly gathered the remaining fighters, armed them, and took their modified warship in pursuit of Fang Xiong. Yet instead, they ran headlong into the navy.
Learning of Fang Xiong’s death, Daoba’s eyes went bloodshot. He had treated Fang Xiong like a son, intending to rely on him in his old age—who would have thought Fang Xiong would die like this? Consumed by rage, Daoba immediately launched a desperate battle.
That sudden clash lasted three whole hours. By then, dawn was breaking. The bandits had been routed, shattered under the joint command of Xing Muzheng and Zhen Hao. By the end, the navy was rounding up survivors.
The bandits crushed, Xing Muzheng pressed the advantage, leading the navy back up to Wuling Mountain. With their leaders gone, the stronghold was left with only the old, weak, sick, and crippled. They didn’t know whether to stay or flee—before they could decide, the army was already upon them. In a sweeping assault, the bandit lair was cleansed in blood. Any man who had joined the outlaws was executed on the spot. The rest were the pitiful souls the bandits had captured: among them the young master from the tavern, the girl who told Xing Muzheng the plans, and countless respectable women dragged off to be their playthings. They wept with gratitude, bowing again and again to the soldiers, before following the army down the mountain and returning to their families in Jiangzi.
By the time all was settled, it was already afternoon. Back in Jiangzi, Bao Li, who had been locked in a house by Li Qingquan, was thrown into prison. Since Jiangzi fell under the jurisdiction of Juzhou, Xing Muzheng handed him over to Zhen Hao to transfer to the prefect for judgment.
Qian Jiaoniang stayed at Xing Muzheng’s side the whole time. In truth, she thought she was only a burden and had wanted to remain on the ship, but Xing Muzheng never once let go of her hand, so she followed him everywhere. When she saw Wuling Stronghold uprooted entirely, the gloom that had weighed on her heart finally lifted. Bandits were never good men. Back when she had been forced to become a bandit’s “wife” in Qian Mountain, she had dreamed of one day becoming a heroine who would slay every villain that seized women and bullied the innocent.
Today, that dream had come true. Even if she’d been scared out of her wits, it was worth it.
So thought Qian Jiaoniang as Xing Muzheng applied medicine to her wound.
But she also knew her good mood couldn’t last—because everyone had seen Fang Xiong lick her face. She was no longer “clean.”
