Chapter 152: You Brought This Upon Yourself

Just as Zhou Zhi had anticipated, the operation to suppress and sweep through the bandits of Mount Xiaoheishan lasted only the time it takes for a stick of incense to burn before coming to an end.

Although many of the bandits possessed some martial arts skills, they had never experienced a major battle. Encountering such a large-scale encirclement, they were instantly seized with panic and fled in all directions. A few bandits who considered themselves formidable put up stubborn resistance, but they only fought in isolation.

Meanwhile, Kou Tong's soldiers were as spirited as dragons and tigers, scrambling to be the first in the fight. This was likely the first actual combat these soldiers had experienced in a long time. They had trained day after day for so long without ever having the chance to participate in a real battle, leaving everyone tightly pent-up and deeply frustrated. Now, they vented this energy completely; the ragtag group of bandits was either captured alive or immediately cut down by the soldiers.

Li Shun was still on the mountain. Although this fellow's crotch had been severely kicked by Zhou Zhi, his appetite as a man remained undiminished, and he was still sleeping in the embrace of a beautiful woman up on the mountain.

It was unclear where he had procured this beauty—she might have been a respectable woman or perhaps simply a prostitute. When Zhou Zhi led the soldiers bursting into their bedchamber, the beauty was so frightened that she fainted on the spot, making any interrogation impossible.

When Li Shun saw Zhou Zhi, he no longer possessed his previous composure and ethereal, Taoist demeanor. He stared blankly at Zhou Zhi, endlessly hurling fierce curses at Ma Qianli.

"Damn it! It was Ma Qianli's indecisiveness that ruined this Taoist priest!"

With a cold expression, Zhou Zhi walked over and dealt him two fierce slaps across the face before shouting angrily, "Li Shun, let me tell you, you brought this upon yourself! You have no one else to blame!"

With that, he delivered a heavy kick straight to Li Shun's chest, leaving the latter gasping for air and unable to speak. Zhou Zhi ordered the soldiers to tie Li Shun up, as he had to be brought back for Chen Guangyao to interrogate.

The bandit leader, Ma Qianli, relying on his not-inconsiderable martial arts skills, actually exchanged blows with Kou Tong for a while before having his head cleanly chopped off by Kou Tong's saber.

For someone as utterly devoid of strategy, someone who blindly listened to the words of a fraudulent Taoist and recklessly sent men to Baiyue Village to kill and burn, dying was simply dying. Zhou Zhi felt no sense of pity whatsoever.

What was regrettable, however, was that the third-in-command, Big Man Wang, had grown smart. Learning that an army was coming to wipe out Mount Xiaoheishan, this fellow fled without a moment's hesitation, vanishing completely without a trace.

Though Zhou Zhi felt a pang of regret over his escape, he soon reasoned that running away was simply running away. After all, if not for him and Zhao, there was a good chance Zhou Zhi truly would have died on Mount Xiaoheishan yesterday. Viewed in that light, Big Man Wang arguably owed him a debt of gratitude for saving his life.

According to the captured bandits, Zhao had vanished from the mountain as early as yesterday night. This only deepened Zhou Zhi's regret. This madman Zhao was truly clever. Alas! Since he had escaped, it seemed that the large-scale uprisings of Liu Liu and Liu Qi in the future would be inevitable.

Li Dayin and his wife were impoverished commoners, so naturally they were not killed. Zhou Zhi merely had two soldiers guard them and escorted them down the mountain together. The couple would undoubtedly prove extremely useful; they would serve as the most advantageous evidence to bring down the Chen family.

The soldiers turned the mountain upside down, collecting everything of any monetary value before setting the entire mountain ablaze. Led by Kou Tong, the group then escorted the captured bandits and Li Shun down the mountain.

The groups converged at the foot of the mountain. Kou Peihan was the first to run up and catch sight of Zhou Zhi, feeling immensely relieved upon seeing that he was safe and sound.

Paying no mind to Zhou Zhi, she turned, pouted, and complained to her brother Kou Tong, "Brother, you all had your fun up there, leaving your little sister to keep watch at the foot of the mountain. I didn't get to see a single bandit—I came here entirely for nothing. How boring, truly far too boring!"

"Haha, little sister, don't say that. The fighting on the mountain wasn't intense at all, completely dull. Your brother also found it utterly uninteresting!" Although Kou Tong had lopped off Ma Qianli's head, that surge of excitement had only just begun when the battle abruptly ended. He, too, felt profoundly unsatisfied.

"Indeed! It was so dull! It ended before we even got warmed up. This bunch of bandits is simply too cowardly!" Li Lin and the remaining soldiers chimed in with deeply aggrieved expressions.

"Well, wouldn't that still be much better than standing guard down here doing nothing?" Kou Peihan muttered, still wearing a displeased expression.

Just as Kou Peihan's voice trailed off, a soldier pointed urgently toward the mountainside and cried out, "Commander, there seems to be a figure over there!"

The fires on the mountain were raging toward the heavens, casting a very bright glow over the base of the mountain. Kou Tong and the others followed the soldier's outstretched finger and indeed spotted a figure darting back and forth, weaving through the dwarf trees and wild brush halfway up the slope.

Zhou Zhi also clearly made out the figure. From his build, Zhou Zhi quickly deduced that it was undoubtedly Big Man Wang.

This fellow had not taken the mountain path down. Instead, taking advantage of the time when the soldiers were ascending the mountain, he must have hidden in some secluded spot and avoided detection. But now, with the fires raging on the mountain, he had nowhere left to hide and was forced to show himself.

"Hehe! Wonderful, there really is one left! Now it's your little sister's turn!" Kou Peihan's face instantly lit up with delight, and she smiled happily.

She immediately grabbed her bow and arrows, nocking an arrow as she said, "Brother, that's about two hundred paces away, isn't it? Watch how your little sister kills him from two hundred paces!"

This great beauty seemed to have a rather ruthless streak, constantly talking about killing people at the drop of a hat. True, bandits deserved to be killed, but for a young woman to constantly clamor about bloodshed and slaughter still did not seem quite right!

Yet, if she were not like this, she would no longer be the willful, domineering beauty Kou Peihan. It seemed Zhou Zhi genuinely favored this particular temperament of hers.

However, regardless, Big Man Wang's character did not seem entirely bad, and he had shown some kindness to Zhou Zhi. Although he was a bandit, his crimes perhaps did not warrant death?

With this thought, Zhou Zhi hurriedly spoke up, "Isn't Peihan's archery skills top-notch? Just aim for his right shoulder and make sure not to kill him!"

Showing off one's skills in front of the person one loved was a deeply thrilling and joyful matter. Kou Peihan smiled brightly and said, "Zhou Zhi, watch closely. This time I'll shoot him right in the right shoulder!"

Before her words had faded, the arrow was already loosed. It flew like a shooting star, accompanied by a howling wind.

Big Man Wang, who was halfway up the mountain and wondering where to hide, was caught completely off guard, taking an arrow straight to his right shoulder.

The title of "divine archer who pierces a willow leaf from a hundred paces" was truly well-deserved. Having hit her mark, Kou Peihan looked smugly at Zhou Zhi. The corners of her eyes and brows carried a hint of alluring charm in Zhou Zhi's eyes, unsettling his heart and mind.

Having been struck by the arrow and realizing someone at the base of the mountain had spotted him, Big Man Wang immediately crouched low, concealing himself deep within the bushes and wild grass.

Kou Tong immediately waved his hand, and a dozen soldiers scrambled back up the mountain.

Big Man Wang had not been far from the base of the mountain to begin with, and with the mountain ablaze leaving him nowhere to run, he was quickly discovered by the soldiers and dragged down the mountain.

Recognizing Zhou Zhi at a glance, Big Man Wang cursed, "It's you! You were the one who led them up the mountain! You heartless scoundrel, don't forget that if it weren't for me, you would have died on the mountain long ago!"

Zhou Zhi merely smiled calmly at him, offering no response.

In truth, Zhou Zhi had already made up his mind. Big Man Wang seemed like a man of principle, and his crimes did not merit death. When Chen Guangyao conducted the interrogation, if Zhou Zhi could put in a good word for him, he certainly would.

By the time the captured bandits were escorted back to the Kou family estate in Tang County, it was already dawn of the following day. Zhou Zhi explained clearly to Kou Dagang that with these captured bandits and Li Shun, Chen Guangyao's reputation could be restored, and naturally, Zhou Zhi's own wrongful accusations could be cleared as well. Therefore, he had to trouble Kou Dagang to send men to escort them to Qingdu County for Chen Guangyao's interrogation.

Since Kou Dagang and Chen Guangyao were close friends deeply concerned for each other, he readily complied with Zhou Zhi's request and dispatched fifteen soldiers to escort the prisoners to Qingdu County.

As for the credit of their Thousand-Household Post in wiping out the bandits, Kou Dagang would naturally exaggerate the accounts when reporting it upward later.

Bidding farewell to Kou Peihan, Zhou Zhi left the Kou estate and led the fifteen soldiers along with the captive bandits straight back to Qingdu County. However, Zhou Zhi did not take these people into the city of Qingdu County; instead, he quietly brought them directly back to his own home in Baiyue Village.

Zhou Zhi had already figured it out: since Assistant Magistrate Yang Tong had ruined Chen Guangyao's reputation right here in Baiyue Village, he would simply ask Chen Guangyao to hold a public trial right in Baiyue Village. This would allow all the villagers of Baiyue to see firsthand what kind of person the magistrate truly was, and whether he, Zhou Zhi, had ever colluded with bandits.