I Am Immortal In The Cultivation World

Chapter 31 Northern Frontier City

In the dense forest. Countless mountain bandits hid secretly and stared coldly at the prisoner carriage below.

Woo-chirp

A rather rhythmic bird cry sounded. The bandit’s eyes flashed with bloodlust as he darted out from behind the rocks, underbrush, and trees.

“Brother, lend me some clothes.”

A voice sounded behind a mountain bandit. Before he could turn around, he fell silent.

Zhou Yi changed his clothes and circulated his Dharmic powers to use the Bone Changing Technique. After changing his face shape, he used a disguise technique and looked 70-80% similar to the dead mountain bandit.

At this moment

The imperial guards on the mountain path had already noticed something strange.

When the commander of the imperial guards, Yang Shou, saw the birds in the mountains flying away in shock, he waved his hand to signal for the army to stop and ordered the scouts to scout the mountains.

After waiting for a long time without seeing any scouts return, he had determined that there was an ambush in the mountains.

“Form up and face the enemy!”

Yang Shou led the elite imperial guards and quickly gathered the prisoner carriages, setting up a circular formation to await orders.

“Hahaha! Heavens above! I am the protector of the Heavenly King. Today, I will kill all of Butcher Li’s clansmen and sacrifice them to the Heavenly King!”

Deafening laughter rang out. Then dozens of boulders flew from the mountain and rained down on the army.

“A catapult!” Yang Shou exclaimed. Before he could evacuate the army, the huge rock had already fallen on his head.

The boulders that were thrown down from the mountain were so powerful that no one could withstand them. They smashed into the crowd and screams rang out. After three or four consecutive rounds of boulders, the imperial guards’ formation was broken up.

“Kill! Kill…”

On both sides of the mountain, there were at least thousands of people.

Yang Shou shouted, “Line up, line up!”

The imperial guards barely managed to regroup. Arrows rained down on them as they suffered heavy casualties.

“Kill the enemy!”

Despair flashed across Yang Shou’s eyes. He was not afraid of the number of enemies, but he had other guesses. There were at least a dozen catapults and organized archers. How could mountain bandits or rebels afford to raise them? The other party was clearly using their background as a pretext.

The moment the imperial guards and the mountain bandits clashed, they sensed something amiss. The elite imperial guards trained every day, but their strength was no match for the bandits.

After Yang Shou killed a few bandits with his spear, he could see even more clearly on the horse that the imperial guards were already retreating

“I can’t die like this!”

The commander had already thought of retreating. How could his soldiers fight to the death? It was unknown if they were doing it on purpose or if they had forgotten, but there were no bandits blocking the way. Therefore, after Yang Shou took the lead to escape, the imperial guards fled in all directions.

The bandits’ target was the prisoner carriages. They did not chase after the imperial guards and slaughtered the prisoners with their weapons.

The Li family members in the prisoner carriages were shackled and could not resist at all. They could only watch helplessly as they were slaughtered.

In the forest.

Zhou Yi carried the young Li Hong and stood on a branch.

“Time to go. We’ll check the corpses later. Maybe we’ll find something unusual.”

While the imperial guards were fighting with the bandits, Zhou Yi took advantage of the chaos to rescue Li Hong and left a bandit with a similar figure and a broken face on the prison cart.

“Senior, wait a moment. I want to see my clansmen die with my own eyes so that I can remember this hatred even deeper!”

Li Hong did not cry or grieve. He listened to his mother, brothers, and loved ones scream and die under the knives of the bandits.

A moment later.

The clansmen of the Li family were all dead. The bandits opened the prison carriages and displayed the corpses one by one.

A few bandits in long robes walked out and did a headcount. Among them, there were a few corpses whose faces were badly mutilated. They also carefully identified their figures and dressing.

“The ones who attacked were the Jiangnan aristocratic families.” Zhou Yi heard the conversation and said, “They didn’t suspect you. They just thought that you were seriously injured in the scuffle.”

“Those are Uncle Li Chi, Cousin Li Yi, and Cousin Li Liang. They’re only one or two years older than me, and their sizes are similar. Big Brother is meticulous. He’s afraid that I’ll be hunted down by the Uniformed Guards, so he sent people to destroy their faces.”

Li Hong’s voice was calm, but his eyes were bloodshot.

“To be honest, I think more highly of your brother. Whether it’s the disfigurement or the perpetrator, they probably don’t know the purpose of your brother doing this!”

Zhou Yi grabbed Li Hong’s collar and disappeared into the forest.

Northern Frontier. Barren City.

He could tell by the name that it was a bitter cold place. The prisoners of Fengyang Country were all here. They would dig the iron mine nearby until death or amnesty.

The clatter of hooves woke the guards on duty.

“Stop!” The soldiers drew their swords and stopped the two horses that were galloping toward them. “What are you doing in Barren City?”

“Visiting an old friend.” Zhou Yi fell from his horse and dropped two silver ingots. “Eh? Brother, you dropped your silver!”

“Huh?”

The city gate officer seemed to have never met such a shameless person. Even the most shameless official would secretly hand over silver. Disgusting, can’t you cover your face too?

The gate guard despised him, but he moved quickly. He picked up the silver, wiped it, and stuffed it into his pocket. “Who are you looking for, sir?”

Zhou Yi said, “I only know that his surname is Wei and he’s from Yuzhou. He’s been here for about 36 years.”

The city guard dragged his voice out. “Over thirty years. Who knows if he’s still alive? It won’t be easy!”

Zhou Yi’s sleeve trembled and two silver ingots fell.

The city gate guard said helplessly, “Go to the city to look for Liu San. He’s in charge of the miners from Yuzhou. As long as they’re still alive, he’ll definitely be able to find them.”

Zhou Yi took out two ingots of silver from his pocket. “Is there a way to meet and arrange some easy work?”

The city gate official felt that the silver was burning his hands. “Then you have to go to the government office to find the manager. You can go to the government office to do odd jobs after spending money.”

Zhou Yi continued to hand over the silver. “Is there anything else I need to pay attention

to?”

“Master, how generous!” The city guard patted his chest. “When I’m bringing you along, not to mention finding someone, I can even bring someone out of Barren City.”

Zhou Yi said in surprise, “You can take them away?”

“You don’t understand. If they can’t be taken away, how can those people in the mine die every year?”

The city gate officer instructed his soldiers to stand guard and not let the thieves enter the city. Then, he brought Zhou Yi and his companion into the city.

The city was in ruins, and the streets were overgrown with weeds. There was no one to be seen. The shops on both sides were empty. The broken windows and doors creaked like ghosts when the wind blew.

“This was originally the border army’s camp. It was quite prosperous back then. Now that the border army has gone to Yizhou, there’s only an empty city left…”

The city guard seemed to feel guilty for accepting the money and took the initiative to be a tour guide, telling the history of Barren City.

“Look at the General Assembly Stage. The Duke used to beat drums here…

“This tavern has fine wine from the Divine Capital. Every time the Duke returns from a victory battle, he comes to drink…”

What the city guard said was most likely related to the Duke. Only when they reached the northern border did they know how famous Li Wu was and how far-reaching his influence was.

Li Hong followed what the gate officer said. He seemed to see his father, in charge of the soldiers at the General Assembly Stage, and drinking freely at the tavern.

Zhou Yi patted Li Hong’s shoulder and said via voice transmission, “Remember your brother’s instructions!”

Li Hong nodded slightly and restrained his emotions. “Sir, don’t worry. Before I advance to the Connate Realm, I will change my surname to Zhou.”

Silver was more useful in Barren City than Zhou Yi had expected. After being introduced by the city guard, Manager Sun was very reasonable and directly offered a price.

“One thousand taels for the living, and an additional two hundred taels for the registered residence. I’m honest!”