Chapter 14 Bai Xiao's Response
"Kill them! Why are you standing there?" Yuan Hou screamed, consumed by madness. "Attack! Kill them!"
The Yuan clan members exchanged glances, confused and hesitant.
"Brother..." Yuan Shu spoke uncertainly. Killing one of the town's most respected figures along with his disciple, in front of the entire populace—this was crossing a line beyond reason.
"Useless fools!" Yuan Hou roared and lunged at Bai Xiao with his sword.
"This is bad. It seems Yuan Hou has completely lost his mind," Su Zhen thought.
"Su Zhen, quickly—into the courtyard and bar the gates!" Bai Xiao shouted, deftly dodging the blade.
"So Bai Xiao is also at the Third Stage," Su Zhen assessed. "If they all attack at once, he won't survive. Well then, it seems I'll have to reveal a bit more of my abilities." Zhen's eyes tracked every movement of his teacher and Yuan Hou with razor focus. Not only with his eyes but with his abdomen, Zhong could feel every movement of Yuan Hou and Bai Xiao, as if he were touching the surrounding space with his guts.
Suddenly, to everyone's astonishment, Su Zhen moved with such immense speed that his silhouette blurred through space. In an instant, he covered the distance to where Bai Xiao and Yuan Hou fought. A single precise palm strike shattered the arm holding Yuan Hou's sword with the blade aimed at Bai Xiao. A second palm strike to the chest sent Yuan Hou flying like a sack of turnips, crashing to the ground as he coughed up blood.
The crowd gasped in unison.
"What was that?
The kid took down Master Yuan Hou with one strike?
How fast!
What kind of technique was that?
I've never seen anything like it!"
The disciples of the Yuan clan rushed to their teacher's aid, but he waved them away, struggling to stand up—only to fall to his knees again and again, coughing up blood.
"Make way! Clear the path!" shouted Commander Dong Li, who had arrived with a squad in response to urgent reports of unrest in the town.
The crowd slowly parted, allowing the heavily armed soldiers—stationed by the Duke to guard the mines and the town—to pass through.
"What's going on here? Yuan Hou, what madness are you stirring up?"
Several soldiers formed a protective line around Bai Xiao and Su Zhen, while others encircled the Yuan clan members.
The centurion's moustache was twisted on his displeased face.
The soldiers stood motionless in full battle gear, as if carved from stone. Their armor—layered lamellar and scale-plates, brigandines and helmets—gleamed under the nearing noon sun. Some wore helmets adorned with blood-red plumes. Their narrowed eyes were ready to react in an instant.
The air trembled with tension. Most warriors held polearms at the ready, their spears and halberds forming a steel palisade around the Yuan clan.
The front line crouched behind rectangular shields—massive, leather-covered and iron-reinforced. Behind them, a second row of soldiers gripped halberds, while three crossbowmen stood with bolts already spanned. In total, about twenty-five heavily armed and disciplined soldiers surrounded them. The Yuan clan stood no chance.
"Commander Dong... This Bai Xiao crippled my nephew..." Yuan Shu began to justify, as Yuan Hou—his lungs damaged by the devastating strike—couldn't speak, leaning on his disciples for support.
Sitian was still moaning lying on the dusty road. His companions dragged him to the rest of the clan members.
"If Doctor Bai injured someone, he surely had reason," Commander Dong stated without hesitation.
"In truth, these men tried to kill me and my disciple. That's all you need to know, Commander."
"We're... leaving..." Yuan Hou wheezed, waving a hand, blood bubbling in his throat.
"You're going nowhere," Bai Xiao countered. "Commander, this Yuan clan is a band of rebels—a dark cult worshiping demons. And this Yuan Hou is possessed. The entire town witnessed it. Kill them."
With those words, Bai Xiao flicked his sleeve, pivoted on his heel, and dragged Su Zhen by the arm behind him.
Commander Dong Li opened his mouth to object, then nodded sharply and signaled with a wave of his hand.
"Kill them."
Three crossbow bolts whistled through the air, dropping Yuan Shu and two others dead. The front-line soldiers advanced with spears and shields, while halberdiers behind them cut down legs of those who tried to flee. In less than a minute, every Yuan clansman who had come to Bai Xiao's home lay dead. The crowd roared in shock and excitement.
"What are you all staring at? Disperse!" Commander Dong Li barked to the crowd.
Soldiers finished off the twitching bodies with spear thrusts, while crossbowmen retrieved their bolts—each one worth silver.
"Squad! Follow me!" The Commander ordered, leading the troops down the street toward the Yuan clan's estate. Once the purge began, it had to be completed swiftly—root and branch.
***
"Why is Commander Dong so obedient to Teacher Bai?" Zhen wondered as Bai Xiao hauled him through the gates and barred them.
From the street came screams, the wet thuds of spears striking flesh, and the crowd's frenzied roar.
Bai Xiao frowned, about to say something to Zhen—then changed his mind and strode across the courtyard toward the garden. Auntie Sun stood frozen in the kitchen doorway, her eyes wide with terror, a teapot clutched in one hand and the other pressed to her mouth.
"Why are you standing there?" Bai Xiao snapped without turning, hands folded behind his back as he walked. "You still have weeds to pull."
***
The Yuan clan members had already been warned about what happened in town, and the gates were barred when Commander Dong Li's squad approached the estate.
On their way, Dong Li had sent a messenger ahead to the garrison to request reinforcements—along with a light battering ram. The estate was only protected by wooden gates, posing no serious obstacle: the ram would be sufficient.
The squad halted a hundred paces from the walls. Dong Li raised his hand, and the soldiers instantly repositioned—shield bearers moved forward to cover the crossbowmen.
"Yuan clan!" the Commander bellowed in a thunderous voice. "You are suspected of rebellion and demon worship! Open up and submit to inspection!"
Only silence answered him—just the faint rustle of wind through trees and the creak of bows being drawn behind the walls.
"Archers on the walls!" one soldier warned.
"Shields up!"
No sooner had Dong Li given the order than a volley erupted from the wooden fortifications. A dozen arrows thudded into shields.
"Crossbowmen! Return fire!"
Three steel-tipped bolts whistled in reply. One defender toppled from the wall, pierced through the throat.
Reinforcements arrived from the rear - twenty soldiers with a light battering ram harnessed to a horse.
"Ram team! Fooor—waaaaard!"
The shieldbearers moved to cover the crew pushing the siege ram.
A little while later, with a splintering crash, the log struck the gates. The wood groaned but held.
"Again!"
The second impact—and the doors burst inward, revealing the passage beyond.
"Advance! Show no mercy!" Commander Dong shouted in a confident bass.
By evening, the townsfolk watched black smoke curling up from the direction of the Yuan clan estate.