Chapter 59: There Is a Road to Heaven, But You Won’t Take It

Li Baobao stopped her steps, holding her hands behind her back. Her snow-white cloak fluttered in the mountain breeze, accentuating her ethereal aura. But her eyes stared unkindly at Lei Qing as she snorted disdainfully, “Oh, does Boss Lei have a different opinion?”

“Jiang Yu is my subordinate and my brother.” Lei Qing also held his hands behind his back and said calmly, “You run onto my turf and want to take him away without a second word. Did you ask for my opinion?”

“You, named Lei, This Miss is not arguing with you, which is already giving you huge face.” Li Baobao scolded with some cold anger, “You, a mere bandit leader, want to reason with This Miss? You really take an inch and want a mile.”

“Miss Li, face is given by others.” Lei Qing’s expression gradually turned cold as he gripped the Ice Flame with one hand. “I, Lei, believe I have given the Li Clan enough face from start to finish. This matter started with a problem within the Li Clan, yet you blame my brother for it. Don’t you feel you are in the wrong? I said, Jiang Yu is my brother. You want to take him away, fine. But first, you have to ask if I, Lei Qing, agree. Ask my sword if it agrees! Also, you have to ask our hundred-plus brothers if they agree!” When he spoke the last few words, he circulated his Fighting Qi and vibrated those words out. His aura was so thick and powerful that it made people’s ears ache slightly.

Li Baobao’s face gradually turned pale, and her coldness intensified. “Lei Qing, do you mean you want to oppose me, Li Baobao, and oppose our Li Chamber of Commerce? I’ll give you one more chance. Take back your words. Otherwise…”

Lei Qing answered her with a “clang” as the Treasure Sword Ice Flame was unsheathed, pointing remotely at Li Baobao. His face was as cold as ice. “No one can take away my innocent brother in an overbearing manner. Not you, Li Baobao, not the Li Chamber of Commerce. Even if the King of Heaven comes, it won’t work. Brothers, the Li Chamber of Commerce does business without rules. They had internal problems and took their anger out on others, wanting to take away our wronged brother. I, Lei Qing, am asking you now, do you agree?” The last words were roared out, startling the nearby mountain birds into flight.

“We do not agree!” The bandits, after experiencing a series of events, had already started to lean towards Lei Qing. They were convinced by his strength, charisma, and protective nature. One by one, they were incited by Lei Qing, their blood boiling, and they roared along, “We do not agree, we do not agree.”

Over a hundred people shouted the same words in unison, shaking the sky. Those voices seemed to converge into a torrent, pressing aggressively towards the Li Clan members surrounded in Tiger Leaping Gorge.

The people were fine, just suppressed by the momentum, their faces turning slightly pale. However, the warhorses were affected by that heavy momentum and started to neigh in panic. The cavalrymen hurriedly tried to calm their beloved horses.

“Good, good, good!” Li Baobao’s face was also a bit pale, but that was from anger. The Li Chamber of Commerce was one of the eighteen largest powers in the Free Alliance. Usually, even those powerful forces had to curry favor with the Li Chamber of Commerce. She didn’t expect a small group of bandits to dare to challenge her and the Li Clan. Immediately, her aura became sharp, and she said coldly, “Lei, there is a road to heaven but you won’t take it; there is no door to hell but you insist on breaking in. Li Clan’s Personal Guard.”

“We are here.” Fifty Iron-Armored Cavalrymen in iron armor responded with a boom. They straightened their bodies, and their killing intent rose instantly.

“Trample this bandit group for This Miss, cut off Lei’s head, and hang it on the city gate of Qingshi Town.” Li Baobao drew her gleaming Treasure Sword, pointed it straight at Lei Qing, and shouted dominantly.

“Yes!” The Iron-Armored Cavalry roared in unison, making people’s ears go numb.

The Li Clan’s Imperial Guard indeed had the capital to be proud. The weakest among them was a Black Iron-rank warrior. Moreover, everyone wore full-body iron armor with extremely strong defense, making ordinary arrows, swords, and spears hard to penetrate. Any one of them could easily slaughter seven or eight bandits.

Unfortunately, war is something that has always been unpredictable and full of deceit. Having strong strength is certainly important. But there are various factors influencing the direction of war and the victory or defeat of both sides.

For example, terrain, morale, and the commanders of both sides. Lei Qing grew up in the education of the Lei Family. Although the Lei Family was not as good as its peak period, it never relaxed the education of its children. The family was established by martial arts, and most of the men in the family had to take the path of joining the army. It was natural for them to accept various military trainings and commander trainings. The Lei Family had been engaged in the military industry for thousands of years, so the accumulation of military knowledge was naturally very rich. There were also many methods on how to gather the hearts of the army, which were compiled into books and taught to future generations.

Otherwise? How could Lei Qing win the hearts of these bandits in such a short time? Talent is important, but post-natal training and influence are also extremely critical.

Seeing the other side dare to attack first, Lei Qing almost coughed up blood. This Li Family young miss named Li Baobao, hasn’t she learned how to fight? Bringing a group of heavy cavalry without scouts to pick a fight, he already found it weird. He didn’t expect that under the situation where his side occupied so many advantages, she still dared to threaten to cut off his head and hang it up? Seems like you are the one refusing to take the road to heaven?

Lei Qing also didn’t expect that his guess was correct. The Li Clan was different from the Lei Family. The former started with business and governed the state with business. The direction of teaching and cultivating family children naturally focused more on the word “business”.

Especially for a direct descendant like Li Baobao, there were many things to learn since childhood, especially business. As for how to lead troops to fight, firstly, she had no interest, and secondly, she had no time. Normally, there would be no need for Li Baobao to lead an army on an expedition.

It was also lucky for this group of Iron-Armored Cavalry. If they had come two days later, after Lei Qing made more arrangements, he could have used the terrain and the enemy commander’s low ability to wipe out the fifty Iron-Armored Cavalry with a small price.

But even so, Lei Qing’s side now had high morale, plus a strong terrain advantage. It was not difficult to defeat this Li Clan’s Imperial Guard.

“Release arrows.”

Seeing that things had come to this, Lei Qing, who was in a dilemma, flashed a killing intent in his eyes. He waved his Treasure Sword Ice Flame and shouted in a deep voice.

Following the order, dozens of sharp arrows and crossbow bolts, mixed with more than ten flying axes and javelins, rained down from high above like locusts towards the group of armored soldiers. The air was filled with sharp whistling sounds.

The Li Clan’s Imperial Guard indeed lived up to their reputation. Each one was powerful, brandishing their sabers, creating curtains of blade light that blocked many arrows and javelins. Occasionally, some slipped through, but the iron armor was heavy. Some arrows with insufficient strength landed on the armor, sparking a streak of fire before glancing off.

But not all arrows missed. The sharp arrows shot from the twelve Thousand-Mechanism Crossbows were fast and ruthless, extremely hard to block. After hitting the iron armor, they went “thud” and pierced several inches into the body.

The Thousand-Mechanism Crossbow was no ordinary item; its power was great, and its penetration amazing. Last time, in the hands of Zuo Qianqian, it could even pierce the Protective Gang Qi of the Saint of Thieves. Although the Saint of Thieves at that time was already at the end of his rope, and his Gang Qi defense was not at its peak.

But once a Holy Rank powerhouse surged Gang Qi on their skin, that defense would be several times stronger than this kind of iron armor. One could see how powerful the Thousand-Mechanism Crossbow was.

Besides the Thousand-Mechanism Crossbow, two javelins thrown by Black Iron-rank experts at tricky angles also tore through the iron armor defense with their impressive strength and momentum, heavily injuring the opponent.

In just the first round of attack, seven or eight Li Clan Iron-Armored Soldiers fell to the ground howling and groaning in pain. Only forty or so remained standing on the battlefield.

But it wasn’t over. Lei Qing took a few javelins and said with a cold, expressionless face, “Release rolling logs and stones, bowmen continue shooting.”

“Thief, don’t be rampant.” Seeing their companions suffering heavy casualties, several Bronze-rank experts exploded with Fighting Qi one after another. Wearing iron armor weighing dozens of pounds, they moved as fast as monkeys, their toes tapping on various rocks as they climbed towards Lei Qing to kill him.

“Hmph, seeking your own death.” Lei Qing roared, “Foolish Li Baobao, make sure to remember, it was you who killed your own brothers.”

…