25: Chapter 25 The Princess Disappears

Chiliarch Zhou Tong's eerie words echoed through the cave, refusing to fade.

As his voice trailed off, his figure had already vanished into the light at the cave entrance.

Inside Juyi Hall, there was a deathly silence.

Chiliarch Zhou Tong's final words were like a basin of ice water poured over the heads of every bandit, jolting them instantly awake from their dreams of riches.

"Ch-Chief..."

Iron-Armed Monkey's fierce face was pale as a sheet. He turned around, his lips trembling, and looked at Chen Fan, who was still leaning back on the tiger-skin chair.

"Is... is what he said true? The imperial army?"

"We're done for! We're all finished!"

"I told you we should have agreed to him! Now look, we've offended them, and the imperial army is coming!"

"Let's run! Let's split the gold and silver quickly and save ourselves!"

Panic spread through the group of bandits like a plague. A moment ago they were dreaming of being conferred titles and becoming ministers, but in the blink of an eye, they had been plunged into a bottomless abyss.

Chen Fan ignored their wailing.

He simply picked up the half-eaten apple from the floor, wiped it casually with his sleeve, and took another bite.

"Crunch."

The crisp sound caused everyone's wailing to pause for a moment.

"What are you all making such a racket for?"

Chen Fan tossed the apple core aside and stood up. His burly physique exerted immense pressure on everyone present.

"Has the sky fallen?"

He scanned their panicked faces, his rough voice tinged with impatience.

"You believe everything the Yellow Robe Army says? Just because he says the imperial army is coming, it must be true?"

"Even if they do come, so what? When soldiers come, block them; when water comes, earth covers it."

Chen Fan shouldered his ghost-head broadsword and walked toward the back hall, leaving everyone with a nonchalant back.

"Benefits delivered to one's doorstep are never easy to take. The Yellow Robe Army wants us to draw the imperial army's fire in Xiushan Province and act as their scapegoats. Whoever wants to do that kind of 'good deed' can go ahead."

"Put your hearts back in your stomachs; eat, drink, and be merry."

"If the sky falls, I'll hold it up."

As his voice faded, his figure disappeared into the depths of the corridor.

Inside Juyi Hall, the bandits looked at each other. The Chief's words seemed to make some sense, but the fear of the imperial army still lingered in their hearts.

Only Smiling Tiger, with his small eyes narrowed, looked thoughtfully at the dark entrance of the corridor.

The Chief didn't seem afraid at all.

...

The stone door shut out the noise from outside.

Chen Fan returned to his own stone chamber and tossed the ghost-head broadsword into the corner.

The imperial army? It was indeed a bit troublesome.

However, it was only troublesome, nothing more.

If he were really surrounded and wiped out by the army here, he wouldn't have much to lose.

And this bunch of bandits on Black Wind Mountain deserved to die; none of them were innocent. Furthermore, he wondered what kind of official soldier he could occupy through Possession if he were killed as an eighth-grade Martial Artist.

If he could step right into the position of a commanding general through Possession, that would be interesting.

As for rebellion. When it rises, the people suffer. When it falls, the people suffer.

Although he was just a passerby, deep down, he was still a Soul that had received nine years of compulsory education. He had seen with his own eyes the struggles of the common people at the bottom of this era, the misery of those displaced, selling their sons and daughters.

Although the current Emperor of the Great Shang was incompetent, the imperial order still stood.

Once the flames of war spread across all of Xiushan Province, who knew how many would die and how many refugees would be created.

He did not want to be the culprit who started this bloody storm.

It was too much trouble. And too dirty.

He only wanted to experience life peacefully. "Because he does not contend, no one in the world can contend with him."

"Chief, you're back."

Yun Niang's timid voice pulled him back from his thoughts.

Chen Fan looked up and saw three women, each with a different charm, sitting around the table, seemingly mending some clothing.

He grinned, imitating Black Wind Demon's rough manner, and opened his arms.

"Come here, all of you."

...

In the days that followed, Black Wind Mountain returned to its former tranquility.

The slight ripples brought by the Yellow Robe Army were quickly washed away by the happy days of eating meat in large mouthfuls and drinking wine from large bowls.

Iron-Armed Monkey led his men to train every day until they were howling, and occasionally they would go down the mountain to "do business" with a few wealthy but uncharitable households. Their lives were a hundred times better than before.

Smiling Tiger, meanwhile, applied the principle of "robbing the rich to help the poor" with masterful skill.

The looted money and grain were divided into three parts. One part went to the public treasury, one part was distributed to the brothers, and the remaining part was ostentatiously given to the refugees at the foot of the mountain.

The reputation of Black Wind Mountain in Qinghe County became completely polarized.

The local gentry and evil households turned pale at the mention of them, while the impoverished commoners regarded them as saviors.

Chen Fan was happy to see all of this.

He continued to live his corrupt life as a mountain king, practicing his blade, sleeping, and accompanying his three wives to study the true meaning of life.

One day, the grain on the mountain was running low again.

That day, Chen Fan felt a bit bored staying on the mountain, so he thought about going down to take a look.

Thus, he took Smiling Tiger and a dozen elite brothers, changed into casual clothes, and went down the mountain to scout, taking the opportunity to gather information in the county town.

Outside Qinghe County, in a tea stall by the official road.

Chen Fan and his group took a large table, ordered a pot of coarse tea and a few plates of snacks, and pretended to be traveling merchants.

The surrounding tea drinkers, in twos and threes, coming from the south and going to the north, made it a good place to gather information.

"Have you heard? A huge event has occurred in Xiushan Province recently!" A man with a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks at the next table lowered his voice and said mysteriously to his companion.

"What else could it be? Isn't it just the Yellow Robe Army making trouble over in Jing Province?"

"That's nothing!" The man with the sharp mouth and monkey cheeks looked disdainful. "The matter I'm talking about is even bigger than a rebellion!"

He looked around and leaned in closer.

"The Prince of Xiushan's Princess Consort has gone missing!"

"What?!"

His companion was shocked, and his tea spilled out.

The Prince of Xiushan was the uncle of the current Emperor, and the entire Xiushan Province was his fief. His Princess Consort was the most noble woman in all of Xiushan Province!

"It's absolutely true! Now all the official roads in Xiushan Province are sealed, and there are soldiers checking everywhere! It is said that the Prince of Xiushan is furious and has issued a death order to turn Xiushan Province upside down to find the Princess Consort!"

Chen Fan held his tea bowl and sipped his tea slowly.

The Princess Consort went missing? Gossip about the imperial family was certainly fresh.

Smiling Tiger listened with great interest, constantly winking at Chen Fan, as if to say: Look, how chaotic the world is.

"How could the Princess Consort just go missing? Was she kidnapped?"

"Who knows!" The man with the sharp mouth and monkey cheeks smacked his lips and threw out even more explosive news.

"I heard some inside information... this Princess Consort, her background is not simple!"

"It is said that she is not a young lady from a prestigious family at all."

"She was originally from a merchant family fleeing from another province. On the way, they encountered bandits, and the Prince of Xiushan played the hero to save the beauty. That's how they fell in love at first sight and she was married into the Prince's mansion!"

There was a collective gasp in the tea stall. This was a story that only existed in storybooks.

Chen Fan's hand holding the tea bowl stopped abruptly in mid-air.

A merchant family member fleeing?

An image surged up from the depths of his mind, uncontrollable.

Under the firelight of Juyi Hall, that woman in brocade, tied up in knots, clothes in disarray, yet still holding her head high, her face full of stubbornness and rage.

She had also claimed to be from a merchant family fleeing.

Chen Fan's fingertips trembled slightly. It couldn't be... such a coincidence, could it?

Just then, the man with the sharp mouth and monkey cheeks, seemingly showing off his well-informed sources, added another sentence.

"Otherwise, why do you think the imperial court would send a large army to suppress bandits? Is a group of bandits worth the imperial army coming in person?"

"Actually, the imperial army is coming for the Yellow Robe Army. It is said that the Prince of Xiushan has already found out that it was the Yellow Robe Army who made the move and kidnapped the Princess Consort!"