The officer seemed still far from appeased and was about to strike again, only to be stopped by his companion.
"Wang Er, this isn't the right time. Don't be rash."
Wang Er let out a cold snarl at the whole family, glanced around at the completely exposed surroundings, frowned, spat on the ground, and slid his blade back into its sheath.
"Move, all of you, hurry up on the march! If you slow down, I'll give every last one of you a cut!"
The taller Gu Bo'an and Gu Yuan'an supported Gu Shen'an, staring at the officer with eyes full of seething hatred.
"What are you looking at? Hurry up and keep up!"
The group set off on the road once more.
The eldest grandson Gu Bo'an carried his fainted grandmother on his back as he walked forward. The second brother Gu Yuan'an and third sister Gu Xi'an supported their mother, who could barely stand on her own feet. Gu Shen'an, his hand still bleeding, walked at the back on his own, with the youngest little brother Gu Ming'an right beside him.
This whole family of the old, the weak, and the injured were all bound with iron chains, completely helpless in front of the several officers.
Another hour passed, and every one of them was already drained of all strength.
The one carrying the grandmother was switched from Gu Bo'an to Gu Yuan'an.
Even taking turns to carry the elderly woman, the two boys, only thirteen or fourteen years old, were already completely exhausted after more than an hour. Their faces were deathly pale, their bodies trembling with every step, beads of sweat rolling down their cheeks, their faces flushed bright red as they panted nonstop for air.
They walked past the plains and arrived at a mountain path, with hills rising on both sides and the road growing narrow and winding. The four officers suddenly halted, glanced around at their surroundings, exchanged a look and nodded at each other. The leading officer patted a nearby rock and said, "Rest here for now!"
Every member of the Gu family relaxed their muscles all at once. The second brother Gu Yuan'an's legs went so weak that he nearly dropped the grandmother he was carrying.
The Gu family collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath.
What was different was that the four officers, who were clearly tired as well, did not stop to rest at all. Instead, they stood around keeping watch over something, not even stopping to take a sip of water.
Gu Shen'an, clutching his blood-soaked hand, did not sit down either. He leaned against a nearby boulder, staring intently at the four officers.
"Fourth brother, sit down and get some rest," Gu Yuan'an said with a worried tone.
"I'm not tired," Gu Shen'an replied, his gaze still fixed firmly on the officers.
Meanwhile, the several officers escorting the exiles huddled together, whispering to each other. The leader Wang Er suddenly blew a sharp whistle.
The sound of the whistle echoed through the mountains, loud and harsh.
The next instant, more than ten people suddenly sprang out from behind the boulders, all brandishing knives as they shouted at the officers, "Leave your lives here!"
"No good! They're bandits from the hills! The four of us can't fight them off. Hurry back and report to the superior!" The officers looked as if they were terrified, stepping backward as they spoke.
But if one looked closely, there was not a trace of fear in their eyes.
"Retreat!" Wang Er shouted.
Before he left, Wang Er looked at the Gu family as if they were already corpses, and said, "You're out of luck, running into these heinous bandits. Don't blame us when you reach the netherworld. Blame the Marquis of Zhenxi for colluding with the enemy and betraying the realm!"
With that, Wang Er quickly caught up with his companions, leaving the exiled Gu family all alone to face the outlaws.
The Marchioness of Zhenxi was so frightened that she collapsed onto the ground. "The officers are gone. What are we going to do? They—they're bandits! Murderers who kill without batting an eye!"
Gu Shen'an clenched his hands tight, a dark glint flashing in his eyes, and said, "Those officers and the bandits are in cahoots!"
"What!"
The head bandit looked over at Gu Shen'an and said with a sneering smile, "A smart one, aren't you? Too bad, all of you have to die right here today. Not a single one of you gets to leave alive!"
Even though his face had gone deathly pale with fear, the eldest brother Gu Bo'an still stepped to the very front, trying to shield his family and resist.
"Why? We have never wronged you. Why do you want to kill us?"
The bandit chief did not seem afraid that they would spread the word, and only laughed as he said, "I might as well tell you. Someone paid for your lives, to wipe the entire Gu family off the face of the earth!"
With that, the bandit chief raised his sharp blade. "Today is the day you die! I'm feeling generous, so I'll make sure the whole family dies together on the very same day!"
The knife came slicing down, and Gu Bo'an blocked it with his iron chains, letting out a harsh scraping clang of metal against metal.
"Run! Run for your lives!"
Hearing Gu Bo'an's shout, Gu Yuan'an quickly hoisted his grandmother onto his back and ran for the hills. Gu Xi'an supported their mother and followed right behind them, while Gu Shen'an stayed to tangle with the bandits alongside his eldest brother.
The bandits had not expected the two young men to know martial arts, and one of them let out a surprised exclamation. "You've got some skills and strength, what a pity you two are fated to die today!"
The Gu family had been rushing along the road for the better part of the whole day without a single bite to eat, so they had long since run out of energy. They did not get very far before the bandits caught up to them.
Gu Bo'an and Gu Shen'an were only teenage boys after all, how could they possibly fight off the fully armed bandit chief? After just two moves, they nearly had their heads lopped off if they had not dodged in time.
More than a dozen bandits cornered the whole Gu family against a spot on the path, their faces ferocious as they raised their knives high.
"Today we're sending all of you to the afterlife!"
"Stop right there!"
A roar suddenly reached their ears, followed by the thunder of galloping hooves.
Seven or eight guards dressed in rich brocade robes rode up, each of them tall, strong, and armed with a sheathed sword at their waist.
The bandit chief's eyes went wide, he could barely believe what he was seeing.
When he snapped back to his senses, he gritted his teeth hard, raised his knife to point at the newcomers, and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Brothers, I advise you not to meddle in other people's business!"
The leading guard on horseback drew his sword from its sheath, and said to the bandit chief, "My master ordered us to save their lives. They are leaving here alive today."
The bandit chief gritted his teeth, counted the number of the newcomers—eight of them, while they had eleven strong men on their side! They might not lose this fight.
So the bandit chief puffed out his chest, raised his knife and charged at the man on horseback. "Brothers, kill them!"
Unfortunately, before the bandit chief's knife could even graze the man on horseback, his chest was pierced through. His eyes stayed wide open as he fell straight to the ground.
He was dead, completely and utterly.
The rest of his men did not last more than a few moves before all of them were killed with a single strike by the guards.
Out of the eleven bandits, only three were left alive.
The three men threw down their weapons, knelt on the ground and kowtowed to beg for mercy. "Heroes, great lords, spare our lives! We just joined the bandits recently, we have never done anything wicked, never killed anyone! Spare us! Spare our lives!"
The leading guard dismounted, wiped the blood off his blade, and ordered his men to tie up the three captives. He did not say a single extra word.
He did not even speak a word to the Gu family, only glanced at them once before standing tall and straight at the crossroads, as if waiting for someone to arrive.
Every member of the Gu family had blood splattered on their clothes and faces—blood that had sprayed out from the bandits' wounds. When the warm blood splattered onto her, Gu Xi'an vomited all the contents of her stomach out, and now she was huddled beside her mother, trembling all over.
Gu Yuan'an's face was also as pale as a sheet from fright, and he asked uneasily, "Are they here to kill us or save us? What if another group of people shows up to kill us?"
No one could answer his question, for no one had the answer.
Gu Shen'an stood in front of his grandmother and mother, staring intently at the path ahead.
In the blink of an eye, a luxuriously decorated carriage appeared at the far end of the path.
