A few hundred meters before them, the line of carriages widened towards the cracks of their limited vision.
The elderly shopkeeper and the young girl leaned against the floor of their carriages with a curious and slightly desperate expression on their countenance, their hearts dripping with a not so insignificant malevolence and greed.
As the wooden boxes that seemed to overlap with the figures of saviors and saints drew closer with each second, An Fei furtively attempted to swallow a dry gulp of saliva.
The young girl rubbed her fingertips against the elegant sheath of the taijijian resting besides her, a pair of scarlet irises narrowed towards the widening horizon of man-made objects.
Oh… how exquisite and tempting these carriages were…
Large rectangular boxes lined up as though they were a squadron of elite cavalry charging into an enemy army’s fortifications, with eight horses tugging at the front of each carriage.
The carriages were constructed from sturdy, black wood, with long strips of metal hammered onto the foundational corners that maintained its structure.
On the sides of the carriage walls, several roofs of iron had been hammered in; the windows were constructed from a fine mesh of steel. When the group of carriages had drawn close enough for the dehydrated young girl to remove the distortion from her vision, her throat pulsed with awe and a tinge of passive fear.
She wasn’t able to clearly discern the terrifying detail from the originally long distance that once stood between them, but An Fei could distinctly spot several metal plates resting against the heads of the horses.
Similarly, a thick layer of leathered armor was draped around the body of each horse, metal loops securing its position and reinforcing the protection provided towards the animal.
The carriage drivers were dressed in a fearsome armor of black metallic pauldrons and chestplate. Holstered against the wall sheltered by an extended roof was a full set of cavalry gear, from a tianmadao and a sabre to even a long-range pike with a spearhead laced with dozens of razor-sharp teeth.
The “black wood” that was exposed on the surface of the carriages was merely a fluke, for the young girl found herself dazedly staring into a massive wall of black steel, tempered with the disparate flames of hell and quenched with the rivers of human blood.
The young girl and elderly man allowed their mouths to gape open in shock, a single string of words escaping from their lips as the squadron of carriages ripped apart the horizon to encompass their entire vision.
“Forget it, it’s probably better to get on both knees and beg…”
Just as Wang Qinian and An Fei could discern several important details regarding their passerby on the streets, the riders of the carriages could do the same.
The squadron of steel carriages gradually came to a stop under the drivers’ silent gestures towards the horses, the mighty earth churning from the tension aggregating in the atmosphere.
“Hold!”
The driver at the front of the squadron of eighteen carriages shouted in an imposing and powerful voice, his right hand shooting forwards before his chest. Drawing the sabre and attaching it to a hook embedded in the steel belt of his armor, the man swung down from his perch to land onto the ground.
“State your name and purpose; why are you here?”
The words were devoid of the cruelty and arrogance that the young girl had earnestly expected. Instead, they were calm, but An Fei’s body involuntarily shivered at the thought that she had once thought to rob from them just moments before.
“Ai-yah… life is indeed becoming difficult for old people these days, ah…”
Wang Qinian harrumphed as he dragged his old body out of his significantly decrepit carriage of plain wood.
Supporting his back with a shivering right arm, the elderly shopkeeper stood at a distance of five meters from the disembarked driver clad in armor, an eyebrow raised in confusion.
“Young man, why are you being so imposing and cold on such a nice day emboldened by the heavens?” the old man released a tender sigh of disapproval.
“To hold a blade against an elderly figure devoid of a weapon; how is this either morally or intellectually sound?”
The armored driver’s brows creased with confusion, then frustration and indignation at the benevolent and smooth words biting from the elderly shopkeeper’s lips.
His heart pulsing with an unknown heat as he quickly realized that the old man was not intending to be praiseworthy, the man’s hands gripped onto the handle of the cold sabre sheathed at his waist.
He could grip the handle for dear life if he so desired, but could not draw the blade; for it was indeed morally repugnant and unintellectual to draw a blade onto a withered old man devoid of a weapon.
“I am Guardian Wang, and I am heading towards Tianfeng City with my granddaughter for a significant matter.”
Wang Qinian rattled his lips before the carriage driver could regain his momentum.
The elderly shopkeeper suppressed a groan as he straightened his back, sweeping both sleeves to support his spine as he continued to speak.
“I come with neither weapons nor malicious will towards the Esteemed Gentleman residing in the back carriage, though I must indeed raise a presumptuous request.”
“…request?”
The driver was not the one to reply; instead, it was a youthful male voice that echoed from the carefully concealed carriage towards the right half of the squadron of carriages.
At the mention of the voice, all of the armored men present instantly snapped to attention, their foreheads sprouting a few beads of sweat as they palmed the handles of their weapons.
An Fei’s pupils constricted as she silently observed the scene from within her carriage. The young girl took in a deep breath, her left hand unknowingly tightening onto the sheath of the taijijian.
“Us grandfather and granddaughter have unexpectedly run out of supplies due to someone’s sabotage,” Wang Qinian uttered with a slightly exasperated yet controlled voice.
“We implore for a few days’ worth of food and water to ration for the remainder of our journey, not too much.”
The words seemed to be reasonable; compared to the bare-thin and frail carriages endorsed by An Fei and Wang Qinian that appeared to be at the final vestiges, the eighteen carriages of steel standing before them were of exceptionable quality and size.
Similarly, just from how well-fed the horses appeared to be, the elderly shopkeeper had guessed that the group of carriages here were carrying a surplus quantity of resources; surely, they could spare some?
In a brief respite of silence, the tension in the atmosphere was abruptly chased away and replaced with a ruthless cold.
The truth of the matter was that indeed, the squadron of carriages were literally sitting on a mountain of supplies. They could splurge every meal and glutton themselves to their content each day, and still not be able to consume the majority of their supplies before their journey concluded.
…but to share with a beggar and his granddaughter whom they had never met – just where was a world that nice?
Shua!
The driver standing before Wang Qinian unsheathed his sword with a cold huff. As the cold blade gleamed underneath the midday sun, the man regained his imposing and malicious aura, and his countenance swiftly became gloomy and glacial.
“Beggar, scram! The Young Master’s supplies, how could a filthy beggar like you touch?”
The elderly shopkeeper simply yawned at the lethal edge of the sabre aimed directly towards the base of his throat.
Wang Qinian directed a furtive glance towards the wooden carriage next to his as well as its occupant, parting his lips to lecture with a stern voice.
“Youngster, you must learn to be gentle and compassionate. To sow good karma will engender rapid benefits to not only your future, but also that of your mast – woah!”
A steel arc whistled as it swung towards his head, prompting the elderly man to halt his words. Ducking below the deadly curve of the sabre whose edge was concealed by the bored and salacious midday sun, Wang Qinian dodged backwards to clear himself of danger.
The driver was once again placed underneath a scrutinous glare, but the blade now stood to guard its owner’s rampage. Whenever Wang Qinian drew a step backwards, the armored man unleashed a stomp forwards, the grasp on the sabre tightening with every step.
“Youngster, ah…”
The elderly shopkeeper continued to give a few centimeters of land with each movement, his expression stern but bereft of fear. Wang Qinian palmed his fist as he slowly retreated towards the edge of his standstill carriage, but suddenly found himself unable to retreat any further.
As the metallic arc of the sabre enacted upon its faithful duty as the battlefield chopper, a similar man had silently leapt off from his perch to encroach onto the other occupied, deposed wooden carriage.
The two men lunged forward with their sabre paving their path to victory, the steel edges ablaze with the midday sun’s blessing.
BANG!
“You dare!?”
