The task is to kill a person. Yan Shuang said.
“Kill who?” Suo Lun asked.
“This person is named Xue Sha, the leader of a poisonous snake sand bandit organisation in the desert.” Yan Shuang said, “Although this person has only risen recently, she has already robbed and killed more than ten merchant caravans heading to Xi Liang. Her methods are extremely cruel. The merchant caravans she robs never leave any survivors. One of our squads, fifteen people in total, was completely wiped out while escorting a Xi Liang merchant caravan. This has already aroused public outrage. The entire desert trade route is in a state of panic.”
Suo Lun asked, “Then where is this person?”
Yan Shuang said, “The Dark Oasis, three hundred and ninety miles from Tian Ye City, is her lair.”
Suo Lun said, “Then what is this person’s martial arts level?”
“High rank warrior, with several hundred subordinates.” Yan Shuang said, “You and Fen Mo, whoever brings back her head will win and can follow me into battle to become the candidate husband for my next test.”
Suo Lun nodded and said, “Are there any rules regarding the method of killing the target?”
“There are none. You can kill however you like. I only want Xue Sha’s head.” Yan Shuang said, “Moreover, Fen Mo has already set off.”
Suo Lun nodded and said, “I understand. I will prepare immediately.”
Yan Shuang said, “You can go and select the best bow and the best arrows. Remember, within five days, bring her head to see me.”
Suo Lun nodded, then saluted and withdrew from the central army hall.
…
“Yao Xing, can my arrows kill a high rank warrior?” Suo Lun asked.
“Impossible.” Yao Xing said.
“Why?” Suo Lun asked.
“Because the speed and reaction ability of a high rank warrior far exceed the arrows you shoot.” Yao Xing said, “So, when your arrow gets within a dozen metres of him, he will definitely notice it. Then whether he dodges or splits it with a weapon, he can do it.”
Suo Lun understood this principle very well.
After all, an arrow is shot from a bow. Its speed is far slower than a bullet.
Therefore, to shoot and kill a high rank warrior, it must be an arrow shot by a high rank archer. Because his bow is extremely strong, the arrow he shoots is incredibly fast, even faster than a high rank warrior’s reaction speed, so only then can he successfully shoot and kill.
Otherwise, if one could successfully shoot and kill just by aiming, then as an archer one would be almost invincible.
It must be known that Suo Lun can now be called one hundred shots one hundred hits against targets within four to five hundred metres.
This is a very serious issue and cannot be changed by sentiment alone. Therefore, with his current cultivation as a third rank warrior archer, wanting to shoot and kill a high rank warrior is absolutely and completely impossible.
What Suo Lun has been best at for a long time is using his strengths to attack the opponent’s weaknesses. He will absolutely not clash head on, nor will he take risks with no hope of success.
Just take the matter of him competing in swordsmanship with Gui Qin Shao for example. He agreed to use the Nine Swords of Misfortune for the competition and not to use dragon power.
But this time it is a real fight to the death. There is not much room for tricks, because the opponent will absolutely not discuss any rules with you.
“Then is it possible for a mid rank warrior archer to shoot and kill a high rank warrior?” Suo Lun asked. He wanted to know whether Fen Mo had any possibility of success.
Yao Xing said, “It is very difficult, almost impossible. But if he gets very close to the high rank warrior and uses consecutive arrows, then there is still a slight chance of success.”
Previously when he was competing in swordsmanship with Fen Mo, everyone only noticed that Suo Lun had also used the stunning nineteen consecutive arrows. And when Fen Mo shot blindly, Suo Lun performed a back shot. So the two of them looked completely evenly matched.
However Suo Lun had noticed that the speed of the arrows Fen Mo shot was much faster than his. Moreover, at that time the two of them used the same bow. In fact Fen Mo could completely use a strong bow of over a thousand jin and shoot pure black gold arrows.
If he went all out, the power and speed of the arrows Fen Mo shot would be several times greater than Suo Lun’s.
So the final conclusion was that the two of them only looked evenly matched on the surface. In reality Fen Mo’s strength far exceeded Suo Lun’s by several times.
But in this battle, Suo Lun can only win and cannot lose.
Then, what method should he use to kill this poisonous snake sand bandit leader Xue Sha and retreat with his whole body intact?
Suo Lun closed his eyes and fell into deep thought. All kinds of methods kept emerging in his mind.
After thinking for a full three hours, at dawn Suo Lun left the Silver Wolf Legion, but he did not head west. Instead he headed east and returned to Tian Ye City.
…
“Have both of them set off?” Yan Shuang asked.
“They have set off. After Fen Mo saw you, he immediately left the camp and headed into the western desert.” The leader of the archer camp, Yuan Jie, said, “As for Lan Ling, he only set off at dawn, and he did not go west but went to Tian Ye City.”
Yan Shuang said, “What equipment did the two of them take?”
Yuan Jie said, “Fen Mo took a one thousand three hundred jin bow and twenty black gold arrowheads. Lan Ling still took the four hundred and fifty jin strong bow and ten gold plated arrows.”
Yan Shuang said, “In your view, what are the odds of victory for the two?”
Yuan Jie said, “Fen Mo has a thirty percent chance of killing Xue Sha. As for Lan Ling, he has no chance of success at all. Although his talent is astonishing, his cultivation is too weak. His arrows pose no threat to Xue Sha at all and cannot even get within ten feet of her.”
Yan Shuang gave a low response and made no judgement.
Yuan Jie said, “Young master, Lan Ling’s trip this time is almost certain death. Although his cultivation is very low, his talent is extremely astonishing. If he receives the cultivation of our Silver Wolf Legion, in ten years we would have another dragon archer. Is it not a pity to send him to his death in vain like this?”
Yan Shuang made no response at all.
Yuan Jie said, “Do you want to send people to follow him and secretly protect him?”
Yan Shuang shook his head and said, “No need. If he dies, then he dies. It is his fate to have no such destiny.”
Yuan Jie was stunned, then nodded and said, “Yes.”
At once, his heart felt无比 regretful. A true one in a million divine archer talent, dying just like this, is really too much of a pity.
Moreover it looked like this Lan Ling was already certain to die. Although his talent was high, his cultivation was really too low, far too low.
…
After entering Tian Ye City, Suo Lun did only one thing, which was to secretly inquire about information on the poisonous snake sand bandit leader Xue Sha.
This was not difficult to inquire about, because Xue Sha had recently robbed and killed more than ten teams and her methods were extremely cruel. She had a great reputation in Tian Ye City. Suo Lun easily gathered dozens or even hundreds of pieces of information.
Then he summarised these messages, removed the exaggerated and false ones, and finally Suo Lun concluded the character traits of this person Xue Sha.
Xue Sha is a woman. Her specific appearance is still unknown. Everyone who has seen her is already dead.
This person’s character is twisted and cruelly perverted. Not only does she rob for wealth, she even takes pleasure in killing and abusing people.
The most crucial point is that this woman Xue Sha is very fond of handsome men and is extremely ruthless and merciless.
Because among the robbed merchant caravans, there were a few handsome men whose deaths looked different from the others. Their bodies had many bite marks and scratch marks, which were clearly traces left by crazy sexual activity.
Moreover, every handsome man who died had a pale face and dark eye sockets. It was obvious that they had been drained very badly while alive, especially with obvious swelling in their lower organs.
There were even a few especially handsome men who, after dying, were castrated alive and had their faces skinned off.
Clearly, their organs and faces had been taken by Xue Sha as collections.
Therefore, the most obvious characteristics of this Xue Sha are that she is fond of handsome men, cruel and merciless, and shamelessly lewd.
The step of knowing oneself and knowing the enemy had already been completed. Next was to win every battle. How exactly should he kill her?
Still use one’s own strengths to attack the opponent’s weaknesses.
Suo Lun finally decided to first use the handsome man tactic to approach, then kill with one strike.
With Suo Lun’s current martial arts cultivation, it was definitely not enough to kill her. Even using poison would not work, because the opponent might be even more proficient in poison.
The only way Suo Lun could kill her was by relying on Yao Xing and spiritual power!
“Yao Xing, what is the probability of success for us this time?” Suo Lun asked.
Yao Xing was silent for a moment and said, “Your probability of success is probably around thirty percent. But your probability of losing your life is as high as eighty percent.”
Suo Lun nodded. This group of sand bandits numbered several hundred. After killing the leader Xue Sha, wanting to retreat with his whole body intact would probably be extremely difficult.
However, Suo Lun had no choice but to advance. There was no retreat.
Do not forget, there was still a competitor, Fen Mo. He could only win and could not lose.
…
In the afternoon, Suo Lun came out from a house. At this time his face had changed again.
At this moment he had transformed into a handsome man with Xi Liang features.
He first restored half of Suo Lun’s face, which was already handsome enough. Then he added the beard unique to Xi Liang men, changed his skin colour, deepened his eye sockets, and finally put on brown crystal fake pupils. He looked exactly like a living Xi Liang handsome man.
The crystal fake pupils were very expensive. Wearing them was somewhat uncomfortable and his vision was not very clear, as if a filter had been added.
But there was no other way. In order to impersonate a Xi Liang handsome man, he had no choice but to do this.
Not only that, Suo Lun had even prepared a fake identity and family information.
At this time, he was playing the role of Helian Yu, a down and out noble son from the Xi Liang Kingdom. Because his family had declined, he took a desperate gamble, sold off family property and came to Tian Ye City to purchase large quantities of refined salt and black gold ore to sell in the Xi Liang Kingdom.
This was a very normal cross border trade. As long as he could smoothly cross the thousand mile desert and enter the Xi Liang Kingdom, it would at least bring triple the profit.
To act fully, Suo Lun really purchased goods worth five hundred gold coins and spent one hundred gold coins to hire a team of fifty mercenaries for escort.
This Sky Fire Mercenary Group was a third rate mercenary organisation. The leader Di Zheng was a middle aged man with a heroic bearing and a righteous aura.
The next day, Suo Lun, disguised as the Xi Liang noble handsome man, led over a hundred camels carrying heavy goods. Under the protection of dozens of mercenaries, he majestically left Tian Ye City, entered the desert, and headed towards the direction of the Xi Liang Kingdom.
…
More than a hundred miles out of Tian Ye City, one already entered the desert. It could be described as vast sky and wild land, with wind blowing through the grass revealing cattle and sheep.
In this desert there were still some weeds here and there, so cattle and sheep were also grazed. Further west for dozens of miles, the green became less and less while the yellow sand became more and more.
Two hundred miles out of Tian Ye City, it was already yellow sand everywhere, an endless desert.
This sea of sand stretched for a full thousand miles. It was the natural boundary line and natural barrier between the Nu Lang Kingdom and the Xi Liang Kingdom.
Whether Xi Liang or Nu Lang wanted to attack the other, they first had to let an army of over a hundred thousand cross this thousand mile desert. For an army, crossing a thousand mile desert was absolutely a nightmare.
Therefore, although there had been constant friction between the two countries over these years, they had basically lived in peace.
After entering the desert for two hundred miles, the mercenary leader Di Zheng escorting Suo Lun kept repeating one sentence: do not, by any means, encounter the poisonous snake sand bandits, and do not encounter Xue Sha.
It was unknown whether his prayers worked, but the journey remained peaceful all the way.
Entering the desert two hundred and fifty miles, still safe and sound. Entering the desert three hundred miles, still safe and sound.
Yet Suo Lun precisely wanted to encounter the poisonous snake sand bandits of Xue Sha. He wanted to fall into her hands, otherwise how could he kill her?
At this time, there were still two and a half days left until the time limit set by Yan Shuang.
A new day arrived again. Suo Lun’s camel caravan had already entered more than four hundred miles into the desert.
Moreover, more than half of the entire desert journey had already been completed. If it continued peacefully like this, they would soon enter the Xi Liang Kingdom.
At that time, Suo Lun’s identity would be exposed. He might not even be able to enter the border pass of the Xi Liang Kingdom and would be caught immediately on charges of espionage.
At noon, the caravan formed a circle, rested briefly, ate and drank river water, and set off again after a few hours.
The mercenary leader Di Zheng sat beside Suo Lun and said, “Young master Helian, with your delicate skin and tender flesh, why did you come out to run a merchant caravan? It is so dangerous?”
“To earn money to buy an official position and restore the glory of our ancestors.” Suo Lun said helplessly.
Di Zheng said, “But this desert is so dangerous. What if we encounter sand bandits? Especially Xue Sha, who likes handsome men like you the most and whose methods are extremely cruel. If you fall into her hands, it would be like entering the eighteenth layer of hell.”
Suo Lun said, “Wealth and honour are sought in danger. We have already avoided Xue Sha’s territory from afar. Besides, do I not still have the protection of Lord Di Zheng?”
Di Zheng sighed. His heroic and righteous face looked somewhat desolate as he said, “Sigh, everyone has it hard. A down and out noble son like you has it hard. People like me also have it hard. We are all just trying to earn a living!”
Then he drew out his giant sword, placed it across Suo Lun’s neck and said, “Let me introduce myself. I am the second in command of the poisonous snake sand bandits, Xue Liao.”
Suo Lun was immediately stunned. He looked at him in complete disbelief and said in a trembling voice, “Leader Di, please… please do not joke like this. You are clearly the leader of the Sky Fire Mercenary Group.”
“That is only my disguised identity. The real me is the second in command of the poisonous snake sand bandits.” Zhan Lang said, “Before this I was always worried that you were bait released to ambush and kill my poisonous snake sand bandits, so I did not make a move during these few hundred miles. Now that there is not a single person within a hundred miles around, I finally believe that you are just a foolish and naive down and out noble.”
Immediately after, Di Zheng, or rather the second in command Xue Liao, suddenly blew a whistle.
From afar, over a hundred figures came galloping over. At the front was a woman with a hot figure.
She was Suo Lun’s target for the handsome man tactic this time, the leader of the poisonous snake sand bandits, Xue Sha!