Simply Trading

Qin Feng growled under his breath as soon as he saw the fur-garbed men on the ice. They were crossing the river! And there were easily twenty to thirty of them, as far as he could see! This was clearly an invasion, or at least, a scouting mission for the same!

But he stopped himself before he started back towards the trail at his back. If he was to report this back to the Adjutant's men, was he likely to be believed? Unless he could prove that they were here, there certainly no other witnesses to back him up.

And since the snow was already thick on the ground, it meant that any tracks that they would leave was less likely to be covered by the time the Marquis' Armies came out looking for them. It would be worse if it snowed again, in the meantime. Wouldn't that mean that he would have no evidence to support his report then?

So, how was he supposed to convince those idiots who were running the Trials? And convince them that he wasn't simply making things up in order to mask his own inadequate skills?

What could he do, make his tale more believable?

It took him a while, but he decided to follow this group in the end. If they stopped for the night, he could at least bring word of the site to the soldiers at the camp. They would send someone out to confirm his story, at least.

Even if they didn't, this lot looked as though they would step up the patrols around their own camp. And that would make things harder for the Barbarians too.

Of course, if he could get away with killing one of them, and getting away with his body ...

Qin Feng sighed to himself, and started after the Barbarians at once. He would have to see what he could do. After all, what other choice did he have, faced with these raiders at such a time?

*

He had been tracking the Barbarian Scouts, and trying to come up with ways to ambush them. Or wait for them to make camp and fall asleep, so that he could steal away part of their equipment. There would be no way for the Third Army to refute his claim, if he went back with gear that was clearly of Barbarian origins, he thought.

Coming across the six headless corpses, still clad in their army uniforms, on the other hand, made him reconsider.

If they had slaughtered a patrol already ...

He almost cursed out loud then. This lot was clearly not too worried about alerting the soldiers. Not if they had already made their presence known. The camp was certainly not going miss the fact that one of their patrols were missing!

Did they wish to have the soldiers hunting for them straightaway?

Or were they here to kick off the war? Earlier than what the Marquis had been planning for?

There was a man with grey-white hair, clad in a long black robe that was clearly not of barbarian origin, standing underneath the tree. And standing over the bodies. His dress made him stand out against the pure white snow underfoot. Well, apart from the spots that were stained red with the blood of the soldiers.

The ones who had just returned shouted something as they walked up to the white-haired fellow.

"Oh? I think your performance is more pitiful than you believe. Or did you purposely bring the enemy spy back here with you?"

Qin Feng bit off a curse as soon as he heard that, and spun around to dive through the air! He had been spotted! And in less than a breath! Who was this old man?

A sudden whistling sound was enough to make him curl up into a ball, and drop straight down to the snow underneath, abandoning his attempt to flee. Just in time too! A handful of stones smashed against the trees that he was headed for, sending several thick branches falling as they tore through the same.

And from the look of things, the one who had thrown the same was clearly far more accomplished in inner qi than he was!

Qin Feng cursed as he landed, and quickly ducked behind another tree. A Master! It had to be a Master! No one else could use simple stones as thrown weapons, and cause damage like that! How did the Barbarians recruit such a person? He had never heard anything remotely associated with that, back at the Marquis' camp!

"Since you are already here, why bother to run?"

Without turning his head, he could tell that the one who had asked that question was the grey-haired, grey-bearded old man. And a quick glimpse of the grim smile on his face made it clear to Qin Feng that he was the one who had launched that last attack.

For a moment, he wondered if he should ask the old fellow why he was attacking him. But he decided that there would be no point in doing that:

The old man in black was clearly after his life now. He had said as much, didn't he? And Qin Feng knew that any words would be pointless. Stumbling across these Barbarian scouts and that Master was more trouble than he could handle! His best option at the moment was to find a way out of this mess!

Unfortunately, that required him to get past the old fellow, along with the five barbarian youths that had started to move in to encircle him!

"A spy from the Yan Kingdom? This is unexpected! Who would have thought that they would realize that we had someone backing us this time?" laughed the tall, brawny youth with the huge axe.

The scar on his chest was already starting to turn a deep red color as he spoke, which was enough to warn Qin Feng that he was getting ready to attack, despite his apparent casual air. Was the Barbarian youth trying to catch him unawares?

Or was he distracting him, so that the rest of his people to get completely around him?

Qin Feng stepped back then, while trying to keep at least a single tree between him and the old man in black. Or one of the Barbarian scouts. He didn't think that the old man would cut down one of his allies, just to get at him. He hoped.

"Still trying to get away? What makes you think you can run now?" laughed the youth with the scar and the glaive.

That one was still wearing a grin on his face, as he waved the tip of his weapon, as if signalling his fellows to attack. But Qin Feng merely skipped back again, and ducked behind another tree.

Which seemed enough to prompt a shout from the black-garbed fellow who had remained in the rear!

"Stop wasting time and kill him! We cannot allow him to carry word back!"

The old man in black had suddenly drawn a sabre out of thin air, and was pointing the same at Qin Feng, as though urging the Barbarians on. But the young man was not about to wonder about that now, as he danced adroitly around the group's massed attack, and tried to slip back into the trees.

But the red-haired fellow with the glaive was too quick, and had already cut off his retreat, slashing at him with his weapon as Qin Feng jumped towards the forest. At the same time, the rest of his band rushed at the youth, their weapons already hacking at him from all directions!

They were all after his life!

* * *