Chapter 104 – Youthful Spirit
After Shen Leng left An city with his men, it seemed as though they continued heading south without stopping to rest. However, after traveling for about thirty miles, they made a turn and headed straight to Hulan. The border town that Meng Changan was originally at was Hulan. It was General Guo Leiming’s jurisdiction.

After Shen Leng arrived outside of Hulan city, he got his ten-man squad to wait in the woods. He changed to his casual clothes and entered Hulan city. He did not bring any weapons with him or any items that would give his identity as a Navy soldier away. He was just like an ordinary civilian.

Mr. Shen pair of skillful hands. The official pass he made could pass off as a real one. When Shen Leng was being interrogated at the gate, he was not nervous at all. The soldiers on duty did not sense anything amiss, so they let him enter.

After Shen Leng entered the city, he went to ask around and found a house. The house was rather big and there were soldiers standing guard outside of it.

He walked into the restaurant across from that house and ordered two dishes and a pot of wine. He sat next to the window and looked out from time to time. He ate from sunset till dusk. Shen Leng got up and settled the bill, and chatted for a while with the owner.

“I heard that the house across from here belongs to a general of the border army? No wonder it looks so grand.”

“Yes, Pei Xiao. General Pei’s house. Perhaps you don’t know who General Pei Xiao is, right? He is the nephew of the great general of the eastern border. The house is not considered that grand. After all, he only bought it for his stay here. Sooner or later General Pei will return to the eastern border.”

“No wonder. If I can enlist, I will definitely make it big if I follow General Pei.”

Shen Leng gave him more copper coins. “Is General Pei at home?”

“Young man, don’t try to be full of tricks. General Pei should not be home. I haven’t seen him in a while. Besides, what do you have to offer such that General Pei would make an exception to take you in? You should just be steadfast. You can do well in any field. I see that you’re young and full of vigor. Why don’t you stay behind and work here for me?”

Shen Leng laughed out loud. “I am going to try my luck first. If I get refused at the door, I will come here and work for you.”

The restaurant owner glared at him “If you can enter his residence, I will give you my shop front.”

Shen Leng felt somewhat awkward. “I guess it’s going to be a little hard to meet the general. Do you know who is the general’s most competent subordinate? Perhaps someone who is the closest to the general. If I cannot enter the general’s residence, I shall see if I can work around it via other means. If I succeed, for all you know, I might be the eastern border’s general. I am good at fighting. In my village, a lot of people cannot match up to me.”

The owner glared at him again. He did not like overly ambitious young men who had a limited knowledge of the world. He gestured, hinting to Shen Leng to leave.

Shen Leng dawdled and took out half a tael of silver from his money pouch before placing it in the owner’s hand. “I came all the way here, and even tried to seek help from you. Initially I wanted to meet Great General Tie Liuli, but I’m afraid I don’t have any chance to do so.”

The owner gripped the silver in his hand but he continued to look down on Shen Leng because of his stingy dawdling behavior. However, for the sake of half a tael of silver, he pointed to the left. “Not far away from General Pei’s residence, there is a door with two lanterns hanging in front of it. That is the residence of Xing Keda, the official registrar. He is the general’s subordinate. You can go there to try your luck. If he were to put in a few good words for you, the general might take you in.”

Shen Leng thanked him profusely. After he walked out of the restaurant he walked one round around the entrance of General Pei’s house. Not long later, he was chased away by the soldiers standing guard, making the owner of the restaurant burst out laughing. He called him an idiot and went back to tidy up some things.

Shen Leng walked along the main street until he arrived at Xing Keda’s residence. He knocked on the door and someone inside asked who he was. Shen Leng lowered his voice and said, “Inform Official Xing that the general sent me over from Feng Yan Tai urgently. Tell him what I said and he will meet me.”

Very quickly, the footsteps behind the door vanished – clearly, that person ran inside. Not long later, the door creaked open. A servant let Shen Leng into the house. “Are you the general’s subordinate? Why haven’t I seen you before.”

The restaurant owner from before was curious about whether Shen Leng would be refused entry again. Initially he had already went downstairs, but he went back up. He stood by the window and watched. He thought to himself about how strange it was; the servant was not stupid but why did he let him enter?

。

After Shen Leng entered, he struck the servant on the nape, causing him to fall to the ground.

Naturally, a registrar’s house was not too big, as he was not a high-ranking official. Shen Leng looked for the light source and walked towards it. He could see the silhouette of a man in one of the rooms from the paper window. He walked over to the door and said in a lowered voice. “Official Xing, is it convenient for me to go in and talk to you? The general has something urgent for me to tell you.”

The door creaked open. Registrar Xing Keda, who looked slightly plump, opened the door. “What is it that is so urgent…who are you?”

Shen Leng did not answer. He kicked Xing Keda in the lower abdomen and kicked him back into the room.

Shen Leng shut the door behind him. He grabbed Xing Keda by the neck and lifted him high up. Xing Keda’s legs moved about frantically, but shortly after, he gradually lost the energy to continue struggling. His face started to get pale before becoming blue.

Seeing that he was almost at his limit, Shen Leng tossed him onto the ground. “I will ask you a few questions. It’s better for you if you are honest.”

“You…ahem, ahem. Who exactly are you?”

Shen Leng squatted next to Xing Keda. He looked at the paperweight on his table. He reached out his hand and grabbed it before smashing it against Xing Keda’s wrist repeatedly, while he covered his mouth with the other hand, to ensure that Xing Keda could not yell.

After he did it a couple of times, Xing Keda’s face was all sweaty.

Shen Leng said in a lowered voice, “Can you answer me now? You don’t have any soldiers standing guard in your residence. Even if you yell, it’s futile. It will only make me hit you harder. If you are ready, I will release my hand. You simply have to answer all my questions.”

Xing Keda nodded his head with all his might. Evidently, he was too frightened that he gave up resisting.

Shen Leng released his hand. “Did you know about Pei Xiao’s plan with regards to killing Meng Changan?”

Xing Keda was stunned for a moment. And then he nodded.

“Apart from you, who else knows about this? How many people?”

“I…”

Xing Keda opened his mouth, “You…what do you want?”

Shen Leng frowned. He lifted the paperweight and was about to hit him again when Xing Keda quickly said, “The general’s advisors – Song Xu, Chen Sheng, Wang Zhuoqun. And the general’s lieutenant Pei Qiang knows about this too. The general brought his men to Feng Yan Tai, while Pei Qiang stayed behind in Hulan to keep an eye on things.”

“Just the five of you?”

“Only the five of us. How can the general let too many people know about such a thing? Only the people closest to the general know about this.”

“Which one of them is the closest?”

“Closest?”

“Closest to your house.”

“Chen Sheng.”

“Bring me to his house.”

。

Soon, the restaurant owner noticed that Official Xing’s front door was open. Official Xing and that fella walked out with their arms around each other’s shoulders and walked towards the other side of the main street. The owner was stunned, thinking about how that fella actually was capable enough to get that close to Official Xing in such a short period of time.

Xing Keda called out for the door to be opened. Pei Xiao’s closest subordinates were on good terms with each other, but because he visited at such a late hour, Chen Sheng wondered what could be that urgent. He looked at Shen Leng, who was standing behind Xing Keda and asked, “Who’s that?”

“A relative of mine that came to me for help. In the future he will be helping me with some things.”

“Oh, let’s go to the study to talk. Why did the general send someone to look for you first? It doesn’t make any sense…what is so urgent that you have to come over at night?”

Xing Keda followed Chen Sheng into the study. Shen Leng followed closely behind. Chen Sheng had a cold look on his face. “How can a servant follow us in. Get out!”

Shen Leng grunted. He glanced over at the row of writing brushes on the table. He picked one that was thicker. He suddenly turned around and covered Chen Sheng’s mouth before stabbing him in the temple.”

He released his hand and the corpse fell onto the ground.

Shen Leng grabbed Xing Keda’s shoulder. “Next house.”

Half an hour later, Pei Xiao’s advisor, Song Xu, had also gone into his study. There was a dagger in his chest. He also practiced martial arts, hence he had daggers and knives hung up on the wall of his study. Shen Leng merely took no more than two breaths to grab the dagger and kill him. At this moment, Xing Keda was already akin to a zombie. He did not even feel any fear. He was like a machine that brought Shen Leng to the next house.

Advisor Wang Zhuoqun died a slower death. He was also a middle-aged man who lacked physical strength. Because he did not have any weapons in the room and the brush holder was too far away, Shen Leng had no choice but to grab him by the nape and ram him into the wall four to five times, breaking his skull, leading to his demise.

After they left Wang Zhuoqun’s house, they walked back. The last house they headed to was Pei Xiao’s residence. Lieutenant Pei Qiang was a trusted aide of Pei Xiao. He lived in Pei Xiao’s residence.

Xing Keda walked like a zombie in front of him. The two soldiers at the door saw him and greeted him. They opened the door to let him in. Upon entering the door, Shen Leng suddenly drew the hengdao of one of the soldiers from his waist and beheaded both of them.

After dragging the bodies into the house, he closed the door. Shen Leng looked at Ke Xingda and said, “Thank you.”

Ke Xingda trembled as he nodded. He did not know how to respond.

Shen Leng swung the hengdao and beheaded Xing Keda. Thereafter, he walked into the house. There were Pei Xiao’s soldiers in the residence. Technically speaking, they were innocent and did not deserve death. After all, they were not the ones who went to Feng Yan Tai to kill Meng Changan. However, naturally, Shen Leng did not show any mercy.

Lieutenant Pei Qiang heard some noises and dashed out from inside the room. He had a sword in his hand. He was rather well-skilled; he was someone who Pei Xiao trusted the most, naturally, he had to be competent enough. But when he was in front of Shen Leng, he was stabbed in the chest in less than three breaths.

Shen Leng stood at the yard and looked at the corpses all over the ground. He felt that the snow white screen wall looked pretty good. Hence, he left some words on it with Pei Qiang’s blood – like what he did in Changan.

If you want to kill Meng Changan, you will be killed by Meng Changan first.

Within the span of two hours, Shen Leng killed all of Pei Xiao’s trusted aides in Hulan. If those people were kept alive, they would pose as a threat to Meng Changan. If they got wind of the news of Pei Xiao’s death, they would notify Pei Tingshan within the shortest time possible. Shen Leng wanted to buy Meng Changan some time and delay the news of Pei Xiao’s death as much as possible, before it made its way to the eastern border.

Delay it so much to the point that it would be too late for Pei Tingshan to take revenge. Soon, a decree would be sent to get Meng Changan to bring the Lang Jue people to Changan city. Before that happened, Shen Leng did not want anything bad to happen to Meng Changan.

Early in the morning, the restaurant owner opened the doors. He ordered his helpers to sweep and clean up the area near the door. After that, he saw Shen Leng walking out of Pei Xiao’s residence before stretching his body. After Shen Leng saw him, he even waved to him. He thanked him sincerely before closing the door and walking away.

After taking a few steps, Shen Leng turned his head around. “You said that if I entered the general’s residence, you will give me your shop front?”

The owner felt embarrassed.

Shen Leng said earnestly, “I don’t want it. The food served in your restaurant does not taste good.”

The restaurant owner was dumbfounded for a long time. He thought to himself about how he had misjudged him. That fella was truly rather capable, he even spent the night in the general’s residence. In the future when he went over to his restaurant to eat, he would have to be more polite to him. Perhaps in the future he might become a general.

As Shen Leng was leaving the city, he bought ten freshly baked cake, and dozens of hot steamed meat buns. He almost bought all the food that were sold along that street. After he left the city, he and his men ate all the food he bought in the woods to their heart’s content and felt very satisfied. The ten men could eat a lot – wolfing down all the street food was not a difficult feat at all.

They got back onto their horses and rushed back.

A few days later, the news reached Ah Li city. They heard that Pei Xiao’s trusted aides were killed overnight. Tie Liuli’s hand that was holding onto his brush, as he was practicing calligraphy, trembled. Thereafter, he suddenly laughed out loud and scolded, “That little bastard, bringing me more trouble.” He elegantly wrote two words on the paper.

Youthful spirit.

He wrote those words forcefully; the black ink seeped through the paper.