Martial Cultivator

Winter snow had passed, and grass and trees sprouted in spring.

Because Xinliu Prefecture was located in the north, spring arrived later than in the south. Fortunately, once the light snow no longer fluttered through the air, the ground no longer held accumulated snow, making it much easier to travel.

The northern official road was the most frequently used in the Great Liang Dynasty. After all, in these two hundred years, the Great Liang had been in constant war with the demon race. With the back-and-forth of military supplies, it was inevitable that the official road would be repeatedly traversed. Because of this, no matter how well-built it was, the road inevitably suffered damage.

However, this northern official road was indeed the best pathway in the Great Liang Dynasty.

The Great Liang allocated funds every year to repair and maintain it, absolutely not allowing a situation where, once war began, military rations and supplies could not be transported northward.

Because this official road was broader than others in the Great Liang, caravans rarely experienced congestion while traveling along it.

Presently, there was a group heading from north to south, about twenty carriages in total. Each carriage was drawn by two horses. Yet even so, the progress was not particularly fast.

This showed just how heavy the cargo on those carriages must be.

On both sides of the carriages, there were more than twenty people traveling with sabers at their sides.

At the head of the procession were two carriages that were clearly not ordinary cargo wagons. The coachmen driving them were tall and sturdy, and even the breath they exhaled followed a distinct rhythm, clearly indicating they were people who trained all year round.

This group looked nothing like a merchant caravan. It seemed more like a wealthy household relocating south with its entire family.

After traveling for half a day, a middle-aged man leading the guards rode his horse up to the second carriage and said something in a low voice. Only then did he wave his hand, and the coachmen, understanding the signal, pulled on the reins and guided the vehicles off the official road to temporarily stop on a grassy area.

The first two carriages even stopped directly by the riverside. Once the vehicles were steady, a mature and elegant woman stepped out from the second carriage.

The woman looked to be only around forty years old, but she carried herself very well. There was no sign of middle-aged weight gain. Though her waist was not as slender as that of ordinary young women, it was far from thick. If her waist could not be called outstanding, then the scenery across her chest certainly surpassed that of most women.

The woman wore only light makeup, but from her glabella, one could still see that she must have been an exceptional beauty in her youth.

After stepping out of the carriage, the woman said softly, “We’ll rest here for the night.”

After saying this, the woman walked over to the riverbank and sat alone on a stone.

The rest of the guards got busy gathering dry branches from the surroundings to prepare for the night. Others began preparing dinner. Before long, smoke from cooking fires wafted up along the riverside.

”AHH!”

A sudden scream broke the peaceful atmosphere. A kitchen maid had fallen sitting at the riverbank, the basin of rice she was rinsing having slipped from her hands. Snow-white rice spilled across the riverbank, with some falling into the river and attracting small fish.

The middle-aged man quickly rushed to the riverbank to check, only to see faint traces of fresh blood drifting downstream from further upriver.

The kitchen maid must have seen this scene while washing rice here and had been frightened badly.

The middle-aged man looked up, his gaze falling upstream. He noticed that beside a large stone not far away, there seemed to be a figure.

”What’s wrong?”

The woman not far away asked.

“Madam, it seems there’s a corpse in the river.”

The middle-aged man said hesitantly, but he still spoke. Though he had not seen clearly, his guess was almost certainly correct.

“To die in the wilderness is pitiable. Take two people and go bury the corpse properly, so he may rest in peace and his soul may have a place to return. Let’s not leave his soul wandering.” ŕ𝔞ℕỖ฿ĘS

The woman furrowed her brows, then quickly gave her order. Burial for peace had been a tradition of the common folk for countless years. Though she had never met this person, the woman was clearly kind-hearted.

The middle-aged man nodded and immediately called out to a few companions, heading upstream. The river was not exactly shallow, and the current was wide. If not for the fact that large stones were piled up around here, the corpse would likely have been washed downriver long ago.

The two of them waded into the water and carried the corpse to the shore. The middle-aged man took one look at the straight saber the corpse was still clutching tightly in death, and upon seeing the blade’s chilling gleam, could not help but mutter, “Fine saber.”

Another man chuckled and said, “Old Liu, still the same, seeing a good saber makes you more excited than seeing a pretty girl. Why not keep it?”

“No, I love sabers, but that doesn’t mean I take whatever I see. Let it be buried with him. I reckon he must’ve loved it greatly in life.”

As the middle-aged man spoke, he looked at the corpse again and was surprised to discover that it was actually a young man who looked no older than thirty.

“What a shame, to meet an untimely death at such a young age.”

The middle-aged man looked at the young man’s tattered clothing, seeing many claw marks deep enough to expose bone. He furrowed his brow and said with a sigh, “He must’ve run into some demon beast he couldn’t handle.”

At this point, he sighed heavily. The demon plague in the Great Liang had persisted for more than two hundred years and had never been fully eradicated. The people, noble and lowborn, had suffered deeply.

“You go dig a hole. I’ll find him a change of clothes. At least we should let him be buried with some dignity.”

The middle-aged man sighed and lowered his head to begin untying the clothes on the young man’s corpse, but he quickly blinked in surprise. When his hand touched the man’s body, he discovered that the young man’s heart was still beating.

“Madam, he’s still alive!”

......

......

Night fell.

A group of people sat around the campfire. The men were eating dry rations, chatting about many lewd topics, with occasional bursts of laughter.

Among them was even a young girl who listened with great interest to these crude conversations.

That was the woman’s daughter.

However, unlike typical parents, the woman did not mind her daughter hearing such things, which most parents treated like a scourge.

The woman was sitting with the kitchen maids on the other side. That young corpse, oh no, that seriously injured young man, lay beside the campfire.

Though the straight saber in his hand had been clutched tightly, a few of them had managed to pry it from his grasp and return it to its sheath. They had not taken the saber from him.

The middle-aged man looked somewhat hesitant. After a while, he said in a low voice, “Madam, this man’s injuries are very serious. His life hangs by a thread. He might not last much longer. Are we really going to...”

The woman glanced at the man, then at the young man with closed eyes. She shook her head and said, “Since he’s not dead, then we’ll bring him along with us. As for whether he can live to reach the Divine Capital, we can only leave that to fate.”

“There’s still some hemostatic medicine. Use it all on him. So young, it’s really a pity.”

The woman let out a sigh, somewhat regretful. The young man before her looked so youthful, his life should have stretched for many more years. If he truly died here and now, it would be a real pity.

The middle-aged man thought for a moment, and in the end only nodded.