Nine-layer armor-breaking

Chapter 336 Variables
As Jiang Xian was the leader of the three, Li Huwei naturally had to follow Jiang Xian's instructions.

However, what he couldn't understand at this moment was that after receiving Jiang Xian's instructions, Guard Li actually grabbed a bundle of hemp rope and went back again.

This made him a little confused.

He clearly saw that Guard Li was fiddling with the hemp rope in his hand, and it seemed that he was preparing to tie up the steward.

Upon seeing this, the leader was truly taken aback.

He had initially thought that Guard Li had returned on Jiang Xian's orders to take the steward's head and kill him on the spot, but he never expected that Guard Li would simply tie him up.

This truly left the core leader feeling somewhat incredulous.

He didn't understand what kind of thinking this was.
What is this operation?
Is this deliberately creating future trouble for oneself?

He was increasingly puzzled by the behavior of the two people in front of him.

He had met so many people, yet he couldn't fathom the thoughts of the two people in front of him.

He was deceived by his boss before because he did so willingly, because he foolishly believed that there was someone in this world who could save him, and because he blindly trusted his boss.

A large part of his trust in his boss stemmed from his inner resentment and unwillingness to believe that his boss would do anything to harm him; it was this unconditional trust that was at play.

However, after that, he was never easily deceived by others again.

But now, he felt increasingly that his feelings for the two people in front of him were unreal.

It seemed that all his previous assumptions were wrong.

Just as he was finding it hard to believe what was happening before his eyes, Guard Li quickly tied up the steward, even taking the short sword beside him with him.

"Let's go get the horse."

The sudden sound that shattered the silence startled the core of his being.

In fact, when Guard Li was binding the steward, he did make some scattered noises, but unfortunately, the main man's mind was elsewhere, so he naturally couldn't hear any unrelated sounds.

Just a moment ago, the leader was still somewhat dazed, but now, in the blink of an eye, he was startled by the voice of the person in front of him.

After he took a closer look at the person in front of him, he was even more startled.

The person before me was none other than Guard Li.

The stable in the courtyard was not hidden at all, as if it was not afraid of being discovered.

Although Guard Li had seen the location of the stables beforehand, he insisted on calling his leader to go there, and naturally he wouldn't let his leader be alone with Jiang Xian there.

Li Huwei seemed to have finally figured things out. He was now very attentive to everything around him, constantly watching out for potential dangers, and he wouldn't let Jiang Xian fall into danger again.

His transformation was both a duty and not solely due to duty.

People are complex, and since Jiang Xian saved him, he naturally wanted to repay Jiang Xian's kindness.

As for the exact reason, he had no idea.

But one thing is certain: it was definitely not just because of his duties, or simply because he had a mission.

Although he was a guard of the Jiang family and had received many benefits and favors from the Jiang family over the years, he did not want to fail the task entrusted to him by the Jiang family head, Jiang Yuan. However, if he were to lose his life to protect Jiang Xian, he would definitely have to think it over carefully.

But at this moment, the task Jiang Yuan assigned to him was somewhat different for him.

Now, even if it costs him his own life to protect Jiang Xian, he would do it willingly.

If it weren't for Jiang Xian, he would have lost his life long ago. Although this mission was originally for Jiang Xian and the Jiang family, things are unpredictable. He didn't expect that he would be in danger on this trip, but he was indeed saved by Jiang Xian.

In Li Huwei's mind, it was quite unexpected that Jiang Xian would offer his help even if he used an ordinary bow and arrow and had ordinary archery skills.

Even though he was facing a Heaven-ranked martial artist, and even after he himself was too weak to protect Jiang Xian, Jiang Xian still made such a move, which explains everything.

He didn't know where Jiang Xian got her confidence from. Perhaps it was because she wasn't a martial artist and therefore didn't know how terrifying a high-level Heaven-rank martial artist was to an ordinary person, or perhaps she knew it was extremely dangerous, but she still did it anyway.

In fact, it wouldn't be difficult for a high-level Heaven Rank martial artist to easily block or dodge Jiang Xian's arrow and counterattack.

Therefore, in Li Huwei's view, Jiang Xian had taken a great risk to save him, and he was well aware of this.

He didn't know what Jiang Xian was thinking. Jiang Xian was definitely not the kind of person who would act recklessly. So, whether she had calculated that the manager wouldn't go after her, or whether it was truly out of courage, he had no idea.

In short, Jiang Xian took a great risk to save him, so he could not let Jiang Xian down.

……

The night sky grew deeper and deeper, and the chill intensified.

In the moonlit forest, the shadows of the trees swayed, and the scene was a mess. A lone figure stood by the carriage, his steps unsteady.

The person appeared quite lonely under the cold moonlight.

"Uu——"

Li, the guard, pulled the reins sharply backward, dismounted, and quickly walked to the lonely figure beside him.

"what happened?"

Hearing the sound of reining in his horse, and hearing the familiar voice beside him, Guard Liu slowly turned around, somewhat surprised to see the familiar face of the newcomer.

After catching his breath, Guard Liu replied, "Oh, it's nothing. We just ran into a group of thugs. Look, they're all over there."

As he spoke, Guard Liu pointed to the ground in the distance. Guard Li looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the ground was piled with several men holding weapons. The blood beneath them either seeped into the ground and stained it red, or flowed slowly out.

Seeing this, Guard Li frowned deeply, staring thoughtfully at the mound of small hills.

Suddenly, Guard Li turned his head sharply, frowned, and looked Guard Liu up and down. With some concern, he asked, "Are you... really alright?"

Guard Li casually tugged a stray strand of hair from Guard Liu's forehead and pulled it back to her temple.

"I'm really fine." After saying that, Guard Liu suddenly laughed, pointed a finger in front of himself, and said self-deprecatingly, "I am a bit ugly."

Upon hearing this, Guard Li observed Guard Liu's face, which was covered in bloodstains and mud, and burst out laughing.

Jiang Xian glanced at the scene before him and found that apart from the obvious signs of a fight, it was no different from before.

Those teammates who were the backbone of the team are still alive and well.

Jiang Xian dismounted and walked to Liu, the bodyguard.

Upon seeing Jiang Xian, Guard Liu quickly wiped his face a few times with the back of his hand, then clasped his hands in a salute and said to Jiang Xian with some solemnity, "Thanks to the hidden weapon left by Master, I thank Master for saving my life!" Guard Liu's voice was not loud, but his attitude was exceptionally firm.

"No need for that." Jiang Xian helped Guard Liu up and then asked, "What happened?"

"Before you arrived, a group of people came trying to rob us, but luckily we had those hidden weapons, and they all fell down there," Guard Liu replied, pointing to the group of people.

Jiang Xian pondered for a moment, then asked, "Who are they targeting?"

Upon hearing this, Guard Liu immediately understood the implication in Jiang Xian's words and replied, "We're not here to rescue them."

Jiang Xian's words clearly implied that he wanted to know the intentions of the gang of thugs: whether they were robbing everyone, targeting only Guard Liu, or their core teammate. These were all different questions.

Only by understanding these things and figuring out the intentions of that gang of thugs can we make the next judgment on the matter.

If you rob everyone, things become much simpler.

If they are heading straight for Guard Liu, it means that there are other members in the core group, and those other members have also discovered the core group's movements.

In other words, they may still have some trump cards up their sleeves, so they should not be underestimated.

In this way, Jiang Xian and his group are in the open, while the other thugs are in the shadows, which still poses a certain danger to Jiang Xian and his two companions. Jiang Xian and his group still need to be more careful.

If they're targeting the core group of teammates, it means that someone in their team colluded with others and leaked the information before the operation even began.

Regardless of whether that person was a core member or a teammate in the past, from this point on, he is a traitor to the group and is no longer of one mind with them.

Alternatively, it's possible that other groups that make a living by robbing have vested interests with the core members of their gang and are targeting them now that their power is waning, wanting to swallow them whole.

These matters need to be analyzed one by one, depending on their different intentions.

Guard Liu was always calm and composed, so he would naturally be aware of these things.

In fact, Guard Liu couldn't figure out what those villains were trying to do, but it definitely wasn't to rescue his teammates who were his backbone.

Because when that gang of thugs arrived, they immediately split into several groups, intending to attack them one by one, so their purpose couldn't be discerned at a glance.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xian naturally understood what Guard Liu meant.

She then said to Guard Li, "Go and ask."

Then, Li Huwei immediately understood Jiang Xian's meaning. After going through a life-or-death ordeal, the two of them had become very compatible.

Li, the bodyguard, returned to the side of the tall, fine horses and called the leader down.

As soon as the leader dismounted, Guard Li grabbed the steward who was being carried on horseback and threw him to the ground.

Li, the bodyguard, said to the leader, "Go and identify them."

The pillar of the family wasn't the kind of person who couldn't read the room, especially when his life was in danger.

He had seen Jiang Xian and two guards talking to each other. Although he was also very curious about what they were talking about, seeing the mess in the place, which was different from before, he roughly knew that the three of them must have been discussing this matter.

He was also curious about what had happened, but seeing that his teammates were still in the same spot and there was a pile of corpses in the distance, he immediately realized that a fight must have taken place.

Looking at Guard Liu's disheveled and dirty appearance, one can easily imagine what had happened here.

"Did we run into that big shot?" the leader thought to himself.

To his surprise, although he couldn't see clearly who the people piled up in the distance were, he was astonished that Guard Liu could fight so many people on his own.

He felt even more fear towards Guard Liu.

Although he felt that Jiang Xian's strength was not that great, he could see that Li Huwei was indeed very capable in combat. He could clearly see that Li Huwei was in no way inferior to the steward in his normal state.

But Guard Liu is a force to be reckoned with, capable of taking on so many opponents single-handedly and keeping his teammates unharmed at a distance.

Hearing what Guard Li said, he politely responded.

Although being bossed around felt unpleasant, he really had no other choice at the moment, and naturally couldn't show any impatience.

He walked slowly toward the small hill.

Upon closer inspection, he was greatly surprised.

He recognized every single one of these faces.

Moreover, upon seeing these faces, he realized that the wealthy family they were trying to harass probably wouldn't be passing by tonight.

He knew perfectly well that their message wouldn't be wrong.

Looking at the pile of people lying in the pool of blood at his feet, he had a shocking thought: someone in their team had tipped off these people who were now lifeless.

He was now somewhat panicked. Who had tipped him off? Who was the traitor in the team?

He felt he needed to be even more careful.

Thinking about this, he couldn't help but feel a little scared.

He recognized the group of people in front of him; they were another group that did the same business as them, a group that made a living by robbery.

Normally, the two teams don't get along, but since his team is slightly stronger than the other team, he doesn't need to be afraid of those people.

And those people won't easily provoke or harass them.

Therefore, the two teams don't interact much on a regular basis.

Only when two teams encounter a fat sheep that they cannot devour alone will they join forces to plan and divide it up.

So, is the current situation one where the big players haven't even gotten through yet? Or have these people lying here already gotten there first? And now, they're going to swallow them up and become the sole dominant force?
The leader racked his brains trying to figure these things out. Facing the burning gazes staring at him from behind, he turned around and replied to Guard Li, "I know these people."

At this point, the leader will naturally tell the truth.

Given the current situation, there's really no need to hide anything from the people lying at our feet.

His only chance of survival is to tell the truth.

One lie leads to many more to cover it up.

Therefore, unless it concerns his own vital interests, he would not easily lie to Jiang Xian and the others, lest he reveal his weakness and arouse their murderous intent.

Upon hearing this, Guard Li raised an eyebrow and stared intently at the person in front of him.

(End of this chapter)