Once I enter the pass, great Confucian scholars will surely debate the classics for me.

……

At Luofeng Slope, the leaders of the Zhuxian Village bandits gathered, surrounded by a hundred Shizhu bandits as guards.

The bandits' flags fluttered, bearing the four large characters "Acting on behalf of Heaven".

To demonstrate the sincerity of the negotiations.

Yuan He, the chieftain, also set out a table with wine, fruit, and other refreshments.

This was to entertain Zhou Qingfeng, who came to negotiate.

Unfortunately, the person who arrived was Steward Lian, who also brought a large group of men.

This offended Chief Yuan He, but he had expected it.

How could the commander of an army possibly go to the front line to negotiate in person? At most, he would send a trusted confidant.

They certainly wouldn't bring just two people.

If they really only brought two people, then Yuan He would suspect that the other party was a three-year-old child, so naive.

The brothers cursed and cursed that sending a nobody to negotiate was utterly insincere.

"Insolence!" Steward Lian stood up, hands on his back, his tone very firm: "I, Lian, represent the Sword Tower and General Qiu to negotiate with you bandits. I've already given you a lot of face. Don't be ungrateful!"

"You son of a bitch, you're asking for death!" Several leaders who refused to accept the offer of amnesty were about to take action.

Chief Yuan He raised his hand to stop them: "Brothers, do not act rashly. You should know that in war, envoys are not killed. We are a loyal army acting on behalf of Heaven. How can we do something so treacherous?"

He calmed down his restless brothers with a single word.

"Please sit, Envoy Lian." Chief Yuan He smiled slightly, cupped his fists, and invited Steward Lian to sit down.

"Hmph, you're smart enough to know your place." Seeing that his bluffing was working, Steward Lian became even more arrogant, sitting down with an imposing posture, looking down on everyone.

This arrogant act made all the underlings puff out their chests, secretly praising the manager's awesomeness.

Despite this, Chief Yuan He maintained a smiling face. He was genuinely interested in surrendering, and he didn't care much about such minor matters. As long as he could secure a bright future, enduring a little humiliation was nothing.

"Since it's an offer of amnesty, what is the envoy's sincerity?" Chief Yuan He walked to the main seat and sat down, gesturing for his brothers and strategist to also sit down. There were only fifty-two people on the other side; what was there to be afraid of?

The head steward picked up an apple, took a bite, and said with his head held high, "Sincerity? What sincerity do you need?"

"You're nothing but a bunch of cowardly rats, lowly thieves. You dare talk to me about sincerity?"

"If you know what's good for you, surrender immediately, and my Sword Tower army might spare your lives."

"If you don't know what's good for you, our army will be pressing in, and you cowards will regret it!"

Upon hearing this, Chief Yuan He was so angry he laughed. Was this guy here to negotiate?

That's outrageous, absolutely outrageous.

If I don't show some of my strength, you're really treating me like a nobody.

"Envoy Lian is quite impressive, but it seems that Envoy Lian's understanding of my Zhuxian Village is not clear enough." Chief Yuan He raised his hand, and countless banners proclaiming "Acting on Behalf of Heaven" suddenly rose behind the surrounding mountains and roads.

As the head steward glanced around, his legs went weak and he almost slipped and fell to the ground.

"Hahaha, look at this cowardly guy, an envoy indeed, what a disgrace!" Zuo Tang and the other leaders pointed at Steward Lian and laughed heartily, feeling relieved.

Sima Junshi leaned close to Yuan He, the chieftain, and whispered, "Chieftain, I'm going to inspect the surrounding defenses to prevent the Sword Tower army from lurking in the shadows."

Chief Yuan He nodded slightly, tacitly agreeing.

"Big, big, big leader, we can talk things over. There's no need for us to resort to knives and guns." Even the chief steward chickened out. At first, he could rely on the hundred-man legion to hold the line, but he didn't expect the bandit army to be so powerful.

He was only a minor cultivator at the Food Disaster Realm. The bandit leaders in front of him were all at the Food Disaster Realm, and there were also many bandit soldiers of unknown strength lying in ambush everywhere. Even the chief steward couldn't fly away even if he had wings. How could he not be afraid?

Chief Yuan He said with a smile, "Can we talk properly now?"

"Yes." Steward Lian wiped his sweat. He was a man of flexibility and his expression changed very quickly. "You are all heroes. I was wrong to look down on you just now."

"Heroes, please feel free to make any requests. I will agree to anything I can decide. If I cannot decide, I will go back and report to Commander Qiu for a decision. I will make sure that all of you are satisfied."

Chief Yuan He stroked his beard and tentatively said, "I, Yuan He, am willing to surrender to the Sword Tower, but I want to retain my troops. The Sword Tower must supply my money and provisions. I can obey orders, but I will not enter the Sword Tower."

Upon hearing this, Chief Steward Lian immediately became anxious: "You obey orders but not proclamations? Why don't you declare yourself king? Don't even bother discussing these conditions, they're simply impossible. If you want to talk, then talk properly. If you can't, then we'll part ways."

Zuo Tang couldn't help but say, "Brother, this guy is the mine manager and has nothing to do with Qiu Qianchi. Qiu Qianchi sent him to negotiate with you, which is obviously just a perfunctory gesture and shows no sincerity."

“If Qiu Qianchi is truly sincere, even if he doesn’t come himself, he will send two of his adjutants.”

Upon hearing this, Yuan He's eyes revealed a chill: "Heh, very well, Qiu Qianchi actually dared to send you to insult me. He truly lives up to his reputation as a son of a powerful family; his arrogance can be smelled from dozens of miles away."

Yuan He was furious. He had intended to surrender, but what did he get in return? Humiliation!

Seeing that the atmosphere was not good, Steward Lian panicked a little and stood up, saying, "You scoundrel, what do you want to do? I'm warning you, I represent Sword Tower, the military, and General Qiu. You dare to touch me?"

Yuan He gritted his teeth: "Men, capture him and cut off his head to send to Qiu Qianchi!"

Zuo Tang and the other four leaders of the food disaster all stood up, grinning as they drew their weapons.

The head steward was extremely flustered and hurriedly shouted, "Guards! Guards!"

The right deputy manager and ten guards, along with the mine protection team, immediately surrounded Manager Lian in the center. Manager Lian pointed at Zuo Tang and cursed, "Zuo Tang, you're a scoundrel! We're sworn brothers!"

Zuo Tang sneered: "We're not related. You said it yourself, brothers, go! Chop off his head!"

Hundreds of bandits immediately surged forward.

The right deputy chief steward cried out in terror, "Chief steward, what do we do?"

"Don't panic, don't panic, hold on, the main force is coming soon!" Chief Steward Lian shouted, pulling the fuse. The command arrow shot into the sky and exploded into a huge mushroom cloud.

This thing is called the Blazing Signal Arrow, which is classified as a Turbid-level artifact and is considered a one-time use magic item.

It has always been used by the military for transmitting commands and signals.

It is still lethal to ordinary people. The explosion radius is 100 feet. If it is placed in the air, it is extremely conspicuous. If it is placed on the ground, it can turn an area of ​​100 feet into charcoal.

For cultivators who practice the Food Turbidity method... it's like getting a pebble thrown in their face—it hurts, but it's not fatal.

A great battle erupted between the cultivators in an instant.

Dozens of cultivators fought against hundreds of cultivators. Spells flew wildly, swords clashed, and in the blink of an eye, the earth cracked, mountains collapsed, the wind and clouds changed color, and magma gushed out from the cracks in the ground, instantly turning the surrounding area into a battlefield of carnage.

The steward and his men were quickly overwhelmed, and in the blink of an eye, more than half of them were killed or wounded. They could only stick together and struggle to hold on.

"Commander-in-Chief, where is the main force? Where is the main force?!" the Right Deputy Commander-in-Chief cried out in anguish.

The general shouted hopefully, "Hold on! Reinforcements will be here soon, very soon!"

But he was destined never to receive reinforcements.

In another direction, the anti-bandit legion had already infiltrated the vicinity of Luofengpo, with scouts exploring ahead and quickly confirming that a group of a hundred bandits were guarding the key road ahead.

When I saw the command arrow above my head explode.

"Kill!" Jin Wei gave the order without hesitation, leading six Food Disaster cultivators to charge into the enemy formation. The high-level cultivators killed the low-level cultivators as easily as cutting melons and vegetables, forcefully tearing open a gap.