From the Dragon and Tiger Cavalry to Hunting Sins and Becoming Saints

Chapter 2 Dragon and Tiger Cavalry

Hu Liangyu is fifty-three years old this year. He is a martial arts scholar who passed the imperial examination in the Dingmao year of the Wu Dynasty. He is a retired member of the Four Green-Striped Tiger Cavalry and usually serves as an instructor of the Imperial Guards in the Tiger Den in Gaoyang County.

After having his morning tea, he walked out of the house wearing black boots and carrying a copper pipe. He looked up and saw a young man with sharp eyebrows in a black military uniform enter the courtyard. He immediately straightened his face.

"Uncle Hu."

Fu Que walked up to Hu Liangyu and greeted him respectfully.

"Where did you go last night?"

"When I was practicing martial arts in the Tiger's Den, I saw the files of the Zhu Family Village. Like the previous villages, they suddenly broke out in colds and then quickly subsided. I felt something was wrong, so I went to check it out last night."

"What did you find out?"

Fu Que placed the satchel on his shoulder on the ground, revealing several loose silver coins and copper coins inside. Among the copper coins were two pieces of bloodstained fur and a fist-sized tricolor wooden block.

"Two demons, recently enlightened by the statue of the former God of Wealth, were causing trouble. I followed their trail and dealt with them in that abandoned temple..."

Fu Que carefully chose his words and spoke cautiously.

Hu Liangyu glanced at the contents of his satchel, sighed, and pulled out a few large coins from his sleeve, handing them to Fu Que: "Go and invite the portrait artist from the east of the county over."

Fu Que was surprised that Uncle Hu didn't get angry about his unauthorized action. Instead, he clutched a few large coins and asked, "What do you need a portrait artist for?"

"I've hired a portrait artist to clean your neck and face so he can paint a handsome portrait of you. When you act on your own and are eaten by mountain monsters until your body is gone, I'll put the portrait in your coffin so that people will know that the last person to die in your Fu family was a handsome young man."

Fu Que was speechless, standing there dumbfounded, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

He knew, of course, that the other person was being sarcastic and worried that something might happen to him, but he couldn't tell the other person about the painter's abilities, so he could only bow his head and acknowledge that he had learned something.

Hu Liangyu stopped looking at him, picked up the satchel on the ground with his pipe, turned around and went into the main room. With a bang, the door closed, leaving Fu Que standing in the courtyard.

The noise in the yard caught the attention of Liu, who was in the kitchen. She looked up along the edge of the stove, then lowered her head and remained silent, stirring the cured meat in the pot.

Even after everyone in the family had eaten lunch by noon, Fu Que was still standing in the yard.

"Ah, missing a child."

Liu brought out a bowl of overflowing glutinous rice, topped with a large piece of cured meat and dried vegetables, and handed it to Fu Que.

"That's just your uncle's temper. He'll be fine once he calms down. You've been working all night, you can't go without eating. Don't look into the room, I'm here. Eat as much as you want, and then go to the inner room to rest properly, okay?"

Liu looked to be in her early thirties, with a face that could only be described as moderately pretty. She was a woman with some education, a bit of a shrewish temper, but she had a very good reputation among her neighbors and was a kind-hearted person.

"Thank you, Aunt Liu."

Fu Que took the porcelain bowl, momentarily at a loss for what to do.

Liu then turned and went into the house, closing the door. About half a cup of tea later, a short, sharp argument came from the inner room.

"If you really care about him, spend some money to bribe officials and find him a way out in the county."

If we don't have enough money, we can use some of Wan'er's dowry. He's twenty-one or twenty-two years old, and you lecture him all the time, and you even forbid him from advancing to the Dragon Tiger Cavalry assessment. Doesn't he resent it? Let's not play the villain for nothing."

"That's a woman's view! Don't you know how he prepared the Tiger Cavalry? He didn't wait for the military examination to take the orthodox path, and then someone found out. Before he even set off, his future was already halved!"

The county is looking for a way out? Now the wealthy families in the county are colluding with the monsters in the mountains, smuggling blood offerings and driving gangs to plunder the people's wealth, profiting from both sides. Do you really think the county magistrate is blind and deaf, and the dragon riders are just for show? Are you afraid that Que'er won't be able to serve as the vanguard in exorcising demons?

His father and I were very close friends; before he died, he entrusted him to me, and I must take care of him.

"Oh, you're taking care of him? Didn't you see what's in here? In just a few days, he's settled so many things. Not counting last night, he even killed Scarface Li from the Dongqing Gang in the county before."

"If you hadn't forbade him to hand it over, his battle achievements would have far surpassed those of a first-rank reserve tiger cavalryman. Would he still need you, his uncle, to worry about his future?"

"Keep your voice down!"

"I understand."

Fu Que was no longer the engineer who drew blueprints; now he possessed the skills of a master swordsman, sharp of hearing and sight, so the quarrel between his uncle and aunt could not escape his notice.

To be honest, he was unwilling to risk fighting with others, but as a painter who relied on others for a living, he had to hunt down creatures burdened with sin if he wanted to strengthen himself.

Even if he gave up on strengthening the alternate painter, it would be difficult for him to live a peaceful life. The world Fu Que came to was truly governed by the concept of destiny, where humans, ghosts, demons, and monsters coexisted, and one after another took the stage.

The Great Zhao, in which he lived, was a nation founded on military might, and it was through violence that it ended the chaos and evil of the world.

While sweeping the previous dynasty into the dustbin of history, the demons who gorged themselves on blood and gore in the human world were also hammered back to the mountains and forests to gnaw on grass and kicked back to the bottom of the river to chew on mud and sand.

In short, in Da Zhao, Master Wu was the real master.

Military, police, and secret agents roam freely within the territory, especially the imperial guards who are ordered to monitor the entire country. While it's not quite at the level of being granted special imperial permission to execute first and report later, it's not far off.

The common people are full of martial spirit, and sects and gangs are everywhere. In this kind of environment, living in seclusion is suicidal, and one has no choice but to join.

The aroma of the large bowl interrupted Fu Que's thoughts. Although he had devoured all the roasted meat left by the rat and toad demons last night, he still felt hungry.

Since the painting of the waist-cinching swordsman was created, his appetite has increased significantly. Fu Que vaguely felt that this was because the painter was subtly enhancing his physique so that he could withstand more scrolls in his sea of ​​consciousness.

After all, an artist can't just paint one picture.

Back in his inner room, Fu Que sat in a chair. The octagonal table was slick with oil and had sheets of white paper strung together with wire on it. The sheets recorded more or less the recent events in Gaoyang County.

As a member of the Dragon Tiger Cavalry, the most powerful military police and secret agents in Da Zhao, and backed by the veteran Tiger Cavalry member Hu Liangyu, Fu Que knew a lot of secrets about Gaoyang County, including the petty tricks of the county's big families as mentioned by Hu Liangyu.

"Those who live near mountains live off the mountains, and those who live near water live off the water; this principle applies to every world."

Fu Que swallowed his glutinous rice while looking at the information he had compiled on the table.

It's not surprising that wealthy families in the county colluded with mountain monsters. After all, Gaoyang County was built against the mountains, and exchanging the peasants, who were like dust in the eyes of the wealthy families, for the rare mountain delicacies protected by the mountain monsters was an extremely worthwhile deal.

To Fu Que's surprise, the Dragon Cavalry in Gaoyang County remained indifferent and turned a blind eye to this.

This is illogical.

Dragon and Tiger Cavalry: Dragon Cavalry against humans, Tiger Cavalry against strangers.

It should be noted that when a mere virtuous local gentryman was eaten, the Tiger Cavalry dispatched three three-striped Tiger Cavalrymen to kill the gray wolf as a deterrent. How much more so when it comes to smuggling blood offerings, an act that damages the nation's fortune and strength and undermines the foundation of the Great Zhao Kingdom.

"The county magistrate is colluding with them? That's impossible. It's not just the Imperial Guards who are on inspection duty. If the Imperial Guards don't report it, but another organization does, the Imperial Guards in Gaoyang County will be in big trouble."

Fu Que quickly overturned his previous guess. The Great Zhao Dynasty had only been established for seventy years. In this world of destiny, it was a very young dynasty. The power cultivated by the emperor could not have decayed so quickly.

He then thought of another direction:

"So you're saying we should wait until the pigs are fattened up before slaughtering them? Instead of slowly butchering them, why not wait until they all come out and then wipe them out in one fell swoop?"

Looking at the individual pieces of information on the white paper, Fu Que connected them and quickly came to a general conclusion.

It must have been the magistrate of Gaoyang County who wanted to eradicate the scourge in one fell swoop and submit a presentable report to his superiors, which is why he advised the Dragon Cavalry not to act rashly.

However, he quickly shook his head. People die for wealth, birds die for food. If the root of the problem of relying on the mountains for sustenance is not eradicated, even if the tumor is removed, a new one will grow. The Zhang family dies, and the Li family will rise again.

But what does this have to do with the county magistrate and the imperial guards? What does it matter if some civilians die? What matters is the political achievements and the spoils.

"With the military examinations approaching, the imperial court will send officials to oversee the process. When the highest official arrives, those wealthy families will be doomed. After all, what impact can a report have compared to seeing it for yourself?"

Fu Que sneered, placed the empty bowl on the table, and secretly began to calculate. For a painter to evolve, he needed a massive amount of sins, so his small-scale, covert hunting was perfectly fine.

For long-term development, he still needs to join the Dragon Tiger Guard Center so that he can legitimately hunt and acquire sins and receive strong logistical support.

"Let's find another opportunity to talk to Uncle Hu. At the very least, I need to pass the assessment to become a trainee Tiger Rider. That way, I can be assigned to a position in the upcoming changes."

Having lived two lives, Fu Que was experiencing kinship for the first time and did not want to refuse Hu Liangyu's good intentions. However, if Hu Liangyu insisted, he would have no choice but to go against her under the pressure of the times.

"Missing a child."

Just then, Hu Liangyu's deep voice rang out from outside the door.

"Uncle Hu?"

Fu Que was somewhat surprised. Normally, the other party wouldn't give him a friendly look for two or three days. What was wrong with him today? He actually took the initiative to come to find him. Nevertheless, he quickly got up and opened the door to the inner room.

Hu Liangyu stood outside the door, his face calm. He was also dressed in a black military uniform with a sword at his waist, but there was no wind-riding pattern embroidered on his chest.

Fu Que stepped aside: "If you need anything, just let me know, and I'll pour you some tea."

Hu Liangyu's gaze swept quickly across the white papers strung together with wire on the table, a complex look flashing in his eyes.

He touched the jade pendant in his arms, as if making up his mind, and then raised his hand to grasp Fu Que's wrist as he poured tea: "Don't bother, come out and walk with me."

"Oh? Okay."

Fu Que followed him out of the courtyard.

Hu Liangyu was a man of few words, and Fu Que, not knowing what Hu Liangyu wanted to do, could only remain silent. The two walked in silence until they left the county town and arrived at a riverbank.

"Draw your sword."

Hu Liangyu stepped forward, walking past the two of them, and came directly to a spot five meters in front of Fu Que. The two stood facing each other, and Hu Liangyu spoke concisely.

"Uncle Hu?"

Fu Que was taken aback.

"Draw your sword!"

Hu Liangyu repeated the sentence.

Seeing Hu Liangyu's serious expression and the way he held the knife, Fu Que immediately understood. He stopped talking, drew his knife, took a deep breath, and the world before him suddenly changed.

"Come!"

Hu Liangyu was extremely sparing with his words.

The next moment, Fu Que buried himself in his body, and the blade flashed forward.