Martial Arts: I Have a Wilderness World-Chapter 91 - 90: Out of the City

BAM!

Cheng Zongyang led his second aunt to the entrance of an abandoned house in South City. He sent a pursuing, savage-faced refugee flying with a kick, then swung his Long Saber to cut down two men who were reaching for her.

"Second Aunt, go!"

The ease with which Cheng Zongyang wielded his Long Saber, combined with his blood-soaked appearance, intimidated the other restless refugees.

Seeing they no longer dared to approach, he kept his eyes on them as he slowly backed away, then entered the house.

When he saw the refugees weren’t following, he shut the dilapidated wooden door and quickly led his second aunt toward the back of the house.

He had fought and killed his way here!

There were too many refugees, every one of them acting as if they were possessed. He had to stick to secluded paths just to reach his destination safely.

The back door of this house opened into a corner of the city wall. It was the only way to pass through this area of abandoned, collapsed ruins.

After hacking away the dense vines and plants with his Long Saber, a hidden path was revealed.

The path showed signs of frequent use and led off in another direction. The surroundings were littered with animal droppings and the carcasses of cats and dogs.

He had learned of this place from the beggars.

Following the path, Cheng Zongyang cautiously made his way to a corner of the city wall. After some searching, he found a spot almost completely hidden by weeds, but which showed signs of having been disturbed before.

The beggars had said the other end of the hole was blocked by a pile of stones outside the wall, making it impossible to get through. All he could do now was try for himself.

’The refugees must have gotten all those stones from the piles outside the city wall,’ he guessed.

After quickly clearing the weeds from the mouth of the hole, Cheng Zongyang said hurriedly:

"Second Aunt, this is it. I’ll go through first to check things out, then you can follow."

"Okay, okay," Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family replied, her face pale and her body limp. She was holding on by a sheer thread of will.

The place was a dog hole.

The opening had originally been very small, but the beggars had somehow managed to widen it enough for a single person to pass through.

Of course, it was only big enough for someone with a small frame; a larger person would likely get stuck. The beggars were all gaunt, so they had only made it wide enough for their own passage.

Cheng Zongyang was slightly more robust, but he could still squeeze through.

’I can’t believe my nephew knew there was a dog hole here!’ Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family thought.

But she had no time for surprise. She nervously watched their backs to see if they had been followed, then squatted down anxiously to wait for his signal.

Meanwhile, Cheng Zongyang slowly squeezed through the dog hole. He soon saw the other end was blocked.

He tried pushing outward with his hands and easily shoved aside the stones blocking the opening.

He quickly squeezed his body through and crawled out the other side. He scanned his surroundings. The stench was overwhelming, but the refugees were mostly gone, leaving behind a total mess and the bodies of those who had been starved or beaten to death.

He found himself in a rubble pile at the foot of the city wall.

These stones were used for repairing the city walls and streets.

The stones were piled at the foot of the wall, serving as both protection and a ready supply for repairs.

But the piles were now scattered all over the place. Judging by the marks on the wall, it was clear that more than half the stones were gone. Just as he’d suspected, the refugees must have taken them, broken them up, and used them as weapons.

It was precisely for this reason that there were fewer stones blocking the dog hole; otherwise, Cheng Zongyang would never have been able to push them away.

Seeing it was relatively safe outside, he quickly called back through the hole to his second aunt.

Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family, who had a rather frail build, heard her nephew’s voice from outside. She quickly lowered her head, got on the ground, and began crawling through the dog hole.

Although the space was tight, she could still crawl out with a bit of a squeeze.

Some of the chiseled parts of the opening were still sharp. Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family’s skin wasn’t as thick or tough as Cheng Zongyang’s, so she ended up with several red scrapes.

After emerging, Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family straightened her messy hair and quickly asked, "What now?"

"Let’s go," Cheng Zongyang said. "Back to the mountains."

And so, Cheng Zongyang, still holding his Long Saber, led his second aunt and quickly departed the County Town.

Although they were near the South City Gate, they could still take a detour, heading toward West City to get back to Golden Bridge Village.

As they left, Cheng Zongyang could still see hordes of refugees jammed at the city gate, continuing to surge inside.

They all knew that gate was their only path to survival. If they didn’t get in, they would die out here!

So every single one of them pushed and shoved madly, desperate to get in. The ground was littered with the bodies of refugees who had been trampled to death in the crush.

Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family didn’t dare look at the brutal scene. Her face, which hadn’t regained its color, was a mask of terror and lingering fear.

’If my nephew hadn’t been here,’ she thought, ’my husband and I would have both died in the city.’

At that moment, she also began to worry about her husband. But her nephew had told her that he’d arranged for a government official to take him to wait in the mountain forest outside the city, which put her a little more at ease.

Cheng Zongyang and Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family were dressed like peasants. That, combined with their blood-soaked appearance from the chase, meant the other refugees paid them no mind.

The refugees no longer cared about what happened outside the walls; their target was what lay within. Thus, Cheng Zongyang and his second aunt bypassed the South City area without incident and reached West City.

He saw the ground at the West City gate was also covered in trampled, mangled corpses, with a crowd still blocking the entrance. A chill went down his spine.

’Who knows how many townspeople are suffering now,’ he thought. ’At the same time, with the Government Office, the Noble Races, and all the Strongmen’s Martial Artists mobilized, I fear the number of refugee casualties will be unimaginable.’

The seeds of this disaster were sown long ago, and now they had finally sprouted. It was all fated to happen.

Cheng Zongyang didn’t know what County Magistrate Chang Younian had been plotting, nor did he know what the six great families and four major Gangs were vying for.

But right now, he figured they would all have to unite to suppress the refugees first.

’Raise a tiger to be devoured by it; play with fire and you’ll get burned. It was obvious Chang Younian had lost control of his own game.’

Just as he was about to step onto the main road, he suddenly saw a man kneeling on the ground, head bowed. A Firewood Knife was embedded in the earth before him, and seven or eight bodies lay nearby.

Cheng Zongyang noticed a wound on the man’s neck. That must have been the fatal blow.

Blood had long since soaked his clothes and pooled on the ground, only to be completely absorbed by the parched earth.

He couldn’t tell if the man had committed suicide, but judging by the state of the bodies around him, it seemed unlikely.

Without speculating further, he skirted around the scene and hurried away down the main road.

Just then, he noticed two slovenly, middle-aged men standing quietly not far down the road, gazing toward the city gate.

Cheng Zongyang, his face stained with blood, didn’t look at them directly. He could, however, sense their auras—they were Martial Artists.

’I just want to get out of here as fast as possible. I don’t need any more trouble.’

As he passed by, however, he spared them a glance and felt that their faces and builds were somewhat familiar, though he couldn’t recall where he might have seen them.

The two slovenly men paid Cheng Zongyang no mind either. Although they could also sense a faint Martial Artist’s aura about him, one look at his condition and the unarmed, ordinary woman behind him was enough for them to dismiss him completely.

And so, the two parties went their separate ways.