"Er Ha? Er Ha! I have a name now, I have a name now, thanks to Mr. Su!"
Er Ha excitedly darted up and down, pressing his dog's head close to Zhong Shenxiu's face, and with a wagging tongue, he ingratiatingly said, "Mr. Su, as the saying goes, don't bother the same person twice for different favors, but I don't have a given name yet. Could you please give me one too..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Er Ha was slapped on the head by Huang Xie, "You brat, having a name is enough, why do you need a given name?"
Zhong Shenxiu couldn't help but smile, yet he didn't speak. Looking around at the cultivated fields, he turned to Er Qi and asked, "How's the harvest in the village?"
"The year has been fair, and given that taxes are not heavy, we can get by... If a family raises some livestock, there's meat to eat during the festive season..."
Er Qi rambled on in reply.
'The productivity of ancient times... that's just how it was... and this world still has its extraordinary elements... No, maybe I should say, in terms of widespread benefits to the people, the technology path that emphasizes collective effort is so much better than the individual superhuman cultivation path...'
Zhong Shenxiu suddenly felt a pang of emotion.
But this was none of his business, after discussing for a bit, they began to patrol along the road.
It wasn't that they didn't want to track, but leaving the village too far behind could lead to encounters with the Black Fog, which would be far too dangerous.
This troop of soldiers, all sly old dogs, naturally prioritized their lives above all and secretly prayed that no wild beasts would appear to avoid bloodshed and the inevitable injuries.
Zhong Shenxiu, on the other hand, was rather curious about the so-called monsters and Black Fog, but he couldn't leave the group to investigate alone.
Three blazing suns hung high in the sky, and in the blink of an eye, it was afternoon.
Zhong Shenxiu used his hand to shield his eyes from the sun, looking off into the distance, suddenly feeling restless, and muttered to himself, "Could it be that thing acting up again? Something's not right... when do malevolent spirits cause trouble under the bright sun? But then again, Western malevolent spirits might not adhere to these rules..."
As he was pondering, he suddenly heard several loud cries not far away.
Huang Xie, Xue San, and the others all tightened their faces, gripping the hilts of their Yanling Sabers at their waists.
The five men crested a small hill and saw below them a field of green wheat. To the east, several bodies lay on the ground, blood streaming.
And the culprit behind all this was not some monster, but a tall figure covered in black hair, with a burly appearance and a giant black bear's head—a Bear-man!
"The Bear Clan? Didn't the largest Bear Tribe near Black Mountain Castle already get eradicated?" Xue San exclaimed in surprise.
"Perhaps they're remnants of the Bear Barbarians, coming to loot supplies for the winter," Huang Xie suggested.
He drew his Yanling Saber and charged directly down the slope.
Bear Barbarians was a name coined by the Yan Han people, but Zhong Shenxiu thought 'Bear-man Clan' was a bit more descriptive.
Members of the Bear Clan were tall and strong; adults possessing the strength of wild bears, ordinary Yan Han people stood no chance against them, but Zhong Shenxiu and his comrades were not afraid.
Besides, their opponent was neither an elite warrior nor armed with any notable weapons.
Er Ha, on his first battlefield, was as excited as anything, brandishing a long spear and charging to the front, causing Huang Xie to shout continuously.
Charging toward the Bear Barbarian, he wielded the spear with both hands, following up on the momentum, he thrust the spearhead fiercely.
The Bear-man sidestepped slightly, and Er Ha rushed past him, thud, his foot tripped, and he tumbled to the ground.
The Bear-man raised its white bone hammer high, seemingly about to smash his head in.
"Stay your hand, do not harm my nephew!"
Huang Xie hurriedly joined the fray from the side, unleashing the Yanling Saber Technique passed down in the military. He rolled on the ground, and a slash of his saber aimed straight for the Bear-man's ankle.
"A soldier of the Yan Han!"
The Bear-man dodged the strike, staring down at the encircling Zhong Shenxiu and others, its bear head growing even more ferocious, "It's all you, all you!"
Its eyes were blood-red, as if nursing a deep-seated grudge against the Yan Han.
Years ago, when the Yan Han Empire had fallen, a multitude of foreign tribes migrated and established themselves upon its ruins, Heisting County being set up around that time.
The Bear Clan, back then, had cooperated with the Heisting Count, prospering and multiplying on what was once Earl Country's land.
Later on, with the Second Yan Han Empire established, and growing stronger, it gradually expanded its boundaries and thus extinguished Heisting County.
And what of the surrounding tribes?
The Quanrong Clan was loyal and enthusiastic, amicable toward humans, and was accepted as an ally.
As for the Bear Barbarians and other tribes deemed more barbaric in their ways, they were exterminated. Those few who managed to survive either fled into the Black Fog or wandered alone, surviving just barely, and harbored intense hostility toward humans.
"Victors are kings, losers are bandits, what more is there to say? You dare trespass on our lands, die!"
Xue San roared, exchanging a glance with Zhong Shenxiu and the others. They formed a saber formation and pounced, delivering a slash aimed at the Bear-man's head.
At the same time, Zhong Shenxiu moved about the battlefield, stabbing his saber at the Bear-man's waist, while Huang Xie rolled on the ground, the light of his saber sweeping the earth.
Each of the three warriors made a strike, seamlessly coordinated as if they were a single top-class expert, simultaneously executing three slashes in a moment.
The Bear-man twisted its head aside, dodging the potentially fatal slash. Its bone hammer came crashing down furiously.
With a clang, the Bear-man's tremendous arm strength sent vibrations through Huang Xie's hands, numbing them, almost causing his long saber to fly from his grasp.
But while it could defend against two strikes, it ultimately could not stop the third.
Zhong Shenxiu's Yanling Saber, like a swimming dragon, found its way through the gaps in the Bear-man's tattered leather armor, plunging into its heart with one thrust.
The Bear-man howled, casting aside its bone hammer, its fan-sized hands reaching to grasp Zhong Shenxiu.
Naturally, Zhong Shenxiu wasn't about to stand still and get caught, so he withdrew his saber and retreated swiftly.
The Bear-man's wound spurted a large volume of fresh blood as it slumped to the ground, still twitching violently.
Huang Xie clambered to his feet, loudly cheering.
Er Ha, too, approached the battlefield, disheveled, sniffing the Bear-man's body, somewhat puzzled, "This scent isn't right... It's not the same as the creature that wrecked the crops I smelled earlier."
"No matter, to have slain a Bear-man is a great deed!" Xue San, exhilarated, stepped forward and cut off the Bear-man's ear as proof.
At that moment, the sound of gongs and drums approached from the direction of the village, as a group of villagers ran over, still holding tools like pitchforks in their hands.
Clearly, they had come after hearing the news, ready to lend support.
Seeing the Bear-man already dead, they all relaxed, and began to collect the body.
Residents of the frontier are accustomed to life and death; aside from their fiery courage, they had grown somewhat indifferent to it all.