Eagle Beak Mountain was tall and densely forested, making travel difficult. Merchants avoided it, and there were hardly any towns or villages.
Life as a bandit here was far from easy.
Ding Dachui had originally been a hunter. After feuding with a powerful local gentry family, he fled and became an outlaw. Countless times, he had fantasized about leading his brothers back in a triumphant charge, with the gentry family kneeling before him, begging for mercy—
But ten years had passed, and that scene had yet to materialize. Moreover—
"Boss!" someone beside him excitedly slapped his arm, hissing through clenched teeth, "A wild boar, a wild boar—"
Ding Dachui shoved the man down with one hand. "Quiet."
Holding his breath, he watched as a dark shadow emerged from the dense forest opposite. The shadow had been leisurely grazing and rubbing against trees when it suddenly stepped on a trap mechanism. Two wooden spikes shot up from the ground, piercing the shadow's throat—
The wild boar let out a piercing shriek, shaking the entire mountain forest. But it didn't fall. Instead, it charged madly—straight toward Ding Dachui's position.
The man pinned down by Ding Dachui nearly leaped up. "Boss, run!"
Ding Dachui released him, and the man bolted like a rabbit. After a few steps, he glanced back and saw Ding Dachui hadn't followed.
"Boss!" he shouted, eyes wide as he stared at Ding Dachui.
Ding Dachui remained standing in place, raising his hunting bow and aiming at the frenzied charging boar—
Was he insane? The man's voice cracked. "Boss, don't—"
The boar drew closer, a gale of foul, bloody stench sweeping toward them. With a roar, Ding Dachui released two arrows, which flew straight and true, piercing the boar's eyes—
Amid the man's distorted screams, the boar collapsed before Ding Dachui, thrashing violently enough to shake the ground. After a moment, it twitched and lay still.
The man also fell to his knees with a thud. Despite the late autumn chill, a cold sweat drenched his back.
"Big brother," he finally managed to gasp, stumbling over. "You scared me to death."
Ding Dachui remained calm, waving his arm dismissively. "Nothing to fear. Wild boars just look intimidating."
Just look intimidating? The man stared at the path the boar had torn through—as if plowed, trees as thick as bowls snapped in half—
"What happened?" "Did you catch something?" "That was quite a commotion—"
Seven or eight men rushed over from all directions, their eyes lighting up at the sight of the boar on the ground. They cheered in delight.
"It's a wild boar!"
"Incredible!"
"What a skilled hunter!"
Ding Dachui accepted the earlier compliments with ease, but the third remark displeased him. He snapped at the speaker, "What are you talking about? We're bandits!"
He was a bandit—how could he be called a hunter again?
The speaker looked embarrassed and quickly amended loudly, "Boss is the greatest bandit!"
But instead of cheering up at these words, Ding Dachui's expression grew even gloomier. "I'm not the boss anymore. We have a new leader now."
The men's expressions turned complicated.
One of them fumed, "Boss, you'll always be our boss. I only recognize you as the boss. How can a woman be the boss?"
But others turned their heads, avoiding Ding Dachui's gaze. Their evasive eyes fell on the boar's carcass. This boss might be great at hunting boars, but that other boss—even if she's a woman—beat Ding Dachui like a dead pig—
Ding Dachui noticed their averted gazes. He didn't get angry or scold them. What right did he have? He had been outmatched, and the fact that he was still alive was only by that person's mercy.
The thought still felt surreal.A while ago, several people suddenly appeared at their stronghold, claiming they were there to rob them.
Rob them.
Even now, thinking back to that moment, Ding Dachui still finds it amusing.
It was true that they were bandits, but they rarely carried out robberies throughout the year.
Eagle Beak Mountain was desolate and remote, with treacherous paths. Wealthy travelers took the broad, smooth roads near the county town, where bustling towns and formidable garrisons were stationed. Hardly anyone passed through this area, and those who did were mostly impoverished locals from nearby villages.
Half the time, they couldn't even snatch a tattered piece of clothing from their robberies. On unlucky days, they'd even end up being pestered—the very people they robbed would weep and beg to join the bandits, just for a bite to eat.
He often wondered, who was robbing whom?!
Never did he imagine that someone would actually come to a bandit stronghold to rob them.
What was even funnier was that among these people was a woman.
She wore a wide-brimmed hat with a veil that obscured her face, but it was still clear she was a delicate, graceful woman—
At the time, they were both furious and amused, ready to teach these strangers a lesson. But they never expected—
The six of them took down over thirty of their men, managing to injure without killing anyone. The injuries weren't even superficial—they dislocated joints and twisted tendons—
And that delicate woman? With just a few flicks of her whip, she dislocated Ding Dachui’s arms—the same arms that could shoot an arrow through a willow leaf at a hundred paces—and twisted his ankle tendons. The burly man was left hanging from a tree branch like a ragged doll.
Recalling that scene, Ding Dachui still feels a mix of shame, anger, and fear.
Looking down from the treetop at those people, especially that woman, was like gazing upon demons from hell.
Was this a government crackdown on bandits? Since when did the authorities have such terrifying operatives?
But after the entire stronghold was subdued, the group didn’t take their heads to claim a bounty from the authorities. Instead, they declared the stronghold was now theirs. That woman even announced that she was the new leader.
Her veil hung low, her whip coiled around her waist like a shimmering golden belt, accentuating a waist so slender it seemed it might break with a sway. In a soft voice, she said, "This... is a robbery."
In these times, even bandits get robbed—and by a woman, no less. What could Ding Dachui and the others do but bow their heads and accept their fate? True to her word, the woman didn’t take their lives. She restored their bones and tendons to normal, and just like that, she became their new boss.
But that wasn’t all.
The other two strongholds in Falling Eagle Mountain didn’t escape either.
This stretch of rolling mountains resembled an eagle crouched upon the earth, with each peak named after its shape.
Because the mountains were vast and game was plentiful, Ding Dachui and his men weren’t the only hunters—ahem, bandits—around. The lofty peaks and dense forests made the area easy to defend and hard to attack, ideal for ambushes, so other bandits also hid here.
The three strongholds had fought frequently, each hoping to swallow up the others. But since they were evenly matched, they eventually settled on boundaries and kept to themselves.
Who would have thought that today, all three strongholds would be robbed and absorbed, merging into one.
"Enough," Ding Dachui pushed aside his complicated emotions. "Our brothers are still alive, still together. Being the boss or not doesn’t matter."
With that, he gestured for the men to lift the wild boar. "—Take it back to the stronghold—salt it for preservation!"
As the men hoisted the boar, one of them couldn’t help but mutter, "I wonder what the boss really looks like. She must be very beautiful—"
Before he could finish, Ding Dachui kicked him."If you don't want to die, cut the nonsense," Ding Dachui said coldly. "Her becoming the leader has nothing to do with her appearance."
The man immediately shrank back, no longer daring to joke.
The group carried the wild boar forward, but after just a few steps, a sharp bird cry echoed from the mountain forest.
The sound startled everyone present. Ding Dachui instantly recalled that when the new leader arrived, the same kind of bird cry had filled the forest—urgent, high-pitched, and sharp, as if gripping the heart.
What had happened?
Then the bird cry ceased abruptly, only to be followed by a chorus of bird calls erupting throughout the entire mountain forest, overwhelming and heart-trembling.
"Something's wrong," Ding Dachui shouted. "Drop the boar and hurry back!"
The men discarded the wild boar and followed Ding Dachui as they rushed toward the stronghold. Before they even reached it, a figure appeared ahead.
It was also a woman, but unlike the new leader, she was petite—a girl in her teens.
"Who's there—" The bird cries transformed into a sharp shout as she yelled, "Who is it—"
A gleaming long blade in her hand, she charged toward the stronghold.
Ding Dachui halted. The stronghold now was not what it used to be.
Hidden dangers lurked all around it.
He had witnessed it before.
Not all the bandits had truly submitted back then. Chang Laizi from the neighboring stronghold had launched a surprise attack under cover of darkness, but the moment he reached the entrance, it was as if he had crashed into a massive net—a glittering golden web, sharp as blades, instantly slicing him to pieces.
That bloody scene had completely eradicated any further rebellious thoughts among them.
This girl was trying to break into the stronghold. In the next moment, she would—
In the next moment, Ding Dachui watched as the girl cut through the void and entered the stronghold.
Simultaneously, a female figure darted out from within the stronghold, the veil beneath her bamboo hat fluttering in the wind.
Ding Dachui clenched his fists. When these two women met, who would prevail?
But there was no clash of blades, no flying blood and flesh.
"Aunt! Why are you here?"
"I was worried."
"Aunt—I'm so glad you're here—She's so dangerous—Wahhh—I'm so scared."
Urgent and gentle female voices intertwined, then only sobs remained.
The girl threw herself into the new leader's embrace, like a lone bird returning to its nest.
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