“That scholar there, do you want to live or die?”
“Hand over your life-saving money, or next year today will be your death anniversary!”
“Leave the two horses as well, or don’t blame us for being ruthless!”
Lu Zheng and Shen Ying were momentarily speechless. Five bandits who didn’t even have a trace of blood energy dared to rob them so brazenly?
How long had it been since they last encountered villains at the level of ordinary mortals? The previous time seemed to be those thugs who set traps targeting Hu Zhou.
“Hey? This woman is gorgeous!”
“Grab her! Grab her and offer her to the chief! He’ll definitely reward us!”
“Snatch the woman! Kill the man!”
“Are we really killing him?”
“Of course we’re killing him. We’re mountain bandits, not monks!”
“We’re proper bandits! We wield big blades to kill, eat big chunks of meat, drink from big bowls!”
“Kill!”
“Kill!”
Without even giving Lu Zheng and Shen Ying a chance to beg for mercy or surrender, the five bandits, a mix of veterans and newcomers, charged straight at them.
In their eyes, the horses weren’t moving fast, so there was no need for tripping ropes. As long as they rushed forward, they could hack Lu Zheng to death and seize Shen Ying.
“So the red maple leaves are stained with blood. That’s how this forest got its colour.”
Lu Zheng sighed lightly. Without resorting to any other techniques, he simply drew his long sword with a reverse grip and dismounted gracefully.
His figure flickered, now ahead, now behind. He spun the sword in a flourish, and five blades clanged to the ground. The five bandits clutched their wrists, faces filled with terror, staring in stunned silence.
“A martial artist!”
“A sword immortal!”
Living the江湖 dream of roaming with a sword, Lu Zheng felt rather dashing. Didn’t you see how brightly Shen Ying’s eyes were shining as she looked at him?
Lu Zheng stood before the lead bandit, resting his long sword lightly on the man’s shoulder.
“You there, bandit. Do you want to live or die?”
“Live! Live, live, live!” The bandit nodded frantically.
The other bandits clearly knew their place. None even tried to flee. They just stood there pitifully, looking at Lu Zheng and awaiting their fate.
Lu Zheng glanced at them sidelong and smiled. “Since you want to live, lead the way.”
“Lead… lead the way? Where to?”
“Where do you think?”
“The stronghold?” The bandit’s eyes lit up. “I’ll lead, I’ll lead! I’ll take you up the mountain right now!”
No joke. What bandits feared most was being killed while robbing on the roads below. Going up the mountain? Once they reached the stronghold and all the bandits swarmed together, with the great chief himself taking action, their stronghold had never lost since the day it was built!
This routine had played out three times before, so the moment they heard Lu Zheng wanted to go up the mountain, all five bandits beamed with joy.
Lu Zheng and Shen Ying exchanged a glance.
Shen Ying sent a voice transmission. “Lu-lang, these bandits look so happy. Could they be plotting something?”
Lu Zheng replied. “No idea, but there can’t possibly be a thousand-year-old great demon or vengeful ghost hiding in a bandit den, right?”
Shen Ying. “If thousand-year-old ghosts were this common, the Great Jing dynasty would have fallen long ago.”
Lu Zheng. “Then the chief must be a martial artist himself, and not a weak one.”
Shen Ying. “No way. If that’s true, aren’t they being far too obvious? That’s just stupid.”
Lu Zheng. “Do you think smart people become bandits?”
Shen Ying. “…”
Bold from their high cultivation, Lu Zheng and Shen Ying naturally weren’t afraid of a mere band of robbers. From the bandits’ earlier conversation alone, it was clear they were habitual evildoers.
Whatever plot they had, it couldn’t harm the couple. Perfect. They would follow them up the mountain, wipe out the whole nest in one go, and rescueure out any ordinary folk who had been kidnapped and forced into the stronghold.
“Who would have thought organised bandits still existed within Great Jing territory?” Lu Zheng teased.
“As long as they’re far from prefectural cities and don’t cause too much commotion, bandits have never been eradicated inside Great Jing,” Shen Ying replied quietly. After all, she herself had once died at the hands of a lone roadside robber, even though he had only been a small-time crook.
…
Deep in the mountains, the bandit stronghold.
The bandits were annihilated, flames rising high.
The chief really was a martial arts expert: two metres tall, muscles knotted like dragons, face covered in brutal scars, blood energy thick and powerful. His strength was comparable to a century-old anomalous creature. No wonder the bandits had placed their hopes in him.
By Lu Zheng’s reckoning, a man like that could have earned a decent living doing anything. Why occupy a mountain and become a bandit? He had even planned to abduct Shen Ying as his pressed wife and chop Lu Zheng up to feed the dogs.
Lu Zheng didn’t even lift a finger himself. Outraged, Shen Ying simply planted peach blossoms all over the chief’s body and drained him into a withered corpse, not even giving him a chance to utter any last words.
Then…
Kill the bandits! Rescue the captives! Loot the place! Burn it down!
More than a dozen ordinary folk who had been forcibly dragged to the stronghold were each given a share of the gold and silver. They had suffered misfortune yet ended up profiting, and were sent safely down the mountain.
Lu Zheng and Shen Ying’s own haul was even greater.
“The money for this entire trip has been generously provided by this chief!”
Shen Ying couldn’t help giggling. “Lu-lang, you’re so rich yourself. How can you still care about this petty cash?”
“That’s completely different!” Lu Zheng declared righteously. “My own money is my own money. Travelling without spending my own money, that’s tradition!”
Shen Ying blinked. “What tradition?”
Lu Zheng faltered. “Er… the tradition of us Lus!”
Shen Ying rolled her eyes but nodded. “Fine, fine. Several hundred strings of cash anyway. Let alone this leg of the journey, we probably couldn’t spend it all even if we travelled for a whole year.”
“Not necessarily. I still plan to buy you lots of nice things along the way,” Lu Zheng said with a smile.
Deeply touched, Shen Ying pulled Lu Zheng back down the mountain into the red maple forest. She struck an elegant pose and let him do a pencil sketch of her.
After finishing and admiring the portrait for a while, the two lingered in the forest until night fell.
…
The moon hung high in the sky, stars glittering brightly.
“Hee-hee-hee…”
“Ha ha ha…”
Two laughing voices approached from afar, then echoed around the couple, impossible to pinpoint.
“What a pair of lovebirds, making love under the open sky. Truly enviable!”
“Such a pity you’re both so stupid. After killing everyone and burning the mountain, you actually dared to stay here.”
Lu Zheng’s eyes narrowed. “You’re connected to that chief?”
“You killed the master’s blood slave and cauldron. Then offer your own blood in return. You’re martial artists too, so your blood energy is quite abundant.”
“And this woman, tsk tsk, so beautiful. The master also cultivates a yin-yang method. Rest assured, he’ll take very good care of your woman.”
“Those who do evil live long lives!”
“Those who uphold justice die young!”
“Heh heh…”
“Hah ha…”
The laughter grew loud then soft, far then near, left then right, clear then muddled, echoing around them, drilling into their ears and straight into their true spirits.
If Lu Zheng and Shen Ying had truly been only average martial artists, they would probably already be dizzy, nauseous, and suffering terribly by now.
