Book 1 Chapter 11: First encounter with bandits

“What?” Hearing the big man’s words, the village chief had a dumbfounded expression. The villagers behind him also had furious expressions.

“Oh? So, you’re unwilling? Humph! I thought you’d be enlightened enough to listen to me obediently, but turns out I’ll still have to do the snatching myself.”

The impatient voice of the big man with dead fish eyes rang out. The village chief finally turned around and said in a trembling voice: “Sir... We, we will listen to you by giving you all our food and money. Please spare us...”

“Cut the crap! Am I negotiating with you? Since you’re unwilling to tell them to come out, I’ll go and find them myself!” With a mean and savage expression, the big man swung the horsewhip in his hand at the village chief. A snap was heard as the old village chief was sent flying upside down. Several villagers hurriedly caught him and saw a blood-red whip mark on his chest, his skin torn and his flesh gaping open.

The leading big man got off his horse. Raising his large saber, he walked towards the house of a family on one side. The people behind him also spread out, wanting to enter the houses to search. Four or five bandits did not move. They were staring fiercely at the villagers, the weapons in their hands giving cold sparkles under the light of the setting sun.

Seeing the bandits going into their houses, some villagers rushed up to resist, but they were knocked down with ease. Two of them were even hit by weapons and immediately fell down in pools of blood.

That big man was walking towards a house. All of a sudden, a youngster rushed out from among the villagers. His steps were somewhat unsteady. Apparently, because he was too terrified, he fell to the ground when he came close to the big man. Without struggling up, he gripped one of the big man’s legs and implored in a trembling voice: “Please... Leave them alone... Don’t go in, I beg of you...”

This youngster was none other than Xiao Feng. He had been staying at the back of the crowd all along. But now, even though he was extremely frightened inside, he still rushed out—because, Ling’er was hiding in this house.

Seeing him like this, the big man was stupefied for a short while. Then he gave an eerie laugh: “What? There’s something important to you in this house? Ha ha, then open your eyes and watch me go off with it!” Afterwards, he lifted a foot and sent Xiao Feng flying immediately with a kick.

Xiao Feng spouted out a mouthful of blood when he was still in midair. His ribs seemed to have been broken by the kick. After falling to the ground, he struggled to get up, but a bandit stamped on his back, preventing him from getting up.

Not long after the big man entered the house, terrified screams of a young girl came out from inside. That big man then laughed out loud in pleasant surprise and complacency: “Ha ha! I didn’t expect this shabby village to have such a juicy girl! The brat outside wants to protect you, right? What’s good about that kind of weakling? Come and let me love you properly...”

Xiao Feng kept wanting to struggle up, but he could not break loose from that foot which was stamping on his back. He hopelessly reached out his hands towards the house in front of him, his eyes almost blood-red: “Ling’er... Don’t be afraid, Ling’er. I’ll come and save you right away... Right away...”

When his beloved was about to be violated, his deep fear turned into an extreme hatred. He hated Heaven for being unfair, hated the bandits for being inhuman, and hated himself for being a weakling...

A force was being bred in his mind and was awakening in the depths of his soul. The young man spouted out another mouthful of blood. His hands pushed against the ground, their blue veins popping up. His body was lifted up bit by bit, but his consciousness gradually started to become hazy.

The bandit who was stamping on the youngster’s back with a foot suddenly felt that the resistance under his foot seemed to get stronger and stronger, even feeling somewhat insuppressible. His eyes flashed with fierceness. He raised the large saber in his hand, ready to bring it down in a chop.

Right at this moment, he heard several people exclaim from behind. Before he could turn around, he felt a great force hit the back of his head. Then the body of this bandit was sent flying a good several meters and fell to the ground. Not uttering even a groan, he lost consciousness.

Without stopping at all, a silhouette then rushed into the house from which the cries for help of the young girl were coming out.

This was none other than Bai Yunfei!!

When he reached the entrance of the village, he saw a scene of chaos in the village. Some people had fallen down in pools of blood and some were treating them on one side. Several scoundrels with weapons were blocking the way in front of the villagers. Furthermore, in front of a small house, a youngster was being stamped on by a man, who then raised the weapon in his hand, ready to hack down right away.

“Bandits!” In just about the blink of an eye, Bai Yunfei guessed the identity of these people correctly. Without thinking much, he channeled his soulforce into his legs and rushed up quickly. After sending that man flying with a kick, he rushed into that room in front of him.

As soon as he entered the room, he saw a big man pushing a young girl down on the floor, his left hand clutching her neck and his right hand tearing at the clothes on her body. There was a glaring palm print on that young girl’s face. Tears kept streaming down from her eyes as she struggled and begged nonstop. A piece of cloth on her right shoulder had been ripped out, revealing her snow-white skin.

That big man was obviously a vigilant one. He noticed as soon as Bai Yunfei went into the room. He turned around suddenly and, at the same time, made a grab at the large saber off to the side with his right hand.

He was fast, but Bai Yunfei was even faster! At almost the same time as the big man turned around, he arrived at his side with a dash. Afterwards, the big man gave a miserable cry. It turned out the hand with which he tried to grab the large saber had been trampled on by Bai Yunfei’s foot. Cracking sounds were heard. Obviously the bones of the hand had been crushed.

With a solemn look in his eyes, Bai Yunfei did not care about the big man’s miserable cry. He raised a foot and sounds of broken bones came out again from the big man’s chest. His huge body was unexpectedly sent flying directly. Only after flying three or four meters away from the room did it fall down to the ground.

After the big man had flown out, the outside was caught up in a strange silence. Everybody, whether bandits or villagers, watched in a somewhat stupefied manner as that big man was lying on the ground spouting blood unceasingly.

Only when Bai Yunfei walked out of the room did those bandits react by running up to the big man in succession while crying. Even the several bandits who had rushed into other houses ran out when hearing this.

The dialog situation in which the bandits would shout a question: “Where are you from, brother...?” and Bai Yunfei would say indifferently: “You’re unlucky to run into me. On behalf of the moon, I will destroy you...” did not occur.

After walking out of the room, Bai Yunfei swept a glance at the eleven bandits who were still standing. Without giving them any time to reorganize, he charged straight at the bandit nearest him.

That man was frightened. He promptly raised the large saber in his hand and swung it at Bai Yunfei. Bai Yunfei leaned to one side a bit, avoiding the blade. He then reached out his left hand, grabbed the man’s wrist and gave a squeeze. That man let out a miserable cry. The large saber slipped out of his hand. Bai Yunfei caught it and threw it backwards then hit him in the face with a punch. That man immediately fell straight on his back and passed out.

Only when Bai Yunfei had knocked out another bandit did the remaining bandits react. Brandishing their weapons, they came at him and surrounded him.

Bai Yunfei grabbed up the man who had just been knocked down at his feet, whirled him around in a circle before throwing him out immediately, smashing him into three other men. He then rushed out of the encirclement and walked around quickly among the bandits, snatching their weapons and hitting them with his fists.

In just a while, the weapons had been piled up and the ten bandits had fallen to the ground in disorder. Most of them had been knocked out. The few who were still conscious were wailing on the ground, clutching either their wrists or their stomachs.

Bai Yunfei had used just a few minutes. He looked at the bandits who were lying all over the ground. There was even a somewhat unsatisfied expression on his face—This was a soul cultivator. Even though he was still at the initial stage of Soul Apprentice, he was not someone who ordinary people could match.

Right at this moment, Bai Yunfei suddenly heard the sounds of horse hooves from behind. He turned around to take a look. It turned out there was still a bandit who had escaped unpunished. At some point, he had quietly mounted a horse and was now fleeing like crazy towards the road they had taken to come here.

Bai Yunfei naturally could not let him get away. With a step, he began to give chase. Because he did not know how to ride a horse, he had no choice but to run like mad in pursuit.

That man thought that he had escaped a disaster and was feeling glad that he had run away fast enough. Just come around that bend up ahead and he would see the mountain top where his hallmaster and the others were resting. Later, if he and those brothers went up together, they would definitely be able to kill that man!

Just when he let out a sigh of relief, he suddenly felt that there was something unusual at his side. He gave a sidelong glance and was so frightened that he almost fell down from the horseback.

Running with all his might, Bai Yunfei finally caught up with that man. Under the terrified look in his eyes, he grabbed one of his legs, which were squeezing the horse’s belly, and pulled with force, dragging him to the ground directly. That man fell down from a horse that was running at high speed, and fell face first to the ground miserably, so when he stopped rolling, he was already breathing out more air than he was taking in.

When Bai Yunfei, carrying the runaway man with him, reached the entrance of the village, he suddenly heard a miserable cry in the village. His heart skipped a beat: “Could it be those bandits have woken up? Impossible, I hit them very hard...”

He quickly walked into the village. But when he saw the situation in the village, he stood still as if he was struck by lightning and looked at a blood-red area in front of him in stupefaction.

The villagers were all right, but they were similarly gazing towards the center of the village with a terrified expression.

That relatively wide vacant area in the center of the village had now been covered in blood completely. This was the blood of that gang of bandits!

A youngster whose entire body was soaked in blood was raising a one-meter long large saber, hacking unceasingly at a body in front of him. The body was vaguely recognizable and it was none other than the leading big man with dead fish eyes.

Those ten bandits around him were now all dead, with their chests and necks covered in deep wounds caused by the hacking of a large saber. Blood was still coming out nonstop from some of the wounds.

Amidst the infernal pile of dead men, that youngster called Xiao Feng, his eyes deep red and seemingly without focus, was mechanically chopping at the corpse in front of him again and again with the saber while growling like a beast with his mouth.

“Die... Die! All bandits must die! To pay for my parents’ death! To pay for my sister’s death! Kill you! Kill you! I’ll protect Ling’er! You’re not allowed to harm my Ling’er...”

Bai Yunfei looked at the young man in stupefaction. On seeing the despair and hatred in his eyes and hearing his words, somehow he felt an indescribable sorrow and a feeling of being in the same boat surge inside him.

Once in that Coliseum, where the nobility and the rich sought pleasure and where human lives were worthless, there was similarly a youngster with blood tears streaming down from his deep red eyes who brandished the brick in his hand and smashed it down on the body of Direwolf again and again...

“Brother Xiao Feng!”

A lovely shout woke Bai Yunfei up with a start. A young girl in damaged clothes rushed out from that small house. Even though he was covered in blood completely and had a crazy expression, she embraced his waist and said anxiously and tearfully: “Brother Xiao Feng! What’s happened to you? Don’t scare me... brother Xiao Feng...”

The moment the young girl had begun to talk, that young man had stopped his movements and turned his head somewhat absently to take a look. Now, when he was hugged by her and heard her concerned and anxious words, his body gradually stopped trembling. The saber in his hand fell to the ground. His eyes also slowly became pure and clear again.

“Ling... Ling’er! You’re all right... You’re all right! Very good, very good...”

The two of them embraced each other sobbingly on that blood-covered area, surrounded by a dozen of bandit corpses. This scene was somewhat strange to look at, but their innermost sincerity warmed Bai Yunfei’s heart a bit. Somehow, he was secretly rather happy for that youngster called Xiao Feng.

He did not seem to want to see that youngster’s mournful, hopeless expression at all.

Perhaps, it was because of that faintly familiar feeling...