Spoils

Hearing the bandits confess to their crimes—murder, arson, robbery, every evil imaginable—Xiao Wu's expression turned complicated, and she sighed.

"How can there be people that evil? Aren't they human too? For a little money and amusement, can they really just kill their own kind?"

Tang San was speechless for a moment. He had learned how to kill from a young age in the Tang Sect, believing that everyone he killed was someone who deserved to die, and he had never hesitated.

"Xiao Wu, killing doesn't need a reason. We only need to know that they're evil people who wanted to kill us, so we can kill them too."

"That's the way to protect yourself in this world."

Tang San rephrased the words of the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record and told them to Xiao Wu.

Xiao Wu still did not understand and looked at Gula.

"Gula, what do you think?"

Gula was using Psychic Power to gather the spoils. Hearing this, he answered without even raising his head.

"I never torment myself over other people's mistakes. They're a bunch of bandits. If they're killed, they're killed. Who cares what reasons they had behind it? If you want to kill someone, you have to be prepared to be killed."

"When people are killed, they die. Instead of thinking so much, you might as well think about what to eat for dinner."

Gula's expression remained as still as an ancient well. After transmigrating to Douluo Continent, he had already mentally prepared himself to kill. Using a group of bandits as the beginning was not a bad start.

Moreover, as a divine beast, his clone Groudon's mindset inevitably influenced Gula, leaving him without the slightest discomfort when killing. At most, he felt a little uneasy inside, but he overcame it quickly.

"Oh, a Pleasant Surprise."

Gula dug through the mud mountain and found a one-cubic-meter Storage Soul Tool on Black-faced Fiend's body. Inside were quite a few bottles and jars.

"Only markings, no labels. Pretty cautious. Too bad you ran into me."

The past was fixed; the future changed in countless ways.

When Gula looked at things in the future that had not yet happened, it consumed a great deal of Soul Power. Looking at things in the past that had already happened consumed much less, and he could see much farther.

So he switched to his Celebi Martial Soul and used the Storage Soul Tool to view the scene of Black-faced Fiend preparing the medicines.

In an instant, his field of vision arrived in a dim cave, where faint wolf howls and ghostly cries echoed through the cavern.

Black Wind Fiend swallowed a yellow pill and pressed down on a hundred-year black wolf...

"Holy crap, filthy stuff! My eyes!"

Gula withdrew his line of sight, staggered, and almost fell to his knees. He grabbed onto a roadside tree, tears sliding from the corners of his eyes.

He... was no longer clean.

He was still a child... If he had known, he would never have been curious.

Who could... have imagined? Who could have imagined? Who could have imagined the Bandit Leader was that kind of person!

Dual cultivating with a soul beast—what an unparalleled ruthless man!

Gula had originally wanted to throw away the Storage Soul Tool, but after thinking that a Storage Soul Tool was worth at least five figures, he gritted his teeth, wrapped it in something, and put it away.

"Brother Gu, what's wrong?"

Tang San noticed that Gula's emotions were off and asked.

"Nothing!" Gula glared at Black Wind Fiend's corpse through gritted teeth.

That was what he said, but Gula felt like he had suffered psychological trauma and needed something beautiful to cleanse his eyes.

Or he needed to find somewhere to vent.

"Follow me. The bandits' lair is on a nearby mountain. When cutting weeds, you have to pull out the roots. The Gold Coins and supplies the bandits robbed are all on the mountain too. We're going to move them back to the academy."

Gula led the way in front. Tang San and Xiao Wu were curious about how Gula knew where the bandits' lair was, but seeing that he was in a bad mood, they did not ask.

After entering the woods, there were still traces left by the bandits. Gula communicated with the surrounding plants and followed the traces all the way to the foot of a mountain.

"There should be bandits keeping watch up there. Be careful not to get Sneak Attacked. I'll go take a look first."

Transparent wings emerged behind Gula, and with a flap, he flew into the sky.

Celebi could use Psychic Power to fly, so its wings were not strong, but they could still be used to unleash a few Flying-type moves.

Through the rocks, Gula sensed two bandits. He waved his wings and scattered pollen down.

The pollen was Sleep Powder. In the dim environment, it was not obvious, and under the caress of the light breeze, it silently drifted onto the two men's heads, making them yawn.

"Why am I suddenly so sleepy?"

The two of them had low Soul Power. Their bodies swayed, and they toppled over to sleep, not even reacting when they hit the stones.

With Gula's strength, he could have simply charged straight into the mountain stronghold, but to prevent the mountain bandits from damaging the spoils, Gula decided to enter quietly.

He flew back out and called to Tang San, "Xiao Wu, stand guard here and stop any fish that slip through the net. Little San, come with me. Don't let the bandits destroy the spoils."

"Okay." Tang San was very happy. A stronghold of several dozen people should be able to yield quite a few Gold Coins, right?

For once, Xiao Wu did not argue with Gula and nodded in agreement.

Gula rushed into the mountain stronghold. When clearing small fry in complicated terrain, Psychic Power was even more useful than wide-area moves—precise, efficient, and never missing.

Blasts of Confusion slammed into the mountain bandits' brains one after another. Most likely, they could knock out bandits whose highest level was only Soul Grandmaster. If that did not work, he just hit them a couple more times.

Tang San followed behind to finish them off. Looking at Gula suspended in midair, his eyes were filled with envy.

Why didn't his martial soul have a flashy ability like that? Silently disposing of enemies was simply perfect for assassination.

When they reached the heart of the stronghold, the bandits finally noticed the intruders and struck a bronze gong, shouting, "Someone's invading!"

Before he could go on, a psychic impact knocked him unconscious, and Tang San's figure moved like a specter as he rushed over to finish him off.

The two of them slaughtered their way through, barely encountering any real resistance. After all, for a gang of mountain bandits to have a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor among them was already extraordinary. Anyone stronger would have gone out to sea and become a pirate; with the abundant resources of the ocean, that had far better prospects than turning outlaw in the mountains.

When they arrived before the houses the bandits had built for their captives, the few remaining bandits hid inside, hoping to ambush Gula and Tang San.

Gula rubbed his Temples. "My Spiritual Power is almost at its limit. We'll do it by hand from here."

"Good. I'll do it." Tang San volunteered and crept forward with Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. The few bandits had only just reacted when Tang San had already slit their throats.

Gula smiled. The arena tournament had actually restricted Tang San. If it were a life-or-death battle, even a Soul Elder might not necessarily be Tang San's match.

"Perfect stealth. Let's go loot the spoils."

The corner of Tang San's mouth twitched slightly. It was the first time he had heard of "stealth" meaning killing every enemy, though it did suit his tastes quite well.

Gula entered the largest room and found a cabinet containing the Bandit Leader's collection.

Gold jewelry, antiques, sculptures, rare treasures... none of that was there.

The Bandit Leader had rather special tastes. He robbed people in order to buy resources for cultivation, and most of the money he obtained had been exchanged for medicines that increased Soul Power. He did not care about potential, which was how he had managed to cultivate to the Soul Ancestor level.

Of course, a Soul Ancestor who had relied on drugs to get there did not have much Combat Power either. He would even struggle against an ordinary Soul Elder who cultivated properly. Otherwise, he would not have been so utterly incapable of resisting and so easily dealt with by Gula.

What the Bandit Leader had collected were Medicinal Herbs, and they were all fine goods.

Tang San leaned in and said in surprise, "Blood Ganoderma, Three-Colored Deer Antler, Thousand-Year Whale Glue, Dragon Whisker Tiger Whip... so many rare Medicinal Herbs. It's just... why are they all medicines for strengthening yang and enriching blood, arousing desire and nourishing the kidneys?"