Deep within the Yu Lin Mountain Range, several thousand Mountain Bandits suddenly appeared in a mountain hollow.
At their head was a vicious-looking One-Eyed Dragon. He sat atop a Black Steed, his gaze fixed on the entrance to the hollow.
"Are you certain it's here?" He turned slightly and asked the dog-headed strategist standing below.
"Chief, the scouts reported that the merchant did indeed enter this place." The strategist cupped his hands in salute as he replied.
"Then leave twenty brothers to guard the entrance. The rest, follow me in!!"
As soon as he spoke, the bandits behind him swiftly formed up. At One-Eyed Dragon's command, he led the several thousand Mountain Bandits into the hollow.
A moment later, they spotted a small village and charged in without hesitation, beginning their plunder.
"Aah! Run! The Mountain Bandits are here!!"
The cries rang throughout the entire village.
Hearing the shouts, the villagers hid their elderly, children, sick, and disabled at home. They grabbed hoes and sickles, locked their courtyard gates, and rushed out to fight the Mountain Bandits.
Those Mountain Bandits were exceptionally fierce. They committed every evil imaginable and killed without batting an eye.
The villagers were no match for them. One villager after another rushed forward only to fall to the ground, blood splattering everywhere as a foul stench filled the air.
Though they were outmatched, the villagers showed no fear. Not a single person fled.
Since the Chen Family's wooden house stood in the north, the bandit scourge had yet to reach it, and the Chen Family remained unaware.
At that moment, Chen You and the Domain Lord Old Man were sitting comfortably in chairs in the courtyard, lazily drinking tea beneath the sunlight.
That was when Chen Musheng, who had gone out to work, hurried home with