Bandit Trouble

Night fell once more.

Li Qingfeng simply prepared a wild chicken, scraped aside the buried firepit, and rekindled the flames.

Much of his spiritual power had recovered, enough to deal with the fierce beasts of the mountains and forests.

While hunting for food, Li Qingfeng had even run into a pack of wolves. Their green eyes had been particularly chilling.

Though the wolves had smelled the blood aura on Li Qingfeng, they had not attacked. Instead, at the low growl of their alpha, they retreated.

At the time, Li Qingfeng had thought he had encountered spirit creatures. He likewise did not act and let the pack leave.

The sounds outside the door surprised Li Qingfeng. Could people really come to a place like this?

Before long, the footsteps grew dense.

The clatter of armor rang out.

This small group approaching him should be armed and armored men.

Li Qingfeng gripped the Soul Banner tightly, his expression grave.

He secretly thought, Could the Prefecture City have found my hiding place so quickly?

With doubts still in his mind, Li Qingfeng did not act rashly.

Though his injuries were severe, he was a Qi Refiner. Even at the Qi Refining First Layer, his body and physique were stronger than the Innate masters spoken of by martial artists.

So long as soldiers did not form a battle formation, they truly could not stop him.

"Big Brother, I remember there's a Mountain God Temple ahead. We can rest there."

"We've been running all day, and the brothers are tired. We'll rest at the Mountain God Temple, then return to the stronghold after daybreak tomorrow."

Their eyes met.

The five men drew their blades and stared at Li Qingfeng.

The atmosphere immediately became taut as drawn bows and crossbows.

Li Qingfeng swept them with a glance. Of the five, only the leader wore a padded armor vest. The rest wore ordinary short clothes, and even their weapons were antiques of unknown age.

Li Qingfeng could not help but relax. He had thought they were elite soldiers, but they were merely bandits and robbers.

"A beggar?" the leading Big Guy asked.

These days, war raged everywhere, compounded by natural disasters and man-made calamities. When people could not fill their stomachs, they naturally took to the hills and became bandits.

Some villages were simply bandit villages. During the busy farming season, they tilled the fields; once the slack season came, they transformed into mountain kings, collecting tolls from passersby and stripping the dead of their money.

Thus, Li Qingfeng was not surprised to have encountered bandits. From their appearance, they seemed to have gone through a bloody battle.

There were even more beggars. The beggars in Eight Directions City could even be sorted into categories and gathered into little gangs.

"Big Brother, there's a roast chicken here too."

Surprise filled the eyes of the short bandit, who reached out directly to grab the rack holding the roast chicken.

"The brothers have been hungry all the way. We'll eat this chicken, then kill our way back to Wild Wolf Stronghold." Big Guy, wearing half a padded armor vest, very much agreed.

It was as though the roast chicken had already become something in their pockets.

In their eyes, Li Qingfeng, who looked like a beggar, posed no threat at all.

Tap.

A long, slender pole wrapped in some unknown brocade blocked Little Guy's hand.

Little Guy was first stunned. Then he looked at his companions, but none of them spoke. They seemed to be watching his humiliation with smiling faces.

Since when could a filthy beggar stop him?

His companions were clearly treating it as entertainment and did not think things had grown serious.

Little Guy flew into a rage on the spot. They had already fled here after disaster struck. If he could not even deal with a beggar, how would he face anyone in the stronghold afterward?

"You filthy beggar, are you tired of living?" Little Guy drew the waist blade at his belt, one from some unknown era.

It had no sheath and was casually bound with tattered strips of cloth.

Li Qingfeng glanced at them. A rabble mob was not worth his effort at all. "I'm in a very bad mood. If you want to die, you'd best find somewhere else."

"Want to die?"

"Hahaha!"

The bandits burst into laughter.

As though they had heard the greatest joke in the world.

"What nonsense is this filthy beggar spouting? Is he mocking us?"

"Us lords didn't kill enough people at the stronghold, and now someone who wants to die has delivered himself to our door."

"Fine, then I'll grant your wish."

Little Guy laughed in fury, drew his waist blade, and swung it fiercely, intending to chop off Li Qingfeng's head.

His movements were swift to an ordinary person, but in Li Qingfeng's eyes, Little Guy moved as slowly as a snail.

Spiritual power surged into the Soul Banner, and Li Qingfeng shook it.

The White-faced Evil Ghost formed from Zhao Shixian leaped from the Soul Banner and pierced through Little Guy in an instant.

To the remaining four, it only looked as if Little Guy had been about to strike before suddenly collapsing to the ground.

Laughter immediately broke out again.

"Short Rat, you can't even hold your blade steady?"

Li Qingfeng stroked the Soul Banner and looked at the remaining bandits.

He no longer held back.

The Soul Banner swayed, and several evil ghosts leaped out from it.

"Something's very wrong." Big Guy, the leader wearing padded armor, grew solemn.

Short Rat lay motionless on the ground, while the beggar waved his unknown command flag like some spirit medium.

There was no fear at all in his eyes. They carried the air of looking down from above.

Big Guy found that gaze familiar. He had seen it before.

Big Guy suddenly remembered that terrifying incident.

After being bandits for so long, murder and arson had become everyday occurrences.

Once, Flying Tiger Stronghold had snatched a bride. After violating her, they slaughtered the entire village. Unexpectedly, resentment soared to the heavens, and a vengeful ghost appeared.

Flying Tiger Stronghold suffered grievous casualties because of it. Only when an immortal master guarding the Prefecture City intervened was the vengeful ghost subdued.

They had watched from afar and seen that immortal master.

That gaze was truly similar to the one before him. No, the person before him resembled that immortal master.

That immortal master had been even more lofty and remote, looking down on mortals with an indifferent expression, as if he did not care in the slightest whether they committed evil.

They had originally thought their stronghold would be uprooted, but after dealing with the vengeful ghost, the immortal master had simply turned and left, showing no intention of killing them.

"Immortal Master, spare my life!"

Big Guy dropped to his knees with a thud.

The other three bandits were stunned, disbelief written across their faces.

How was it that after getting separated following their bloody clash, they could casually find a Mountain God Temple and run into an immortal master?

Besides, why did this immortal master look like a beggar?

"Big Brother, you're confused. He's just a filthy beggar." One bandit still refused to believe it and charged forward with his blade.

The xiāo ghost standing beside Li Qingfeng bared its fangs in a grin, then shot forward with a whoosh. It passed straight through the bandit's body, tore out his Living Soul, and returned to the Soul Banner without lingering.

With two men falling before him in succession, Li Qingfeng's originally furious mood eased considerably.

"Immortal Master, spare us! We only became bandits because we truly had nowhere else to go."

"The court taxes were simply too heavy. We could not bear them at all."

"We only wanted a bite to eat. We never dared harm anyone."

"We'll certainly turn over a new leaf from now on."

The two men were already scared witless. Where had they ever seen such bizarre methods?

He had merely shaken the flag in his hand, and two fierce bandits had fallen to the ground.

Seeing the remaining three bandits kneeling on the ground and kowtowing without stop, Li Qingfeng could not help but hesitate. Heaven cherished life. If these people could truly cleanse their hearts and reform, that would not be a bad thing.

A scholar was, after all, a scholar. Sometimes his heart was terribly soft.

As Li Qingfeng pondered, a sudden change arose. The spiritual power he had accumulated in his body was instantly drained by ninety percent. The final tenth was only enough to suppress his injuries.

Without spiritual power to sustain them, the yin ghosts circling at his side immediately dissipated and returned to the Soul Banner.

Li Qingfeng staggered two steps and fell to the ground, leaning against the pedestal before the Mountain God statue.

Big Guy secretly observed Li Qingfeng's condition. At that moment, he suddenly understood. So this immortal master was injured.

And his injuries looked quite severe.

Big Guy would never believe that an immortal master would spare them just because they begged.

His injuries must be too serious for him to act.

"Immortal Master, what's wrong?" Big Guy hurriedly crawled forward two steps, intending to approach Li Qingfeng.

A sharp light flashed in Li Qingfeng's eyes. He did not know what had happened either. Why had ninety percent of his spiritual power been drained away? With injuries weighing on him now, the momentum he had built immediately collapsed.

Imitating the great figures described by storytellers in teahouses, Li Qingfeng shouted sternly, "Back off!"

Big Guy instead saw an opportunity. Still kneeling, he crawled several steps closer. "How are you, honored Immortal Master?"

The Mountain God Temple was only so large.

Those few steps had already brought him close to Li Qingfeng.

The malice Big Guy had been suppressing erupted like thunder. He suddenly sprang up, drew his blade, and slashed.