06~07: You've Had It Hard

Clip-clop, clip-clop—

The sound of hoofbeats rapidly approached from afar.

Jiang Dali had already changed out of the Green Robe Pavilion assassin's outfit. He now wore the standard gear of a bandit leader: a sturdy tiger-skin vest, a low cap adorned with bird feathers, and the Nine-Ringed Golden Saber on his back. Mounted on horseback, his tall, imposing figure radiated authority.

Suddenly, his expression sharpened.

The world before his eyes seemed to faintly turn red.

Someone clearly harbored malicious intent toward him.

"Hm? On my own turf, there's actually someone blind enough to want to make a move against me?"

Jiang Dali was both wary and surprised.

Suddenly, three figures emerged from around the bend ahead. One of them was very familiar, and laughter rang out.

"Hahaha, Third Brother, Third Brother. Your Second Brother has been waiting here for you since early in the morning. You really took your time getting back."

"Second Brother? Why are you waiting here?"

Jiang Dali was startled as he looked at the three men before him, all radiating glaring red light.

With such obvious hostility, it was difficult for him not to notice.

This was also one of the bug-like special traits he possessed after being reborn.

Whenever someone harbored malicious intent toward him, even if it was just a dog, red light representing hostility would appear around them.

In the game world of his previous life, this sort of warning would only appear when a player came under attack.

Yet in this life, after becoming a bandit leader, he discovered that as long as someone bore sufficiently obvious malice toward him, red light would appear around them even if they had not attacked him.

Right now, Deathly Scholar and the other two bandit underlings were all glowing red. They had suddenly appeared on this deserted mountain road and waited for him in advance. It was obvious that they meant to harm him.

Jiang Dali revealed nothing on his face. Pretending to be delighted, he rode over, jumped from his horse, and walked toward Deathly Scholar and the other two.

"Hehehe, Third Brother, Big Brother said last time that if you could kill Qiu Xuemei, he would hold an early welcome-back feast for you. So your Second Brother came here specifically to wait for and receive you. Hahaha."

Deathly Scholar smiled with his fair face as he approached, fanning himself with a folding fan. The red light around him grew increasingly distinct.

"Second Brother, you really are enthusiastic."

Jiang Dali smiled. Without even making a motion to leap, and with the smile still on his face, he suddenly darted forward and flashed before Deathly Scholar.

He struck out with a palm, fiercely slamming it toward Deathly Scholar's crown.

Buzz—

A savage palm wind rushed at his face, making it hard to breathe. Jiang Dali's palm instantly turned iron-blue and seemed to double in size as it pressed down from the air, heavy as a stone stele.

"Third Brother, you—!"

Caught completely off guard, Deathly Scholar was horrified and hurriedly raised a palm to meet the attack.

Smack—

The instant their palms connected, a crack rang out, as though the bones in his arm had snapped.

Deathly Scholar suddenly screamed. A tremendous force pressed his knees into a bend, and he hastily lowered himself before leaping backward, scrambling miserably to the side.

At that moment, the other two bandit underlings also reacted. With sharp shouts, one wielded a saber and the other a short axe as they attacked from both sides.

Yet Jiang Dali neither dodged nor evaded. Instead, he let out a wild roar. His muscles and bones crackled explosively, and his skin turned blue-black all over. His already towering body seemed to grow several feet taller, as if forged from iron and cast from steel—feral and fierce.

Clang—

The saber and axe struck Jiang Dali from the side, tearing through his tiger skin. But an appalling metallic tremor sounded from within, as though his body truly were made of iron. The two bandit underlings turned pale with fright.

At the same time, Jiang Dali spun. A stream of dark blue-black pellets shot out with the force of his rotation like a swarm of locusts. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—their shrill cries erupted as they swept like a violent storm toward Deathly Scholar, who had fled the battle circle.

"I'd say you've gone completely mad."

Deathly Scholar was so furious that he laughed instead, thinking, I'm the one who taught you these hidden weapons, and today you actually dare use them against me?

He suddenly leaped backward and snapped open his folding fan. Silver light flared brilliantly as the fan became a wall, followed by a dense barrage of clanging sounds like raindrops striking pearls.

The instant the silver light faded, Deathly Scholar laughed loudly and twisted around. A Deathly Flying Dart shot from his sleeve like lightning toward Jiang Dali's heart.

"Today, I'll teach you this move—Flying Star Spreading Hatred!"

Whoosh—

A flash of black light.

It struck dead center in his chest, sinking in an inch.

One blow, one kill.

The wild grin on Deathly Scholar's face suddenly froze. In disbelief, he lowered his head to look at his own chest.

A black willow-leaf throwing knife was lodged precisely in his heart, as swift as the dart he had just thrown.

When he fearfully looked up again, he saw that the dart lodged slightly to the right of Jiang Dali's left chest had not pierced his heart at all.

"You..."

Before he could ask, "How do you know Flying Star Spreading Hatred?" his legs went weak and he collapsed to the ground.

"Second Boss!"

The two bandit underlings were scared out of their wits. They watched Deathly Scholar's corpse fall, then looked at Jiang Dali, whose blue-black skin and chilling killing aura made them freeze to the bone.

"You two little runts, how do you want to die?"

Jiang Dali rolled his neck, and an incomparably dangerous smile slowly spread across his face, revealing a row of white teeth.

"B-B-Big Brother, Third Boss, is it still too late for us to admit our mistake?"

"Third Boss, we... we were forced into this!"

The two bandit underlings forced out smiles uglier than crying.

"Go keep your Second Boss company."

Jiang Dali gave a savage grin and abruptly charged forward.

"Fight him!"

"At worst, we die! Death is just a scar the size of a bowl!"

The two bandit underlings roared as they charged.

"Seeking death!"

Bang! The ground beneath Jiang Dali's feet shattered from his stomp.

His limbs exerted force, and his spine drew taut like a fully pulled bow.

With a clang, the Nine-Ringed Golden Saber flew into his hand from his back, producing an incomparably crisp, piercing blast.

Clang-clang-clang!

Saber in hand.

Jiang Dali's entire aura seemed to surge explosively.

As the nine-ringed saber danced, the surrounding air became like a pot of boiling muddy water. A fierce whirlwind spiraled up, making the air roar and churn violently.

The powerful fiendish aura nearly crushed the two bandit underlings until they could not breathe.

The two barely managed to hold on for a while against one opponent, charging left and right.

When Jiang Dali's saber light intensified once more, he became like a tiger descending the mountain, fully unleashing the might of the Tiger Fiend Golden Ring Saber Technique.

Saber light flashed, a sea of blades surged, and saber qi swept through the air.

The fallen leaves along the mountain road were all swept into the air.

In an instant, blood sprayed everywhere. Miserable screams rang out as severed arms and limbs scattered across the ground.

Two fine heads flew through the air.

Jiang Dali suddenly withdrew his saber as two headless corpses collapsed.

Steaming blood mist spread through the air. Blown by the cool mountain wind, it seemed like the wild aura of the jianghu surging and tangling together.

Wiping the hot blood splattered across his face, Jiang Dali took the wineskin from his waist and gulped down a mouthful of fiery liquor.

Pfft—

The clear, yellowish liquor sprayed onto the Nine-Ringed Golden Saber in his hand. The blood was washed away and splashed onto the ground. The golden blade was especially dazzling, while its nine golden rings trembled and swayed, producing an intoxicating saber chime.

"When the nine rings emerge, the suona calls for death. Two nameless bastards worthy of death think they deserve to risk their lives against me?"

Jiang Dali snorted coldly and sheathed his saber. Only after seeing three rising beams of white light did he feel somewhat better.

He had killed two bandit underlings, along with Deathly Scholar, a minor BOSS.

He directly gained 50 Cultivation Points and 50 Potential Points.

Deathly Scholar contributed the most. Killing him also raised Jiang Dali's Jianghu Reputation by 30 points.

With so many Cultivation Points and Potential Points now, he did not need to wait until he returned to the stronghold to turn in the mission. He could directly break through to the Inner Qi Realm, cultivate a strand of inner qi in his dantian, and comprehend a Basic Internal Energy Cultivation Method of his own.

"It's best if I can break through without returning to turn in the mission. Since Second Brother actually wanted to attack me, who knows whether Big Brother has also developed the intention to kill me."

Jiang Dali stared at the three corpses, cold light flickering in his eyes as anger and killing intent rose within him.

Over the past two years, he believed he had made considerable contributions and brought great benefits to the two leaders of Black Wind Stronghold.

Yet he had never expected Deathly Scholar to try to kill him.

If he had not spent the past two years lying low and plotting, Black Wind Stronghold would have fallen into his hands long ago. What right would these two leaders have to spout nonsense?

Now they had both turned against him, gotten full of themselves, and stopped treating their Third Boss like a leader, had they?

"After I break through and return, it will be one thing if the Great Mountain Lord was not involved. But if he was involved too, then I'll have to test whose Iron Cloth Skill is stronger."

Jiang Dali clenched his bowl-sized fist. Veins bulged out like tattoos winding around his arm.

That battle had been extremely dangerous for him as well. It had looked easy, but in truth, he had gone all out.

After all, Deathly Scholar and the two bandit underlings were no weaklings.

If he had not detected them beforehand and struck first, he would likely have ended up seriously injured even if he won.

And now...

"My injuries aren't light either. I lost a full 140 points of Qi and Blood. Even with alcohol to heal myself, it'll still take some time..."

Jiang Dali sat down to drink, inspecting his powerful body beneath his clothes, protected by the Golden Silk Armor.

His rock-like muscles and taut bronze skin seemed forged from steel and iron. Even he could not help but be captivated by the sight.

But even though he had been using the Iron Cloth Skill at the time, he had still been struck by heavy weapons, leaving several shallow wounds.

With every mouthful of wine he drank, "Qi and Blood +1" symbols continuously appeared above his head.

More than ten seconds later, the wounds had fully recovered.

A glaring label flashed above his head before vanishing.

Third Boss of Black Wind Stronghold (Power Gathering Realm Minor BOSS)

Jiang Dali: Qi and Blood 3000/3000

Evaluation: A health tank among minor BOSSES. Do not attempt to face him head-on.

"My amount of Qi and Blood can be called a health tank? Still, compared to Second Brother, it is a bit better."

Jiang Dali sighed and began cleaning up the battlefield.

Looking at Deathly Scholar's wide-eyed corpse, he gave the man's frail body a kick.

"Second Brother really was useless. If he had stabbed me another twenty or thirty times just now, I might actually have died. But it's not entirely his fault. He never cultivated a body-tempering technique. He's a glass cannon. Even though he was a minor BOSS, he only had one-third of my health."

"And those other two little brothers were too useless as well. Still, they were only ordinary underlings. Not only did they have just one-sixth of my health, but they were also suppressed by my BOSS aura. Trying to join forces and kill me really made things difficult for those country dogs."

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