Bandit Army

In the pitch-black secret vault, Lin Xiao had no idea how long he had been trapped here.

Lin Shan's cultivation was far deeper than his. Only now had the acupoints that had been sealed begun to loosen slightly. The instant Lin Xiao sensed that he could mobilize his true qi, he hurriedly circulated it again and again, trying to break through the sealed acupoints and regain his ability to move as quickly as possible.

He did not know how much time had passed, what the world outside had become, or whether Lin Shan and the others from Spring Return Hall were still alive. All those worries left his heart as though it were being fried in oil, and several times, his blood and qi nearly surged into his heart and made him faint dead away. Fortunately, Lin Shan had considered this when sealing his acupoints. Several of them happened to restrain Lin Xiao's blood and qi, so no matter how anxious he was, he could only sit here quietly and lucidly, staring blankly into space.

The resilient Evergreen True Qi repeatedly battered the sealed acupoints. At last, Lin Xiao vaguely heard several exceedingly faint cracks from within his body, and he was able to move again.

"Father!" Lin Xiao immediately let out a shriek and staggered toward the secret passage.

But he had been sitting motionless for far too long, and the circulation throughout his body was terribly sluggish. The moment he took a step, he pitched headfirst onto the ground. Even after rolling several times, he still could not get back up.

"Don't panic, don't panic. Father's divine arts are matchless; nothing will happen to him." Lin Xiao repeatedly warned himself not to be anxious. Slowly, he circulated his true qi, gradually unblocked his circulation, and let his body recover its suppleness and vitality before slowly rising to his feet. He took a deep breath. Only after feeling a stream of true qi flow unhindered through his body did Lin Xiao rush out of the secret vault.

As the secret passage opened, Lin Xiao leaped more than twenty feet straight into the air, landing lightly upon that patch of pitch-black poisonous soil. The moment he emerged from underground, he sensed that something was wrong with the atmosphere around him.

Looking around, Lin Xiao could not help groaning inwardly. The rear courtyard of Spring Return Hall was actually packed with burly men clad in blood-red garments, each one glaring at him like a tiger eyeing its prey.

Among them were eighteen burly men in scarlet armor, surrounding a grand chair. Sitting squarely in it was a bearded giant over twelve feet tall, also clad in a suit of scarlet armor. His imposing aura spread in every direction, carrying an utterly tyrannical presence. At his feet was planted a Three-Pointed, Two-Edged Blade. Its shaft was as thick as a small sea bowl, and the entire weapon had been forged from a strange blood-red metal. Lin Xiao merely glanced at the blade and felt a stabbing pain in his eyes, hastily turning his head away.

"Hm, just a little brat!" The bearded giant slowly spat a fruit pit from his mouth and said in a rumbling voice, "Damn it, we waited two days and two nights. I thought there was something good underground, but it was only a little brat whose feathers haven't even grown in! Xue Shisan, go down and see what good things are in that hole."

One of the eighteen armored giants behind the bearded man stepped forward at the command. He walked to the edge of the black soil, frowned as he examined the glistening black earth, then cautiously sprang into the secret passage. Lin Xiao pressed his lips tightly together and watched the giant man's massive body descend into the passage like a tuft of cotton, without making the slightest sound.

Before long, Xue Shisan leaped back out in a rage and shouted, "Chief, there isn't even a fart down there!"

The bearded giant shook his head and said with great dissatisfaction, "Not even a fart? Then we can only make this little brat take the blame. Hey, boy, are you from Spring Return Hall?"

Lin Xiao gritted his teeth and stared at the bearded giant without saying a word.

The bearded man frowned, then suddenly slapped his thigh and burst into laughter. "I understand now. Boy, don't worry. I'm not one of those Black Blade Bandits who slaughtered your Guihua City. I'm 'Overlord.' Have you heard of my illustrious name? Over these past three years, within a radius of over two thousand miles, I ought to be quite renowned, right? Overlord, Overlord—haven't you heard of me?"

Overlord Ling Batian was indeed immensely famous. He ranked second on the Black List of the Great Yuan Kingdom's martial world. Not only was his martial prowess extraordinary, he also commanded eight thousand Overlord's Soldiers, fierce as wolves and tigers—a bandit army of formidable strength. Yet his way of doing things differed from the Black Blade Bandits. Wherever the Black Blade Bandits passed, not even chickens or dogs were spared. Ling Batian, however, sought only wealth. In every city he raided, not even a single copper coin would be left behind, but he rarely harmed lives.

There was only one exception: whenever a city contained a renowned martial arts master, that master was doomed to misfortune.

For anyone who had exchanged blows with Overlord Ling Batian, even the best possible outcome was spending three years bedridden before barely recovering the ability to move.

Ling Batian's words had some effect. Lin Xiao nodded lightly and said blandly, "I've heard of you. You're no more than the leader of a bandit army."

"Exactly!" Ling Batian slapped his thigh and cackled. "I am the leader of a bandit army! But this bandit of mine only seeks wealth, so I'm at least a little better than those Black Blade Bandits. I just finished raiding Guiying City and came here. Hmm, I heard Black Blade had taken Guihua City, so I came to see whether I could catch a little windfall. But the result..."

Ling Batian gave a strange laugh. "The Black Blade Bandits lost more than three hundred men on this patch of black soil, yet they still failed to discover anything underground. They were decisive enough to leave just like that, but I was curious. So I brought my men here and waited for two days and two nights, and sure enough, we waited you out."

Brushing a hand across his beard, Ling Batian smiled. "You're from Spring Return Hall?"

Lin Xiao pressed his lips together and nodded. "Yes!" There was no use denying it. He had crawled out of such a hidden underground chamber in the rear courtyard of Spring Return Hall. Anyone would know he belonged to Spring Return Hall, and that he was certainly an important person. Otherwise, such a secret chamber would not have hidden him alone.

"Can you use medicine? Treat external injuries? Are you skilled at treating the various ailments of an army on the march?" Ling Batian stood up and looked at Lin Xiao with a grin.

"Yes. Yes, I am." Lin Xiao stared darkly at Ling Batian, unable to guess why he was asking these questions.

"Wonderful, wonderful!" Ling Batian laughed and nodded. "You don't look very old, so I imagine your medical skill isn't much to speak of. Still, having an army doctor is better than having none. Starting today, you are the army doctor of my Overlord's Soldiers. Whatever ailments my brothers suffer from will all rest on your shoulders."

"I..." Lin Xiao was furious. How could he possibly use his medical skills on these vicious, evil bandits? Even if they were not the Black Blade Bandits who had attacked Guihua City, they were still bandits!

"Don't refuse! Otherwise, you're dead!" Ling Batian looked lazily at Lin Xiao and said indifferently, "Spring Return Hall—no, everyone in Guihua City—is dead. You are the last remaining root of Spring Return Hall. If you die too, Spring Return Hall will truly have no successor. You don't want things to turn out that way, do you? So be a good boy and become my army doctor!"

Without giving Lin Xiao any room to refuse, two burly men in scarlet armor stepped forward and seized him.

The small bundle at his waist was casually snatched away by one of the men.

Just as Lin Xiao was about to unleash a torrent of curses, the back of his head suddenly jolted. A scarlet-armored giant had already knocked him unconscious.

Ling Batian looked at Lin Xiao with a trace of pity and shook his head. "Good that he was knocked out. Don't let him see the miserable state of the city, or the little brat will go mad. Once this period passes, he'll be fine."

Shaking his head, Ling Batian abruptly pulled up the Three-Pointed, Two-Edged Blade and slashed it forcefully through the air. "Boys, move out! We wasted two days—we need to find some fun! The Third Prince has sent word. Feiyun Pass has blocked the Third Prince's army. The commander guarding Feiyun Pass has ancestral roots nearby, so we need to go ransack his old home!"

The Overlord's Soldiers set out, leaving Guihua City.

From that day onward, Lin Xiao became the army doctor of the Overlord's Soldiers!