The bandits who dared to come out and rob people naturally had a few martial tricks up their sleeves. Otherwise, how would they dare roam the martial world?
Li Qing had long expected this. Watching the bandit gallop toward him, a trace of mockery flashed through his eyes before being replaced by cold severity.
"Take my blade!"
The bandit urged his horse into a leap. The saber in his hand came chopping down with tremendous force and thick killing intent, slashing straight at Li Qing.
Having just emerged from the Eternal Night World, Li Qing had not brought the Peerless Hammer with him. He was empty-handed.
He calmly watched the bandit's blade descend, his body completely still.
The bandit thought Li Qing had been scared witless. He gave a cruel smile, as though he could already see Li Qing being chopped in two.
However, the next moment, in less than the blink of an eye, the ground was violently jolted by a tremendous force.
bang!
Li Qing moved. Outer Strength surged through his right foot, erupting with enormous power, and his entire body vanished from the spot in an instant.
The bandit's blade struck empty air. Dragged by inertia, he staggered atop the horse and nearly fell off.
By then, Li Qing had already flashed to the other side of the horse. He leaped high into the air, both hands curled into tiger claws.
"Die!"
Fierce Tiger Pounce!
His hands shot out, yanking the staggering bandit directly down and smashing him heavily into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
That was not all. A crisp crack of force running through his fingers rang out as Li Qing, without another word, dislocated the man's shoulder.
Crack!
The entire sequence flowed like drifting clouds and running water, smooth and seamless. In only a few breaths, the once-ferocious bandit had been half-crippled.
The other bandits showed uncertain, alarmed expressions. All of this had happened far too quickly; they had not even reacted yet!
"Damn it, this kid is actually a martial artist!"
"Hiss! He's an Outer Strength martial cultivator. Run!"
"Return to the stockade and report this! We can't fight him head-on!"
The remaining three cried out in alarm, immediately pulling their reins and preparing to turn around and leave.
But since Li Qing had already decided to act against them, how could he possibly let them leave so easily?
He bent slightly at the waist and shot out like an arrow. His burst of speed was, in that instant, even faster than a horse.
Of course, that was because the bandits from the stockade were poor riders, and the mounts they rode were all inferior horses, nowhere near warhorses.
In a moment, Li Qing had caught up with one bandit who was trying to ride away.
Using both fist and palm, he unleashed an extremely terrifying force and forcibly blasted the man onto the ground.
Two remained. Li Qing did not stop. Since he had made his move, he did not intend to let a single one escape.
Scattered stones lay across the ground. Li Qing casually grabbed a handful, then hurled them out with force.
bang!
The bandits on horseback were struck as if by lightning. Before they could get far, they were knocked from their horses.
Both men suffered the same fate. The fallen bandits twitched and struggled continuously on the ground, gulping for air.
In less than a few minutes, the four fierce bandits who had just been driving a huge group of refugees were all taken down by Li Qing alone. Not one escaped.
This was the absolute crushing advantage in raw strength that a martial artist who had cultivated Outer Strength held over ordinary people. There was no suspense whatsoever.
"Spare me, young hero! Spare me!" One bandit clutched his knee, his face drenched in sweat as he begged for mercy.
Li Qing sneered as he walked before the pleading bandit and slowly crouched down. He said, "Want to live? No problem. You'll answer whatever I ask. If you dare hide anything, I'll take your head."
The bandit who had broken his leg in the fall nodded like a chicken pecking at rice, without any resistance.
"Your Golden Mountain Stockade is near Wangyuan City?" Li Qing wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked between heavy breaths.
"Yes, about seventy li east of here," the bandit answered readily.
"The nearby land is desolate and uninhabited. Aside from a few villages near Wangyuan City, it is basically all desert." Li Qing narrowed his eyes and continued, "And now it is wartime. Your Golden Mountain Stockade shouldn't be able to rob much food, so where does all your grain come from?"
"We occasionally disguise ourselves as merchant caravans and enter the city to buy grain, using the gold, silver, and treasures we usually seize. But now that it's wartime, even the money in our stockade can't buy much grain."
Upon hearing this, Li Qing finally smiled. "It's wartime now, and the city gates are shut tight. Tell me how you get into the city."
As soon as these words left his mouth, the bandit's face turned green.
"Young hero, spare me! The people who usually disguise themselves as merchant caravans to enter the city and purchase supplies are all trusted confidants of our stockade chief. There's no way they would let us go. I really don't know how they sneak into the city!" the bandit wailed.
Li Qing frowned, and his tone abruptly turned icy.
"If you don't tell me, you die."
"I truly don't know! The person who contacts our stockade is one of the city guards. Only after matching secret signals with him will he let us in."
Crack!
Upon hearing these words, Li Qing basically understood the relationship between the Golden Mountain Stockade's bandits and Wangyuan City's soldiers.
Without hesitation, he twisted off the man's head, thoroughly ending his life.
The others showed terrified expressions.
They had thought Li Qing was merely a Young Master fresh from the nest, with some martial skill, who had come out to play at chivalry because he had eaten his fill and had nothing better to do.
Who would have thought that at this moment, Li Qing would transform into a living King Yama? The ruthless ease with which he snapped a man's neck made the remaining three bandits shudder with dread.
Next, Li Qing walked over to each of them and continued asking how to enter the city.
Yet they truly did not know. Even after they had all died, Li Qing had not gotten any information from their mouths. It seemed they genuinely did not know how to slip into the city during wartime.
"What rotten luck. The people of Golden Mountain Stockade probably have a cooperative relationship with the city soldiers. No wonder they were so kind as to help drive away the refugees outside the city." Li Qing clapped his hands, having more or less sorted out the relationship between Golden Mountain Stockade and Wangyuan City's soldiers.
Once starving refugees gathered from few into many, they would become an extremely terrifying disaster. When that happened, they might bring consequences even more terrifying than the Liang Kingdom's army.
Just as Li Qing sighed softly, troubled by his inability to enter the city, a weak voice suddenly came from among the refugees.
"I... I have a way to enter the city."
Upon hearing this, Li Qing's eyes lit up. His gaze locked tightly onto a frail young man among the crowd, who looked only twelve or thirteen.
"Kid, come here!" Li Qing beckoned.
The young man, who looked like a beggar child, walked out with a slightly nervous expression.
"Tell me, what is your way of entering the city? And why do you know how to enter, yet don't go in yourself, choosing instead to remain outside as a refugee?" Li Qing asked thoroughly. Then he patted the horse the bandits had brought and continued, "As long as what you say is useful to me, this horse will be your reward."