Kill the Bandits

"Die together?"

Yang Yuan's eyes were full of mockery. A malnourished little brat actually wanted to perish together with him?

Those fists could not even kill a chicken, let alone a person.

They could not even break through his armor.

He truly did not know where this brat got such confidence.

Yang Yuan suddenly stopped his blade and looked teasingly at the Vine Armor the other party's fist was about to strike, intending to toy with him to death bit by bit.

"Idiot, even blades can't cut through my armor. Your tiny fists are nothing more than a scratch..."

"Bang!"

The instant Yang Yuan was struck by the other party's fist, he felt as though his stomach had been kicked by a horse. He spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backward.

Yang Yuan slammed heavily into a tree, blood continuously flowing from his mouth. His face was filled with disbelief and pain.

"H-How is this possible..."

How could a child have such tremendous strength? He had actually sent him flying several meters.

Lowering his head to look at the Vine Armor, he saw that it had already burst apart.

Yang Yuan swayed as he tried to get up, but he had already vomited blood. That meant his internal organs had burst.

Sure enough, before he could rise, he died with his eyes wide open, his gaze full of unwillingness, fury, and shock.

He had never imagined that he would die here, at the hands of a child he had looked down upon.

Jiang Ping An panted heavily, the terror on his face impossible to dispel.

He had intended to perish together with Yang Yuan, but he had not expected the full force of his punch to be so powerful.

He was only a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old child! Yet he had actually sent a man flying!

This so-called cultivation was far stronger than he had imagined.

"Bleurgh~"

Jiang Ping An knelt on the ground and vomited, his body trembling.

It was his first time killing someone. For some reason, he especially wanted to throw up.

A tangled mix of joy and fear surged into his heart.

He was delighted that he had embarked upon the path of cultivation and killed a Soldier who had oppressed him.

But that was also what frightened him. The other party was not alone; all of Flat Water County had four thousand armed Soldiers.

If the other Soldiers discovered that he had killed their Comrades, they would definitely retaliate.

With his current abilities, he would certainly die!

Jiang Ping An hurriedly suppressed his nausea and other emotions, then dragged away the Soldier's corpse.

After thinking it over, he buried the Soldier in the graveyard.

Before burying him, he took all the money from the Soldier's body: more than three hundred copper coins and a silver ingot.

Besides that, he also found a book.

The book was called "Knife-Wielding Techniques."

It had illustrations and explanations, so it was not difficult to memorize.

After burying the corpse and driving away the Soldier's horse, he sat atop the grave and quickly memorized the contents of the book.

He did not know how to fight at all. With this copy of "Knife-Wielding Techniques," he could increase his combat strength.

In these chaotic times, there was certainly no harm in learning more skills.

Out of caution, Jiang Ping An did not bury the Soldier's blade too deeply. If he encountered danger, he could dig it up and use it.

Over the next two days, Jiang Ping An cultivated the Breathing and Meditation Technique whenever he had Spirit Stones. When he had none, he studied Knife-Wielding Techniques.

Throughout that time, he remained on edge, terrified that the Soldiers would come looking for him.

Fortunately, they never did. When he went into town to buy food, he heard that Imperial Soldiers had appeared near the county border, and many Soldiers had gone out to search for them.

Jiang Ping An finally relaxed. So many days had passed; they probably would not trace him now.

"Crack~"

On the third day after killing the Soldier, Jiang Ping An used Spirit Stones to open his second Meridian, successfully advancing into the Qi Refining Second Layer.

This time, he used twice as many Spirit Stones as before—twenty in total.

Jiang Ping An discovered that his next breakthrough would require twice as many again: forty Spirit Stones.

Although that was a lot, it did not matter. He had plenty of time to duplicate Spirit Stones.

Jiang Ping An suddenly exerted force with both legs and leaped onto a roof more than two meters high.

He was even stronger than when he had been at the Qi Refining First Layer. Jiang Ping An was so happy he wanted to cheer.

Just as he was about to cheer, he suddenly flattened himself against the roof and secretly peered behind the house.

Through the weeds, he saw five figures.

The five men crouched low, weapons in hand, inching closer to his house.

"Didn't we already loot this village? Why is smoke still coming from a chimney?"

"Maybe someone slipped through the net, or maybe it's a refugee."

"Wonderful. Hope it's a woman."

Though the five spoke quietly, Jiang Ping An's hearing had improved greatly, and he could hear their discussion clearly.

Jiang Ping An's eyes instantly turned red. He gripped the weeds tightly, his body trembling.

Bandits!

And they were the Bandits who had slaughtered the villagers!

They had to die!

Jiang Ping An wanted to jump down and deal with them directly, but when he saw the weapons in their hands, he abandoned that idea.

Although he was very strong, he was alone after all, and he was still a child. The other side had weapons as well.

His father had told him that no matter when it was, he must never become arrogant.

He quietly descended from the other side of the house and ran swiftly toward the place where he had buried the Soldier's body.

The Soldier's Military Saber was buried there.

Taking the Military Saber, he quietly returned to the vicinity of the thatched hut.

Several Bandits came out of his room, cursing and grumbling.

"Why is no one here? Did they spot us and run?"

"Maybe they went out to chop firewood. Two of us hide in the room and three hide outside. We'll wait for them to return."

The five immediately hid themselves, preparing an ambush.

Jiang Ping An watched them from the shadows, his gaze icy to the extreme.

After roughly the time it took an incense stick to burn, the two hiding behind the room's door grew impatient.

"Could the people here really have run away? Otherwise, with food cooking in the room, they couldn't have been gone this long."

"Damn it, what a waste of time!"

A Scarface stepped out of the room. "Brother Leopard, let's stop waiting. We'll carry off the rice and flour."

The courtyard was deathly quiet. No one responded.

"Brother Leopard?" Scarface heard no movement and called out again.

At that moment, a flash of cold light swept down from above. Scarface's head fell to the ground, blood gushing out.

"Brother Saber!"

The man inside the room was startled out of his wits. Looking at the youth who had dropped from the roof, he shouted, "Brother Leopard! There's someone here! He killed Brother Saber!"

"They're already dead."

Jiang Ping An held the bloodstained Military Saber and walked straight toward him. Because he was short, the blade dragged across the ground, throwing off sparks.

The sole remaining Bandit's eyes widened in horror.

"Impossible! You're just a child! How could you silently kill Brother Leopard and the others!"

The child was small, nearly as short as the saber. Even if he could kill people, he could not possibly do it so quietly—unless he had dealt with Brother Leopard and the others in an instant!

But there was no way this child could be that formidable!

Jiang Ping An said nothing, his eyes indifferent and cold.

For some reason, under that gaze, the Bandit felt as if he were being watched by a vicious wolf. His body trembled uncontrollably.

"I'm from Great King Mountain! If you dare touch me, the Bandits of Great King Mountain won't let you go! Your entire family will die!"

"My family is already all dead."

Jiang Ping An raised his saber and brought it down. The Bandit tried to fight back, but he was nowhere near as fast as the youth.

"Thud~"

Another corpse fell.

The Bandit's eyes were wide open, his face filled with disbelief. He had never imagined that a child would kill five Bandits who regularly murdered people, and the trajectory of this child's saber strikes was exceptionally clean, as though he had received training.

Jiang Ping An's arm trembled. Though this was his second time killing someone, his body was still afraid.

However, it was much better than the first time.

Putting down the saber, he skillfully searched the Bandits' corpses. Having grown up poor, he felt that everything was a treasure and did not want to waste anything on these men.

"Hmm? What is this?"