Robbers

"Alright, Xiao Hao. I'll come over to your place in a while."

Seeing Ling Kang agree, Qin Hao's worried expression disappeared.

"Oh, right, Uncle Ling, take this hammer of mine with you too."

"This hammer carries heavy killing intent and Baleful Intent. It's highly lethal against ghosts and can also suppress ordinary little ghosts."

"If you run into any, it might be of some help to you."

Qin Hao left one of his hammers with Ling Kang for self-defense.

Though Ling Kang might not be able to swing it, he could still hold it and smash with it.

"What about you?"

"Don't worry, don't I still have one? It's enough."

Qin Hao said with a smile.

After thinking it over, Ling Kang accepted the hammer.

"Then I'm off. Goodbye, Auntie."

Qin Hao waved to Ling Kang and the others.

"Go early and come back early."

Not far outside Qingshi County.

"Hurry up and go."

"Ah, how did it suddenly become haunted for no good reason?"

"These are troubled times. It's still alright around here, but you don't know—those traveling merchants say several counties have had countless people die. Entire counties were slaughtered clean by ghosts."

"How come I didn't know?"

"What the hell would you know? You spend every day sleeping at Yihongyuan, drunk day and night. What the fuck do you know?"

A party of more than a dozen people rode their horses away from Qingshi County.

"Dad! Mom! Where are we going?"

A child in the group looked innocently at his parents and asked.

"Be good, Xiao Bao. We're going back to our hometown."

"Get some sleep first. Mom will wake you when we get there."

A woman gently stroked the child in her arms, looking at him with a tender expression.

"Mm! Xiao Bao will be good."

The child was very sensible and quietly stayed in his mother's arms.

Seeing the child settle down, the woman looked at the man beside her.

"Dear, do you think it's right for us to go back home?"

"I wonder whether those things will be there too."

Only now did fear show in the woman's eyes.

Looking at his wife and child, the man drew them into his arms.

"Ah, I don't know either. In times like these, who can say where is safe?"

"We can only take one step at a time."

The man gently patted his wife and child, comforting them.

Just as the group was chatting and laughing while they traveled,

More than a dozen burly men blocked their path!

Seeing such a formation, the people in the group were so frightened they did not even dare raise their heads.

At that moment, two men, one tall and one short, stepped out from among the dozen or so men, both with faces covered in pockmarks.

"This mountain was opened by me, this tree was planted by me!"

"If you wish to pass this way, leave behind toll money!"

Hearing that familiar refrain, the people in the group knew what sort of men they had run into.

At that moment, an elderly man stepped out of the group and said obsequiously,

"This lowly one did not know that all you masters were here. We were blind and failed to recognize Mount Tai. Please accept this money as a gift from us."

"I hope you masters will be merciful and spare us."

As he spoke, the old man took out a pouch of silver from his robes and offered it to the two men with both hands.

At that moment, the tall, pockmarked brute stepped forward, took the silver from the old man's hands, weighed it, then clenched it in his fist.

He glared at the old man with a vicious face.

"Old man, this little money? Are you fucking sending off beggars?"

With that, he delivered a savage kick, sending the old man flying several meters away.

"Ah!"

The old man crashed into several people in the group before finally stopping, then collapsed to the ground with blood filling his mouth.

The others were even more terrified. They did not even dare go help him up.

They stared at the bandits before them with faces full of horror.

At that moment, a young man in the group could no longer hold himself back. Gripping a steel saber, he charged furiously at the bandit leader.

"Fuck, I'll fight you to the death!"

The bandit leader looked at the man before him with utter indifference.

"Overestimating yourself!"

Before the man could rush up to him, he drove off with both feet and vanished from the man's sight in an instant.

The man panicked. His eyes widened as he looked around in terror, but he could not find any trace of the bandit leader.

What he did not notice was that a tall figure had appeared behind him.

"Watch out, Little Wang! He's behind you."

Just as he stood there stunned, a warning from the group reached his ears.

He froze for a moment and was just about to turn around.

"Breaking out in a cold sweat now, are you, kid?"

An icy, bone-piercing voice came from behind him.

"Splat!"

The bandit leader instantly cleaved the man before him into two halves.

"Hahaha!"

"Ohhh!"

"Boss is mighty!"

Seeing their boss display his might, the bandits around him erupted in excited cheers.

"Ah!"

The children and women in the group screamed in terror at the sight!

The cries woke the child who had just been sleeping in his mother's arms.

"Hmm?"

His large, innocent eyes looked around, but what he saw was no longer the harmonious, joyful scene from before.

Instead, it was a group of ferocious-looking bandits, each holding a large saber polished until it gleamed.

There was also a man who had been chopped in half, his blood slowly flowing toward them.

Seeing that horrifying scene, his entire worldview was utterly overturned.

He burst into loud sobs.

"Ah! Wuwuwu!"

"Mom!"

Still crying, he burrowed deeper into his mother's arms.

"Don't cry, don't cry!"

The woman's face was also filled with terror, but she still used her trembling hands to soothe the child in her arms.

"Hahahahahaha."

Seeing this, the bandits grew even more excited.

"Hahaha, these women can give us a good time!"

"Isn't that right, brothers!"

The short bandit revealed a lecherous grin.

"Hahaha, the Second Boss really has thought everything through."

"Hahaha, we're in for a good time tonight!"

The surrounding bandits grew even more excited.

The women in the group were so terrified that they could not even cry. They knew their fate would be miserable!

Hearing such filthy words, the man beside the woman was consumed with rage.

He grabbed a wooden stick from nearby and swung it at the short man.

Seeing prey that should have been at his mercy rise up in resistance, the short bandit revealed a cruel smile.

"Hehe, courting death!"

He kicked at the man.