With a sharp clang like metal striking metal, Lu Yuan felt the long blade in his hand jolt violently.
He looked up. The thing that had attacked him wasn't an arrow or a hidden weapon like a throwing dart, but an iron pellet about the size of a peanut.
The pellet hadn't pierced the blade, but it had burrowed deep into it, leaving cracks all around.
The ordinary long blade he'd bought from the blacksmith's for half a tael of silver had already been damaged after only a few days of use.
It was fortunate the blade had blocked the pellet. Otherwise, if it had struck Lu Yuan directly, it would likely have punched a bloody hole right through him.
That thing's destructive power is probably no less than a bullet fired from a handgun!
Lu Yuan's gaze sharpened. With no time to think, he swung his blade and charged straight at the attacker.
The person who had just attacked him with an iron pellet was a middle-aged man as thin as a monkey.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Seeing Lu Yuan charge straight at him, the thin man hurriedly flicked his fingers again and again. Two iron pellets shot toward him.
Although the pellets were slower than real bullets, they still reached Lu Yuan in the space of a breath.
Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Yuan abruptly leaned to the left.
With his blood qi circulating, his hearing was now almost at its peak. Though it wasn't quite enough to let him truly locate things by their sound, it was still enough to help him narrowly dodge the incoming pellets.
Lu Yuan kept charging toward the thin man. Ten steps, nine steps...
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
After leaning left and right to narrowly evade three more pellets, Lu Yuan finally reached a point five steps from the thin man.
Without hesitation, he quickly pulled something from his robes and hurled it at his opponent with all his might.
Bang!
In that same instant, the thin man flicked his finger again, shooting another iron pellet that struck the object.
In a flash, a large cloud of red-and-white powder burst outward.
The thin man was almost completely enveloped in the powder.
"Ah...! Hss...!"
The thin man clapped both hands over his eyes, groaning in pain again and again.
Strike while he was down and finish him off!
Squelch!
A cold flash of blade light sliced through the air, and a head rolled to the ground.
Phew!
Lu Yuan let out a long breath, then bent down and swiftly searched the headless body of the thin man.
After finding about six or seven taels of silver in loose change, he stuffed it into his robes along with the small pouch of iron pellets at the man's waist.
"It's over!"
Lu Yuan turned around. Most of the others were searching the bodies on the ground too, though it seemed they hadn't found anything particularly valuable.
Of the dozens of bandits, only a few had escaped in the chaos. Almost all the rest, including the burly man with the pair of axes, had been wiped out. Not one had survived.
As for the convoy, not only were Wu Yu, Chen Pi, Gu Ming, and the other Song Academy martial apprentices all alive and well, but even the porters had avoided so much as losing a hair, since they'd never faced the bandits directly.
As for Hong Lei and Fang Chang, the two darlings of Master Song, they'd been personally guarded by a Transformation Realm expert. Naturally, they were completely unharmed.
"I killed three bandits. What about you guys?" Chen Yong asked everyone, excitement in his voice, his face splattered with blood.
"Two!"
"Me too!"
"Heh... I got four!"
Wu Yu, Chen Pi, Gu Ming, and the others had just been through a bloody battle, yet each was more excited than the last.
Even those who'd been hurt paid their injuries no mind.
"Five!" Wang Liang said, wiping his blade and flashing a victorious grin.
"Not bad!"
Everyone turned to look at Wang Liang, their eyes full of surprise.
It seemed they'd have to train even harder in the Wind-Breaking Blade Technique and master it as soon as possible.
"Ah Yuan, how many did you kill?" Chen Pi asked Lu Yuan curiously.
"Four," Lu Yuan replied.
He'd only killed four, but the thin man he'd taken down last wasn't an ordinary bandit. He'd likely been a minor leader in the Bright Energy Realm.
The technique he'd used to shoot iron pellets with a flick of his finger might even have been a special martial technique.
Still, the greatest reward from this battle wasn't killing a minor bandit leader in the Bright Energy Realm. It was the six or seven taels of silver he'd taken from the man.
That alone made the trip worthwhile.
Add the five-tael payment and the two taels of silver he'd had left beforehand, and he'd have enough to arrange three or five doses of medicinal soup when he got home.
The small pouch of iron pellets might be worth something too.
After a quick cleanup, the convoy continued hurrying through the night.
"A total of six taels and three mace of silver. A minor bandit leader in the Bright Energy Realm really is wealthier than an ordinary bandit!"
After carefully counting his spoils, Lu Yuan couldn't help but marvel to himself.
Chen Pi and the others had searched the ordinary bandits too, but at most they'd gotten a few dozen or a hundred copper coins—nothing compared to his haul.
After putting away the money, Lu Yuan took out the small pouch of iron pellets.
Although he'd dealt with the thin man quickly and emerged without a scratch, the fight had been dangerous.
If Lu Yuan hadn't already completed his first round of Blood Qi Tempering and become a Bright Energy martial artist, if his blood qi hadn't been much more abundant than that of an ordinary Bright Energy martial artist, and if the Five Animals Fist, which was nearly perfected, hadn't made his senses far sharper than other people's, he might not have been able to dodge the iron pellets that had come at him one after another.
"Hm?"
Lu Yuan opened the pouch and found that, besides the iron pellets, there was a small booklet about the size of his palm inside.
He quickly took it out and leafed through it. The more he read, the more astonished he became.
So it really is a special martial technique!
Lu Yuan closed the booklet, his eyes gleaming with surprise.
The booklet recorded the details of a special martial technique called Flick Finger Technique.
Its core principle was to use the fingers as a bow and blood qi as the bowstring, gathering and driving force into the fingertips before releasing it in an instant to shoot whatever lay before them with unimaginable destructive power.
The projectile could be a soybean or a peanut, a drop of water or a grain of rice, or even a pebble or an iron pellet.
Take iron pellets, for example. Once someone had mastered the Flick Finger Technique, they could hit a target with precision from ten paces away and inflict serious injuries.
At the minor or major mastery stages, they could hit any target they pointed at with ease from dozens of paces away.
Once perfected, they would never miss from a hundred paces away.
Lu Yuan had thought his unexpected windfall of six taels and three mace of silver was already the greatest reward from this escort mission. He hadn't expected an even bigger surprise.
It could be said that with the Flick Finger Technique in hand, his offensive abilities would improve tremendously.
Once he had perfected it, he wouldn't even need to get close. He'd be able to kill enemies with a flick of his finger from a hundred paces away.
He could even fire off a volley in an instant, leaving his opponents no chance to guard against it.
Fortunately, the thin man had only mastered the Flick Finger Technique to the entry level, and neither its speed nor its force had reached their full potential. Otherwise, Lu Yuan might not have made it through that fight unscathed.
Before you continue