Before he had finished speaking, several menial disciples, blinded by the cushy prospect of becoming an "alchemist's attendant," lunged at him with bloodshot eyes.
Rather than retreat, Chun Xiaobai advanced. He spun and delivered a crisp roundhouse kick, sweeping the three or four men surrounding him off their feet and sending them tumbling into a heap.
His Mountain King title was a family inheritance. How could he possibly lack a few moves?
He had started training in mortal martial arts at the age of three.
Coupled with his innate strength, which let him deliver three thousand jin of force with a single punch, these Odd-Job Disciples who could barely truss a chicken were nothing to him. Even the vast armies the authorities had sent back then had failed to drive him out of Black Wind Stronghold.
Crack, crack, crack!
Chun Xiaobai twisted his left hand, wrenching Wang Fan's arm into a corkscrew.
"Aah!" Wang Fan's face turned the color of pig liver, cold sweat pouring from his forehead.
The next second.
Chun Xiaobai's gaze fell on the knee of the lone leg Wang Fan was balancing on, and he kicked it without mercy.
Crack!
Wang Fan's agonized scream cut off abruptly. His eyes rolled back, and he passed out from the pain, collapsing like a puddle of sludge.
At the sight, the Odd-Job Disciples backed away step by frightened step.
This guy was a complete lunatic!
He had only arrived today, and he already dared to cripple the menial overseer?
"Come on, then!" Chun Xiaobai beckoned to them. "You can all come at once! Capture this Great King and take me up there to claim your reward!"
The moment his words fell.
With a clatter, the Odd-Job Disciples all ducked into the thatched hut, terrified that this lunatic would cripple them too at the slightest disagreement.
"That's all?"
Chun Xiaobai clapped his hands disdainfully and spat on the ground.
"If you lot aren't Odd-Job Disciples, who else would be?"
He curled his lip, then put on the swagger of a Mountain King and strode toward the foot of the mountain with his hands behind his back.
"Screw this! I'll find myself a mountain, plant a flag, and go back to my old trade as a Mountain King! I'm not putting up with this crap!"
His imagination painted a beautiful picture. Reality was not merely skin and bones-it slapped him twice across the face.
Chun Xiaobai had never imagined that the Immortal Cultivation world would be even more cutthroat than his life as a mortal bandit.
He, the mighty boss of Black Wind Stronghold's eight-hundred-li territory, was now reduced to scrubbing someone else's toilets?
If his brothers down below found out, they would probably laugh themselves to death.
A cool breeze passed over him, but rather than refreshing him, it seemed to fan the flames, sending the anger inside him surging higher and higher.
Chun Xiaobai trudged along with his head down, then suddenly stopped.
He realized... he was lost.
A steep mountain rose ahead. To his left was an impenetrable forest of thorny undergrowth; plunging into it would probably strip off a layer of skin.
To his right ran a swift stream, its waters crashing noisily against the rocks.
"Tss!" Chun Xiaobai scratched the back of his head, utterly baffled.
"Which way did I come up yesterday?"
He turned in circles, looking in every direction for a good while, only to find that every trail that looked like a path ended abruptly here.
He knew this was the immortals' territory. Even disciples at middle Qi Refining could briefly fly through the air on flying swords, so they normally had no need to travel on foot.
After all, paths were made by people walking them.
"Doesn't that mean that without someone to guide me, this Great King will have to blaze his own trail down the mountain?"
Chun Xiaobai mulled it over, then shook his head and muttered, "No!"
"I need some travel money and dry rations first, or I might starve to death halfway there."
This Immortal Cultivation world was vast and rich. From the sky, a city flashed past in an instant, but actually walking that distance would probably mean covering several thousand li at least.
Besides, when he had looked down from the flying boat on his way here, there had not been a single city for thousands of li along the route.
His resolve to pull a heist first hardened.
Chun Xiaobai took off one shoe and tossed it into the air.
"Boundless heaven and earth, cast a stone to find the way!"
Slap!
The shoe landed with its toe pointing straight toward the mountaintop.
"Not bad! The ancestors' trick for avoiding indecision really works!" Chun Xiaobai slapped his thigh and looked at the peak ahead.
"The higher you stand, the farther you see! I'll head to the summit and look for a route first!"
With his direction settled, he plunged straight into the thorny forest without another word and headed for the summit.
The forest stirred as he tore the brambles apart with brute force, rampaging through the trees like a wild beast descending a mountain.
"S-Senior Brother, what are you doing?"
Suddenly, a woman's trembling, slightly breathless voice reached Chun Xiaobai's ears.
He stopped and pricked up his ears to pinpoint the sound, determining that it came from a thicket a hundred meters to his left.
He immediately lightened his steps and crept over.
Before long, he spotted two overlapping figures behind a Giant Stone.
A male Outer Sect disciple in blue robes had pinned a disheveled female disciple against the Giant Stone and was furiously smacking kisses all over her face.
Although the woman was still saying "no" and pushing at him with both hands, the strength behind those pushes... made them seem more like flirtation, as she let the man kindle fires across her body.
Holy crap, were they... getting it on outdoors?
The male disciple panted heavily, his hands growing rougher. "Once the pills arrive, you'll have a chance at foundation establishment. Can't you... let your senior brother collect a little interest first?"
At his words, the female disciple's resisting arms began to welcome him instead, and her tone changed.
"No...!"
The male disciple's blood surged, his eyes turning crimson.
Damn it, so this was an outdoor transaction!
Crouched in a large tree, Chun Xiaobai watched the steamy scene below, and his image of immortals as beings above worldly desires shattered into pieces.
What the hell... even us mountain bandits have more decency!
Though his Black Wind Stronghold robbed just about anything, they had always believed that "even thieves have their code." Forcibly abducting women was strictly forbidden. If someone took a fancy to a girl, he had to carry a pig's head to her home and properly ask for her hand.
Nothing like these two before him, throwing away all shame for a pill.
He curled his lip in disgust, then activated the Treasure-Seeing Divine Eye with a thought.
Two rays of green light burst from their bodies, radiating more than a foot high.
"Sure enough, two fat marks with plenty of loot!"
Chun Xiaobai's gaze went straight to the clothes they had tossed aside, settling on the two little red pouches that shone brightest.
Were those Storage Bags?
Chun Xiaobai's eyes lit up.
"A fortune!"
Chun Xiaobai immediately pulled a black burlap hood from his pocket and slipped it over his face, leaving only his two shifty eyes exposed.
Then, like a wildcat, he slid silently down from the treetop.
Thump! Thump!
Chun Xiaobai darted to the Giant Stone and struck with both hands, landing two precise knife-hand blows on the major arteries in their necks.
The female disciple did not even grunt before his strike knocked her unconscious, leaving her completely motionless.
The male disciple clearly had a higher cultivation than the Female Disciple. His head swayed under the blow, then he whipped around and roared, "You're asking for..."
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