Lin Fan stopped, took two steps forward, then stopped again out of caution.
He thought of Tan Lin, who had feigned surrender to launch a sneak attack with a concealed weapon. If even a young man like Tan Lin was a sneaky bastard, this protector, at his age, looked every inch an old sneaky bastard.
He kicked again, sending Gang Qi shooting toward the protector's head.
Sure enough, the protector moved, rolling aside to dodge the Gang Qi. His eyes were filled with resentment as he looked at Lin Fan, along with a trace of admiration.
"Kid, you're underhanded enough. Falling into your hands, I can't call it unjust," he said through gritted teeth.
"If those are your last words, be on your way." Lin Fan kicked again, sending Gang Qi straight at the protector's brow. This time, the protector did not dodge. He closed his eyes and accepted death.
Blood splattered. Cracks spread across the protector's skull, but it did not burst apart. His bones had already been tempered to the Tiger Bone realm and were difficult for Gang Qi to destroy.
Out of caution, Lin Fan kicked twice more, smashing the protector's head into shattered porcelain before he felt safe enough to loot the corpse.
The moment the money pouch reached his hand, its feel made Lin Fan's eyebrows rise.
He opened it at once, revealing a densely packed mass of gold leaves. A rough glance showed no fewer than thirty.
"Rich in one haul-now this is what I call getting rich in one haul! I'm rich! I, Lin Fan, am rich!" Lin Fan shouted excitedly, wishing he could announce his newfound wealth to the entire world.
It took quite a while for his excitement to subside. He dragged the protector's corpse into the woods, then kicked repeatedly to dig a pit and buried the corpse inside.
It was not that he could not bear to leave the protector's corpse exposed in the wilderness. He wanted to reduce the risk of exposing himself. Experts could identify the martial art responsible for wounds on a corpse, and Gale Leg was one of the Mountain Suppression Martial Arts Hall's signature martial arts. He did not want anyone following the vine to the melon and tracing it back to him.
The bandits were all vicious fiends, and he did not want them setting their sights on him just yet.
Once he became strong, he would naturally settle the score properly with the Green Snake Bandits.
Lin Fan used Gale Steps, racing toward the manor like a gale. He had already eliminated the strongest protector, so he naturally had nothing to fear from the remaining bandits.
With the bandits' drop rate so high, he certainly did not want to let them go. And although the chances were slim, he still hoped to rescue Yang Kuan.
Lin Fan slowed as he approached the manor. Bursts of clamor came from inside, and the voices were unfamiliar. His heart sank. The manor had already been occupied by bandits. Could Yang Kuan still be alive?
He leaped onto a rooftop, then carefully advanced and looked into the noisy courtyard.
Seven or eight people were gathered in the courtyard drinking, while two people were tied to a pillar nearby. They were Yang Kuan and another inner court disciple. Both were covered in wounds, their eyes tightly shut, their survival uncertain.
Lin Fan looked back at the bandits. His gaze immediately fell on the young man seated in the place of honor, who looked even younger than he was.
From their conversation, Lin Fan learned the young man's identity. He was the Green Snake Bandits' young chief... candidate.
"Young Chief, let me congratulate you in advance on becoming our young chief. I'll drink first as a toast." A burly bald man raised his wine and gulped it down.
"Now, now!" The young man waved a hand. "I haven't officially passed the trial yet. I'm only a candidate for now."
"Young Chief, there's no need to be modest. This trial's already nailed to the board. Only Tan Lin remains. Once the protector captures him, won't he be yours to do with as you please?" the bald man declared.
"Young Chief, I've seen what you can do. Only you could toy with the Mountain Suppression Martial Arts Hall's prized disciples in the palm of your hand."
"Under your leadership, our Green Snake Bandits will surely reach even greater glory, and we'll get to feast and drink along with you."
The bandits heaped flattery on him one after another. The young chief lapped it up, the smile never leaving his lips.
He snapped open the paper fan in his hand and fanned himself. "I never expected the Mountain Suppression Martial Arts Hall's disciples to be such trash. I took them down before I even got serious," he said with feigned modesty.
Lin Fan could not bear to listen any longer. He belonged to the Mountain Suppression Martial Arts Hall too. Who could stand being called trash over and over?
Lin Fan leaped off the roof, kicking repeatedly in midair. Streaks of Gang Qi blasted toward the bandits.
The air shrieked. The bandits realized something was wrong, and when they looked toward the sound, their pupils shook and their souls nearly fled their bodies.
"What? Gang Qi?"
"Run!"
"Help!"
Cries tore through the stillness, but no matter how loudly they screamed, they could not stop their fate.
Apart from the young chief, who had already reached eighth-grade minor accomplishment, the other bandits were only ninth grade. Their bodies burst apart, drenching the young chief in blood.
The young chief was utterly stunned. One breath earlier, he had still been enjoying his subordinates' flattery and envisioning the future.
One breath later, none of his subordinates had an intact corpse left. He himself was badly injured, with no escape from disaster.
He looked at the culprit behind it all. Intense hatred flashed in his eyes, but he concealed it, replacing it with reverence.
He cupped his hands toward Lin Fan. "Thank you for sparing my life, Senior Yue. Zheng Huai, son of the Green Snake Bandits' chief and young chief of the Green Snake Bandits, pays his respects to Senior Yue."
Lin Fan understood that, like the protector, Zheng Huai had immediately mistaken him for Yue Shan. Intent Realm Gale Leg was far too recognizable.
He waved a hand, signaling that Zheng Huai could get lost.
Zheng Huai thanked him repeatedly. "Thank you, Senior Yue Shan." With that, he turned and left without a moment's delay.
Strange. Yue Shan is famous for hating evil with a vengeance. Why is he being so accommodating? Could he be wary of my father? he wondered privately.
Suddenly, he sensed an intense threat coming from behind. Damn it! he cried inwardly, hurriedly trying to deploy Golden Bell Shield. But with one side prepared and the other unsuspecting, the Gang Qi struck before his Golden Bell Shield could unfold. His head exploded like a watermelon.
"Such a brain-dead idiot actually managed to run circles around Tan Lin. Tan Lin really is a moron," Lin Fan grumbled, his face full of disdain.
But soon, the disdain vanished from his face, because Zheng Huai's money pouch held a small bag of gold leaves. He estimated there were over sixty, worth six thousand taels of silver.
"Every haul is richer than the last! How are these bandits? They're practically wealth-delivering boys." Lin Fan muttered happily, looting all the other bandits along the way and gaining another few hundred taels of silver.
Lin Fan's bundle was stuffed full. He had arrived with two sets of clothes and a few taels of loose silver, and was returning with ten thousand taels of silver. In just two or three days, he had transformed from a broke bastard into a wealthy man with riches wrapped around his waist.
More importantly, there was his strength. He had arrived as a small fry who had only just entered ninth grade. Now he was approaching ninth grade perfection and could even defeat eighth-grade opponents above his realm. Across the entire Green Mountain martial world, he could already be considered an expert.
"Fortune and disaster lean on one another. The ancients truly didn't deceive me."
As Lin Fan was reflecting on this, he noticed Yang Kuan, still tied up, out of the corner of his eye.
He kicked Zheng Huai's corpse away. "Damn bandit! Even dead, you blinded my eyes and nearly made me forget my deeply beloved Senior Brother Yang."
He became a gale and arrived before Yang Kuan. Seeing that his chest was still rising and falling, he let out a heavy sigh of relief.
"Phew... as long as you're alive." Lin Fan was immensely relieved.