The Mountain Bandits' Origins
Jiang Youfu finished eating one fruit, then took out a handful of fried beans and threw them into his mouth.
"Could it be that Jianghe went to deliver the goods first?"
Lin Xiao looked at him, thought for a moment, and then shook his head, saying:
"Second Brother Fang said before that this place is only about 500 li away from Quhuai Prefecture, the destination of the shipment. If Jianghe were to deliver the goods, he could travel all night and arrive at Quhuai Prefecture before dawn. But it's already afternoon now, so he must be on his way back. Judging by the time, he should be here by now."
Fang Manliang then asked him:
"Could it be that Jianghe has already gone back?"
Lin Xiao said:
"According to what you're saying, Jianghe must be going to settle scores with those bandits and won't just go back like this, but I haven't smelled any blood on the way here."
The implication is that no one carrying blood should have been traveling along the way.
For a moment, everyone seemed to be at a stalemate.
Lin Xiao looked around and then said:
"Let's go further and see. Perhaps those bandits are hiding deep in these mountains, and I won't be able to find them from here."
With that, he led the way forward.
Meanwhile, about fifty miles away from Lin Xiao and his group, in the mountains, Qin Jianghe was walking alone on the bushes and cliffs.
Just as Lin Xiao had expected, he arrived at Quhuai Prefecture early in the morning to deliver the goods, and then immediately returned by the same route, arriving at the area where the mountain bandits often appeared.
However, after searching extensively, he found very few useful clues.
He followed the trail of the bandits, but the trails gradually disappeared deep in the mountains.
No wonder the government had sent people to suppress the bandits before, but they returned empty-handed. As a result, the government became complacent and did not send out troops to suppress the bandits again when robbery incidents occurred later.
Qin Jianghe continued deeper into the area until he reached a mountain wall.
Looking at the mountain wall, he felt something was strange.
Having spent years wandering the mountains with Lin Xiao and the others, he immediately noticed something amiss. He reached out and probed ahead, and sure enough, a hidden formation had been set up here!
He immediately concluded that this was most likely the hideout of those mountain bandits.
No wonder the soldiers couldn't find any trace of these bandits before; it turns out there was Concealment Formation here.
Qin Jianghe pinched the Peach Leaf Pendant under his clothes, using his Concealment Technique to sneak inside.
As he walked in, he discovered that it was actually a huge mountain path.
The mountain path was very deep, and there was a faint light coming from ahead.
He walked forward until he reached the cave entrance, where he discovered that it was actually a valley of moderate size.
--
After Lin Xiao and his companions had been searching in the mountains for more than half an hour, Lin Xiao suddenly smelled a faint scent of blood. When they arrived at the valley, the battle had already ended.
In the valley, the bodies of bandits lay scattered on the ground.
Upon seeing this, Jiang Youfu couldn't help but get goosebumps; the ground was littered with corpses...
Fang Manliang then discovered that the large knife that Qin Jianghe usually used had its blade chipped and lay on the ground to the side.
At this moment, Qin Jianghe was holding a peach wood sword, the tip of which was half-pierced into the body of the middle-aged man he was holding hostage, and he was pressing the man out of the mountain stronghold.
He looked up and saw Lin Xiao and his three companions at the mouth of the valley.
Qin Jianghe was slightly surprised:
"Brother Xiao? What are you doing here?"
Lin Xiao looked at Qin Jianghe, who was covered in blood and carrying someone out. After not seeing him for more than a month, he had already reached the Fourth Layer of Qi Refinement Refining. It seemed that despite his busy life outside, even though the Spiritual Power was not as abundant as in the sect, Jianghe had not neglected his cultivation.
Smelling the blood all over the ground, he felt a pang of melancholy, but he quickly put it aside and immediately stepped forward to ask:
Are you alright?
The other three also gathered around.
Qin Jianghe shook his head at Lin Xiao, said "It's nothing," and then threw the person he was holding in front of Gu Yuxiao.
"Yuxiao, this is the murderer who killed your father. You can do whatever you want with him."
The man was covered in wounds and had no chance to fight back. He was easily tossed aside and fell to the ground in front of Gu Yuxiao. If it weren't for his weak breathing, he would have been no different from a dead man.
Qin Jianghe tossed her a dagger, said "We'll wait for you outside," and then turned to Lin Xiao, saying:
"Brother Xiao, let's go outside to talk."
Lin Xiao nodded and followed him out of the valley.
Jiang Youfu and Fang Manliang followed closely behind them and went out together.
They left the valley to Gu Yuxiao.
Once outside the valley, Lin Xiao sighed and said to Qin Jianghe:
"Jianghe, thank you for your hard work."
He knew that for those of them who grew up in the mountains and countryside and had seen the most bloodshed in the village during the New Year's pig slaughter, killing so many people at once, even if these people were ruthless bandits and villains, would definitely not be a good experience for them; it would only leave them with psychological trauma.
Upon hearing this, Qin Jianghe shook his head and smiled:
"Brother Xiao, don't be so formal. The world can't always be as peaceful as our little corner. If our sect is to grow bigger, someone has to get involved in some dirty work. I think I'm good at being that person."
The world cannot be a pure land everywhere. For Qin Jianghe, all he needs to do is protect the part of his heart. What does it matter if other places are hell?
Lin Xiao smiled, not continuing the topic. He turned and glanced inside, then asked:
"What's going on with that guy? Third Layer of Qi Refining cultivator hiding in this desolate wilderness as a bandit leader?"
Qin Jianghe replied:
"I just asked, and this person is from the Cloud and Mist Sect. Because he is middle-aged and his cultivation is still stuck at the Third Layer of Qi Refining, he knows that there is no hope of advancement, so he wants to leave the sect and enjoy wealth and honor in the mortal world while he is still young."
However, while joining a sect is easy, leaving is very difficult. He said that he had met a fellow cultivator in the sect before. That person first applied to leave the sect, but was refused. He then left the sect and returned to his home in the Mortal Realm. He intended to use his cultivation level as a cultivator to bully others in his hometown. However, not long after, he was captured by the sect and taken back. After that, there was no news of that person.
Therefore, he knew that even if he wanted to leave the sect, he couldn't return home in a grand manner, otherwise the sect would definitely come forward to capture him. So he hid in the mountains and wilderness, gathered some refugees and bandits, and became an outlaw here. As for how he asked them, looking at the man's injuries, Lin Xiao and the others didn't need to think to know.
In fact, if that person hadn't been so ostentatious after returning home, the Cloud and Mist Sect wouldn't have bothered to capture him, since he was just a low-level Qi Refining cultivator with no hope of cultivation.
This cultivator has been hiding in the mountains as a bandit for months without any trouble, which is enough to show how little importance the sect attaches to these low-level Qi Refining cultivators.
Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in understanding.
Lin Xiao asked again:
"Then what's the deal with his Concealment Formation?"
Qin Jianghe explained:
"According to him, this is an array plate that he stole from the Formation Hall in their sect. Because this thing had been sitting in the Formation Hall for so long that it was covered in dust, he used to work odd jobs in the Formation Hall and saw that no one had touched it, so he secretly stole it."
After listening, everyone remained silent for a while.
They never imagined that the immortals they once thought were high and mighty would actually exist like this.
They became outlaws, robbing and murdering on the road, stealing chickens and dogs.