Getting what he wanted, Xuefeng turned to Wuying and said while pointing his sword at the bandit, "See? Isn't it faster this way?" Xuefeng both vented his frustration and got what they came here for.
"I also prefer it this way." Xiao Wen concurred with Xuefeng's decision without hesitating, kicking one of the bandits next to her. To her, they all deserved to die.
"Yiren, you can turn around now." Being done with the beating, Xuefeng called out to Yiren who turned around with a pout on her face. Looking at the bandit, she asked with a face full of injustice, "I know you beat him, why can't I look too?"
Xuefeng approached her and gave her a loving pat and answered, "Cause I want to protect your innocence for as long as I can. Do you want to be the one to kill them? You are too kind to do that."
"But I want to help you… I can learn to fight and beat people like you." Yiren replied still not resigned with Xuefeng excluding them from watching.
"I know, but we already have two who are like that. What I need from you is to provide support. Your special mission is to protect Wu Lan and Wu Kong so nothing bad happens to them. Can you do it?" Xuefeng asked while giving her the easiest job, babysitting, but with the way he said it, Yiren found it a great responsibility and nodded happily, accepting her role.
Xuefeng still secretly told Lulu earlier to protect those three so nothing happens to them. He knew that Yiren would be a great asset in the future, but there was still a lot of training ahead of her before that happens. He planned to leave them behind in a safe place but he later decided against it as he knew they were safer with them, even if they were going straight into the bandit hideout.
"What are we going to do with them? Should we take him and kill the rest?" Xiao Wen asked as she lifted the chin of one bandit with her boot, before kicking it away after seeing how ugly he was. There wasn't one-bit kindness in her towards such people.
Just as Xuefeng wanted to make a decision, one of the merchants that were robbed just before they came, approached them and said with a embarrassed smile, "Lord! Thank you for dealing with those bandits. C-can we get our money back from them? We are just poor merchants trying to make a living."
"Oh!" Xuefeng exclaimed, actually forgetting about them and asked, "How much did they take from you?"
The merchant scratched his head and explained, "T-they took two high-tiered Spirit Stones per person. There are sixty people in the three groups that were robbed by them… We came together, to protect ourselves but we were no match for those bandits. Lord is too powerful to take them all by himself."
"Alright, let me check." Xuefeng looked at the merchant suspiciously but still acted it out, taking bandit leader's ring from him and checked the content. Taking out three leather bags from the inside, he asked as if confirming, "So sixty people with two stones per person, it will be one hundred and twenty in total, correct?"
"Yes, my Lord." The merchant smiled seeing the leather storages and nodded happily, getting more confident with his speech.
"Mhmm!!" Just as Xuefeng pretended that he wanted to throw the sacks towards the merchant, the leader of the bandit group called out through the cloth while glaring at the merchant.
Xuefeng smiled, already expecting the bandit to say something about the situation based on the look he was giving to the merchant a moment ago. Turning to his, he asked with a frown, "Do you want to say anything?"
"Mhmm." The bandit nodded while showing with his gaze at the bags with Spirit Stones. When the merchant saw it, he quickly panicked and called out, "L-lord I wouldn't trust bandits. They are a bunch of liars."
Xuefeng ignored him and pulled out the cloth from the bandit's mouth, asking, "What is it?" He already knew what he would say, but he liked his acting, deciding to play the scenario till the end so that no one will have problems with what he is going to do later on.
"This bastard is lying! We only took one stone per person! He is clearly trying to take advantage of you!" The bandit shouted the moment, the cloth was out of his mouth. He would probably die later, so at least he could fuck someone's else life before that. He also didn't like people stealing from him. Xuefeng at least won in a battle between them, but the merchant didn't deserve to profit from him.
"He is lying! He clearly took two stones from each of us! Lord, please don't listen to him." The merchant quickly countered with his own version but that didn't even affect Xuefeng's decision as he already knew the truth.
Without wasting any more time, Xuefeng suddenly swung with his Black Flames Slayer and sent a crescent-shaped strike towards one of the merchant carts, breaking it into bits. It just happened to be a cart with a bunch of vegetables. which flew everywhere across the road from the explosion, burning with black flames.
"Aaaah, my cabbages!" The merchant quickly cried out, falling onto his knees in despair.
"Next time the target might be you, so be good and don't lie," Xuefeng called out to the merchant as he kept the money in the ring and put everything inside his own ring, which had a better capacity. Lifting the bandit by his collar, he said to the ladies who watched he the whole time in fascination, "Let's get going."
"Let's go sister." Wu Lan said sweetly, pulling Yiren by the hand. She knew what will happen and wanted to protect her innocent big sister.
"What about the other nine bandits?" Yiren asked as she pointed at the rest, thinking that they shouldn't leave bad guys like that.
"I think big sis Wuying will take care of them. You don't need to watch it…" Wu Lan tried to convince Yiren but she still stubbornly looked behind her, wanting to see Wuying in action.
Xuefeng didn't have to say anything and Wuying already moved. Seeing Wuying approaching them with a kind smile, the bandits didn't hesitate to roll away from her on the ground as their legs and hands were bound together. Unfortunately, that didn't help them at all.
Wuying's eyes turned crimson and she swiftly threw nice looking daggers towards them, without missing a single target. They quickly stopped moving as blood started flowing out of their bodies before rapidly streaming towards her. Yiren watched until they went too far into the forest and the trees started obstructing her vision.
She was quite disturbed by it, even having the urge to vomit, but thinking that Xuefeng would be disappointed in her if she was this weak, she quickly breathed in a mouthful of fresh air to calm down. Only after that did she understand why Xuefeng asked her to look away.
"Big sis, you are really brave. When it was my first time seeing a dead body I couldn't stop vomiting," Wu Lan squeezed Yiren's hand tightly and informed her quietly, "I can feel that big brother is very proud of you right now. Go smile at him right now."
Yiren glanced at Xuefeng and he really did look at her at that moment, giving her a warm smile. She quickly showed him that she was alright by replying with the same warm smile before breathing out in relief, knowing that she didn't disappoint him.
After being done with draining blood from the bodies, killing them painlessly, Wuying was supposed to be happy, but her face was full of distaste. Ever since tasting Xuefeng's blood, Wuying wasn't satisfied with any other blood, finding the taste to be repulsive.
Xuefeng's blood was sweet, while the blood of the bandits tasted really bitter and couldn't even compare with Xuefeng's when it came to the amount of Blood Qi it provided her.
Looking at Xiao Wen who stayed behind, Wuying called out to her calmly, trying to not thinking about the taste, "Wen, you can take over." Wuying knew that she would get even more blood today, thinking that she will once again get used to the taste, but each time she thought about it, the memory of Xuefeng's sweet blood kept coming back to ruin her plans.
Xiao Wen threw nine small fireballs and the bodies of the nine bandits quickly incinerated, leaving only ashes. She could see Wuying's expression a moment ago, so she asked worried, "Are you okay? You didn't look like you enjoyed it as much as before. What happened? You know that you don't have to do it."
With her crimson eyes still active, Wuying sighed dejectedly, saying the truth, "Xuefeng gave me a bit of his blood earlier and now every time I drink blood from someone else, I find it awful… His blood was so much tastier that I can't enjoy any other now." Wuying still treated Xiao Wen as her best friend, so she didn't hesitate to tell the truth.
"What? Xuefeng gave you blood? When?" Xiao Wen questioned surprised, not recalling any action between them like that.
"When we sneaked away from the banquet… I bit his tongue and sucked blood as we kissed… It was so good... " Wuying narrated as they walked in the direction Xuefeng and the others went. They could still sense them, so it was easy to navigate through the forest.
"Tsk, you really know how to enjoy yourself…" Xiao Wen commented as she snickered, not fully getting the blood-sucking between them. At one point it sounded really gross, but on another, she felt like it was kind of romantic.
"Heh, and after that, we had the best sex of my life… He let me do all I wanted…" Thinking Xiao Wen was still the same, Wuying giggled as she hugged her arm and explained the scene with details, trying to tease Xiao Wen.
Wuying still succeeded, but the effects were minimal, only getting a small blush from Xiao Wen as she already knew she would also have similar experiences with Xuefeng soon. He already accepted her, so she didn't think she would have to wait long for that to happen. A few days ago she couldn't wait for that to happen but now she was very patient.
Xiao Wen still acted like usual so that Wuying wouldn't find out about their current hidden feelings and said, pretending to be jealous, "Are you trying to make me jealous? Tell me more and I will go grab Xuefeng and try it out myself. I wonder how Xuefeng tastes like…"
Hearing her like that, Wuying panicked a bit, knowing Xiao Wen wasn't joking and laughed it off while trying to smooth her feelings over by kissing her on the cheek, "Haha, Wen, I was only joking… You don't need to be so serious…"
Xiao Wen looked at Xuefeng's back as he walked ahead of them in the distance and asked seriously, "What if I was not joking? You know that Xuefeng is a great snack. Can't I also have a bite? You already share him with Yiren, her mother and my sister. Would it be so bad if I joined you guys?"
Xiao Wen wanted to win the other's approval as well instead of only Xuefeng so that when the time came to reveal their feelings for each other, she would be welcomed by everyone with open arms.
Suddenly Wuying stopped walking and looked at Xiao Wen seriously and asked after a moment of silence, "...Are you serious about this? You never mentioned that you liked him earlier."
"Well, I found out not long ago, that I find him quite interesting… Can I at least confront my feelings and find out if I really like him or not? I don't want to live with regret in the future that I didn't even try…" Xiao Wen continued to look in the distance and told Wuying honestly how she felt right now. She was speaking the truth, while only cutting the part where Xuefeng already knew about it.
"I said it before… As long as Xuefeng keeps me in his heart, I don't mind having other sisters around who also love him. You are a best friend, so it's even better to have you around…" Wuying explained her stance, before adding sternly, "...But remember, if you hurt my Xuefeng I will fight you."
"I will make sure to be gentle with him." Xiao Wen assured Wuying before gossiping happily as they continued to walk forward, "Don't you think he glances at my body from time to time? I think he likes me too."
Wuying laughed, finding Xuefeng to be a nice subject to talk about, "Haha, I doubt that. Sometimes I really need to tell him what I want else he doesn't notice anything at all… He is such a dummy at times, but I still love him."
"Yeah, he is a real dummy…" Xiao Wen strongly confirmed, having encountered such a situation not long ago.
...….
"What took you guys so long?" Xuefeng asked curiously as he saw Wuying appearing next to him. It took them more than ten minutes before they finally caught up, which made him wonder.
"We talked for a bit before catching up. We were gossiping about you, but I'm not telling you anything." Wuying kissed him on the cheek and told him the truth knowing he will ask later.
"Alright," Xuefeng acknowledged that but still glanced at Xiao Wen and saw her nodding while smiling sweetly at him, which confirmed his thoughts. Smiling back at her, Xuefeng thought, 'Wen really is serious about this… Beginning to pull others on her side so quickly. I need to ask them what they think about it too. This isn't something I can just decide by myself…'
"Wen, can you take over the prisoner? He promised to show us the way to their hideout, so just let him lead while I will talk to little Lan," Pulling his blade away from the bandit, Xuefeng let Xiao Wen take custody of him while planning to consult Wu Lan about his hidden plans.
"Okay," Xiao Wen agreed right away, actually planning to propose the same idea to him. There was no way they could just trust a bandit this easily. She wrapped the surroundings of the bandit's body with her Spirit Qi, which made him shiver before calling out to him, "If you lie to us, I will detonate my Qi around you, burning you alive."
"N-no, I promise. I'm leading you guys correctly. We will meet more of my brothers on the way the further we go in so you guys better be prepared…" The bandit stuttered as he promised. He somehow felt more safe with Xuefeng leading him compared to the lady behind him but unfortunately, he didn't have a choice to choose.
"You think we are scared of your little brothers? They will all die soon and you will see their demise. Move your ass. We don't have the whole day." Xiao Wen replied coldly to his inkling and kicked the bandit's ass, forcing him to walk forward.
The bandit almost fell to the ground and agreed in the hope that his Leader will help him, "Y-yes!"
When Xuefeng approached Yiren and the kids, Wu Lan quickly pulled his hand before whispering so that the bandit wouldn't hear her, "Big brother, this bandit is lying..."
"That's why I came here cause I want you to tell me what his plans are," Xuefeng explained as he patted Wu Lan on the head. He never planned to trust the bandit but rather give him hope that he can be saved, and let them learn all of their plans with the help of Wu Lan.
Wu Lan nodded, knowing exactly what he came here for and presented what she knew, "Mhmm, I did discover something. He wants to lead us into a trap set by his leader. There are also many other bandit groups walking randomly around this forest and he wants to meet with them before warning them so that they run in all directions and provide information to the leader about intruders."
Xuefeng processed the information before asking, "Do you know the exact place of the trap and their hideout?"
"Yes, I do. Also, each bandit leaving their hideout got informed of the same thing as this bandit, to stay on the lookout in case someone came to attack them in the next couple of days. I think they know that we are coming." Wu Lan confirmed with a smile, to which Xuefeng couldn't help but raise her into the air and do a happy spin with her. Xuefeng knew she would be really useful to him, but now he realised the full potential of her ability.
Putting her down, Xuefeng brushed her hair happily and said, already knowing what he wanted to do, "Great, I already have a plan. I will have you lead us later after we take all the bandits in the area."
"Alright. I can do that." Wu Lan quickly agreed, happy that she could help, but then there was another lady who was looking at Xuefeng, eager to learn her role in the whole operation and she finally asked, "Xuefeng, do you want me to do something for you too?"
Yiren really wanted to help and Xuefeng could see it in her eyes, so he thought of a safe job which she could help him with, but at the same time where he could protect her.
"I have actually made plans for you too. You will have to protect me later, I will tell you the details when the time comes. Do you think you can help me?" Xuefeng asked as he lifted Yiren's chin so she would look at him, her reply was obviously an agreement as she hugged him happily, "Yes! I will do anything."
"Alright, let's catch up with Wen then," Xuefeng nodded and pulled them all with him, but halfway there, he recalled what he was about to do and decided to remind Yiren once again, "I am going to do something bad right now, so I hope that you can turn around when I tell you to..."
He did not expect that Yiren would suddenly pout and disagree with him on this and say determined, "No, I want to watch no matter what you do. I will never learn if you keep asking me to look away."
Xuefeng obviously knew that she had a point there, but he still preferred having such a pure and innocent soul with him. In the end, Xuefeng had to agree and bring her with him, leaving the whole situation uncensored for her.
As they caught up to the bandit, Xuefeng's sword was already drawn and before anyone could ask any questions, Xuefeng suddenly plunged his sword through the bandit's chest, cutting his heart in half.
The man couldn't even get to cry out before dropping dead on the ground. The black flames from his sword quickly spread to the other parts of the body and it didn't take long for him to disappear completely.
Xiao Wen wasn't surprised by that at all, as it would only mean that he was not useful to them anymore. She actually got excited instead, knowing that the battles she had been waiting for were nearing.
"Okay, everyone, gather around. Let's get things rolling. With Wu Lan here, we don't need this guy anymore. Listen carefully and follow my plan thoroughly..." Seeing that Yiren was okay with such a scene, Xuefeng patted her head as a reward and gathered everyone around him, presenting them with his plan.
...….
A few moments later in the same forest area, two groups of bandits met together and began complaining to each other, "Gosh, how I hate this new 'Lord' that appeared out of nowhere. Because of him, we can't enjoy ourselves and have to do those patrols, walking around the area endlessly."
"Yeah, my legs are already in pain after walking whole day today. I wonder why the leader agreed to this crazy dude's ideas?"
"From what I have heard, there is a great beauty at stakes. There is a red-haired lady whose cultivation is way above that of a Spirit Saint and it seems like our leader got promised to have her first. She should be coming here in the next few days, trying to destroy our hideout. "
"More than a Saint!? What if we meet her now? She is bound to kill us! I never thought our mission was so dangerous…" One of the bandits looked quite scared when he heard about Xiao Wen's power, but his buddy assured him, saying, "That's why I'm complaining… It's our lives at stakes here… I hope that nothing bad will hap—"
Just as the man tried to finish, a shadow of a woman suddenly appeared out of nowhere in front of him and the next thing he saw, was a giant fountain of blood as his throat got cut with a bloody dagger.
Just after slicing one throat, the lady disappeared once again, reappearing behind the guy who was complaining the most with two daggers in her hands. With one quick movement, she plunged her daggers right into the bandit's neck before switching once again, planning to kill all of them one by one.
At that point, after seeing the two quick deaths of their comrades, the rest of their group started taking out their weapons to fight back. Knowing they would most likely die, but they couldn't just admit defeat without even trying to fight back.
The only leader left in the group after to Wuying's previous attack quickly called out to the others in panic, "Group up, don't let her get close to you. If she attacks, fight back!"
They listened and acted disciplined as they all turned their backs towards one another when suddenly a naked blade appeared right in front of their faces, sending all of their heads flying into the air right after a successful horizontal slash.
Those who were still left turned towards the second lady that just appeared with a grim expression on their faces and their eyes went wide when they saw that it was the crimson haired beauty they were talking about not too long ago.
The red-haired beauty looked at the shadow and called out with a playful smile, "Hehe, you are not getting all of them for yourself. This should be my fiftieth kill. How about you?"
Suddenly the shadow glimmered a bit and another young lady appeared. The crimson eyes on her face gathered their attention, but that only brought doom upon them. They were already horrified, looking at all the headless bodies on the ground, but then, the crimson-eyed lady reached out her hand towards them which froze their bodies.
They couldn't give an account to what happened later as their heads exploded in a flashy style, with their bodies joining the rest of their buddies on the floor.
Wuying smiled as she approached Xiao Wen, teasing her, "I guess I'm still winning. Hehe, adding those, I have fifty-one in total." This time Wuying didn't even try to absorb the blood of the dead bandits as Xiao Wen directly threw fireballs on them, turning each and every one of them into ashes.
"Tsk, it wasn't fair. You didn't wait for me to finish counting and you immediately rushed towards them. Next group we find, you are giving me a two-second head start or we are not betting anymore." Xiao Wen snickered, pointing an end to Wuying's cheating, but the one in question only smiled in response and agreed, "Alright, two seconds it is. Let's go. Xuefeng should have found another group for us."
Wuying didn't wait for Xiao Wen to reply and went back into the shadows, which caused Xiao Wen to chase after her with a joyful smile, enjoying their little game.
While Wuying and Xiao Wen were speeding towards another bandit group that they discovered, Xuefeng was also busy with his part of the plan. He didn't want to leave Yiren and others alone in case someone attacked them, so he stayed behind while creating a clone which he could use to hunt instead.
Yiren was happy that she could protect him and he was also satisfied because he could fight his share of battles this way. They knew the bandits' plans so their main goal was to kill as many as they could, lowering their numbers in the process. They only had the three of them who could actively fight, thus it would be troublesome if suddenly hundreds of bandits attacked them all together.
This was the second group Xuefeng found and the more he fought, the more accustomed he became with manoeuvring the clone's body. Having about twenty percent of each Qi injected into the clone's body, it could do everything that his main body could.
The moment Xuefeng finished with one bandit group, another one came and their leader quickly crushed his signal crystal to inform the other nearby groups to come with backup as well, before crying out to his subordinates, "He is the one killing our brothers! Get him! He is only one Spirit Lord, just like me and we have ten of us. Stay brave and let's attack together!"
Xuefeng happened to be too slow in killing the first group, which resulted in the distress signal being sent, but he didn't complain about it. This way he wouldn't have to go and search for them as they would all come to him instead.
'Heh, let's test my skills then. I don't need a sword for them.' Xuefeng snickered in his mind, seeing ten bandits rushing towards him with different Spirit Artefacts in their hands, swords, axes and one even had a two-handed sword equipped firmly in his hands.
They were just asking to be demolished as they attacked him altogether from different directions. If they chose to tire him from the distance they would at least have a little bit of chance of winning, but not with this primitive method.
As expected of a group leader, he was the first one to attack, holding a flashy longsword which radiated with blue light. Seeing Xuefeng not even moving, he grinned while gathering the momentum to finish off Xuefeng with one strike. Those type of cultivators were only cultivating with Spirit Qi so Xuefeng didn't expect them to know the properties of various elements.
With four bandits attacking him from the front with the rest preparing to strike from other sides, Xuefeng decided to finish the leader first, crushing their morale before finishing the others afterwards. They didn't know that from the moment he faced them, Xuefeng began releasing his Earth Qi into the ground, without being stingy about it as he emptied his whole Dantain from it.
When the bandits finally crossed the line of where his Qi reached which was about five meters from his position, Xuefeng smiled and began manipulating the ground. They all ran towards him without expecting there would be anything hidden underground which would seal their doom once stepped upon.
"Die," Xuefeng muttered coldly and closed his fist. At that particular instant, the earth moved underneath bandits' feet and the legs that touched the ground while running were swiftly wrapped around with mud, immobilizing them on the spot. Because of their momentum, it would be strange if they didn't fall to the ground when one of their legs stayed behind.
"Aaa!" What was more horrifying was the sharp earth spike that suddenly emerged on their way and they could only scream as their bodies headed straight towards it. Most of them couldn't dodge the spikes and their chests quickly became impaled with it while their souls began leaving their bodies.
Only the leader was able to regain his footing as he supported himself with the sword to cancel the momentum. The spike was almost ten centimetres away from him but he managed to defend against the surprise attack, actually becoming somewhat proud with himself.
The rest of his group were all dead on the ground with holes in their chests, but he managed to survive. Unfortunately, he couldn't stay happy for long as another spike was coming his way and he had to dodge once again.
This time he was already prepared and slashed at the incoming spike before it could reach him and then started getting rid of the mud that was holding his foot in place. Seeing no other attacks approaching him, the bandit leader looked at Xuefeng and saw him calmly smile towards him.
"Heh, mere spikes can't kill me. You will have to try harder to kill me." The bandit said with a short laugh as he aimed with his sword towards Xuefeng, but just as he was about to activate his special skill, Xuefeng asked calmly, "Can you fly?"
"What?" The bandit got quite confused for a second, thinking why would Xuefeng try to talk to him during their fight, but then realised what Xuefeng meant as he glanced at the ground.
Rumble
The ground around him started to shake at that moment and before he could react, he lost his footing as the ground beneath him disappeared. He tried to thrust his sword into the wall to keep himself from falling and he successfully stopped mid-air about one meter from the surface, but then the walls closed once again, slamming the earth against him, which silenced him forever.
"Uff, my Earth Qi was just enough to execute this. It was much harder than I thought, but I guess as long as I focus enough, there is not much difference in this body." Xuefeng commented as he felt that he didn't have any more Qi to control.
Throwing small fireballs at the bandit's bodies Xuefeng started preparing for the next wave of bandits to come which he already sensed with his Spirit Awareness. He realised that fighting with the use of Elemental Qi was much more fun than just killing his enemies with the sword.
Xuefeng could use it in so many different ways that he would never get bored with it. What's more, he was using his clone, which was totally risk-free so he didn't have to worry about experimenting in the process.
"Why did they stop?" Just as Xuefeng decided on which element should he fight with now, he noticed that the next bandit group stopped running towards him. When he scanned the situation with his Spirit Awareness he realised it was blocked by something else and instantly realised what was happening, shaking his head with a smile.
Making sure the bodies were burned properly, he extinguished the flames and ran towards the scene. They could leave them for Spirit Beasts which roamed during the night to eat them but there was still a lot of time before sunset so they couldn't take this much of a risk.
As he reached the Bandit group he only managed to get in time to join the last battles. Xiao Wen and Wuying already killed two-thirds of the squad in such little time, with their bodies being cut into pieces. Wuying's Blood Qi began controlling the crimson liquid flowing out of the dead bandits, and sharp threads flew all around the battlefield, causing the bandit's cries to intensify with each second.
Xiao Wen, on the other hand, wasn't bothered by Wuying's attacks and covered herself in a golden shield, which blocked all of the threads from damaging her. Using this method she danced in the battlefield and began to kill steal from Wuying, giving the last blow to many of them.
When there was only one bandit left, who somehow survived under the barrage of attacks Wuying called out to Xiao Wen, stopping her from killing him, "Hey! Now it's you who is cheating! They were already dead, so the points go to me! You only last hit their corpses."
Xiao Wen shook her head with a smile, arguing back, "Nah ah, they were clearly still alive to me. I caught up to you fair and square. Now it is a draw and only this one guy is felt. How are we going to end it?"
"How about we let him run away and then the first one who catches him wins?" Wuying proposed after thinking for a moment.
"Alright." Xiao Wen nodded and planned to explain it to the bandit when suddenly a lightning strike came flying from the side, heading straight towards the bandit in question. He had barely any methods to defend against it and even if he did, his shaking body caused by looking at the two butchers in front of him, made him unable to move.
Bang.
The bandit's head exploded without surprises as the thunderbolt passed through it like a knife through butter, which caused Wuying and Xiao Wen to pout. They knew Xuefeng was approaching, but they didn't know he would ruin their game just when they were about to end it.
Xuefeng rolled his eyes at them and scolded, "Stop arguing and follow me. I think the Bandit Leader already knows about us. Let's prepare for the second phase of my plan."
"Yes…" Hearing his scolding, they both accepted that the bet was over and listened to him.
The Bandit Leader stormed into Thousand Blades' room, still struggling to put on his pants after being interrupted during his pleasure time with his women and cried out, "Lord! I think we've got a problem! They've arrived already and started killing my men! Help me stop them!"
Thousand Blades quickly stood up from the bed he was cultivating on and questioned while pulling two of his daggers out and yelled, "What? Why didn't you tell me earlier?! Did your men lure them into the trap we set up?"
The bandit leader finally managed to pull his pants up and called out frustrated with anger visible on his face, "No, they killed each scouting group which was released in the forest and I only learned about it from the distress signal they sent. I didn't get any more signals after that so I guess all of my men are dead already. You better help me get revenge. Screw the trap! They probably already know about it as they still didn't arrive here. We should go out and fight them head on!"
"Idiot, wait! That's exactly what they want! Let's wait for them inside our trap and let them come to us instead. They want to kill us, but we want to do the same. We can wait, but they cannot so we can just play it patiently. We can stay in front of our hideout and taunt them into entering. I doubt they would wait." Thousand Blades cursed hearing the bandit leader's stupid idea and quickly corrected his thoughts.
The bandit leader clearly did not like when people ordered him and cursed at Thousand Blades while pointing with his finger at him, "Idiot? You said you can deal with them and now you want to turtle inside the hideout while they kill my men?! Pussy!"
He didn't expect that Thousand Blades would suddenly throw a dagger at him, which flew straight towards his face, cutting right in between his ear and head before crushing the door behind him. A few strands of the bandit leader's hair fell to the ground as he stared blankly at Thousand Blades, who approached and went past him, saying with an ugly expression on his face, "Say that one more time and I won't miss the second time..."
The bandit leader could feel the oppressive energy wrapping around his body with which the amount of pressure on his body was limiting his breathing. He knew he wouldn't be able to dodge that attack even if he tried, so it wasn't a surprise that he was quite scared.
Hearing no response and seeing the anger disappearing from the bandit leader's face, Thousand Blades smiled and said, letting out more pressure from his body, "You are going to do exactly what I say, got it? I think you forgot who you're dealing with."
"Yes, Lord…" The bandit leader couldn't help but agree right away, feeling that soon he will suffocate under Thousand Blades power. He was after all only in the Spirit Overlord stage so it wasn't a surprise he had no chance against a Sage.
He was once a normal cultivator from the Sacred Sword Kingdom, but wanting more power in his hands, he moved to a small neighbouring country, which to his knowledge had very little cultivators above Spirit Lord stage if it even had any at that time.
Now after already securing his safe position, becoming an overlord in the nearby area, suddenly powerful cultivators start appearing one by one, destroying his life. It was understandable that he was frustrated about the whole situation.
"Then go and do as I said. Gather everyone in front of our hideout and we will wait for them inside of my trap. She's not some kind of idiot who I can easily kill. I need the help of my artefact, which will lower her strength. All you need to do is to stop the other people in their group from grouping against me and I will be fine." Thousand Blades finally released the pressure and explained while picking up his precious dagger which went through the door, hitting the nearby wall.
The Bandit Leader already calmed down and listened calmly, nodding in understanding before calling out to all of his brothers who waited for his orders in the main hall, "Everyone! Gather outside the hideout and wait for my call! We are going to get revenge for our fallen brothers! Anyone who dares to lay his hand on anyone in our brotherhood shall die a painful death!"
Hearing that the battle was about to start, every bandit cried out happily, chanting while swinging with their swords in the air, "Yeaaaah! Long live the leader!"
'Heh, let's see how you are going to deal with this, my dear Wen…" Thousand Blades thought, already imagining Xiao Wen being his.
...….
After scouting near the bandit's hideout, Wuying reappeared not far away from her group and reported, "Xuefeng, they are all standing together in front of their hideout. I don't think they plan on leaving any time soon. Also, I couldn't get any closer to them to count their numbers as I would get sensed by the strong cultivator in their group. His cultivation is definitely not small, being much higher than that of a Saint. I somehow get a similar feeling about him as I get from Wen."
"How come they have a sage? What does he look like? There should be only one sage apart from me in this region, and that's Thousand Blades. To think that he is recuperating inside their hideout?" Xiao Wen asked curiously the moment she heard her.
"He was covered with a black hood but I saw he was playing around with two daggers in his hands," Wuying replied with what caught her eyes as she didn't stay there for long, worried she would be discovered by him.
"Okay, then that has to be him. I doubt we would be unlucky enough to meet a different Sage stage cultivator who used daggers like Thousand Blades in such a place… Interesting, I guess I'll have to get serious this time. Let's regenerate our Qi fully before we start to fight him." Wen squinted her eyes, thinking of what method she should use to kill him and finally a smile appeared on her face as she cracked her neck, beginning to get excited with the incoming battle.
Seeing her sitting down and planning to use pills to regenerate her Qi, Xuefeng asked, as he decided to help, "Wen, I can help you with that. What elements do you need?"
"Why do you ask?" Xiao Wen asked confused. She didn't mind telling him if they were in private, but they were in public right now. It was hard for her to expose her secrets in such settings.
"Nevermind, just give me your hand and don't resist. I will help you regenerate your Qi." Xuefeng sat down in front of her and took the liberty to grab both of her hands. Without waiting for her response he called out in his mind, 'Ling, I know you are mad at me but I want you to help me right now. I will spend some time with you later. Check what elements she is lacking and fill them up with Fate Stones.'
He didn't get any response from Ling but he could feel Qi being transferred through his body into Xiao Wen's, so he guessed that she accepted his offer. With his Qi being transferred through her body, asking for access to Xiao Wen's dantian, she hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she opened it, letting him see all of her secrets inside.
One had to know it was an extremely sensitive matter as one could easily severely injure the other person, so an extreme trust was needed for such a procedure. Scanning what elements Xiao Wen had, Ling was surprised that she could rival Xuefeng, having five out of nine elements already mastered. Only Fire, Water and Air elements were similar to Xuefeng, while the rest were Metal and Ether Elements.
It didn't take long for Ling to fill up the whole three elements to the brim using a few tens of high tiered crystals before withdrawing from Xiao Wen's body. Feeling her dantian full once again, she looked at Xuefeng in wonder and hugged him as a reward, saying sweetly, "Thank you… You didn't have to do it."
From an outsider's perspective, they looked like they were really good friends and even Yiren had no problems with them hugging, but for Xiao Wen it was a big step forward, exchanging trust with him like that.
"No problem. You are fighting for me so it should be my responsibility." Xuefeng waved his hand, not thinking it was a big problem, but then he heard Xiao Wen's words which made him choke recalling his words.
She kissed him on the cheek and said happily, "Then I guess I will ask you for help the next time I need it too. Thank you!"
Just as he wanted to change his statement from before, Wuying threw herself into his arms and asked, "I also need help like that, can I have some…? I used a lot of Blood Qi in my fights as I didn't regenerate it back from them." The colour of her eyes changed the moment she thought of drinking Xuefeng's blood and she began licking his neck, waiting for his agreement before she could start.
"Fine… But don't take too— Ahh…" Xuefeng sighed and agreed, trying to warn her not to take too much, but she suddenly bit onto his skin, beginning to suck his blood which caused him to moan. He felt a sharp pain from her cutting his skin with her teeth but it was hard to avoid that.
This time Wuying sucked much more than the last time, to the point where Ling had to activate his regeneration ability before she finished. He hugged her in the process and didn't say anything, waiting for her to have her fill.
"Aaah, I can't get enough of it… It's so tasty…" Wuying pulled away from him after finally filling her dantian fully, but still continued to lick his wound until it was fully healed by him. The more she drank the more she craved for it and even when she tried to stop, she still proceeded to drink.
Xuefeng patted her head and commented, noticing the change from the last time, "You did drink a lot… How about limiting it next time. I don't want you to get addicted to it…"
"No! It was just a little bit more… I will take less next time…" Hearing him proposing such a solution, Wuying quickly protested and hugged him tighter while rubbing his chest with her cheek to convince him.
Seeing her actions, Xuefeng couldn't just say no to her as it wasn't that big of a deal for him, so he used it to motivate her instead, "Sigh, but I will still monitor you. Let's see how good you are in the upcoming battle and I will decide if you deserve a reward."
"Alright! I will do my best." Wuying instantly got excited and agreed immediately. Xuefeng could feel bad signs from that, noting in his mind to test her cravings later on.
Just as Wuying let go of him, this time it was Yiren who sneakily appeared behind him and hugged him tightly. Xuefeng joked in his mind the moment he realised what situation he was in, 'If every soldier had to hug all of his wives before the battle then wars wouldn't even start…'
"Do you need help from me as well?" Xuefeng asked as he moved Yiren, facing her in the front.
"Hehe, no. I just wanted to hug you." Yiren could only giggle, admitting her true purpose. She didn't battle much so there was no need to regenerate her Qi.
"Mhmm, I thought so." Xuefeng nodded, expecting something like this and reminded her as he lifted her chin so she could look at him, "I hope you can protect me properly in battle later on, alright?"
"Alright, I won't let anyone touch you." Yiren agreed happily, knowing she was finally useful to him.
Finally getting every lady satisfied, he sighed in relief and called out, "If everyone is ready, I think we can start. Little Lan, now it's your time to shine. I want you to sneak with Wuying and learn the intentions of the enemy for me."
Wu Lan already knew about his intentions and had already started walking up to Wuying before he could say anything, without any issues. This was the least she could do for them after being taken care of by them. Xuefeng was more than a brother to them, being like a saviour.
As Wuying took Wu Lan's hand, they disappeared right away and began their small mission. This time they had to approach closer so Wu Lan could read their intentions, which put them in a much more dangerous situation. Xuefeng was quite cautious so he asked Xiao Wen to go with them, staying nearby to save them just in case and it turned out his worry was warranted only a moment later.
Xiao Wen returned with an ugly face and cursed, "That bastard discovered them and didn't hesitate to throw his dagger straight at them. I had to counter it so now he knows about us. He only smiled as he retrieved his dagger and didn't chase after us, staying put with everyone there."
"I expected this much. Fortunately, I sent you with them. Wu Lan, did you get anything from Thousand Blades?" Knowing no one got hurt, Xuefeng sighed in relief and turned to the most important aspect, wanting to learn of their enemies plan.
Wu Lan opened her mouth and said while blushing, "I didn't get much… There is something blocking his mind and each time I tried, my head hurt… I only learnt that there is a trap set up for us. He was thinking about it really strongly, so it leaked through his blockade. He also thought about Xiao Wen really often, desiring to have her…"
"Fuck… This bastard is still on it…" Xiao Wen cursed the moment she heard it and Xuefeng quickly followed up with a question, "What, is he in love with you?"
Xiao Wen sighed and explained, secretly hoping to see Xuefeng's jealousy, "Sigh, he confessed many times but each time I rejected him and beat him up so he stopped. I didn't think he is still this obsessed…"
Just as she wanted, Xuefeng did frown and she got some reaction from him as he muttered, "Don't worry… He won't be able to soon…"
When the bandits grouped up right in front of their hideout, they didn't feel like it would be a hard battle. They were facing only a few people who they could easily bring down with their numbers. Even if they couldn't match up in regards to skill, thanks to their leader and the mysterious expert, they didn't have to worry about losing.
When they saw a person approaching them from the distance, instead of feeling scared, all of them felt excited. One of them cried happily to warn everyone, "Someone is coming! Prepare for battle!" From an outsider's view, it sounded more like an invitation to a party rather than a warning.
The only ones who were not happy to see one person approaching were the leader and Thousand Blades who frowned, immediately searching in their minds for the possible scheming plot that the enemy could think of. Earlier, Thousand Blades didn't hesitate to attack when he felt someone was sneaking up on them but now he had a few doubts.
After all, the person approaching was Xuefeng, walking calmly with a smile on his face while having his hands in the pockets of his pants, looking far from a person who was about to battle with hundreds of bandits. He knew that Xuefeng wasn't their main force and rather it was Xiao Wen. He couldn't ignore the fact that Xiao Wen could try to sneak attack them with Xuefeng as a distraction.
Looking at Xuefeng's stylish black leather jacket in envy, the Bandit Leader whispered to Thousand Blades next to him, "I don't like this. I think they're plotting something, else why would he come alone."
"No shit! Of course, they're up to something! Tell your band of idiots to get ready. This is not going to be an easy fight! If I hear anyone laughing, I will kill them before the battle starts." Thousand Blade cursed as he almost punched the Bandit Leader for irritating him with such obvious facts.
"Y-yes…" The bandit leader saw the glare in Thousand Blades eyes and couldn't help but listen to him, knowing he wasn't joking anymore. He could have his attitude with him earlier when they were waiting, but now he couldn't say anything bad, worried that he would piss the Sage off.
Thinking of one possible scenario, Thousand Blades added one more thing, "And remind them to not move from their positions. If anyone leave the trap area, I will personally cut them down."
As Xuefeng was getting closer to the bandits, suddenly a strong Spirit Awareness broke through his own and started enveloping his body, testing him from each side before withdrawing. Thousand Blades wanted to confirm if Xuefeng he was seeing in front of him was actually the real one and his face didn't look well when he realised Xuefeng was a real person.
It could only mean one thing which was a possibility of a sneak attack. He couldn't underestimate Xiao Wen's skills as she was after all a Fate Fragment Holder just like him. Xuefeng was also one and he didn't know what skills he had as well. At least with Xiao Wen, he had some idea of what abilities she has acquired over the years but with Xuefeng, his information page was blank.
They all waited patiently until finally, Xuefeng reached the border of the trap set up by Thousand Blades and stopped, staring at him with the same smile as before. All Bandits already focused their sharp gazes at Xuefeng after hearing their leader's orders and didn't underestimate their enemy.
With Xuefeng just standing there, the anxiety started increasing in their hearts but they still stood their ground, knowing something was up. Seeing such collected bunch, Xuefeng couldn't help but laugh, as he called out, "Haha, you guys are so stiff right now. If only you could all look at your faces right now. Did you poop today? Because all your faces look like you are trying to poop but you are forced to keep the shit inside. Hahahaha."
The faces of all the bandits darkened as the grip on their weapons tightened. Being a bandit required one to have quite thick skin, but they would never allow anyone to blatantly curse them right at their faces. Recalling their leader's orders, they all tried to stay collected but then Xuefeng continued his curses.
"I know, it must be hard for you guys here. Staying in such a dirty hideout. Do you have a limit to how much you can shit here? I guess you have, else all the shit you make would just pile under your beds. Hahaha! I can't it's so funny!" Xuefeng continued to taunt them all before bursting out in laughter.
The bandit leader's face turned even uglier than before, knowing it was his hideout, his pride and joy that which Xuefeng was cursing. What was worse is that they really did put on the limit for shitting as the hideout started to smell because of it, and many had to leave outside to take care of their physiological needs.
Hearing Xuefeng curse something that actually happened, the bandits felt embarrassed at first, but then it was replaced by anger which was intensifying with each second of Xuefeng's laughter. Some already had the urge to rush towards him to shut his mouth, but they were stopped by the others who had more self control than them. Still, they couldn't help but curse back, "Shut the fuck up! It's you who can't hold your shit! Come closer if you dare and say that to my face!"
"Yeah, fuck you and your family!" Another curse followed up after the first one and others started getting confident as they swore back at him.
Xuefeng couldn't care less and reacted accordingly, knowing he only need to push them a little more, "I think you should worry about your families more. Your mothers must be lonely at home. Don't worry, I visited them before coming here for you. They were such horny sluts that the moment I entered their houses, they all threw themselves at me. I didn't even need to pay anything and they gladly serviced me with a smile on their faces. I guess it must be hard for them to earn on the streets when they are this easy."
It was far easier to ignore the curses at oneself but when Xuefeng began to insult their mothers, it was impossible not to react. One must have a bottom line and for them, their mothers were their bottom line. Many instantly activated their strongest abilities and quickly broke the ranks, rushing towards Xuefeng while cursing with faces red from anger, "Shut the hell up! Die!"
More than fifteen of bandits launched their ranged attacks while swinging their swords, but Xuefeng easily dodged them by jumping to the side before creating a red sword out of flames and waited for them to reach them. The smile from his face didn't disappear.
Thousand Blades wanted to kill the bandits who ran off to show he doesn't tolerate it, but then he suddenly thought it was a good way to test Xuefeng's skills. He didn't care about those bandits lives, and even planned to kill them all later after he was done catching Xiao Wen.
The short battle ended up just as he expected, with Xuefeng dancing around them as he wished while cutting their heads off one by one. It was definitely a good warning for others who planned to rush out due to their anger.
"Don't let him provoke you! He is just trying to thin out our force by killing us in small groups. We are safe here so stay on your spots and wait for my call!" Thousand Blades called out to the useless bandits which were left, wanting to keep them for later to stall Xuefeng's time.
Now he knew there was a trap set up with how Xuefeng acted and he was only trying to lure him out. This was the reason he didn't act before. There was a chance that even if he attacked from the distance, his dagger would be caught and taken away knowing Xiao Wen could be hiding somewhere.
"Hahaha, that was so easy. To think you are so weak. I didn't even break a sweat." Xuefeng laughed as he approached the trap border and continued taunting. This time he knew it would be hard to make them come for him so he changed his target.
Xuefeng pointed his sword at Thousand Blades and said with scorn on his face, "Thousand Blades. That's how they call you? I think they should start calling you Thousand Cowards instead. Stop hiding and fight me, pussy."