'Wind Chasing Knives'
A series of knives were simultaneously thrown at him, the bandit boss instinctively swung his axe to block a few of them, and he succeeded, but the barrage of knife didn't end after his low swing.
Swahh… Swoosh… Swissh…
The knives were striking from different angles, targeting his vitals, the bandit was already tired and under the continuous knife attacks, he was having it hard, he was losing a lot of Qi from just maintaining the layer of protection Qi around his body, few knives already broke through his defence, the searing pain of knives piercing his body kept him awake, suddenly he felt his consciousness fading.
He grew desperate.
"Stop, we can talk, I surrender!" He shouted, but the attack didn't stop, moreover, he saw that there were now sharp-edged stones mixed in between knives.
"You… If I am going to die, I will take you with me," The bandit was enraged, the feeling of being cornered driven him crazy, he used his axe to protect his head and charged in the direction the knives were thrown from.
Hid body was riddled with knife wounds, but he still charged, his thinking wasn't reasonable anymore.
The bandit had only taken two steps when he felt something sharp piercing his guts, this wound felt different from the ones before, he looked down and saw a conical object, a horn, stuck in his guts.
The bandit observed it for a moment before his eyes turned wide in shock, he recognized the horn, it was none other than the horn of Tri Horned Rabbit King, the horn carried natural stunning poison within it and when matched with his current state, it proved lethal.
It was the limit, that the bandit boss could withstand, the axe slipped from his grip and fell to the ground, his body stopped listening to him, it got numb and he too fell to the ground.
The bandit boss looked above and noticed that there were no more knives thrown at him, he turned and saw a masked boy jumping down from a tree.
He was stunned, he was still wondering if this boy was the one who did it when the masked boy came running to him, raised his leg and stomped at his right arm at full force.
...Ka Cha...
The sound of bone breaking was transmitted to his ears, an intense wave of pain hit him, his expression turned deathly pale.
"Ahhhh…" The bandit boss screamed in pain. But it was only the beginning, Kale broke his other arm first, followed by his two legs.
The bandit boss kept screaming, even including a few curses in between but Kale only stopped after breaking the bones of his two hands and legs, earlier he was about to lose consciousness, but after feeling his four limbs breaking down, he acted like someone gave him a shot of adrenaline.
"You really have no cards?" Kale muttered in a low tone.
"…" The bandit boss.
The bandit boss felt like crying, his state was pathetic beyond what he ever imagined and the one who did it was still asking if he has any card.
Kale sighed in disappointment, he took out a small glass bottle, grabbed his jaw and forcefully emptied it in his mouth. Although the bandit boas wanted to spit it out, one punch in the stomach was all it took to convince him.
Once the chemical went down his throat, the bandit boss realized that he was not sleepy anymore.
He looked at Kale in surprise then his eyes brightened "You are an adventurer, right?"
Kale nodded.
"Then you want to surrender me alive and complete the mission?" The bandit boss said in a hoarse voice, he saw that Kale was silent and got delighted thinking he was right, he continued "Even if you give me in, you won't get many benefits, 50% of things we looted will be taken by the guild to return them back to the villagers, your benefits won't match your efforts, I will give you 70% of the total loot we collected so far and my friends, you can come to seek help from me any time, whether it is killing someone for you, you need money or woman, whatever it is, I will help, how about it?"
Kale snapped his fingers while attentively listening to him, then unsheathed the «Fallen Sakura» on his waist "You talk too much,"
The bandit boss got a scare, he realized that benefits alone might not be enough to entice him so he changed his method "Boy, don't get too full of yourself, you think you can easily get away with it if you turn me in? Let me tell you, you will die soon after you do that, we have our own backing, I am working for the Baron of this area, killing me would anger him,"
Kale pursued his lips.
He was slightly disheartened, the situation was not out of his expectations.
"Oh," Kale said in a surprised tone "Liar, do you take me as a fool? Why would I believe you? And why would a Baron cooperate with scums like you?"
The bandit boss saw hope and quickly replied "I am not lying, you can go check the box hidden under my bed in the tent, there are letters sent by Baron in it, the news spread half a year ago about the iron ore mine drying was fake, we smuggle iron ore to Baron on monthly basis.
If you complete your mission then the truth will be found out and it will be a huge blow to the Baron, he won't let go of you easily,"
Every noble have to pay a specified amount of taxes based on their territory and resource points to the Royal Family, according to the rules of Blazing Sun Kingdom. Hiding and smuggling iron like that meant gaining 100% profit without paying any tax for it, in simple words, it was black money.
After speaking so far, the bandit was waiting for Kale's response when the latter suddenly started laughing.
"Wh- What's wrong?" The bandit boss asked nervously.
"You are not wrong, if I submit the mission then the Baron might give me trouble," Kale said, his words slightly relieved the bandit boss but then he added, "But when did I say that I was doing a mission?"
The bandit boss's eyes turned wide in shock "What? Then... Why are you doing this?" He asked in disbelief.
"Do I need a reason to kill someone like you?" Kale chuckled.
The bandit boss was terrified. He didn't think that Kale was joking, right now the only word that echoed in his mind was…
Psycho!
He labelled Kale as someone crazy.
Kale had never taken the bandit extermination mission in the first place.
He only attacked the bandits for benefits, he had two plans, if the bandits were a local group without a backing then he would enslave their leader to gain a gang of cannon fodders.
It was why he didn't kill the other bandits and only pushed them into a deep sleep.
The other plan was for cases like this one, where the bandit had a backing, the plan was simple, it consisted of looting the bandits, killing everyone and using them as material for WitchCraft to increase his strength.
"Don't worry, I am willing to give you an instant death, be grateful," Kale said as he raised his knife.
The bandit boss snapped to realization, he shouted "Wait! We can talk, I know of an Inheritance, a Tier 4 Practitioner's Inheritance,"
Kale was about to slash, but after hearing his words, he stopped. He first observed the expression of bandit boss to make out if he was lying or speaking the truth, after observing for a while, he concluded that he was likely speaking the truth.
Of course, he didn't show it on the surface.
Kale snorted "How pathetic, you are making such an absurd lie to save your life? Why don't you say that the inheritance is of an immortal,"
The practitioners who could reach above Tier 5 are termed as immortals, until Tier 5, all stages have mortal in their name such as Mortal, Enlightened Mortal, Elemental Mortal, Transcended Mortal, Celestial Mortal.
Once someone reaches the peak of the Celestial Mortal stage, they can try to shed their mortality and achieve an immortal body and spirit.
The difference between a mortal and an immortal is immense, if the life force of a mortal is like a candle then the life force on an immortal is like a blazing furnace that could melt iron.
A thousand mortals aren't enough to compare to a single immortal, that's the difference.
"I am not lying, I know of a Tier 4 Time Mage's Inheritance, we can share it," The bandit boss said.
Kale lost half of his interest after hearing it, if it was a Wood Mage or Earth Mage's inheritance it would be very helpful to him but Time Mage wasn't that precious.
'This greedy fool, his life is at the brink of ending but he is still thinking of just sharing it,' Kale sneered inwardly.
Although the bandit boss was a martial artist, he could still trade the content of inheritance to get what he needed, the inheritance was very precious to a Tier 2 practitioner like him.
Inheritances weren't that rare in this world, or else there wouldn't be so many adventurer practitioners after main cultivation resources are controlled by big forces.
Many practitioners who want to leave behind their mark at the moment of their death or when their lifespan is close to ending, they leave behind their inheritance for others to continue their legacy.
Inheritances are quite common in the dungeon too, the adventurers live behind their equipment and knowledge hidden when they are close to dying to hide them from monsters and help other adventurers who fell into a similar situation as them or came for their rescue.
Time Mage was not an uncommon mage class, the ‹Fast› and ‹Slow› spells used by Vaella contained the essence of Time Magic.
"If you had such an inheritance then there is no way Baron will leave it in your hands," Kale said in dissatisfaction, he was probing him.
"It is because he doesn't know it…," The bandit boss hastily replied but then he realized that he had just courted his death, so he added "But some of my comrades around the city knows it,"
He said it because if Kale came to knew that he is the only one who knows about the inheritance then there is a high chance that he would try to kill him after acquiring it to silence him.
The change in his tone didn't escape from Kale's judgement, he asked again "Humph, still lying if you had acquired such an inheritance you would have already left, don't tell me that this iron mine worth more than a Tier 4 Inheritance, and why would you be so weak and poor if you have such an inheritance, you don't have any good equipment, movement techniques or defensive techniques on yourself,"
"I am not lying, it is because I haven't got that inheritance yet, a Blood & Bone Snake is living there, that's why I haven't got it, heal me, we can join hands to get it," The bandit boss said.
Kale touched his chin like he was pondering about something, he then said "Okay but before that, you need to show me your sincerity,"
"How do I do that?" The bandit boss asked in a somewhat anxious tone.
"That stoneman slave, I want him, transfer his ownership and I will heal you," Kale said.
The bandit boss's face stiffened, the stoneman slave was without a doubt the most precious asset to him, he was a strong slave he had bought after spending all his savings. But what can he do when Kale asked for him? So he nodded in agreement.
The Blazing Sun Kingdom was modernized, it only allowed servants and not slave trade, but rules were loose at places like a border town, the Carran Town. Furthermore, Blazing Sun Kingdom only forbid slave trading, if a slave was brought in from another place, then as long as they do not refute, the forces won't take action, even though a citizen belonging to the Blazing Sun Kingdom can still not have a slave inside the kingdom.
Kale smiled, he then lifted the bandit boss and carried him back on his shoulder, the bandit boss was in his most prone state, he could do nothing even when he had the chance to strike.
On the way, Kale reunited with the Ghost Lady, though the bandit only saw his woman from earlier standing there with sluggish expression, he had many questions but Kale shut him up.
They soon arrived at the place where the stoneman was lying unconscious.
The bandit boss sighed deeply, he could guess that the stoneman was defeated but watching it with his own eyes only made him feel despair.
Kale tightly bind the stoneman before waking him up by giving the antidote, the stoneman didn't react much even after knowing that his master was going to change, he just kept looking at Kale like he was daydreaming about something.
Kale didn't talk much either, he removed the stoneman's shirt under the bandit's guidance, a magic circle like enigma was present on his heart area of chest, the bandit boss embedded some Qi in it, that he had just recovered with a drop of blood, the enigma became faint then deformed like wet ink.
"I removed the seal, now you need to go buy a Master-Slave pact scroll before turning him into your slave," The bandit boss said, he spoke with an honest expression, he already knew that Kale won't have it, as a result, he can't make much use of the slave and pressure him.
"No need, I have my means," Kale said as he took out the slave contract from his bag, he had actually prepared it for bandit boss, but due to the turn of events, it was now going to be used on the stoneman slave.