After only 10 minutes of searching, Shu He managed to find a second entrance to the mines, he had scaled up the sloped part of the mountain as there was a hidden track up as fast as he could reaching a lower plateau of the mountain, the forest continued on this lower area so Shu He expanded his senses to search for it, he quickly noticed a couple bandits waiting in silence under the trees shadows, so he was sure he was in the right place.
And he was correct, behind a large stone where some trees had collapsed forming a natural camouflage there was a way in, another member standing on guard, or rather drifting asleep as he sat on a stone next to it.
"…" He stood on a sturdy branch with the moonlight outlining his figure, now was the time to make a final decision.
He had a line of sight on all three of the bandits from here, he could do it.
But did he want to?
"…" He hesitated.
This group of bandits were going to be marked for subjugation, but what if one of them was innocent? That they never actually did anything?
Are they guilty by association?
Shu He had never truly killed another 'person' before.
With Tai Min, he was a monster that killed his family, he never even felt a weight in his heart from that.
With Jin Bao, his life had been forfeit at that point, all that was left was a hollow shell that resembled a human.
However, with these men in his sights… he didn't know the first thing about them, not even their name, and they didn't even know he existed; They would die without knowing why.
But…
His emotions where tilting one side to the other, so he put it in to an objective perspective.
These men were criminals.
If he didn't do something, the captured villagers would suffer a terrible fate, most likely one worse than death.
The villagers will come very soon with a force of 50, and likely suffer utter defeat.
And right now, he was the only one that could do something.
He steeled his heart as he lifted his left hand, the sleeve of his robes falling down as they exposed the leather gauntlet that reached his elbows, small pockets lining its stitching, his hand shifted in to a position like he was holding a bow and the strange waving pattern on the gauntlet shifted.
It wasn't a mere pattern, it in itself was a plant, wood.
It slithered into his hand like a snake yet moved like a bullet and began shifting shape, two long prongs formed, and vines bloomed from the ends that dropped and rose, merging together, soon the transformation was finished and in Shu He's hand was a longbow!
It was made of fine, smooth wood and had small branches and leaves at the tip of upper limb and roots at the bottom, the string was made of a thin, bright green material that resembled a vine.
In the past 5 months Shu He had attempted to search for a bow that suited him, but most of the craftsmen he could afford couldn't make one like he wanted, they didn't usually make bows for cultivators unfortunately, Yun Jiang straight up refused him.
Apparently he hadn't been working on his skills has a craftsman much, instead focusing on forging, so he wasn't prepared to make a bow yet; He didn't want to make something knowing it wouldn't live up to his skills.
The only ones in the Covetous Dragon Pagoda were too simple and lacked the strength he wanted; they were designed as secondary weapons for cultivators with no experience to act as support.
The fact was, not many cultivators used bows; Many techniques could make projectiles with ease, and they were generally stronger or more versatile than an arrow, so they would either use no weapon or use a melee weapon they can reinforce.
So Shu He had to make his own, but he couldn't just gain the skills to make one to his standard from scratch easily, he consulted a few people and one of those was Wu Zhong who simply said:
"You already have a perfect technique for that, don't you?".
And indeed, he did.
<
He then also realised that making a bow out of normal, mortal wood wasn't good enough for what he wanted, so he went and did some research on what trees or plants he could use, he knew he would have to use a spiritual tree so the seeds would be a bit more expensive.
He decided on one in the end, it was called the Steelvine Tree, it was used in sturdy construction and bridges because its wood was incredibly hard to pierce while being flexible, same for the vines that hang from it in loops.
He shifted his hand, pointing it towards the first man 30 meters from him, as his aim lined up he moved his right hand as a sprout grew out one of the pockets on his right-hand gauntlet and entered his clasped palm, growing into an arrow that he knocked on to the string and drew it back.
There was a nearly inaudible sound of wood strain as he pulled it back halfway, not needing the full draw because of the distance, this bow was already far better than his father's bow as it had been personally tuned by him.
Shu He opted to not get rid of it after each use, returning it to its pattern bracelet form so he didn't have to grow and retune another seed each time.
The bandit was leaning against a tree, his eyes closed as he listened for intruders, oblivious to the danger above him.
Shu He's hands shook slightly, and his heartbeat was erratic, so he pictured a waterdrop falling into water, the ripples traversing his soul and body calming him down, his golden eyes focused as the shining light in them dispersed, all that was left was killing intent.
He channelled his Qi to the head of the arrow and compressed it, and then-
*Shoo*
A silent whisper.
A bandit died.
The arrow easily pierced the side of his head, destroying his brain instantly as the small imbuement of Qi exploded.
Shu He didn't stop to take in the sights or think about his actions, he shifted his position on the branch and aimed at the next one, around 53 meters away and let another arrow loose.
Another died.
And then, there was the last one to deal with.
Just over 100 meters away, Shu He focused his senses so he could see everything between them, he calculated a route to shoot through the covering branches and drew his bow to full taut as he stood tall at the top of a tree, the moonlight serving as a chilling backdrop to his eerie, glowing golden eyes.
*SHOO*
The bandit's brow twitched as he began to move.
"Hm?-"
And then he died.
The arrow pierced straight through his woken brow and exited out the other end, splattering blood and brain matter on the stone walls behind him.
Shu He dropped into a freefall from the tree as the bow returned to its former shape wrapped around his arm, he kicked off a lower branch and landed with a roll before standing up, he began walking towards the entrance.
As he pushed the fallen tree's branches out of the way he glanced at the corpse of the man, the blood and flesh lying on the wall dripping steadily and flinched slightly before he exhaled a breath of stale air and moved on.
He stood before the entrance, clearly crudely dug out with makeshift supports unlike the main shaft, his senses could finally pierce the veil that was the bandit's hideout.
As he expended his senses, his brow furrowed, and then dipped in a strong u shape as he grit his teeth hard enough that they might have broken.
He could see the full layout now, there were easily 40 or more bandits inside, and the captives were there too…
But they weren't in a good state.
He could see a couple corpses, one of a man that was beaten to death, the other of a young woman… ravaged, marks covering her body as she laid still, the terror in her face captured in her final moments.
The rest of them weren't in a better state, cooped up In a tiny room, similar abuse marks and such things littering their body.
The one thing that struck Shu He the most was that they didn't even spare a child that looked similar to his age.
'Filth'.
His decision was right.
*Drip*
He looked down as his feet as the blood from the corpse crept across the floor, touching his shoes and staining the thin leather.
He took a step forward.
'I can't stop now'.