"Have mercy please you're walking me to my death." Dumpling pleaded while bowing to them.
Zhishi Wu and Mei Fan remained unmoved by the acting but Jia Lin's face revealed a conflicted expression.
"Maybe we sho-"
"Smack him across the face disciple Jia." Mei Fan interrupted
"Yes."
Almond received a prompt smack in the face.
The interaction was short but Jia Lin completely overcame her inner conflict and complied with what Mei Fan said.
"Either you do what we say and maybe live, or I can let this lady here deal with you as she sees fit." Zhishi Wu said while pointing to Mei Fan who just stood her ground menacingly.
"Fine, Fine what choice do I have." Dumpling stood up, he had no way out of this situation and could only comply, he was a mere early stage Qi condensation cultivator, he could not compete with two elders and a disciple at the same time.
…
As they walked through the city they arrived at what seemed to be the central building, it was well built and reflected the amount of money that had been spent on it, a true mansion.
The building was their goal, this was where the leader of the group and the mayor both were, the only thing between them and their goal was about one hundred bandits composed mostly of body refiners, but there were still around 20 Qi condensation cultivators.
The three interlopers were spying on the building from just around the corner.
"No wonder they managed to conquer the city, they could probably establish a small sect." Mei Fan whispered.
"Is it really ok for me to still be here, let me return with Dumpling to the sect and punish him?" Jia Lin inquired with a straight face even though she knew she would probably get scolded.
"It may be wise to return and request reinforcements before addressing this situation." Zhishi Wu actually agreed with her idea to an extent.
As the three were discussing what to do when Dumpling overheard them.
"They are worried they can't face this number of people, this might be my chance." he thought to himself.
"OVER HERE, ITS CULTIVATORS!" he shouted at the top of his lungs and began running towards the bandits.
"Damn it." Mei Fan was annoyed that she hadn't noticed.
Zhishi Wu immediately expanded his spiritual sense.
"Now you get to be my lab rat." he thought as he transmitted his surging Qi through the spiritual sense as a vessel and straight into Dumpling's brain.
Dumpling instantly fell to the ground and blood seeped out of his ears, mouth, nose and eyes unceasingly the bloody scene was accompanied by a pin drop silence as everyone took it what just happened.
The effects of the sudden influx of Qi confirmed his theory about Qi implosion, and coincided with what that senior had told him about Qi density.
Zhishi Wu examined what had occurred closely and only had a singular thought in his head.
"Messy." he noted.
Mei Fan and Jia Lin were utterly surprised, Mei Fan was especially stunned, to her knowledge there was no way for a cultivator to kill like that, in the split second that she was about to chase Dumpling Zhishi Wu had already executed him, although she wasn't hostile towards Zhishi Wu she felt an urge to be on guard around him in the future.
The bandits who had been rushing at them slowed down and gradually stopped, a few of them even turned to the side and ran away.
"MONSTERS THEY'RE MONSTERS!" a voice sounded out.
"It has to be some sort of trick." others reasoned.
"If it truly worked that well, he would have killed us all by now." another person stated.
Eventually they overcame their hesitance and began to walk towards the three.
"Disciple Jia you handle the body refiners, I will deal with the QI condensation bandits, elder Mei Fan you can proceed inside and find the leader and the Mayor." Zhishi Wu said as he extracted the sword from his storage bag.
Mei Fan nodded and vanished, her speed eclipsed any of the bandits in front of them, they couldn't stop her even if they focused solely on her.
Although killing via spiritual sense was lethal as he had just verified it was far too demanding to use repeatedly for a large amount of people.
"Don't lag behind disciple Jia." he said as he slowly began to speed up.
"Yes elder." she replied as she slowly followed while pulling out a set of twin daggers.
The bandits had gained an understanding on the power dynamics between the three intruders.
"All Qi condensation fellows we need to attack the man, let the body refiners overwhelm the girl."
Zhishi Wu closed his eyes as he remembered what the senior had told him, compared to spiritual sense his eyes were far weaker. In a fight against twenty simultaneous opponents he needed the omnidirectional sight of spiritual sense.
"I have to be careful to not exhaust myself too much." he thought as he got into a fighting stance slowly bringing the blade up to his side.
The twenty bandits encircled him.
"You're going to regret killing our brother cultivator bastard!" one of them yelled.
…
As Zhishi Wu was preparing to fight his share of enemies Mei Fan had already infiltrated the building.
"The mayor should be somewhere on the lower levels, she thought as she rushed to the closest way downstairs.
As she reached what she assumed was a a dungeon she looked through the various cells for the mayor and finally found someone who matched the description.
"A man with a beard and bald head." she remembered from the mission details.
She quickly rushed in and picked him up, he looked like he hadn't been fed in months and was full of wounds reflecting torture, her expression twisted, a proud peak of Qi condensation cultivator was actually beaten to this extent.
"Rrr." he tried to say something.
"Don't speak, let me escort you out of here." she replied as she gritted her teeth.
The went up the stairs and began to move towards the exit.
"It-it's a traa-trap." he managed to get out while exerting all of his force to talk .
"What do you me-." she was about to ask when she noticed her exit was blocked by two giant figures.
"Shit I might really die here." she realized while putting down the mayor gently and circulating her Qi.
This entire time Mei Fan had been under the impression that there was only one foundation establishment cultivator here, that belief shattered when she saw the sight before her.