At twilight, Soha abandoned the raft on the river bed and, relieved from his exhaustion, climbed onto the land where he had done the deed.
The person he had killed earlier had two more accomplices, as far as he knew, and now, they should be thoroughly exhausted.
This was information he had learned from the man's earlier mumbles, of course. And he had also learned that the area he was currently in was filled with the scum of society even before arriving anywhere near, so nobody sane even goes around here unless absolutely necessary.
If someone dared to enter here without preparation, they would have a fate similar to the women who got captured by the three men amateur bandits—Bald Head Trio. As Soha walked slowly towards where that earlier man was walking, his nerves were slightly taut but much calmer after having already killed his first.
Taking the bloody iron bar, he had dropped earlier on the side. He heaved in relief. The missing one among the three bald heads, the bald-headed man he had killed earlier, didn't even seem to have been noticed as of yet. Or this bar would not have been here. If it weren't for him, he would have run away and chosen other targets.
As the sun dipped down in the horizon, he reached a small hill, on top of which was a long hut. His face was calm; he hid and circled the hut, and seeing no lookouts, he slowly reached the hut's walls. He leaned onto it and listened.
The walls were just thin brick, so he could clearly hear the sound of rough breathing and sobs and a slight noise of flesh slapping flesh tiredly. He walked around the hut and found a window that was closed with a cloth.
He gently pulled it apart and looked inside. His gaze became cold at the sight of two men going at each other while, in the distance, two women sobbed in each other's embrace, covered in a blanket. The sound of flesh came from those two men.
Silently, he lifted the cloth of the window a bit more, and one of the women noticed him. Her gaze shook, but he showed a finger on his lip, saying 'silent.' She was already sobbing, so her slight yelp didn't seem any didn't seem any different.
She nodded in fright and sobbed even harder.
Coldly, Soha slid in through the window, and two immediate and powerful "TANG!" sounds were heard as both of the men's heads started bleeding; they looked at Soha in disbelief, trying to form words, but a cold foot slammed into their noses, cutting off oxygen. It didn't take long for them to be unconscious.
Not giving the women on the side any heed, he used the knife to do what he was here for immediately. The women shrieked and cried, but they couldn't run away. Their hands and feet were tied. Soha sighed, as soon, two more human hearts were in his stomach.
The urge to vomit was there, but everything was somehow stuck in his stomach.
Wobbling on his feet, he walked towards the two women and brandished his knife. With his mask and what he had just done, he was frightening. They sat there petrified, but unlike their fear, Soha just calmly cut their ropes, then walked out of the house through the main door that made an irritable squeaking sound as he opened.
There were two pouches full of gold and silver taels in the hut; Soha took one and left the other. After a long time since he left, the women both looked at each other with a gaze filled with complex emotions and, taking the remaining pouch, ran away.
From a distance, Soha looked at them, hanging on a tree branch. He couldn't help but feel emotional. He just watched like that till the women both left the forest and traveled on the route where a village was. They must have been from that place. They were both very old women, both of them more than his mother's age.
Seeing that they were out, if they were lucky enough, they would easily survive and get back to their place since this was still just the edge of the bandit area. He hoped they would survive and find better lives, but that was it. He wouldn't go out of his way for the goodness of his heart. He wasn't that strong. He could also be killed by normal bandits.
If they were to end up in some serious trouble again, that would be serious trouble for himself too if he wished to help.
His red mask, which looked akin to a demon, had a bit of blood, but he strangely didn't hate that discomfort. Holding onto the tree branch, he began to train his body to exhaustion through pull-ups, and when his hand felt sore, he jumped down to do push-ups.
As his body finally reached a limit and as his senses grew fuzzy, he felt a sort of warmth emanate from his whole body, from the top of his head to the bottom of his foot….
Emma, who had been silent throughout the process just like Soha, said in his mind: [It is Innate Qi, Soha, don't miss the feeling.]
If she had eyes, tears would have leaked out through her innocent mind, yet, Soha just smiled under the mask as he sensed the immense wellspring of heat inside him. With excitement, he laughed, "It's Innate Qi!"