Chapter 2: Robbery (2)

The horse carriage continued to advance.

However, it was now followed by an entourage of twelve bandits, stumbling along behind the carriage.

He Xiaochan couldn’t help but turn around and glance at the bandits behind them from time to time, making faces at them and giggling.

Old He, however, continued to wear a frown.

“Grandpa, what are you so worried about? Didn’t you see that Uncle Iron has already captured them all? I knew he wasn’t someone ordinary,” He Xiaochan said.

“What do you know!” Old He said as he slapped his thigh.

Ever since Su Chen had come looking for himself to be their guide, and even when he had chosen the path with more bandits there, Old He knew that Su Chen and his servant were likely one of the legendary Origin Qi Scholars.

But so what?

Just as he had said, there were plenty of people with talent. Experts were present even amongst bandits.

He had traveled extensively in these past few years, and he had seen many youths with inflated opinions of themselves, acting without much restraint and consideration.

What happened to them in the end? Did they not all die without even a proper burial, their bodies lost to the desolate wilderness forever?

In this kind of society, the number of talented individuals that died was not a small number!

Capturing twelve bandits who weren’t even Origin Qi Scholars didn’t mean much at all.

Su Chen continued to read, He Xiaochan only able to coax perfunctory answers from Su Chen. Iron Cliff diligently steered the carriage, while Old He continued to fret.

The carriage proceeded at a steady clip, leaving behind a long shadow under the midday sun.

After proceeding in this way for some time, Su Chen, whose face had been buried in his books, suddenly raised his head and said, “Iron Cliff.”

“Master.”

“Stop the carriage. There’s an ambush in front of us.”

Old He felt his heart tighten, while a trace of excitement appeared in He Xiaochan’s eyes.

The carriage stopped advancing.

Su Chen said, “They have nearly a hundred people surrounding us from both sides. They’ve set up quite a large formation.”

Upon hearing that there was nearly a hundred bandits lying in wait for them, Old He nearly jumped in fright. Even He Xiaochan’s former excitement was greatly suppressed.

Old He began to yell, “It’s the Tortoiseshell Camp, it must be them! They have the most control over this region, and they have a number of Origin Qi Scholars amongst their ranks!”

“There should be five of them,” Su Chen said.

“How did you know?” Old He asked in shock.

“Because they’re already here.”

The bandits began to emerge from their surroundings - coming out from behind boulders and trees, as well as emerging from nearby thickets. Bandit after bandit appeared, savage expressions on their faces, wielding sharp blades as they advanced menacingly, surrounding the carriage.

Five men on horseback stood blocking the path forward.

“Three Qi Drawing Realm and two Blood Boiling Realm cultivators...... Not a bad setup,” Su Chen muttered.

Then, he turned around and asked Old He, “What’s the reputation of this Tortoiseshell Camp like?”

“What else could it be? Murder, arson - there’s no evil act they won’t do!” Old He’s legs were like jelly. Normally, the Tortoiseshell Camp focused on larger business transactions. Why would they send out such a large force against a mere shoddy carriage?

He had overlooked the twelve bandits trailing behind the carriage.

It was impossible for this string of bandits to not attract notice.

The Tortoiseshell Camp normally wouldn’t pay much attention to a single carriage, and even if they sent some men, the five camp heads wouldn’t have made an appearance. But when they saw the trail of captured bandits behind their carriage, wasn’t that quite an arrogant statement?

A provocation?

Whether it was a provocation or not, the Tortoiseshell Camp had no way of enduring this kind of insult.

Forget about whether the other party was an expert or not.

There were many experts in this world, but there were even more commoners!

If a single person was able to come and walk around as he pleased with just a few common bandits in tow, what was everyone else out here doing?

Whoever acted the most outrageously would be able to survive!

So no matter what, as bandits they needed to come down and show off their true skill.

If something was off...... they would figure it out later. Bandits only had so much patience; how could they take the time to draft up a plan or think multiple steps ahead?

It was probably more accurate to say that they didn’t look back no matter how many steps they took.

In any case, upon seeing such an arrogant procession, the Tortoiseshell Camp bandits were immediately displeased. They quickly gathered together to surround the group.

Still, they had demonstrated a bit of caution; all five of the camp heads had been mobilized.

“There’s no evil act they won’t do?” Upon hearing Old He’s words, Su Chen laughed. “That’s the way I like it. Iron Cliff, guard the carriage.”

As he spoke, he leapt forwards.

He didn’t waste any time speaking. A strengthened Firehawk took flight from his hand, streaking towards one of the bandits.

Su Chen had targeted one of the two Blood Boiling Realm cultivators present.

The Firehawk shone brilliantly as it took flight. The Blood Boiling Realm bandit laughed viciously, the large iron hammer in his hand glowing with a shockingly bright white light.

The hammer and Firehawk slammed into each other. A powerful wave of flames surged forth, penetrating the white light and slamming into the bandit, sending him flying with a single blow.

“Boss!” the bandits yelled in alarm.

“Damn! He’s in the Blood Boiling Realm!” The bandit captain didn’t die, but he was pretty heavily wounded and couldn’t get to his feet.

Upon seeing that their boss hadn’t died, the bandits let out a collective sigh of relief. The other Blood Boiling Realm bandit yelled, “Damn, acting so arrogantly just because you’re in the Blood Boiling Realm? Brothers, let’s go together!”

“HA!” Everyone yelled as they charged forward.

Su Chen laughed and stretched out his right hand. A flock of Erupting Firebirds appeared and surged forwards.

At this point, his strength had reached a level where it was a simple matter for him to form an Erupting Firebird. As such, this flock consisted of over a hundred Firebirds.

Even though Erupting Firebirds were small, Su Chen had relied on them to dominate while he was still in the early stages of the Qi Drawing Realm. It was more than enough to deal with a bunch of Body Tempering commoners.

The birds began to seek out their targets, one bird per bandit.

Old He and He Xiaochan watched in complete awe as flames rained down from the skies onto the charging horde of bandits, who collapsed when faced with the onslaught.

Of course, those four bandit chiefs didn’t fall. Three of them were high-tier Qi Drawing Realm cultivators and one was a high-tier Blood Boiling Realm cultivator; they had no difficulty whatsoever dealing with a single Erupting Firebird.

However, a moment later, a fiery glow began to appear from Su Chen’s hand. This time, however, it was a cast of Firehawks.

Ten Firehawks flew forth, divided amongst the four chiefs, forcing them to run for cover.

“Too weak,” Su Chen shook his head and sighed with dissatisfaction.

The Blood Boiling Realm bandit chief was both shocked and enraged. How come their opponent was that much stronger?

The bandit who had charged first had gotten back on his feet. He yelled in rage, “Charge forward, don’t fight him head-on! This guy definitely isn’t good at close-quarters combat!”

As he yelled out his commands, a white glow began to cover his body. His speed greatly increased, and his aura instantly grew shot up in intensity.

Simultaneously, the second-in-command raised his shield, blocking the charge of the Firehawks. The other three Qi Drawing Realm bandits followed behind him as they advanced.

Su Chen coldly laughed.

Another cast of Firehawks was launched, but this time it was as if they had grown eyes. They circled around the second-in-command’s large round shield and exploded behind the three Qi Drawing Realm bandits.

Those Firehawks could injure even a high-tier Vicious Beast like the Giant Adamantine Ape; the three Qi Drawing Realm bandits were sent flying, and it was unknown whether or not they were still alive when they hit the ground.

“Too weak.” Su Chen shook his head again as he repeated his earlier utterance.

In reality, two of the camp heads were high-layer Blood Boiling Realm cultivators and three of them were high-layer Qi Drawing Realm cultivators. They weren’t weak by any stretch of the imagination.

But what kind of person was Su Chen? He possessed immense talent, having graduated from the Hidden Dragon Institute, and those he had fought with were also the elites of the elites.

Su Chen had tempered himself against experts, and his standards were completely different from those of commoners.

When faced with truly average opponents, the discrepancy between them felt like the gap between heaven and earth.

He even felt that, against these kinds of opponents, he could probably take on eight at once.

The second-in-command was both shocked and enraged. He yelled, “If you have the ability, try and break through my shield! Sneaking attacks in from behind isn’t impressive at all!”

“Fine by me!” Su Chen replied.

At that moment, the camp leader charged right at Su Chen, slamming the hammer in his hand down at Su Chen.

Su Chen twisted his body, causing the battle hammer to fly past his body. It slammed into the ground, leaving behind a massive crater in the ground.

Su Chen completely ignored the camp leader, instead charging at the second-in-command, striking out at his shield. “Armor Piercing Awl!”

Bang!

The second-in-command suddenly felt his hand go light. His shield Origin Tool had shattered.

It had been shattered by a single strike from his opponent.

An instant later, Su Chen followed up with a punch towards his face. The second-in-command’s vision went dark, and he passed out.

Immediately after unleashing this punch, Su Chen leapt backwards, slamming his elbow into the oncoming camp leader’s midsection. The camp leader’s body bent over double, and Su Chen launched an uppercut at his exposed chin. The camp leader was sent flying.

As he flew through the air, a thought flashed through his brain: Damn, this guy’s close-quarters combat isn’t weak either.

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