126 The Bandit

Li Xintian was speechless as the Corpse Demon watched him leave after uttering a final threat, much like a scene from a children's cartoon. He had no choice but to retract his righteous aura and focus on dealing with the corpses in Chen Family Village; otherwise, a plague would surely break out.

By the time he had burned all the bodies and fished those from the river, it was already evening.

"Why hasn't anyone come over yet?"

Hu Qiuyan had been worrying about Li Xintian all day, and she was surprised to see him return alone at nightfall.

"Master Li, have you seen my master?"

Hei Yue was equally anxious about the situation regarding Zhao Longjie.

"Chen Family Village has been completely wiped out. The entire village was slaughtered. I only returned after disposing of all the corpses. As for your master, I have already encountered him, and we had a confrontation..."

Before Li Xintian could finish, he was interrupted by an anxious Hei Yue.

"Is my master alright?"

"He is fine, though he has been controlled by the Corpse Demon. Now, we can only wait for good news from Daoist Zhou."

Li Xintian shook his head and glanced toward Zhou You's room, where Bian Yiyuan and Bian Yihe were standing guard outside.

***

Meanwhile, Zhou You’s soul had left his body to return to Xuanxu Temple.

At Xuanxu Temple, Zhou You gazed at his surroundings, recalling how his master had taken him in at the age of six to study the Dao.

Thirty years ago.

Below the mountain of Xuanxu Temple, a village had fallen victim to a raid by a gang of bandit marauders. Zhao Yaoyang, the Sect Leader of Xuanxu Temple, ordered his disciples to support the village. He led the expedition himself, leaving only his father, Zhao Weizheng, to guard the temple.

Accompanying them on the road to the village was Zhao Yaoyang’s wife, Liu Qingqing, along with over twenty disciples.

"Husband, please ask the disciples to be cautious on this road. Even if these bandits are mere ruffians, they may still employ insidious tricks," Liu Qingqing said, riding beside Zhao Yaoyang and casting a worried glance at the disciples, who were chatting and laughing behind them.

"You are right, my lady. One cannot be too careful," Zhao Yaoyang replied, nodding in agreement. Without looking back, he commanded, "Disciples, heed my words! Though these bandits are base scoundrels, they are cold-blooded killers who stop at nothing. Keep your wits about you; do not let your guard down for a second. This is no child's play!"

"Yes, Sect Leader!" The disciples behind him immediately ceased their chatter and responded with solemnity.

"Full speed to the village! Hiyah!" Zhao Yaoyang spurred his horse, accelerating toward their destination.

***

That night, in the village, the marauders were already slaughtering the villagers. The air was filled with the cries of children and the screams of adults. The scene was pure chaos; villagers trying to flee were driven back into the village.

Some bandits grabbed women, slinging them over their shoulders despite their struggles and screams, kicking open doors and locking themselves inside.

One bandit, reveling in the carnage with an ecstatic expression, walked up to a six-year-old child kneeling on the ground in tears. He let out a wild laugh.

"Please, I beg you, do not kill my daughter!" a village woman pleaded, kneeling before the brute.

The bandit ignored her pleas entirely. He spat on the ground, raised his blade, and struck mother and daughter down. Blood sprayed from their throats, splattering the bandit’s face as they collapsed, their eyes wide and staring. The bandit didn't care; he wiped the blood from his eyes with his hand and licked his lips.

Inside a house, another bandit tossed a disheveled woman out through a wooden wall; her eyes were rolled back, and she was dead. The bandit spat on her corpse.

At the village gates, a woman in black sat atop a horse. A mask covered the left side of her face as she watched the slaughter with cold eyes. She was the leader of the marauders, wielding a long-handled broadsword. Seeing the wailing, she sneered, leaped from her horse, and cleaved a fleeing villager in two. Her blade remained unstained by blood. She began walking toward the villagers, and with every step she took, another villager fell, leaving the ground slick with blood. This was a pack of soulless demons who killed the innocent for sport.

***

In another house, the marauders were calling for the "Second Leader."

The Second Leader killed for the sake of amusement, forcing a terrified villager to drink.

"If you can drink faster than me, you shall live, and your family will be spared. If you lose, your head rolls. If you spill even a drop of wine, your head rolls," the one-eyed Second Leader said, raising a hand to silence the others.

The villager’s family, held captive by other bandits, wept silently, too terrified to even look.

"Since you don't speak, I'll take that as a 'yes.' Drink!"

The Second Leader grabbed a jar of wine and began to drink. The bandits cheered for him. The villager, trembling with fear, picked up his jar, but he was so paralyzed by terror that he couldn't swallow a drop.

As soon as the Second Leader finished his jar and set it down, the bandit holding the villager's family swung an axe, severing their heads. The blood sprayed in a fountain, and a head rolled to the villager's feet.

"Ah! Kill me! Just kill me!" the villager screamed, going mad as he smashed his unfinished jar against the table.

Without hesitation, the Second Leader swung his blade and slit the villager's throat.

The bandits dragged the two corpses outside.

"Bring another one here!"

They grabbed another villager and dragged him to the table to drink with the Second Leader.

"No, no, I won't drink!" the villager cried, but he was forced into a chair.

The bandits then called for the "Third Leader."

"Try an arm-wrestling match with him. If you win, I'll let you go!" the marauder leader entered the room and said, silencing the crowd.

"Yes!" the bandits cheered frantically.

"Third Leader!"

The Third Leader raised his arm—it was thick and muscular, his hand larger than the villager's head. The villager, trembling, reached out his hand, and the Third Leader grabbed it. The villager’s face turned deathly pale; his bones audibly crunched under the Third Leader's grip, and he let out a piercing wail.

"I shall count! One, two!" the Third Leader commanded. At the count of two, the villager was so terrified he used his other hand to help, sobbing.

"Three!" the Third Leader roared, and they began.

He slammed the villager's arm into the table, the sound of breaking bones echoing through the room as the villager shrieked in agony.

Outside the village, Zhao Yaoyang and his party arrived. He leaped from his horse and kicked a bandit, who flew back and crashed into two others. The three of them stood up as if nothing had happened. Zhao Yaoyang’s appearance drew the attention of the marauders outside.

"Run while you can," Zhao Yaoyang said to the villagers behind him after saving two of them.

"Thank you, hero, for saving our lives!" the villagers cried as they fled.

"Kill him! How dare he interfere in our business!" The marauders charged at Zhao Yaoyang with their weapons.

"Hmph, wicked scum!" Knowing the cruelty of these bandits—who were riddled with poison—Zhao Yaoyang drew his sword, bit his finger, smeared the blood on the blade, and charged into the fray.

The disciples of Xuanxu Temple, along with Liu Qingqing, followed close behind.

Zhao Yaoyang fought his way through the bandits, eventually crashing into the room of the marauder leader.

"Who are you people?" The leader, seeing her underlings outside had been wiped out, retreated behind her guards.

"Are you even human? Not only do you steal, but you slaughter everyone? Have you no humanity left?" Zhao Yaoyang asked, looking at the corpses strewn throughout the village.

"Spare me the lecture. Let’s get straight to the point: what do you want?" The leader remained unfazed.

"I will destroy every one of you wretches so that you may be reborn—no, perhaps you should be reborn as beasts instead!" Zhao Yaoyang knew these marauders were beyond salvation.

"Hahaha... how many people have said that to me? Sadly, they have all been 'reborn'—or perhaps they became beasts themselves," the leader laughed, kicking a table into the air toward Zhao Yaoyang.

Zhao Yaoyang channeled his energy and shattered the table in mid-air, the splinters flying into the surrounding bandits. Chaos erupted.

The leader lunged with her long-handled broadsword, aiming for Zhao Yaoyang’s head. Had it connected, he would have been cleaved in two. Zhao Yaoyang ducked, and the heavy blade smashed into the floor, shattering the wood.

Zhao Yaoyang thrust his sword at her. The leader channeled her own dark energy, and her broadsword moved like a serpent, parrying his strike and slashing toward his chest.

Zhao Yaoyang did not dare be careless. He channeled his power, and his sword multiplied into dozens of blades, raining down upon the leader while he parried her main weapon.

The leader exhaled a cloud of black mist, and the dozens of swords fell to the ground as they passed through it. She sneered as her broadsword snaked through the ranks of the Xuanxu disciples, cutting some of them down before they could react.

Realizing he could not hold back, Zhao Yaoyang channeled his energy, his sword flying through the air like a reaper, cutting down the bandits one by one. He then gathered energy in his palm and unleashed a "Palm Thunder" strike toward the leader's black mist.

"Palm Thunder!"

The leader grabbed one of her own bandits and threw him into the path of the blast. The bandit’s eyes widened as the Palm Thunder disintegrated him into dust.

Zhao Yaoyang’s flying sword struck the leader, slicing through her mask.

Her face was revealed—scarred by burns, the skin pitted and dead-looking, truly grotesque. She covered her face with her hands, but the damage was too extensive to hide. Her eyes turned sharp with hatred, focused entirely on Zhao Yaoyang.

"I will not let you off easily!"

She roared, her body transforming into a beam of light that shot toward Zhao Yaoyang.

He knew he could not dodge in time. This was a suicidal technique—the leader was willing to forfeit her own life just to drag him down with her!

Liu Qingqing threw herself in front of Zhao Yaoyang, taking the full force of the light beam. It pierced through her left shoulder and vanished.

"My lady, don't speak! I will heal you!" Zhao Yaoyang caught her, channeling his energy to tend to her wound.

A moment later, Liu Qingqing coughed up a mouthful of black blood and fell unconscious.

"It's poisonous!" Zhao Yaoyang finally realized the leader's true intent.