Chapter 24 – Fear

The bandits, who had planned to encircle Xue Ying and kill him with their leader, were all shocked and stunned after chasing over. How did their leader die just like that?

They had only exchanged a few moves, he had died way too fast!

Pu! Xue Ying pulled his spear out and turned his eyes towards the bandits, whose hands were stained with blood.

“Quickly, run!”

“Run!”

The bandits were all terrified. None of them were Heaven Ranked Knights, and even their leader Ge Bin could kill them all single-handedly, not to mention this young lord who was even more powerful than Ge Bin.

“Trash, you still want to escape?” Xue Ying dashed towards the bandit in a split second. Snowflakes flew and blood splashed as he slaughtered the bandits like they had the citizens of Water Rites Town before. These bandits were mere fodder in the face of Xue Ying’s spear. The remaining three Earth Knights were killed in merely two breaths. Bandits everywhere were sent flying and collapsed onto the ground as corpses.

“Run, run fast!” The bandits were terrified; their strength just couldn’t compare with Xue Ying’s, whose spear was emitted in a powerful aura. Even the smallest touch could end their lives, let alone one of Xue Ying’s powerful strikes.

“Die.”

“Die.”

Xue Ying showed no mercy towards the bandits of the Bent Blade Union, annihilating every one of them within his reach. As he killed them, they fled in all directions. He knew full well that he was alone… he could not kill them all. However, for the sake of eliminating this disease that had plagued Water Rites Town for years, he would aim to kill the strongest amongst them.

He would kill all who were at the Knight Rank without exception.

It wasn’t long before the bandits had escaped in different directions, but over two hundred corpses remained on the ground. The leaders of the Bent Blade Union, their Heaven Knights, their Earth Knights all the core members of the union; they had all been killed.

From then on, the Bent Blade Union was no more!

As for the rest of the bandits, the village guards should be able to handle them.

“Spare my life, spare me!” There were five bandits cornered on the mountain wall by Zong Ling. They didn’t dare to move even an inch, because those who moved would die.

“Xue Ying.” Zong Ling said, laughing out loud, “This is great! The biggest threat to Water Rites Town is now gone forever! I’ve searched the bodies of Ge Bin and others, and there’s quite a number of treasures on them, especially on Ge Bin’s body. I even found a magical storage item!”

Xue Ying was surprised. Ge Bin owned a magical storage item?

“This bandit is actually so rich.” Xue Ying said as he started walking towards Zong Ling

“Here.” Zong Ling handed over a package, and inside the package were some gold notes issued by the empire’s bank. It was obvious that Ge Bin had been afraid that his bandit group could be exterminated at any time, so he carried all his money and treasures with him at all times. Besides the money, there was a ring inside the package too.

Xue Ying picked up the ring and started probing it immediately. His qi flowed into the ring through his finger, cleansing the inner circles of the rings once and binding the ring to himself. A knight or a mage could use their qi or magic power to bind a magical storage item, though if it was a normal person they would need a mage to bind it with their blood.

“Good stuff!” Xue Ying was surprised by the ring’s contents. It contained a large amount of gold notes, coins and weapons, though the storage space was much smaller than the magic storage pendant his mother had given Xue Ying. It was merely two thirds of a meter in radius.

“So many gold notes.” Xue Ying could sense everything inside the magical storage ring.

Gold notes were worth 85,000 gold coins! And some small items, which were worth up to 90,000 gold coins!

The rest of the bandits’ belongings were worth another 20,000 gold coins.

‘Bandits are incredibly rich!’ Xue Ying thought to himself.

“The five of you.”

Xue Ying looked at the terrified bandits. “Lead the way to your base camp. If you lead me there correctly, I will spare your lives… But if you lead me wrongly…. All of you will die!”

“Yes yes yes.”

“Rest assured, my lord, we will definitely lead you down the correct path.” The five bandits replied immediately.

……

The terrified bandits nervously led the way.

Xue Ying and Zong Ling trailed behind them.

“Uncle Zong, here.” Xue Ying handed the magical storage ring over to Zong Ling.

“No way, you are the one who destroyed the Bent Blade Union, all of these treasures belong to you!” Zong Ling said, rejecting the item.

“My mother gave me a magical storage pendant, I don’t need this one.” Xue said with a laugh.

“But you can keep it for Qing Shi. One day he will become a mage, and a mage will need a magical storage item.” Zong Ling said as he shook his head.

Xue Ying shook his head and said, “It’s too early, and Qing Si will still need a few more years to become a true mage! And when that time comes, I will give him a better one. Uncle Zong, don’t forget, we have made a huge profit this time!”

Zong Ling was startled, but then he smiled.

That’s right! Not only did they have a Shadow Leopard corpse, they also had the hide of a Silver Moon Wolf King, that alone was worth tens of thousands of gold coins. If they included the gold coins they acquired by destroying the Bent Blade Union, then they really earned a fortune.

“Alright.” Without saying another word, Zong Ling took the ring and bound it.

“Hm?” Zong Ling was surprised. He had now discovered the huge amount of gold notes and gold coins in the ring, and the gold notes alone were worth more than fifty thousand gold coins.

“These are for the expenses of the Snow Eagle Territory, you can keep those gold coins and spend them. Just tell me when you need more,” Xue Ying told Zong Ling. “I will find a chance to sell the Silver Moon Wolf King skin and the Shadow Leopard corpse when we return.”

The Shadow Leopard corpse was stored in the magical storage pendant. Such magical storage space contained no air, and was therefore ideal for storing items for a long period of time.

“En.” Zong Ling thought to himself as he nodded his head, Xue Ying’s strength would keep increasing, and the expenses of the Snow Eagle Territory would gradually increase as well.

Not long after they started walking.

“My Lord, we will soon reach our destination.” The five bandits said respectfully. One of the skinny bandits went on to say, “Our base camp is inside the mountain. It’s impossible to discover from the front, it is only accessible through extremely secretive passages that lead into the camp directly.”

“Lead the way.”

Xue Ying brandished his spear and acted cautiously.

The five bandits walked forwards, but Xue Ying could sense a frightening threat ahead of him.

It was as if something horrible was hiding inside the mountain right in front of him.

After reaching the realm of Great Spear Master and raising his spear skills to a nearly divine level, Xue Ying’s senses had grown much stronger. Just like how he had discovered the bandits before their ambush, something ahead of him now filled him with terror.

‘What’s happening? I can’t sense any Qi ahead of me, but I just can’t suppress my fear…’ Xue Ying felt terrified. He abruptly stopped before extending his hand to stop Uncle Zong, who was still walking.

He gazed at the moss-covered mountain right in front of him.

“Xue Ying, what’s wrong?” Zong Ling asked with a puzzled expression.

“Something is not right, I have a bad feeling,” Xue Ying whispered. “Let’s go, let’s leave here quickly.”

Zong Ling’s expression changed; he didn’t doubt Xue Ying’s words.

Woosh

Both of them quickly turned around and left immediately.

“My Lord, the passage leading to the camp is hidden behind these stones. My Lord… Ah, where are they?” The five bandits turned around and discovered that Xue Ying and Zong Ling, who were behind them, disappeared.

“Gone, the young lord of Snow Eagle Territory is gone?”

“My brothers, the Bent Blade Union is no more! Hurry up, find some treasures and run for your lives!”

These bandits were cunning, so they immediately went into the camp.

Hu…….

This mountain had stood unchanged for more than a thousand years, but now a huge face appeared on the mountain wall with the rocks forming eyebrows, eyes, a mouth… The proud eyes gazed at Xue Ying and Zong Ling, who were already a few kilometers away.

The huge face revealed a puzzled expression. “Eh? He can sense my presence? He’s so strong at such a young age…Perhaps there are some strong human experts backing him up.”

“I have to change my location to watch that human.”

The enormous face on the mountain wall disappeared, and the mountain looked like it always had.

Bang

Deep underground, a massive figure had started moving.

……

Outside the Mountain Range of Desolation, the base camp.

Xue Ying and Zong Ling had fled the mountain range at full speed and arrived at the base camp.

“Finally, we’re out.” Xue Ying turned around and looked at where they came from, still terrified.