That night, dark clouds veiled the moon, and everything around was pitch-black, so dark that one could not see one’s own hand before one’s face.
Deep within Guidang Mountain, countless torches blazed inside a massive hidden cavern, illuminating it as brightly as day.
A huge slab of Qingshi stood in the center of the cavern. A fine white tiger pelt had been spread across it, and a scholar dressed in white and holding a folding fan sat atop the pelt. He appeared to be in his thirties, with handsome features and, most notably, a pair of long, narrow phoenix eyes that immediately drew attention.
The common people of Qingshui County would never have imagined that Zhao Fenghu, the murderous fiend rumored to kill without batting an eye, was actually such an elegant and handsome man.
Nine people sat on the Shitou to either side. Counting Zhao Fenghu, they were the leaders occupying the top ten seats among these Brutal Bandits.
The remaining dozens of men were also divided between the two sides, standing solemnly.
Zhao Fenghu’s sword eyebrows drew tightly together as he asked, “Second Brother Zhao, are they still not back?”
He was asking about the man seated at the foremost position on the left. He was in his fifties, dressed as a Taoist priest, with a horsetail whisk in his hand.
“They most likely won’t be coming back,” the Taoist priest said, his brows likewise tightly furrowed and his expression grave.
The cavern fell utterly silent.
Over the past five days, they had sent out five groups, ten people in total, to investigate the situation. Yet each group disappeared like a mud ox entering the sea, never to send back the slightest word.
Zhao Fenghu guessed that they had already met with disaster. However, the mountain was too vast, and finding their corpses would be as difficult as ascending to heaven.
Moreover, the three men sent out today had specifically been instructed to see whether they could find the corpses of the Brothers who had gone before. Yet they, too, had gone out and never returned.
The lean, middle-aged man seated at the foremost position on the right said, “Could it be that Mysterious Man causing trouble again?”
As soon as he said this, the cavern erupted in an uproar, and many people’s faces revealed unconcealed fear.
Someone in the crowd said, “It must be him! The ten Brothers we sent out were all quite powerful. Even Wei Daxiong, whose cultivation was the weakest, had already opened five major acupoints. If it wasn’t him, who in this mere Qingshui County would dare touch our people?”
Another person said, “I always feel that he isn’t human at all, but an evil ghost come to claim lives! If he were human, how could he appear and disappear so unpredictably?”
The commotion in the cavern grew even louder.
Zhao Fenghu narrowed his long, narrow phoenix eyes and slowly swept his gaze across the crowd. His gaze was like an invisible hand; whenever it passed over someone, it seemed to seize that person by the throat, leaving them unable to make the slightest sound.
Before long, the cavern had fallen silent again.
Zhao Fenghu said, “We have killed countless people. If he were an evil ghost come to claim lives, how could he come for only one?”
No one dared speak.
Zhao Fenghu said to the several leaders, “I reached the same conclusion. Most likely, that Mysterious Man has followed us again. If that is truly the case, then given that person’s cultivation, staying here means waiting for death.”
The Taoist priest in the second seat furrowed his brows even more deeply. “Chief, you mean we should keep fleeing? But we’ve already fled for so long, and haven’t we still failed to shake him?”
Zhao Fenghu said, “We can’t defeat him, so of course we have to avoid him for now. However, we’ll change our strategy. He is only one person, after all. This time, we’ll split into four groups and go in four different directions. He can’t possibly follow all of us. Once we shake him off, everyone can find a way to contact one another.”
The other leaders thought it over, but this was the only option.
Zhao Fenghu said, “I’ll lead one group, Second Brother Zhao will lead one, Third Brother Wen will lead one, and Fourth Brother Qian will lead one. There’s no time to lose. Everyone, make your preparations. We’re leaving now.”
Zhao Fenghu acted decisively and swiftly. Before long, he had finished assigning everyone. The four groups left the cavern one after another and fled in four different directions.
To conceal their movements, Zhao Fenghu did not light any torches and advanced through the darkness.
After walking for an unknown length of time, relying on his profound cultivation, he noticed a faint human silhouette ahead. Startled, he focused his vision and took a careful look. His expression immediately changed, and he thought, “It really is him! What terrible luck. He actually chose my group!”
After steadying himself, he said, “Senior, you have been pursuing and killing our Brothers all this time. May I ask what grudge exists between us? Please enlighten me, so that I may at least know why I am dying.”
They had originally numbered more than four hundred. Pursued and slaughtered by this person across the Three Prefectures, they now numbered only a little over a hundred.
The figure opposite was shrouded in darkness, making his appearance impossible to discern. Only his extremely thin build could be seen. In a calm voice, he said, “We have no grudge and no enmity.”
Zhao Fenghu narrowed his long, narrow phoenix eyes and forcefully suppressed his anger. “Since we have no grudge or enmity, Senior’s actions amount to bullying the weak through superior strength. I’m afraid that is somewhat inappropriate, isn’t it?”
The man did not answer. Only a single “Heh heh” came from the darkness.
Zhao Fenghu suppressed his anger a little further and said, “Then please state your terms, Senior. What must we do for you to let us go?”
The man said, “Stay in this mountain for one month, and that will be enough.”
Zhao Fenghu was stunned for a moment. Several thoughts flashed through his mind, but he could not guess the man’s intentions. However, with the enemy holding the knife and himself reduced to the fish on the chopping block, he had no other choice. He said, “With Senior’s cultivation, your identity must be extraordinary. Since you have given an order, this junior will naturally obey. I only hope that Senior will keep your word.”
After saying this, he did not waste the slightest time. He turned around and headed back the way he had come.
The man concealed in the darkness praised him, “Decisive and capable. He is quite a character. What a pity that he does not follow the proper path.”
He picked his nose and muttered, “I crossed the Three Prefectures and went to all that trouble to drive you here for that kid to use as practice. Did you really think I’d let you escape?”
…
Zhao Fenghu led his men back to the cavern where they had settled. Along the way, he kept trying to guess why Mysterious Man had made such a strange demand.
He had originally been the son of a wealthy family in Ningzhou. Intelligent from childhood, he had been given the title of genius. When he was young, bandits attacked his family, slaughtering every member, young and old, leaving only him alive. Later, he took the provincial examination, only to have others secretly manipulate the results and replace him on the passing list several times. In a fit of anger, he went up the mountain and became a bandit as well.
Because of his past experiences, he became cynical and extremely extreme in temperament. He robbed and plundered without distinguishing between good and evil; as long as he could overpower someone, he would kill them to vent his resentment.
In less than twenty years, he had opened forty-five major acupoints. It had to be said that, setting his character aside, he truly deserved to be called an amazingly talented person.
Yet he had always prided himself on being exceptionally intelligent and unrivaled in strategy. Now, however, he could rack his brains and still not figure out what medicine Mysterious Man was selling in his gourd.
Upon returning to the cavern, he calculated inwardly, “Since Mysterious Man chose to intercept my group, he most likely no longer has time to stop the others. Even if his cultivation is higher and his footwork faster, he can at most intercept one more group. That being the case, at least two groups of Brothers should be able to escape the mountain.”
The moment this thought arose, the Taoist priest surnamed Zhao, who occupied the second seat, entered the cavern.
Zhao Fenghu thought, “So Second Brother Zhao was intercepted. It seems Third Brother Wen and Fourth Brother Qian escaped…”
Before he could finish the thought, two more people entered the cavern. They were precisely the Third and Fourth Chiefs whom he had believed would certainly escape.
Zhao Fenghu’s expression suddenly changed. He rose and asked, “Were all of you intercepted by him?”
The three men looked grim and nodded.
Zhao Fenghu collapsed dejectedly into his seat, feeling utterly despairing. To have intercepted all of them, that person’s cultivation had basically been confirmed to have surpassed the Hongmeng Realm and entered the realm of the Qiankun Realm.
He suddenly thought of something and asked the three men when they had encountered that person.
With their cultivation, their perception of time had long surpassed that of ordinary people. After the four compared their experiences, all their faces turned deathly pale.
They had encountered Mysterious Man at almost exactly the same time. In other words, after intercepting Zhao Fenghu, Mysterious Man had appeared before the second group again almost in the blink of an eye.
Fourth Chief Qian swallowed and said in a trembling voice, “C-could he really be a ghost? O-otherwise, even someone in the Qiankun Realm couldn’t accomplish this, right?”
This time, Zhao Fenghu did not refute him.
He thought inwardly, “Whether he is human or a ghost, he is an existence we cannot afford to provoke. This makes things easier. There is no need to keep plotting; whatever he says, I will simply do.”
…
The next morning.
South of Qingshui City, Clearwind Manor.
The manor lord, Niu Qingyang, personally escorted a government constable out through the main gate, then hurried back into a hall.
Four people were seated inside the hall.
After spending five days finally gathering all the helpers, they could enter the mountain and suppress the bandits today.