Chapter 127: Bandit chief.

Chapter 127: Bandit chief."Brother Lee! Where are we going?" They left the cage and crawled behind another wall, when Xiao Lian already forgot the last instruction.

"I need to find my bag!" Lee whispered back.

His first impulse was to look for a way out, but in the backpack was the sect’s token and the spatial bag. After meditating through the day he realized he didn’t want to start everything from scratch again.

Currently he was bleeding and the wound hurt. It wasn’t just deep – Xiao Lian’s sword stabbed right through him, but despite that he wasn’t willing to leave the backpack behind.

After getting past the wall and vaulting over another one, it became clear why no one arrived to help the guard. There were sounds of someone fighting in the ruins and the bandits were rushing about, trying to organize a proper resistance.

It didn’t seem there was a large force against them, but there was an elemental master present. The fiery blasts that illuminated ruins spoke for themselves, but surprisingly, the bandits weren’t panicked nor scattered in order to escape.

Lee quickly assessed the situation.

He arrived here unconscious and didn’t see the place during the day. Now it looked like a large bonfire burned in the very middle of a wide field, surrounded by partially collapsed buildings – probably a former central square of the fortress.

At one side of it was a larger building, almost fully in tact, and next to it was something like a tower without the upper part. At the top of it, on a small platform, stood a man who kept shouting orders at the people below.

"Brother Lee! On the other side of the tower there is a cliff and a river below it. We can’t go there!" Xiao Lian whispered.

"Alright! Which direction you came from?" Lee asked, frowning as Xiao Lian pointed at the spot the fight was the most intense.



Then he thought for a bit, and said, "Fuck it! This might be dangerous, but I’m going to take a look what’s in that building over there!"

Xiao Lian loudly gulped hearing his words, but nodded nevertheless. What he previously did was the most reckless thing he had ever done in his life, and only because he found the place by a lucky coincidence, following the group that had captured several people.

He had no clue what gave him the bravery to sneak in, but he kind of saw from the distance to which part the captives were brought and decided to test his luck. He had Lee’s staff with him and hoped his resourceful friend would take the lead after he found him.

Technically Lee did, except not the way Xiao Lian expected.

While staying in the shadows and mostly covering behind rubble or broken walls, Lee, ignoring his wound, swiftly moved around the central part with the bonfire in the middle. From time to time he stopped, listened to the surroundings and then rushed forward again.

Seeing Lee was really going for the large building, Xiao Lian made the last attempt to change his mind.

He said, "The guy on the top is probably the chief. He’s probably dangerous ... they usually have big bounties on their heads ..."

To Xiao Lian’s great relief, Lee froze in his tracks. But the next moment his heart skipped a beat, because Lee said, "Good idea! But first I need to get my bag!"

Xiao Lian was a polite person, but this time he really wanted to curse, a lot. He never intended to suggest they would try to get the boss. Unfortunately he didn’t have any other alternative but to follow Lee’s lead.

There was a problem. The tower was right at the edge of a cliff and below flowed the river Xiao Lian mentioned earlier. The only way to get to the large building was to sneak past the tower, but its side was illuminated by the bonfire.

It took a while, but Lee didn’t rush. Xiao Lian already thought he would lose his mind from how long Lee stayed hidden behind the last pile of rubble before attempting to dash over.

But Lee’s patience was rewarded. Two men rushed out of the largest building and ran towards where the fight was. Lee still hadn’t seen it yet, nor anyone from the attacking party, but he wasn’t eager to either.

Taking the short staff in his left hand, so he could pull out the sword at any moment, Lee finally crouched toward the large building.

He kept close to the wall and it involved a lot of luck for no one to notice them, including the bandit chief who was right above them. But it was also understandable with how busy the bandits were, defending their place.



After getting inside the house, besides the poor lighting, Lee faced another problem. The place was full with goods, stacked in chaotic piles, but theoretically his bag had to be somewhere in the closest one.

If it was anything else, Lee wouldn’t have even attempted to find it. But in this world he hadn’t seen anything resembling his backpack’s design. Not only the leather Han Li used to craft it felt different to touch, it didn’t look like anything else around here. Of course, except the backpack Xiao Lian had, but that one was black.

They spent there a while, but as it turns out the grand search was unnecessary. Xiao Lian noticed Lee’s bag inconspicuously lying right next to the door, where someone discarded it. It still had the spices and writing utensils inside, and the secret compartment with the spatial bag was also untouched.

Unfortunately, before Xiao Lian could sigh in relief, Lee put on the backpack and crawled not towards the exit, but another door, further to the right of it. Then he motioned for Xiao Lian to stay silent, unsheathed the sword and slowly opened the door.

There was only a soft screech and probably no one heard it, but Xiao Lian was barely keeping himself together. They really didn’t have to do it, but he hadn’t spent a whole day in a cage with people who were treated worse than livestock, and couldn’t imagine what was on Lee’s mind.

Lee didn’t want to be a hero, but he was pissed at the gang. And, more importantly, he was positive the guy on the top of the tower wasn’t an elemental master otherwise he would’ve helped his men.

From the distant fight outside it was clear the enemy had only one elemental master, or maybe even only a warrior. Before Lee entered the larger house, the strongest person stopped attacking, and that meant they were either dead, wounded or too exhausted to continue.

Because of that there was a chance the bandits would win, and that would cause more people to suffer.

Silently crawling up the spiral staircase, Lee weighed his options. Theoretically there was two of them and only one bandit on the top. But he was wounded and they were children. On the other hand, they would attempt to sneak attack the guy.

Unfortunately, no matter how he wrecked his brains, when Lee finally got to the bandit chief, he had no clue whether this was a good idea. Currently hiding behind the central column of the spiral staircase, Lee couldn’t see the chief, but only his boots.

But suddenly his expression changed into a wide grin.

He motioned for Xiao Lian to pass his sword to him and took it in his left hand. Then, after a deep, but silent breath, stabbed his own sword in both chief’s legs.

Just like when Xiao Lian earlier stabbed him and the bandit at the same time, the sword went through both boots as if Lee had plunged it in water. The bandit chief howled in pain, and fell to his knees, but Lee grabbed the other sword with both hands while rushing up to the platform, and with wide motions slashed two times left and right.

Lee attacked so brutally, obviously, because he feared the man might fight back in a desperate struggle for his life, but it turned to be an overkill. Literally.

He had no clue what Han Li had forged, but these clearly weren’t simple swords. Not only he cut the bandit chief in three pieces, the gore that splattered in all directions because of how energetically he did, painted him red.



Fortunately Xiao Lian didn’t see the kill itself, but the aftermath alone was nauseating enough.

"Fuck!" Lee coursed out loud, but immediately squatted, hoping no one noticed the assassination.

"Take your sword." He said to the pale-faced Xiao Lian, "How exactly do we get the bounty for this guy?"

"We have to ... blergh ..." In the end the boy had to empty the contents of his stomach on the stairs after all.

Lee couldn’t blame him.

The sight was horrible enough without him being covered in blood. But the intestines splattered across the platform, and the upper part of the bandit, facing them with the widened eyes, was a picture on its own. An incredibly revolting one.

It took a short while for Xiao Lian to pull himself together. When he finally did, he said, "We need to present his head to the authorities."

"Like in the sect? The Hall of Justice or the Mission Hall." Lee asked.

"Mhm." Xiao Lian nodded, not really answering the question, but turning away so he didn’t have to see the next part.

"That’s barbaric ..." Lee sighed, pulled out his own sword from the bandit’s legs and cut off his head. Then he stuffed it inside his backpack, and said, "Good thing the package and the letter are in your bag."

It was an attempt to joke and lighten up the mood, but at that moment a bunch of people rushed to the central part of the ruins where the bonfire was still burning.

"What the hell!" Lee froze, seeing them.