“Find a place to hide yourself. The bandits will all be drawn here in a moment; just find an opportunity to run away,” Yun Huizhou said, his eyes fixed on Lian Li’s fight, though he was speaking to the young boy. “As for the others, it’s up to you whether you want to go and notify them.”
The boy’s hands trembled. He hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and ran out.
As for whether he followed Yun Huizhou’s suggestion, Lian Li and Yun Huizhou did not know.
If he was clever, he would know that the method Yun Huizhou suggested was the best: find a place to hide first, and then escape while the bandits’ attention was drawn to this area.
It was impossible for Yun Huizhou to leave this spot now. The bandits would be arriving shortly, and he had to wait here to work with Lian Li to wipe out every bandit who came this way, before hunting down any who slipped through the cracks.
Not long after the boy ran out, noisy sounds erupted from outside. As expected, the bandit managers from the neighboring courtyards had arrived—seven of them in total.
They likely hadn’t all arrived yet; surely someone had gone to call for more reinforcements.
The moment these seven appeared, Yun Huizhou drew his blade.
The Chief, the highest combat power, was already occupied by Lian Li. These small fry were naturally left for him, the assistant, to handle.
It was just that he handled them much faster than the fight on Lian Li’s side.
The seven managers who arrived didn’t even have a chance to resist before they were cut down by Yun Huizhou’s blade.
By this time, the Chief’s stamina was flagging. He had fallen into a disadvantage and was being suppressed by Lian Li’s strikes.
However, Lian Li’s experience was still a bit shallow after all. His killing moves weren’t tricky or sharp enough, allowing the Chief to barely cling to life.
Seeing that he would undoubtedly die if this continued, the Chief spoke up.
“Which brothers from the path are you? If our Xiyang Stronghold has offended you, we will certainly make a proper apology. In the future, we can seek development together; I’ll give you half of my Xiyang Stronghold.”
It would have been better if he hadn’t spoken. The moment he did, Lian Li could no longer restrain himself and roared in anger, “Fuck your mother! Just die!”
Yun Huizhou: “…”
This kid was obedient and soft most of the time, but he was quite irritable when truly provoked.
While such words didn’t exactly fit the speaking style of a “Great Hero,” Yun Huizhou actually quite liked this style.
It was exceptionally cathartic.
By the time the other bandit lackeys were brought over by the only manager who hadn’t come earlier, Lian Li’s soft whip had already coiled around the Chief’s neck.
His whip looked unremarkable, but it wasn’t the kind of ordinary weapon that only left whip marks when it struck the body.
Beneath the outer layer, countless extremely fine silver threads were wound together. When the whip completely entangled a target, those silver threads would become the sharpest of tiny blades under the stimulation of internal energy.
Consequently, the whip wounds on the Chief’s body were accompanied by many tiny lacerations. They didn’t look deep, but they were all located at vital meridians and joints.
As the wounds multiplied, the Chief’s movements became sluggish. He watched helplessly as the whip coiled around his neck, unable to dodge.
The Chief was dead, and Lian Li and Yun Huizhou were surrounded by bandits.
The only remaining manager among the bandits let out a howl of grief and indignation: “Brothers, get them! Avenge the three leaders and our brothers!”
As soon as he said this, the bandits swarmed forward. However, Lian Li noticed that the manager himself had no intention of charging forward; he was even retreating.
Lian Li had no intention of letting him go.
He used his whip to force back everyone surrounding him, then charged toward that manager.
Seeing how fierce Lian Li was, the others didn’t quite dare to stop him. They shifted their targets and all looked toward Yun Huizhou.
They thought to capture the person who came with the whip-user to use as a hostage.
However, what they didn’t know was that the man they had set their sights on—the one wielding the blade—was far more terrifying than the one with the whip.
When Yun Huizhou realized these bandits wanted to capture him to threaten Lian Li, he would have laughed out loud if the situation weren’t so inappropriate.
He had come here to serve as a safeguard for Lian Li. To put it bluntly, he could be suspected of slacking off throughout the night, but he would never be vague when it was time to strike.
And now, these bandits were insisting that he take action.
Of course, if he wanted to increase the difficulty for Lian Li, simply surrendering would be enough.
However, there were still many kidnapped villagers in this bandit stronghold. To protect their lives, Yun Huizhou naturally wouldn’t mess around.
If there were no kidnapped villagers in this stronghold, he wouldn’t have minded playing along to give Lian Li a bit of a challenge.
The bandits were terrified by the slaughter the two unleashed. Many dropped their weapons, turned around, and tried to flee.
At the same time, the boy who had been hiding all along found his opportunity and ran toward the sheds where many villagers were being held.
It was impossible for the sounds of fighting here not to reach the sheds, but they didn’t dare come over to see what was happening.
If the patrolling bandits found them wandering around the stronghold, a severe beating would be the lightest punishment.
Everyone covered their ears and curled up on the piles of straw, closing their eyes as if they could escape reality this way.
However, tonight was slightly different.
“Everyone, get up! Run, quickly! Great Heroes have come to suppress the bandits!” The people on the straw piles saw the boy who had been taken to the Chief’s courtyard rushing toward them.
One of his hands was twisted at a strange angle, but his face was filled with excitement.
Hearing his words, the people on the straw were stunned at first. Then, the oldest woman among them hurriedly covered his mouth and whispered, “Don’t talk nonsense. Be careful or the bandits will hear you and beat you.”
The expressions of those who had shown joy upon hearing the boy’s words also stiffened, and they all shrank back onto the straw.
It seemed they didn’t believe what the boy was saying.
The boy was anxious. He used his good hand to pull the hand away from his mouth and said, “I’m telling the truth, believe me! The Great Heroes just saved me. I was afraid they wouldn’t be able to suppress the bandits at first, so I didn’t come to tell you immediately and hid to watch instead.”
“I saw it with my own eyes—the Chief was strangled to death with a whip by a young hero in green! Of the eight other leaders in the courtyard, seven came, and they were all killed with a single strike each by another Great Hero in black!”
“When I left, I saw the last leader also being coiled up by the green-clad hero’s whip, and the black-clad hero was intercepting the other bandits who wanted to escape. More than half the bandits are already dead!”
“Really, believe me! We can really leave now! The Chief is dead. As long as we get back to the village, even if the other bandits aren’t all killed, they won’t be able to hurt us anymore!”
The boy spoke urgently, even running to the side of a girl who looked the youngest. Using his unbroken hand, he pulled the girl up and said, “San Ya, get up quickly! Brother is taking you out of here. We’re going back to the village!”
