Chương 106: Spiritwood Grove (IV)

Ever since Long Tao's not-so-subtle 'foreshadowing', as it were, I've grown a bit... paranoid. I jumped at every shadow--not that there were many of them as we wandered the grassy fields under the burning scorch of the evening sun--and jostled at every sound, always expecting for something to go wrong. And, as it often happens in life, just as I started relaxing and thinking it may be that old-monster paranoia at work, it happened.

We came upon a river--finally--as well as a bridge, indicating that we were likely fairly close to at least some civilization. On the other end of the river, the trees grew far more plentiful. It wasn't a forest yet, no, but it was thick enough, as it turned out, to hide people. We first paused a bit by the riverbank and freshened up before finally crossing the wooden construct.

Just as we reached the other side, five shadows coalesced into figures that surrounded us, all armed with blades or axes or daggers, cloaked and masked. Despite my propensity for panic attacks, I remained 'steady' enough to use my Creator's Eyes (which just so happen to now hold 5 charges) on all of them and breathed a sigh of relief. They were all weak. Like, barely mid to late stages Qi Condensation weak. Their leader was actually only at the tenth stage.

"Surrender your goods and live; resist and die!" Hey, at least they had a semi-cool opening line. It'd be a lot scarier if they themselves were, you know, actually scary.

"Light, you go." It wasn't me that ordered a six-year-old girl to go out and fight a bunch of grown-ass men (and one woman), but Long Tao. I didn't even get a chance to protest before the young girl emerged from the ranks, knuckles cracking, a strange smile on her face as she drew out a sword.... hey. When and where'd you get a sword from?! She didn't say anything and attacked immediately, reaching the leftmost figure so quickly it left me genuinely shocked.

Not nearly as shocked as the cloaked guy, however, as he barely seemed to recognize what happened before a sword dug into his heart. None of the other four came to while she continued her crusade, going clockwise and killing as though it was the most natural thing in the world. Her realm has always been a point of... uh, let's say confusion for me. Technically, according to the system, she was 'only' in the third stage of the Qi Condensation Realm. I mean, she was six--it was already monstrous.

But, her strength was about the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm thanks to her unique physique and bloodline. Especially so after her 'rebirth' when the Bane became the Boon. I'd actually hazard a guess that, if she had just a bit more combat experience, she'd potentially be stronger than Xi Zhao. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Alas, for the bandits... it was enough. Though... I'm a bit worried.

I mean, if the average bandits and hoodlums were already broaching the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm, what about the more organized ones? Is the standard really that high for thieves that they can almost match sect disciples?... something stinks here.

"Keep him alive!" I barely called out before she stabbed the last of the bandits, the strongest of the bunch. She held back and just knocked the axe from his hand, though there wasn't much protest. The guy's eyes were ostensibly shellshocked, and he was likely regretting every decision ever made.

"You three, bury the bodies," I said.

"Long Tao, come with me." While I offloaded the gnarly task of burying the corpses to kids (I... something's really wrong with me that I just go with the flow these days), I took the old monster with me alongside the captured bandit to the line of trees and into the shade. I took a rope out of the spatial ring and tied him to one of the trunks, though it was probably overkill, as he seemed entirely incapable of even conjuring the thought of escaping.

"Want me to torture him?" Long Tao asked, seeming rather... keen on it.

"Just once, I'd like you to consider your thoughts before saying them out loud," I fired back with a long sigh, crouching down and unmasking the man. He looked to be in his mid-thirties, though the Eyes confirmed his age to actually be 32. A rare scenario in which the person looked older than they were in the cultivation world. He had short, black hair and a pair of twilight eyes. Appearance-wise, he was fairly... average. I mean, neither here nor there.

If anything stood out, it was a strange scar on the left temple in the shape of a cross, with one line being half the length of the other. It seemed too... deliberate to have been random.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"..." the man's eyes merely veered from the nothing and toward me, fear still deeply rooted in them.

"You can call me Mr. Charmer," Long Tao snickered as he snarled briefly at him.

"This here is a disciple of mine, Mr. Unibrow."

"I don't have a unibrow—""--nobody asked," I interrupted.

"So, tell me, why is someone as talented as you robbing random stragglers on an innocent journey?" I actually do mean talented --the system revealed that his talent was actually peak-Mortal, which would have been enough to enter a sect like the Spirit Sword Sect.

"W-w-who... who are you, you people?" He stuttered, his lips quivering.

"I just said. Random stragglers--no, we are actually merchants. Is that why you attacked us? Because we looked like proper merchants? Hey, I thought we'd have to buy horses and wagons to truly sell it." I turned to Long Tao.

"You do have the face of a greedy merchant who'd sell his own mother for profit."

"..." I eyed him for a moment before turning my attention over to the captive. Oh boy, that old monster did not like to lose, whether in combat or quips.

"This scar, or branding," I said, pressing into the 'X' shape with my finger.

"What is it of? What group do you belong to? Why are you attacking people in the middle of nowhere?"

"I... I..."

"Are you thirsty?" I pulled out a waterskin from the ring and uncapped it, putting it against the man's lips as he took a few sips, seeming to relax slightly.

"Will you kill me?"

"..." I mean... probably. Even if I wanted to, there's no way Long Tao is letting me keep this man alive.

"You shouldn't be asking 'will'," Long Tao said from the side.

"But how? And that depends entirely on you." Hm. You know, Long Tao has some nice villain qualities. Maybe he wasn't a protagonist in his previous life but a true villain? Maybe that's why there are no records of him? Because he plundered and thieved and killed and grabbed any woman he could, and the world just wanted to erase him from existence and forget him?... hm. Why do I suddenly have chills? No.

Okay, I may not be the best judge of character, but everything I distilled of Long Tao so far suggested a more tragic rather than evil figure. I mean, yes, he has some oddities, but heck, I just saw a six-year-old girl stab four people in cold blood. I welcome oddities. Anyway, the warning seemed to work, and the man finally loosened his lips.

"We aren't bandits," he said.

"We... we are disciples of a sect from the east. This all started when the news reached us about the treasure in the Eternal Spiritwood Grove..."