Chapter 72: Boundless Bandits
As dusk arrived, Jian Chen finished his rations and went into his tent. With a Class 1 Monster Core in hand, he started to cultivate. Now that he was traveling the Tian Yuan continent, there would be dangers lurking around every corner. This meant that he had to be strong in order to stay safe. Thus, Jian Chen didn’t dare to squander even a second in order to increase his strength. Not only that, but he knew that if he grew stronger, then he would be able to to return to the Gesun Kingdom and reunite with his family without fear of the Hua Yun Sect. Otherwise, if he dared to show his face there, he would be chased to the ends of the earth by the sect.
Right now the outside was relatively peaceful. There was only the occasional sound of footsteps being heard as a few of the mercenaries patrolled around the campsite.
The time quietly passed as it became late. At that moment, all of the mercenaries in their tents were sound asleep, and the mercenaries that were patrolling were drowsy to the point of being in an unfocused state.
Just then, a dark blade flashed. It traveled under the cover of the night and silently slashed the neck of one of the patrolling mercenaries. This dark flash was clearly the result of an assassin’s power, and with a soundless gurgle, the mercenary fell to the ground dead.
The dark flash had moved through the air silently and quickly. No one could sense this blade coming. Since the campgrounds were wide, and the target had been a lone mercenary standing in a remote place, there was no way anyone could possibly notice his death before he fell to the ground.
Right as the first mercenary fell to the ground, countless dark flashes flew out towards the camp and killed all of the mercenaries patrolling a bit far from camp.
Jian Chen wasn’t too far away from the campsite, and so when the mercenaries fell to the ground, there was one that fell only 30 meters away from Jian Chen. The crossed legged Jian Chen’s ear shook from the sound he heard as his eyes abruptly flew open. Looking around, Jian Chen bent forward to open the tent flap just a crack to see what was happening outside.
Just as Jian Chen opened up the flap to his tent to check up on what was happening outside, another flash of light could be seen as it shot through a patrolling mercenary. Like the others, this man also fell to the ground without a sound.
Jian Chen’s eyes widened in surprise at this sight. It was clear to him that the caravan was under attack, but with his previous experience, he did not panic. Roaring loudly from his tent, he yelled, “Everyone be careful, we are under attack!”
Jian Chen let loose a loud roar that could be heard clearly throughout the campsite. With his warning, the previously peacefully quiet campsite erupted into noise as countless mercenaries came bursting out from their tents. In just a short moment, hundreds of mercenaries making a racket had appeared in the previously undisturbed camp.
Jian Chen’s words were common to all those that had traveled throughout the Tian Yuan continent. Those who lived by their weapons were extremely sensitive to sound, and so when they heard Jian Chen, they immediately came charging out of their tents. However, as everyone came rushing from their tents, they looked around themselves and could only see their own mercenaries without any signs of an enemy.
“An enemy? Where’s the enemy…”
“Who was the one that yelled, I don’t see anyone…”
“Where’s the enemy, who’s the motherf*cker that cried wolf…”
Many of the mercenaries began to cry out loud in anger. If they found the guy who cried wolf, then he wouldn’t be let off easily.
“Not good, Captain Lang Tian, the sentry Du Mu Lan has died!”
Just as many of the mercenaries were cursing out loud, another yell came crying loudly over the others, causing many to turn their heads.
Hearing that, every single mercenary turned towards the cry in dead silence. At the same time, another three flashes of light came flying through towards the group, and slammed straight into three mercenaries’ chests.
The three mercenaries that were hit didn’t even have the opportunity to even cry out before they slumped to the ground. But before they could even hit the floor, another three streaks of lights flew out and claimed the lives of another three mercenaries.
The streaks of black light never ceased to fly out towards the mercenaries. Under the guise of the night, it was hard for the people to figure out where they were coming from or where they were aimed at.
Since the light was shooting at a fast pace, a dozen mercenaries had already succumbed to the attack before anyone could even react. At this time, a mercenary finally cried out in terror, “Be careful, enemies are atta-…” But before he could finish his sentence, a streak of light flew towards him and killed him.
“Everyone scatter and take cover!” Another mercenary yelled. It was a large middle aged man with a scar on his face. Two red hammers materialized in his hands as he charged towards the direction of where the attack came from.
“Captain Lang Tian, be careful…’
Watching the man charge towards the direction of the enemy, many of the mercenaries cried out in concern.
As the man charged ahead, a few dozen of the stronger mercenaries began to follow his lead, and started to rush towards the source of the attacks.
But the streaks of light continued to fly out; this time they had changed targets and began to hit those mercenaries that were starting to come towards them.
Although this was a hasty charge without knowing all the information, these dozen mercenaries were not weak. The still charging Captain Lang Tian swung out with his twin red hammers and lit up the area around them like a striking lantern.
As he saw two flashes of light head towards him, Lang Tian sneered and swung out his hammers, smashing them away from him.
As the two hit each other, Lang Tian’s hammers completely smashed through the rays of light. Silently, the light disappeared; although they were strong enough to take another person’s life, they weren’t strong enough to withstand an actual attack.
The mercenaries behind Lang Tian weren’t weak either, and without fear, their Saint Weapons began to form and destroy the black lights that were aimed at them.
At that time, another situation had occurred; an ear piercing whistle broke the silence. As the mercenaries turned their heads towards the sound, they could only see a large concentration of arrows flying at them, like a swarm of locusts.
Seeing the amount of arrows, a few dozen of the mercenaries immediately stopped their charge and took cover.
“Ding ding ding ding…”
The arrows immediately landed against their Saint Weapons, creating a cacophony of sound.
Lang Tian and a few other mercenaries didn’t bother to stop their charge. Faced with the storm of arrows, many of the mercenaries only snarled loudly and used their Saint Force to completely enwrap themselves. Although the layer was very thin, its defensive power was extremely strong. These arrows were shrugged off as they fell to the ground, completely unable to pierce through the protective layering.
“Fellow brothers, let’s kill!”
Just as the mercenaries were about to follow the initial charge into the enemy grounds, a clear voice shouted out from the darkness of the night. The cry shook the heavens, and with it came a faint, dark shadow rushing towards the mercenaries.
“The bandits have come out, ready your arrows!”
Within the mercenary camp, a mercenary cried out to warn them as many of them started to notch their bows. Aiming at the blurs, they waited for the right distance before they fired.
Jian Chen stood on the outskirts of the battle, his eyes hardening as he looked at the incoming shadows. Although they were still relatively far from the campsite and the night had rendered visibility to almost zero, Jian Chen could count out a few hundred shadows. This number wasn’t any lower than the mercenaries’ own number. Moreover, with the recent storm of arrows, a few of the mercenaries had been killed, further decreasing their numbers.
“Fire!”
By this point, the bandits had already entered firing range. With the command of one person, the hundred arrows were released into the air by the mercenaries and flew towards the bandits with an ear piercing whistle.
Amongst the bandits were a few strong ones, but the majority of them were fairly weak and so a few dozen of them fell victim to the storm of arrows.
Three more streaks of light came flying out silently from behind the bandits and took the lives of three of the mercenary archers. Those three streaks of light left small finger sized holes in them as they fell to the ground.
The frequency of the streaks of light was high and always came in groups of three. In a short while, a total of nine archers fell dead.
Seeing the wounds on the mercenaries’ corpses, a middle aged man called out, “Everyone be careful, there’s a dark attribute Saint amongst the bandits.”
As he spoke, another three rays of light came flying out towards the man that had just spoke.
The middle aged man was by no means weak. His face hardened as a shiny axe appeared in his right hand, which he then used to chop the streaks of black light.
“Bang!”
The streak of black light clashed with the middle aged man’s axe, causing a giant explosion of sound before they disappeared.
The man shook slightly as his face hardened. “Damn it, the enemies have three dark attributed Saints who are specialized archers. In this area, only the Boundless Bandits have this type of power.”
“Vice Captain Liu, what are you saying, could it be these are the Boundless Bandits?”
“Good heavens, these are the Boundless Bandits…”
“What a disaster, to think we came across the Boundless Bandits…”