61 It’s Still Better to Have More People
There were not many people in the convoy. There were two carriages in total, and there were only six people including Qin Huai and Qi Yangbing.
He had a fourth refinement heaven’s pride on the eight martial roll and a third refinement martial artist like Qin Huai as his escort. If the mountain bandits wanted to come, they could only pray that they would not do many evil things in their lives.
On the way to the camp, Qi Yangbing introduced Qin Huai to the terrain along the way, as well as the bandits that were often active on the mountain.
The bandits were like flies, coming in an endless stream, as if they were growing out of the ground.
These were all trivial matters, though. Qi Yangbing finally explained the rules of the army camp. One could walk around the drill ground but not enter the tents.
Qi Yangbing casually said, “Speaking of which, the recent waves of bandits all have some martial arts foundations. I wonder where they got their cultivation techniques from. Fortunately, these bandits only have a little foundation, and they’re still far from the first refinement.”
When Qin Huai heard this, the name of the Sacred Heart sect immediately popped up in his mind. Whether it was the encounter on Ghost Slope Mountain or in the mine, those unknown ancient martial art practitioners seemed to be cultivating the strange secret techniques given by Sacred Heart sect.
Then, were these people also…
“Stop! All of you, stand still!”
More than twenty people rushed down from the mountain forest. They spoke in a foreign accent and surrounded the convoy.
Qin Huai and Qi Yangbing looked at each other and couldn’t help but laugh. They had long since discovered the mountain bandits crouching on both sides of the road.
However, they had not expected that they would still dare to rob them after seeing the Changshan Dojo’s long robes on Qin Huai’s group.
After a rough glance, he couldn’t find a single martial artist among the twenty-odd people. There were some unique calluses on their hands and feet, so they should have practiced some moves.
“Do you all know that this carriage is filled with armor to be transported to the Pingnan army camp?” Qi Yangbing said in a calm voice.
“We are intercepting armors and weapons! We’ve also intercepted the goods that the squires and landlords bought!”
The leader was a lean man who was holding a long spear that he had tied to his belt. He was speaking eloquently.
“The heavens and earth are unkind, and Great You is hopeless! The officials and landlords are insatiable, annexing fertile land and leaving us homeless.
“How many people have lost their homes? Today, my brothers and I are seeking blessings for the people of the world and punishing the rebels!
“Consider this armor as your aid to us and also your contribution to the world! You can leave your names. When I, Liu Xing, become rich in the future, I will definitely reward you handsomely!”
Although Liu Xing’s foreign accent made it hard for people to listen to him, the apprentices of the Changshan Dojo were still stunned.
“Have you killed anyone?” Qi Yangbing reacted quickly and held down the sleeve that Qin Huai was about to fling out.
“Bandits in the mountains, tyrants, and landlords. I’ve killed dozens of them…” Liu Xing counted them one by one.
“How about this, you guys come to our Changshan Dojo first, and I’ll find you a job.”
“Will you provide me with food?” a young man standing behind Liu Xing blurted out.
Liu Xing immediately glared at him. The man felt wronged and said, “I’m hungry, boss…”
“Yes.” Qin Huai was still holding the poison in his sleeve, but he no longer had any killing intent toward this group of people.
They were all pitiful people who had no way out. Once upon a time, he had been like this.
“Can we practice martial arts?” Liu Xing wavered.
“Not for now. You have to start as a servant and apprentice,” Qi Yangbing explained.
Liu Xing turned around and looked at his brothers in ragged clothes. “We’ll do it!”
In the blink of an eye, the dojo had a new batch of manpower. Qi Yangbing gave them his wooden token and asked them to take it to the Changshan Dojo.
However, Qin Huai stopped them. “Wait, did you just say that the landlord was buying armor?”
“Well, they were all pulled out from the city. We have seen several waves of soldiers, but we have not seen any soldiers, so we took action…” Liu Xing told him everything. “Those who transported goods only brought ffity each time, which was half of the official’s rule of ‘privately armed soldiers can be executed with an entire family.’
Qin Huai asked for the details before letting Liu Xing and the others leave.
“They’ve all sensed that something’s wrong and are taking advantage of the loopholes to accumulate power.” Qin Huai sighed.
“Isn’t it the same for the city lord’s mansion? The prices of goods in the city, the bandits in the mountains… I won’t care about anything and just silently make a fortune,” Qi Yangbing retorted. He could tell that Fourth Senior Brother was very dissatisfied with the city lord’s mansion.
“In the end, you and I still need to work hard in cultivation and improve our strength as soon as possible to deal with the chaos in the future,” Qi Yangbing lectured.
Qin Huai also nodded in agreement.
After the small interlude, the two of them continued to lead the two carriages to the army camp.
The camp was located in the deep mountains and old forests, but there were flat rivers around the camp, and the roads along the way were also very smooth.
If there was an enemy attack, the 2,000 black torrents would be unstoppable.
The encampment was filled with tents, and there were large pots set up to slaughter cattle and sheep everywhere. There were also many bare-chested men waving spears in the cold autumn wind on the open ground.
As they exhaled, hot mist continuously appeared, and when they attacked, the faint sounds of tigers and wolves could be heard. Along with it, there were also white experience balls that dropped.
Qin Huai’s eyes swept across the ground, and the white experience balls merged into his body.
“Ding! You have collected a [Four-directional Tiger-wolf Technique Essence (White)], [Four-directional Tiger-Wolf Technique] Experience +9!”
“Ding! You have collected a [Four-directional Tiger-wolf Technique Essence (White)], [Four-directional Tiger-wolf Technique] Experience +8!”
“Ding! You have collected a [Four-directional Tiger-wolf Technique Essence (White)], [Four-directional Tiger-wolf Technique] Experience +11!”
The blurry memory gradually became clear in his mind. “I had to punch and swing my spear in a world of ice and snow. Every blow has to be faster than breathing, and I need to use all the strength in my body.”
Hundreds of shots with full force, it was as if he was about to die.
“The way to cultivate the four-directional tiger-wolf technique is really extreme,” Qin Huai thought to himself. It was not inferior to the spirit eye technique that soaked his eyes in scalding sand.
However, the cultivation techniques of these soldiers were not high. On average, each of them was worth about ten experience points.
The strength of the four-directional tiger-wolf technique was all due to the combination of the formation, the fine armor, and riding skills. This was the reason why the iron armored army had such a powerful strength.
Qin Huai and the others, who were pulling the carriage, had just stopped in front of the main tent.
His four-directional tiger-wolf technique had already reached level 3, 68/1000. More than 3,000 experience points had been absorbed into his body, and this was only half of it.
There were still many soldiers training in the distance, but they did not see the experience balls drop outside of their own collection range.
There were also martial artists from the army that he had yet to meet. If he could complete this trip, he would be able to collect more experience points.
“It’s still better to have more people.” Qin Huai sighed in his heart.
In the future, if he had the chance to choose again, he might not choose the one with the strongest cultivation technique. He had to choose the one with the most people.
Ever since he broke through to the third refinement realm, the radius of his experience orb collection had also increased from 20 meters to 30 meters. This way, he would be able to spy in the dark, and the risk of collecting experience points would be reduced once again.
This was to prevent himself from being unable to gain experience from the dark, when he encountered powerful martial artists with keen sense of smell and sight in the future.
“The two of you must be tired from the long journey. Why don’t you come in and have a cup of tea?” A middle-aged general walked out of the tent and extended his hand to the two of them.
The surrounding soldiers seemed to have intentionally or otherwise moved closer to Qin Huai and the others when the middle-aged general spoke.