Bandits

Seeing the shabby group of bandits in front of him, Li Zhu smiled. 'It's time for a good fight', he thought, as he raised his fists, in a defensive stance.

Seeing his actions, the bandit leader: a tall, muscular man wearing a heavy fur coat, began laughing, as though he had seen the funniest thing he could imagine.

"Hey, scrawny kid, you sure you wanna fight us? ha ha ha, this guy thinks he is a hotshot. Men, beat him half dead and steal his belongings, will ya."

Without even waiting for Li Zhu to answer his first question, the bandit leader already ordered his lackeys to beat him up and rob him, though that was to be expected, as they were after all bandits.

"Time to see if I still got it" confidently stated Li Zhu, as he charged towards the nearest bandit, while he winded up a punch.

As he did that, he circulated his heavenly energy towards his fist, using a somewhat rudimentary method of fighting.

That said, anything was fine against these untrained and poorly equipped bandits, with most of them being mortal.

As the punch hit the wooden club, held up in defence, the wood was crushed into bits, while the bandit was pushed back a few steps.

Following up on the punch, Li Zhu extended his left leg into a long kick, aiming to hook the neck of the retreating bandit.

Meeting its target, his leg reached behind the neck, and with a forceful pull, the bandit began stumbling towards Li Zhu, who, having already prepared another punch, threw a right hook straight into his temples, officially knocking out the burly man.

"I am still amazing" proudly stated Li Zhu, as he basked in his glory, yet at that moment he had a sudden feeling of danger, as he instinctually jumped to the side, slipping on the wet mud.

Now on the ground, Li Zhu raised his head, as he saw the bandit leader having completed his punch, which he had just narrowly avoided thanks to his instincts.

'That man is dangerous! He is definitely in the qi gathering stage, which is probably why he is the leader of this lousy group'

"We got a young talent, do we? Ha Ha Ha, didn't expect to find a cultivator today, that just makes this all the more fun!"

The captain leader laughed, as he raised his fists, "Come on lad, you gonna fight me or not? Either way it won't end well for you, so might as well make a final struggle!"

Li Zhu, who had now completely changed his attitude, slowly stood up, ignoring his mud drenched clothes, as he also got into stance.

Although it was embarrassing for him to be in such a dangerous situation with a weak qi gathering realm thug, the reality of the situation was that he had lost all his cultivation, putting him in a very humbling and frustrating scenario.

The bandit leader, tired of waiting for a chance to strike, pounced forward, with his big, hairy fist aimed at Li Zhu's face.

Seeing this, Li Zhu naturally sidestepped, avoiding the punch and quickly retaliating with his own attack, sending his elbow towards the throat of the bandit.

As his elbow was about to hit its target, Li Zhu suddenly noticed in the corner of his eye that the bandit's knee was headed straight for his exposed gut.

Making a split second decision, Li Zhu dodged to the right, making both his and the bandit's attacks miss.

'He fights aggressive! This is gonna be a tricky fight'

As the successor to the Heavenly Dragon Empire, Li Zhu was of course trained to defend against this suicidal fighting style, yet with his injuries, a knee to the gut would most likely put him out of commission, meaning even if he did manage to knock out the bandit leader, the rest of the thugs would have free reign over him.

Although the bandit just became more dangerous, the previous exchange had also revealed his fighting style to Li Zhu, who was now more prepared.

Once again, the bandit leader initiated the attack, as he stepped back, before charging towards Li Zhu with his left arm in front of him, defending his chest while he winded up a punch with his right arm.

The big man seemed quite comical, now, yet Li Zhu did not dare underestimate him, as the big guy's every attack was infused with heavenly energy.

'If I charge him from below his arms, he will send a knee to my face... if I sidestep and throw a hook for his face, his punch will reach me first... if I guard the attack, the force will crush the bones in my arms'

In that short period of time as he stared at the man charging towards him, Li Zhu went through all possible scenarios, as he decided how to counter this seemingly full proof attack.

'I guess that's the only thing that I can do, but it will be risky with my low heavenly energy'

Crouching low, Li Zhu infused all his heavenly energy into his legs, driving them into the ground, forming a small depression.

As the force of his legs reached its peak, Li Zhu jumped into the sky, while moving slightly forward.

As the bandit leader came charging where Li Zhu had been, the latter began falling towards his exposed neck.

As he reached his target, Li Zhu wrapped his legs around the shocked bandit, who was now realizing with horror what was about to happen.

Using the forward momentum he had when falling, Li Zhu tugged the bandit leader with all his strength, forcibly snapping his neck.

The bandit had a stupefied expression, as he died not understanding his loss.

Li Zhu quickly dismounted from the bandit leader, as he tried to recover his breath.

Although it had not been the first time he killed, he still felt guilty every time.

At the same time, he also understood that in the Endless Sword continent, it was kill or be killed, and if the bandit had won the fight, Li Zhu would have been the one on the ground instead.

Sighing, Li Zhu lifted his head, as he scanned through the bandits who were now steadily retreating with fearful expressions.

"I trust you will let me go now, right? Otherwise I don't mind repeating history a few times" bluffed Li Zhu, who had now exhausted much of his heavenly energy.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, lad, my younger brother was careless and he underestimated you... a mistake that i, Yin Jian, will never make!"

As the booming voice rang out, a tall, refined looking man showed up from over the hill.

Not even waiting to reach Li Zhu, the man unsheathed his sword, a jewel covered long blade, which shined in the sunlit trail.

'Oh no, I am screwed! This man is a late qi gathering stage expert and he is a weapon cultivator!'

Although Li Zhu could face qi gathering realm experts such as the bandit leader, people who had already begun a fighting path were clearly stronger. Until Li Zhu became a summoner, fighting a weapon cultivator would be close to impossible.

Although he knew this, Li Zhu also realized there was no escaping a situation like this, so, ready for a last ditch effort, he got into his trusty fighting stance.

"I will fight you till death, so don't expect to come out of this uninjured!" Yelled Li Zhu, now ready for the clash.

As those words left his mouth, Li Zhu began charging at full speed towards Yin Jian, having decided his battle plan.

Seeing Li Zhu coming at him, Yin Jian naturally swung his sword in front of him:

"Starlight slash!"

The attack, which was the strongest in his arsenal, created a halfmoon shaped slash, which shined as brightly as the stars, while piercing through the air, towards Li Zhu.

Li Zhu, who had already predicted such a response, immediately sped up, while sliding his legs far in front of him, forcing his body to fall into a lying down position.

As this happened, the forward momentum made him slide on the mud, narrowly avoiding the starlight slash above him, and quickly reaching Yin Jian, who was still quite exhausted from his previous full force attack.

As Li Zhu prepared to grab Yin Jian legs and flip him over, though, he saw a small shine of metal, headed for his face... a dagger.

Yin Jian surprisingly had a hidden dagger, which he had now revealed with his unoccupied hand, before stabbing towards Li Zhu's exposed face.

'I'm really dead this time, huh, guess I was too naive in thinking my only concern was the people looking for me. My life was too comfortable as the crown prince, the moment I went into the outside world this is the result.'

As he saw death flash in front of hi., Li Zhu felt regret, as he had yet to discover who had betrayed him, yet it was too late now. He also felt anger, rising from his heart, an anger that would never be resolved.

The dagger was now an inch from his face, shining brightly, about to end a life.

At that moment though, the dagger suddenly flew out of Yin Jian's hand, as though something had hit it away.

"peng"

As the dagger hit the hard ground, a small arrow could be seen beside it, clearly having been the cause of the disarming.

"No one will die on my watch! Now leave, bandits, before I show you my wrath!"

Following the heroic voice, a young lady with long, black hair, showed up on the trail, standing on top of a majestic white horse, with her crimson red bow drawn.