Red Python Gang

Li Zian made his way through vast fields, along rolling hills and past small mountains. There was a great range of terrain in this world.

Eventually he was forced to cross a river, which he leapt over with all his strength.

As he got closer to the town, the spiritual energy became somewhat richer- still nothing compared to the Li family villa. It was barely 1/10th of the spiritual energy the villa had.

He was walking across the countryside along a dirt path when suddenly he heard the noise of hooves clopping against the ground.

He turned around, and noticed several bandits emerge from behind the trees on the left side of the path.

He turned back around, and some bandits were emerging atop horseback in front of him.

He was surrounded.

"Hand over everything you have!" The leader spat.

He was a tall and muscle-bound man donning heavy leather armour and carrying a curved sword in his right hand. He had long black braided hair and a scruffy beard. His horse was adorned with metal plate armour, and all the bandits around him were quite well equipped too.

'I expected a more ragtag group, but these guys are pretty well organised.'

The bandit leader stared him down then raised a brow. "A child?" He asked. He noticed the bandages wrapped around Li Zian's head and frowned.

"Lower your weapons, he's just a child," he commanded the bandits.

They did as they were told, feeling quite stupid for raising their weapons to a child.

'Hm? It seems like these bandits at least have a bit of humanity.'

"Boy, where's your family?" The bandit leader asked.

"Dead," he responded truthfully.

"And where are you going?" He questioned further.

"The nearby town," he told him.

The bandits looked between each other, exchanging strange looks, and the leader sighed.

"I'm afraid that'll be impossible, boy."

Li Zian raised a brow. "Why is that impossible?"

"Because the town's gone."

Li Zian took a moment to process this. "What do you mean it's gone?"

He thought the bandits were going to stop him from going there, but to think the town was 'gone'…

"A few cultivators were battling nearby. The result was the town being destroyed- all those who survived fled to the nearby city. You'll only find corpses, dust and debris there."

Li Zian frowned, and he thought for a moment.

'Where should I go then? It'll take quite a while for me to reach the next town or city…'

He looked around at the bandits, and then at the horses they were atop.

"I have nowhere to go then," he sighed.

The bandit leader was silent for a bit and then spoke up. "Why don't you follow us back to our camp, you can reorganise yourself there."

Li Zian didn't think it was a bad idea. These bandits weren't as ruthless as he was originally told.

He lowered his guard slightly and sent out his divine sense.

He could sense the auras of each of the bandits. Mortal, mortal, mortal…

'Huh? This guy…'

The bandit leader was at the Qi Condensing second layer! Who would have thought a simple bandit would be so strong. No wonder they were feared, they were led by a cultivator.

"Sure, I'll go back to your camp."

He was confident that even if they tried to attack him, he could deal with them.

The bandit leader lent him a hand and he climbed onto the back of the horse.

"My name's Duan Jing, we're the Red Python Gang. Our base is nearby, let's go."

The horses kicked off and raced down the road, and off into the wilderness towards their camp.

Li Zian wasn't used to riding a horse, and so he felt quite sick after a while.

Eventually the sun began to set, and they arrived at the camp.

There were maybe a dozen bandits already there around a few campfires, roasting meat and chatting happily.

They cheered when Duan Jing and his followers arrived, raising mugs of ale.

Duan Jing helped Li Zian down and led him to a log where he sat down.

"I heard that the Red Python Gang are extremely brutal and unforgiving. I guess that's not true," Li Zian commented.

"Hah! We're bandits, that's for sure, but because of that we get a lot of bad reputation. Truth is, we've never killed a single person. We just rob them and move on," Duan Jing explained.

"Hah! It's funny watching a rich and arrogant noble crying in defeat as he and his guards are forced to run away with no clothes on their backs!" Another bandit yelled, and there was a round of laughter.

'I see… They're still bandits, but at least they have some morals. It's not too bad to work out a plan from here.'

"Boy, what's your name?" Duan Jing asked.

"Yi Zian," he told him.

"Yi Zian, alright. Why were you headed to that old town?"

"I need a horse; I've got a place to be and it's quite far away."

Duan Jing raised a brow and asked, "Might I ask what place that is?"

Li Zian thought for a moment, before telling him. "The Skyward Sect."

Duan Jing went silent, but the other bandits didn't seem to hear and continued chatting loudly.

"Kid… You're a cultivator?" He asked.

"Mhm. I wouldn't have followed a bunch of bandits to their camp if I wasn't confident, I could beat all of them up," he explained.

"I see," Duan Jing released his divine sense, and his head stung a bit. "A brat like you is already at the seventh layer of Qi Condensing!" He exclaimed in shock.

Li Zian simply nodded his head, and Duan Jing laughed.

"I can take you to the Skyward sect. Truth is, I originally went there to become a disciple. To become an outer disciple, you need to be at the fifth layer of Qi Condensing though, so they failed me and let me become a Trial Disciple."

"Trial Disciple? Outer Disciple?" Li Zian asked, confused by these terms.

"Hah… It's no use me explaining, once you get there, I'm sure an elder will do all of that. Basically, I wasn't a real disciple of the sect. That's why I left and found all these loners mugging people in dark alleys at night. I pulled 'em together and formed this gang you see here today."

Li Zian nodded his head. "I guess everyone's got a story."

"What's your story?" Duan Jing inquired.

"I dunno…" Li Zian told him.

Duan Jing didn't ask any further, and simply swigged some ale from his cup.

"We can set off tomorrow. If you promise to not cut off my head," Duan Jing told him.

"I promise."

"Good, then rest up. It's a long journey."