Approaching the Hideout - Stealth!

"How many men do we have ready to go?"

"Just over fifty, too many guards were injured in that last attack let alone the poor souls that died…"

"It should be enough, we'll show those rats hell, have we discovered where they're nesting?"

"The people scouting have figured out the general area but they can't get too close, or they'd be discovered".

*Thunk*

"Here, this is where they are most likely to be".

"That's… one of the old, abandoned mines? I knew we should have collapsed them long ago…"

"No medicine for regret unfortunately, we'll have to close the others after this though to save us future problems".

"When are we setting out?"

"In a couple of hours at the dead of midnight, we'll approach without torches and strike when their necks are exposed".

"Of course! We know the land far better than them after all".

"I just hope they haven't moved our people elsewhere yet…".

"Yeah… it's been a day, we moved as fast as we could to gather everyone but I just hope it will have been fast enough…".

…

Shu He was laying on his bed that felt more like a rubber brick as his eyes were closed, he was not sleeping however as he was eavesdropping on the people on the floor below, unlike stone, wood wasn't as dense and there were plenty of openings for his senses to slip through.

He had been listening very intently to the table surrounded by the guards as they discussed the plans for the night, as well as the recounting of the sobbing villagers or those drowning their sorrows with alcohol.

Thanks to that, he had a clearer picture.

The group of bandits had been in the area for nearly a month causing trouble here and there but nothing drastic, it was only yesterday when they suddenly invaded the town, burning down the fortifications, going on a murder spree and kidnapping people.

Nearly 40 of the guards were injured, 13 of them died, the rest had scuffles but got away with little injuries; For a small village like this that was a significant chunk of the population.

Not just that, there were 5 men kidnapped and 13 women ranging from young to old.

Shu He found this odd, if they were just kidnapping to satisfy their desires they'd just take women that were fairly young or particularly good looking, but they took men as well as older ladies.

The bandits numbered nearly 80, a huge size for a rag tag group, they were definitely an organised bunch rather than a small offshoot that just gathered to lick each-other's wounds.

There was no chance a group of 50 villagers could deal with them, even if some of them were trained guards; Not only were they lacking in cohesion they were fighting an uphill battle because they were attacking the bandit's stronghold, what they said about knowing the terrain as a literal joke, they only mentioned it to reassure themselves.

But they were walking to their deaths.

'But will I just watch?' Was the question Shu He was asking himself right now.

As a member of the world of cultivation, he should avoid getting involved in the struggles of mortals, something like this should be handled by the capital's army.

But… if he were to let them go and willingly kill themselves, it will weigh on him.

The fact is, those bandits will be marked for subjugation soon, there was no doubt about that, so Shu He wasn't breaking any rules by dealing with them then, but until then it would be considered 'wrong'.

He sighed.

"Is this the burden of those with strength?" He murmured, then he laughed at himself.

'Strong? Am I strong?' He shook his head.

'No, I just have more strength than a mortal'.

The decision to use that strength against others, or willingly turn a blind eye because of the rules.

He then remembered the resolution he made.

'I should just do I want, right…'

He sat up, looking out the window at the moon that had begun shining its blue tinted light on the village.

"I guess I'll go take a look".

He opened the window and with a great leap, set out into nightfall.

…

It didn't take Shu He long to find their hideout, just like he had heard, they had set up their base in an old mine to the north of the village, they weren't even hiding as they had torches clearly lighting up the perimeter of their base with a crude wooden fortification surrounding it that was made from the surrounding trees, all that was left outside of the base for tens of meters was tree stumps.

The old mine was situated against a flat face of a mountain, it would be impossible to approach the base from any other direction, unless one were to plunge directly from the cliff above; Not even Shu He was crazy enough to do that though.

The base was still fairly active, they had started making use of all of the remaining shacks that were in disrepair as shelter, the remaining mining equipment was torn apart and either used to fortify the buildings or were used as makeshift weapons.

Tens of bandits were situated on guard with crossbows in their hands and a sword or axe at their hips, the rest were either idling around outside, in the shacks, or…

Shu He looked at the giant shaft that opened a hole in the side of the mountain, there were signs of shifted dirt near it so it was likely that it had been expanded, the bulk of the forces were most likely inside…. And the kidnapped victims as well.

Unfortunately, Shu He couldn't get a full view of the insides of the mines, his senses could only reach slightly past the entrance from where he currently was.

But what he could hear was the faint sound of sobbing, yelling, and cheering.

He focused, trying to gleam information that could be useful to him.

"Guh, lost all my fucking money to that bastaaaaarddd….."

-

"This silence is getting to me…"

-

"Hey, wonder if they'll come for the women?"

"Prolly', unless they're a buncha' spineless wimps"

-

"Careful with that, don't want it to blow".

"Why are we placing it here? Won't we get shut in?"

-

"Wonder how long we're gonna be here…"

-

"Pity we ain't keeping them, some of those sows are fine".

"Yeah, but boss said we're selling em' off for good cash"

-

"Why'd we have to bring the men too? They're much harder to deal with"

-

"Two days…"

---

Shu He stopped listening after half an hour, he supressed the fiery feelings growing in his throat as a icy sensation placated his mind, he knew what to expect but hearing it first hand was different.

'These are true bandits'.

The ones he encountered on the road were a joke compared to these people.

He began to think about all he heard, picking apart the words to see if he could gleam useful information.

'First of all, it seems like there's definitely some sort of deal going on, I don't know who but it seems they're the one who requested the broader range of captives'.

'Secondly, they're expecting the villagers to come to them' he then looked over at the entrance to the mine, that was where he heard those specific voices.

'They're planting explosives… maybe dynamite that was left behind? Or did they bring it along? Either way, they're planning a cave in… will they use it on the villagers if they enter?'.

'But it's true, if they do that they'd be shut in… unless there's another entrance to the mines'.

Shu He thought that it was likely, maybe they had dug another way out or expanded an air vent.

He rested on a large tree branch as his golden eyes overlooked the site.

He wasn't going to be foolish and overestimate himself, he remembers back when he was a child and his father told him about events of his past, about when his group of 'mercenaries' was attacked by a group of 4 cultivators.

Half of their group died before they managed to kill them and, knowing that Tai Min was part of them means they had a hidden advantage on their side as well.

 Now, Shu He was on the other side of that memory, one against just over 80.

He wasn't going to charge in, guns… or bows ablaze, even if he was a cultivator he'd likely die.

If he was just fighting some bandits, he would go ahead and set off their explosive trap, hoping to kill a lot of them, but there were captives that needed rescuing, that wasn't a valid tactic.

The was only one way for him to deal with this situation – stealthily.

It was good that his set of abilities was perfect for this situation, hiding while stalking your prey was something his father had taught him too – how to be a hunter!

And so, instead of approaching the campsite from the front, Shu He silently leapt through the trees as he headed towards the mountain – he needed to find the other entrance!