Martial Artists

"Wow," Pu Feixiang muttered under his breath. "That's rather impressive."

"Impressive, indeed," Gui Longcan agreed with him for once.

Even Zhao Yunxiao could not help but feel amazed.

It was not exactly something to be proud of, but it remained a fact that this self-proclaimed Great Bandit Redblade remained unfazed despite seeing that there was a whole group of armed soldiers in the inn.

Judging from that alone, perhaps there was some truth to his title?

"Keep quiet and don't let them hear you," Chu Han reminded. "We don't want any trouble."

"I know that at least," Pu Feixiang shrugged.

As far as possible, they wanted to avoid any distractions and focus solely on their main task at hand, which was the demon subduing mission at East Stream Village.

But while the members of the Mystic Cavalry could afford to just sit back and watch, the same could not be said for the waiter.

"Please have a seat! Please have a seat!" the waiter hurriedly wiped the empty tables before turning towards the leader of the group. "May I know what you would like to order, valued customer?"

"Hmm?" Redblade frowned after sitting down. "What did you say?"

"M-May I know what you would like to order, valued customer?" the waiter repeated his question nervously.

Pa-!

The resounding slap came so fast that the waiter had no time to react.

After stumbling back a few steps, the shocked waiter was at a complete loss for words. All he could do was to hold his cheek with trembling hands while staring at the Redblade in fear.

"You might be ignorant, but you are not deaf, are you?" Redblade sneered. "Did you not hear what I said earlier? I am the Great Bandit Redblade! Do I still need to tell you to bring out all your best dishes and wines?"

"M-My apologies, valued customer," the waiter's voice was a lot more muted this time, revealing his growing fear towards the other party. "I will be right back with nothing but the best dishes and wine..."

"You'd better!" Redblade answered domineeringly.

With that, the waiter hurried over to pick up Li'er, making sure to bring her along as he returned to the kitchen.

Zhao Yunxiao could not help but glance over at Pu Feixiang.

Among the members of the Mystic Cavalry, there was no doubt that Pu Feixiang was the one most inclined to act according to his feelings.

Therefore, Zhao Yunxiao was most curious about Pu Feixiang's reaction, given the current situation.

And as expected, he was the only one who had his fists clenched after witnessing how the waiter got slapped for no apparent reason.

"Are we not going to do anything, Senior Martial Brother Mo?" Pu Feixiang whispered.

"Wait and observe," Mo Mian said without looking up.

As cultivators, they could easily observe everything with their spiritual senses, so there was no need to directly look over and potentially expose the fact that they were watching the situation.

Then again, perhaps it would be more unnatural to not pay any attention at all in this particular scenario.

At the same time, Redblade's men started chatting and laughing among themselves while waiting for the food and drinks to be served.

"Hahaha! You really gave it to him there, boss!"

"He deserved it, too. How can he not know something this basic?"

"Damn, what if he spits in our food after this?"

"He dares? I will split his skull into two if he does!"

"Like that old man from two days ago? Hahaha, that would be fun to watch!"

"Maybe we can hang his head above the door outside? Or we can turn his body into a real scarecrow!"

The conversation was loud and unhinged, completely disregarding the fact that there were other people around them.

Unsurprisingly, this eventually got on the nerves of the other group present.

"Are they being too loud and disturbing your rest, Young Noble?" Uncle Hei asked. "If so, shall I get them to quieten down?"

Be it deliberate or not, Uncle Hei did not control his volume whatsoever.

Thus, it was inevitable that not only did Hui Shajing hear him, but so did Redblade and his men.

"What did you say, old man?" one of Redblade's men shouted immediately. "Who are you saying is too loud?!"

"Is that a rhetorical question?" Uncle Hei answered without hesitation. "Who else can it be but you guys?"

"What did you say?!" Redblade's men stood up and stared straight at Uncle Hei.

The soldiers on the other side immediately stood up as well in response.

Just like that, the atmosphere in the inn turned cold in an instant as the two sides stared each other down.

And while this was happening, Hui Shajing continued to silently sip on his wine, as though he was completely indifferent to his surroundings.

Such a scene naturally did not go down well with Redblade.

"I will give you a chance," Redblade said. "If that kid comes over and kowtows to me three times, I will not slit all of your throats. Otherwise, I will have no choice but to start teaching you all some manners!"

"With just you and your men? Don't you think you are overestimating yourself here?" Uncle Hei scoffed.

At this point, the waiter reappeared from the kitchen while holding a tray of dishes and wine.

However, he would never have expected that the first thing he saw upon his return would be the two groups standing and staring each other down in hostility!

"W-What happened here? Please calm down, everyone! There must have been a misunderstanding of sorts!" the waiter hurriedly put down his tray and tried to mediate. "Let's all sit down and slowly talk things through!"

"Stay out of this, lest you get hurt as well," Uncle Hei advised.

"If you don't want us to go wild, then you'd better get those jokers to apologise and do as we say!" Redblade said.

"Please, valued customers!" the waiter continued to plead. "The inn will not be able to handle any damages from such fighting!"

Indeed, considering that the two sides were both fully armed, the inn might get completely wrecked if they truly got into a serious fight! 

"Don't worry," Hui Shajing finally spoke up at this point, drawing everyone's attention towards him. "I will pay for any resulting damages. Not only that, but I will pay for it using the riches that these fugitives have illegally accrued over their years of heinous crimes."

"Cocky little bastard," Redblade drew the huge sabre hanging behind his back. "It looks like you still don't understand just what kind of situation you are in right now. Perhaps you will finally wake up when heads start to roll!"

It was a huge sabre, almost as long as he was tall. The blade was thick and looked extremely heavy, stained a deep red by what appeared to be a layer of dried blood.

"Here in the mountains is the domain of the Great Bandit Redblade," Redblade declared. "Now that you have overstepped your boundaries, don't even think about leaving in one piece!"

"Kill!"

Redblade's men shouted as they all drew their weapons at once, creating a fearsome scene that shook the waiter to his core.

But on the other side, the soldiers were unfazed.

Without being told, all of them drew their sabres as a clear showing of their intentions to fight.

"Please calm down. We can still talk things through..." the waiter's voice was a lot softer this time, perhaps indicative of how even he himself did not quite believe the words that were coming out of his mouth.

"Kill them!"

Redblade's instructions were clear and concise.

His men did not need to be told twice, charging forward with their weapons raised the moment they heard the order.

The soldiers stepped forward as well, answering them blade for blade.

Tables were split in half, chairs were crushed, and cuts appeared on the walls one after another.

It had only been a few minutes since the bandits arrived, but that was already enough for the inn to descend into a state of complete pandemonium.

Redblade himself did not busy himself with the soldiers.

Instead, he began making his way towards the still-seated Hui Shajing, holding tightly onto that heavy sabre of his.

"Where do you think you are going?" Uncle Hei stepped forward to stand in his way. "Can't you see that the Young Noble is busy? Trash like you will have to make do with being destroyed by me instead."

Redblade felt the corner of his lips twitch in anger.

Which part of the young man was busy?

Busy drinking wine? Or busy eating meat?

"Since you are volunteering to die first, I can only fulfil your wish!" Redblade slashed out without the slightest hesitation.

Uncle Hei immediately narrowed his eyes in alarm.

That was because the sabre slash from Redblade was extremely fast!

He had already been mentally prepared for it, thus Uncle Hei was able to react instantly and leapt back the moment the sabre moved.

Yet despite that, he still barely dodged it by a hair's breadth!

He dreaded to think about what could have happened had he not been prepared for it from the start!

Uncle Hei was not the only one who was shocked, either.

Uncle Bai and Hui Shajing narrowed their eyes at the same time, neither of them expecting this from the bandit.

Silently observing from their table, even members of the Mystic Cavalry could not help but be caught by surprise.

"That sabre slash... is he a cultivator?" Pu Feixiang asked. "And the way that other guy dodged isn't normal either."

"No, it is not to that extent," Zhao Yunxiao answered. "They are not employing any essence energy in their moves. They should just be extremely skilled martial artists."

"Junior Martial Brother Zhao is right," Chu Han nodded. "But don't underestimate martial artists. Though rare, some of them can be strong enough to even take down unsuspecting cultivators in battle."

"They are that amazing?" Pu Feixiang exclaimed in astonishment. "That's interesting."

Meanwhile, even Redblade was astonished by what happened as well.

"Well done, you are the first person who has managed to dodge my sabre in decades," Redblade said with a sneer.

"Seems like you have been taking on small fries all this time then," Uncle Hei taunted, though his expression was obviously much stiffer now.

"Talking big? Let's see how much longer you can do that for!" Redblade raised his sabre and stepped forward.

But just as he was about to slash out once more, Redblade noticed someone secretly approaching from the corner of his eyes.

"Trying a sneak attack?" Redblade sneered. "That's not going to work either!"

With that, he slashed out without hesitation, directing his blade towards the man who had sneaked close behind.

"Shit!" Uncle Bai cursed as he brought his arms up to guard against the unexpected attack.

Clang-!

The heavy blade cut straight through Uncle Bai's sleeves but was stopped by the metal arm bracers underneath. Even then, the heavy impact was enough to send Uncle Bai crashing into a table behind him.

"Die!" Redblade followed right up, raising his sabre and slashing down mercilessly.

Slash-!

"Argh!" Uncle Bai groaned in pain as he forced himself to roll away just barely before the huge sabre arrived where he had been, cleaving right through the broken table like a hot knife through butter.

"This is the end!" Redblade gave chase instantly, cornering Uncle Bai who had now rolled up against a stack of broken chairs.

Redblade raised his sabre once more, his predatory eyes locked onto Uncle Bai.

Uncle Bai widened his eyes in trepidation.

There was nowhere left to escape.

If this sabre came down, it would be well and truly over for him.

Now, it was a matter of who struck first.

And thankfully for Uncle Bai, he would be living to see another day.

Who knew when it happened?

But at some point in time, Uncle Hei had somehow managed to sneak up on the distracted Redblade.

Bang-!

Uncle Hei struck from behind, his dual fists hammering into Redblade's unprotected head.

One fist from each side, Uncle Hei's metal knuckles carved straight into Redblade's temples and rattled his skull.

It was a direct hit!

"Boss!"

Redblade's men shouted in dismay as Redblade fell limply to his knees, his eyes wide open in utter disbelief.

"Guess what?" Uncle Hei said with a sneer as he watched the bandit fall. "I can talk big however long I want, but I can't say the same for you."

"Teaming up against the boss like that, where is the honour in that?!" one of Redblade's men yelled in anger.

"Honour? Lowlifes like you dare to talk to me about honour?" Uncle Hei scoffed. "You are the ones who should be honoured to even breathe the same air as us. As for the other way around, there is no honour to be had, regardless of how we decide to deal with you!"