Fate at Work Again

A few more days passed. Huan Wei's wounds had scabbed over. But they still hurt. Since then they hadn't fought, they had waited to recover.

Cao Jingguo hadn't bullied anyone either. After the beating he had received, he needed some time too. It was terrible to have to work despite all his injuries. Cao Jingguo had also been forced by Yun Ying and had kept working, no matter how much it hurt.

It was evening again. Once again the slaves were ordered to eat their meals in their cages. Because the bandits cut the beasts they killed into pieces and took everything of value. This time they couldn't finish the job during the day. So they had to continue in the evening.

Huan Wei was watching them while eating. The bandit group was all on the second step of the Path of the Earth. There were only three of them who had chosen a different path. Yun Ying, Lan Xifeng and Ou Yu.

Huan Wei was surprised that Yun Ying had chosen the Path of the Divines. But not as much as he was surprised by Lan Xifeng. He couldn't understand how that woman had chosen the Light. Both Yun Ying and Lan Xifeng had reached the fourth step of the Path of the Divines.

Ou Yu had chosen the Path of the Blood. She was the most dangerous of them all. She was on the fifth corruption of the Blood Path. Huan Wei had never seen her use her power. Usually the other bandits and leaders took care of the natural monsters. The boss often got the loot.

As Huan Wei watched them, a man riding a flying sword came into the campsite. He attracted the attention of all slaves, including the young man. He calmly dismounted from the sword and came in front of Ou Yu. No one could hear what they were saying.

Ou Yu gave him something small. It looked like some kind of ring. When he took the ring and stretched out his foot to get back on the sword, Ou Yu grabbed him by the shoulder.

After a few sentences of dialog between them, the man with the flying sword took out a pouch and gave it to her. Then he flew away. Yun Ying and Lan Xifeng immediately appeared next to the boss.

Ou Yu took a few shiny things out of the pouch and gave them some. She took the rest for herself. No one made a sound, yet you could see that the bandits were not happy after she went to her tent. Yun Ying kicked the ground and walked away. Some of the bandits went with him. The rest followed Lan Xifeng.

"Who knows how much gold Ou Yu has collected by now?" Lei Lok spoke as he took another spoonful of his food. "She gets the biggest part of the loot every time."

Ding Enlai just focused on his food. Jiao Bai spoke. "I wish we weren't slaves."

Huan Wei turned to him. "Would you like to join them?"

"What? No."

"There's no other way to get a share of that loot. Don't you see, she only gave a few gold pieces to the leaders. With the bandits following them, it must have been the whole group's share. She took all the rest for herself."

Ding Enlai also stopped eating and joined the conversation. "None of them can stand up to Ou Yu. Most of the ones you see here are wanted criminals in the settlements. All the contacts in Broken Mountain Town belong to Ou Yu."

Huan Wei finished his meal and put the bowl through the bars and out of the cage. "We'll do it again tomorrow, Ding Enlai."

Lei Lok turned to them. "My friend, aren't you overdoing it a bit? Cao Jingguo hasn't done anything to anyone for a while. Why don't you leave him alone?"

Ding Enlai looked at Lei Lok. "If he recovers a little more, he will start again. We want to shut him up for good. He must lose all his heaviness. No one should ever be afraid of him again."

"That's why." Huan Wei interjected again. "Tomorrow we will fight again. This time I will start it."

It was Ding Enlai's turn to be whipped. He would come into the fight later. If he didn't help Huan Wei, the young man would make the final decision about him. At worst, he would have to fight Cao Jingguo one on one. Not a very scary scenario.

Lei Lok leaned his back against the iron bars. "I'm going to sleep now, good night everyone."

Jiao Bai said, "Good night," and closed his eyes. Only Ding Enlai and Huan Wei were awake. They too waited for a while and then decided to go to sleep to regain strength. Ding Enlai fell asleep immediately. But Huan Wei couldn't sleep. He didn't want to enter the Black Void once more. So he opened his eyes and waited until morning.

When the first rays of dawn fell on the earth, one of the bandits came to the cages and woke everyone up. There was no one sleeping in Huan Wei's cage. After their daily morning routine, they went to work.

They worked non-stop all day. The bandits set them a lower limit. Yet whoever filled that quota was not allowed to stay idle. Everyone had to work until the evening.

After a boring day, they ate as usual. Cao Jingguo occasionally gave them furtive glances. He was clearly worried that they would attack again. He could deal with one of them. But when two of them attacked together, there was nothing he could do. Even those in his cage were now staying away from Cao Jingguo.

Huan Wei put down the bowl in his hand and took a deep breath. "It's time."

Ding Enlai nodded in agreement. Huan Wei stood up and started walking towards Cao Jingguo. The bandits were pointing and laughing at them again.

Slaves also started shouting. "Go, Huan Wei!"

"Show him!"

"Give him what he deserves!"

Cao Jingguo stood up as he approached. He no longer looked as confident as before.

When they faced each other, Huan Wei raised his fists and took guard.

Cao Jingguo looked at him. "Are you going to start bullying me now? Is that the plan?"

"You better raise your arms."

Huan Wei ran towards him. This time he started with a low kick. Cao Jingguo saw it coming and dodged it by lifting his foot.

Then he grabbed Huan Wei and threw him towards his own friends. The young man was too numb to use his full strength. He fell to the ground and rolled a little.

Cao Jingguo grabbed him by the head and lifted him up and slammed him down. Huan Wei was more bothered by the pain in his back than his head. The whip wounds still hurt.

At that moment Ding Enlai also got up and started running towards them. Instead of stopping him, the bandits again chose to watch. But Cao Jingguo was prepared this time. He deliberately threw Huan Wei away from Ding Enlai. That way he had time to see him coming.

He immediately turned to Ding Enlai and blocked his punch. Then he kicked him in the knee joint, bringing him to his knees. Then he struck him in the mouth with his own knee, knocking him to the ground.

Huan Wei got to his feet. Cao Jingguo saw him too. He raised his hand to catch the young man's fist. Yet Huan Wei's hand was not empty.

He threw the earth and splinters he had hidden in his palm at his face. The dirt in his eye forced Cao Jingguo to back away. Huan Wei rushed forward, grabbed him around the waist and lifted him up and slammed him to the ground. Ding Enlai had also recovered.

Together they again beat Cao Jingguo until he was unconscious. When the bandits intervened, they pushed Huan Wei back to his seat. They had captured Ding Enlai. Yun Ying was coming there in a rage. She already had her whip in her hand.

Huan Wei sat down quietly. He was not the one to be whipped this time. Ding Enlai had not waited as he suspected. This man was really full of courage.

Yun Ying started shouting. "Idiot! Do you enjoy being whipped now!?"

As the bandits holding Ding Enlai turned his back, a voice was heard from behind.

"Step aside, Yun Ying."

The fat woman heard who spoke and stepped aside despite her anger. Ou Yu was coming.

All slaves stood up. Huan Wei also stood up when he saw them. The woman came dragging her sledgehammer across the floor. They turned Ding Enlai's face towards her.

Ou Yu looked at Ding Enlai. Huan Wei was not sure what emotion he saw in her eyes. There was more indifference than emotion.

"You used to have a bit of uneasiness in you, Enlai." Ou Yu spoke. "Now you've become fearless. You're no fun."

When Ding Enlai realized the situation, he activated the Qi within him. His hands suddenly burst into flames, forcing the bandits holding him to release him. He looked at everyone around him with his flaming fists.

As the bandits drew their weapons, Ou Yu stopped them. "Everyone stand back. Put slaves in the cages."

Ding Enlai turned to her. Huan Wei was moving into the cage too. This was not good. Ou Yu had decided to kill Ding Enlai. One of the most important people in Huan Wei's plan was about to die.

"Wonderfull, I jinxed it..."