Ch 17 - Taking Action

It was two hours after midnight.

In the cover of the dark, Xu Ming and the group made their way towards the marked location on the map. For the sake of their stealth, they had not ridden their horses, and were equipped with the basic weapons.

Fortunately, it wasn't that far away from the village, and the kids weren't ordinary people either. Even if it was the 1st level of Qi Refining, it was enough for a small kid to beat up a few adults, not to mention them who had been training for a while under the purview of the sect. Thus, stamina was relatively high even when sneaking towards the bandit camp.

Xu Ming stopped the group after reaching the outskirts of the camp. It was not exactly hidden, but effort has clearly been made to not arouse suspicion from a far distance.

Upon closer inspection, it seemed like they were gathered around a fire, drinking some type of liquid. Xu Ming beckoned the group to spread out and quietly estimate the number of bandits gathered there.

After a quick round of sweeping the surroundings, they came to an unanimous decision that there were around 40-50 bandits, with what appeared to be the leader sitting near the edge of the camp. This was not including the captives, who were still put to work just tens of metres away, near the walls of the caves.

Xu Ming signalled for everyone to go closer to the bandits.

Although Xu Ming wanted them to kill the bandits to silence them forever and reduce risks, he knew that they were still averse to the idea of killing. Thus, to avoid complications, he instructed them to knock them out for the time being but kill them if the need arises. They were still kids after all, even if they were cultivators, and there was a certain level of risk with this mission.

The right move would have been to wait for backup to arrive from the sect or the government and then make their move, but the group were rather anxious about the fate of the kidnapped. Thus, Xu Ming was helpless in the matter, and prematurely began operations.

Nothing would happen, right? These were just ordinary bandits after all. However, Xu Ming wanted to reduce as much risk as possible lest he was blamed by Peak Leader Kai.

The majority of the bandits were drunk, and most of them had a few drinks in their system. This was the time to act, if any.

Signalling to everyone, Xu Ming nodded and charged towards the first bandit on the outskirts, punching him hard on the head and knocking him out with a thud.

Similar scenes played out in different corners of the camp.

"Huh? What's happening?"

"Attack! We're being attacked!"

The leader in particular got up and roared, "Enemy attack! You bastards, stop drinking and pick up your weapons!"

The bandits sobered up and headed to pick up their weapons, but the group moved fast.

Knocking out another one with his hands, Xu Ming moved quickly towards the leader.

Without a leader, these bandits would be much easier to deal with.

The leader didn't seem to be drunk at all.

When he stood up, his enormous 2m frame filled with muscles made him look like a Titan before the tiny Xu Ming. He picked up his guandao, and roared.

"Where did you rats come from?", questioned the Bandit Leader.

"We're from the Ming Sword Sect. If you don't want to die, I suggest you lay down your weapon and sit obediently.", Xu Ming spoke.

"...."

Suddenly, the bandit leader laughed, as if he'd heard a big joke.

"Right, you rats are from that place? What does it have to do with me? You kids are the ones that are in danger."

"You might want to look again."

Suddenly, the leader looked around.

Everywhere, the bandits seemed to be shouting and panicking, and were no match for the kid cultivators, and were being knocked out one after the other.

This made the leader's face darken, and he spat out, "These trash! I always tell them to hone themselves and not to drink too much. They can't even do such a simple thing!"

Turning to Xu Ming, he snarled and walked towards him, and said, "No matter, when I defeat you rats, everything will be alright."

He took a step towards Xu Ming, and lifted his guandao. He swung his guandao in a horizontal slash.

"False Slash!"

Xu Ming avoided the slash with a dodge and quickly tried to retaliate with his knife, but was kicked away by the leader.

Xu Ming would have brought a spear, but it wasn't suitable for a mission like this. Besides, he was fairly confident in being able to surpress the bandits even with just a knife.

"I've been fighting all my life! A kid like you can't do anything to me!"

The bandit leader laughed and took a swig of whiskey and he roared again as he ran towards Xu Ming.

Xu Ming spoke, "Eternity Script - Body Enhance!"

Suddenly, strands of Qi were being used from Xu Ming's Dantian as he felt it envelope his entire body, both from outside and inside. This was one of the more basic applications of Qi, and it helped even the most basic cultivators attain stronger bodies than what mortals were capable of.

Xu Ming's speed increased rapidly and he felt strength course all throughout his body. Xu Ming was already quite strong, as he had undergone the flesh tempering. Without Qi Enhancement, he was already confident in being able to surpress this leader.

But he wouldn't be careless.

He utilised his silver tier manual, ghost steps, to nimbly avoid the slashes of the guandao. The bandit leader looked surprised, but quickly followed up with more deadly slashes. Xu Ming took advantage of his speed and hit the leader square in the jaw. At the same time, he was looking around him to make sure he wasn't being ambushed or attacked by another person.

The bandit leader stumbled a few steps back, and he seemed like he'd taken a hit from a solid steel plate. Xu Ming followed this up with a jab to the kidney, and a knee to the face, grabbing the leader's head at the same time.

The bandit leader fell unconscious immediately as his giant body fell to the ground, hitting a rock with a thud and blood started spilling out of his head.

Wasting no time, he joined the rest of the group in subduing the bandits. The kids had done a good job by now, as they'd not given the archers any chance to hit them. More than half of them were disarmed at this point, and another half were unconscious.

Finally, after 6 minutes of fighting, everything calmed down.

"Good job, guys. Every bandit has been subdued.", Xu Ming spoke to the group, who were overjoyed at the operation going smoother than they'd expected.

Suddenly, a group of about 25 men came down from the mountain mines holding torches and pickaxes, looking tired and beaten. Looking at the scene around, they looked surprised as well as relieved.

"We heard noises from the mining base up there. We're here to help you guys out.", a lanky man stood out and spoke.

"Don't worry, villagers. We're from the Ming Sword Sect, and we've already knocked all of them out. I do have a task for you people.", Xu Ming spoke to the group.

They looked grateful and immediately responded with bows, most of them on their knees. Some were even crying.

"Thank you, Immortals! If there's anything we can help you with, please instruct us!", the lanky villager immediately bowed.

"It's fine, it's our duty to help out the people.", Mo Xiao responded.

Xu Ming followed, "Please tie up these bandits and make sure they won't escape. The Tianming Authorities should be here soon."

The women in the tents hesitantly came out after hearing the commotion calm down as well. Almost all of them were crying, except for a few women who seemed to be lucky enough to avoid their tragic fate. Seeing familiar faces, some of the men were heartbroken and hugged their partners immediately.

This scene was tragic to bear witness to. The two kids Ning Wei and Huo Ning turned their heads to the side, while the Guo'er and Guoyi bowed their heads. Huang Dong and Mo Xiao clenched their fists, looking indignant.

Xu Ming sighed and said, "We've done what we can. If we didn't help them, their fates would be hundreds of times worse than what happened. Be proud and glad of yourself instead of regretting things that you can't help."

The lanky villager was silent, but then spoke, "Absolutely, Immortals. You owe us nothing, but you've helped us so much."

Saying this, he beckoned the men to tie up the bandits. The group also helped them, tying up all the bandits and placing them at a corner. Some of them had already woken up, but had their mouths shut so they could only struggle.

The bandit leader in particular stared at Xu Ming and was trying to signal something to him.

Xu Ming stopped Huang Dong who was about to hit him in the face, and allowed him to speak.

"Let us go immediately or you'll regret it! We're just a side branch of the Red Dogs Bandits! People like me are just small timers in the group. If our leader hears of this, you'll never outlive it!", the man shouted.

"Oh yeah? Is the Red Dog Bandits really scary?", Xu Ming questioned with a smile.

"I'm only a silver tier mercenary! We have 5 gold tier mercenaries, and dozens of silver tiers in the bandit group! Our influence goes on for hundreds of kilometres around here. You'd do good to apologise to us and let us go or you'll suffer.", the man spoke.

Xu Ming stopped smiling by this point and wondered if all meatheads were really stupid. He spoke, "And we're Immortals from the Ming Sword Sect. Ask yourself if your little bandit group can hold up to our sect. Stupid!"

The man didn't quite seem to grasp the concept of an immortal sect and said, "Isn't that just another sect? How strong could you really be? I'm warning you, let us go."

Xu Ming lost his patience by this point and slapped him unconscious.

Forgetting even the bottom of the sect like themselves, any random inner sect disciple could easily wipe out their entire Red Dog Bandits single handedly without taking any damage. Mortal forces were truly unimpressive in the face of the power of cultivators.

Not long after, they heard the sound of galloping horses ride into the camp.

A man well equipped in a sturdy leather armor got off of his horse and inspected the surroundings with his eagle eyes, looking surprised.

Turning to Xu Ming, he spoke, "Lord Immortals, you must be the people from the Ming Sword Sect. Are these the bandits that you wrote to us about?"