I began to understand the myriad things by chopping wood

Chapter 195 Entering the Bandit Lair

It would be impossible for a store in a place like Fengshaji to be a normal store. Xie Yuan had thought of this before he stepped in.

However, he also thought about it. This place is so close to Xiguan and is the first stop for Dali to enter the Western Desert. It is impossible to say that there is a strong force here.

However, all the spies and spies of various forces are here, and the situation is extremely complicated. If one's strength is not up to standard, then he will be quietly buried in the sand and no one will know.
If you show your strength, you can get along with others in peace.

After escorting for several months, although the martial arts level was not high at that time, the escorts were like this. The masters only had to think about training, while the escorts who had struggled at the bottom of the world had a lot of things to consider. This also allowed Xie Yuan to accumulate rich experience and a keen sense of smell.

Compared to Huang Zifeng, a disciple of a great religion, Xie Yuan was more sensitive to such things.

This is a place where the more you show weakness, the more likely you are to attract hungry wolves.

While his companions were still looking at the people around them warily, Xie Yuan had already sat down quietly at the table, leaving the other four people stunned.

He looked at the others and said with a silly smile:
"Brother and sister, don't you want to sit down?"

Huang Zifeng's mouth drooped. He thought Zhang Shan was going to express some profound opinion. Could it be that he was just too slow to sense anything?
Just now I thought this kid was smarter than others, but it turned out to be an illusion... There is such an obvious problem with him, he is too slow and too honest, he only knows how to eat.

He frowned slightly and mentally deducted two points from Zhang Shan.

Several people sat down at the table and waited quietly for their dishes to be served in the silent restaurant.

Huang Zifeng looked around quietly, his eyes slightly focused:
"When I came here before, I felt that the pressure wasn't so great, and there weren't so many people... Did something happen recently?"

He had the confidence to bring Xie Yuan and three others here.

According to what Cui Zhi had said when he had traveled around with him, Fengshaji was a place where all kinds of people gathered, but not all the strong ones were there. However, it was a good place to hone one's martial arts skills in addition to cultivation.

However, there seemed to be more people in today's episode than in the past, which made him alert. He planned to let a few people see it for themselves, and then reduce their stay here after finding the target.

After waiting for a while, the waiter came up with a few dishes, including a plate of peanuts, a plate of fennel beans, a plate of braised beef, a plate of meat buns, and a pot of sake.

Xie Yuan looked at the plate of meat buns, hesitant, and muttered:

"It shouldn't be so cliché?"

But even though he loved food because of Situ Qin, he still didn't dare to try this thing.

Huang Zifeng remained indifferent. After the Lin siblings looked at each other, they silently took out the silver needles and tried them one by one. Before they could get any results, they heard a sneer from behind, followed by a charming voice:

"If you're afraid that this thing of mine is poisonous, then you shouldn't eat it. Why are you doing this?"

The Lin brothers and sisters were embarrassed for a moment, not knowing how to answer, and then they heard Pei Yu say coldly:

"I can do whatever I want with the things I bought."

The proprietress glanced at him and said calmly:
"You haven't paid yet."

Pei Yu walked to the counter, took out a shining gold ingot from his chest, and placed it on the counter.

The light of this gold ingot was very dazzling, just like fat meat thrown into a wolf pack, which instantly attracted the attention of everyone in the restaurant. The wealthy guests at the table all stared at it.

Huang Zifeng frowned instantly, but it was too late to stop himself, so he subconsciously put his hand on the hilt of the sword.

He looked at Pei Yu coldly, but from this angle he saw the corners of his mouth slightly raised. He was stunned for a moment, and his dissatisfied expression subsided a little.

The noodle shop owner looked at Jin Yuanbao with her mouth wide open and her eyes wide open, almost drooling. Fortunately, she held back in time, otherwise the thick powder on her cheeks would have been washed away, leaving two marks.

She subconsciously reached out and forced a brilliant smile:
"Okay, okay, you can do whatever you want with the food, even feed it to the dog..."

Her fingers touched the gold ingot and she grabbed it but it didn't move at all. Pei Yu had no intention of stopping.

The proprietress looked up and saw Pei Yu staring at her with a smile:
"Besides the meal money, there is also money for news. Is that enough?"

"It depends on what you want to know."

The proprietress raised her eyebrows and did not agree directly.

Pei Yu said calmly:
"Are there any unforgivable outside martial artists here? Four or so would be best."

The lady boss was stunned for a moment after hearing his question, and suddenly burst into exaggerated laughter:
"You're asking this question... Isn't it hard to find someone like you want? Everyone in this hall is like this!"

She stretched out a scallion-like finger, covering all the people in the hall, and then smiled and pointed to the outside and said:
"And the entire Fengshaji, you have to kill nine out of ten people you meet, there can't be any mistakes, there have to be some fish that slip through the net. Unforgivable crimes? What a fresh word, ha ha ha!"

Pei Yu's face turned slightly red because of her smile. He felt that he had made a mistake and couldn't help feeling angry and embarrassed.

He was about to take back the gold ingots, but the proprietress suddenly held him down with a bang.

The proprietress narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth, revealing her neat white teeth:
"Why? I've already given you the money, and you still want to go back?"

Pei Yu's face changed slightly, and he didn't know whether he should let go. However, the boss lady's hand was so strong that he couldn't pull it away. He had no choice but to put the gold ingot down and return to the table in embarrassment.

"After you finish eating, get out of here. This is not the place for you."

The proprietress picked up the gold ingot, bit it with her teeth, and spoke incoherently.

None of the five people had any appetite, of course Xie Yuan had other reasons.

After a few quick bites, they stood up and left this "first restaurant in the Western Desert".

In a corner of the room, several big men looked at each other and stood up silently.

The waiter ignored her and put away the leftovers, tables, chairs and benches. Then he walked over to the proprietress and asked in a low voice:

"Boss, those are all rookies, do you want to..."

He was about to make a gesture when the proprietress said lazily:
"These guys can't do anything to them."

"what?"

The waiter was stunned. Those guys were obviously young rookies who had just started out, while the ones who had just followed them up the mountain were all tough guys here. How could they fail?

"There's a powerful one in there, just wait and see."

The proprietress did not explain. She took a palm-leaf fan and lay down on the recliner behind the counter. Her long legs were placed high on the counter. The hem of her skirt slipped down slightly, revealing a delicate, smooth, white calf.

Her embroidered shoes were too lazily put on and were swinging on her toes. Her jade feet, which were resting on the counter, were swaying and were also dazzlingly white, seeming to glow in this windy and dusty place.

However, both the waiter and the wealthy customers in the store who were obviously not good people looked straight ahead, completely ignoring this scene that was enough to arouse the beast in a man's heart. Some of them even lowered their heads and ate their food, for fear of accidentally moving their eyes over there.

Wind and sand gather outside.

Xie Yuan and his four companions left Fengshaji. Without those omnipresent gazes staring at them, they felt the pressure was obviously relieved.

Huang Yifeng looked at Pei Yu and asked in a deep voice:
"Junior Brother Pei, you know the principle of not showing off your wealth, especially in a place like this, right?"

"nature."

Pei Yu said simply, even more aloof than Huang Yifeng.

Huang Yifeng didn't say anything, but just asked:

"So you do this...?"

"It's for fishing. Better to let the prey come to you than to go looking for it yourself."

Pei Yu said in a deep voice.

A good hunter often appears as prey?

Xie Yuan thought with interest and glanced back.

But aren’t you afraid of catching sharks if you fish like this?

Sure enough, Huang Zifeng also stared at him and said:

"It's a good idea, but have you ever thought about what to do if you catch an enemy that you can't handle?"

Pei Yu paused for a moment and said coldly:
"There shouldn't be any enemies in this Wind and Sand Zone that are beyond our capabilities."

His words exuded a powerful confidence that far exceeded what an outsider should have.

Huang Zifeng frowned:
"I don't know where your confidence comes from, but if you underestimate the enemy, you will be the only one who dies."

"..."

Pei Yu remained silent, and it was unclear whether he had heard it or not.

The few of them continued to walk forward with their heads down. Xie Yuan glanced to the side and saw that they were all silent and looked nervous:
"Do you think someone will follow us?"

"not yet……"

Pei Yu shook his head, and suddenly froze for a moment, his expression slightly changed:

"It's already this close?"

Lin Zhen also became alert instantly and found something wrong.

Huang Zifeng watched coldly, thinking that if Zhang Shan hadn't been so stupid and lucky, and just happened to be afraid of reminding them, they might not have been discovered even if someone sneaked up close. The wind and sand covered the ground, and the sand dunes were undulating. It seemed that everything was visible, but in fact it was all blocked.

The four disciples immediately drew their swords and formed a formation. Lin Cheng shouted in a deep voice:
"Who is blocking the road? Don't hide your head and show your tail."

There was silence behind the sand dunes for a moment, and suddenly several big men in black appeared. They were the guests of the hotel!

"One, two, three... seven, eight!"

Lin Cheng and his companions showed a look of nervousness and excitement. They looked at the nobles on the sand dunes and shouted:

"Who are you? What do you want to do by following us here?"

"You talk a lot of nonsense, and in a very literary way."

The big man in the lead sneered:
"Following you, of course, requires money! How many gold ingots do you have? Take them all out, and leave that girl to us for a good time, and I will spare your lives!"

Lin Zhen looked at the big men looking at him unscrupulously, his eyes became stern, and he tightened his grip on the sword.

She was originally the delicate and pretty girl of a small family and the charming and pretty girl of a rich family, quite delicate and pretty;
After experiencing a great change and practicing on Yunshan Mountain for several months, she practiced martial arts diligently, her spiritual energy was nourished, her figure and skin became much better, her temperament became calm and firm, and she had a bit more of the flavor of a mature woman. She was much more charming than before, and she turned from a little beauty into a great beauty, which made Huang Zifeng, who had already been interested in her, very moved.

To these bandits who roam around in the desert every day, such women from the Central Plains are simply poison. Now their eyes are shining, and they actually want people more than money.

Huang Zifeng drooped his eyelids slightly. He had already sentenced these strong men to death. It all depended on whether his fellow junior brothers and sisters could kill them all by themselves.

When Lin Cheng heard his sister being insulted, he glared and snorted coldly:
"I don't have any money, and I don't have any people, but I do have a life. It depends on how many lives you have to take it!"

"You don't know how to be polite. Fine, I think you are pretty fair."

The leader waved his hand and shouted:
"on!"

The eight robbers were full of energy, drew their machetes and rushed down the sand dunes.

"Three fours, five threes."

Xie Yuan saw the strength of several people in an instant and raised his eyebrows. Is this team of people quite strong?

I just entered Fengshaji, are there so many four types of training?
Pei Yu and Lin Zhen each led a four-trained bandit and a three-trained bandit. Although Huang Zifeng intended to watch, the opponent didn't know that he would sit idly by. So they sent a four-trained bandit to attack, so he just fought with them and observed their performance.

The remaining three Sanlians faced Xie Yuan and Lin Cheng with a grim smile:
"Kill these two with two swords, then go back and help the boss and capture that chick, and we can have some fun in the back too!"

Lin Cheng's face darkened and he whispered:
"Junior Brother Zhang, we are outnumbered, so let's be careful."

"Okay, Brother Lin."

Seeing that the three trial disciples were a little nervous when they first entered the battlefield, Xie Yuan rolled his eyes, circled three with his long sword, and kindly left two for Lin Cheng to practice.

"Zhang, Junior Brother Zhang..."

Lin Cheng was stunned for a moment. He originally intended to cooperate with Xie Yuan, but seeing that he was having a great time fighting with the enemy, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and fight the two of them alone.

Huang Zifeng was fighting with the fourth practitioner nearby. With his strength, he only needed to divert a fraction of his attention to deal with the situation. He was simply teasing his opponent.

Most of his attention was focused on the people in the field, silently commenting:
"Junior Sister Lin is proficient in swordsmanship and has solid cultivation, but this is her first life-and-death fight, and she is outnumbered, so she is a little unsure. This is normal. But she is obviously getting more and more used to it, and she is firmly in an invincible position. Well, very good...

"Junior Brother Pei, as a disciple of the Sword Sect, was already in a mess when dealing with two petty thieves. He needs more training."

Although Pei Yu's performance was no worse than Lin Zhen's, the treatment he received was quite different.

Huang Zifeng looked to the other side again:
"Junior Brother Lin's Kung Fu is very precise. He can fight two people at once after three trainings. It's just so-so. Huh? His sword moves are quite impressive. Isn't it said that he has a lack of talent?"

He took a closer look and felt that Lin Cheng's sword moves were often unexpected, which was not something that could be practiced at this stage and with this aptitude, so he nodded slightly.

"It seems that he has some inspiration. As for Zhang Shan...

"Why does it take so long to fight one on one? Is the opponent also a disciple of the Sword Sect, with a teacher, skills and inner strength?"

Huang Yifeng was very dissatisfied and shook his head repeatedly.

After all, these people are disciples of a major sect. Not to mention the inheritance of other skills, just the internal skills they have cultivated are far beyond the reach of these superficial external practices.

Among these people, only the leader had cultivated a little internal energy, which was better than nothing, and he had no advantage against Lin Zhen.

After several rounds, the three of them gradually became familiar with fighting. Even though these bandits were ruthless and murderous, they gradually became exhausted and their numbers were quickly reduced.

They couldn't win if they were outnumbered, and they were even less likely to win if they were outnumbered. The bandits were defeated in an instant.

Xie Yuan's opponents saw their companions falling to the ground one after another, and their souls were horrified:
"Oh no! I've run into a tough guy! The one in front of me is the weakest. I either run away now or take him hostage..."

Just as he was thinking this, the limp sword in front of him stretched to his chest. He tried to block it with his hand as before, but found that the sword did not move at all.

Before he could figure out what was happening, the sword had already pierced his chest, piercing him through.

The bandit stared at his opponent blankly and found that his expression was casual and his eyes were calm. He didn't look like a novice at all, but a veteran.

"you……"

He suddenly realized what was going on, but when he opened his mouth, blood gushed out and he fell to the ground.

"Junior Brother Zhang! Oh... I said I would come to help you."

Lin Cheng had just defeated his opponent, and when he turned around, he saw that Xie Yuan had killed his opponent almost at the same time. It was such a coincidence that he couldn't help but pat his chest.

The three of them breathed a sigh of relief. It was their first life-and-death fight and their first time killing someone. Looking at the corpses all over the ground still came as a bit of a shock to them.

But after a moment, the three of them, who were disciples of the Sword Sect after all, adjusted themselves quickly, but their hands holding the swords were still a little tight.

Huang Zifeng watched silently and nodded secretly:

"He adapted very quickly, and this Zhang Shan was as still as a mountain. I didn't expect...his face was still pale. It seems that he is just a piece of wood."

He saw from the corner of his eye that Xie Yuan's last strike was very decisive. It must have been an outburst under the pressure of life and death. It had improved a little and was not a dead end.

Huang Zifeng watched as several people searched the bodies of several bandits according to the method taught by the outer sect, but they did not find anything valuable, not even a few copper coins, and they were very poor.

"Is the trial... completed?"

Lin Zhen asked, a few people just killed someone, trembling slightly, and a little excited. After all, this battle was too easy for them.

Huang Zifeng pondered for a moment:
"That's all, the effect is limited. Now that we have proven our strength, it would be much safer to go back to Fengshaji and get more information. I always feel like something has happened here recently."

Several people nodded slightly. They just wandered around the market and had no special feeling. Now that most of the trials were completed and their moods were somewhat stable, it was a good time to experience the real Jianghu.

The five people returned to Fengshaji and felt that the looks around them had changed a lot. They couldn't help but raise their heads and chests.

After entering the "First Shop in the Western Desert" again, they clearly felt the atmosphere around them become tense. The guests were looking at them seriously, and the waiter and the proprietress also had strange looks in their eyes.

"Didn't expect that? We are quite strong!"

The three disciples had similar thoughts in their minds.

Huang Zifeng stood behind and asked Pei Yu to go forward and ask again.

Standing in front of the counter, he saw the proprietress put her jade feet in front of him. He took a step sideways a little uncomfortably and said calmly:
"Madam boss, can you buy the news?"

"Of course, did I just lie to you? Wasn't that quite true."

The proprietress retracted her legs, her eyes shining:

"What do you want to know? One hand pays the other hand delivers the goods."

Pei Yu took out another gold ingot without a care in the world, which made Xie Yuan and the other big men's eyelids jump:
"This guy is so rich... Money is not money!"

"Has anything happened here recently? The wind and sand are gathering nearby."

Pei Yu asked calmly.

The proprietress took the gold ingot with a smile on her face, bit it with her teeth, and after confirming its authenticity, she smiled and said:
"Yes, of course.

"Lu Laosan has been annoyed by Su Xing's pursuit recently, so he directly dispatched a large group of horse bandits under his command to encircle and suppress him here, vowing to block Su Xing's way back to Dali from Hulukou, and asked everyone to make way for him.

"Now everyone around here is Lu Laosan's people, and Fengshaji has been taken over by him."

When Xie Yuan heard the name Lu Laosan, his eyes narrowed. He didn't expect it was this old acquaintance again.

But after hearing what came next, he felt something was wrong.

With his eyes slightly gloomy, Huang Zifeng suddenly spoke for them, his tone solemn:

"Fengshaji is under the control of Lu Laosan? What does this mean?"

The lady boss's mouth opened wider and wider, and some of the thick white powder fell off:

"Hahaha, what this means is that everyone here is Lu Laosan's people!

“The people in my shop, outside my shop, and those you just killed were all bandits!
"Little guys, you killed the horse bandits, and you dared to return to the horse bandits' base camp. I really don't know whether to say you are stupid or foolish?"

(End of this chapter)