The world of martial arts, the immortal swordsman in the mortal realm.

Chapter 71, Number 86: Not enough heads to go around! [Requesting monthly votes!]

Although the snow has stopped, the biting wind is still fierce.

Several figures hurried against the wind, their boots rustling softly on the snow-covered mountain path, like a gust of wind brushing across the hillside.

Feng Buping took the lead, sword in hand, at the very front.

Lu Chen and Huang Rong followed closely behind, while Cheng Buyou and Cong Buqi walked at the rear of the group, each holding Lu Si on either side, leading him along at a brisk pace.

Feng Buping occasionally glanced at Huang Rong and saw that she could keep up with the group without Lu Chen's support. Moreover, when she put her feet down, she only left shallow footprints in the snow. He immediately realized that Huang Rong was not as weak as she appeared, and that she also had remarkable lightness skills.

During this time, apart from practicing "Old Man's Fist" with Lu Chen for more than an hour every day, Huang Rong has never shown her martial arts skills.

Yes, "Old Man's Fist" is the nickname Cheng Buyou gave to Lu Chen and Huang Rong's slow version of Yi Jin Duan Gu Dong Gong.

Only now do the three old swordsmen realize that she was also a martial arts master.

Feng Buping sighed inwardly. These two children were not trained by any reclusive master. They were so young, yet they already had such amazing skills. If they trained for a few more years, wouldn't they be able to fly to the sky?

Even with Lu Chen's current martial arts skills, if he were to leave the mountain and test his skills across the world...

Thinking of this, Feng Buping's obsession with reclaiming Mount Hua remained, but his desire for the title of "Leader of the Five Mountains Alliance" had faded considerably.

So what if I became the leader of the Five Mountains Alliance?

They're still no match for an eighteen or nineteen-year-old kid.

The group used their lightness skills to travel, and even without exerting their full strength, and with the mountain road being difficult to traverse due to accumulated snow, they only traveled for an hour or so before emerging from the mountains and heading towards "Leopard Ridge," where the bandits had established their stronghold.

at dusk.

Feng Buping, Lu Chen, and their group arrived at the foot of Leopard Ridge. Looking towards the mountainside, they saw a simple village that had been built there. They could vaguely see the glow of a campfire and occasionally hear the sounds of commotion carried by the wind.

"On Leopard Ridge, there were originally only a few hunters' cabins. Not long after the bandits established their stronghold, they only had time to erect a wooden wall around the hunters' cabins, about ten feet high..."

Lu Si stared at the bandit stronghold with bloodshot eyes, lowered his voice, and gritted his teeth as he spoke the intelligence.

“The bandits have horses and can move like the wind. They should be roaming around. Why would they set up a stronghold here?” Cong Buqi asked in confusion.

"Who cares why? Maybe they're just tired of wandering around, living a hard and tiring life, and want to find a place to settle down," Cheng Buyou said nonchalantly.

Feng Buping also said calmly, "No matter why the bandits want to set up camp here, since they are accepting tribute, they have to do their job well."

He glanced at Lu Si and gave the order:
"You wait here."

With that, he took the lead and headed towards the village.

Cheng Buyou and Cong Buqi quickly followed, with Lu Chen and Huang Rong close behind.

As darkness fell and the mountain wind grew icy cold, the bandits were careless and failed to set up sentry posts in the mountains.

With all five being highly skilled, they moved freely through the mountains and forests, quickly using the cover of the forests to ascend the mountain and approach the bandit camp within ten feet.

After observing the stockade wall for a while, they saw that there were no sentries on the wooden stockade wall, which was about ten feet high. They listened carefully and heard loud noises and laughter coming from behind the stockade wall. They could also vaguely hear a woman crying. It was clear that the bandits were having fun and were almost completely unprepared.

If that's the case, things are simple: just rush in and kill everyone you see.

"Junior Brother Cheng, Junior Brother Cong, follow me. Lu Chenrong'er, you..."

Feng Buping originally intended to have Lu Chen and Huang Rong guard outside and intercept any fish that managed to escape.

But considering their martial arts skills, they ultimately only said one sentence:
Be careful.

Having said that, he took the lead, drew his sword, and walked towards the stockade wall.

Cong Buqi muttered to himself:
"A few taels of silver, braving the wind and snow to travel dozens of miles of mountain roads, killing dozens of bandits, hey, this deal..."

Feng Buping glared at him:
"Enough talk, get to work!"

Cheng Buyou then looked completely indifferent.
"It doesn't matter how much money I get, as long as I have a good time killing. I'm going to kill at least ten today!"

The short, stocky old man had a murderous look on his face, and his eyes were faintly bloodthirsty. It was only now that he revealed his true colors.

Just then, a figure suddenly appeared on the top of the wooden stockade wall. It was a short, stocky man with a Tatar hairstyle and wearing a thick fur coat, clearly a Tatar.

This Tartar was clearly sent out to keep watch; he looked impatient, cursing in his tribal dialect, and was carrying a wine flask in his hand.

Once he reached the top of the stockade wall, just as he was about to take a big gulp, he inadvertently caught sight of a group of people who had already reached the edge of the wall. His eyes widened instantly, and a look of surprise appeared on his face.

Just as he was about to shout a warning, Huang Rong flicked a pebble, which hit him squarely in the Adam's apple with a "plop".

Before the short, stocky Tartar could even utter a warning, his throat was choked shut, and he fell backward.

But Huang Rong waved her hand again, and a long whip flew out from her sleeve. The tip of the whip snaked around the Tartar's neck, and with a gentle pull, the Tartar's neck snapped instantly. His backward lean turned into a forward thud, and he gently fell against the stockade wall.

In this way, he would appear to be clinging to the stockade wall, keeping watch, thus preventing him from falling backward and alerting the bandits inside.

The long whip technique that Huang Rong used was the White Python Whip Technique from the Nine Yin Manual.

Given her fondness for novel martial arts, having obtained the lower volume of the Nine Yin Manual, she naturally wanted to choose some fun martial arts to practice, and the White Python Whip Technique was one of them.

However, she didn't like to put in the hard work when practicing martial arts, and her mastery of the White Python Whip Technique was only at the beginner level, far inferior to Mei Chaofeng.

But it's more than enough to deal with ordinary bandits.

Seeing Rong'er demonstrate her skills in flicking stones with her fingers and using a long whip, Cheng Buyou and Cong Buqi both looked on with admiration, while Feng Buping also smiled and softly said, "Impressive skills."

With that, he rushed to the wall, leaped over it, and crouched in the shadows above. He glanced into the village and saw several bonfires in the open space in front of the wooden houses. Groups of bandits were sitting around the bonfires, eating meat, drinking wine, and laughing loudly.

Feng Buping's eyes flashed like lightning, instantly locking onto four Tartars eating, drinking, laughing, and joking around a campfire.

Even while eating meat and drinking wine, the four Tartars always had longbows and quivers placed beside them.

Even martial arts masters are afraid of hidden arrows and projectiles, especially in chaotic battles where they are outnumbered. Therefore, they had to kill those Tartars first.

At this moment, Cheng Buyou, Cong Buqi, Lu Chen, and Huang Rong also leaped onto the wall. Feng Buping pointed to the four Tartars and whispered:

"I'll go kill those four Tartars first, and you can follow me."

As soon as he finished speaking, he leaped down the wooden wall and rushed forward, disappearing into the light of the campfire in the blink of an eye.

The bandits were celebrating wildly when Feng Buping suddenly charged at them, and they didn't have time to react.

One of the four Tartars reacted quickly, throwing down his wine bowl and reaching for his bow and arrows.

But just as his hand touched the bow arm, Feng Buping swung his sheathed longsword, flicking it forward. The scabbard flew out and struck the Tartar squarely on the forehead, sending him sprawling backward. Only then did the bandits react, some screaming, others grabbing their knives, and the other three Tartars reaching for their bows and arrows.

But Feng Buping rushed to the campfire where the four Tartars were, like a whirlwind. The wind pressure surrounding him caused the campfire to flicker violently. As the firelight flickered, Feng Buping swung his longsword. The sword light was like a cold moon, drawing a light arc and instantly slicing across the necks of three Tartars. Blood spurted out, and it was a triple kill with a single sword strike. He severed the necks of the three Tartars in one move.

The Tartar who had been knocked down by the sword sheath sat up, clutching his forehead. Just as he was about to curse angrily, Feng Buping thrust out his sword and pierced the Tartar's throat.

In the blink of an eye, the four skilled archers had finished their business.

At this moment, the bandits had all picked up their weapons and were cursing as they charged towards Feng Buping. The bandits inside the wooden house were also alarmed and rushed out with their sabers.

Before they could even reach Feng Buping, Cheng Buyou and Cong Buqi had already charged into the stronghold with their swords. Their two long swords thrust, slashed, hacked, and parried, catching the bandits who were distracted by Feng Buping off guard and killing four or five of them in the blink of an eye.

Lu Chen, carrying a steel sword given to him by Feng Buping, charged in from another direction with Huang Rong.

Lu Chen walked ahead with his sword in hand, casually thrusting and stabbing. Wherever the sword flashed, someone would inevitably fall to the ground, blood splattering everywhere.

With a flick of her slender hand, Huang Rong's long whip shot out, choking a bandit by the neck. With a gentle shake of her wrist, the bandit's neck snapped, and his body flew into the air, crashing down on two other bandits.

Feng Buping chuckled and charged towards the bandits who were rushing towards him.

These bandits were quite fortunate, as they were attacked by five skilled fighters working together, flanking them from both sides and striking from the middle. They were so overwhelmed by the attack that they were completely disoriented.

Given the bandits' quality, they should have collapsed long ago when they were being slaughtered in close combat by a master.

However, Lu Chen and his men killed too quickly and fiercely. Before the bandits could react, forty percent had already fallen. When they sensed something was wrong, another thirty percent died. By the time the remaining bandits finally realized what was happening and tried to scatter and escape, there was no chance of escape left.
If they were all on horseback, and if dozens of men immediately scattered and fled at the first sign of battle, there would still be a chance for some to escape.

But now that we're in the village, in close-quarters combat, we'll just be easy prey for the experts.

"...six, seven, eight, nine..."

Cheng Buyou, who had come shouting that he would kill ten people, kept chopping people down while counting.

But after cutting down the ninth one, the area in front of him suddenly became empty; there were no more bandits.

Looking around, they saw the bandits lying scattered on the ground, clearly none of them alive.

He swung his longsword in frustration, flicked away the blood, and spat.
"These bandits are too easy to kill! How come they all died so quickly? I didn't even get to gather ten heads!"

Cong Buqi chuckled and said:
"That's all my senior brother's fault. Who told him to be so fierce with his Gale Sword? He cut down more than a dozen people in one go!"

The bandits numbered only forty or fifty. Feng Buping killed four Tartars right off the bat, and then slaughtered more than ten others in one go. The remaining four were divided among them, so Cheng Buyou obviously couldn't gather ten heads.

Feng Buping had kept the Gale Sword a secret and had never used it outside the mountains.

But this time, after Lu Chen helped him improve his swordsmanship, his martial arts skills improved greatly, and he couldn't resist the urge to use his own swords.

Since there were no outsiders here, and the bandits could be killed off, he no longer cared about revealing his special skills. He went on a rampage, wielding his swift sword and hacking and slashing wildly. Wherever he went, heads rolled and limbs flew everywhere. He truly had a great time.

After he had his fill of killing, he remembered that Huang Rong was by his side. Although she had just shown off her long whip skills and killed a few bandits, there was no bloodshed. Now that he was hacking away like this, with heads and limbs scattered everywhere, would he frighten the little girl?

Thinking this to himself, Feng Buping couldn't help but glance at Huang Rong, only to see her smiling and talking to Lu Chen, seemingly oblivious to the blood and corpses scattered everywhere. He breathed a sigh of relief, but was also secretly amazed:
It's one thing to be good at martial arts, but to remain unfazed by this kind of scene... Rong'er is really... a little bit wicked.

Although he came to know another side of Huang Rong and finally realized that she was not the kind of simple, innocent, and obedient girl, Feng Buping actually felt that this was for the best.

Otherwise, with this messy world of martial arts, a naive and obedient girl like her is really not suitable for traveling outside.

At this time, Cheng Buyou and Cong Buqi walked around the village, searching for any fish that had escaped.

They didn't find any bandits alive, but they did find several young women who had suffered greatly in a small hut.

Cheng Buyou told Feng Buping about the matter and asked him how to handle it.

Feng Buping said calmly:

"What can we do? Just hand it over to Lu Si."

Cong Buqi then came over carrying a package, smiling and saying:
"Senior brother, we found about a hundred taels of silver. This trip wasn't a waste after all."

Cheng Buyou curled his lip in disdain:
"A bunch of paupers. So many people and so little money."

In fact, the village also had a considerable amount of grain, meat, oil, salt, cotton cloth, and silk, all of which were hard currency and more valuable than silver in the countryside. There were even more than forty horses in the stables at the back of the village.

With so much stuff, the group clearly couldn't handle it all.

"Let's go down the mountain and find Lu Si first."

Feng Buping spoke calmly, called to the others, and walked out of the bandit stronghold.

Back down the mountain, Lu Si, who was anxiously pacing back and forth in the forest, greeted the five of them with anticipation upon their return:

"Master Feng..."

“Not a single one was spared; they were all killed,” Feng Buping said calmly.

Without a word, Lu Si knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly, his head hitting the ground with a loud thud. Just as he was choking back tears as he thanked Feng Buping, Feng Buping lifted him up and said calmly:
"Alright, stop kowtowing. There are still a few women, a lot of grain, oil, and cloth in the village, and more than forty horses. Go back to the village and call for help. You can take the women, grain, oil, and cloth home yourself, and help us sell the horses. Do you understand?"

Lu Si nodded repeatedly, "Understood!"

"Go back and call for help." Feng Buping dismissed Lu Si, then looked at Lu Chen and Huang Rong, and slowly said, "Are you leaving?"

Lu Chen nodded: "That's right. Now that we've left the mountain, we also intend to take our leave."

Cheng Buyou called out, "Leaving? It's getting dark, where are you planning to go? Why don't you stay another night?"

Huang Rong smiled and said, "We won't stay any longer. We plan to travel through the night and head to Jincheng first. Anyway, it's not too far. With my and Brother Lu Chen's lightness skills, we can get there in an hour or two."

During this time, she had asked Feng Buping and the other two about the surrounding geography quite a bit, and had long since memorized it.

Feng Buping nodded:

"Young men should have ambitions beyond their borders, so I will not keep you any longer, Junior Brother Cong."

Cong Buqi understood and handed the package containing about a hundred taels of silver to Feng Buping.

Feng Buping took the package and handed it to Lu Chen:

"Take it as travel expenses."

[This chapter is 4K. Please vote with monthly tickets!]

(End of this chapter)