In the dense darkness of the night, arrows pierced the air, heading toward the merchant guild's caravan. Most of the arrows were aimed at the caravan's horses. Tristan saw six barbaric-looking men emerge from their hiding pces ahead and rush towards the members of his group. He saw three more spreading metal spikes on the road.

  Tristan's thoughts were that they now needed to turn the wagons around and go back the way they came, but on this narrow path, that would be difficult.

  ‘Nine of them have appeared, plus those who fired the arrows. The two Martial Artists we have are Mist Red; they won't be able to handle so many bandits alone. Almost everyone else will be useless in combat. We're in trouble!’

  Without any hesitation, Tristan jumped out of the wagon, trying to leave cautiously.

  “Dusk!” Yue shouted.

  And then an arrow came his way.

  Fortunately, he anticipated this, and, with the agility of a cat, Tristan retreated, using the wagon as cover.

  The arrow struck the spot where he had been just a second before.

  ‘It seems the archers are still alert, damn it!’

  ***

  Jian nervously assessed the current situation. Three of the front wagons had been hit, and only those at the back were still intact.

  As guards, he and Liao were on the first wagons. When one of the horses was hit, it went wild, causing the wagon to sway and throwing him off. But as a Martial Artist, he nded softly on the ground.

  Jian looked ahead, seeing four men running towards him and Liao. Two more headed towards the guild workers.

  ‘This is bad!’ he thought.

  Filling himself with bravery and courage, Jian drew his short sword and waited for the bandits to approach. He stayed close to the overturned wagon to avoid being struck by arrows.

  In his mind, there was only one thought:

  ‘I must protect Lady Liu Feiyan at all costs!’

  Soon he saw two bearded men, with long, dirty hair, wearing clothes made of animal leather. Seeing his confident stance, they ran towards him with their sabers in hand. The two bandits were taller than Jian, standing around 1.85 meters (6'1"), while he was approximately 1.75 meters (5'9").

  The first bandit to reach him tried to decapitate him by sshing at his neck. But Jian quickly stepped back, adjusted his stance, and aimed at the bandit's abdomen. With difficulty, the bandit managed to dodge, leaving only a small cut on his skin.

  “You forgot he's a Martial Artist, idiot? We need to wear him down until his vital energy runs out!” said a one-eyed bandit who had just arrived.

  “Oh, sorry, I couldn't contain my excitement. Killing cultivators is always so satisfying,” the bandit responded with a crazed look in his eyes and a broad smile on his face.

  Jian's eyes widened upon hearing this. ‘They knew who we were?’

  ‘There's no time to think about that. They know that without energy, a cultivator is no different from a normal human. I need to finish this quickly,’ the young cultivator thought as he advanced once more.

  Unfortunately for him, the mountain bandits had excellent teamwork. If he tried to attack one, the other would aim at his blind spot and try to take his life.

  Wang Liao wasn’t faring much better; in fact, he seemed to be in an even worse situation. Jian noticed some superficial cuts on his skin, creating patches of blood on his clothes.

  Jian returned his gaze to his enemy. He advanced again, and his arms moved like a snake, aiming at the bandit who seemed the most crazed.

  The crazed bandit froze in response to Jian's strange fighting style, moving a bit too te to prevent Jian from cutting his right shoulder.

  The one-eyed bandit didn’t remain idle and tried to impale Jian, but he twisted his body in a complicated manner, dodging the attack. Without stopping his movements, Jian took advantage of his proximity to the one-eyed bandit and sshed his shoulder with a diagonal cut, causing the bandit to scream.

  But at that moment, he also heard Liao’s cry as the left side of his abdomen was struck by a bandit with a spear.

  Jian and Liao were only wearing ordinary protective clothing, vulnerable to any attack by mundane weapons.

  Irritated, Liao lunged with all his strength, striking the bandit with the spear. With a quick movement, he managed to ssh the bandit’s calf before his ally could defend him. But Liao was not satisfied with this; that simple strike had consumed a lot of energy from his Red Mist core.

  Liu Junhan shouted, “Stop! It’s the goods you want, right? You can have them; just leave us in peace.”

  “Haha, well, that sounds fair. Give us your goods and the young beauty, then we’ll leave and spare your lives,” the one-eyed bandit said, pointing at Liu Feiyan.

  “You want my daughter?” Liu Junhan said, his face now pale.

  The bandit beside the one-eyed man looked at Liu Feiyan with desire in his eyes and said, “Damn, can’t we keep this one this time? When will we ever find a rare beauty like her again?”

  “Forget it. With the money we’ll get for her, we can live comfortably with dozens of women for a long time,” the one-eyed bandit replied.

  Liu Feiyan clung to her father, trembling with fear.

  Hatred burned in Jian's eyes like fire.

  But at that moment, the two archers emerged from their hidden positions and ran towards the two cultivators to assist their allies.

  Now, he and Liao would have to face two more enemies.

  At that moment, he saw Wang Liao muttering angrily. He looked at the people in the caravan and then at the two approaching bandits. He made an irritated grimace and started to run.

  “What are you doing?” Jian shouted desperately.

  “Let’s go, idiot. No money is worth more than our lives,” Liao said, using all his remaining energy to get as far away as he could.

  Jian was completely stunned by this.

  He had been facing two bandits before, but soon he would have to face four more.

  FallenMoon3