Chapter 834: Self-bound

An orange-red dragon fell from the sky, tearing through the firmament, scattering the clouds across the sky, and descending upon the earth!

The trembling, pitch-black pupils reflected a brilliant golden yellow.

Above and below, there was nowhere to hide!

A moment of deathly silence.

Lightning flickered, and the heavens roared.

The heavy rain ceased abruptly!

Slap!

A short spear fell, rolling into the mountain stream.

Over ten miles away, gravel shifted and rattled, and pheasants flapped their wings, fleeing in a panic.

The hunters who had entered the mountains in a team stood frozen in place, holding their breath, staring up at the dense fog filling the forest and the azure dragon winding through the sky; their hearts pounded wildly in their chests, their spirits shaken.

The Long Wang patrols the sky!

The Long Wang is patrolling the sky!

Three days ago, when they went down the mountain to sell goods, they heard people talking about it and mistakenly thought it was just foolish rumors; they never imagined it would actually be true!

Plop!

The hunters with quick reactions were the first to kneel, kowtowing forcefully, causing dirty yellow water to seep from the muddy ground.

"Grandpa Long Wang is above, please protect my parents and keep them safe, and grant my wife a smooth delivery!"

The remaining hunters reacted one after another, dropping their longbows and ropes, and kneeling on the ground.

"Let my wife get pregnant soon!"

"Safe travels, safe travels, catch more big game! Catch more good game!"

It wasn't just the hunters; people in more distant towns witnessed it as well.

People, beasts, trees, stones.

The mountains were in an uproar!

A divine miracle!

Whoosh!

Robes billowed, and the hair at their temples danced like snakes.

The red-gold dragon briefly blasted out a vacuum, the aftermath dissipated, and the expanding airflow surged and rolled back, as if there were an invisible giant lung in the heavens, inhaling and exhaling, with the gale howling.

The lead-gray clouds gradually gathered again, and muffled thunder rolled.

The rainwater that had been scattered by the force across the mountains turned into steaming white mist, and under the influence of the gale, it surged toward all directions like a tide.

The thick fog was thin, like a lifted veil, slowly revealing the true appearance of the mountain forest.

Under the red dragon's great arrow—a combination of the Sun-Piercing Arrow, Golden Body Long Qi, and Water Dragon Spear—the crater was over ten zhang in radius, covering more than three mu. Looking down from high altitude, its depth was unfathomable, with only a small pool reflecting the sky's light gathered in the center. Beyond the great crater, trees were snapped and leaves and grass were shattered for several more zhang, and sporadic wood debris slid down the steep slopes, floating on the water's surface.

Pitter-patter.

Water flows to lower ground.

The rainwater washed over the gravel and broken wood, turning into a white torrent as it mixed with too much air, gathering in small streams into the great crater, completely submerging the great bandit at the heart of the pit.

Liang Qu stood atop the azure dragon's head, not daring to approach rashly.

Chang Qihua was merely unconscious.

A person connected to the Ghost Mother Sect was worth far more alive than dead; even as a peripheral member, one might be able to use this to ferret out the fleeing branches of the Ghost Mother Sect.

And precisely because he was involved with the Ghost Mother Sect, there might be some hidden contingency.

He had been killed by people in the shadows before.

Only then did he know to be careful in everything.

Liang Qu fished two small fish out of the clay pot held by Long Eying, controlled them with his golden eyes, and tossed them into the small pool. When they were a few zhang from the water's surface, the water flow transformed into small hands to catch and cushion them. The small fish circled Chang Qihua repeatedly to observe him, while at the same time, Liang Qu manipulated the water flow to remove all the ornaments hanging on Chang Qihua's body.

Living things, dead things—he tested both methods thoroughly. Confirming there were no "burdens," he had the water flow slap the unconscious Chang Qihua onto the shore and put shackles on him. Liang Qu pointed his fingers like a sword, aiming at the man's nine orifices, and used a special technique to strike in the Dragon and Tiger dual qi, firmly locking his blood and qi circulation.

Liang Qu hadn't learned many martial arts, but every one he knew was refined.

Among them was one called the "Thunder Character Seal Technique."

It was a mid-grade, medium-tier Myriad Image martial art he had won in a swimming bet against Wei Shao, a subordinate of Wei Lin, back in the day. Its rank wasn't high, and it wasn't used in many places, but the method of condensing thunder talismans within it had quite a few merits and could achieve a certain effect of lingering force externally.

Locking the nine orifices didn't have much binding force; one could struggle to break through at any time. However, under the suppression of his realm, it would take at least several breaths of time to break the seal. During that period, if there were any unusual movements, it would be enough for him to react and subdue the man.

"Done!"

Liang Qu clapped his hands.

In the entire Xihe Prefecture, the three great Hunting Tiger bandits that everyone found troublesome had been easily dealt with for the most part in just half a month. Only one remained. Thinking of this, three figures jumped into his mind.

"I wonder how the Three Heroes of Xihe Prefecture are doing, if they've finished their task..."

"Does the Elder think they can catch them?" Long Eying asked.

Liang Qu shook his head: "No expectations. It'll be good enough if they can catch five Wolf Smoke bandits to fulfill the quota."

Summoning wind and rain was the "Long Wang's" patent.

What a pity...

It failed to trigger 【Mountain Search and Demon Subjugation】.

In the past, he had used this to gain the favor of the River Lord; if he could achieve it again, it would be enough to save several wisps of long qi.

"Is it that the conditions aren't enough, or the bad guys aren't demonic enough? Or can it only be emulated once?"

"Woof!"

"Woof, woof, woof!"

Outside the camp, the dogs barked incessantly, and the conflict was intense.

A moment later, a long whip cracked, and the high-pitched barking turned into howls.

"Hit, hit, hit, hitting again! No food for you tonight!"

"There's just no way."

Jiang Jixi listened to the scolding outside, his head aching uncontrollably.

Catching bandits was far more complex than he had imagined.

Compared to this, the first task was simply as easy as pie. He would rather take out tens of thousands of shi of grain for disaster relief than continue wandering aimlessly in the mountains.

They had been busy for half a month. The three families had exhausted all means; not only did all the young disciples come out to help, and multiple bounties were issued, but they specifically hired several teams of spirit-monster-level hunting dogs to help track scents. Each one had the ability to continuously track scents for over a thousand miles, and the leading dog king had previously achieved the feat of continuously tracking for three thousand miles.

Besides that, the elders in the families spent a fortune to hire several gold-medal investigators from surrounding prefectures to search the mountains and plains for clues about the bandits.

The favors consumed and the manpower and material resources spent for this had already far exceeded the ten thousand shi of grain used for disaster relief.

Yet, despite exhausting all means, they had only caught three Wolf Smoke bandits.

The teams of hunting dogs had fought several times among themselves to compete for the top spot, barking incessantly every day, and the three of them hadn't even scratched the surface of the requirements.

"Didn't they say foreign bandits would work too? I heard from a gold-medal investigator that there's a Wolf Smoke bandit caught in a neighboring prefecture. Why don't we just spend money to buy him? That way we'll have four." Peng Chuji suggested.

"Would it be against the rules to spend money to buy him?" Jiang Jixi hesitated. "The meaning of Baron Xingyi should be that the three of us go to stop the losses; it has to be stopped by us for it to be fine whether it's local or foreign."

Yin Yingbo shook his head and rejected it.

"We've already got three. Since there's no time limit, we don't need to rush for the rest. If we really offend someone, then we'll lose the opportunity."

"Brother Yin, big news!" Suddenly, a young man rushed into the tent, holding his knees and panting.

"A-Wei?" The three of them were energized. "What is it? Are there clues about the bandits?"

"No, it's not... it's, it's Lord Liang who has caught another one!"

"A great Hunting Tiger bandit?" Yin Yingbo asked.

The young man nodded forcefully.

"Two now?"

"Two now!"

"Two now..."

One is luck.

Two is ability.

The sparring hadn't even started, yet the gap in ability was clear at a glance!

"We won't have caught them all, and Baron Xingyi will have wiped out the bandits first, right? By then, we'll only be able to go outside to find them!"

The Three Heroes were filled with worry.

Before they could think.

Another young man rushed into the tent, waving a letter in his hand.

"Boss, we've got them all! Five Wolf Smoke bandits, not one missing!"

Got them all?

The Three Heroes in the tent were all surprised.

Yin Yingbo quickly grabbed the young man by the collar.

"Speak clearly, how did we get them all? Did the family head hire the Purple Gold Investigators?"

"The last great Hunting Tiger bandit, he himself, he himself tied up two deputies and left them on the mountain!"

(End of chapter)