Chapter 265: Sneak Attack on the Bandit Jiedian and the Trek

Taking advantage of the four bandits opposite being busy preparing to eat, Zhao Ji leaped out from the shadow behind a small tent. Before the bandits could react, he gripped his long sword and slashed it onto the head of the bandit closest to him who had his back turned.

The Hunting Sword sliced open the small leather cap and the head of this bandit; amidst the flickering flames of the crackling campfire, quite a lot of things splashed out from the bandit's head.

Splattered with red and white matter, Zhao Ji had no time to clean it off. He kicked the back of the bandit he had just killed, sending the dead bandit forward to collide with and pin down another bandit.

A small amount of the matter flowing from the split head dripped into the wide-open mouth of the pinned bandit, which caused this bandit to spit frantically and turn his head to the side in terror and disgust.

The other two bandits realized someone was attacking them and immediately grabbed the weapons beside them and the ones tucked into their belts, waving them around with bared fangs and brandished claws to attack Zhao Ji.

Zhao Ji dodged to the side, using the flames of the campfire to separate himself from the bandits, allowing only one bandit to engage him at a time.

As blades clashed, the bandit's worn-out cleaver chipped a large gap after just one collision. A powerful force traveled from the cleaver to his hand, and he immediately realized his strength was inferior to this person attacking them.

Just as he wanted to retreat, the opponent's long sword nimbly circled and tapped, striking the palm he was using to grip the cleaver's handle.

Although it was only a light tap, that collision still severed two of the fingers the bandit had tightly gripped around the cleaver's handle; flesh and blood were turned inside out, and white bone was exposed.

"Ah, ah! My fingers are broken, damn it, hold him off!" This bandit immediately retreated two steps, while simultaneously taking a clean cloth from inside his clothes. Ignoring everything else, he wrapped the cloth directly around the cleaver's handle and his blood-drenched palm.

He had not yet been crushed by the pain, knowing that this was a moment for a desperate struggle and that fighting was the priority.

After swapping the front line with this fingerless bandit, the new bandit held a small iron battle axe and swept it out horizontally with a fierce force.

This type of battle axe was different from the common wood-chopping axes; it did not have the relatively wide blade surface of a wood-chopping axe, but the thickness of the axe's main body was greatly increased. Although the axe blade was only the size of a small palm, once it struck any part of the body, it could instantly be fatal.

Zhao Ji did not receive this attack, because he himself used an axe and knew that for this kind of heavy weapon, it was best not to receive it head-on during an attack. Otherwise, injury to the hand bearing the force was a minor matter, but if the weapon used to block was smashed out of shape, then it would be all over.

Avoiding the strike, Zhao Ji immediately took advantage of the weakness that weapons like axes have—a long interval between recovery and the next attack—and lunged forward. With a few fierce slashes of his long sword, he forced the bandit using the axe to focus entirely on defending against the offensive, leaving no possibility for a follow-up attack.

Zhao Ji's few fierce slashes were all blocked by the opponent using the axe face and the wide, hard-wood axe handle, but after one strike, Zhao Ji did not retract his sword, instead pressing down hard with one hand, forcing the opponent to grip the axe handle with both hands to defend.

Just like that, the distance between the two was pulled extremely close. Zhao Ji used his free left hand to draw a Steel Dagger from the right side of his belt, and while the opponent's attention was focused on the struggle of strength, he suddenly stabbed the dagger into the opponent's stomach.

"Urgh, urgh..." This bandit barely managed to open his mouth before he could no longer endure the pain and began to wail, yet the strength in his hands did not slacken at all, likely wanting to create an attack opportunity for his two companions behind him.

How could Zhao Ji let him have his way? He gripped the dagger handle tightly with his left hand and pulled down hard; the sharp, tough blade edge sliced open a large gap in the opponent's stomach.

Then, pulling the handle diagonally upward to stir a few times, the bandit opened his mouth but could not make a sound. The cold sweat on his face seemed to lose its warmth, freezing into fine, granular particles in the cold air.

Clearly feeling the cliff-like loss of strength in the opponent's hands, Zhao Ji retreated half a step. He spread his long sword across his chest and drew a semicircle with the tip. Borrowing the illumination of the firelight, he left a fine, reflective semicircular trail, severing more than half of the front of the bandit's neck.

"Rick! Damn you! I'll kill you!" The bandit who had previously had his fingers severed by Zhao Ji saw his good friend, who had walked out of a Cunzi, get killed. He immediately pulled the cloth on his hand, binding his injured palm and the cleaver handle tightly together, and charged up with a roar.

Zhao Ji retreated, using the flames of the campfire to circle with him. The two walked a semicircle chasing and retreating around the fire. Zhao Ji kicked the head of the bandit who had been pinned to the ground by the corpse, leaving the opponent dazed and confused.

Perhaps his mind was crowded by anger; the bandit chasing Zhao Ji only wanted to rush up and hack this person attacking them into pieces, but he lost his observation of things on the ground and tripped directly over the corpse of the bandit who had been scalped earlier.

Just like that, the bandit fell to the ground while yelling wildly. Zhao Ji saw his chance, lunged forward with a diagonal step, lowered his body, and dragged his long sword along the soil of the ground, accelerating all the way to slash at the bandit's neck along the ground.

For this sword strike, Zhao Ji used all his strength.

The sword swept across the ground, taking away not just a little bit of soil, but also the head of the bandit who had been yelling wildly.

The head, still wearing the leather cap, rolled twice by the campfire. Only then did the anger in the eyes fade, but that expression of extreme agitation remained even after death.

Zhao Ji glanced at the expression on the bandit's head and seemed not to like it. With a light kick, he sent the opponent's head into the campfire. As the flames burned, the opponent's head caught fire, the flesh cracked from the heat, and it gradually roasted into charcoal.

The last bandit climbed up coughing, but before he could see the situation clearly through his snot and tears, he felt a pain in his chest and discovered that a Steel Longsword had just pierced through his heart.

Gasping rapidly, the bandit had only just climbed up before he fell down again, completely devoid of strength.

This time, he could never climb up again.

Having killed the last bandit, Zhao Ji closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The pressure and tension that had been accumulating ever since he infiltrated the lair of the Thieves of Luodai Cave seemed to vanish along with the deaths of these few bandits.

He knew that killing these bandits was a good thing; after all, the miserable state of the imprisoned civilians was still fresh in his memory, and he had seen many of the fates of women who had been forced to submit to the bandits after being captured during his stealthy movements.

These bandits deserved to die, and that was that.

If he weren't still carrying the heavy burden of more than twenty civilian lives, he might have been able to just defeat, injure, and capture these few bandits, escorting them to Bingxun Pass to trade for fame and wealth.

But he did not have the opportunity to capture the bandits now, so he had no choice but to use heavy hands and kill them.

Let it be so. Zhao Ji opened his eyes and stood by the campfire, his mind finally returning to the present.

He confiscated the bandits' weapons and packed them into a sack he had found. Remembering that there was still the dinner the bandits had just prepared by the campfire, Zhao Ji did not mind that it might have been splattered with a little blood and dirt, and drank all of the rare liquid food in one go.

Wiping his mouth, Zhao Ji checked the bandits' tents. Finding nothing very useful, he had no choice but to dismantle a tent and use its windproof and warm canvas as a large bundle, stuffing all the bedding and bandit clothing he found into it.

Having barely made a bundle that could be carried, Zhao Ji slung the half-person-high bundle onto his back. While hanging the frozen water bucket on his waist with a rope, he carried the bundle—which looked large but was not actually very heavy—and hung the captured weapons in a bag on his left waist, setting off to return to the civilian group.

Presumably, these urgently needed warm supplies and ice were things they were in desperate need of right now.

On the way back, Zhao Ji counted the dozens of copper coins in his hand, which he had discovered while stripping the bandits' clothes. Without counting much, Zhao Ji stuffed these blood-stained copper coins into the inner pocket of his chest, making it bulge.

Behind Zhao Ji as he left this place was the fiercely burning campfire, and in the middle of the fire were the four bandit corpses burning together.

The return journey was not as fast as the departure. Fortunately, the pot of bread soup he had drunk earlier was warm and made Zhao Ji feel very comfortable, bringing him quite a bit of physical recovery in this cold winter night.

After trekking slowly for more than three hours, Zhao Ji walked and judged the terrain until he returned to the side of the gathered civilians.

Hearing a heavy, slow footstep approaching, a male who had not yet fallen asleep and was standing guard asked tremblingly into the dark mountain forest: "Who, who is it? Jier, Warrior Jier, is that you?"

"It's me!" Jier panted, saying as he walked over.

Hearing Jier's young and resonant voice, the male finally let out a sigh of relief; as long as it wasn't the kind of terrifying Walking Corpse seen during the day, it was fine. This person had never believed the stories told by the Pastors of the God of the Dead in his hometown about how the dead could resurrect into walking corpses, always thinking they were stories made up by the Pastors to scare the civilians. After all, no one had ever seen what the walking corpses the Pastors spoke of looked like since they were children, and he estimated that the Pastors themselves had never seen them either.

But the events of the day had scared him to death. The way those walking corpses wandered in the deep pit, raising their hands and thirsting for the flesh and blood of the living, was something he would never forget for the rest of his life. Especially since the others in the group had their eyes covered and never saw what those walking corpses looked like from beginning to end; only they, the strong males forced out, had to suffer this.

Fortunately, although Warrior Jier was the same age as his younger brother who stayed behind in his hometown to farm, he was already a very reliable person. It was only because of the other's grace and mercy that they were able to travel all the way here from the terrifying bandit lair. It seemed that as long as he kept listening to this young man's words and commands, he had a high chance of leading their group to escape this cold mountain forest ravaged by bandits.

Because no campfire had been lit, the surroundings were pitch black, and the noble moons had also sunk below the horizon early today to rest. In the dark mountain forest, everyone had to feel their way in the dark to help Jier unload the supplies he had snatched from the bandits.

The weapons that could still be used were distributed to the males who had strength; after all, there were still many people who didn't have a single weapon, which made Jier not feel at ease at all.

Only when everyone had at least one weapon did Jier feel that during the time he was away, these civilians could slightly protect themselves. After all, in this sparsely populated mountain forest, compared to bandits, animals were the true masters.

Fortunately, it was now the cold winter, and many fierce beasts were either hibernating or hiding in the deep mountains where there was more food. This mountain forest, which was relatively close to human territory, was safe for the time being. If Jier's guess was correct, spring would be the most dangerous time in the mountain forest. Those wild beasts, having been hungry for a whole winter, would definitely attack every person they discovered, regardless of whether that person was a bandit or something else.

Thinking about it this way, being a bandit wasn't easy either. In winter, the population was sparse, making it hard to rob people, and there was also the clearing out by large groups of Militia. In spring, wild beasts ran rampant; not only was it a time when carnivores were hungry, but it was also a time when some herbivores were in heat and attacking indiscriminately. Looking at it this way, only summer and autumn were times when bandits concentrated on attacking passing Merchants and travelers.

Jier stated this deduction of his, and Mr. Xiao Simengsi smiled bitterly and confirmed the correctness of Jier's words. A Merchant like him who traveled for business all year round knew about these things, while for some of the civilians in the group, it was the first time they knew the seasons when bandits were most active. Some people wept silently in regret, muttering about what would have happened if they hadn't set out in autumn.

But things were already like this, and the dead could not come back to life. What had happened had happened, and their regret was of no use at all.

Everyone was distributed some bandit clothing and bedding, and the large piece of tent canvas was kept, spread out and covered over the heads of the civilians. It could be considered a warm-keeping method that was neither good-looking nor easy to use, but effective.

Everyone still carried some food with them, and it was barely enough to last two days, so Jier did not bring food from the bandit Jiedian earlier. After all, compared to bread, the dried meat they brought out from the bandit lair was smaller in volume and had higher heat and satiety capabilities.

For the water in the bucket that had frozen into ice, Jier used his wiped-clean Dagger to chisel it into small pieces and distributed them to everyone, letting them all drink water. A single bucket of frozen water was only enough to barely quench everyone's thirst; it seemed that if they wanted to continue moving forward, finding a water source was an urgent matter.

For the Water Bags carried by the Bandits, Jier had the women in the center of the group carry them, and if anyone was truly too thirsty, they would be given a little to drink.

After finishing, Jier also squeezed into the crowd and rested.

After daybreak, the people in the group discovered that Jier the warrior, who had gone out to raid the Bandit Jiedian last night, had returned covered in blood. Last night it was too dark, so everyone could not see the bloodstains on Jier, only smelling the heavy stench of blood.

Once it was light, everyone saw the large patches of blood splattered on Jier the warrior's wolf-fur Cloak, and only then did they understand what kind of battle Jier had experienced last night.

Having no choice, Jier had to show everyone that he himself was not actually injured, allowing everyone in the group to set their minds at ease. After all, he was now the only reliance for these poor people; if he were injured or died, these people, who had been holding onto a single breath of spirit, would certainly have no more energy to escape.

Perhaps some with a strong desire to survive might be able to set off again, but of these twenty-some people, the vast majority would likely have no more mental strength or thoughts of escaping.

They would likely either find a place to commit suicide or, holding onto the thought of death, head in the opposite direction toward the Bandit lair to find the Bandits and attempt a one-for-one revenge.

Fortunately, Jier's ability, which exceeded the combat level of the Bandits, did not let the situation turn into that.

After setting off again, in order to boost the spirits of the people, Jier told everyone about his previous time going to Doraerlin Village to suppress the goblins.

After a wild story, although the people in the group did not quite believe that Jier could deal with dozens of goblins alone, at least in their minds, Monsters were all terrifying, and goblins were a type of Monster. Since Jier the warrior could confront dozens of goblins alone—even if it was by using traps—facing those squads of Bandits, he would surely be able to handle them as well.

It was very clear that Jier discovered that after he told the story to everyone in the group, the confidence of the people had increased quite a bit, and even their walking speed had improved.

A bit of good luck was that at dusk that afternoon, they actually discovered a frozen Shitan located in the mountain forest.

Although the Shitan had already frozen into a thick layer of ice, the thirsty group still excitedly brandished various metal weapons, clattering and banging as they knocked down a large amount of ice.

Everyone wrapped a piece of ice in a waterproof piece of leather and tucked it into their clothes; once the ice was warmed by body heat and turned into water rich with body heat, they didn't care if the water was drinkable or not, and everyone drank their fill in small sips.

Jier used his Dagger to chisel open the ice surface and filled every Water Bag in the group with water, only then filling his own stomach with the clear water filtered through Linen Cloth and fine fabric.

That night, the group stopped not far from this Shitan. After discussing it, everyone decided to drink their fill of water tomorrow morning before setting off, so they would not have to worry about water for the rest of the day. Counting the food and Water Bags in the group, they would not need to go raid a Bandit Jiedian for the entire day tomorrow.

Of course, they would not need to today either.

Although Jier raiding the Bandit Jiedian could obtain supplies important to the group, this was also a double-edged sword that would conversely expose the group's direction of travel.

It was only the first raid on a Jiedian; the Bandits likely could not yet determine their location or the direction they were preparing to move. But if they raided nearby Jiedian every day, even the most foolish person could judge their escape location and the direction they were heading from the locations of the raided Jiedian.

In that case, if those Bandits used their familiarity with the terrain and abundant supplies to intercept them ahead of time, they would be finished. Although Jier was confident he could escape alone, the severely injured Mr. Xiao Simengsi and the other rescued people would certainly be unable to escape death.

Thus, after discussing it, everyone decided: tonight and tomorrow night, they would not go to raid nearby Bandit Jiedian. They would wait until the night after tomorrow, when they had already escaped to the edge of the territory of the Thieves of Luodai Cave, before raiding a Bandit Jiedian.

This way, even if the Bandits discovered the Jiedian had been raided and sent men to rush over, it would be delayed news and time. By the time they went back and forth and the Bandit pursuers arrived, they should have already passed through the territory of the Yaguijing Bandit Group and be almost near Bingxun Pass.

Looking at it this way, their hope of survival had greatly increased.

Everyone encouraged each other; the situation was very good now, and although they still had to toil and trek for several more days, the hope of life was no longer dim, but shining brightly.