Chapter 50

Early the next morning, the silence of Lianhuan Shan made many with keen senses perceive something abnormal.

By custom, this was the hour when the mountain bandits would head down the mountain to rob the roads. They would travel in twos and threes, and the sound of boisterous cursing and chaotic footsteps would always stir up a commotion on the mountain paths.

Yet today, the forest seemed to have returned to a primitive state; the more abnormal it was, the more uneasy it made people feel.

The low-level bandits of the Viper Stronghold only received the news early that morning; Viper personally announced that they would attack the Spider Stronghold tonight, telling everyone to conserve their energy.

Today's food was naturally more sumptuous and unlimited than usual; being harsh on ordinary days was one thing, but at a time like this, they had to let their subordinates eat their fill.

The Centipede Stronghold was even more straightforward and violent, setting up a continuous banquet with good wine and meat, eating until nightfall.

Such actions naturally could not escape the eyes of the Spider Stronghold; Poison Spider sent people to the Scorpion Stronghold to ask for reinforcements, but they encountered people from the Toad Stronghold halfway there.

The Toad Stronghold "gently" persuaded the Spider Stronghold's people to turn back; Poison Spider knew there was no hope for reinforcements and immediately decided to make some preparations in advance.

Even Jiang Jinshi and the others sensed the abnormality; the reason was that everyone felt uneasy here, so they sent out scouts to keep watch in all directions.

Soon, the scouts returned with the news that the surroundings were safe and deserted; Tang Lin hurriedly used tree branches to write and give a warning. Fortunately, Jiang Jinshi knew some characters, otherwise he wouldn't have understood Tang Lin's meaning.

So, the few of them put their heads together and prepared to kidnap a bandit to ask about the situation.

The closest stronghold to them was the Spider Stronghold; after quietly sneaking up the mountain, they discovered the Spider Stronghold bandits digging pits, and after lying in wait for half a day, they finally caught an unlucky fellow who had wandered off to use the latrine.

From the other party, they learned that the Viper Stronghold would join forces with the Centipede Stronghold to attack the Spider Stronghold tonight; after some discussion, the group decided to meet up with Jiang Jinshi first.

When night fell, the Viper Stronghold was ablaze with light; the bandits held torches in one hand and carried large knives in the other, looking forward expectantly at Viper in front.

"Brothers, be sharp in a while. This is a grudge between the Centipede Stronghold and the Spider Stronghold; we don't need to exert ourselves too much. To me, the safety of my brothers is naturally the most important thing."

Viper thought this speech could win over hearts, not knowing that many bandits in the crowd were rolling their eyes.

"I know everyone didn't get their fill of wine at dinner just now. When we return tonight, I'll let everyone drink until they're full. I keep my word!"

These words were actually taken to heart by the bandits; because they were about to take action, each person was only given a small half-bowl of wine, just enough to moisten their throats. Hearing they could drink their fill upon returning, many subconsciously swallowed their saliva.

Viper raised the large knife in his hand and announced: "Set off!"

More than a hundred people marched toward the Spider Stronghold in a mighty force, leaving only twenty-some people to guard the stronghold.

Jiang Jinshi and his party were naturally left in the stronghold; after all, their status was no different from prisoners.

And the Centipede Stronghold had long been unable to restrain themselves and had arrived at the foot of the Spider Stronghold early, just waiting for the Viper Stronghold's people to arrive.

As soon as the Viper Stronghold's main force left, Jiang Jinshi immediately set up mahjong and started calling people to play.

The bandits left to guard the stronghold had nothing to do, so they were attracted to come over.

They comforted themselves by thinking that the Spider Stronghold was the battlefield, and it was impossible for anyone to come to their own stronghold.

Thus, more than twenty bandits basically gathered in the room of Jiang Jinshi and the others. Seeing that almost everyone had arrived, Jiang Jinshi smiled and said: "Everyone has almost learned it; today let's play for money! Playing for nothing is boring."

Once these words were spoken, the bandits were naturally full of interest, but unfortunately, they really didn't have many coins on them.

Jiang Jinshi unhurriedly took out several dozen wen from his person and said: "You can pool them! For example, three or four people can team up and take turns; if you win, you can split it together!"

There was a commotion in the crowd; here someone took out four wen, there someone took out three wen, and after pooling them together, the group successfully divided into three parties.

In the end, Jiang Jinshi sat down to play mahjong with three selected bandits, while Wang Xixi and the others watched from behind.

On the other side, the people from the Viper Stronghold finally met with the Centipede Stronghold, and the two sides joined together and walked toward the mountain.

With such a large formation, the two strongholds were not prepared to hide it from the Spider Stronghold, nor could they hide it at all.

In their view, in the face of absolute strength, any trickery was just a mere formality.

But how could the Spider Stronghold sit and wait for death?

Soon, the few bandits walking at the very front of the crowd fell into a pit with a scream; there was a brief panic in the crowd, but it was quickly suppressed by Black Centipede and Viper.

Looking closely, the pit, about one meter deep, was filled with slanted bamboo stakes; the bandits who fell in had several bloody holes poked in their bodies, but fortunately, the wounds were not deep and not fatal.

Judging from the soil condition in the pit, this was obviously dug during the day; the depth was insufficient, and the concealment was very crude.

It was merely supported by dead branches and covered with fallen leaves; if one looked carefully, it could have been avoided.

Such traps were undoubtedly wishful thinking if they wanted to block the footsteps of the two strongholds. Black Centipede and Viper looked at each other; it seemed Poison Spider was at his wit's end.

"Brothers, watch your feet and slow down. The Spider Stronghold is now a cooked duck that can't fly away."

Black Centipede shouted loudly; today they were determined to take down the Spider Stronghold.

On the way here, Black Centipede was still thinking that if Poison Spider was willing to hand over the people, he would just say a few harsh words and leave; after all, he didn't want Viper to use this opportunity to develop and expand.

But now that the Spider Stronghold had dug traps in advance, it was clear they wanted to fight to the end, so there was no need to say any more.

Carefully walking past this stretch of road, seeing that they were not far from the gate of Poison Spider, an arrow flew toward the Centipede Stronghold like a signal of war.

A man from the Centipede Stronghold let out a muffled sound and immediately fell to the ground after being hit by the arrow, followed by roars coming from the mountain.

"Shoot arrows! Kill! Shoot arrows! Kill!"

An overwhelming rain of arrows attacked from the mountain, disrupting the formation of the two strongholds.

Viper immediately shouted loudly: "Hide behind the trees!"

Although Viper's command was timely, it was still somewhat difficult to execute; after all, how could there be as many trees as there were people?

For a time, incidents of people pushing and shoving to compete for a tree occurred frequently, and the traps they had carefully avoided earlier happened to play a role at this moment.

Following one scream after another, many bandits fell into the pits and were injured.

Black Centipede hid behind a tree and cursed angrily: "Where did this Poison Spider get so many arrows?"

One must know that the quality of the self-made bows and arrows in their strongholds was generally not high, and they were extremely time-consuming to make, so no stronghold would have a large stock.

Soon, a bandit hit by an "arrow" discovered the clue; that "arrow" went straight for his forehead, and after being hit, he was still full of vigor.

Looking carefully at the ground, this was no arrow at all, just a tree branch without an arrowhead.