"What's going on?"
Hearing the commotion outside, the people eating inside the temple were somewhat stunned.
"Boss, why is there a horse-drawn carriage here?"
A voice was heard from outside.
"Of course, there must be some fat sheep staying here. I didn't expect us to be so lucky. We just pulled off a big one, and now another business is coming our way."
Another rough voice said.
"Men, we've got another customer! Quickly surround this dilapidated temple, don't let the fat sheep get away!"
"yes!"
Amidst a chorus of responses, the sound of rustling footsteps began to echo around the dilapidated temple.
Clearly, people outside are surrounding the entire mountain temple.
Then, before Lu Qing and the others could make a move, they saw a loud bang as the half-open gate of the front yard suddenly flew up and crashed into the yard.
"Sure enough, all the fat sheep are inside!"
With a loud laugh, a dozen burly men, wielding swords and carrying a strong stench of blood, walked in from outside the temple.
The leader had disheveled hair and a huge, centipede-like scar on his face, making him look quite fierce and terrifying.
The group of burly men behind him also had fierce faces, like evil spirits, and were clearly not good people.
"Who are you, and what do you want?"
One of the plump, middle-aged disciples stood up and demanded an explanation.
"Who are we? We're bandits, of course. As for what we want to do, is it even a question? We'll rob you!"
The burly man with the centipede scar smiled.
But when he smiled, the scars on his face seemed to move, just like a real centipede, which was quite terrifying.
This terrifying scene startled the young girl, Xu Ping, who let out a soft scream and hid behind her father.
Upon seeing Xu Ping's action, a flash of ferocity appeared in the eyes of the burly man with the centipede scar.
"Bandits, robbing us?" The chubby middle-aged man chuckled. "Friend, have you made a mistake? Why are you trying to rob us?"
"What, do you have some kind of impressive background?"
The burly man with the centipede-like scar looked at Lu Qing and his companions with great interest and said...
In his perception, although some of the people in this courtyard knew martial arts, the strongest among them was only at the Bone and Tendon Realm, which was not a threat at all.
"No, that's not it. We're just ordinary travelers with no valuables. You've gone to all this trouble to rob us. You've picked the wrong target."
"Is that so? That's hard to say. The carriages outside belong to you, right? If you can afford to ride in such carriages, you must be rich and noble. How could you not have valuables on you?"
Besides, even without wealth, isn't there a pretty young woman here? If I could capture her and make her my thirteenth concubine, that would be a wonderful thing.”
Upon hearing the words of the burly man with the centipede scar, the round, plump middle-aged man's face suddenly changed, and anger appeared on his face.
Originally, seeing that the other side had a large number of people and archers, he was afraid that if a conflict broke out, he and his apprentices would not be able to protect each other, and Doctor Chen and the others would easily get injured.
But he couldn't swallow his anger that the bandit leader was trying to take advantage of his daughter.
Just as the chubby middle-aged man was about to explode, Lu Qing suddenly spoke up, "What's that hanging on your waist?"
Everyone was stunned and looked at the waist of the giant man with the centipede scar.
There was a bulging cloth bag hanging there, with dark red bloodstains seeping out from the bottom.
"You mean this?" The burly man with the centipede scar took a cloth bag from his waist. "This is my trophy."
As he spoke, he opened the cloth bag, and suddenly a bloody human head appeared.
"ah!"
Such a shocking scene startled Xu Ping so much that she screamed.
Xiao Yan also let out a soft cry and buried her head in Lu Qing's arms.
The old doctor frowned slightly.
As for the others, such as the chubby middle-aged disciples, they were all startled.
"This head..."
Even the chubby middle-aged man couldn't help but widen his eyes slightly upon seeing this.
Although there was blood on the face of the head, it was still recognizable as the head of a rather beautiful young girl.
"Isn't it beautiful?" The burly man with the centipede scar smiled smugly upon seeing this.
"This woman was originally someone I had my eye on, but when I formally married her and offered betrothal gifts to make her my thirteenth concubine, she and her father, who was the town mayor, actually dared to refuse me."
Left with no other choice, I led my brothers down the mountain, slaughtered the town, and brought back her head.
"A woman I, Wu Tian, have set my sights on, even in death, will not escape my grasp."
The burly man with the centipede-like scar gently stroked the girl's cheek with his fingers, his face full of infatuation.
The sight of that perverted appearance made Xu Ping tremble uncontrollably.
She suddenly remembered that the bandit leader had previously said he wanted her to be his thirteenth concubine.
"You villain, how could you be so cruel!"
One of the chubby middle-aged disciples could no longer stand it, and with a clang, he drew his sword and pointed it at the burly man with the centipede scar.
"Oh? So, you're thinking of rebelling?"
The burly man with the centipede-like scar remained completely unfazed even with a sword pointed at him.
The dozen or so burly men behind him remained unmoved, holding their weapons and watching the disciple with amusement.
"However, you should think this through carefully. If it really comes down to it, my men never leave anyone alive."
The burly man with the centipede scar snapped his fingers.
The next moment, a commotion arose all around, and dozens of figures appeared on the courtyard wall of the mountain god temple and on the roof of the main hall.
They were all armed with bows and arrows, darts, and other hidden weapons, which they aimed at Lu Qing and his companions.
"You can choose between offering that girl up or letting my brothers shoot her to death with arrows."
The chubby middle-aged man's expression changed again.
He secretly realized he had been careless.
Even for him, dealing with such a situation would be extremely difficult.
With their abilities, breaking through the encirclement would not be difficult, but protecting the old doctor and his companions would be extremely difficult.
Just as the chubby middle-aged man was secretly regretting that he should have captured the bandit leader immediately, Lu Qing spoke up again.
"No wonder you reek of blood. It turns out you slaughtered an entire town."
"So what if it is?" The burly man with the centipede scar looked at Lu Qing with some confusion.
He wondered if this kid had something wrong with his head. Couldn't he see the current situation? How could he still care about their massacre of the town?
However, he saw that Lu Qing's expression was unusually calm. After he nodded, Lu Qing said indifferently, "Master Ma, bring him here."
"Yes, young master!"
Before the giant with the centipede scar could even understand what those words meant, the words were spoken.
He only felt an extremely powerful aura suddenly erupt in front of him, and the next moment, a figure appeared in front of him.
Sensing the suffocating aura emanating from Magu, the giant with the centipede scar was terrified and tried to retreat.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
With a flash of light, and two sharp swishing sounds, the two arms of the burly man with the centipede scar were severed from his body and fell to the ground.
With a single move, Magu severed both arms of the giant with the centipede scar. Without pausing, he then used the hilt of his knife to tap the giant's chest.
After dodging the blood gushing out from the other party, he grabbed him by the neck, returned to Lu Qing's side, and threw him to the ground.
"..."
Magoo's attack was swift and sudden, like a rabbit leaping and a falcon swooping down.
Until he captured the giant man with the centipede scar, not a single bandit was able to react in time.
"Ah! My hand!"
The burly man with the centipede-like scar could not bear the pain of his severed arm and screamed in agony.
Only then did the bandits react.
"Boss!"
"Let go of our boss!"
"Or I'll chop you all up!"
"Fire arrows! Fire arrows immediately!"
The bandits became agitated and shouted wildly.
"Shut up!" Magu pressed the tip of his knife against the centipede-scarred giant's throat. "Don't you want your boss to live?"
"..."
Seeing that blood had begun to flow from the throat of the burly man with the centipede-like scar, all the bandits immediately fell silent and dared not shout anymore.
Even the bandits on the walls and rooftops instinctively lowered their bows and arrows.
They were terrified that a single mistake might harm their leader.
As for the round-faced middle-aged man and others standing to the side, they were already dumbfounded.
"That's more like it."
Lu Qing reached out and pressed several acupoints on the burly man with the centipede scar, temporarily stopping the bleeding from his arm wound.
He then asked casually, "How do you feel now?"
The giant with the centipede scar was also a ruthless man, and he had already recovered from the excruciating pain.
He endured the pain and sneered, "I didn't expect that I would misjudge you. Your servant is only at the Great Perfection of the Bone and Tendon Realm, yet he can unleash strength no less than that of the Inner Organ Realm, which made me lose for a moment!"
"But do you think you can leave safely by capturing me? At my command, my brothers will unhesitatingly fire arrows, turning you all into beehives!"
"Oh, then give the order," Lu Qing said nonchalantly.
"What did you say?" The burly man with the centipede scar was taken aback.
"I say, give the order right now and let your brothers fire their arrows. Let's see if we can turn us all into beehives," Lu Qing said calmly.
"Are you crazy, kid?"
The burly man with the centipede-like scar looked at Lu Qing with disbelief in his eyes.
He could sense that Lu Qing's words were not false; he genuinely didn't care that he had ordered the arrows to be fired.
In this way, the big man with the centipede scar was left in a bind.
Because if he actually gave the order to fire the arrows, he himself would surely die.
Although he was cruel, he wasn't truly insane enough to disregard his own life.
"It seems you're still afraid."
Seeing the centipede-scarred man hesitate, Lu Qing chuckled and said, "You scum are always like this. When you harm others, you act all high and mighty, as if you are really powerful and strong."
When faced with actual death, to be cowardly than a mouse is truly meaningless.
Upon hearing Lu Qing's highly insulting words, the burly man with the centipede scar's ferocity returned to his face.
But now that he was in a precarious position, he dared not retaliate in the slightest.
"What exactly do you want from me before you'll let me go?"
The burly man with the centipede scar said coldly.
He still held onto hope. There were still children, the elderly, and a young girl with low cultivation in the courtyard, while his men had already occupied every blind spot on the high ground.
As long as Lu Qing and the others still have reservations, he still has a chance to survive.
To the centipede-scarred giant's surprise, when he said those words, he heard Lu Qing sigh.
"Fine, since you don't dare to give the order, then I'll lend you a hand."
"Wait!"
The burly man with the centipede-shaped scar felt a chill run down his spine and shouted anxiously.
However, it was of no use.
Lu Qing stretched out his finger and gently touched the man's forehead. The man with the centipede scar trembled, his pupils began to dilate, and his breath slowly dissipated.
"Boss!"
Upon seeing that the burly man with the centipede scar was completely lifeless, all the bandits were terrified.
No one expected that Lu Qing would suddenly kill his boss at this moment.
Even the chubby middle-aged master and his apprentices were completely stunned.
"Fire arrows! Fire arrows immediately and kill them all!"
At this moment, a bandit leader finally realized what was happening and shouted frantically.
The bandits who had occupied the high ground also came to their senses and immediately drew their bows, ready to shoot at Lu Qing and his men.
"not good!"
The chubby middle-aged man was extremely anxious and leaped out, wanting to strike first.
But as soon as he lunged out, while he was still in mid-air, he heard a series of hissing sounds. The bandits on the surrounding walls and rooftops screamed in agony as they fell to the ground like dumplings being dropped into a pot.
"Master Ma, Zi'an, kill them all, leave no survivors."
"Yes, young master!"
Ma Gu and Wei Zi'an, who had been unable to contain themselves for a long time, immediately showed excitement upon hearing this and rushed towards the remaining dozen or so bandits in the courtyard.
"Take this!"
Magu's cultivation was higher than Wei Zian's. He was the first to arrive in front of the bandit leader with the strongest aura, who was holding a long knife, and slashed down with his knife.
The bandit was terrified. He had just witnessed that even his leader was no match for this man.
In a panic, he could only instinctively raise his knife upwards, hoping to block the blow.
"Splash!"
With a flash of light, the battle blade in Ma Gu's hand was no ordinary weapon; it was a thousand-refined treasure blade that Lu Qing had forged for him in the past two years.
The long knife in the bandit's hand was at most forged a few dozen times; how could it possibly withstand Ma Gu's thunderous strike?
Without a doubt, he was sliced in two by Magul, knife and all, as easily as cutting tofu.
Boom! Boom!
After Magu killed a bandit with a single blow, Wei Zian's long staff arrived.
His staff strikes were rapid and powerful, like a venomous dragon emerging from its cave. He struck two bandits in quick succession, each striking one of their chests.
The essence of stick fighting is to overwhelm others with force and win through sheer power.
Under the powerful impact, the two bandits' chests collapsed, and they flew backward, crashing through the wall behind them and falling onto the broken bricks and stones. They were clearly dead.
With one move, Wei Zian dispatched two bandits. Without pausing, he swept his staff across the remaining bandits with a single, devastating blow.
"My dear disciple, don't kill them all! Leave a few for your master!"
Upon seeing this, Ma Gu was startled and rushed forward, fearing that if he was even a little slow, his apprentice would snatch all the heads.
On the other side, they saw Ma Gu and his apprentice go on a killing spree, killing more than a dozen powerful mountain bandits with their bare hands and screaming in agony.
The plump, middle-aged master and his apprentices were all dumbfounded, staring at the scene with wide eyes.
