Chapter 225: Chapter 225: Officials or Bandits
"How can this be happening? Are we still in the Liuyun Kingdom?"
"If the city’s own City Guard can’t eliminate these bandits, why hasn’t Celestial Capital sent troops?"
"I thought every province had a royal army garrisoned there. What are the troops in this Tianxu Province doing? How can they let a bandit group run so wild right next to the provincial capital?"
Ouyang Xiaoshan and the others from the Royal City were dumbfounded, scarcely able to believe their ears.
They lived in the Royal City and had never imagined that such an audacious bandit group could exist in the kingdom.
They rampaged freely, burning, killing, and plundering, and even the authorities were helpless against them.
"Good sirs, are you really not from the Weihu Bandit Group?" At this point, the old man was still looking at Ye Xuan’s group with suspicion. His fearful expression made it clear he’d been terrorized by the bandits.
"Sir, do you think we look like a bandit group?" Chen Xing said, speechless.
"Yes, you do. Very much so." Now it wasn’t just the village elder; the other villagers started nodding too.
Ouyang Xiaoshan and the others were at a loss for words. The esteemed Imperial Guard of the kingdom being mistaken for bandits... ’How unlucky can we get?’
"Sir, we really aren’t bandits," Leng Yingying and Feng Rouyi said softly as they stepped out of the carriage.
"Now I believe you." The old man nodded repeatedly as he looked at the two women. "There are no girls this beautiful among the bandits."
"Young Master Xuan, a group on horseback is approaching."
An Imperial Guard on perimeter duty suddenly rushed over to report.
In just a moment, the RUMBLE of hooves thundered as a cloud of dust rolled in from the distance. A troop of several dozen riders came roaring toward them, rapidly approaching Molin Village. With a WHOOSH, they instantly surrounded the village entrance.
"The bandits are here!"
The entirety of Molin Village was instantly thrown into a panic.
Seeing this new group, Ye Xuan and his men finally understood why the old man had mistaken them for bandits. These men were all clad in standard-issue armor, looking imposing and majestic. In fact, they looked more like the kingdom’s regular army than they did bandits.
"Young Master Xuan, the armor these bandits are wearing seems to be a replica of the City Guard’s uniform," Ouyang Xiaoshan advised.
Ye Xuan nodded. He had noticed that as well.
The leader of the bandits was a burly man with a thick beard. His large, bell-like eyes gleamed with malice. He frowned upon seeing Ye Xuan’s group but showed no sign of worry or fear. He said coldly, "Which division are you lot from? Don’t you know that Molin Village is under our jurisdiction?"
Ouyang Xiaoshan flew into a rage at his words and was about to charge forward but was stopped by Ye Xuan. Ye Xuan gave a dry laugh. "I really didn’t know that! Isn’t Molin Village under the jurisdiction of Celestial Capital? Since when did it become yours?"
"A village of Celestial Capital?" The burly man laughed as if he’d just heard the funniest joke in the world. "Let me tell you, the villages of Celestial Capital *are* the villages of my Weihu Bandit Group! I don’t care which division you’re from, just get out of our way! Huh..."
Suddenly, the burly man spotted Leng Yingying and Feng Rouyi in the crowd, and his eyes lit up. "What fine-looking ladies. How about this: the two of them stay, and the rest of you can leave."
Facing Ye Xuan’s group of over a hundred men, these bandits showed not a shred of fear. They were clearly used to running rampant here.
"You’re courting death! A bunch of trash. You should piss in a puddle and take a good look at yourselves," Chen Xing roared in fury.
"You’re the ones courting death." The burly man’s gaze turned vicious as he swept it over Ye Xuan’s group. "It seems you’re outsiders and don’t know the reputation of my Weihu Bandit Group. Do you have any idea what the consequences are for offending us?"
"I don’t know, and I don’t care to know." Ye Xuan’s eyes turned icy. "Teach them a lesson. Leave the leader, but cripple all the others."
"Yes, Young Master Xuan!"
Ouyang Xiaoshan and his men couldn’t hold back any longer. They pounced like a pack of wolves.
"Son of a bitch! You dare to attack my Weihu Bandit Group? You really are courting death! Brothers, get them—OOF!"
Before the burly man could finish his sentence, Ouyang Xiaoshan slapped him off his horse. A flurry of punches and kicks followed, and in an instant, his face was swollen like a pig’s.
Screams of pain rang out one after another as the members of the Weihu Bandit Group were knocked from their horses. Facing Imperial Guards whose weakest members were Earth Martial Artists, these bandits, who were mostly in the Martial Master Realm, had no hope of resisting. In just a dozen breaths, not a single bandit was left sitting on his horse.
"Quick! Fire the signal flare! Summon the main force!" the burly man’s hoarse voice cried out.
A bandit in the group immediately took out a signal flare, but before he could pull the cord, one of Ye Xuan’s men knocked him to the ground. His face was covered in blood as he received a vicious beating.
The village elder was stunned. He rushed over, crying out, "Sirs, you can’t beat them! You can’t! I beg you, good sirs, please stop hitting them!"
The Weihu Bandit Group’s collection team was being beaten in his village—he would be held responsible! If this group of outsiders were stopped by the bandits, it might not be so bad. But if they beat them up and just left, his village would be completely doomed.
So, while the blows landed on the Weihu bandits, it was the hearts of the Molin villagers that were filled with terror.
"That’s enough." Seeing that it was sufficient, Ye Xuan called a halt.
"Who... who in the world are you people?"
The burly leader stared at Ouyang Xiaoshan and the others with a look of shock and anger. He too was an Earth Martial Artist-level expert, yet he had been slapped to the ground without any chance to resist. The strength of this group was far beyond his imagination.
THWACK!
Ye Xuan planted his foot on the burly man’s chest and said icily, "Now it’s my turn to ask the questions. Where is your Weihu Bandit Group from? How many men do you have? Where is your main camp? Spit it out."
The burly man gritted his teeth and said coldly, "Do you have any idea who we are? Let us go, or not even the heavens themselves can save you."
"That’s right! Let us go, or you’re dead men!"
"You dared to cripple us! I guarantee you won’t leave Celestial Capital alive!"
"What kind of idiots are you, daring to attack our Weihu Bandit Group? Didn’t you ask around before you came here?"
The fallen bandits all started clamoring, their attitudes still arrogant even at a time like this.
Ye Xuan’s gaze turned frigid. "Kill them all."
A series of SQUELCHING sounds rang out as the Imperial Guards with Ye Xuan raised and lowered their blades. In an instant, every bandit except for the burly leader had been beheaded, their blood staining the ground red.
"You... you..." The burly man was so horrified he was speechless, completely stunned by the scene before him.
"If you don’t start talking now, I guarantee you won’t have another chance to speak at all," Ye Xuan said, looking at the burly man with a cold, indifferent gaze.
"I’ll talk! I’ll talk!" The burly man gritted his teeth. "The Weihu Bandit Group has over three hundred men. Our main camp is on Weihu Mountain. We came from the Southern Celestial Province... AARGH!"
With a piercing scream, blood sprayed as one of the burly man’s arms was lopped off. He broke out in a cold sweat, his face pale.
Ye Xuan narrowed his eyes. "Still not telling the truth at a time like this? Next time, it won’t be just an arm. Lie again, and it’ll be your head."
Ye Xuan had detected fluctuations in the man’s Profound Sense, a clear sign he wasn’t telling the truth.
"I’ll talk..." The burly man was on the verge of tears, his face contorted in pain and his forehead beaded with cold sweat. "We’re actually... men of the Wei family from Celestial Capital."
’The Wei family of Celestial Capital?’
Ye Xuan and his men exchanged glances. To be honest, they didn’t know much about the families of Celestial Capital.
"Scared now, are you? Let me go!" Thinking he had intimidated them, the burly man suddenly became arrogant again.
"Scared of you? In your dreams! Is there even a Wei family in Celestial Capital? First time I’m hearing of it!" Chen Xing rolled his eyes, then turned to the villagers of Molin Village. "Do any of you know of a Wei family in Celestial Capital?"
The village elder shook his head. "There can’t be a ’Wei family’ in Celestial Capital. The current Governor of Tianxu Province is named Wei Hong. No family would dare call themselves ’the Wei family’ in the Governor’s presence."
"You dare to lie to us? It seems you’re tired of having a head on your shoulders."
"I’m not lying," the burly man said with a sudden, cold smirk. "The Wei family I’m talking about is precisely the family of Governor Wei Hong himself. You’ve hurt his men. The Governor won’t let you off easy. If you kneel and beg for mercy now, it might not be too late."
"Haha! What a joke! Are you saying you’re Governor Wei Hong’s men? And you’re out here playing bandits?" Chen Xing laughed, his face full of disbelief.
It wasn’t just him; everyone else present also wore mocking expressions.
’This bandit must have a screw loose to say something like that. The subordinates of the esteemed Governor, the current man in charge of Tianxu Province, were moonlighting as bandits in nearby villages? Tell that to the ghosts, maybe they’ll believe it.’
But Ye Xuan and Ouyang Xiaoshan exchanged a look, their expressions grim. They could both tell that the burly man didn’t seem to be lying.
"Young Master Xuan, although their strength is average, they seem to have been trained. They’re not like a common bandit group," Ouyang Xiaoshan whispered.
Ye Xuan nodded, his gaze cold. He had also found it strange for some time.
It wasn’t unusual for bandit groups to exist. It also wasn’t unusual for a city’s guard to fail to eliminate them. After all, back in Blue Moon City, City Lord Leng Tian had launched several campaigns against the Blood Demon Bandit Group without success.
However, the reason the encirclement of the Blood Demon Bandit Group failed was because they were extremely cunning and hid within Demon Ridge, making them difficult to track.
But the area around the provincial capital was a plain. Even with the occasional forested mountain or ravine, it would be impossible for a bandit group to hide so well that they couldn’t be found.
Yet, the Weihu Bandit Group had run rampant here for several months, and several attempts to suppress them had failed. That was something worth pondering.
So when the burly man claimed to be from Governor Wei’s family, it gave Ye Xuan a sense of sudden realization.
