Zimo walked calmly among the tall mountains with both hands behind his back. His eyes scanned the surroundings. Behind him, his four students were not as calm as he was.
They cautiously looked at everything, expecting some sudden attack. This was the territory of the infamous Blood Skull Bandits. Therefore, they couldn't be too careful.
Though Zimo was leading randomly, those with keen eyes would see he was following a certain pattern. As they journeyed deep into the Purple Mist Mountain range, the journey became more difficult with the uneven terrain.
In a secluded corner, five groups of men stood with stern expressions on their faces.
"Do you think they are after us?" One of the men asked.
"I don't know... but I've been keeping an eye on them, and they are getting closer to our hideout," another person responded.
"You're right. In the next couple of minutes, they're going to find out our hideout."
"What should we do?"
The men looked at each other with shock and anger flashing on their faces. The thought that somebody dared to come into their ground so wantonly as if they were in their courtyard.
"Gather our men. We're going to capture them and present them to the leader."
Unbeknownst to Zimo and his group, a group from the Blood Skull bandit was rushing toward them. Walking through a path between two big mountains, they came to a large opening.
Zimo stopped for a couple of seconds and looked at the terrain and realized the location was the best option for an ambush. Still, he continued as if he didn't care. Perhaps, he didn't care.
When the group arrived at the center of the large opening, a loud, deep voice came from the surrounding mountain.
"Surrender or Die!"
At once, Zimo and his men halted their tracks and raised their heads. On the surrounding mountain were the bandits with weapons glaring at them.
In the lead was a tall, burly man with a wide saber in his hand. His menacing gaze was enough to send a mortal trembling. However, his enemies were not mere mortals.
Blood flowed like a stream mixed with intestines and brain juice.
On the couple's side, it was another story entirely. With them working together, they harvested the lives of their targets. Heads flew up, arms separated from their bodies.
On the mountain, the leader of the group froze on his spot, not believing what was happening to his men. Before he could order a tactical retreat.
All his men had been killed.
He trembled and sucked in a cold breath. It was then he realized these five were far from ordinary mortals.
'Why are such powerful experts doing in our territory?' he thought for a second before he widened his eyes.
"They are here to wipe us out!" His jaw dropped, and his spine was drenched in cold sweats.
'I need to escape.' He screamed, ready to escape.
But when he turned to escape, a person was standing right behind him, staring directly into his eyes.
"Lead us to your leader," Zimo said casually.
"W-What...H-How..."
Ah!
A scream escaped from his mouth as a miserable anguish of pain came from his arm. When he looked at his arm, it was long gone.
Blood gushed out with the veins twisting back and forth. Fear gripped his mind as his heart pounded heavily against his chest.
From beginning to end, he didn't see how the young man attacked him. He wanted to plead for his life but looked at the extremely frightening calmness of the young man and abandoned the thought.
He held his severed arm and nodded.