Chapter 57 57 – Finding The Bandits



"I'm looking for humans around here. If you can find me those I'm looking for, I will give you another pill. I will be in the burrow over there."

It was a burrow that a big animal dug for itself in the ground, and there was plenty of room for someone of Ken's size.

Ken gave the tiger instructions and sent it off. He then went to the burrow he pointed at earlier and drew some formations. There were two layers; one for protection and one for Qi gathering.

He sat crossed-legged and cultivated after taking a Qi Absorption Pill. Of course, it wasn't the same as the ones he sold, but the best he could make.

He was tempering his core with the Qi he was absorbing, slowly helping it grow. The process of advancing within the Core Formation Stage was to make the core grow to the maximum extent possible, and then condense it back to its normal size.

After the condensing, it would enter the next sub-stage. It would be the same size, but the attribute colors would be much more vivid, and the density of the Qi inside would increase significantly.

He had managed to create three types of pills for this process. The first is the Core Expanding Hastening Pill, which helps the core absorb more of the Qi he used to temper it. 

The second is the Core Expanding Inducer Pill, which makes the pill expand without any effort from the cultivator. Ken planned on taking it after his core reach its maximum by cultivating.

The third is the Core Condensing Pill, which helped in the process of condensing the core and entering the next phase of the fourth stage.

Right now, he was holding a green pill in his palm. It was the Core Expanding Hastening Pill. Instead of wasting his time by looking for the criminals, he chose to use it to cultivate and outsource the search job to the tiger.

2 days passed, and the tiger finally returned. It could break through the formations within a few minutes, but it didn't dare do so. It just stood outside and roared to pull Ken's attention.

Ken opened his eyes when he heard the tiger calling for him and left the cave.

"Did you find humans?"

The tiger answered with a soft sound and a lowering of its body, hinting to Ken to hop on. Ken Jumped onto the tiger's back and it dashed forward. He held the tiger's fur with his hands and activated his Bloodlust sense.

After riding for 20 minutes, he sensed a group of 13 people in a large woodhouse built above. He raised his head and found a bridge made of wood connecting a few large trees. Around every tree, there were 3 large huts made of wood.

"Thanks. That's your reward as promised. You may go now."

Ken gave the tiger a red pill as he promised earlier. The tiger took it in his mouth and left, planning to swallow it in another place safely.

'Now it's time to see if anyone is worth my time. Nick is only at the Lower Core Formation Stage. I want someone at the peak of it.'

'Sheathed Man.'

It was a new technique he developed in his free time, and he mastered it to the Basic mastery realm. It was based on the concept of a sheathed sword, thus its name.

Sheathed Man was a technique that dimmed one's presence as if he was a sheathed sword. Just like one couldn't sense the danger of a sheathed sword, people would miss his presence when he sneaks up on them while using this skill.

The skill was new and innovative, he could never make it before his affinity with the sword skyrocketed when he formed his core. He used his understanding of the Darkness element from when he practiced it to spar with Annie and applied it to the sword.

He went toward the house where he sensed people and peeked inside. It seemed they were having a meeting to distribute their loot of the last month.

Ken suddenly heard a noise coming from another hut, and he went to take a look. He didn't sense anyone, so it got him curious. He saw the source of the noise was from a hut locked from the outside, and he understood it must be prisoners.

The weakness of his Bloodlust Sense technique was that people who have never killed a person avoided his perception since they didn't have any bloodlust to speak of.

He was close enough to perceive their presence without any technique, and he could tell there were 2 people inside. He felt they still weren't at the fourth stage, but he couldn't tell the exact stage they were at.

'I will check it out after dealing with the bandits.'

He returned to the large hut where the 13 bandits gathered and planned his attack.

"I want this blue gem necklace. I've been eying that woman in the black market since forever, and I feel like things are going somewhere lately. I can gift it to her and ask her out."

Ken listened to one man talking about his love life with a judging gaze. Men shouldn't spend too much on the first date, it's a simple rule.

"No way, I want it for my wife. You take the most expensive jewelry with this excuse every month. Either you're dumb for not seeing she is using you for easy money or we are dumb for falling for the same trick every month."

Another voice worsened Ken's opinion of the man who wanted to gift the necklace.

"She isn't using me! Wooing the girl you like is a normal process everyone goes through."

"I beg to differ; I just kidnapped mine."

Someone with a soft voice spoke and made everyone laugh.

"Haha, it is the most efficient way!"

There were 3 female bandits in the room, and Ken waited for their response before barging in. He felt like he should let the women express themselves before killing them. Luckily, he didn't need to wait long.

"Who said only men can kidnap women? I'm aiming for the pretty boy we have locked up!"

Ken sighed; it wasn't the way he expected them to express themselves. He felt like he heard enough, and it was time to go in. 

He took out his mask from his storage ring and wore it. Although he didn't need it for killing bandits, it became a habit. He felt more comfortable killing people while wearing it now. 

'One Step.'

'Flash Unwind.'

In a single moment, he appeared in the middle of the table and unsheathed his sword. It was the new fifth-grade flexible sword he bought in the sect, and it was its first serious fight.

All fights he participated in were too easy until now, and if he bothered unsheathing his sword, it was as an execution tool rather than as a weapon meant for fighting.

*Slash*

The sound of a sword cutting through a human resounded and four heads rolled on the floor. Ever since he mastered Flash Unwind to the Small Success mastery realm, it changed from a single target attack to an area of effect. It could cut down everything that was in his range.

He didn't know their exact stages, but he didn't believe anyone at the fifth stage would waste their time on robbing third-stage cultivators or lone fourth-stage travelers.

According to the mission's details, this group of bandits never attacked large parties of fourth-stage cultivators, so he didn't feel worried about going in solo.

He looked around and saw there were 9 people looking at him in shock. He popped out of nowhere and everything happened in under a second.

Before they could react, he used Slash 9 in 3, meaning he divided his slash into three slashes made of three slashes each.

2 men and a woman got their chests cut before they could defend themselves, and their hearts got hit.

'7 down, 6 to go.'

By then everyone already unsheathed their weapons or summoned them from their storage rings. They were all cold-blooded murderers, and death didn't faze them.

A rain of techniques landed where Ken stood a moment ago, but he executed Cloud Running already and moved to the spot of one of the killed bandits. The ground caved from the attacks, and deep cuts were formed on the floor.

'Slash.'

Ken swung his sword again and three slashes were formed on the route of the tip of his sword. Again, he chose to do them 9 in 3.

He aimed at the three that radiated the weakest aura in his eyes, although he could be wrong in his judgment.

One woman spun her spear, creating a small wall of Spear Qi in front of her to block his slash. The bandits were all experienced in fighting alongside one another, and they had no problem cooperating.

Thus, the defending people didn't worry about attacking and put all their efforts to just defend themselves against Ken's slash. They had 3 other bandits to worry about attacking.

The other 2 men who got attacked by Ken's sword performed their own techniques to defend against it. Only the woman managed to block the attack completely; the other two's defenses got torn apart under Ken's slash.

One man couldn't hold the saber against the sword and his saber got deflected. The slash lost a lot of its power, but it still left a deep cut on the man's torso, revealing some of his ribs.

The second man managed to partially dodge that attack, but when he couldn't deflect the slash, Ken's attack claimed his arm right under his elbow.