Chapter 58 58 – Maria



After his third attack, only 4 were left in perfect condition while two were injured grievously. He couldn't follow up his attack with another attack, because two sabers and a spear were about to land on him.

He blocked the first saber with his sword and used the power behind the strike to add momentum to his movement. He easily dodged the two other strikes by stepping back and ducking.

"Donne, Kroc, stabilize your wounds before joining the fight!"

The two wounded cultivators didn't join the fight yet; they took healing pills out of their storage rings and consumed them. They also took some distance from the battle in order to stabilize their wounds safely before joining the fray.

There was no point to join only to have their guts spilled out or die from excessive blood loss.

"Everyone, attack him! don't give him a moment of break or a chance to strike back!"

A spearwoman gave instructions to the team and everyone moved. To Ken's surprise, it seems that the leader of this coarse group was a woman.

Indeed, Ken couldn't find an opening to attack again. The four healthy bandits kept barraging him with well-coordinated attacks one after another, and all four of them were at a higher stage than him, allowing them to almost keep up with his speed.

Unbeknown to Ken, he didn't need to deal with an archer now because he killed two of the three archers with his initial attacks and cut off the arm of the third in his next attack.

He could win rather easily if he used his Mind-Poisoning Domain, but it wasn't every day he got such a good chance to practice his sword skills.

With Cloud Running, he managed to dodge the attacks with minimum movements and finally found an opportunity to strike.

'Slash.'

He used 9 in 1 this time, aiming to take them down one by one. He knew that the 9 in 3 version wasn't enough to kill these four. This slash combined 9 slashes in it, making it extremely powerful.

"Maria, I will help you!"

Ken didn't expect them to be good enough to even defend together. He aimed at the same woman he attacked earlier, and the other spearman thrust his spear against Ken's Slash.

The spear got deflected and the man stumbled back, but it was enough to weaken the slash to a degree that the woman could block it. The woman used the same defense skill by spinning her spear and was sent to the floor from the momentum.

Other than shock and a slight sense of fear, she was fine.

"He is strong! My hands are shaking from the clash!"

The man shouted as he tried to stabilize his grip on the spear with his shaky hands.

"Brother, let's push him back against the wall!" 

The two saber users didn't try to attack Ken from the front; they tried to flank him and push him slowly against the wall until he can't dodge anymore by stepping back. As for the front, they left it for the spear users who had a longer range.

This way, Ken had to deal with two attacks that came almost from opposite attacks, and if he tried to attack one of them, the other could strike his back.

"Haha, you overestimated yourself. You're stronger than any of us, but not than all four of us combined! We can win this!"

The men laughed with relief as they were about to cut him.

'One Step.'

However, Ken was one to believe there was always a third option. Instead of retreating or attacking the saber users, he executed One Step and appeared in front of the man who stumbled back from his Slash.

'Snake Thrust.'

In the heat of the battle, the man didn't think about the speed Ken appeared when he first attacked them, because it seemed like he just materialized between them.

He tried to block Ken's sword with the shaft of the spear, but the shaft was too narrow. Ken pulled his sword back and faced the two saber users who rushed to attack him again with apparent fear on their faces.

Ken turned around to block the sabers about to attack him and the corpse of the spear user collapsed behind him with two large holes, one above the spear's shaft and the other underneath it.

"How can a damn midget be so freaking strong?"

One of the saber users shouted in despair. Ken easily dodged the strikes of the two saber users, and with his movements, he didn't let them flank him again. 

Ken was about to land another strike against one of the saber users, but he had to hurriedly dodge when the woman could finally attack back. Although a lot happened, it was a matter of two or three seconds only since she was sent rolling on the ground by Ken's 9 in 1 Slash.

"Young Master, maybe we can talk it out. You are from an elite family, aren't you? You're just here to complete the mission commissioned by the sect."

She waited for Ken's answer, but the three still barraged him with their attacks. They didn't dare stop before he gave a verbal agreement to stop their battle.

"I am from an elite family, you are knowledgeable."

But he didn't tell them to stop the fighting. It's not like telling them to stop and use it to attack was against his conscience, he just enjoyed honing his sword skills.

"Every living bandit can recognize the disciple's uniform of someone from an elite family. Those who can't already tried to rob someone they shouldn't and got themselves killed."

"I see, so what offer do you have for me?"

Ken spoke while deflecting and dodging their attacks without a break. He had a few chances to attack, but he didn't take them yet. 

"How about we stop attacking and discuss it over tea?"

"We can take an oath to leave this place and not cease our robbery activity in your sect's territory for 30 years. This way you can go and complete your mission. Of course, we will compensate you with a quarter of the treasures gained by our group. We have over a million medium Qi Stones, you will make a fortune!"

"Only a quarter? With everyone being dead, you will also gain a quarter each. Do you think we are equal?"

He dodged their attacks with a sudden movement and sent a Slash, 9 in 3, just to show them his dissatisfaction. The three blocked it successfully, but they couldn't get rid of their lingering fear.

They thought they didn't allow him to attack, but they got it wrong; it was he who played with them while they talked. He wasn't under pressure, they were. 

If he chose to use his previous attack where he sent one powerful slash, one of them would probably be dead now. If not by the slash itself, then by the attack following it while they still stumbled from blocking it.

"Wait! you can have half of everything we plundered! And we can also set free the two disciples of the Phoenix Feather Sect we have under custody!"

"Tell me, as professional bandits, how much percent of the goods and money do you demand from your victims?"

The woman's face distorted with anger for a moment before taking a deep breath. Of course, they take everything damn it!

"We take everything…"

"So, are you a professional trying to reap me off as someone new to the business?"

"No, no! You can take everything, just let us live!"

Maria gave up her greed for money and begged for mercy. She even stopped fighting and took a step back. She threw her spear to the ground and kneeled to show her surrender.

The two saber users immediately followed her example, unwilling to be the only ones who kept attacking this monster. They were all at the peak of the fourth stage and were sure that the same applied to him, just that he had a stronger foundation.

They didn't know he was only at the Lower Core Foundation Stage and had an extreme foundation. As bandits, they didn't have access to enough resources and their foundation was weaker than the average fourth-stage disciple in Ken's sect.

During the first three stages, they didn't strengthen their bodies to the maximum and could count the pills they used on one hand. Only when they grouped up and became a powerful group of fourth-stage bandits, they managed to start making enough money to consume pills regularly.

It didn't mean they had a special bond between them; in fact, most of the current members of the group aren't the original members. The only original members were Maria and the spearman who died after helping her.

Not only they didn't rise to power together, but more often than not, the ones to kill the former members were the other members over a dispute over the distribution of the loot.

"You two are brothers connected by blood, right?"

Ken asked the two brothers in front of him. They nodded in response and waited for him to continue.

"You, stay here as hostage. You, go and bring me the heads of the two who went to stabilize their wounds. I can't let too many of you remain alive."

They needed at least 5-10 minutes to stabilize their wounds enough to allow them to join the battle relatively safely, and only 3 minutes passed since the fight began.

"Yes, Young Master."

The man nodded quickly and ran off to complete his assignment.