Chapter 859: Bandits
Chapter 859: Bandits
Translator: KurazyTolanzuraytor Editor: JayC
"Let's not mention things that have passed." Ke Zheng shook his head and then said, "Since everyone has gathered, then we should leave."
"Elder Ke, why don't all of you have lunch before leaving?" Chen Dong persuaded them to stay.
"There's no need… Patriarch Chen, thank you for entertaining me during these past few days." Ke Zheng nodded to Chen Dong before calling out to Duan Ling Tian's group of three and heading out.
"Patriarch Chen, farewell." Duan Ling Tian brought Ye Xuan along as he bid his farewell to Chen Dong and left.
Chen Wei hurriedly followed after them.
Their group of four soared up into the sky from the Chen Clan Estate and headed west.
On the way, Duan Ling Tian couldn't help but ask curiously. "Elder Ke, are we returning to the Five Element Sect or going somewhere else?"
"We're going to Settlement City first. Our Wood Peak has a point of operations there… The two people that were recruited not long ago are there as well," said Ke Zheng.
"Okay." Duan Ling Tian nodded.
"Elder Ke, can you tell me about the situation in the Five Element Sect?" Duan Ling Tian asked.
Ke Zheng nodded and introduced. "Our Five Element Sect is divided into the gold, wood, fire, water, and earth peaks. Besides the Gold Peak which is the main peak that the Sect Master resides in, the other four peaks have an equal status and are managed by four Peak Masters"
"The four peaks are in a state of competition, and in the last 20 years, it was our Wood Peak that was in a disadvantageous position." When he spoke up to here, Ke Zheng sighed heavily.
In next to no time, Duan Ling Tian obtained a certain level of understanding of the Wood Peak from Ke Zheng and Chen Wei, and he knew that it was once the most brilliant peak beneath the Gold Peak.
However, 20 years ago, the Peak Master was heavily injured outside the sect. After he returned and went into closed door cultivation, the Wood Peak started to fall into decline.
First the outstanding disciples of the Wood Peak were poached away by the other three peaks by way of coercion or bribery, and then the other three peaks intentionally joined forces to suppress the Wood Peak, causing the Wood Peak to become the peak at the bottom of the sect.
Even though the older generation experts of the Wood Peak were still present, yet compared to the other three peaks, the younger generation seemed lacking.
"Even if a power is just a small power divided out from the same sect, yet once its younger generation is lacking, it would mean decline." Ke Zheng sighed.
"Wouldn't it be fine to recruit some genius disciples? So long as you spend some time, you'll still be able to find some disciples with good natural talent," said Duan Ling Tian.
"We of course know this, and we've indeed done so… But these genius disciples haven't even stayed in the Wood Peak for a while before being poached away by the other three peaks." Ke Zheng laughed bitterly.
"Didn't the Sect Master's Gold Peak interfere this matter?" Duan Ling Tian asked with a frown.
"There's something you don't know… There has always been a convention passed down in our Five Element Sect. The five peaks exist together and compete with each other. Besides the disciples of the various peaks being prohibited from killing and crippling others, and the Seniors are prohibited from making a move against juniors, there many other restrictions."
"The Gold Peak has been the deserving number one peak in our Five Element Sect since the beginning, whereas, the other four peaks have always been competing with each other both openly and in secret. 20 years ago, our Wood Peak became the target of the joint suppression of the other three peaks, and this suppression caused the Wood Peak to be unable to catch its breath for over 20 years." When he spoke up to here, Ke Zheng sighed.
Duan Ling Tian came to a sudden understanding, and he came to understand the situation of the Wood Peak.
"As expected of a power of the Foreign Lands. It's only a third-rate power, yet its competition is so intense… Perhaps it's precisely because of this that the Five Element Sect was able to develop until today." Duan Ling Tian thought in his heart.
If it was a cozy and peaceful sect, then perhaps it could be mighty for a time, yet it was bound to decline in a few tens of years or after 100 years.
It would decline for no other reason that because the younger generation of the sect didn't possess motivation and passion.
"No wonder Elder Ke seemed like a hunter than had seen prey when he saw me… So it turns out that he wants to make the Wood Peak rise once more through me." Duan Ling Tian laughed bitterly. Even though thinking like this was slightly conceited, yet Ke Zheng obviously possessed an intention like this.
The competition between the peaks of the Five Element Sect was mainly between the younger generation, whereas the experts of the older generation rarely made a move, nor was it convenient for them to do so.
Perhaps the strength of the younger generation was far inferior to the older generation now, yet they were the future pillars of support of the sect, and they were the foundation for the sect to continue prospering.
"My days will probably not be peaceful once I arrive at the Five Element Sect's Wood Peak." Duan Ling Tian thought to himself.
Of course, he wasn't afraid and was instead slightly anticipating it.
In next to no time, an afternoon of time had passed, and Duan Ling Tian's group of four had left far away from Driftcloud Town to arrive in the sky above a continuous mountain range with complicated terrain.
"Hmm?" Suddenly, Duan Ling Tian who journeyed by the side of Ke Zheng and Chen Wei couldn't help but frown and seemed to have noticed something.
"Watch out!" Ke Zheng shouted out in a low voice and warned.
Instantly, Chen Wei seemed as if he was confronted with a formidable enemy, and a seven foot long spear with flowing lights revolving at the tip appeared out of thin air in his hand. The weapon he used was exactly the same as his father.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
…
Numerous swift figures arrived around Duan Ling Tian's group of four in the blink of an eye, and they surrounded Duan Ling Tian's group.
This was a group of middle aged men in linen clothes who was cold and indifferent expressions, and the gazes they shot at Duan Ling Tian's group of four seemed as if they were looking at dead people.
"Bandits?" Duan Ling Tian's brows rose, and he guessed the identities of these people in the first possible moment.
Before he left for the Foreign Lands, he'd found out from the memories of the Rebirth Martial Emperor that bandits frequently roamed some remote places in the Foreign Lands.
These bandits only had a single objective, to kill the passing martial artists with formidable strength and to seize the wealth of these martial artists.
Simply speaking, this was a group of bandits that had no regard for their lives. They lived on the edges of their blades, and they risked their lives to earn enormous wealth.
Duan Ling Tian had always been staying in Driftcloud Town and had never left alone because he was worried about encountering these bandits.
It was fine if he encountered bandits that were inferior to him, and he could kill them directly.
If their strengths far exceeded him, then he could only become a lamb waiting to be slaughtered and wouldn't have the slightest chance of survival.
"Big Brother Duan." Ye Xuan's face went pale when she saw them being surrounded by so many people. She was the Young Miss of the Ye Clan who was born with a golden spoon in her mouth, so when had she seen a scene like this?
"Little Xuan, come on Big Brother Duan's back." At the first possible moment, Duan Ling Tian noticed that Ye Xuan was terrified to the point her body trembled slightly, and he instantly called out to Ye Xuan and asked her to get on his back.
Ye Xuan leaned on Duan Ling Tian's back and held onto his neck, and only then did her feelings slightly stabilize.
Duan Ling Tian took a deep breath as his Spiritual Force stretched out, and he clearly detected the cultivations of all the bandits at the first possible moment.
There was a total of nine people.
One was at the seventh level of the Void Interpretation Stage.
Three were at the sixth level of the Void Interpretation Stage.
The remaining people were at the fourth and fifth level of the Void Interpretation Stage.
"What a formidable band of bandits!" Duan Ling Tian gasped in his head as he never imagined that the first group of bandits he encountered in the Foreign Lands with possess such terrifying strength.
Duan Ling Tian didn't know that this wasn't the first group of bandits he'd encountered since coming to the Foreign Lands.
When he was 'devilified' by the Devilseal Tablet that day and after he distanced himself from Feng Wu Dao and lost consciousness, he'd encountered numerous groups of bandits with strengths that weren't inferior to the group before him on the way to Driftcloud Town.
It was even to the extent that there were even some existences at the Void Transformation Stage.
However, without exception, all those bandits were killed by the 'devilified' him as soon as they made an appearance.
"Kill!" The seventh level Void Interpretation Stage bandit in the lead didn't speak a single word before directly giving the order.
Instantly, the other eight bandits pounced towards Duan Ling Tian's group of four.
In the sky, a vast expanse of ancient horned dragon silhouettes appeared and swept towards them, and they covered more than half of the sunlight from the horizon.
"Those three are at the fourth level of the Void Interpretation Stage." Ke Zheng spoke out. He didn't have any intention of making a move and pointed towards three of the bandits as he spoke to Chen Wei.
Subsequently, he looked at Duan Ling Tian and asked. "Besides the bandit in the lead, the strongest amongst the other five are at the sixth level of the Void Interpretation Stage… How many can you deal with?"
Obviously, the old man wanted to test Duan Ling Tian's strength.
Up until now, the old man hadn't seen Duan Ling Tian fight and only knew that Duan Ling Tian had once defeated the Chen Clan's Patriarch and Supreme Elder.
The Chen Clan's Supreme Elder was a martial artist at the sixth level of the Void Interpretation Stage.
"Senior, besides the bandit in the lead… Leave all the rest to me." Duan Ling Tian smiled with confidence. As soon as he finished speaking, his eyes started to flicker with dim lights, and in the depths of his mind, his vast Spiritual Force pierced into the soul brand.
Thousand Illusions!
An illusory space was constructed by Duan Ling Tian out of thin air, and it enveloped an area of a few tens of meters.
The nine bandits clearly appeared within the scope of Duan Ling Tian's Spiritual Force.
Besides the bandit in the lead that was at the seventh level of the Void Interpretation Stage, he was able to affect the other bandits with his soul skill, causing them to fall into the illusory space.
When Duan Ling Tian executed his soul skill, Thousand Illusions, Ke Zheng and Chen Wei were both shocked by what Duan Ling Tian said.
Ke Zheng couldn't help but frown as he felt Duan Ling Tian was too conceited.
"Alas… Have I misjudged in the end?" Ke Zheng sighed in his head as the Origin Energy in his body started to roil, and he was prepared to make a move against the group of bandits at any moment.
Obviously, he didn't believe Duan Ling Tian's 'boast.'
But in next to no time, he was stunned.
Chen Wei was stunned as well.
Ye Xuan who lay on Duan Ling Tian's back and tightly held onto Duan Ling Tian's neck was terrified to the point she couldn't help but close her eyes.
But when she opened her eyes curiously to look ahead, she saw an unforgettable scene.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
…
The eight bandits that charged over abruptly stopped in midair, and they revealed dazed expressions as if they'd suddenly lost their target.
Subsequently, all of them went berserk and started attacking their former companions, and their surging strength that seemed ready to come out at any moment was vented completely.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
…
Terrifying strength tore through the sky and gave rise to a wave of ear piercing sounds of air exploding, and the three sixth level Void Interpretation Stage bandits had joined forces to kill the other five of their companions.
"What're all of you doing?!" The bandit leader that wasn't affected by Duan Ling Tian's soul skill was stunned for a short moment when he saw this scene, and then his face darkened as he roared with a grim voice.
However, along with his roar, the three sixth level Void Interpretation Stage bandits looked at him in unison and revealed killing intent on their faces.