Chapitre 18: Chapter 18: Hunting Bandits in the Desert 1/3
I apologize for the late release and decreased length. Unfortunately, this might become the norm in the future as I have been conscripted by the army and thus have very little time between training to write.
I will continue writing whenever I have time but at most I will be able to write one chapter a week with a more realistic estimate being one chapter every other week.
POV Mo Fan
Mo Fan ducked his head again, dodging the barrage of thorns originating from the top of the nearest sand dune.
Gritting his teeth as he moved his primeval essence, Mo Fan left cover long enough to send a blazing red fire pellet towards the hill before throwing himself behind cover once again.
As he took a deep breath to center himself, he wondered how he had ended up in this situation.
It all started back in Fang Clan City, where Mo Fan had been making a living as a combatant in the battle stage.
As a middle-aged rank 3 middle stage Gu master, Mo Fan could be considered an elder in most low to high-scale clans, although in Fang Clan City, he could only be considered an elite squad leader, as elders in the Fang Clan were all rank 4 Gu masters and above.
After a serious defeat in the battle stage, Mo Fan had lost his vital Gu and been seriously hurt. He had been approached by the leader of a caravan heading westwards.
The caravan apparently needed another rank 3 guard, and at the time, Mo Fan had thought that it would be a quiet job, as the western approaches were controlled by the Ye Clan and its subsidiary forces.
These forces generally kept the area clear of bandits and beasts, so Mo Fan had thought he could take it easy during this trip. How wrong he had been.
When the scouting caravan guards had finally realized that there were enemies around, the caravan was already surrounded and being besieged by demonic Gu masters stationed on the surrounding sand dunes.
At that point, Mo Fan's decades of experience had kicked in, making him jump for cover as he ordered the caravan guards to take defensive positions and prepare to resist the enemy.
Activating his scouting type Gu worm, Mo Fan observed the indistinct heat signatures of the bandits appearing in his mind, together with a rough map of the surroundings.
Taking a second or two to appraise his situation, Mo Fan's expression turned grim as he realized how bleak his odds of survival truly were.
The caravan was outnumbered two to one, with the bandits having significantly more rank 2s than the caravan while they had five rank 3s to the caravan's three.
The bandits had managed to come upon the caravan as it was moving through a deep depression, with the bandits holding positions on both sides and in the back. The caravan was practically completely surrounded.
Being snapped back to reality by another hail of thorns, Mo Fan took a calming breath as he considered his chances of escaping.
[I have 34% white silver primeval essence left; this is enough to continue this skirmish for another half hour or for one breakout attempt.]
Activating his scouting type Gu, he observed the positioning of his allies and enemies, trying to determine in which direction the encirclement was the weakest.
[The western dune has two rank 3s in reserve. I need to avoid that direction, while the eastern dune only has a single rank 3, but he is giving off the aura of a peak stage. This leaves the northern and southern directions…]
Observing those two directions, Mo Fan realized that the bandits' defense of the North was quite weak, with it only being made up of rank 2 Gu masters who had quickly moved there once the ambush started.
Having found his breakout direction, Mo Fan started gathering any available defenders to assist him in his breakout attempt.
Gathering some 20 Gu masters, ranging from rank 1 to rank 2, Mo Fan started preparing his breakout attempt.
"Lord Mo, Lord Mo! Wait! You need to get me and my goods out of here!"
Turning around, Mo Fan saw the person responsible for dragging him into this situation. Running towards Mo Fan was the young leader of the caravan, his eyes wide in terror as he desperately screamed for Mo Fan to save him.
Feeling an urge to grab the fat wastrel and use him as a human shield, Mo Fan still moved to protect him. He had a flame vow with the bastard, and this wasn't the moment to have his heart combust from the backlash of breaking his contract terms.
"Caravan leader Xi, the caravan is lost. We've lost a rank 3 Gu master and are surrounded.
We need to use this opportunity, while the bandits' encirclement is still incomplete, to make a breakout attempt. We don't have the time to collect your goods unless we give up this golden opportunity to escape with our lives."
Hearing Mo Fan declare his caravan lost, caravan leader Xi exploded, fervently denying this claim as he went on to call Mo Fan and the others attempting to break out all the slurs and insults he knew.
"Cowards, #5#& leeches, chicken-hearted deserters! My father paid you all handsomely to defend this caravan, and you will all do so!
You homeless wretches don't even know how important these goods are! Return and defend the goods or be hunted down by my Xi family!"
Having shouted himself breathless, caravan leader Xi started taking in deep breaths as his head slowly lost its red color.
As the youth prepared himself to continue his tirade, Mo Fan interrupted him, asking in a grave tone,
"Caravan Leader, I was hired by the director of the Xi trading company, your father, to act as a guard for you and your goods. Now I have judged that the goods are already lost and that we need to evacuate as soon as possible.
I and these men will do so regardless of whether you want us to stay or not. Now I want you to think carefully about your next action.
I don't want this to get complicated, so I urge you to abandon your foolish fixation on the goods. They are already lost. What we need to do now is preserve our lives and return to Fang Clan City and your father."
Seeing the caravan leader's face redden as he prepared for another tirade, Mo Fan sighed before giving a slight nod to the two rank 2 Gu masters who had moved up behind the scion of the Xi family.
Opening his mouth enough to say, "No, I refussss…" before being knocked out by a poison path Gu master.
Observing the passed-out form of the caravan leader, Mo Fan took a deep breath before signaling to the bodyguards to take their passed-out charge and prepare to break out.
Turning his attention away from the now incapacitated annoyance, Mo Fan signaled the beginning of the breakout, making sure that he had enough rank 2 guards in front of him to absorb the initial bandit attacks.
---
Zhao Wen POV
Being brought out of his cultivation by a sound transmission from Xie Long, Zhao Wen took a few seconds to orient himself before awkwardly having his steed follow the other mounts of the Ye clan elders.
Joining the other elders, Zhao Wen looked expectantly at Xie Long, waiting for the reason they had stopped and convened a meeting.
"The scouts found what seems to be the remnants of a destroyed caravan. It is a group of some 20 rank 2 Gu masters led by a wounded rank 3."
Hearing Xie Long, the others instantly seemed more lively. They had been searching for over two weeks but had not found any clues to the whereabouts of the bandits.
Now, however, this group of survivors might be what is left from a bandit attack, and even if they weren't, this area was nominally under the Ye clan's control, and they needed to help these survivors to protect the Ye clan's reputation.
—
As the Ye clan troops approached, Zhao Wen could see how the tiny figures below started to run around chaotically as they spotted the Sand Gull Group. This, however, stopped quickly as they all gathered around the rank 3 Gu master, creating a defensive formation.
As they spotted the humans riding the Sand Gulls, their stance clearly loosened but quickly corrected itself as the rank 3 leader started shouting commands to the others.
Joining Elder Song and a group of rank 2 Gu masters, Zhao Wen approached the defenders, observing appraisingly. The rank 2 Gu masters all seemed to wear uniform equipment, with them also wearing a symbol probably clarifying their affiliation.
The rank 3, on the other hand, wore standard western desert Gu master robes with the character 3 clearly displayed.
When the group had closed in enough, Elder Song clearly displayed his rank 3 aura as he challenged,
"I am Elder Ye Song of the Ye clan. You are hereby ordered to identify yourselves and to be questioned."
Seeing the formation of Gu masters stir as the Ye clan was mentioned, Zhao Wen observed the group, waiting for their response.
He did not need to wait long before hearing the response from the group. Stepping out of the protective formation, the rank 3 Gu master responded,
"We are what remains of the Xi caravan from Fang Clan city. We were ambushed by a group of demonic path bandits and had to escape for our lives."
Jogging his memory for any information about the Xi caravan, Zhao Wen remembered that when he had been researching the rank 4 and rank 5 Gu masters in the Fang Clan's territory, a Xi Wu had come up.
Xi Wu was a rank 4 upper stage Gu master who lived in Fang Clan City, operating the Xi trading company and sending out multiple Xi caravans each year to conduct
trade with the western desert.
Continuing, the rank 3 from the Xi caravan said,
"Lord Xi will be very pleased if you help us, as his third son is with us and needs medical attention."
Hearing this, Elder Song signaled for the others to approach while asking the Xi caravan members to come over in smaller groups so that it would be easier to handle them if they turned hostile.
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