Chapitre 9: Pursued by Experts
A few hours after Wu Tianyi's group left the scene, another group of people appeared at the place where they were attacked.
"Whoever did this must be an expert," said the individual leading the group after he examined the place and the corpses there. "The cuts on these corpses are some of the cleanest I have ever seen. There's no doubt that he's a seasoned swordmaster."
"Furthermore, the power displayed by this individual far surpasses the Qi Condensation realm. He's most likely already at Foundation Establishment in the middle levels."
"Mid-level Foundation Establishment?! That's the level of the Yan Family's head! What should we do now, Boss? We won't be able to defeat someone like that even if all of us attacked him at once!" Asked one of the bandits. "We were hired by the Blood Mountain Sect to steal whatever the Yan Family is transporting, but if they have someone at the Foundation Establishment, it'll definitely cause us more than we were paid!"
"I know, hence why we need backup. Send someone to the Blood Mountain Sect to renegotiate the price. I want it at least tripled."
"For the remainder of us, we will continue to follow them. However, don't do anything until we have an agreement with the Blood Mountain Sect."
"Yes, Boss!"
Meanwhile, Wu Tianyi and his group have traveled over 500 miles since they left their campsite.
"Lady Yan, it's been at least 10 hours since we escaped, but there's no sign of any pursuers. We should be safe for the meantime." One of the guards said to her.
"Were there any casualties?" Yan Jinxuan asked.
"Besides one of our guards losing an eye, there were no serious casualties. This is all thanks to that young disciple surnamed Wu. If he hadn't taken care of the bandits quickly, we would not have been able to escape without losing a few men."
Yan Jinxuan nodded and said, "I would like to personally thank Brother Tianyi. Bring him to me."
"As you wish, young miss."
A few moments later, the guard approached Wu Tiany and said, "Esteemed Disciple, the young miss would like to speak with you."
Wu Tianyi nodded and slowed the horse down until he was beside the carriage.
"What's the matter?" he asked her.
"I don't know how I should thank you, Brother Tianyi. If it were not for you, our situation right now would not be as peaceful," she said to him.
"There's no need for gratitude. I am simply doing my job as a bodyguard." Wu Tianyi shook his head.
"You are too humble, Brother Tianyi. I really admire you. But even if you don't want any credit, I'll be sure to let my father know of your feats and reward you properly." Yan Jinxuan showed him a charming smile.
Meanwhile, Geng Lijuan and Wen Junjia looked at Yan Jinxuan and Wu Tianyi with a disheartened expression of their faces.
[It's useless. How could I possibly go against that monster? If I continue to offend him, he'll slice me up like he did with those bandits.] Wen Junjia sighed inwardly.
Despite his arrogance, Wen Junjia is not a fool who would willingly provoke death, even if he has to give up on his love. And after witnessing Wu Tianyi's strength that could only be described as monstrous, he has lost all desire to fight him.
[Brother Wu is truly an unfathomable character. Luckily I haven't gotten on his bad side like Wen Junjia had.]
As for Geng Lijuan, his jealousy for Wu Tianyi has turned into admiration. He couldn't believe that there could be such a genius in this world whose name is not already famous throughout the Continent!
Meanwhile, as Wu Tianyi's group continued to approach the Southern Region, the hired bandits were renegotiating with the Blood Mountain Sect somewhere within the Southern Region.
"What?! You want us to pay you three times more than our original agreement?! What kind of nonsense is this! If I had known that the Wandering Shadows with an undisputed reputation were actually scammers, I would not have hired you bastards for this job!" A middle-aged man shouted with an angered face.
"Esteemed Guest, as I have already explained, there has been a change in the plans due to your misinformation. You never mentioned anything about a mid-level Foundation Establishment expert guarding the carriages, and it had cost us over 30 of our brothers' lives!" said the figure cloaked in black clothes.
"How am I supposed to know that they had hired someone so powerful? I gave you a job, and it's also part of your job to gather information on your target!"
"Regardless, I have already paid the full expense for this mission upfront, so what do you suggest we do now?!"
"If the Blood Mountain Sect is not willing to pay for the new price, we will return every penny that had been paid to us for the mission and call it off. The Blood Mountain Sect will also be blacklisted, losing your ability to hire us in the future."
"..."
The middle-aged man immediately frowned.
[The thing being transported by the Yan Family is extremely important to us, and if it enters the hands of Heaven's Justice Sect, it'll put our entire Sect at risk! I cannot allow that item to be transported at all cost!]
After a moment of pondering, the middle-aged man said, "Fine! I will accept the new price! But if you fail again, I will not let the Wandering Shadows off easily, even if you guys rule the underworld!"
"The shadows of this world will not disappoint you."
The black-clothed person nodded before disappearing like smoke.
Almost four days have passed since Wu Tianyi and his group escaped the bandits, and they have traveled this entire time without stopping for more than a few minutes at a time to take small breaks.
"We will arrive in the Southern Region by tomorrow." Yan Jinxuan said to them. "Once we cross the borders, we will head straight for Phoenix City, which will take another day."
[Phoenix City, huh…] Wu Tianyi recalled this place in his memories, as they were one of the biggest cities in the Southern Region during this era.
After traveling for a few more hours, Wu Tianyi suddenly stopped moving his horse.
"What's the matter, Brother Wu?" Geng Lijuan asked him.
"There are three experts at the fourth level Foundation Establishment approaching us from behind alongside a dozen others at the Qi Condensation. They'll be here within three minutes," he said.
"What?! Fourth level Foundation Establishment experts, and three of them?!" Geng Lijuan was shocked and terrified at the same time.
"Lady Yan! This is an emergency!" Geng Lijuan immediately notified her.
"A-Are you serious? This can't be real…" The other bodyguards doubted this information. After all, why would they send so many experts just to rob their carriage?
"Since Brother Tianyi said so, it must be true. Damnit! And we're so close to reaching the destination, too!" Yan Jinxuan bit her lips until it bled a little.
"What should we do?! I don't want to die, but there's no way we can defend ourselves from someone at the Foundation Establishment realm, much less three of them at once!"
The guards began to panic.
"S-Screw this! I am not going to lose my life in such a meaningless way today!"
Wen Junjia kicked his horse and immediately began running away.
"Hey! Wen Junjia, you fucking coward, where do you think you're going?! You dare betray us?!" Geng Lijuan shouted at him, but alas, Wen Junjia's silhouette quickly disappeared from their sights.
After Wen Junjia's disappearance, the other hired bodyguards also began running away, leaving Wu Tianyi, Geng Lijuan, Yan Jinxuan, and the bodyguards from the Yan Family alone.
"This is disastrous…" Yan Jinxuan sighed with a despairing look.
Wu Tianyi shook his head at the situation.
Although he cannot fight against three people at the Foundation Establishment at the same time with his current strength, it's not as though he cannot escape from them with ease, as he has the Disappearing Steps technique.
However, it goes against his beliefs and pride as a martial artist to leave these people behind, especially after accepting a job.
[I'll be spitting on myself if I run away now and leave them alone…]
Wu Tianyi turned to look at Jinxuan and spoke in a calm voice, "Calm down, it's not like we're definitely going to die here today."
"Y-You have a way to get us out of this situation, Brother Wu?" Geng Lijuan looked at him with wide eyes. "Are we going to abandon the carriages and run away with our lives, after all?"
"No, I have another method. It's one that'll not only save our lives but also allow us to keep the items."
A glimmer of hope appeared in Yan Jinxuan's eyes after hearing his words.
"Really?! What method is that?! If it really works, I will do anything that you ask of me, Brother Tianyi!"
"What do you need us to do, Brother Wu?!" Geng Lijuan asked.
"There's only one thing that I need from you all — and that is to stay silent. I will handle them myself." Wu Tianyi said.
"B-By yourself? But..."
They all looked at him with doubtful eyes.
"If you don't trust me, you can run away by yourselves. I'll stay here."
"N-No! I trust Brother Tianyi!" Yan Jinxuan said loudly.
"Even if we leave here with our lives, if we leave without the young miss, we will die by Head Yan's hands, anyway." The Yan Family's guards said with bitter expressions.
"I will also stay here." Geng Lijuan nodded with a resolute face.
"Good. Then just stay there silently and watch me deal with this," said Wu Tianyi with a smile before walking a few meters away from the group and facing the direction that they were coming from, patiently waiting for their pursuers.
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