Capítulo 18: Kicking Bandits With The Snap Of A Finger!
After being satisfied with her new weapon, Tang Soso quickly went back on her journey to the old cave that Old Jiang mentioned.
On her way, she calmly walked through the nearby alley while staying away from the main road. She remembered the way people would surround her due to her appearance being too attractive, and this basically annoyed her all day. But now that she had learned her lesson, she decided to avoid it.
Only when she reached the northern gate did she switch back to the main road and pass by the massive gate in the middle of the city walls, just like others. That way no guards would find her somewhat suspicious and mistake her for an assassin.
But now that the Chengdu City was out of the way, she quickly moved on and traveled on the long dirt path...
The northern forest, where the old cave is located is about thirty kilometers away from the northern gate of Chengdu. Any normal person would at least use some kind of way to travel to it.
However, left without any horse or carriage, Tang Soso had no choice but to directly dash her way into the northern forest as the blazing sun shone on her face.
And so she did!
Even though the weather was absolutely murdering her skin and her leg muscles were hurting like crazy, Tang Soso persevered her way into the northern forest and ran those thirty kilometers without slowing down. Thanks to her excellent movement technique and body that was as light as a feather, it didn't take too long to reach the northern forest by foot.
After she arrived, the sun had already started to sink down the horizon and her muscles were very tired. Thankfully, she felt that her physique was developing after the long sprint, further increasing her overall martial prowess once more!
However, Tang Soso couldn't smile just yet.
'Hm?'
Suddenly at the entrance of the forest, she sensed a few presence watching her quietly from the trees and bushes. Sure enough, after waiting for a full minute, seven bald men started to emerge as they stared down at her with mocking smiles.
Each of them wore rough clothing while holding clubs and axes in their hands. The moment her senses caught wind of them and their evil intentions, she knew exactly who they were.
They were just a group of bandits that had been appearing some time ago outside of Chengdu City. She could also see that all of them were simply third-rate warriors, not worth mentioning at all.
Tang Soso's eyes rolled back in annoyance under her thick blindfold. Of course, bandits would eventually appear when one travels anywhere outside the city...
"Well, well... stop right there, young lass! Hand us all your money and possessions, and we shall let you live quietly! Otherwise, hehehe... That petite body of yours could do us a great service after a really long day..."
In response, Tang Soso could only sigh.
'This again? Really?'
Without even exerting any effort, Tang Soso simply flicked her sleeves and pulled her fist back as far as she could. Qi started to flow through her hands and she marched straight towards the bandit.
At first, the bandits laughed as they saw a small girl like Tang Soso trying to attack them casually. Her delicate fist doesn't look threatening at all. One of them even went as far as approaching her with his belly out, taunting her to try hitting him since he thought it would simply bounce off...
However, that turned out to be the biggest mistake of their life.
Without realizing it, Tang Soso suddenly disappeared from her spot and reappeared in front of the man in mid-air. A fist suddenly appeared right in front of his face shooting forward at a high speed!
"...Huh?"
BAM!
POW!
BOOM!
...
...
...
As expected, it doesn't take much effort on her part.
After two minutes of one-sided beatdown, Tang Soso finally settled down, standing above a bloody patch of grass with a slight smile on her face.
Right beneath her feet, the group of bald bandits lie down on the dirt path, completely bruised and beaten like a pulp. Some of them only ended up with just a broken nose, while most of them got their bones broken miserably, rendering them crippled for the time being.
'What a waste of time... These walking meatheads couldn't even put up any resistance against my simple attacks and I didn't manage to test out my new blade! Oh well... I guess I should be glad to be strong enough to annihilate them...'
Tang Soso glanced back at the group of men who lay miserably on the ground. She could hear them groaning in pain from her beatdown a moment ago.
'Hm... they are all still alive though. Killing them would be boring, but leaving them alone would be a terrible idea since these brick-heads would definitely harass other passersby...' she thought as she looked at their faces still full of grudges.
Hm...
Hmm...
Hmmmmm...
Argh! Who cares!
'I'll just do a little something and get going.'
With that thought, Tang Soso spent the last ten minutes stripping their clothes and looting their belongings. Some items that she found useful, such as food and daggers. They were stored inside her bag on her shoulder to sell later on, while the rest were thrown away among the bushes.
Now that that's out of the way, it's time for the real fun.
Tang Soso quickly started carrying their naked bodies on her shoulder and tied them upside down on nearby trees. Their elephants were hanging out shamelessly on full display to anyone who happened to pass by this forest.
To finish it off, she shoved some crumpled pile of leaves into their mouths as a gag, so that nobody will be able to call for help.
Some of the bandits who were still awake could only stare without being able to move, completely mortified by her actions and their soon-coming fate...
Tang Soso isn't a kindhearted girl. Not only does she strip them of their fighting abilities and belongings, but she goes even further and also strips her enemies of their dignity!
After she finished her shitshow and got a brief chuckle, she quickly got back on track to go to the old cave.
She continued walking north through the expanse of small trees...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
Somewhere within the vicinity of the northern forest where only trees could be spotted, a large camp could be spotted along with dozens of bandits guarding it.
The camp wasn't too big in size but was comfortable enough to house a bunch of bandits within. A large campfire was erected at the center, bringing warmth to everything around it.
A large man sat on a piece of log near the large campfire staring off into the sunset...
"Hmm... my subordinates are taking longer than usual today..."
He is Yu Di, the leader of this forest's bandit group.
"I'm sure I told today's group to just guard the southern part of this forest, where even villagers rarely pass by... What is taking them so long? It has been hours since they have last reported to me..." he exclaimed as a visible frown was plastered all over his face.
Yu Di was currently on edge. He was a little afraid...
What if the reason that today's squad hasn't come back was because they were annihilated by something? Did the authorities of the Tang Clan located just south of them finally see them as a threat and decide to dispatch a powerful squad before them?
Or maybe... Did they happen to accidentally ambush a wandering powerful martial master? Nah, that can't be...
Regardless of what happened, his small banditry cannot afford to face off against any of these powerful forces. He must check up on them and find out what happened!
With that thought, he got up with a determined expression and rushed towards the camp's exit!
He turned to the bandits on the side that was guarding the camp and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Wake up you bunch of lazy asses! You two over there, stop sleeping! Follow me to the rear! We've got idiots to beat up!"
After Yu Di commanded, eleven other bandits got up and joined him. They hurried along with him and rushed towards the southern side of the forest!
It took a little over twelve minutes for him and his crew to arrive at the place.
However, when they all stood before the southern entrance, they were astounded by the sight before them. Yu Di saw seven bald men who he remembered were part of his banditry tied to the tree, naked and upside down. They were all covered in bruises and had their faces swollen, seemingly from being punched and beaten like dogs.
"What the hell..."
One of his crew realized his boss' grim expression and took the initiative to pull the leaf gags out of their mouths. After being freed from the gags, the tied-up crew could speak freely once again...
"Hello, boss."
"Hi, boss."
"Nice to meet you, boss."
"It's been a while, boss."
"Did you have a ni-"
"STOP BEING SO CASUAL, YOU BUNCH OF DIMWITS!! TELL ME WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE! HOW DID THIS HAPPENED IN THE FIRST PLACE!? WHO DID THIS!?" Yu Di yelled at them with impatience.
The crew who were still tied to the trees heard his words and briefly hesitated. The image of a small, petite girl who was standing in front of the forest beating them up appeared in their minds and they shuddered out of fear. But at the same time, they were completely ashamed of who they lost to.
The tied-up bandits turned towards each other and made a strange expression as if saying, 'Should we really tell the boss who did it? We would be butchered alive by the boss if he found out.'
Without any other choice, the bandits could only gulp and turned back towards their boss with a forced smile.
"Boss, it was a passing martial master. He had the body of a giant and his fists were as big as a tree trunk. Not to mention, his flesh is seemingly tougher than steel and thoroughly crushed our bones like it was nothing!"
"Indeed, boss! When we encountered him, we had no choice but to get beaten up without mercy and his sadistic nature drove him to tie us naked to these trees!"
"That's right! That man's face was as fierce as a beast and his ragged long red hair resembled a raging fire! We were lucky to be spared with just some light wounds and not have our bodies blown away!"
"Boss, the martial master is a demon incarnate! I propose that we should just let this grudge go and leave!"
Hearing his beaten-up subordinates' plead, Yu Di's expression continued to turn grimmer. The more he heard the tied-up bandits' words, the more he felt shivers crawling down his legs.
This is because the descriptions that his subordinates gave out had struck a similarity to a certain someone...
The Longmen Mountain Fist Demon!
An extremely powerful martial artist of the Transcendent Realm that dwells within the Longmen mountain range. What's more terrifying is that he cultivated a powerful sinister demonic art that was on par with those of the ten great sects!
It was said that one of his punches could send dozens of boulders flying and his stomp alone could subdue large armies!
Just thinking of this man appearing in this forest sent Yu Di, a mere first-rate martial artist into shaking in his boots. His anxiety immediately went through the roof as he realized this.
Such a fearsome man has been walking around his forest all this time and his subordinates have attacked him!? This place is not a safe place anymore!
"Retreat! We must retreat! We must flee as far away as we could from this place and never return! You bastards, let's go to our base and snatch all of our belongings. It's time for us to leave Sichuan and never return!!"
None of his men dared to go against his words and complied immediately.
With that last sentence, Yi Du and his men tucked their tails between their legs and ran as quickly as they could toward the forest, packing all of their belongings.
That same night, the sounds of footsteps echoed throughout the forest north of Chengdu. Ever since then, no bandits could be seen around the area...
At that moment, Tang Soso has acciden- ...single-handedly kicked a bandit group out of Sichuan...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
'Hmm... it should be this one!'
Sitting on a large rock, Tang Soso held a small map in her hand as she quietly stared into the sky, pondering her options. Right in front of her was the entrance to a small cave that was brimming with dust and darkness.
After observing the surroundings one last time, Tang Soso quickly breathed a sigh of relief. This was indeed the cave she was looking for.
'I didn't think it was so hard to find a large opening in the middle of the forest. Moreover, this map didn't help either! I can't feel anything when I rub my hands on this thing! Thank god I questioned one of the bandits before I got here...'
Without wasting time, she quickly got off the large rock and began approaching the cave.
'Here we go...'
Tang Soso took a large step inside the dusty cave and felt the humid air within. The sounds of her footsteps echoed through the surroundings as the strong smell of earth entered her nose.
At this moment, she stopped in her tracks as her Qi Sense scanned the cave thoroughly. Her Qi Sense travels through channel after channel deep within the cave. Every hole, wall, and ceiling of the cave was scanned thoroughly before she finally retracted her Qi Sense a minute later. Everything looks quite normal without any trace of humans or beasts. It looks just like an ordinary old cave.
It seems like there are no dangers within this cave!
Tang Soso could only smile as she nodded to herself. It seems like her plans here won't be obstructed by anything today and she can freely take her time to gather the grey moss around here. For once, life decided to go easy on her!
'However... why do I feel uneasy all of a sudden?'
There seems to be no danger at all, even when she strained her Qi Sense to the fullest. However, her instincts are screaming within her brain to leave this place immediately...
Was it perhaps just her paranoia?
'Oh well... let's just keep going forward and see what happens...' she gulped nervously.
With that thought in mind, she continued to delve deeper inside the cave...
Going inside the deep darkness, she continued to descend through the tunnels as the sound of dripping water could be heard. She leaped around the rough terrain as her Qi Sense continued to spread out, acting like her guiding light.
After ten minutes, she had already gone around a hundred meters deep into the ground. The cave tunnels have visibly gotten way smaller and the stones surrounding her have gotten darker.
Due to the cramped space, Tang Soso now couldn't move around as easily as before, which in turn, slows down her speed. However, she didn't mind it at all. She's already very well prepared to spend a lot of time down here.
Thinking that she had gone deep enough, she quietly stopped in her tracks and looked around.
'Hm... Yes, this should be deep enough! Now...'
She quietly approaches a nearby cave wall. As she approached closer, Tang Soso quietly pulled out the Black Tiger Tooth while her Qi flowed along into the dagger, giving it a dim white glow.
As it went closer to the cavern wall, the dim glow shone against the walls and revealed an ordinary stone surface with nothing but dust.
However, the moment the light from her Qi got even closer, some grey pores started to burrow out from under the stone surface and reflect the light of the Qi, as if they were consuming it. After a few seconds, those particles formed into a thick layer of grey mold that shone like a metal.
Seeing this, Tang Soso's eyes shone as she finally found what she was looking for...
'And here it is... the Earth Devouring Mold from the legend of the bandit king, right before my eyes...'
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
ThreeBigHotMen
ThreeBigHotMen I tend to wish I could go back to when I was a seventh grader and started grinding my skills earlier to chase my dreams. Although I may lack many things back then, at least I have plenty of time on my hands.
Status de energia semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Pedra de
Poder