Chapter One: Perplexity

  Gao Hua Yuan's heart skipped a beat, thinking to himself that things had taken a turn for the worse. These people seemed to have come prepared, determined to capture him and demand ransom. They must have been eyeing him for some time now, and it was unlikely that he could talk his way out of this situation. With this thought in mind, he stopped trying to rely on his eloquence to get out of this predicament. He casually unbuttoned his outer shirt, took it off and tossed it aside, revealing a set of dark green exercise clothes underneath, with a leather pouch visible at his waist.

  "So you've been targeting me all along! Well, in that case, I'd like to see just how capable you are and whether you can take down someone like me!" Gao Huaiyuan stood firmly, his hands naturally hanging by his sides as the muscles throughout his body began to relax, his fingers twitching slightly.

  Gao Huaiyuan's actions made the bandits feel somewhat surprised. The leader of the bandits looked at Gao Huaiyuan's sturdy and strong physique, his eyebrows jumped a few times, and he suddenly burst out laughing again.

  "Haha! You're quite arrogant, little kid. With your small build, how many nails can you even hammer? So you're a practitioner's son, huh? Well, I'd love to see what kind of skills you have! Come on! Get him tied up for me! And this little girl isn't bad-looking either. After I'm done with her, she'll be yours!" The bandit leader cackled maniacally as he ordered his underlings.

  Liu'er's face turned pale as she listened, and she quickly returned to the carriage, rummaging through it to find a pair of scissors which she tightly grasped in her hand. At this moment, she had no intention of being captured by the bandits and living a life of humiliation; she had made up her mind that if they caught her, she would use the scissors to stab herself in the throat rather than be insulted by these thieves.

  Gao Huaiyuan's anger flared up upon hearing these words, and he couldn't help but feel a strong urge to kill. He thought that while it was understandable for poor people to rob and steal to make a living, these men were clearly a bunch of rascals who had likely done such things many times before. And yet they dared to insult Liu'er - they deserved to be killed.

  The men with clubs around them, upon hearing the boss's order, immediately swung their clubs and rushed towards Gao Huaiyuan and Xue Yan, wanting to knock them down. However, Gao Huaiyuan's right hand flashed like lightning at his waist, then shook vigorously, and three cold lights flew out of his hand. The two men were caught off guard, immediately dropped their clubs, and let out a miserable scream as they fell to the ground, each with bloodstains on their chest.

  Gao Huairen secretly called out in dismay, the three flying knives only hit two people. It seems that his flying knife technique still needs to be practiced, but he didn't have time to think about these things at this moment. After landing a hit, he took advantage of the enemy's shock and threw out another three flying knives, hitting two more people, one fell to the ground, and the other retreated while covering their shoulder and screaming in pain.

  The thieves suddenly became chaotic, one of them didn't come down, and four people fell on this side, things seem to be going terribly wrong!

  Xue Yan saw Gao Huaiyuan take action and didn't dare to be slow, although he was a bit nervous. He grabbed a wooden stick from the carriage and swung it at one of the attackers, hitting him hard on the head. The attacker wasn't prepared and didn't expect Xue Yan to react so quickly. He tried to block the attack with his arms, but they were too weak and were hit by the stick. The attacker stumbled back two steps, sat down, and fell backwards, losing consciousness.

  That thieving head didn't expect things to change so drastically, and after being stunned for a moment, he hastily shouted: "Ah! Zhangzi is making his move! He's using hidden weapons, brothers let's go together!"

  He himself swung his sword and rushed up, not intending to give Gao Huaiyuan another chance. The others also reacted and rushed up again. Gao Huaiyuan took advantage of their momentary distraction and threw out three flying knives. This time, the aim was not good, and only one person was injured, with the knife stuck in his arm. Wanting to pull out the flying knife again, there was already no time.

  So Gao Huairen immediately gave up using the flying knife, lifted his foot and picked up a long stick that his opponent had thrown on the ground, swung it around, and immediately fought with these guys.

  At this moment, the power of his training as a lone cultivator from the Three Mountains was revealed. His High Embracing Far-Off Body Technique was extremely agile, and although he was surrounded by enemies on all sides, he didn't become flustered in the slightest. He moved through the midst of his foes with ease, the long staff in his hand whipping up a gust of wind as it struck down another bandit with a single swing, sending him flying. As that man fell to the ground, he silently collapsed onto the earth, unconscious and unknown whether dead or alive.

  The road suddenly became lively, with shouts and killings filling the air. Xue Yan tightly protected the donkey cart and fought with the three robbers. Before long, he was stabbed in the arm, but fortunately, his clothes were thick, so the wound wasn't too serious. However, this stirred up his ferocity, and with a swing of his wooden stick, he knocked to the ground the man who had stabbed him, scaring off the other two robbers, who retreated and couldn't get close to the donkey cart.

  Although Gao Huaiyuan's moves were not many, his basic skills were solid and tight. After a long time of practicing with San Shan San Ren, he often fought against Huang Yan and Zhou Huan, making his dodging skills excellent. With the brute force in his hands, he forced five or six bandits to keep their distance, and they were shocked by his immense power, not daring to approach easily, only shouting and surrounding Gao Huaiyuan, not allowing him to throw flying knives again.

  Gao Huairen became more courageous as the battle raged on, not fearing these bandits who outnumbered him. Once in this situation, he found himself even calmer than before, perhaps due to having had a near-death experience, making him fearless in such fights!

  Again, he spotted a guy's move and used an old trick. Gao Huaiyuan swung his stick over and hit the guy right in the face, causing him to bleed profusely. The guy flew backward, covering his face and wailing in agony.

  The several thieves were frightened again, and they really couldn't understand how a rich boy like Gao Huaiyuan could have such powerful kung fu skills. The leader of the thieves saw that this was not working, so he shouted fiercely: "All of you get up together! I don't believe we can't defeat this kid with so many people! Get him!"

  Gao Huairen immediately felt a great deal of pressure, and after continuously fending off several opponents' attacks, he had no choice but to start retreating. However, relying on his powerful arms, he suddenly sent one guy's single-edged sword flying with a swing of his staff. But the wooden staff in his hand was also chopped off by the opponent at the same time, turning it into a short club, and the situation suddenly became tense.

  These thieves, seeing that Gao Huaiyuan's long club had broken, suddenly became arrogant again and rushed over to attack him, wanting to take advantage of his misfortune. Gao Huaiyuan was helpless and could only retreat once more, exerting himself to dodge these guys' encirclement, and sweat began to appear on his forehead.

  Because the object in his hand was not handy, Gao Huaiyuan accidentally got hit a few times and his clothes were torn. The situation suddenly became tense. Xue Yan, who was not far away, also cried out in pain. Gao Huaiyuan quickly glanced over and saw that Xue Yan had been stabbed again and was kneeling on the ground with one leg. You Zi was still fighting against two enemies with a wooden stick, which made Gao Huaiyuan even more anxious.

  The result was more and more chaotic, another oversight, and he was heavily hit on the back with a stick. The blow made his body lean forward, and a man immediately swung his knife to chop him down, leaving Gao Huaiyuan nowhere to hide. So he could only grit his teeth, thinking that today is inevitable, no matter what, I'll just die again, damn it, I'll fight back too!

  Thinking of this, he not only didn't retreat but instead exerted force under his feet and charged forward fiercely, suddenly colliding into the man's face. The man's arm couldn't be withdrawn immediately, swinging to his back. In an instant, the two faced each other, their noses almost touching. The man let out a strange cry, hastily withdrawing his foot in an attempt to retreat. Gao Huairen wouldn't give him this opportunity. Seeing that the short rod in his hand was no longer needed, he immediately lifted his right leg high, his knee like a heavy hammer, heavily striking the man's crotch. This kick was very forceful, actually lifting the man off the ground, bouncing him up.

  The guy felt a sharp pain in his crotch, so painful that he couldn't even cry out, his hand loosened and the knife fell to the ground, both hands covered his crotch, his waist arched like a shrimp, his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets, his mouth was open but no sound came out, then slowly fell to one side.

  Gao Huaiyuan didn't have time to look at the guy's miserable state, taking advantage of the moment when he loosened his grip and dropped the knife. With one swift motion, Gao caught the single-edged sword with his left hand, feeling a sense of relief wash over him once again. His right arm swung out, and with a fierce cry, he flung the short club in his hand at the bandit who was charging towards him. The bandit hadn't expected Gao to throw the club, and let out a startled yelp as his head crashed into it. He stumbled backward, tripping over his own feet, and landed on his back with a thud, seeing stars before his eyes. As he lay on the ground, he wailed loudly: "Damn it! How dare you hit me?! Kill him for me! Don't leave any witnesses! Ahh... my head..."

  At this time, Gao Huaiyuan's opponent was left with only three people. The three of them saw that even their boss had been defeated by Gao Huaiyuan and suddenly became a little flustered. However, they didn't dare to escape, so the three of them gritted their teeth and desperately rushed towards Gao Huaiyuan as if they were determined to die.