Chapter 74: The Mysterious Mountain Bandits (Part 1)

  It was early autumn, and the heat wave was raging. The sultry weather made everyone feel lethargic. Ma Biao walked back and forth in the team, cheering everyone up, "Everyone, cheer up! After passing the mountain pass ahead, it's just a seven or eight mile walk, and we'll arrive at Wulipeng. Once we get to Wulipeng, we can rest for half an hour."

  Ma Biao's loud shout made everyone's spirits shake, and the speed of the convoy immediately increased by a fraction.

  Wuliping is a meadow surrounded by mountains, about five miles in circumference, hence the name. A small stream runs through the meadow and gathers into a pond of about 15 meters in diameter in the middle, with several large trees on the edge of the pond that are difficult for three people to encircle, casting a large area of shade.

  Under the command of Wen Jin and Li Tou, the team stopped under the largest walnut tree. After rushing for half a day under the scorching sun, they could finally take a breath. The porters sat down in the shade with a thud, too lazy to move again.

  Some young porters came to the edge of the pond, put their heads into the water and took a refreshing drink. Then they opened their clothes, used towels to dip in the stream, wiped themselves on their bodies, and made comfortable sounds in their mouths.

  Li Tou hurriedly got a few carters to pull some fodder for the horses, and said to several young men who were greedy for coolness: "When you are sweating profusely, you should avoid cold water stimulation. You don't feel anything now when you're young, but when you get older, you'll know how terrible it is."

  The young man just indulged in the coolness and took his words as a breeze in his ear. He shook his head, too lazy to persuade him again.

  Xiao Ziyang sat far away under another walnut tree, with a blade of grass in his mouth, gazing at the distant blue sky and white clouds, lost in thought.

  It was high noon, under the scorching heat, the coachmen and carters, some leaning against the big carts, others sprawling on the grass, had all fallen asleep, except for the sound of horses' snoring and snorting, there were no other sounds.

  At this moment, Xiao Ziyang, who was sitting under the tree with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes and looked at a mountain ditch on one side of the lawn with a hint of puzzlement.

  He heard a very strange sound coming from deep in the valley.

  The rustling sound was like many people walking in the mountain valley.

  If it's true that dozens of people are walking in the mountain valley, but he can't hear a single sound except for footsteps. It's as if a group of mutes is coming from deep within the valley.

  The sound gradually approached the ditch, becoming more and more distinct, finally startling several escorts in the convoy. They shouted, ordering the porters to be on guard.

  With the shouting from this side, the footsteps in the mountain valley paused for a moment and then continued.

  After a while, the footsteps finally walked out of the mountain valley and came to the grassland. One person, two people, three people... more and more people poured out of the mountain valley. Looking at their clothes, they were messy and dirty, many people even had disheveled hair and dirty faces, but they carried knives and swords on their backs, clearly they were the thieves in this mountain.

  Suddenly, so many mountain bandits appeared before their eyes, and the escorts' faces changed greatly.

  The mountain bandits came out of the valley and slightly adjusted their direction, heading towards the convoy.

  As they gradually drew closer, after seeing the situation in the group of mountain bandits opposite them, whether it was the leader of the escorts or Xiao Ziyang, both had a slight change in expression, revealing a look of puzzlement.

  The mountain bandits did not have the joy of meeting a fat sheep on their faces, but instead one by one hung their heads in despair, frightened and uneasy.

  On the periphery of this group of mountain bandits, more than a dozen strangely dressed mountain bandits formed a circle, surrounding the others in the middle.

  Dozens of mountain bandits in the encirclement seemed to be extremely fearful of these more than ten strangely dressed companions, all shrinking and crowding together, trying their best to keep a distance from them.

  More than a dozen mountain bandits outside, whether their clothes were messy and dirty or their hair was disheveled, were no different from the mountain bandits in the circle. They said that they looked strange because the skin on their hands and faces, which were exposed to the outside, were all pitch black, as if they had been poisoned and the toxic blood had spread throughout their bodies.

  These people also have a unique feature, which is the weapon in their hands. Most of them hold heavy weapons such as broad axes, wolf-tooth clubs and iron hammers, with rust spots all over the blades, as if they were all cast from pure iron. If that's really the case, these weapons are probably each over 100 kilograms.

  Ma Qiang and Xiao Ziyang, both experienced men, noticed the heavy swords in their hands, but they had completely different judgments.

  It's not hard to tell from the strange attire on several bandits that they are ordinary bandits. Ma Biao naturally didn't believe that some ordinary bandits could use such heavy weapons, wouldn't that mean these bandits were all first-rate external family masters?

  Unlike Ma Biao, who was certain that these people were pretending to be ghosts, Xiao Ziyang looked at the dark purple skin and the terrifying heavy weapons in their hands, but his face showed an extremely solemn expression.

  The group of mountain bandits stopped about fifty feet in front of the convoy, hesitating and pushing each other.

  Ma Biao took a step forward, cupped his hands together, and was about to say some polite words when suddenly the black-faced mountain bandit walking at the front pointed at the convoy with a large axe in his hand and said: "You're coming with us."

  This man's voice was stiff and straightforward, devoid of any emotion. His dark face was as expressionless as a piece of wood, but the meaning behind his words was extremely overbearing. He not only wanted to rob the goods, but also spared no one in the caravan.

  Ma Biao's face sank at the words, and he said coldly: "You're a friend from that village, yet you don't understand the rules. Aren't you afraid of slapping your own tongue?"

  The black-faced bandit opened his mouth stiffly again: "Don't go, die!" After that, he didn't say a word, raised the board axe in his hand and chopped it down on Ma Biao's head.

  Xiao Ziyang was carefully observing the black-faced mountain bandits from a distance, not expecting them to be so ferocious that they would kill at the slightest disagreement. He hastily unfolded his body technique and darted forward, but was one step too late.

  Ma Biao saw that his opponent was so ferocious and coldly snorted, pulling out the long knife in his hand by half a foot, with both hands clasping the scabbard upwards.

  Clang! A deafening crash, the axe and knife met, Ma Bing's face instantly revealed a shocked and desperate expression. He felt that he was not blocking a board axe with his knife, but a falling giant pillar, which carried an unstoppable force.

  Ma Biao's block seemed to have no effect on the axe, and the blade pressed against the long knife and heavily struck Ma Biao's shoulder. With a clear and audible cracking sound, Ma Biao's body suddenly flew horizontally, and then, with a gust of wind, it was thrown heavily to the ground.

  On the ground where Ma Biao's head fell, a large stone was embedded, protruding from the ground as big as a fist. With his fierce impact, this stone was actually smashed into his chest cavity. In an instant, Ma Biao's mouth and nose were like a fountain, spewing out bright red blood several feet high, and he seemed to be dead.