The 43rd Chapter: Eliminating Bandits

  Last night's celebration didn't end until the second watch, after which Ximen Qing followed Shi Yan to his home and rested for a night. The next morning, after getting up and washing up, Ximen Qing and Shi Yan led their horses out of the house.

  The bandits on Jinshan Mountain must be eradicated, if they are not eliminated and left to cause future troubles, it will be a disaster for the Shi family village and other villages. The loss caused by the mountain bandits is more terrible than that of locusts and floods, Ximen Qing absolutely cannot tolerate such things happening!

  Leading the horse to the village entrance, he saw five farmers holding sickles or iron hoes guarding the bound Jinshan and others. After being seriously injured by Ximen Qing's arrow yesterday, Jinshan had been paralyzed all over his body until this morning when he could move slightly, but every movement made him grit his teeth in pain. What made him even more terrified was that he found his internal energy gone, his dantian seemed to have a hole punched through it, and all his internal energy had leaked out completely. Jinshan was almost crying, after years of hard practice, the internal energy he had finally cultivated from the trashy inner skill method was gone, how could his heart bear it? Without internal energy, he was now just an ordinary person!

  Jinshan, who was scolding, saw Ximen Qing coming and was so frightened that he suddenly shuddered. He quickly lowered his head and didn't dare to look at Ximen Qing again. Yesterday, Ximen Qing's ghostly skills were too terrifying, leaving a shadow in his heart. Now seeing Ximen Qing approaching, his heart was filled with fear, trembling violently as if it was about to jump out.

  Ximen Qing greeted a few farmers and then walked to the front of Jinshan, immediately squatting down and laughing: "Alright, stop pretending to sleep. If you continue to pretend to sleep, I'll cut off your four limbs and turn them into human clubs!"

  Jinshan suddenly trembled, hastily lifted his head, and immediately gritted his teeth to endure the pain all over his body. He knelt down and begged for mercy: "Great hero, spare my life! I am also a poor commoner by birth. Because of the court's misrule, I was forced to become a bandit in the mountains. Please, great hero, spare my life and let me go!"

  Ximen Qing narrowed his eyes, like a sharp sword scanning Jinshan, scaring him speechless. Ximen Qing said: "Since you are from a poor and humble background, why come to rob the common people? Murdering, arson, looting, you are simply worse than beasts! Now tell me about your gathering at Jinshan, if there is any omission, be careful with your dog head, believe it or not, I can burst your skull with just one finger!"

  Jinshan was so frightened that he nodded his head repeatedly, saying: "Yes, yes, yes, great hero, I believe it, I'll say everything. There are more than 60 bandits in our Jinshan gang, and this time I only brought out 20 people, there are still over 40 people staying in the mountain stronghold..."

  However, after a while, Jinshan detailed the situation of Juyin Mountain, from defense deployment to his own concubine who was robbed from somewhere, he told one by one.

  Ximen Qing then mounted his horse with Shi Yan and the two of them galloped towards Julu Mountain.

  Jinshan, the most formidable figure on Mount Jinshan, has already been abandoned. The small fries on Mount Jinshan are even more vulnerable to attack, so this time, Ximen Qing brought along Fang Tianhua's halberd.

  Jinshan Mountain is located fifty miles outside of Shijia Village. It's a steep small mountain with three connected peaks, each only 134 meters high, but the terrain is extremely treacherous. The slopes are covered in jagged rocks, making it difficult to climb from other areas. The bandits' lair is situated on the middle peak, which is shielded by the two adjacent mountains. The bandits took advantage of this and built many roadblocks and traps, making it impossible to reach the lair quickly and safely except through the main path in the middle. However, this path has a checkpoint guarded by bandit sentries, who will immediately sound the alarm if anyone approaches, alerting everyone in the lair.

  Ximen Qing and Shi Qian rushed to the foot of Juling Mountain and stopped. They looked at the mountain path that led directly to the Zhongfeng Mountain bandit's lair, not far away. Shi Qian asked: "Brother Ximen, how do we get up there? If we take this mountain path, we'll be discovered by the bandits on the mountain as soon as we go up. They'll shoot arrows and throw stones at us, and we'll be in trouble. My idea is that we attack from the two mountains on either side. Although these two mountains are steep and have mechanisms, if we're careful, we can sneak into the bandit's lair without being detected. What do you think?"

  Ximen Qing looked at the mountain path and then at the peaks on both sides, and immediately smiled and shook his head, saying: "It's too much trouble to go up from the side, and it's also a waste of time. We'll just walk up the mountain path directly. Don't worry, I'll make sure these mountain bandits don't even have a chance to shoot arrows!"

  Ximen Qing was still very confident in his own unfeathered arrow skills.

  Upon hearing Ximen Qing's words, Shi Yan also nodded in agreement, fully believing in Ximen Qing, saying: "Alright, I'll take a good look at Emperor Yi's skills! Hehe..."

  After finishing speaking, the two of them tied up their horses and set off immediately, walking forward along the stairs. However, they hadn't gone more than twenty meters before being discovered by the little rascals upstairs.

  The two little rascals were both wearing gray long shirts, with gray turbans on their heads, looking at Ximen Qing and Shi Yan with a mixture of fear and respect, holding long spears towards the two men, asking: "Who are you? Why have you come to my Golden Mountain? Don't you know where this place is?"

  Just then, two sudden breaking wind sounds were heard, and the little rascal who had just finished speaking fell down, falling very neatly, and lying motionless on the ground.

  Ximen Qing smiled and said to Shi Yan, "Brother Shi Yan, let's go up!"

  Time changed his face with surprise, nodded, and followed Ximen Qing upstairs.

  The higher they went, the more rascals they met. Every time these rascals wanted to attack, they were knocked unconscious by Ximen Qing's stone.

  Seeing Ximen Qing's stone pellet dark weapon was extremely powerful, Shi Yan furrowed his brow and asked: "Yidi, I observe that your ultimate skill is surprisingly similar to General Zhang Qing's Featherless Arrow! He also used a single stone pellet to sweep away the enemy, causing them to retreat in fear!"

  Ximen Qing nodded and smiled, saying: "This is the arrow without feathers, naturally it's exactly the same as Zhang Qing's ultimate skill, haha... Zhang Qing is my younger brother-in-law, I learned this ultimate skill from my father-in-law!"

  "Oh? No wonder!" Shi Qian smiled and nodded his head.

  The two of them chatted and laughed, and before long they arrived at the mountain top. However, when they reached the mountain top, there were only fifteen little rascals left.

  "Who are you? Why have you come to attack our Golden Mountain Stronghold?! Let me tell you, our leader, the Great Golden Mountain Master, will be back soon! My master's martial arts skills are incredibly powerful and formidable. You'll be in for a treat when he arrives!" One of the fifteen trembling lackeys, who was slightly braver than the others, shouted out.

  Ximen Qing didn't even bother with him and instead shot fifteen pebbles in a swoop, knocking all the little rascals unconscious.

  "Damn it!" Ximen Qing muttered to himself and then entered the bandits' lair.

  Can't help but say that Jinshan still has some skills, this mountain stronghold is very good, every place is designed with precision. In front of the stronghold is a small square for training, and next to it is an armory, followed by the residence of the little rascals and the stables, and further back is Jinshan's residence, which is where the women who were taken up the mountain live.

  He had all the women in the stronghold called out, and all the money that Jinshan had plundered was brought out. Immediately, Ximen Qing informed these women of the news of Jinshan's capture, gave them enough travel expenses, and let them go down the mountain to return home. Afterwards, Ximen Qing and Shi Yan tied up all the bandits, locked them in the stronghold's prison, and then the two rode horses, carrying all the money down the mountain, heading towards Shi Family Village.

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