Chapter 4

"Die together?"

Yang Yuan's eyes were full of ridicule. A malnourished, stinky kid wanted to take him down with him?

That fist couldn't even kill a chicken, let alone a person.

It wouldn't even scratch his armor.

He really didn't know where this kid got his confidence.

Yang Yuan suddenly stopped his blade, looking at the vine armor the other side was about to hit him with, preparing to play with him until he died.

"Idiot, my armor can't even be cut by a blade, your little fist is like scratching an itch..."

"Bang!"

The moment Yang Yuan was hit by the other side's fist, he felt as if his stomach had been kicked by a horse. He spat out a mouthful of blood and flew backward.

Yang Yuan crashed heavily into a tree, blood flowing from his mouth, his face full of disbelief and pain.

"How... How is this possible..."

How could a child have so much strength! He was thrown several meters away.

Looking down at the vine armor, it had already burst.

Yang Yuan tried to get up, swaying, but he had already spat blood, indicating his internal organs were damaged.

Sure enough, he didn't get up, staring with wide eyes, dying with a face full of unwillingness, anger, and shock.

He never thought he would die here, at the hands of a child he looked down upon.

Jiang Ping'an panted heavily, the fear on his face not fading.

He had wanted to die with the other side, but he never expected his full-strength punch to be so powerful.

He was just a child of fourteen or fifteen! He actually knocked someone flying!

This so-called cultivation was stronger than he had imagined.

"Ugh~"

Jiang Ping'an knelt on the ground, vomiting, his body trembling.

It was his first time killing someone, and he didn't know why, but he felt like vomiting.

A mix of excitement and fear surged in his heart.

He was excited because he had taken the path of cultivation and eliminated an oppressive soldier.

He was also afraid because of this. The other side wasn't just one person; the entire Ping Shui County had four thousand armed soldiers.

If the other soldiers found out he had killed one of their comrades, they would definitely seek revenge.

With his current abilities, he would surely die!

Jiang Ping'an quickly suppressed his nausea and other emotions, dragging the soldier's body away.

He thought for a moment and buried the soldier in a graveyard.

Before burying him, he took all the money from the soldier's body, a total of more than three hundred copper coins and a silver ingot.

In addition, he found a book.

The book was called "Sword Technique."

It had pictures and content, which wasn't hard to remember.

After burying the body and driving away the soldier's horse, he sat on the grave and quickly memorized the contents of the book.

He didn't know how to fight, and with this "Sword Technique," he could increase his combat ability.

In this chaotic era, learning more was definitely a good thing.

Out of caution, Jiang Ping'an didn't bury the soldier's sword too deep, so he could use it if he encountered danger.

For the next two days, Jiang Ping'an practiced the breathing technique when he had spirit stones, and learned the sword technique when he didn't.

During this time, he was always on edge, afraid that the soldiers would come looking for him.

Fortunately, they didn't. When he went to the town to buy food, he heard that there were signs of imperial soldiers at the county border, and many soldiers had gone out to search.

Jiang Ping'an felt relieved. After so many days, they probably wouldn't find him anymore.

"Snap~"

On the third day after killing the soldier, Jiang Ping'an used spirit stones to open his second meridian, successfully advancing to the second level of Qi cultivation.

This time, he used twice as many spirit stones as before, a total of twenty.

Jiang Ping'an found that the next breakthrough would require twice as many spirit stones, forty in total.

Although it consumed a lot, it didn't matter. He had plenty of time to replicate spirit stones.

Jiang Ping'an suddenly used his legs to jump onto a roof more than two meters high.

He was stronger than when he was at the first level of Qi cultivation, and he was so happy he wanted to cheer.

Just as he was about to cheer, he suddenly lay down on the roof and peeked behind the house.

Through the weeds, he saw five figures.

These five people were crouching, holding weapons, and slowly approaching his house.

"Didn't we raid this village? Why is there still smoke coming from the chimney?"

"Maybe we missed someone, or it's a refugee."

"Great, I hope it's a woman."

Although the five men's voices were low, Jiang Ping'an's hearing had improved, and he could clearly hear their conversation.

Jiang Ping'an's eyes instantly turned red, and he tightly gripped the weeds, his body trembling.

They were bandits!

And they were the bandits who had slaughtered the villagers!

They had to die!

Jiang Ping'an wanted to jump down and deal with them directly, but he gave up the idea when he saw their weapons.

Although he was strong, he was just one person, and he was still a child. They had weapons in their hands.

His father had told him that he should never be arrogant, no matter what.

He quietly dropped down from the other side of the house and ran to where the soldier's body was buried.

There, the soldier's military sword was buried.

He took the military sword and quietly returned to the vicinity of the thatched cottage.

The bandits came out of his room, cursing.

"Nobody? Did they run away when they saw us?"

"Maybe they went out to cut firewood. Two of us hide in the room, and three outside, waiting for them to come back."

The five men immediately hid, preparing to ambush.

Jiang Ping'an watched them from the shadows, his eyes cold.

After about the time it took to burn an incense stick, the two men hiding behind the door became impatient.

"Did the people here really run away? Otherwise, they wouldn't leave the room with a fire burning for so long."

"Damn, what a waste of time!"

A scar-faced man came out of the room, "Brother Leopard, let's not wait. Let's take the rice and flour and go."

The courtyard was quiet, with no response.

"Brother Leopard?" The scar-faced man called out again, hearing no response.

At that moment, a cold light flashed above him, and the scar-faced man's head fell to the ground, blood spurting.

"Brother Knife!"

The men in the room were shocked, looking at the teenager who had dropped from the roof, shouting, "Brother Leopard! There's someone here! He killed Brother Knife!"

"They're already dead."

Jiang Ping'an, holding the bloodied military sword, walked straight toward them. Being shorter, the sword dragged on the ground, sparking.

The remaining bandit stared in horror.

"Impossible! How could a kid like you silently kill Brother Leopard and the others!"

This child was short, about the height of a sword. Even if he could kill someone, he couldn't do it so quietly unless he had instantly killed Brother Leopard and the others!

But this kid couldn't be that strong!

Jiang Ping'an didn't speak, his eyes cold and indifferent.

For some reason, being stared at by these eyes made the bandit feel like he was being watched by a wolf, and his body trembled uncontrollably.

"I'm from Great King Mountain! If you touch me, the bandits of Great King Mountain won't let you off! Your whole family will die!"

"My family is already dead."

Jiang Ping'an raised his sword, and the bandit tried to fight back, but he was no match for the teenager's speed.

"Thud~"

Another body fell.

The bandit's eyes were wide open, full of disbelief. He couldn't believe that a child had killed five bandits who were used to killing, and the child's sword technique was very smooth, as if he had been trained.

Jiang Ping'an's arm trembled. Although this was his second time killing, his body was still trembling with fear.

But it was much better than the first time.

He put down the sword and skillfully searched the bandits' bodies. Being poor, he felt that everything was valuable and didn't want to waste anything on their bodies.

"Hmm? What's this?"