Chapter 8

The bandits, who had been dazed, were startled by the shout of the horseman and began to chase Zhang Jian. The horseman who had shouted also mounted his horse and chased Zhang Jian from the back.

“Stop right there, you brat!”

“I won’t.”

Zhang Jian chuckled and touched the wound on his forehead. It seemed to be a superficial cut. Although it wasn’t a serious injury, the blood was obstructing his vision. He roughly wiped it away with his hand and flicked it off to the side. There was no time to fuss over a small wound with thirty bandits chasing him from behind.

“Stop! Stop right there, you bastard!”

“Stop!”

After a short sprint, Zhang Jian glanced back. The bandits were chasing him in a ragged formation, depending on their riding skills and horsemanship. They truly looked like half-trained bandits.

Zhang Jian heard the horseman's breathing become rough. He had started to pant from the continuous sprint since the hill. Zhang Jian gently pulled the reins, and Jiao Zao, understanding his intention, subtly slowed down.

“Enough! That brat’s horse is tired!”

“Kill him! Pull him down!”

The bandit leading the charge was right behind Zhang Jian, raising his sword high. His teeth were jagged and his appearance was exceptionally vicious. The blade was designed to tear rather than cut.

At that moment, Zhang Jian suddenly pushed the saddle with both hands and spun around backward. The bandit was startled, his eyes widening in shock.

“What the hell?”

At the same time, a beam of light flashed from Zhang Jian’s waist, and the bandit’s right arm and head, which had been raised high, separated from his body and floated in the air.

“Ah! That brat killed Ah Yong!”

The other bandits following behind were startled and flinched. But among them, the brave ones spurred their horses to catch up with Zhang Jian.

“Just grab his legs! Then the boss will take care of it!”

“Get him!”

Two bandits, one with a medium-length spear and the other with a long-handled axe, flanked Zhang Jian. The one with the spear lunged at him. The spear was fast and chilling, a deadly strike.

However, Zhang Jian deflected the spear to the side with his sword. The blade and the spear shaft scraped against each other. The bandit, seeing his attack miss, quickly tried to pull the spear back. But Zhang Jian’s left hand was faster, grabbing the spear shaft.

The bandit laughed. He was one of the strongest in the bandit group. With the intention of knocking Zhang Jian off his horse, he pulled hard. Once on the ground, the other bandits on horseback would have the upper hand.

“Huh?”

The spear shaft didn’t budge. Instead, something seemed to penetrate his palm, making a sharp sound. Unable to bear the pain, the bandit let go of the spear shaft. As he released it, the wooden shaft snapped in the middle with a loud crack.

The bandit, clutching his torn and bleeding palm and his aching arm, fell back. The bandit with the long-handled axe, startled by the broken spear shaft, lost sight of Zhang Jian.

When he looked back, Zhang Jian’s blade was already cutting through the bandit’s neck.

“What is that brat? Is he using magic?”

The bandit with the injured hand slowly retreated, muttering in fear.

“You coward!”

At that moment, the horseman following behind smashed the bandit’s head with his bare hands. Blood and chunks of brain splattered, and the surrounding bandits watched in shock as he shouted.

“Chase him! Attack his horse! Get him to fall! If you can’t even leave a scratch on him, I’ll kill you! If you fall back now, I’ll kill you—! And I’ll definitely kill him—!”

The bandits, terrified by his menacing appearance, urged their horses forward in a hurry. Some even shouted to forget their fear. Zhang Jian, sitting backward, muttered to himself.

“What kind of lunatic is that? He’s not in his right mind.”

In Zhang Jian’s eyes, the horseman’s eyes were glowing a dark red. Zhang Jian nodded.

“The third leader, they all practice the same dark art. What a bunch of lunatics.”

The dark art, which starts with a quick temper and can lead to drinking human blood and flesh, has been practiced by many since the time of Xiang Yu, the Overlord of Chu. The dark art gathered internal energy much faster than ordinary qigong, sometimes several times, sometimes dozens of times faster, making it an irresistible temptation for many martial artists.

However, like Xiang Yu, who couldn’t control the madness of the dark art, most who practiced it became violent and bizarre, turning into inhuman, demonic beings. What good is the power to split mountains and part seas if you become a monster, driven mad by blood, unable to recognize your own mother and child?

Moreover, if one’s practice of the dark art was discovered, it wasn’t just a matter of being pursued by the martial arts alliance or ancient families. The empire and the imperial army would intervene. In the New Continent, where the empire’s influence was weak, demonic beings often appeared, which was a concern for the literati of the empire.

But most demonic beings were caught and killed by the martial arts alliance after causing a few deaths. The dark art, unlike other martial arts, couldn’t be practiced in seclusion for years in the mountains.

While Zhang Jian’s brief thoughts were passing through his mind, the enraged bandits were shouting and charging at him. Zhang Jian lightly kicked Jiao Zao’s side. The horse, understanding his intention, slowed down a bit.

Naturally, the bandits, who had been charging at full speed, began to catch up with Zhang Jian one by one. Due to the high speed, they couldn’t all attack him at once. At most, two or three could attack him at a time.

Zhang Jian, who wasn’t surrounded by thirty bandits, wasn’t about to lose to such bandits. He deflected weak attacks with his sword and countered, leaving deep cuts. For heavy weapons that could crush with their weight, he didn’t allow a single strike and attacked first. When one bandit tried to leap onto the saddle, Zhang Jian punched him in the chest with his left hand. The bandit, his internal organs shattered by the internal energy, spat blood and fell to the ground.

“Shit!”

“Die! Please!”

The bandits’ faces were contorted with fear of their leader chasing from behind. Though they looked pitiful, Zhang Jian didn’t show mercy. They were the ones who had slaughtered innocent civilians and gathered wealth. There was no reason to spare them.

Thus, the bandits, one by one, received deep cuts on their necks or bodies and fell off their horses to their deaths.

From behind, the horseman, watching the scene, saw his subordinates charge in groups of two or three, making clashing sounds, and then fall to the ground. Small cuts appeared on Zhang Jian’s clothes from the attacks, but they were just superficial.

He shouted.

“You idiots! Attack all at once! All at once!”

The bandits, who had been charging recklessly, regained their senses and slowly slowed down, trying to form a formation. Zhang Jian, sitting backward on Jiao Zao, flicked his sword and, with his left hand on the saddle, pulled his legs up. He was in a crouching position on the saddle.

Before the bandits could react, he leaped.

“What?”

“What the hell!”

Zhang Jian landed on a horse that had lost its rider and was running aimlessly with the other bandits. A dozen or so horses, left by the dead bandits, were galloping across the wilderness with the other bandits.

Zhang Jian didn’t stop there. He kicked the saddle and leaped again, swinging his sword. A bandit, who had been standing there in a daze, lost his head, and Zhang Jian kicked his body, leaping to the other side.

This time, a bandit with a grim expression fell, his foot caught in the stirrup, dragging him along. Zhang Jian kicked the saddle and landed on another empty horse.

To the bandits, it was a shocking sight. Leaping from horse to horse and swinging his sword, Zhang Jian looked like a high-ranking martial artist from the imperial palace, as described in stories.

As a result, the terrified bandits glanced back. They wanted to run from Zhang Jian’s ghostly skills, but their monstrous leader was chasing them with a fiery gaze.

Seeing their gaze, the horseman shouted.

“You fools! If you attack together when he’s in the air, it’s easy!”

The bandits, realizing this, raised their weapons and gathered. They were ready to stab Zhang Jian as soon as he leaped again.

Zhang Jian, however, didn’t move as they expected. He pulled the reins of the horse he was on and moved to the edge of their formation.

“You’re not attacking?”

A bandit, seeing Zhang Jian’s face as he approached, muttered stupidly. Zhang Jian smiled and stabbed the bandit in the side. The bandit made a single sound and fell to the ground. The horse following behind trampled him and fell over. The rider on top fell forward with a thud.

After easily dealing with two bandits, Zhang Jian urged his horse forward. The bandits, who had been riding close together, tried to charge forward but ended up tripping each other, and several of them fell.

“You idiots!”

Zhang Jian chuckled at the horseman’s continuous curses. The horseman, lacking in horsemanship, had been at the back since the start and couldn’t catch up. It was a rare sight to see a leader cursing his subordinates like this.

Zhang Jian, now at the front, glanced back. The remaining bandits, only the brave ones left, were chasing him with the intention of giving him a taste of their blades.

Zhang Jian flicked his sword and pulled his legs up, crouching on the saddle again. This time, he was looking forward, not at the bandits. He muttered to the horse.

“Sorry.”

Then, Zhang Jian took a deep breath and moved the internal energy from his dantian to his feet. He released the energy strongly from under the saddle and leaped.

Neigh!

Zhang Jian soared into the air, and the horse beneath him, unable to withstand the powerful force pressing down on its back, collapsed.

“Ah, shit!”

“Ah!”

The bandits chasing from behind tripped over the fallen horse. Some managed to leap over it, but those who couldn’t fell with their horses. Those whose heads were broken were lucky; in the wilderness, a broken leg meant certain death by starvation or being slowly torn apart by wild animals.

Zhang Jian landed lightly on Jiao Zao’s saddle and naturally grabbed the reins. Jiao Zao neighed as if asking why he had taken so long. Zhang Jian smiled and gently pulled the reins. Jiao Zao, understanding the signal, charged forward again and, after a short sprint, smoothly turned, creating a curve.

In an instant, Zhang Jian and the remaining bandits were facing each other. The bandits, seeing Zhang Jian’s face as Jiao Zao turned, reflexively raised their weapons. But Zhang Jian, who had already gathered his internal energy, deflected all their clumsy attacks with both hands.

It was only natural that the bandits, each receiving a deep cut somewhere on their bodies, fell off their horses.

“You, you brat—!”

The horseman, who had been at the back, shouted with a contorted face. Zhang Jian didn’t immediately charge at him. His internal energy was still fluctuating from knocking down the horse and cutting down the bandits. A confrontation with a demonic being in this state wouldn’t be wise.

Jiao Zao, understanding his intention, circled around the horseman. The horseman, with a flushed face and blazing eyes, pulled his horse’s reins but couldn’t catch up with Jiao Zao.

“Over there, you brat!”

Zhang Jian, regaining his breath, glanced back. The bandits, who had numbered over thirty, were all gone, and only the horseman was chasing him. Having won a battle against thirty, Zhang Jian couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction.

After a short sprint to catch his breath, Zhang Jian pulled Jiao Zao’s reins to a stop. The horseman, who had been following, also stopped involuntarily. He growled and said.

“You damn brat... How dare you...”

Zhang Jian, looking incredulous, retorted.

“Who was it that smashed his subordinates’ heads?”

“You brat! If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have done that! They were all like my brothers!”

“Good grief, what a fuss.”

Zhang Jian’s exclamation made the horseman’s anger flare up again, and he strongly kicked his horse’s side. But the horse, exhausted from the previous sprint, refused to move, snorting.

“Damn it! Now even the foal is ignoring me!”

The horseman, shouting, struck the horse’s head. With a crack, the horse collapsed without even a scream. Zhang Jian’s expression turned from incredulous to disdainful. How was he going to chase him if he killed his horse?

Lightweight martial arts, which had not developed beyond military use, could be faster than a horse for a short time, but once a horse started running, it was impossible to catch up. If Zhang Jian spurred Jiao Zao to run away, the horseman would be left behind, watching helplessly.

“You! Come down here! If you’re a martial artist, face me!”

The horseman, realizing this after killing the horse, pulled out the sword tied to the saddle and shouted. The truly ridiculous part was that the head of the bandit he had been carrying, which had fallen to the ground, was completely ignored by the horseman, whose eyes were red with anger.

“I never intended to let you live.”

Zhang Jian muttered and dismounted from Jiao Zao. The internal energy, which had been surging, had settled. It was time to finish off this bandit group.