Chapter 18: Spoils of War

More than ten bandits had just been startled from their sleep, their hearts still filled with the terror of the camp being raided. Moreover, each of them was dressed disorderly, and their formation was uneven. When they rushed over in a swarm, there was no formation and no method to their madness.

Lei Qing, however, was in his peak condition, uninjured, and the Fighting Qi flowing within his body was abundant. With his Thunder Flash movement technique activated, his figure became elusive and ghost-like, making it hard for others to see him clearly. The Ice Flame longsword in his hand danced up and down, flashing with thunder light, dazzling and brilliant to the extreme.

Wherever the sword gleam passed, wails were heard continuously, and fresh blood flew everywhere. In just a few breaths of time, four bandits lay dead on the spot. The others were terrified by Lei Qing, who seemed like a god of war. Their morale, which was not high to begin with, instantly plummeted to rock bottom. The two most cowardly ones began to flee in panic.

Boom~ With one move of Spring Thunder Flash, a huge roar exploded like a bolt from the blue. Several people were made dizzy and deafened by the thunderous lightning exploding beside their ears. One Elementary-stage Black Iron Fighter bore the brunt of it; unable to dodge in time, he was punched in the forehead by Lei Qing from a commanding position.

Lei Qing was not particularly skilled in the move Spring Thunder Flash, merely proficient in it. However, driven by the burning of his pure High-stage Bronze Fighting Qi, the power of this punch was extraordinary, enough to break even a stone.

The head of that Elementary-stage Black Iron Fighter could not possibly be as hard as a stone. With a loud bang, his head burst like a ruptured watermelon, with red and white matter splattering everywhere. Following that, Lei Qing spun around, and the Ice Flame longsword traced a semi-circular arc, slashing out a dazzling brilliance.

As the sword light passed, those bandits who had been stunned and terrified fell to the ground bleeding. At the same time, Lei Qing stepped rapidly on the snow, leaving only faint footprints, his speed faster than a galloping horse. He chased after the two fleeing bandits like a god of slaughter.

Lei Qing despised those who fled in the face of battle the most. One of them seemed to possess decent Fighting Qi, likely at the level of Mid-stage Black Iron.

“Whoosh!” A sharp arrow shot out, piercing the night and embedding itself directly into the back of a fleeing bandit. Looking sideways, Lei Qing saw that Zuo Qianqian had returned and was standing with her bow drawn. Having advanced to Elementary-stage Black Iron, Zuo Qianqian’s strength had increased significantly, making drawing the bow and shooting arrows effortless for her. Moreover, she could attach a strand of Nether Fighting Qi to the arrowhead, which not only increased its speed and lethality, but also meant that anyone struck, if not killed, would be invaded by that strand of Nether ghostly Qi, eroding their body and weakening their strength. The Nether System Fighting Qi was truly a troublesome attribute.

As for the last one, Lei Qing caught up just after chasing him for over twenty meters. He flicked the Ice Flame in his hand, and the third move of his family’s combat manual, the One-Character Lightning Sword, shot out. In the dark night sky, it was like a meteor, shooting forth and striking the bandit’s shoulder.

Stumbling, the bandit rolled to the ground, and Lei Qing’s sharp Ice Flame longsword was already placed against his neck.

“Don’t kill me, don’t kill me.” This bandit, who possessed Mid-stage Black Iron strength, seemed to have lost his nerve completely and began shouting in panic.

Given his cowardly nature, Lei Qing would have killed him with a sword long ago if he hadn’t needed to interrogate him. Immediately, he kicked him in the stomach and shouted: “Shut up for me. Qianqian, get a rope and tie him up.”

Zuo Qianqian certainly would not show any mercy to these bandits who bullied the villagers and committed the atrocity of slaughtering a village, so she immediately found a rope and tied him up.

Afterward, they quickly cleaned up the battlefield. Whether dead or injured, they were all given a finishing blow. Sure enough, two bandits who tried to fake death to get by lost their lives during this process.

It took a full stick of incense’s time to clean up the battlefield. But the harvest was plentiful; these bandits were quite rich, each carrying a lot of coins in their bosoms. Zuo Qianqian counted them at the end, and the total value of various coins amounted to over a hundred gold coins.

This was no small sum; one gold coin was enough for an ordinary commoner’s family to cover food and clothing for two or three months. Although Lei Qing was a Young Master from a noble family, his monthly allowance was only five gold coins. If he didn’t spend a single copper coin, he could only save sixty gold coins a year.

For countless commoner families, they might never see a huge sum of over a hundred gold coins in their entire lives. So many coins were very heavy and inconvenient to carry, so they were put into Zuo Qianqian’s Spatial Ring.

It was worth mentioning that Zuo Qianqian’s Spatial Ring was of a relatively high grade. Its internal space was approximately two cubic meters. If filled with water, it could hold over two tons. Putting some coins inside, it still seemed very empty.

Subsequently, Zuo Qianqian swept the area like a storm, starting to put valuable items inside. Some gold and silver jewelry and Jade Pendants were also worth some money. What was rather scary was that this girl seemed quite obsessed with money. Knowing that the various weapons used by these bandits, though not extremely valuable items, could still be sold for some money, she stuffed all sorts of curved swords, longswords, bows, and arrows into the ring.

Of course, even ordinary weapons were worth some small change, as any military supplies were in high demand. An ordinary longsword could sell for ten to twenty silver coins.

Fortunately, Zuo Qianqian seemed to find those leather jackets dirty, otherwise she would have stripped the bandits naked. In addition, she put some dry rations and dried meat into the space. Food could often save lives at critical moments.

After a round of looting, there were still dozens of horses left.

Horses, of course, were very valuable. Even the most ordinary mixed-breed nag was worth two or three gold coins. Unfortunately, horses were living creatures and large in size, so they could not be put into the Spatial Ring. Even though Zuo Qianqian was reluctant to let them go, she could only pick out three sturdy and healthy chestnut horses worth seven or eight gold coins. As for the rest, she cut the reins and let them go. Whoever was lucky enough to find a horse could make a small fortune.

They said war was the most profitable endeavor, and Lei Qing felt this way after this battle; the harvest was quite substantial. However, his Ice Flame longsword was damaged badly from the prolonged combat and might shatter at any moment. So, he picked up a relatively handy ordinary longsword and kept it by his side, just in case.

After doing all this, Lei Qing began to interrogate the cowardly Mid-stage Black Iron fighter. The reason for sparing this person for interrogation became apparent. Being extremely greedy for life and afraid of death, with his heart and courage shattered, he poured out all the information like beans spilling from a bottle without Lei Qing even needing to torture him.

Just as Zuo Qianqian had suspected, these bandits were all under the command of the One-Eyed Dragon. There was no major reason for slaughtering Zuo Qianqian’s village. It was simply because recently several villages could not pay the various protection fees, and there were faint signs of them wanting to unite against the One-Eyed Dragon.

To make an example of them, the One-Eyed Dragon randomly found a village that owed taxes and slaughtered it. He wanted to demonstrate his brutal reputation and intimidate those strong villages that dared to have disloyal thoughts.

Such cruelty and tyranny made even Lei Qing, who was used to various brutalities, gasp. Did killing a chicken to scare the monkeys really require slaughtering a whole village? Immediately, after extracting some more information, Lei Qing could no longer endure his disgust for these cruel and inhumane bandits. He let Zuo Qianqian do it, letting her practice some torture methods from the Assassin’s Heart Sutra, and amidst miserable wails, sent him on his way.

He let Zuo Qianqian do the killing because she had decided to embark on the path of an assassin. She had to learn to face all kinds of fierceness and cruelty, and adapt to bloodshed and slaughter. Otherwise, if she was soft-hearted or too cowardly to strike against enemies, she would eventually get herself killed.

Finding a safe place, the two rested for a night. After regulating their breath, they set out on their journey again. Since they had already gotten into a conflict with that damn One-Eyed Dragon, they had to see it through to the end. Otherwise, failing to kill the snake would leave them suffering the consequences. At the very least, the One-Eyed Dragon, having lost so many elite subordinates, would go mad. If he could not find the culprits, he would certainly take his anger out on the villagers. Lei Qing and Zuo Qianqian were determined to eliminate this threat. At the same time, these bandits were also the best whetstones for the two of them.

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