Tao Yungang took the initiative to attack the incoming horse bandits.

He jumped in the air and sliced through a bandit who was still on his horse.

Tao Yungang's movements happened instantly, fully demonstrating his mortal realm third stage power.

"So strong!"

This was the first time Xu Ning had seen an internal skill master demonstrating his strength.

Intermediate realm external skills could barely keep up with a mortal realm second stage, much rather less a mortal realm third stage.

"Xu Ning, take Guo Ye and quickly leave!"

The attack just now created an escape passage for Xu Ning and Guo Ye.

"Okay!"

Xu Ning did not hesitate. He seized the opportunity and dragged Guo Ye to the hillside.

The hillside trees were filled with branches and leaves, but there was still a chance of escape.

Guo Ye was closely behind Xu Ning. He knew that his strength was low, so he had to follow Tao Yungang's orders.

"Someone wants to run?"

Zhan Sandao sneered. He then tapped a stocky horse bandit with the tip of his knife. "Go and take care of those two trying to escape."

"Yes!"

The stocky horse bandit received the order and rushed up the hillside, chasing after Xu Ning and Guo Ye.

Zhan Sandao held his huge machete and walked towards Tao Yungang.

"Tao Yungang, this will be your last battle!"

Zhan Sandao and Tao Yungang began to fight each other.

…

In the dense mountain forest.

Xu Ning and Guo Ye ran in a hurry.

"I hear horses behind us."

Xu Ning suddenly noticed this problem.

"What should we do?"

Guo Ye asked.

He knew clearly that he had to rely on Xu Ning.

"We are definitely slower than horses."

The sound of the horse galloping was getting closer. Xu Ning thought for a moment before he glanced at a tall tree on the side.

"Up the tree."

Xu Ning wanted to try and avoid the opponent.

Guo Ye didn't hesitate, and the two soon climbed up the tree.

Soon, the sound of the horse galloping stopped.

"What?"

The stocky horse bandit frowned. "Where are they?"

He saw them just a second ago, but now they had disappeared in the dense forest.

"Are they that fast?"

The stocky horse bandit dismounted from his horse.

He bent down and began to observe the ground.

Soon, the stocky horse bandit saw the footprints on the dirt.

"How naive…"

The stocky horse bandit smiled as he walked along with the footprints.

He discovered that the footprints disappeared in front of a tree.

"Found you…"

The stocky horse bandit smiled triumphantly and looked up.

Suddenly, a black figure jumped down.

Xu Ning was holding a steel knife with a murderous look in his eyes. He slashed down at the stocky horse bandit.

Xu Ning had used this exact same technique of jumping down from trees when dealing with black wolves before.

Xu Ning's blade was about to slash on the forehead of the stocky horse bandit.

"Sh*t!"

The stocky horse bandit instantly realized he was in danger.

The stocky horse bandit leaned back and avoided Xu Ning's fatal blow.

'So fast!'

Xu Ning was shocked.

The dodging speed of the stocky horse bandit, although not as fast as Tao Yungang, was much faster than himself.

Moreover, just after the short and strong horse bandit stretched his body to show off his flexibility, Xu Ning heard the sound of his muscles and bones humming in his body.

Xu Ning was well aware about internal skills, and so he knew that this was a state that could only be manifested by a second stage muscle bone realm warrior.

In other words, his opponent was an internal skill martial artist!

"Not bad, kid!"

The stocky horse bandit who avoided Xu Ning's blow was also scared. Xu Ning's face was filled with murderous intent.

The stocky horse bandit also held a knife in his hand, as he slashed at Xu Ning.

As one of the most practical weapons in this era, the use of knives was extremely common.

The stocky horse bandit swung his knife.

'Such explosive strength.'

As an intermediate realm martial artist of the Gale Knife Technique, Xu Ning could tell at a glance that the short and stocky horse bandit had mastered an elementary realm knife technique.

In Xu Ning's opinion, his knife skills were rough, as the angle of his slices were not the best.

However, his knife speed was extremely fast and his strength was enormous. If he couldn't evade the attack, he would be killed instantly.

Since Xu Ning was on high alert, he dodged the blow from the stocky horse bandit.

"So you have some tricks, but how long can you last?"

While the stocky horse bandit spoke, his hands kept moving.

His blade was like a net, as it seemed to cover Xu Ning's body.

Dang!

Xu Ning raised his own knife in retaliation.

Xu Ning felt a huge force coming from the blade.

His arms went numb for a moment, and there was also a strong sense of discomfort in his body.

"What a useless body!"

The stocky horse bandit noticed Xu Ning's condition.

The stocky horse bandit kicked forward. Xu Ning could not dodge the attack and fell down on the ground.

"I'm too weak!"

Xu Ning was in pain.

His intermediate realm external skills could only fight against muscle bone realm martial artists who have not practiced an external skill. If the muscle bone realm martial artist had an elementary realm external skill, the difference in their body's foundation would be too large, tilting the advantage to his opponent's favor.

"This is the end of you!"

The stocky horse bandit immediately held his knife high.

"Go die!"

The horse bandit shouted.

The horse bandit stopped his slash against Xu Ning and subconsciously raised his head.

As soon as he raised his head, the stocky horse bandit saw another figure jump down from the trees.

This man was not holding a weapon, so the stocky horse bandit was a little surprised.

But afterwards, he saw the figure suddenly throwing a handful of dirt.

"Blind attack!"

Before the stocky horse bandit could react, his eyes were covered with dirt.

'This is my chance!'

While the stocky horse bandit was still wiping his face, Xu Ning got up instantly and stabbed him with a knife.

The tip of Xu Ning's knife pierced the heart of the stocky horse bandit.

"You…"

The stocky horse bandit wanted to turn around, but his entire body fell limp.

Xu Ning held the knife and twisted it, and the stocky horse bandit fell on the ground and died.

"Good job, Guo Ye!"

Although the battle ended extremely quickly, Xu Ning still felt mentally exhausted.

Especially after he was kicked down and the horse bandit's knife was about to pierce his chest, Xu Ning felt like he was on the edge of death.

If it wasn't for Guo Ye's timely assistance, he would have died here just now.

"Thanks…"

Guo Ye finally calmed down.

Before going up the tree, he had grabbed a handful of soil from the ground. If he encountered an enemy, he would have the opportunity to blind the enemy.

Facts had proved that Guo Ye's idea was correct.

His sudden ambush blinded the short horse bandit, allowing Xu Ning to take the opportunity to counterattack.

"This was all thanks to you."

Xu Ning gave Guo Ye a thumbs up.

Guo Ye waved his hand dismissively. "Come on, if you weren't here, my ambush wouldn't have done anything. I should thank you for saving my life."

"What shall we do next?"

Guo Ye glanced at the corpse of the short horse bandit.

"Let's see if there is anything valuable on him."

Xu Ning and Guo Ye looked at each other and began to scavenge the horse bandit's body.

After searching for a while, they didn't find anything.

"It seems that these horse bandits don't carry anything with them when they're robbing people…"

Guo Ye grumbled.

"But we still have one thing."

Xu Ning picked up the knife from the ground.

The stocky horse bandit's knife was of equal quality as his own steel knife—it was not anything valuable.

There was also his horse.

This horse looked mediocre; it was not very energetic.

But for some reason, when Xu Ning fought with the short horse bandit just now, it didn't run away.

"Guo Ye, do you know how to ride a horse?"

Xu Ning asked.

"I know a little bit."

Guo Ye nodded.

Before working with Tao Yungang, he had some experience riding horses.

"Well…" Xu Ning handed Guo Ye the knife of the stocky horse bandit and said, "you take this knife, ride this horse, and go straight back to the village."

"What about you?"

Guo Ye was puzzled.

"I'll go back."

Xu Ning's words surprised Guo Ye.

"What did you say?" Guo Ye thought he didn't hear clearly. "Are you going back to find my uncle?"

"Yes."

Xu Ning nodded.

"You are crazy, Xu Ning!"

Guo Ye looked anxious, "It took us so much effort just to kill one bandit. If you went back there, what could you even do?"