A man in animal hides made slowly made his way through the forest. The fresh, cold air of impending winter numbed his face, but the satisfying crunch of crisp fallen leaves made the journey much more tolerable. The man eventually made it past the mix of green, orange, and yellow trees to a clearing where a patch of straws lay with beef jerky on top. Underneath the patch, a hole was buried with sharpened sticks of bamboo that would fill any wild game with holes. Unfortunately, the bait was still there causing the man to curse under his breath.

Suddenly, a shadow leapt from a nearby bush and put a hand on the man’s mouth before stabbing the man in the heart. The murderer then quickly dragged the body into the bushes before blood dripped everywhere.

That’s the third trap and the first person. I have 54 more traps to go through. I have to be quick before they notice anything.

Ye Tian dashed into the forest leaving behind a corpse. In truth, the plan was not as practical as one might think. Ye Tian didn’t know where the bandits currently were, so Ye Tian, along with the other two, mapped out an efficient travel path where all the traps could be hit in one go.

The plan was made with the assumption that the bandits were at the traps which meant that the bandits would be safe while traveling to and from each trap. There was not much the group could do as the bandits traveled inconsistently. One day a bandit would walk to a trap 200 yards away while the next day he might walk to a trap that was 300 yards away. As a result, the bandits could discover the corpses nearby traps through randomly walking hence Ye Tian hid the body.

The trio was relying on the fact that it took a while to reset the traps if one of the traps did capture wild game. On top of that, the bandits would regather at a certain set point anyways. This gathering point was made so that the bandits could proceed to hunt if there weren’t any animals caught by the traps. These ambushes by the traps were nothing more but to whittle down the numbers again.

***

Ye Tian looked at the scar-faced bandit resetting a trap in front of him. This was the fourth bandit.

Finally came across the muscle stage.

Ye Tian licked his lips in anticipation of both the thrill of the hunt and the formidability of the opponent.

Pressing his legs against the ground, Ye Tian leapt out directly at the bandit whose back was turned to Ye Tian. The strike would not land as the bandit turned to parry the strike which forced Ye Tian to back off a few steps.

“Did you really think that would work?” the bandit laughed.

“No,” replied Ye Tian as he lunged in for another strike.

The bandit deflected the strike with a parry, but Ye Tian twisted the blade to face the bandit’s shoulder and stabbed the bandit before retreating once more. The bandit’s expression twisted in pain as he tensed in preparation for a bloody fight.

Right after Ye Tian backed up, he once again leapt back into the fight. The two exchanged multiple blows with Ye Tian on the offensive. Ye Tian’s small, adolescent body didn’t match with the ferocity he displayed as the bandit was left constantly retreating and defending himself. Each clang that rang out from the swords left sparks in the air, and it seemed as if every parry that the bandit carried out was met with a counter strike that left wounds on the bandit’s body. It was clear who the better swordsman was.

With no option left, the bandit tried to trade a wound for a wound as he finally went on the offensive. The bandit threw all caution to the wind and slashed at Ye Tian with all his force. However, Ye Tian merely sidestepped and slashed off the bandit’s arm before taking a step forward to claim the bandit’s head.

My sword skills aren’t too shabby.

Ye Tian smiled as he quickly hid the bandit’s corpse.

Although Ye Tian had received Qi Gathering Strikes and Qi Burning Movement Technique, the former could only be used at the bone stage and the latter could be used at the blood stage.

***

The trio met up under a tree to report their kills.

“I got all 6 of them,” reported Yu Ling.

“4 with 2 mortals left,” reported Ye Tian.

“5 with 1 muscle stage left,” reported Nan Feng.

“Useless,” Yu Ling shook her head causing Nan Feng and Ye Tian to look at each other in dismay.

Eventually, the bandits were all swiftly cleaned up at their meeting spot. The measly 3 bandits couldn’t do anything to the trio of three muscle stages.

***

The trio approached the now 10 mortals, 1 muscle stage, and 1 blood stage left in the camp. All of the bandits except the blood stage were on guard duty. They had sensed something was going on with the bandits who went missing at night and morning. Although some bandits deserted, the number this time was more than what they usually experienced. The late bandits on hunting duty only furthered their sense of danger and paranoia.

Thud!

One of the bandits widened his eyes and looked down to see an arrow embedded in his chest. A bandit by his side looked over in shock before screaming, “Enemy Attack!”

Thud! Thud!

An arrow pierced the neck of the bandit with an arrow in his chest while the other arrow was in the neck of the one who shouted.

All of the bandits immediately tensed up and held their weapons for comfort. They looked around the forest that surrounded the camp. The initial cover that the forest provided, for the camp, was now the enemy.

An arrow shot over but missed the bandits.

“From the north side,” a bandit shouted.

“Get in the wooden shacks for cover!” another bandit shouted. But before they could, another arrow shot from a different angle. This time it did not miss and hit squarely in a bandit’s chest.

“They’re from the south too!”

“We’re surrounded!”

With those words, the bandits finally broke from the tension and some tried to run into the shacks or forest but were all shot down. Like this, one by one the bandits were slowly picked off.

Eventually, the trio made their way into the bandit camp where corpses lay strewn around the floor. The bodies had arrows on multiple spots with some on the neck while others were in the chests and legs.

Ye Tian looked over at the biggest shack where the final boss lay.

“I have the toughest body out of all of us, so I will be taking the guy head-on,” Nan Feng announced.

Yu Ling looked at Nan Feng and softly warned, “Careful.”

“Hold on first,” Ye Tian stopped Nan Feng.

As Yu Ling and Nan Feng watched on, Ye Tian walked over a nearby campfire and grabbed a flint that was sitting beside it. After striking the flint with a nearby rock, the sparks relit the campfire filled with coal and wood. Ye Tian then grabbed one of the sticks nearby which was likely to be used for the next campfire. Finally, Ye Tian walked over to the big boss’s shack and threw the flaming stick onto the shack.

Ye Tian, with a smile on his face, walked back to the speechless duo. The three looked on as the fire slowly grew and eventually the entire shack was on fire.

“If you don’t come out by yourself then I’ll make you,” Ye Tian snorted.

Suddenly, the door was kicked open as a man on fire leapt out. The man swore and rolled around the floor to put out the fire.

“Who did that?!” the burly bandit boss yelled.

Just as the forthright Nan Feng was about to point to Ye Tian, Ye Tian smiled and pointed to Nan Feng. The latter’s eyes widened in indignation.

“You!” The bandit’s eyes grew red and he charged at the speechless Nan Feng.

“Good luck, sir tank,” Ye Tian laughed.

Ye Tian’s laughs immediately stopped as Nan Feng was sent flying with a single punch from the bandit. Ye Tian’s eyes widened in shock.

Bone Stage! That’s why he was reclusive! He was breaking through!

“GET BACK,” Ye Tian yelled at Yu Ling without turning to look at her. Ye Tian drew his sword, but the bandit was too fast and sent Ye Tian flying to the side. The bandit then allowed Yu Ling to retreat as he clearly was not in a rush to end the trio.

“I can’t believe a bunch of brats at muscle stage actually tried attacking my camp. Although you guys had some brains to deal with my lackeys, your schemes will end in the face of pure power,” mocked the bandit boss before pausing and raising an eyebrow.

“Oh? Now I believe it,”

At the sides, both Ye Tian and Nan Feng had gotten back up. One of the biggest reasons why the trio had the balls to take on this mission was due to their items.

The reason as to why the city guards wore white robes was due to the protective inscriptions on the robes. These rank one inscriptions, by a rank one inscription master, were stronger than the normal leather and armor that were worn by mortals. The scouting cloaks, provided by the city, also had rank one inscriptions to allow blending into forests, extra speed, and extra protection. Only extremely high-quality metals, like Hao Nan’s silver armor which was made of quicksilver ore, could provide more protection than rank one inscriptions.

It could be said that the trio was all actually at the pseudo blood stage while using their equipment.

Nan Feng and Ye Tian gave each other a look before Nan Feng rushed up again. This time the bandit didn’t move, but, instead, he grabbed Nan Feng’s giant broadsword using his bare hands.

The bandit boss looked at Nan Feng struggling to get his sword out before speaking, “Boy, do you know what the bone stage gives you?”

Without waiting for an answer, the bandit boss spoke again, “Toughness! The bone stage amplifies other bodily qualities like every stage, but the main thing associated with the bone stage is toughness!”

“And the blood stage grants speed,” the boss spoke right before sending Nan Feng flying again.

And the muscle stage grants strength.

Right at this moment, an arrow whizzed at least an inch into the bandit’s knee causing him to scream in agony. While the bandit reached down to take the arrow out, Ye Tian, who had already leapt out when the arrow was shot, arrived and used all his strength, along with a double-handed grip, to slash at the back of the knee joints.

The sword with rank one inscription did work as a wound that was almost an inch appeared on the back of both knees. It incapacitated the bandit boss and caused him to kneel.

“Why you little...” the bandit boss yelled in agony as he twisted his body to catch the retreating Ye Tian.

Taking this chance, Yu Ling shot another arrow that pierced into the bandit’s eye. Nan Feng and Ye Tian arrived by the bandit. Each of them held an arm of the bandit with all their strength and made sure he stayed still. The bandit swung with all his force but the two could handle it since the bandit could not use his lower half to generate force. It only took the bandit a few swings to knock the two away, but the occupation of the bandit’s two arms was enough for Yu Ling to shoot the final arrow without being deflected. The arrow embedded itself in the bandit’s last eye causing him to swing both arms around haphazardly in pain.

Ye Tian walked over to the campfire and lit another stick on fire before throwing it at the bandit. It was simply too dangerous to get near the bandit to finish him off. Yu Ling’s special arrows were gone too. As the trio watched the bandit boss slowly burn to death, Ye Tian commented,

“Nice teamwork, I have to say though. We got lucky with buying extra preparations.”

Before the group had set out, each of them had pooled together a single spirit stone, from their monthly allocation of three spirit stones, to buy three arrows with a rank one inscription that enhanced the arrow’s sharpness. The trio had initially planned for Nan Feng to handle the boss head on while Ye Tian attacked from the side and Yu Ling would shoot from afar since her bow skills were excellent.

“And you guys weren’t happy with my extra precautions, calling it a waste of spirit stones,” Ye Tian vented his indignation.

Yu Ling rolled her eyes.

Nan Feng awkwardly smiled, “Yeah, you were right. But let’s loot this place first before anything else.”

Ye Tian turned to look at the burning body of the bandit and his burning house before speaking.

“Ehh… I’m not sure about that...”

The loot couldn’t be in the boss’s house right…?