They instantly fell into a gloomy mood.
The tanned man was their leader. In truth, he was a friend of an internal member of Far Might Bodyguard Agency, and the two of them were a rather smart pair. Every single time there was business for the bodyguard agency, the internal member would send a messenger pigeon for his friend who was a robber. He would tell him the roads they would take and the situation of the guards so that they could get the loot.
However, there was a risk in this "business".
Hence, the robbers would always choose remote government-made roads that players did not take to practice martial arts or maintain their survival by conducting "business that cost them no money" with other players.
Even though it was rather troublesome, there were still some people who were willing to do such a thing, because they thought that it was extremely exciting. It also filled them with the feeling of the wild and untamed nature of the world of martial artists.
When they learned that there was temporarily no business for them from the tanned man, the group began planning where they should train or where they should lay in wait so that they could conduct some "businesses" between players that would cost them no money.
While they chattered in the tavern, the tanned man's ears suddenly twitched, and he swiftly stood up from his seat. He raised his hand and interrupted his group of lackeys who were making a ruckus.
"Quiet."
The group fell silent.
The shopkeeper and waiter did not have any work to do. They just dozed off in their spots, so the noisy tavern instantly became silent.
Thud, thud, thud, thud…
The sound of horse hooves came from the distance. With every moment, they became clearer.
"Take out your weapons."
When the people in the tavern heard the noise, they said nothing else and went to grab their weapons at their waists or on their backs. For a period of time, the sound of sabers and swords being drawn could be heard nonstop.
"Put them away." The tanned man's reaction was the fastest. He scowled and gave his order. "There aren't many people coming here, so don't alert them. There isn't any other tavern thirty one miles before or after this shop. They will definitely stop to rest and have some refreshments while they're here. We'll just wait for them here."
"But what if they run? Don't forget, we're currently wanted people." One of the people did not want the prey that had already entered their mouths to escape.
"Don't worry, as long as they don't look at the map, they won't know. For now, there aren't many people who have such a habit."
The tanned man's eyes were full of amus.e.m.e.nt. When he reminded his people shrewdly of the reality they lived in, they instantly became at ease and put away their weapons before returning to their seats and sitting down.
"Drink."
"Cheers!"
Once the tavern returned to peace, the sound of horse hooves took a turn from the government-made road and got off the road. One of the horses was black, and the other red; they were both very handsome. With dust behind them, they came charging toward the tavern where the robbers stayed.
"Two people!"
"Their steeds are pretty good. If we sell them, they should get us tens of thousands of taels of silver." The tanned man did not even look up. He could tell based on the sound alone that the steeds were not normal horses.
But right when he looked up with the others, they all s.u.c.k.e.d in sharp breaths.
There were two other people behind the riders on the two horses that were charging forward!
No!
It should not be said that they were people. The two things behind the two riders were also on horses, but they had thick, black aura surrounding them, and their faces were rotten. They looked ferocious and terrifying. They could not be known as humans.
When the group saw them, chill crawled down their spine!
While they were stunned, the two steeds arrived in front of the tavern. Just as expected, the two riders tugged their horses' reins and stopped them from galloping forward. One of the young men jumped down and walked into the tavern while shouting loudly, "Shopkeeper, give us some food. Beef or stuffed buns or whatever. Just give us whatever tastes good. Darn it, I'm SO HUNGRY…"
As he spoke, the ferocious, terrifying things with rotten faces jumped down from the backs of the two horses. Their movements were stiff, and they looked like zombies. They landed on the ground with straight legs, but their landing was stable. They followed behind the young man.
Fortunately for the shopkeeper, he had set up his shop for many years, and he no longer found anything strange, or else, when he saw the two terrifying zombies follow a guest into his tavern, he would most likely have fainted from fear.
"Alright, please sit over here and wait a little while."
"Hehe."
Little North did not bother himself with the group of players in the tavern. He exercised his neck and stretched his numb and sore body. When he walked into the tavern, he suddenly stopped and turned around to happily jog outside.
"Boss, let's rest outside a little while. After all, we'll need to ride for at most another half a day before we can reach Wuhu[1]. Let's rest and fill up our stomachs."
'Boss?'
The bandits in the tavern had been shocked and intimidated by the two zombies and had begun to guess the young man's origins and his abilities. When they suddenly heard him use the title "boss", they remembered that there was a young man in blue robes who did not seem outstanding alongside him. That young man was sitting quietly outside on his horse.
At the moment the tanned man met the clear gaze of the blue-robed young man who was looking down from his horse, for some unknown reason, he suddenly felt ashamed of his own inferiority, as if he had instantly been seen through and could not hide his thoughts anymore.
Chapter 184 - Ten Thousand Poisonous Palms Show Its Might
Bang!
While the tanned man was still immersed in a baffling fear that had just struck him, his twelve companions, who sat around two tables, could no longer hold themselves back. They suddenly exerted force and kicked away the tables in front of them.
"Attack!"
With one shout, they drew their weapons and rushed at the two young men outside the tavern. Even though one of their prey had two ferocious and terrifying zombies, which made him very strange, those puppets should only be at Blessed Realm, and the difference in the strength of the two sides was great!
In the end though, the main reason why the bandits could no longer hold themselves back was because they could not tolerate the thought of the two fat lambs escaping.
The sudden ambush naturally surprised Little North!
"What are you doing?!"
Even though he was taken by surprise, the results of his harsh training in the mass grave still showed themselves immediately.
Before the sabers and weapons could strike him, he spread his arms and got out of the tavern. He widened the distance between himself and his ambushers. Then, he quickly equipped a pair of black gloves.
"Roar!"
"Roar!"
At the same time, two growls with an indecipherable meaning arose. The zombie puppets charged forward with their poisonous palms that were surrounded by black death aura. They fearlessly went up against the group in the tavern.
The blue-robed young man who sat outside the tavern did not provide any help since the start. Without uttering a single word, he just watched the ambush being launched with the force of an explosion, and when he saw how Little North reacted to the situation, his gaze did not change. He appeared very calm and composed.
The blue-robed young man was naturally Happy.
In truth, when they came, he had already noticed a bunch of red dots on the map.
With three years of experience in the game, it was only natural that he knew what they meant. Hence, he was very attentive of his surroundings when they arrived at the tavern.
But he did not tell Little N
orth about it!
He only watched quietly and let Little North handle the situation by himself.
Reality showed that he was a good judge of character. Even though Little North did not have much experience in the game, after Happy whipped him into shape, his combat experience and his tactics when attacking enemies had improved exponentially. Even though his strategy was still not perfect in the face of an ambush, he could still easily protect himself.
Happy sat on his purplish-red horse with his back straight with a hint of a smile on his face.
The harsh training of the previous days had produced clear results!
Ten Thousand Poisonous Palms was a high-tier martial art palm technique that had the strength of fierce and ruthless attacks that would catch people by surprise. By the looks of it right then, Little North had managed to understand nine-tenths of the essence of that technique. With the harassment provided by the zombies' sturdy bodies and poisonous palms, he should have no problem in dealing with the motley crew.
Also, once someone was struck by Ten Thousand Poisonous Palms and did not eat an antidote in time, their abilities would continuously drop for a period of time. As the injury became worse, the poison would enter their blood, and in the end, it would be difficult for them to avoid dying of poison.
This meant that as long as they did not have antidotes on them and were injured by Little North, they were basically dead!
"Seventh!"
"Damn it! Kill him!"
When the tanned man snapped out of his daze and rushed out of the tavern, he could no longer stop the development of the situation. When he saw one of his companions' facial color darken and them being unable to get up after a long while, his heart filled up with anger. He shot forward and pounced on Little North. A dazzling purple saber glare shot out from his saber, its light reaching one foot. Then, he swung his saber upwards with the momentum of a lightning bolt to hit Little North, who was busy attacking another one of his companions.
Whoosh!
The tanned man paid attention to the entire battlefield, so it was only natural that he sensed the zombie trying to block him. He gritted his teeth and increased the strength of his swing.
Bang!
He struck the zombie head on.
The zombie puppet looked as if it had been struck by lightning. With its feet still on the ground, it skidded a few feet away.
But the tanned man was not in a better situation.
Even though he managed to hit the zombie's shoulder with all his strength, the powerful rebound nearly made him lose his grip over his weapon.
The zombie that had been sent skidding away only had one blurry wound on its body. With a tap on the ground, it appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye. It swung its foul-smelling and poisonous palms.
When the tanned man saw this, he was so terrified that he felt as if his soul had left his body.
On the other side, Little North used the experience he had gained when fighting against Mystical Realm zombies to bring out the full power of the extremely sinister and wicked presence of Ten Thousand Poisonous Palms. With three or two palm strikes, someone would definitely scream in pain and fly out onto the government-made road.
The others were held back by a zombie who could shrug off the attacks of all weapons. The group was badly battered by the zombie's suicidal attacks, unable to defend themselves.
When the sixth person fell dead, the tanned man was already pale. Little North fought alone, but he could trap them in a situation that left them surrounded by problems. No wonder the other person on the government-made road was so composed and did not show any hint of panic. It was only then that the tanned man learned the true meaning of the saying "Overconfidence leads to fatal mistakes".
They ran into an opponent who was too tough for them to handle!
"Retreat!" he shouted out through gritted teeth. Then, he ran back into the tavern before heading into another direction.
The others all gave up on fighting the zombie and fled madly at their fastest speed!
"You're thinking of running?!"
Little North was having fun fighting, so there was no way he would be willing to let things end. But right after he took a few steps forward, Happy made him stop.
"Don't chase after them."
It was only then that Little North stopped running. He spat in the direction of the tanned man and his lackeys before turning his head around and smiling. "Boss, how was my performance just now? How was it?" His face was flushed red and his c.h.e.s.t heaved when he spoke. It made him look very excited and smug.
"Not bad."
Happy jumped down from his horse and entered the tavern. He then spoke in a lecturing tone. "Next time, when you go out, remember to pay attention to your surroundings. Don't be so careless. Just now, you're lucky that you turned around and walked out. If they had decided to ambush you in the tavern, you wouldn't have won."
Once he thought about this for a while, Little North nodded.
If the bandits had been really close to him, no matter how careful he was, he would have gotten injured. And if he panicked, he would not be able to predict what would happen after that.
"Next time, be more careful. We will run into even more of such situations during our trip to Fox Cave. Your opponents' abilities will also be even stronger." Happy received the rations the waiter handed to them with a profound look in his eyes.
"With your current abilities, you might be able to protect yourself against one or two good players, but if the numbers increase, you'll be in danger."
He paused for a moment and looked at Little North who listened to his words with an open mind. "There will be plenty of players with such capabilities near Fox Cave."
"Boss, I won't embarrass you."
"I don't care about you embarrassing me. I'm worried that you'll lose your life." Happy rolled his eyes at him and ignored Little North trying to curry his favor.
Little North did not seem to mind.
"Why should I be afraid of anything with you around? Tsk, tsk. Right now, I can't wait for you to reach Wuhu's Immortal Fox Village and make those people who claim to be powerful and often go into Fox Cave see just what true strength is!"
"Enough, stop being so smug. Gather up the things outside. Don't waste them."
"Oh, right."
It was only then that Little North remembered that he had not searched through the corpses of the six players. He excitedly ran out of the tavern.
Chapter 185 - Immortal Fox Village
Once they rested a little in the tavern, Happy and Little North continued on their journey to Immortal Fox Village, which was located in Wuhu County.
The closer they got to Wuhu, the more players they saw on the government-made road. They traveled in groups of three or five, and they carried swords and sabers on their backs. Some of them rushed forward on their horses. Occasionally, Happy and Little North even got the chance to see sects and parties in the same uniform charging back and forth. They looked incredibly grand and fierce!
"Tsk, tsk, this is what I call the world of martial artists!"
Little North had been level-grinding in the mass grave, isolated from the world for many days. His emotions surged wildly, and he would occasionally let out sentimental words like that.
Happy did not find it strange, but he was rather troubled by the occasional, abnormal gazes that were cast their way from both sides of the road.
He had a zombie stuck behind his back, and it was NOT comfortable, especially when he had to make his horse dash forward on the government-made road which had people moving back and forth. He looked very flashy, abnormal, and a little terrifying.
Thud, thud, thud, thud…
The people cast them all sorts of gazes while pointing in their direction all the time. This made the duo rush forward at the fastest speed they could muster to Immortal Fox Village. They never stopped even once.
Because of the gradually increasing popularity of the Fox Cave, more and more marti
al artists came from all over the land. Before they could even see the village, they would notice that all the training spots around the government-made road were occupied by multiple players. The moment the monsters respawned, they were shredded by the shadows of weapons that reached them so quickly they could not even see the attacks clearly. All of them died very tragic deaths.
"We're here!"
Little North cried out excitedly when two tall pillars of wood appeared at the end of the government-made road. They looked like symbols of the village respectfully welcoming them, and a flight of stairs made from flagstones led upwards.
Happy looked up and saw a sign hanging above a tall mountain gate which was placed around one hundred steps up—Immortal Fox Village!
The flight of stairs leading to Immortal Fox Village was filled with people going up and down.
It was still day, so many people received quests from Immortal Fox Village, such as chasing away the crazed dogs whose temperaments had changed because they had been affected by the demonic noise outside Fox Cave. Some would accept harder quests, such as entering Fox Cave to kill the White Foxes and take revenge for the villagers of Immortal Fox Village!
Happy and Little North got down from their horses at the entrance to Immortal Fox Village.
They examined the two long rows of wood pillars at the foot of the stairs, then Little North looked around with great interest. He noticed an eye-catching Eight Trigrams plate hung high on every wood pillar. It would occasionally reflect a blinding light under the illumination of the sunlight. He could not help but find it rather strange. "What's the use of those things?"
"To repel evil!"
Before Happy could answer, a player with an unfamiliar face quietly approached and answered Little North's question.
Happy cast that person a glance before he smiled faintly. Then, he looked away.
"You sure came early."
"Of course." The person touched his nose and said softly, "We're up against Class One Hall. If I don't come here early to understand the situation, we won't have any way of winning against them with just us."
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