Their eyes stung as if from fire.
"Ah… Help! My eyes, my face!"
The bandit leader and his underlings outside the door wailed in pain.
"You wicked woman, I'll kill you," the bandit leader, the man with the goat beard, cursed Leng Ruo Li.
As he spoke, he endured the searing pain, pulled a saber from his subordinate beside him, and slashed at Leng Ruo Li. However, Leng Ruo Li was a step ahead, kicking him flying. Instantly, a large number of the subordinates standing behind the bandit leader were knocked down.
Hearing their screams.
Jun Mo Han and Chu Ming Xuan, who were hiding on both sides of the door inside the house, immediately emerged from behind the door. Seeing the bandits groaning on the ground outside, they were slightly stunned. Their consort was too formidable. They were supposed to ambush the bandits from behind the door for a surprise attack, but in the end, they ambushed for nothing. This group of bandits was dealt with by her with just a handful of poison powder.
These bandits were truly weaklings, not fun at all.
After a few silent complaints, they rushed out and, with a light swipe across the necks of the fallen bandit subordinates, ended their lives in a few swift movements.
As for the few bandit subordinates who were not affected by Leng Ruo Li's poison powder, seeing the tragic state of their companions, they retreated. They nervously scrambled to the bandit leader, who had fainted from the pain and was covered in blood, quickly lifted him, and rushed out towards the main gate of the courtyard.
Leng Ruo Li watched the fleeing bandits and said to Jun Mo Han and the others with a wicked grin, "Let's chase!"
With that, they gave chase. As soon as they emerged, they saw the bandits riding horses and heading into the mountains.
Conveniently, Jun Mo Han and the others had four horses for their carriage. Jun Mo Han said sternly, "Yin Chen, quickly go and untie the horses. Chu Ming Xuan and Yin Er, stay behind to deal with the bodies in the courtyard. Yin Chen and Yin Yi, you two will accompany me and the consort to chase the bandits."
Upon hearing this, Yin Chen, Yin Yi, and Yin Er immediately channeled their Qing Gong and flew towards the place where their horses were kept.
A few minutes later, Yin Chen arrived, leading several horses. Leng Ruo Li and Jun Mo Han, with Yin Chen and Yin Yi, immediately mounted the horses. Leng Ruo Li took out an explorer's flashlight from her system space to illuminate the path and followed the footprints of the bandits into the mountains.
Leng Ruo Li and Jun Mo Han were skilled riders. After chasing for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, they saw the figures of the bandits running with torches.
As the bandits ran, they glanced back and saw that the pursuers were catching up. They decisively abandoned their horses, extinguished their torches, carried their bandit leader, and chose a steep, rugged mountain path to return to the bandit stronghold in the dark.
Leng Ruo Li and Jun Mo Han also abandoned their horses, turned off their flashlights, and followed closely behind the bandits at an unhurried pace.
This was because Leng Ruo Li and Jun Mo Han's goal was not just to kill these few bandits, but to find their stronghold and annihilate them in one fell swoop.
After walking for the time it takes to burn an incense stick, the few bandits turned around and saw no light behind them. Thinking that Leng Ruo Li and Jun Mo Han had given up the pursuit, they immediately relaxed their vigilance and relit their torches to light the way.
After the heavy rain, the forest was covered in dew, and the night in the mountains was pitch black. The path up the mountain was very difficult to walk on, the dirt road was muddy, and the road surface was extremely slippery. Even for these bandits who frequented the mountains, they dared not walk too fast, fearing they would fall.
One of the bandits took down his water skin and cleaned the bloodstains on the face of the unconscious bandit leader. His appearance startled the other bandits.
Their second-in-command's eyeballs had fallen out, rendering him blind.
A younger bandit immediately burst into tears, "What are we going to do! He's the Great Leader's biological brother. How can we report back to the Great Leader?"
As he spoke, an older bandit leader slapped the younger bandit hard on the back of the head and roared, "What are you afraid of? His eyes weren't blinded by us. When we go back, tell the Great Leader that he'll at most punish us with a whipping. Do you think their relationship is good? The Great Leader has tolerated him for a long time because he coveted the position of the mountain chieftain. Now that his eyes are blind, it suits the Great Leader's intentions."
"What? How do you know?" the younger bandit asked in utter shock.
"Everyone in the mountain stronghold knows about their internal conflict, only you don't."
The older bandit glanced coldly at the younger bandit.
Their conversation was overheard by Jun Mo Han and Leng Ruo Li, who were hiding in a corner. It turned out that their bandit stronghold was experiencing internal strife, which made things even easier.
Afterward, the few bandits rested for a while, then carried the bandit leader up the mountain. Leng Ruo Li followed the bandits up and down the mountain, making many turns, and finally, reached a densely wooded cliff where they saw lights. That must be the bandit stronghold.
Looking at the bandit village from a high vantage point, the houses were two-story wooden structures built with wood, and the outside was a twenty-meter high wall built with stones, enclosing the entire village.
As the few bandits reached the entrance of the mountain village, they excitedly shouted into the village, "We're back! Quickly open the gate and let us in, the second-in-command is injured."
The two bandits guarding the gate heard the voices, looked out over the wall, and confirmed they were their own people. They immediately opened the gate to let the bandits outside in. After the bandits entered, they quickly closed the gate.
"Jun Mo Han, how do we plan to infiltrate the village?" Leng Ruo Li asked Jun Mo Han after the bandits had entered.
"A village this large should have several back doors. Let's look for them and try to infiltrate the village before daylight," Jun Mo Han said after a few seconds of thought.
"Alright, let's act now."
As they spoke, they circled the outer wall of the village. Later, they found a small door at the cliff on the south side of the village. Just as they were about to pry open the small door, they heard two sets of footsteps approaching from inside.
Leng Ruo Li and the other three quickly moved away and hid in a crevice.
Then, the small door was opened, and a pair of male and female voices came out.
"Brother Yan, when are you going to take me away from this godforsaken place? I don't want to stay here for a single day," the woman said in a coquettish voice.
"Ling'er, bear with it a little longer. In a few days, when the Great Leader asks me to go on a mission at night, I'll disguise you as a man and secretly take you down the mountain. Then, when they're not paying attention, you can slip away," the man coaxed the woman.
"Really? Brother Yan, you can take me down the mountain in a few days. That's wonderful."
Upon hearing that she could leave this godforsaken place in a few days, the woman was so excited that she almost shouted.
She really didn't want to stay in this mountain stronghold any longer and wanted to escape.