Chapter 5 Unaware of Social Conventions
Yuxiao's knife wounds from earlier had already healed; the burn on his behind still botheredhim, but the other injuries were getting better. He looked up at the sun and the shadows on the ground to tell which way was south, and headed that way.
He could feel he had a much stronger endurance and was walking faster, too. A twenty kilometer, hour-long trip took only half an hour now. He passed many villages but didn't go inside; when he passed two more villages, he saw a river and decided to stop. He watched his reflection in the river, a face with bloody scars, and proceeded to clean himself up. When the water stopped rippling, his reflection became clear, too, showing a face with a long knife scar and hair that was half long and half short, which made quite an odd image. When he watched his reflection, he was lost in thought for a while before he stood up and kept walking south on a quiet road. People will think I look crazy. It's better I stick to small roads, he thought to himself.
"You nasty mountain bandits! I won't let you win today!"
It was just getting dark; as Yuxiao walked through the mountains, he heard a loud yell. Curiosity made him run over a slope filled with rocks and thorns to investigate. He was at the top of a hill when he looked down, and he could see a mountain road with twenty or so machete-wielding, burly men surrounding a middle-aged man, who held a dozen horses. There were also three men holding bloody whips next to the middle-aged man, and they were fighting the larger group of men. The whips snapped and crackled, holding the large group of bandits at bay. Next to the three men lay a young man of about twenty years; he was covered in blood, lay completely still on the ground, and looked dead.
Yuxiao watched four of the machete bandits surround a whip-holding man in three directions. Other bandits watched, one of whom, shirtless and bald, cackled and said, "Hey, third brother, did you forget to eat today? What the hell is taking you so long?"
"Shut up."
One bandit, who was not tall but husky, dodged one swing of the whip, cussed, and rolled on the ground, then took a vicious swipe at the whip-holding man's knee. There was a blood-curdling scream before the whip-wielding man fell on the ground and was instantly chopped to pieces by the four bandits.
Yuxiao couldn't stand watching anymore. It took just a few leaps before he jumped onto the back of one burly bandit, twisted the man's neck, and ended him. Still carrying his machete, Yuxiao threw the body down. Before the watching bandits had realized the situation, he killed two more of their ilk. When the group of bandits finally understood the new development, the bald bandit yelled, "Where the hell did this kid come from? C'mon, get him!"
Yuxiao heard the bald bandit's words and focused on him, jumping toward him with his machete. The two incoming bandits were slashed to the ground. By the time Yuxiao got next to the bald bandit, the bandit saw him clearly, with the bloody face, a long scar and crazy hair, and was so terrified that he turned and ran.
"Hey, where are you going?"
Yuxiao yelled and swung his machete at the bandit, instantly severing his head; then he continued his spree by killing three more bandits, stunning one bandit into mumbling in a shaky voice, "Our leader is dead . . ." The man then turned and sprinted for the hills.
When the bandits who didn't try to kill the whip-holding man saw how effective a killer Yuxiao was, they were scared into running, too. One of them, the one called third brother, turned to see Yuxiao had beheaded another of his friends; he proceeded to yell, "I'll get you!" He tried to run after Yuxiao, and was followed by three of his comrades. Yuxiao watched the death-seeking men speed towards him; he didn't bother chasing the bandits who fled into the hills; instead, he faced them. Before the bandits were even in formation, he had separated two men's heads from their bodies.
"Oh, no!"
Just as the third brother yelped, his last comrade lost his machete-holding arm, then he himself was slashed from head to groin. The bandit who lost his arm was cut in half, too.
Yuxiao caught up to the two bandits who had attacked the whip-wielding man earlier, and in two motions, they fell to the ground. Up in the hills, there were three more bandits he could get, so he chased after them.
The middle-aged man who held the horses, along with two of his bloodied friends, were so stunned by Yuxiao's killing efficiency that they were frozen. Is this guy human? they wondered. Is he a demon from hell?
They were frozen for a minute or so before understanding dawned. The two whip-holding men ran toward the man who was killed by the bandits earlier, saying, "Big brother," before sobbing. The horse-holding man was pale, his legs heavy like lead and impossible to move. He looked toward the hills; there was a blood-covered, machete-carrying young man heading toward them, and he couldn't help but pee himself.
The young man was none other than Yuxiao. He looked at the sobbing men. "What are you crying for? Is he gonna be alive if you cry?"
The middle-aged men looked up at Yuxiao; while they were thinking, If our brother died, why can't we cry? They didn't dare say anything back. If it hadn't been for Yuxiao's help, they'd be dead, too, not to mention the fact that they were already terrified of Yuxiao himself, having just witnessed this bloodbath at his hands.
One of them said, "Young man, you're right; tears don't bring the dead back. We thank you for your life-saving actions." He stood up and made a gesture of thanks toward Yuxiao, while the other man also bowed to show thanks.
"What were you doing here? Just the few of you moving this many horses? And you got trapped by bandits who didn't even have horses?" Yuxiao asked.
"Well, it's like this. The three of us brothers work for the Li family; we are horse traders. The Li family's second son insisted on coming along this time, said he wanted to see the world. Usually, a robbery like this only involves money, but this time, they wanted to kill us all—they didn't even want money," one of the middle-aged men explained while supressing his sorrow.
Yuxiao was still confused. "You sell horses, right? If you do, I'd like to buy one and go."
When the middle-aged men heard the young man only wanted one horse in exchange for killing all of the bandits, they didn't understand why, but being sophisticated, they said, "If you want horses, why don't you come back to the Li family compound with us? These horses are okay, but not the best. Our boss has four excellent, top-grade horses; they'd be perfect for you."
Yuxiao considered why horses had so many different grades; he didn't know the reason, but didn't want to show his lack of knowledge. He replied, "All right, I'll go with you. Should we bury the dead here or take them with us?"
The two middle-aged men discussed and told Yuxiao, "We can't bring our elder brother with us, so we'll bury him here. We'll bring the bodies of Young Master and two of his entourage back to our boss, however. Would that work?"
"Whatever you prefer," Yuxiao said.
The two middle-aged men thanked Yuxiao and started digging by hand. There were so many rocks on the hills though, the two men were exhausted and barely made a dent. Yuxiao watched them, figuring they were either stupid or didn't know they could use tools, so he'd better help them. He calmly said, "Back away, and let me help you dig."
The two men backed off without saying anything. Yuxiao walked over, standing where they had made a small pit. He took a deep breath, letting the qi circulate in his nexus, before yelling, "Open!," then stomped his foot in the pit. With one booming noise, several cracks appeared next to the pit. Yuxiao used his machete to pick at the opening, prying off a dozen rocks at almost 100 jin each, making a big hole appear before them.
The two middle-aged men took a deep breath while they watched. Just how strong is this guy?