Should’ve spent more time practising the basics of swordsmanship, Ku Lo thought as battle seemed inevitable. No, trust the skills you learned or nothing will come out!

Today they’d come across an increasing number of traps. Every turn, bridge, and narrow point had been loaded with them. Quite frankly, The High Mountain Bandits had mined every inch of the road towards their core areas of operation.

Hope there’s no trickery in play and that everyone gets out fine. Mind tried to calm down while body ran forward on the carriage road surrounded by dense oak forest. The trees were so close to each other that fighting outside the road would be nigh impossible, for no one could swing their swords without hitting a tree trunk. 

“Everyone!” Dai Meifen shouted from the spear tip of their formation. “If you don’t allow them to scare you, everything will be fine!” 

This rallying cry helped little, Ku Lo’s mind became a wreck as he pondered over the inevitable. The pondering wasn’t about killing someone, he’d done plenty of that already. It was about the fight itself, and how would he fair? Was he expected to kill one bandit, or should he be able to take on more? 

Argh! He shook his head. Calm down, calm down. 

Inhale. Exhale.

You’ll know what happens when it happens. There’s no reason to be stuck thinking about it, so calm down. 

A cloud of smoke rose in the front as two swords clang with more bouts following in a blink. Most of the expeditionary team still moved when a dead man in ragged clothing flew over their heads. 

It had begun. Ku Lo’s right hand brandished the one-handed sword and legs halted his motion in sync with the others behind, beside, and in front of him.  

Their momentum at a halt, he and his squad sprinted towards the front where the battle raged on while a rearguard stood guard. 

Swords ready, his squad led by an Inner Court Disciple soon made it to the front where Meifen was hogging the entire breadth of the road to herself. In one hand she held a bloodied sword, the other controlled a small ball of pure Yin Qi ready to blast out at her will.

Before Meifen, at least three dozen bandits waited, some assessing the situation while even fewer tried to fight with the Amazonian warrior.

“I’ll deal with her!” A disgruntled voice rose from the group of bandits as a towering figure took centre against Meifen.

“Someone with a brain?” Left with no opponent, Meifen spoke while executing an already maimed bandit squirming under her feet. “Shame… now I don’t get to kill all of you alone.” 

The bandit spun his double-sided long axe. “Scram and we’ll call it even.” 

“Or you are going to chop more trees with that axe?” 

Meifen’s line sank into the, now supposed, bandit captain.

“You… this is a long axe!” The bandit captain swung the axe again, cutting down a tree in one swoop. “A weapon of war! I’m a warrior, not a mortal peasant!” 

“A bandit and never anything else-” Meifen pointed her sword’s tip at him. “Now come… face justice for your petty misdeeds.”

“Boys, get around her while I keep her occupied. These ‘Sectlings’ are rich with loot!” The bandit captain fumed deep-red and roared so loud his neck muscles almost burst open before he leapt at Meifen. 

Though wanting, Ku Lo didn’t have the time to watch or space to witness more of this bout, for the small fry streamed in from the edges of the road, even flanking from the forest.

Ku Lo couldn’t waste his time watching any longer.

“This is it!” He rushed alongside his squad captain, taking a position on the right flank. 

The number disadvantage they suffered there wouldn’t be for long. The squad, now in battle order, shot a Yin Paw or a Yang Hand each. 

The hail of bright streams evened out the situation as bandits dropped dead before trampled by their ‘allies’ charge. 

“You want this?!” Ku Lo nudged his feet like he was about to lash out at the bandit coming at him. 

Instead of meeting him, the bandit started to slow his rush, supposedly choosing to approach him in an orderly fashion. 

“You don’t?!” Ku Lo, of course, didn’t allow this bandit to dictate the flow of battle, and so the nudge turned into a lounge. “Haa!” 

With a twist of his upper body, he lashed out at the bandit still locked in the middle of a stopping motion. 

The gleaming blade cut through the rags and the soft flesh it covered all the same. With no say in it, the bandit lost the front half of his torso, intestines spewing out with blood. 

Because of the lunge, Ku Lo found himself a few steps out of line. Yet, as his opponent laid dead, no one would keep tabs on him for a brief window of time. And in a disordered melee like this, every person had their own combatant to keep occupied. If one didn’t put pressure on the duelling opponent, they would — like Ku Lo was about to do, — ‘stab’ into the other duels.

The two bandits facing his allies didn’t know what hit them when a sharp, metal stick thrust in and out of their sides without warning. However, who could blame them? They’d done everything right, yet died because their teammate had chickened during the charge. 

“You there!” Another bandit charged. Her sword reached for him in an over the head swing he didn’t bother to block. 

Ku Lo bounced next to her, who fully committed the attack. Before the swing came bearing down, his free hand punched the air out of her lungs.

“What? Me? Where?!” His sword came soon after and pierced the woman’s side at an awkward angle he fixed by ripping it out sideways with brute strength rather than swordsmanship. 

I’m way too out. Yanking out his sword, he realised the two forward moves had his sides wide open. Retreat!

It became a difficult retreat, even if it was under ten meters in length. Five different bandits took swings at him from the sides and front.

Ku Lo blocked to the best of his skill, a spiked mace tearing through his robe. Still, he would’ve surely taken heavy injuries if his squad hadn’t pushed the enemy into a rout. 

“Thanks.” He panted. “You saved me,” 

“Although only the results matter, don’t be too happy about this either.” His squad leader, the Inner Court Disciple, gave him some quick wisdom before dashing after the routing bandits.

Ku Lo stood there for a moment longer and glanced at his women to see they were okay before running after the routing bandits with his squad.

Of course, they weren’t running after bandits who were routing to kill them. They simply wanted to keep their intentions hidden till out of the enemy’s line of sight. 

“Everyone, charge at the other flank from behind!” The Inner Court Disciple shouted orders. “I’ll try and see if I can take down their captain!” 

Following the order to the letter, Ku Lo and the other Outer Court Disciples changed directions and continued to run, swords raised, towards the other flank, leaving their squad captain to bide his time. 

It came together too easy. The bandits had no rearguard, nor did any of the bandits watch their six. Ku Lo had the freedom to pick his targets showing their exposed necks.

With the unstoppable momentum of a charging cavalry attack, Ku Lo thrust and then hacked his way deep into the unsuspecting back of the other flank’s mass of bandits. 

Each swing of his sword cut down or maimed two bandits before pulling emergency brakes and jumping high over his allies, who were just as puzzled as the bandits were. 

The person Ku Lo jumped over coincided to be Feng Niu, who saw him with three others flutter over her head with gore plastered all over them. 

“No need to thank me!” he shouted, landing a meter behind her. 

“Are you sure?!” she responded after slashing one down before the surviving few bandits turned to rout. “I would owe you big time!” With a smile hinting of hidden meanings.