At that moment, a wave of arrows came flying from the sky, but before Qian Yu could do anything, Zhao Xieren took out her sword and with a wave of her hand, deflected all the arrows as he felt a slight burst of wind from it. He didn’t know what it was but he could feel that it was mostly related to their family’s cultivation technique. 

Within a few seconds of the shout, everyone immediately woke up, rushing out of the tents with weapons in their hands. Qian Yu already had his sword with him and started thinking about what to do as he ran up to meet with the others. 

Meanwhile, the merchant scrambled away behind the bodyguards who were protecting the horses. It was a common strategy for bandits to attack the horses. The bandits naturally had no reason to engage in a normal battle with them. If the horses were injured, they would be sitting ducks in the middle of nowhere.

As such, the merchant and his assistants quickly got on the carriages in an attempt to depart. However, it was too late and the bandits had already appeared, quickly encircling the group. 

Zhao Xieren knew she was the strongest one here and as such, she was about to start attacking right away. However, a man soon appeared from the circle of bandits. He wasn’t wearing a mask like the other bandits and everyone in the group recognized him. There were countless wanted posters Qian Yu had seen in the sect and city and this guy was one of them. He was reported as a qi gathering cultivator in the later stages and learned a sky-ranked sword cultivation technique. No one knew his name so he was known as “X”. 

With a wave of his hand, the bandits instantly launched their attack and started running towards the group, instigating a battlefield of 1-on-1s. 

As for Qian Yu’s opponent, he was a man wielding short daggers on each hand. 

*Clang clink* Qian Yu started trading blows with the opponent as he took up a sword he had found.

‘Damn it!’ Qian Yu wasn’t very well versed with the sword and suffered a small cut on his arm through their trades. Although Qian Yu didn’t feel like he was that strong, the man was a lot faster than him. 

*Swish!* The trades continued and again, Qian Yu made another mistake after another few exchanges, suffering another small cut on his left arm as he overextended on his last attack. However, he quickly realized the weakness of such short weapons. Smiling, he realized that his opponent wouldn’t be able to counter attack and injure him if he didn’t go in for heavy attacks. 

Being more passive now, he started focusing on defense rather than offense.

Besides, the so-called battle field game between the disciples and the thieves was more like a show. The only fight that really mattered and was important was the battle between “X” and Zhao Xieren. 

While others were nervous about the situation, Qian Yu had complete confidence in her abilities. ‘Sky ranked cultivation technique against a legendary ranked cultivation technique. Let’s see the difference,’ he thought. 

*Clang… Clang…* Sounds of metal colliding against each other sounded throughout the battlefield. 

In the middle of the field, “X’ and Zhao Xieren were exchanging blows for blows as she realized that she was just a little stronger than him. Even then, she didn’t dare be arrogant as she remained completely focused in her first life and death situation. 

As the fight continued, “X” started growing weary. In terms of basic sword skills he could feel that he was inferior to the girl in front of him, driving him mad. In battles where you didn’t know anything about the otherside, he knew that it was generally a disadvantage to show your cards first as he would let the opponent easily counter it. After he put himself in closer range, he would have less time to react, but he gritted his teeth as he had no other choice. If they continued like this, he would eventually suffer a large injury.

“Rampaging Ox!” he cried out. Suddenly, it was like all the anger in his body condensed and the qi surrounding him turned chaotic. His speed and power instantly boosted as he dashed towards Zhao Xieren.

‘A chaotic law cultivation technique. Seems like some kind of skill that strengthens his body?’ Zhao Xieren thought to herself as “X” ran forward and started dishing out powerful blows as she blocked his attacks with her sword. 

Now, Zhao Xieren was being pushed back for once as the onslaught of attacks continued. After a few more seconds, the powerful aura surrounding “X” peaked as he went for a 2-handed overhead slash. However, just as he was about to hit her, a smile appeared on Zhao Xieren’s face as she focused a lot of qi into her foot before touching the ground and reappearing at a spot a couple feet away from “X”.

*Whoosh!* *Bam!* Just after her step, a large hole was made in the ground shooting dust and dirt everywhere. 

However, before the dust was able to settle, the shadow of a blade cut through the dust.

“Wandering Blade - 3 Slashes!” a voice sounded out as Zhao Xieren countered. 

*Cut… cut…* The first slash and second slash appeared from the dust. “X” tried to defend but he suddenly couldn’t see anything and was forced to rely on his years of experience. However, his instincts and perception were telling him completely different things. As a slash landed on him followed by the next one, his brain couldn’t handle the different responses, and he blanked out confusedly. 

*Slash!* The third slash came out, flickering blood everywhere. 

Falling down, “X” had his eyes wide open, still confused in his last moment of life.

By the side, Zhao Xieren flicked the sword removing the blood before taking a few deep breaths. She was notably tired after using the last move but she knew it wasn’t time to rest yet. 

Seeing the death of the qi gathering bandit, the rest of the bandits lost their composure as they started to retreat. Seeing this, the disciples and body guards chased after them, ending the lives of whoever they caught. 

A round of applause and cheers resounded out as everyone celebrated their victory.

3 days later, the group finally made it to Northern Star City in the evening. It was a city at the top of the country. A popular tourist city, it was larger than Yellow River City and most of its revenue was made from imports and exports as they lived near the sea. 

While no one was killed, Wu Jing fought a rank 8 body refinement thief and ended up seriously wounded along with another disciple. Qian Yu performed some first aid treatment on them and the rest of the injured but they were left behind at a nearby village to recuperate along with two other disciples, one of which was Chen Ya. 

After receiving the payment from the merchant, Zhao Xieren also received the bounty for “X” head which was 1 spirit stone, which was also worth 100 gold coins. 

‘Bounty hunting… dangerous yet profitable!’ Qian Yu thought as he saw the bounty for “X”.

Finally, after an exhausting journey, Qian Yu was finally looking forward to exploring the large city.