Although full of doubts the optimistic refugees walked along the way, 

unbeknownst to them 

 the hundreds of officers and soldiers faintly had already surrounded them, 

as if they had already known that the refugees might notice something

so as a precaution they prevented them from escaping, by herding them like cattle 

For the hundredth time, Xu Lin scanned his surroundings looking for some sort of way from which he and his friend could escape 

but for the hundredth time, he shook away the foolish idea

how would they escape the armed soldiers 

even if they could somehow slip away they had no food weapons not even a decent pair of footwear between them

 

even if they escaped the soldiers the forest beast would make short work of them 

they would never reach the team of refugees who were getting further away from them with every step they took 

there were several unfavourable factors 

 which made Xu Lin choose to forbear out of fear

　　"Xu Lin, did the soldier say were they were really going to kill the bandits?" Xiao Shi approached Xiao Lin and said in a low voice, 

 obviously, he also felt something was wrong.

　　"Wherever you go, I go so don't worry  just follow me quietly." Although Xu Lin's heart had sunk a long time ago, 

he still understood the current situation. People have to bow their heads under the eaves of strong men 

he understood enough about the world that they were now pieces of meat on the fat scared officers' chopping board 

the man would do whatever he wanted to do 

and they had no power to do or say otherwise 

and protest would only lead to death 

 along the way, 

every few hundred meters, 

Xu Lin Will inadvertently scratched the tree trunk with a rock  

even though he had understood his situation he did not give up all hope 

these marks would aid him in getting back to his father

　　After walking for another nine days, 

the trees in front of them suddenly became scarce, 

and a bare mountain faintly appeared in the distance.

 It is not accurate to say that it is completely bare. 

When they walked in, Xiao Lin discovered that the mountain was halfway down. 

It is bare, and half of the mountainside is covered with hurried green. In the bare part below the mountainside, there was a white marble platform surrounded by hundreds of men and women wearing red robes 

　　On the right side of the mountain next to the forest, there is a three-story wooden small building.

Next to the small building were nearly a hundred of neatly thatched huts. 

Around the thatched huts, there are also towers. 

there were thousands of yellow armoured soldiers and tens of thousands of green robust sturdy horses horses 

Xu Lin can see at a glance that each tower is Standing a sturdy man holding a strong crossbow.

　　On the left side of this mountain, there was a large lake covering dozens of acres, the lake water was verdant and green, 

with every mountain breeze, the like surface would ripple and sway like the wind 

　　Xu Lin saw that after they reached the thatched huts area, 

a few sturdy men dressed in red robes walked out of the more majestic three-story building next to the thatched huts area. 

then another group of women came out right behind the men 

They were all dressed in cyan linen gowns with a golden dragon on their left shoulders.

 On their chests, there were embroidered symbols of a small knife and a small sword, the two blades were in a cross shape.

　　The person at the front of the group was a sturdy robust man with yellow skin and brown eyes his red robe was dirty and tattered 

　　Seeing those people, 

Wu shu's face broke out in a warm smile 

He got off the horse, took a few trusted followers, to greet them.

　　The leader of the group and Wu shy kept talking in low voices. Not long after, Wu shu took a small purple bag from a big man next to the leader of the red-robed men 

 taking the bag into his hands Wu shy began nodding and happily and pointed at the group of volunteers 

　　Seeing this scene, Xiao Lin's completely lost all hope.

any fantasy he carried of escape was now totally useless

the only thing he could do at the moment,

was wait

he watched the people who came in from the other side of the woods

watched them walk to the side of the officers

watched them hand out what liked to be bottles of wind and fruits 

watched them talk to one another,

watched them laughing and jabbing 

watched them hug one another

watched them walk to the bottom of the hill 

He understood that his group had been sold by Wu shu to these red-robed men 

he didn't understand what the women were doing here 

　　Sure enough, after a while, Wu Shu walked back to his group

 and then commanded his subordinates to drive hundreds of labourers to the front of the big men, then greeted the lady who looked to be the leader of the cyan robed women, 

"The girls will be delivered in 12 days fairy Su see you then" he bowed to the lead woman 

who looked to be a young woman of 19 who had sharp features with raiser straight nose and thin eyes brows 

the. Wu shy left with his subordinates swaggering away on his horse 

causing the refugees to panic 

question such as 

why isn't the official army not attacking the bandits?

where is the equipment needle to be carried?

when can we go back?

when are we being fed?

began floating around the group 

.

　　There was a commotion in the crowd.

　　In this situation, 

no matter how stupid people are, they know that they were sold by Wu shy

 no one knew the sturdy red river men or the cyan clothed women 

but it was clear to many people they were no bandits 

　　"Aren't you lot good?"

"now I know most of you are worried?"

"many of you must be dying go ask me, where is this place?" 

"or what is this place?"

"and what are you doing here?"

The leader cast a glance at everyone, and said with a sneer at the corner of his mouth.

　　"First let me introduce myself

I am Liu Dali of Red Star Sect the deputy master of the hall of resources."

he paused as he let the information sink 

To Xu Lin, the works such as sect, red atar or hall master meant nothing he was still looking for a way he could escape 

 "As for you people, you have been sold to my sect by the duke of jade heart" 

" from now on you are no longer human but resources that my sect will spend in whatever's fashion the deem fit"

After speaking, Liu Dali stared at everyone with a sneer.

　　"We are migrant workers who carry siege equipment for the officers and soldiers of the official army of the kingdom of Qin. We are not slaves of your fucking sect. If we are not here to conquer the bandits, we would rather go back to where we came from back to our families and loved ones ." A very strong-looking man stood up. He was about 30 years old and dressed in clothes that were in tatters, but the clothes didn't cover part of the exposed tendons, which made people know that the strength of the man was not something that could be ignored.

　　"Yeah, we are going back, we are not slaves"

　　As soon as the people saw someone taking the lead, several people suddenly jumped out, clamouring to go back.

　　Xu Lin grabbed Xiao Shi who also wanted to stand out, winked at him and motioned to him to calm down and sit still

　　Liu Dali looked at the few people who came out, without the slightest expression on their faces, and the sneer at the corners of his mouth disappeared. He didn't say anything, just snorted coldly.

　　Suddenly, a big man next to him stretched out a distance of two feet and suddenly appeared in front of the 30-year-old muscular man. 

The muscular man's complexion changed and he instinctively smashed out with a punch. 

the big man also pinched out. 

the big man and the muscular man punched at each other but as soon as the punches of the two men connected with each 

the big stood still the munch. did nothing to him as if he was hit by a baby. not by a strong muscular man 

but muscular man's arm began twisting and turning 

the muscle man began to shout and scream as he tried to get away from whatever it was that was twisting his arm

but no matter what he did his arm kept on twisting like someone was using his arm as a screw 

then  his entire body began to teach twist and turn soon his entire body twisted and fell to the ground 

Xu Lin did not doubt in his mind that the muscular refugee was now dead

his remains were 

no longer recognisable as a human being 

as there was nothing on the ground but a twist ball of a man 

　　When Xu Lin and the others saw what that the big man from the red star sect did they all backed away 

another slender man came out of the group towards the bid man and pressed a light palm on the remains of the muscular refugee's man a light blue fire erupted devouring the remains leaving nothing but ashes 

　　Seeing this scene, everyone was stunned. Xu Lin and Xiao Shi were also dumbfounded. Two words appeared in Xiao Lin's mind: "Martial skill."

　　As early as when he was a baby in the village, 

he heard the old people in the village say that there are some gangs of extraordinary people in yellow river County. 

these gangs would go around from village to village looking for young qualified children 

then

These gangs will accept some qualified youngsters and teach them martial arts from an early age. 

After more than ten years of practice, these youngsters were not only very powerful but also magical

Moreover, they also gained a huge amount of wealth 

　　Xu Lin was suddenly a little envious of that big man, with such a skill, who would dare to bully him? If you have this ability, you can protect your father and he would have been able to save his mother

　　The big man's move to kill the chickens to scare the monkeys immediately suppressed everyone, 

and the few who jumped out to leave also retreated with horror, looking at the few people in red times in front of them, their eyes were full of fear.

　　Obviously, Liu Dali was very satisfied with the scene before him and the lost smile reappeared once again on his face.

" don't worry you are now important resources of the sect."

"We won't just randomly kill you"

"now form up a straight clean line and match up toward the platform on the hill"

when no one move Liu Dali's smile grew  brighter 

"I said don't worry you will not be killed each of you will be assigned to certain tasks insect some will become miners some farmers some gathers others, hunters, if you are lucky you might become handymen who would be able to learn these magical skills"

liu Dali flicked his hands as on as he finished causing a bright deep red fire to appear on his hands 

　　Then Liu Dalis face changed, and he put on a fierce expression again: "But I want to warn you, don't think about running escaping or harming the sect members otherwise you will find yourself facing a fate far worse than death" 

 

Everyone in the area fell silent

Liu Dali glanced at the people gathered on top of the hill then turned around.

"Now you people come forward and quietly form a line"

he then turned around and shouted

"Sun Fang"

soon a scrawny looking man in red times stumbled forward from the group of men 

, and knelt down before Liu Dali

"I am here hall master"

Li Dali nodded and turned to the still confused crowd 

"This is Sun Fang," said Liu Dali as he introduced Sun Fang to groups of refugees 

Then he added: "Don't make noise, Sun Fang will guide you in everything that you will be needing to do"

Sun Fang nodded seriously will still kneeling down 

"make sure you do your job right this time" 

liu said with a stern voice 

"I am going back to my meditation"

he then turned around and walked toward the group of cyan river women 

" sister Su will you be joining me for an exchange of knowledge"

the woman in question was the leader of the group of women smiled coquettishly at Liu Dali and with a flirty sweet voice said 

"of course brother Liu I will. be joining you soon"

liu skilled and winked at the woman 

as all the other women all around her 

began to laugh and giggle while covering their crimson faces 

soon another man came from behind the group of women 

" a sweet Su Li you are abandoning me so easily abandoning"

the new commuter was at all and a handsome young fellow with a lean physique and curvy long hair 

some of the red robes began right-wing and catcalling at the newcomer 

liu Dali's face controlled into 

 a stern expression, as he waved his hand at those red-robed people

Li Su was shocked after she heard what he said and was speechless

"what are you talking about? We have never  been together"

she said to him with an annoyed look as if she couldn't understand how he was being abandoned.

man pretended  to be deeply hurt by Su  li's words 

"oh my poor heart "

he then suddenly raised his fist and slammed onto Su Li before anyone could do anything his fist slammed onto Su Li's chest, 

 blood spewed out of her mouth. Her eyes became wide, as she collapsed on the ground.

"What kind of a person are you, you treat your lover so poorly?" asked the man angrily

"wang mu what are you doing?" liu Dali shouted as he ran. towards the fallen woman 

the cyan robed women circled around the Su Li taking  a defensive stance  against wang my just as the man shouted 

"you slut, I am going to beat you up "

then 

the man took a step, as he lifted his leg and kicked towards her

Su Li elapsed her hands and a blue cyan or of light surrounded the group 

then Su Li closed her eyes waiting for the impact 

However, the sound of cracking and snapping rang through the air and then silence.

Su Li slowly open her eyes to see wang my bloody and covered in dirt lying on the ground breathing heavily while Liu Dali stood over him

Liu Dali spat at Wang mu 

"stupid drunkard commoner how dare you tarnish sister su's reputation and how dare you  raise your hands against her"

Wang struggled to get up 

" My master will........

before wang, I could finish Liu Dali kicked down on the man crushing his skull completely killing him

he then turned and shouted 

" Sun Fang why aren't the mortals moving"

sun fang hurriedly jumped up and ran toward the refugees

liu dali then turned toward the women and bowed  

"I am so sorry for the action of my junior brother I hope the sweet sisters of the crossguard sect can find it in their heart to not blame the read star sect"

all the women nodded their heads in respect.

they could understand that wang mu was only drunk

wang mu had always been like this

he would occasionally act like this

so they did not really think too much about it

wang Mu's behaviour did not seem like it was caused by alcohol at all. He was acting quite normal even when his senior brother was beating him up.

but today he looked sober and hurt 

.the cyan energy Lord around women faded away 

"brother liu doesn't have to apologise for actions of a vermin, but I am sorry to inform you that I won't be joining you today brother liu I need to go and heal my injury"

liu Dali nodded and made a gesture of please do so

he then turned toward the team of refugees who were now being forced to match toward the platform on the hill