Book 2 - Fame Spreads - Chapter 36.1 - Extraordinary Strength

Well I made a mistake in keeping count of chapters. I forgot to include the first chapter of the week in the count and only realized when one of the comments tossed a hint. This is the ninth chapter of the week
Basically all the small countries to the west of the north-western countries had sections of the mountain range that was stretched across the whole north-western region. However, apart from these sections, the regions to the north were evenly stretched grasslands for the most part.
Heaven Sieve country was also one such country. Tai Cang county and Atai county were both considered to be a part of the Jadeting region. However, the difference between them was that unlike Tai Cang county, Atai county was mostly constituted of even land rather than the mountains.
Furthermore, the border between Heaven Sieve country and Kairong country was also here.
Kairong country was but one of the three great nations of the northwest. Their strength was far beyond that of Heaven Sieve country.
The horse bandits of Atai county also usually avoided the caravans from Kairong country. As a result, the troops of Kairong country usually turned a blind eye to the activities of these horse bandits, not willing to spend too much energy to completely eradicate them.
However, as far as Heaven Sieve country was concerned, these horse bandits were undoubtedly a huge, poisonous tumor. Unfortunately, regardless of how they tried, under the lack of cooperation from the troops of Kairong country, they couldn’t eliminate this tumor in its entirety.
The horse bandits of Atai county had no fixed territory. However, due to this reason, they were flexible and had managed not to be caught in one big net so far.
In the broad sense, since Atai county was situated at the border and further had horse bandits, the martial wind was more prevalent here in comparison to the other counties. Merely the horse bandits had five tenth layer Internal Energy experts among them.
The Red Cloth bandits were one of the top organizations among the horse bandit groups throughout the Atai county.
This huge organization surprisingly had two tenth layer experts. For ordinary horse bandits, this was simply an unimaginable feat.
Tenth layer experts- regardless of where they went, the influential families would spare no cost to rope them in. Even if such a person didn’t wish to live under others, he could easily start his own sect and establish his own clan.
Although not every tenth layer expert could establish a clan with millenniums of legacy, at the same time, almost every big clan with over a millennium of legacy had been founded by a tenth layer expert.
Currently, the two leaders of the Red Cloth bandits were leading a group of horse bandits to a village. They arrived on a section of even land and decided to rest.
The leader Guan Qing and the second leader Guo Shaofeng, both were big, brute men. The characteristic that they both shared was that they both had ice-cold expressions, seeming as if they could see through whoever they faced.
The Red Cloth bandits had no shortage of fearless men. They neither fear heavens nor earth and never hesitated to take the lead of troops. However, before these two leaders, merely a glare was sufficient to transform these tigers into rats.
This was the courage and resolution of these two leaders. If this was not the case, they wouldn’t have been able to take charge of the Red Cloth bandits either.
Inside a big tent, these two leaders were enjoying wine and delicacies while discussing their future course of action.
Regarding the villages in the Atai county, as long as they handed over the tax as per the established rules, these bandits didn’t create too much trouble for them. After all, if they wish to continue living for a long time, apart from looting the travelling caravans, they also required these villages to survive.
If there weren’t any villages inside Atai county, they also couldn’t possibly live in such leisure.
Suddenly, the curtains of the tent opened.
A slender male entered and performed a respectful salute before saying, “Leader, second leader, I’m back.”
Guan Qing faintly nodded and said, “How did it go?”
“Leader, both the leaders of Wolf Fangs and Fierce Tigers have agreed to our request and are willing to make a trip to Tai Cang county with us to massacre the Cheng family, and take revenge for Captain Guan. However, Azure Sea’s leaders didn’t agree. They said that this matter has nothing to do with them, and it’s not worth it to throw their lives away for us Red Cloth bandits.”
Guan Qing’s face immediately sank. He coldly snorted and said, “Did you tell them that we, Red Cloth bandits, will not claim any of the gains this time and leave everything to them?”
That man lowered his head and said, “This subordinate told them, but the second leader, Sea Huqiao, ordered this subordinate to let you know that…. she said….”
Seeing him hesitate, Guan Qing annoyed said, “Sea Huqiao, what did that woman say?”
That man bit his tongue and said, “She said, Guan Wei coveted others’ wealth. He acted in Tai Cang county and broke the rules. Therefore, he was only digging his own grave. Even if the few of our groups join hands and succeeds in exterminating the Cheng family, we will have humiliated the Jadeting’s Lin family into anger. At that time, a full blown retaliation from Lin family would certainly be extremely troublesome. Therefore, please leader, don’t be impulsive and think carefully before acting….”
His words had been becoming increasingly slow. Seeing Guan Qing’s face gradually becoming overcast to an extent that it could drip water at any time, he tacitly closed his mouth.
Guo Shaofeng’s complexion slightly changed, “Senior brother, since Sea Huqiao, that loathsome woman fails to appreciate our kindness, we also don’t need to care about them. This time, since we’ve managed to invite Wolf Fangs and Fierce Tigers, even if Tai Cang county’s all the three influential families join hands, we can simply exterminate them all.”
Guan Qing’s face was although quite unsightly, he hadn’t lost his rationale.
“Junior brother, you can’t look down on Tai Cang county’s three influential families,” He coldly snorted, “Although Tai Cang county only has two tenth layer experts, as far as I know, they have at least five cultivators above ninth layer. Moreover, excluding He family, both Xu family and Cheng families have centuries of legacy. Although ninth layer experts wouldn’t appear that easily, they have no shortage of seventh and eighth layer experts.” He chuckled as his eyes calmed down, “If we were to truly fight with our lives, even if our alliance of four ultimately triumphs, our strength will have taken a huge hit.”
Guo Shaofeng’s mouth faintly twitched a few times, eventually speaking, “Senior brother, are you saying that those people from Azure Sea will try to take advantage of this opportunity?”
Yuan Qing faintly nodded and said, “Correct. Although Azure Hanyang is also a tenth layer cultivator like us, everybody knows that his cultivation is the most profound among all of us. Furthermore, that woman Sea Huqiao is not only extremely resourceful, her Internal Energy is also at ninth layer’s peak. Even if the two of them fought together against us two brothers fair and square, the outcome would be hard to predict.” He lightly sighed and said, “With such a power behind our back, it’s indeed hard to feel relaxed.”
Guo Shaofeng blinked his eyes. Although he was extremely powerful, in terms of wisdom, he lacked far behind his senior brother. Therefore, he was completely willing to bend down and reside under Guan Qing. Otherwise, with his strength, he could have left the Red Cloth bandits long ago and formed his own group.
“Senior brother, since it’s like this, what should we do? Do we still seek revenge for Guan Wei?” Since Guo Shaofeng could no longer see the situation clearly, he straightaway asked without trying to think.
Guan Qing’s eyes coldly glowed momentarily, “This enmity will certainly be settled. However, Sea Huqiao’s words are also reasonable. We must think carefully before acting.”
The fact that the Red Cloth bandits could do as they pleased in Atai county for decades was not merely to be accounted to their battle power.
As they were engaged in the discussion, the door suddenly opened with a sound, and an individual rushed in as if he was on fire.
If He Yiming and the others were to see this person, they would definitely recognize that this person was precisely that last bandit who had jumped in the stream at the border of Gold Forest country.