Li Lian was a wanted person, so they avoided cities, roads, and open fields as much as possible. They only traveled through dense forests and rough terrain.
Even though they ran into several beasts along the way, it was still better than being out in public.
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Xiao Fang was frowning.
Since they left the city walls, he could sense that they were being followed. Not only that, but the people following them didn't seem ordinary at all.
Some of them wore special armour, while others wielded powerful weapons.
What worried Xiao Fang wasn't their strength, but their numbers. It was slowly increasing.
The longer they waited, the more that came.
Originally, there was only 2 of them, but now they were a total of 5, so he assumed there was more on the way.
Xiao Fang didn't want to wait for them to gather their forces, so he decided to make the first move.
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"Xiao Fang, Why did you stop?" Li Lian asked.
"It appears that we're being followed."
Li Lian was surprisingly calm.
"How many?" She asked.
"5, but I believe more are on the way, otherwise they would've attacked us already."
Xiao Fang told Li Lian and Xiao Hei what to do, but Li Lian was reluctant to do as he said.
"Xiao Fang, wait. We can just escape. Why must you fight them?"
"We don't have the energy to out run them, it's better if we eliminate them now before they make our situation troublesome in the future."
Xiao Fang sat cross-legged under a tree as if he was meditating.
"Be careful, Xiao Fang. If it's too dangerous, don't do anything reckless."
"Rest assured, I'll be fine," he smiled confidently.
She nodded to him once, then continued walking away with Xiao Hei.
Seeing them leave, Xiao Fang finally took out his old flute.
His father taught him how to play it to teach him how to calm his heart in any situation.
Calm music wasn't just good for relieving his anxiety, it also settled the tides and ripples in his soul, making it seem as still as a lake that had been undisturbed for thousands of years.
Killing people was much harder than killing beasts, but such hesitation could get him killed, so he took this time to calm his mind and clear his thoughts.
"It's been awhile, old friend," he spoke to the bamboo flute as if it were alive.
No matter how simple the bamboo flute looked, they had gone through countless trials and tribulations together, so there was a special bond between them only Xiao Fang could understand.
Xiao Fang brought it up to his lips then blowed softly. From it, a soothing melody resonated through the air, as it rode the coattails of the light summer breeze.
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A few minutes later, the 5 bounty hunters silently approached Xiao Fang as he played his flute, but now there was 6 of them.
One man in the group waved his hand infront of Xiao Fang's blindfolded face as if to confirm whether he was really blinded or not.
"It seems you're being too paranoid Cao Hui. How could this cripple be a threat to us."
"It doesn't hurt to check," Cao Hui replied simply.
"Let's hurry up and capture that bitch now, my dick is getting restless just thinking about it," another man spoke with a disgusting grin on his face.
"Luo Jin and his gang will be here soon. We should have our fun with her before they arrive," another man spoke.
Cao Hui didn't want to do anything unnecessary, but he had to admit the thought of raping Li Lian was very tempting.
After saying those words, the man finally faced Xiao Fang again.
"Blindman, what do you know about the girl you were just walking to?"
"If I told you that, would you spare her from what you intend to do to her?"
"You..." Cao Hui realized that they had said too much infront of him.
Suddenly another man spoke.
"You damn cripple, you have no cultivation yet you dare speak to us that way!"
Xiao Fang didn't reply, instead he continued playing his flute, only this time with a different rhythm. A tune that made people who listened closely feel as if there was a crouching tiger sneaking up on them.
"Forget it, what would a cripple know. Let's go, I don't want to lose sight of that beauty."
Cao Hui gestured for someone to take care of Xiao Fang before he continued walking towards Li Lian.
Even if Xiao Fang seemed to be a nobody with no cultivation, he still heard their plan to rape Li Lian before turning her in. They could be in big trouble if the Gao family heard about this, so Xiao Fang definitely couldn't be spared.
One man approached Xiao Fang with a malicious smile on his face.
The melody Xiao Fang played changed again. This time, he only played 2 notes in rapid repetition, playing them faster and faster as the man approached. It was if a rattle snake was shaking its tail, just before a kill.
"Ha!" The man grunted as he threw a punch towards Xiao Fang.
Suddenly, the spine chilling sound of bones being crushed sounded behind the bounty hunters, but they just assumed the man killed Xiao Fang so they didn't even bother looking back.
Only Cao Hui looked back to see what kind of technique the man used to make such a horrifying sound.
However, just when he looked back, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his dantian, it was because Xiao Fang's sword had run right through it.
Not only was he brought to his knees, but another body fell with him. Xiao Fang had killed 1 and crippled 2 of them before they could even react.
Seeing 3 of their companions fall, the other 3 finally reacted, but the moment they took a step back, they were suddenly pulled towards him by a terrifying force.
[ Reaper's Grasp ]
He was already too close to them before he uses that technique so it was impossible for them to counter it.
With 3 swift strikes, the last 3 weakest bounty hunters fell.
It didn't even take a second to defeat the six of them.
Sure, it wasn't a fair fight, but Xiao Fang didn't care. When it's a matter of life and death, all is fair, the loser dies, and the winner survives. How you win doesn't matter.
After finishing off the crippled bounty hunters, a mysterious energy came out of their bodies and started seeped into Xiao Fang's skin.
Feeling this mysterious energy enter his dantian made his body feel rejuvenated. Almost as if heavy weights were slowly falling off of him.
'What is this feeling,' Xiao Fang thought.
Even the never ending pain from the curse marks were slowly fading.
Upon looking down at his body, Xiao Fang gasped in shock.
His curse marks were disappearing!
Not only was the mysterious energy easing his pain, he also felt that it contained spirit comprehension. He felt like if he cultivated it he would be able to easily breakthrough to the 4th stage with his 'Death Reaper' method.
'It seems this method requires me to kill cultivators to cultivate it. What a twisted cultivation method to have,' Xiao Fang thought.
Although it didn't actually require him to kill anyone, it just made it a whole lot easier to cultivate it if he did.
Xiao Fang looted their bodies, and collected a combined total of roughly 5,000 common grade, and a few hundred low grade spirit stone. He assumed the only thing of value that they had were their armour and weapons.
Despite being in the Profound Spirit and Spirit Core realm, they hardly kept any valuable stuff in their spatial pouches.
'It seems killing bounty hunters isn't as profitable as I imagined,' Xiao Fang thought.
After collecting all of their stuff, Xiao Fang gouged out their eyes then hanged their corpses as a warning for anyone that wished to chase after them.
Once he was done, he caught up to Li Lian and they continued on their journey back to the Black Paradise sect.
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Less than an hour later, a small group of bounty hunters arrived at the gory scene.
Upon seeing the mutilated hanging corpses, a few of them puked, while others looked away. Only the man standing at the front of the group stayed calm as he looked at Xiao Fang's warning.
"Cut them down," he said.
Despite his words, there was a moment of hesitation amongst the crowd.
Xiao Fang's warning was clearly super effective on them.
"Luo Jin, perhaps it would be wise if we contact headquarters about this. Cao Hui was a Profound Spiritist, but look around us, there is no signs of a battle. Whoever is helping that girl must've been extremely powerful."
Luo Jin was reluctant to retreat, but he had to agree with what the man said. There was absolutely no signs of a struggle at all. It was unimaginable what kind of existence was capable of doing such a thing to a team consisting of a Profound and Spirit Core realm experts. One thing was for sure, Luo Jin didn't want to find out.
"Alright, let's go back and report our findings."
After cutting the corpses down, they left.
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Meanwhile, it took Xiao Fang, Li Lian, and Xiao Hei less than a day of running to reach the Black Paradise sect.
Although they would've arrived much sooner if they took the normal route, they didn't want to take any chances.
Xiao Fang crashed on the bed once he was finally home. It was a feeling that was hard to explain, but brought him immeasurable comfort.
Li Lian also fell on the bed in exhaustion, but when she looked at Xiao Fang she smiled brightly, and it warmed his heart.
Suddenly, Xiao Hei jumped directly on top of Xiao Fang's back, making him groan.
They had a long tiring journey back home, so Xiao Fang and Xiao Hei fell asleep shortly after returning.
Seeing them sleeping like this made Li Lian smile. She tucked them in then crossed her legs to cultivate the evolved flame burning in her dantian.