Soul Emperor Martial God

Chapter 80: Chapter 79: Burning the Connected Camps

The Poison Dragon Mountain Bandit Group is the most infamous bandit clan outside Mystic Breakthrough City.

They kill and plunder relentlessly, greedy for both money and life.

Yet, their power is formidable, and no one can contend with them.

Even ordinary large merchant caravans, when encountering them, must disarm and surrender, handing over their goods just to survive.

Hence, many merchants and families within Mystic Breakthrough City hold deep loathing and intense resentment towards them.

Once, the merchants and families united and posted high-reward tasks at the Demon Hunting Hall twice in succession, but both attempts ended in failure.

The first time, the task was undertaken by a famous Demon Hunting Team from Mystic Breakreakthrough City, led by an Innate Ninth Layer Martial Artist, with dozens of Demon Hunters under his command.

But while attempting to eliminate the bandits, they were annihilated, and even that Innate Ninth Layer Captain couldn’t escape.

The second time, the reward was increased, and the three strongest Demon Hunting Teams in Mystic Breakthrough City took on the task simultaneously. Three Innate Ninth Layer Martial Artists and nearly a hundred Demon Hunters joined forces.

But the Poison Dragon Mountain Bandit Group, relying on the advantages of the mountain forests and hiding everywhere, managed to make the three Demon Hunting Teams return empty-handed.

After that, when the three helpless Demon Hunting Teams left to undertake other tasks, they were repeatedly retaliated against by the bandits, resulting in heavy casualties.

To this day, the number of Demon Hunters slain by them has already surpassed a thousand.

The merchants within the city were also in a difficult position; hiring fewer Demon Hunters was not enough to contend with them, and hiring more would alert the enemy and cause them to hide in the deep mountains and forests, untouchable by anyone.

Unless a Mysterious Profundity Realm Warrior took personal action, they could be easily wiped out.

However, there were only a few Mysterious Profundity Realm Warriors in Mystic Breakthrough City, and they were all Family Heads of major clans. Naturally, they wouldn’t lower their status just for a reward, going into the deep and secret forests to deal with a group of mountain bandits.

As time went by, the Poison Dragon Mountain Bandit Group remained entrenched, and no Demon Hunter would take on this task anymore.

When Xiao Yi saw this task in the Demon Hunting Hall, he accepted it without hesitation; after all, it was on the way and it was a Fourth Level Task, worth a total of 30 Task Points.

The tasks at the Demon Hunting Hall are generally ranked according to their difficulty and correspond to the Cultivation level of the Martial Artist.

First-level tasks can be easily completed by Mortal Realm Warriors.

To complete a Third-level Task, at least an Innate Realm Martial Artist must lead or take action.

Fourth Level Tasks usually require Mysterious Profundity Realm Warriors, or several Innate Realm Martial Artists to collaborate.

Undoubtedly, taking on the Poison Dragon Mountain Bandit Group was classified as a Fourth Level Task.

But I digress.

With Xiao Yi’s abilities, he was able to infiltrate the bandits’ lair without anyone noticing his presence.

He simply stood on a tree, watching the bandits below drink and make merry.

”Let’s pull off a few more heists, then big brother can take us brothers to relax,” one of the bandits said enthusiastically, eating meat and drinking wine.

”Damn, to have been stuck in these woods for so long, I’m dying to go back to Mystic Breakthrough City and see my girl.”

”Pfft, those women of easy virtue, what’s there to miss.”

”Well, I do know that in a few days another merchant caravan will pass through, apparently with quite a few women.”

The bandits guzzled their alcohol, blatantly discussing indecent matters.

Suddenly, a middle-aged man strode forward towards them with the presence of a dragon and ferocity of a tiger.

A scar from a blade ran down the left side of his face, and his appearance was very fierce; he was the leader of this bandit clan, Poison Dragon.

”Big brother... Big brother...” The bandits greeted him one after another.

”Don’t relax too much,” Poison Dragon ordered sternly, ”I’ve heard that recently the Cave Mansion of the Bloodthirsty Profound Monarch was discovered. Many Demon Hunters obtained treasures there and have significantly increased their strength. We can’t afford any surprises.”

”Don’t worry, big brother. Those Demon Hunters and the caravan guards are just fat sheep in our eyes,” reassured another.

”Yeah, just chop them down with one swing, and their treasures will be ours,” added yet another fiercely.

Poison Dragon was about to scold them, when suddenly, his ears twitched, and he turned quickly towards a nearby big tree and bellowed, ”Who’s there?”

Xiao Yi leapt down from the tree.

”Not bad, Poison Dragon, you’ve got some skills,” Xiao Yi said flatly.

”Hmm?” Poison Dragon narrowed his eyes, staring coldly at Xiao Yi, ”A young man, capable of sneaking in here without a sound, you’re not bad either.”

The Ghost Mask was not a full-face mask, but rather one that just covered the area beneath the eyes.

The eyes and the area above them were left uncovered.

The type of mask that completely covers the face, shielding everything but the eyes, creates blind spots for the martial artist, which is extremely detrimental to combat.

On the contrary, a half-face mask can obscure one’s features without affecting combat, making it more convenient.

Therefore, on the Flame Dragon Continent, most masks are of the half-face variety, including the Ghost Mask.

Poison Dragon looked into Xiao Yi’s clear eyes and Bai Zhe’s delicate brow and forehead, nearly certain that Xiao Yi was young.

And upon hearing Xiao Yi’s voice, he could confirm that he was just a youth.

Of course, he found it unbelievable that a youth would dare to invade his territory.

”Who are you?” Poison Dragon asked warily, ”You’re not a known figure in Mystic Breakthrough City.”

Within Mystic Breakthrough City, aside from the few Mysterious Profundity Realm individuals, less than ten warriors from the Innate Realm had the skill to invade his territory. And there was definitely not a youth among them.

”You’re Poison Dragon, aren’t you?” Xiao Yi didn’t respond but instead asked a question of his own.

Poison Dragon frowned, ”That’s a rhetorical question. What exactly are you trying to do?”

Xiao Yi said with a faint smile, ”Nothing much, I just want to make sure I don’t kill the wrong person.”

Poison Dragon’s expression chilled, ”You’re a Demon Hunter.”

”Demon Hunter?” The surrounding bandits also went cold before smirking, ”Another one bringing death upon himself.”

”Heh, these past years, there’s no telling how many Demon Hunters have died at our hands.”

”The families of Mystic Breakthrough City must have offered a high bounty to send even a green boy like you to trouble us.”

The bandits laughed boisterously, clearly not taking Xiao Yi seriously.

”Take him down,” Poison Dragon commanded coldly.

A dozen bandits charged forward, their gleaming broadswords as if to warn Xiao Yi that it would be best not to resist, otherwise a single slice could mean his death.

”Hmph,” Xiao Yi snorted coldly; without any noticeable movement, the dozen bandits suddenly became engulfed in flames.

Boom! The flames exploded, and the bandits didn’t even have the chance to react before they were blown into critical injuries, collapsing on the ground, their fates unknown.

Poison Dragon sneered, ”Kid, don’t think you can run wild just because you’ve got some skills. I kill countless fools like you every year.”

With that, Poison Dragon waved his hand broadly and shouted, ”Shoot this little brat into a hive.”

Whoosh whoosh whoosh...

In the densely wooded area, a hundred archers sprang to action, and moments later, more and more archers appeared, their numbers exceeding five hundred.

Xiao Yi’s brow furrowed as he glanced at the other bandits.

At that moment, hundreds more appeared, encircling him.

Xiao Yi was slightly shocked, ”So it’s like this, there are actually over a thousand bandits, not just the few hundred rumored. With hundreds of archers just on the outskirts keeping watch, it’s no wonder the large-scale sieges by other Demon Hunters have always been discovered and avoided by you.”

”Against your numerical advantage, small Demon Hunting Teams are simply walking into death.”

”Hmph,” Poison Dragon sneered, ”Boy, if you kneel and beg for mercy now, I might let you die quickly.”

”Beg for mercy?” Xiao Yi remained unfazed and said, ”Poison Dragon, have you ever heard of ’burning the camps’?”

”Uh?” Poison Dragon was taken aback and immediately realized what was coming, shouting, ”Fire arrows, kill this kid!”

As his words fell, countless arrows flew toward Xiao Yi.

But at the same moment, Xiao Yi also waved his hand, and a skyful of flames surged out, engulfing the archers in the thick forest. In an instant, the entire forest was transformed into a sea of fire.

The fire control ability of the green Martial Soul, combined with his surging True Qi, was enough to release an astonishing amount of fire.

At that moment, several Fire Devouring Hundred Blades were unleashed.

The dense arrows hadn’t even neared Xiao Yi before being devoured by the flames and explosions.

Even if a few arrows managed to pierce through the flames, when they hit Xiao Yi’s True Qi Outer Layer, they had no effect.

”True Qi Outer Layer?” Poison Dragon was shocked, ”Such a young age, and he’s already condensed a True Qi Outer Layer, this kid must not be allowed to live.”

Meanwhile, as he saw the archers in the fire sea suffering heavy casualties and death, the killing intent in his eyes grew even stronger.

Those archers, at best Mortal Realm Warriors, were nothing more than instants kills within Xiao Yi’s sea of fire.

”Seize this kid for me, I want to flay and disembowel him,” Poison Dragon roared, and five martial artists instantly attacked from behind.

”Two at Innate Sixth Layer, three at Innate Fourth Layer, you have so many strong subordinates; no wonder no Demon Hunting Team has been able to handle you all these years.”

Xiao Yi’s expression remained unchanged as he gathered a clump of flames in his hand.