Chapter 40 - Zi Di Mountains

                                    

                                          


                          
        
                          
Is the empire so impoverished that an entire troop of veterans have to become bandits to survive? Each of the sentry tower has an archer stationed in it, making sure that no one comes close. The guards at the cave is disciplined and were not day dreaming or distracted as the guarded the entrance.
                          
The more we observe the more shocked we are. Liu Kang mouth was wide open in shock at what he was witnessing. "How the heck are these retired soldiers?" Liu Kang said in shock.
                          
"They are better trained than the troops I saw in my hometown!" Liu Kang said in disbelief.
                          
"They are not retired solders" Mo Di says confidently.
                          
Zhao Keng looks at Mo Di in surprise and asks "How do you know?"
                          
"They are not old." Mo Di calmly replies.
                          
...
                          
"Mo Di, the age of cultivators does not show on their faces as their lifespan is greatly increased." Ding Sha makes a wry smile as he explains. "With each breakthrough, the lifespan of cultivators is increased but their looks do not become younger as their lifespan is increased. This is why young looking cultivators are usually more dangerous as they are usually more talented since it means that they achieved their breakthrough earlier."
                          
"I am not sure how we should proceed, looking at this well trained troop of soldiers." Judge Cui says softly. 
                          
"I can take out the sentries" Mo Di says confidently.
                          
"Can you take them out without killing them? We can interrogate them for more information." I ask.
                          
Mo Di look at weapons and shakes his head. "Not possible." He answers me.
                          
"Let's wait for the sun to set, it will be easier to attack when it is dark. Let us scout the surroundings for strays." Judge Tang makes a suggestion.
                          
...
                          
While waiting for the sun to set, I think of ways to create new weapons to help disable and incapacitate the guards.
                          
The first thing I used is the vines that are just hanging off the trees nearby. I tied them to Mo Di's arrows and he could create something similar to a grappling hook. I initially wanted Mo Di to be able to use it to pull the guards to us but there was no way an arrow could twirl around a person and choke him until he falls unconscious. 
                          
We practiced on a tree and the arrow would lose power once the vine curls around the tree. A person could then easily prevent himself from getting wrapped up by the vine easily. I then found some really hard seeds and created some slings with them. The seeds were so hard that even Judge Cui found it difficult to break their husks. I cut the vines into smaller strips and attached them to the seeds and practiced swinging them around. It was pretty good as a ranged weapon. With some qi, I could make them fly faster than a bullet. I guess this is why there are no firearms in this world since they aren't very useful against cultivators.
                          
Time passed faster than I thought and the night soon arrived. We were not able to find any strays outside the cave which only speaks of the bandit's discipline. We're not sure if they're even bandits anymore but since nobody wants to rebel and kill soldiers of the empire, nobody wants to clear the air or even suggests that they're not bandits anymore.
                          
Once it becomes clear that they are not going to change shift anytime soon because the day is over, Mo Di starts to draw his bow and fires an arrow at the sentry.
                          
*Plop!*
                          
The arrow goes through the sentry but does not slow down.
                          
*Plop!*
                          
The arrow continues flying and goes through the other sentry's head, killing two sentries with one shot.
                          
*Stab! Stab!*
                          
Zhao Keng then throws his spear like a javelin immediately after the arrow kills the first sentry in the tower, and his spear flies through the heads of the two guards at the entrance, killing them immediately.
                          
Judge Cui then tosses the slings I created and they wrap up the bodies of the two guards before they hit the floor and send the bodies flying deep into the forest and out of sight. The bodies are probably tied up on some tree right now.
                          
We cleared the sentry towers and guards without causing an alarm in less than 5 seconds. I guess you can describe cultivators as super humans. The next part is the hard part, because we have to enter the cave. We were not able to get any information about what was going on in the cave as we could not get a hostage to interrogate.
                          
We are all dressed in black right now, with almost every part of our body covered so that it will be harder to spot us in the dark. We slowly and carefully enter the cave.
                          
After walking for a few minutes, Mo Di raises his hand with his palm open. This means to stop moving. He slowly points towards the ground as there is a trip wire there.
                          
As Mo Di was busy disarming the trip wire, Sima Di started talking quietly "There is a split in the road ahead. There seems to be a room at the side of the right path." A formation expert is more sensitive to the flow of qi in th air and could vaguely tell the layout of an enclosed area unless there is a formation that is set up as formations manipulate the qi in the air to power themselves.
                          
From our past encounters with the bandits and how they are guarding the cave, we can safely assume that they have no knowledge of setting up formations and instead are skilled in setting up camp like a military troop does.
                          
Once Mo Di is done with the tripwire, we decide to move deeper to the right. Our goal here is to investigate and free the villagers if they are still alive. As we move closer to the room, we realize that it is a crudely dug out restroom or guardroom and there are two guards lazing inside. There is no door and there is a huge hole acting as a window since this world does not have glass.
                          
"I don't understand why we have to pretend to be bandits, why can't we just slaughter those villagers as part of the army?" one of the guards complains loudly.
                          
"Shut up! You've been complaining for the past month and we've already tried to explain it to you. We are acting on suspicion and have no real evidence which is why we cannot go around slaughtering entire villages just because of some rumour!" the other guard chides the guard who is complaining.
                          
"Yea but we did find evidence of that monster right so why not just kill them instead of letting them starve to death?" the guard continues to complain.
                          
"Dude shut up before you get yourself in trouble. You were in the group that rounded up the people from the other two villages and you clearly know that we found no evidence there." The other guard replies him in an irritated voice and ends the conversation.
                          
Everyone is stunned after we heard what they are talking about.