Chapter Seventeen: I Am Mr. Sima's Man!

Yang Ying'er was truly his lucky star; a surge in her favor had boosted his cultivation by two whole minor realms!

He was now one level higher than the leader of Gold Peak Stronghold.

In an instant, Chen Xuan’s presence became overwhelming. He sneered at the bandits:

"So, you are the leader of Gold Peak Stronghold? I will give you two choices. Either you end your own life, and perhaps you will die a quicker death."

"Or, I will do it myself, and make you wish you were dead!"

The leader laughed scornfully, "Hmph, just because you are a measly sixth-stage martial artist? In my eyes, you are nothing but an ant!"

"Hahaha, Boss, why waste words with such an idiot? Just kill him and avenge our second-in-command!"

"The woman he brought is quite nice—pure and cute, and clearly still a virgin. After the Boss is done with her, let us have a turn with the little wench."

The surrounding bandits had surrounded them completely, their eyes leering at Yang Ying'er with lust.

Yang Ying'er was tall and slender, with delicate skin and refined features; she was a beauty of the highest caliber anywhere she went. The bandits' eyes glowed with greed; they licked their lips, already fantasizing about the horrors they would inflict upon her.

"A bunch of shameless scoundrels!" Yang Ying'er gritted her teeth, trembling with rage.

"Ying'er, don't worry. Not a single one of these people will escape," Chen Xuan said, turning to comfort her with a smile.

"What a joke. You think you can?" The leader sneered. The next moment, he charged forward, his blade moving with lightning speed toward Chen Xuan.

Chen Xuan narrowed his eyes.

Boom!

Suddenly, a terrifying aura erupted from him, manifesting as a pressure that bore down directly upon the leader.

As a seventh-stage martial artist, the leader could not understand how he was being suppressed by Chen Xuan, a mere sixth-stage practitioner. There was only one explanation: Chen Xuan’s cultivation was higher than his own!

"Eighth-stage martial artist?" The leader’s eyes widened in disbelief. "How is this possible?"

Clang!

Suddenly, Chen Xuan flicked his sword, instantly knocking the weapon from the leader's hand.

In the next heartbeat, Chen Xuan’s sword moved with such speed that it left afterimages. The leader let out four blood-curdling screams before collapsing to the ground. Four deep, bone-exposed wounds appeared on his wrists and ankles, and crimson blood spurted out frantically. His tendons had been severed.

Shriek!

Chen Xuan had no intention of letting him off; he drove his sword straight into the leader's dantian.

"Ah! You destroyed my dantian! You’ve crippled me!" the leader shrieked in agony.

But his cries came to an abrupt halt. Chen Xuan had pressed his blade against the man's throat. With the slightest pressure, he could take the leader's head in an instant.

The entire scene fell into a deathly, ear-splitting silence. Everyone was stunned; they never dreamed that in the blink of an eye, Chen Xuan would have reversed the situation. Their strongest fighter had been crippled just like that?

"No, don't kill me..." the leader's face was filled with terror.

In this moment, he was afraid—terrified of death. If not for his severed tendons, he would have been kowtowing frantically on the ground, begging for mercy.

However, Chen Xuan looked down at the cowering man with a completely expressionless face. The message was clear: you are going to die today!

Seeing this, the leader's heart turned cold. But he was unwilling to die; he would grasp at any straw if there was even a sliver of hope for survival.

"Please, don't kill me! I’ll tell you why Gold Peak Stronghold attacked you. It was Mr. Sima who ordered us to do it!"

"Mr. Sima?" Chen Xuan frowned. It was a name he had never heard before.

Seeing a change in Chen Xuan’s stoic face, the leader clung to this final chance at life.

"Mr. Sima is a big shot in the capital. The strategy to ambush you came from him, and the bows and arrows were provided by him as well."

"To tell you the truth, Mr. Sima is likely an official of the imperial court. Whenever the imperial army came to Bandit Mountain to suppress us in the past, Mr. Sima would send word to Gold Peak Stronghold. Every time the soldiers arrived, we would run; when they left, we would return. Over time, the imperial army couldn't take it anymore and simply gave up on us."

Chen Xuan was taken aback. He had heard that the imperial army couldn't handle the bandits of Bandit Mountain, but he never expected such a connection. The depths of the corruption in Bandit Mountain were profound indeed.

Seeing Chen Xuan's reaction, the leader hurried on:

"In fact, it's not just us. Almost all the dozens of strongholds on Bandit Mountain have ties to the imperial court. Some bandits are even lackeys raised by high-ranking officials to handle their dirty work."

"The reason the imperial army can't handle us isn't just because we get advance warning; it's because high-ranking officials sabotage the operations from within."

Chen Xuan finally understood. It wasn't that the bandits were powerful or that the Great Qian Dynasty’s army was weak; it was that the court was tearing itself apart from within, and many of these bandits were merely puppets of court officials. The entire Great Qian Dynasty was rotten to the core!

As a member of one of the three great families in the capital, the Chen family was often dragged into the vortex of imperial power struggles. However, the Chen family was powerful enough to stand firm regardless of how intense the internal conflicts became.

"So, you can't kill me! I am Mr. Sima’s man, and Mr. Sima is an agent of the court. Who in the entire Great Qian Dynasty dares to oppose the court? If I die, Mr. Sima will never let you go!" the leader pleaded, trying to use the weight of the court to pressure Chen Xuan.

"What is Mr. Sima’s real name? What is his position in the court?" Chen Xuan asked coldly. He was going to drag this man into the light!

The leader was stunned. The people at Gold Peak Stronghold had always addressed him as Mr. Sima or Lord Sima. As for his real name, he truly did not know.

"I only know his surname is Sima. I don't know his given name," the leader admitted, steeling himself.