The atmosphere of the bizarre stand-off suddenly changed to a serious and sinister state palpable to all present, as the ripe smile which was plastered across the black haired man's face all this while was replaced by a twisted evil scowl.
"You surely will die with big regrets" he barked. He then used his hands to quietly relay signals to the men behind him.
In a trained fashion the men dismounted smoothly from their horses and retrieved big black cross bows strapped to the packs on their horses.
All five bandits behind their xiantian leader were men at the peak of houtian realm, they would no doubt be significantly stronger than an average adult, but their real strength was their precision teamwork, coupled with the powerful crossbows they wielded, they posed a significant threat.
In the right circumstances they could even be a threat to 2nd layer xiantians.
The men moved in a practiced fashion as if they were military personnel, all leveled their crossbows, took a step forward and immediately took aim.
One could tell they had done this many times before as they had perfect synchronized coordination. The choreographed team moved as one entity, the move of every man matching the moves of the man beside him.
Zip Zip Zip Zip Zip!
The sound of five black metallic bolts released at virtually the same time made a uniform whistle as the air born volley of projectiles closed the distance between Hartley, Qin Li and the carriage.
With sublime timing the team of five didn't even confirm if the arrows had reached their marks, they dropped the heads of the crossbows to the floor, braced their right legs on the metallic bow and started winding up some sort of pulley to reset the tension in the bow-string so they could reload another bolt in the shortest time possible.
It was an impressive display of discipline,
"Are these guys really back-bush bandits?" Hartley had to seriously ask himself as he used his elbow to nudge Qin LI, signalling it was time to make his move. "Be careful" Hartley felt at this moment he had to give Qin Li a reminder to not be careless or underestimate the opponents.
In an instant explosion of blue lightning sparks Hartley blinked out of existence from his seated position on the carriage...
He appeared immediately on the road, in the empty space between the bandits and the carriage. Flashes and crackles of blue lightning swam around his body brightening the overcast day and leaving blurry after images as he moved.
Hartley swiftly intercepted the five bolts headed towards the carriage, it appeared as if five different replicas of Hartley all made a slash with a silver blade in their right hands.
All of his night training had paid off, Hartley had finally reached Star Feet technique level 5. The clanging sounds of metal clashing sounded out as all five arrows disintegrated into a shower of bright white sparks illuminating the dark overcast day like sudden streaks of lightning .
The five bandits had eyes as wide as startled horses, the youth's surprising speed and nonchalant sword slashes had distracted them putting them off by a second on their reloads. They sensed the immense threat the youth posed and with military discipline one bandit gave a swift order, four fell back a couple meters in a defensive formation behind one who had just completed his reload.
He raised his black crossbow again...Hartley's legs exploded with wriggling lightning-like blue sparks that spread all the way up to his knees, the floor exploded, leaving a roiling smoke-like and unstable after-image on the spot he was standing.
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Hartley appeared in front the man who was poised to fire his second arrow, the wind flapped at their robes when Hartley produced a punch with his left free hand. A serpent-like blue aura wrapped around his left arm and twisted in a life-like fashion, as his fist moved forward, producing rumbling sounds like and avalanche of sturdy boulders rolling down a mountain, the bandit to his credit gritted his teeth and fired off the arrow at close range.
The arrow touch Hartley's left fist and exploded into bright white sparks, the bandit let out a loud scream as the fist quickly filled his vision..
BOOM! his head disappeared from his body in an explosion of fleshy bloody chunks and bone shards as small as pebbles.
The last four bandits finished their reloads and backed away step by step, two in front and two behind, fear was apparent as they were now unwilling to take an unsure shot, while yelling out to each other in chaos, trying to formulate a new battle plan.
Hartley wasted no time and entrapped all four bandits including their horses in a gravity field and applied zero gravity, they finally lost their military discipline as they all screamed out with terrified shrieks mixed with the loud neighs of the frantic horses, they quickly floated 10 meters high dropping their weapons in fright and flailing their arms as if they were birds trying to regain some semblance of balance.
Hartley now premiered the final move he gained from the Blue Star Gravity Mantra book, he jumped 10 meters high to match the bandits and stood their stably as if he was still on solid ground.
The final move from the book allowed him t extend his vertical jump and hover in mid air for 2 seconds. He applied 20x gravity to his silver blade and slashed out a vicious horizontal strike, sending a long silver streak whistling through the air.
Hartley fell back to the earth with a majestic pose and landed facing the battle between Qin Li and the black haired man....well it was supposed to be a battle... but they were both looking at Hartley slack-jawed as body parts of men and horses rained back down with a thump thump sound as it hit the ground.
The thick suffocating smell of blood wafted through the air as numerous bloody pools formed on the clay road that was saturated with blood.
The horse of the black haired man had escaped the slaughter, it cantered off neighing in panic back down the road the men had approached from.
The black haired man had exchanged blows with Qin Li for the full five minute it took Hartley to dispose of the team he had spent so much resources equipping and training.
He looked at who he assumed was a pampered young lord with disbelief. He was sure the handsome youth was just a normal youth...How?...To add insult to injury, he thought he would quickly wipe the floor with this 2nd layer xiantian who had the audacity to attack him, he found out to his dismay that he, a 3rd layer xiantian was evenly matched with the opponent.
Then he had an epiphany there and then... He might actually lose his head today.. the thought sent chills down his spine, when had he ever had to worry for his safety in this region?.
While the man was distracted in his thoughts, an axe glowing a bright neon green chopped at his waist from mid-right to mid-left with a whooshing sound as it picked up all the dry leaves and dust laying scattered around in a windy swirl.
The man got his sword up in his right hand to block just in time, producing green sparks as he was forced to take a couple steps back. The black haired man retaliated with a fast strike aiming at Qin Li's heart, his sword also glowing green but a darker hue, leaving a green blur in its wake.
Qin Li could now see as clear as day all the unnecessary movements in the man's technique. Qin Li easily blocked the flamboyant strike with a another burst of green sparks. The man transitioned to the his next move, and by his posture and unnecessary flair, Qin Li read his movements beforehand.
The overhead chop came just as predicted.... Painfully predictable for one who experienced regular sparring lessons with Hartley. Qin LI easily turned aside to avoid the strike which produced a massive wind blade as it descended downwards. Qin Li pushed his axe upwards while stepping to the left, the wind blade slashed through the clay on the road producing a crater with an explosion of pebbles and dust where Qin Li just stood.
The axe then collided with the sword at an angle forcing the black haired man to over rotate and lose his balance...Qin Li smiled in his heart, he had painfully learned this move from Hartley.
A green glow wrapped around Qin Li's ankles as a cyclone like wind-swirl appeared at his feet, he continued in a circle to the left quickly putting himself behind the opponent and unleashing a mercilessly efficient strike from high to low in a straight line down into the man's right shoulder..
Qin LI pulled out his axe and a gush of blood shot in an arc a meter into the sky. The man hollered out in a ear splitting scream of pain as his sword hand was now only connected to his body by a thin layer of skin. His sword hand dangled uselessly as the wide eyed man prepared to make a run for it..
Hartley who had been watching the battle nodded his head in appreciation. He smiled as he saw the man was about to make a run for it....
But would he be allowed to just waltz away as he liked?