The bandit gripping Feiyan's neck said to Jian, "You better surrender, boy. I have no more patience for this. I don't even care how much this girl is worth anymore. Keep annoying me, and I'll spill her blood all over the ground, just like I did with her father!"

Feiyan's body trembled at the mention of her father.

"Alright, please don’t hurt her!" Jian clenched his teeth and dropped his sword.

The two bandits who had been fighting against them, with satisfied smiles on their faces, advanced toward Yi Jian to deliver a fatal blow.

But at that moment, a scream came from behind them.

The one-eyed bandit cried out, feeling intense pain coming from his back. The pain was so severe that his hand lost its strength, causing him to release Feiyan. He looked back to see what was happening and saw a small girl holding a knife that had been stabbed into his back.

The bandit groaned and tried to punch Yue.

She quickly pulled the knife out and stabbed him again in the back. Using his willpower to endure the pain, the bandit clenched his fists and tried to land a blow on Yue.

She pulled the knife back and retreated.

The one-eyed bandit grabbed his sword and tried to slash Yue in fury. But she was too fast for him.

Taking advantage of the surprise of the two bandits fighting him, Jian recovered his sword. He tried to slash the nearest bandit, but there was no energy left in his body.

The bandit easily dodged Jian’s strike.

The other bandit struck Jian's legs with a club, causing him to fall to the ground. As the bandit was about to crush Jian's skull, something emerged from the shadows without him noticing.

After killing the three bandits at the ravine's exit, Tristan returned to the center of the fight. He hid behind the rocks and observed everything, waiting for the right moment.

He dashed toward the bandit with the club!

Pausing his attempt to smash Jian’s skull due to the sudden turn of events, the bandit reacted too slowly as a child somersaulted towards him and passed between his legs. Immediately, he felt his legs go weak, and warm liquid ran down from his thighs to his feet. He fell to the ground, screaming in pain.

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Tristan turned to face the last remaining bandit.

At that moment, Jian grabbed the bandit from behind, wrapping his arms around him like a snake.

Not missing the opportunity, Tristan delivered a horizontal kick to the bandit’s abdomen, cutting through his body and spilling his insides. The bandit collapsed in agony before dying.

Jian fainted on the ground, looking at Feiyan before losing consciousness.

Tristan then looked at the one-eyed bandit, the last one still able to fight.

He thought:

'If I leave now, this guy probably won’t be a threat to me. He’s injured and has no allies left.'

‘But these bastards have made this night very irritating for me. It would be a shame to leave this unfinished.’

He began walking toward the last bandit.

'What the hell happened here? We had the numbers and the terrain advantage; we succeeded in the ambush. But… why am I the only one still standing?' The one-eyed bandit thought, outraged.

‘Did I underestimate these cultivators?’

The leader of the mountain bandits saw a small child walking toward him. He was so small and thin that he probably wasn’t older than 8. Sweat dripped from the boy's face, and his wet black hair clung to his skin. The child had bandages on his arms, several bleeding wounds, and bruises all over his body. He was breathing heavily as if on the verge of collapsing.

But his eyes, on the other hand, were devoid of emotion. The boy stared at him like a wolf sizing up its prey as he walked slowly toward him.

'This is all insane,' the one-eyed bandit thought.

“Haha, this world is insane.”

The one-eyed bandit removed his hand from the wound in his back, which he had been trying to stop from bleeding. He gripped his sword with both hands and then charged toward Tristan.

Gathering the last bit of life force left in his body.

Tristan also ran with everything he had.

He thought:

‘I have less than 10% of my essence left, this attack will decide everything!’

He jumped as high as he could, spinning his body to deliver a horizontal kick to the enemy's neck.

Finding the boy's action foolish, a crazed smile appeared on the bandit's face as he prepared to cut the child's leg with a vertical slash. He put all the strength of his dying body into it.

But Tristan's Dark Blade wasn’t like before. A much larger, denser cloud of Darkness enveloped his leg, forming a blade almost 15 centimeters long.

[Dark Blade] had evolved to Rank 2!

The black blade on Tristan’s leg struck the bandit's sword, splitting it in two in an instant.

Then, the black blade passed through the bandit's neck, sending his head flying into the air.

Tristan collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted, but still watching the bandit's head as it flew, spinning, before hitting the ground.

"Dusk!" Yue screamed and ran toward him.

She held his exhausted body and asked, "Are you okay?"

Tired, he replied with effort, "Yes! This damn night is finally over!"

After resting for a few minutes, Tristan managed to stand up.

When Zhou Lan arrived, Yue ran to her grandfather, hugging him tightly as she trembled from having stabbed another human for the first time and from everything that had happened that night. She buried her face in his chest.

Zhou Lan hugged his granddaughter tightly, relieved that she was safe.

Liu Feiyan went to her father’s body, kneeling beside him, and placing her head and hands on his chest. Tears filled her eyes, wetting her beautiful face.

Tristan watched the scene, thinking, 'Hmm, would it be too rude to retrieve the beast's crystal in this situation?'