No storage ring, huh? The bandit had nothing on him after I checked his corpse and the only thing of value that I got from him is the sword he lost earlier. I picked it up and it isn't that bad, it's light and I can swing it easily enough, it's also strong enough that it chipped my ice earlier. Not that my ice should be the standard that I should follow in terms of comparing the strength of materials.

I don't know how strong my ice actually is so I should probably not set it as a standard.

I sat down and refined my bones, then I stood up and tied the sword to my hip and looked to where I think my hut is. Now then.

I started running.

I found the hut easily enough and when I came back, I got greeted by a chaotic scene where a lot of people wearing rags stood in front of a golden barrier that's erected around it. The rags they were wearing meant that all of them are outer Sect Disciples just like me but there's probably a traitor somewhere in that group just waiting to get in and murder everyone.

The fact that all of them are just begging to be let in instead of getting murdered meant that the traitors are at least willing to wait things out.

I arrived to the scene and a guy yelled "INVADER!" the people stared in shock for a second before they shouted amongst themselves and just started scrambling out of my way, I watched out for those that didn't but everyone ran away and no one stayed. So they're that eager to pretend to be an ally?

Is it dedication or am I overthinking?

I looked inside the barrier, and the little girl that I saved is nowhere to be seen, She must've run away then. I thought because I saw her outside the hut when I first got here. Xie Wen meanwhile is looking at me with narrowed eyes like she was trying to figure out who I was. She didn't move from her spot and is instead just standing there, staring at me.

I moved closer and she didn't even flinch, when I was close to the barrier, I took a step forward and surprisingly, I was let in. Xie Wen sighed in relief, "It's you, Yu Song." she smiled, "I thought we are finally going to die,"

"Probably not," I said, even with the whole golden barrier thing, I actually doubt that the invaders consider this place important enough to attack. At best they'd think that it's a distraction and send in a few traitors to infiltrate the place and kill the two weak people inside to see what's up with it.

And that already happened. There were definitely traitors in that group just now.

There's no way there wasn't.

I noticed Xie Wen staring at the sword in my hip and at the bat I'm holding with interest. I started thinking and considered if it's worth it to give her the sword or not. No, probably not. I thought with a shake of my head.

"Xie Wen, do you know how to use a dagger?" but the dagger should be good for her I think.

"Ah-" Xie Wen stuttered, "Yes," she nodded slowly, "I know how to stab with it and a lot more,"

"Good," I said and handed her the dagger, "protect yourself and the little girl okay?" speaking of which, I looked at the small gap opening in the door and met the brown eye that has been staring at me for some time now. I waved, "Hi,"

The door opened a bit more and a small head popped out, the little girl stared at Xie Wen for a brief second before looking at me, "H-hi."

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I held back a frown. Did Xie Wen tell her about my current situation? I thought suspiciously and did my best to not show what I'm thinking physically.

I smiled and turned to Xie Wen, "I think it's time for me to go." I went out of the barrier, "You're both safe right?"

Xie Wen nodded, "The barrier will hold."

I hope so. I thought before moving away.

"Be careful, I think they might notice us," the next set of invaders I found were two Poison Bandits crouching down right next to the walls. Both were guys and they carried swords, ones that looked normal for once. The two bandits were stalking three people and I recognized two of them as the disciples that I tried to insult when I first got here.

I silently followed the two bandits as they stalked the three disciples, I don't wanna attack them first because knowing the guy who "spared" me back then, chances are, he's gonna become suspicious of my rescue and attack me with his two other buddies and since I don't know how strong and skillful they are, there's a high chance that I'm gonna lose and get killed.

And if they pull out that instant teleportation thing that I witnessed that other disciple do, then I'm fucked.

So stalking it was, and we continued on like that for a while because the bandits wanted to increase their numbers into something favorable. When the bandits went up to having as many as 5 members, it is when their surprise attack started-

And as expected, the disciples reacted immediately, one of the guys (not the one I know,) sprung into action and shouted a shockwave out of his mouth.

It seemed to do nothing other than ruffle the clothes of the bandits.

"HA! WEAK!" one of them said but I don't know, was it really weak?

I rubbed my ears, that shout hurt and I couldn't imagine being near or even targeted by the damn thing. And as it turns out, my worry is actually on point because the bandits landed a few ways off from their targets.

They lost their balance? But if they did, then that meant that a part of their ears got damage but they didn't seem hurt. Unless that's the point. I realized.

"Weak?" the guy that I forgot the name of said with a smirk, "we'll see who's weak," and as I expected, he disappeared in a flash of red and when he popped back out, fire emerged along with him and engulfed two of the bandits. "Do you taste that?" he said mockingly, "that's the taste of ash."

Then his sword erupted into a fiery blaze and he started swinging while laughing.

It was when the two other disciples moved as well, the girl that I also forgot the name of grew a sword made of leaves out of her hand while the other guy started to release a soft hum. They had awakened Spirit Roots, not that surprising since they're the inner disciples of the Sect and looked to have been trained well because of it.

Their fighting styles mimicked their status too, their sword swings were precise and aimed directly at vitals and they did it without looking like they were thinking about what they're doing. Compared to my clumsy and inexperienced fighting style, theirs is infinitely better.

I guess you can even say that it's like Heaven and Earth.

The fight continued and I silently watched it unfold, it looks like the three disciples have the upper hand while the bandits were struggling. The fight is pretty fast but I managed to catch up anyways-

A bandit would strike the girl and a tree trunk would suddenly sprout from the ground and shield her, then she'd do a heavy attack to discourage the one that she's fighting before turning to face the one that just tried to kill her. Leaving behind your fight just so you can bite back against the bandit that threatened your life. Stupid move. I thought.

As time went on, I was starting to see flaws, both from the bandits and the disciples, it was mainly because of pride because no matter how well each team worked together or fought one another, they'd always try to kick the ass of the person that tried to attack them. It's like they're constantly changing targets. I thought.

And it's pretty sad because the ones that are doing it the most are the disciples. The bandits had the advantage of numbers so they can commit hit and runs, distracting the disciples in the worst ways possible.

No matter how well these people fight and how many techniques they have, if they don't remove the bandits one by one and are instead changing targets every time they're attacked then the disciples are basically fighting a whole instead of lone individuals. And that whole just so happens to be five bandits that know how to block and parry.

This was probably the plan from the start, tire them out with numbers and distractions and execute them when they can't fight anymore.

I started to circulate my Qi. Guess it's time for me to intervene, then.