The next day, the youth along with Chun Dong and his family hit the road again. Seeing Chun Jia so friendly with the youth left Chun Dong and his wife surprised. It was just yesterday when she used to hide behind her mother’s skirt from him. Feeling left out, the son; Chun Long also started to hang out with the youth.

As their carriage drove on the dirt, it was filled with laughs. They would only stop when the horses would get thirsty, so, they could feed them water.

“Oh, you’re a yiji[1]-” the youth asked Ma Fei, “and Chun Dong is your accompanying musician?”

“Yes,” Ma Fei did not hide it. “We used to play in the Red Chamber Brothel which had other yiji aside from me. Like my dear said,-” she gestured towards her husband, “-his childhood friend has quite the influence in Bluebranch City. He was able to get us to play at his tavern.”

“Pardon me for asking, I-I’ve heard that yiji have quite the debt. Did he solve your debt?” Despite what he asked being common knowledge, he still felt the need to excuse himself.

“Yeah, he did,”’ Chun Dong chimed in, “Ain’t he great, lad?”

“Well, he said not to worry about it though we don’t what he talked about with the Madam[2].”

The youth frowned but said nothing except, “I see…” No matter how he looked at it, the situation seemed shady. But he didn’t bother saying anything to them; he was just a stranger they met the other day.

“So, will the two of you work at the same time or will one of you stay and take care of the kids?” as he said that, he ruffled the hair of the two children.

“No, we have it covered,” Chun Dong explained, “Our friend told us that while we work, the helpers in the tavern will help us look after them.”

The youth pursed his lips. “How could that be possible? Don’t the helpers have their own fucking work to do?”

He sighed quietly. He turned his head and decided to look at the scenario. After a while of looking at green meadows, he looked straight ahead and saw that they were approaching a grove of trees. His eyes narrowed instantly.

“It seems trouble follows me no matter where I go,” his resigned whispers floated out from his mouth and mixed with the breeze.

They soon entered the grove. The large trees overhead only let sparse amounts of sunlight in. The soft breeze accompanied by the rustling of leaves and their shade made for a relaxing atmosphere.

“Don’t you guys fear that Deviant Beasts roaming about?” the youth asked.

“Nope!” Chun Dong replied cheerily. “The branch of Mount Hwa Sect is nearby. Their disciples regularly thin the forests of the Beasts and because of that, the Beasts don’t go out of the forest and live in fear.”

The youth looked interested when he heard the words ‘Mount Hwa Sect’; they are one of the few Lineage Sects in the Spiritual Haven.

Jian Gong suddenly spoke up, “By the way, there is no Kunlun Sect. Rather, the Mount Hwa Sect’s main branch is located in the Kunlun Mountains on the Second Realm.

Furthermore, all types of Buddhism have been classified into one Lineage Sect- The Buddhist Sects. It’s a cluster of the many ways of Buddhism but at its core, there are four main branches of Buddhist Sects prevalent in Spiritual Haven- Theravada Sect, Mahayana Sect, Vajrayana Sect, and the Emei Sect.

Even though the Emei Sect follows the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, they are still separated from the Mahayana Sect for the sole reason of only teaching females. Although the other three do teach women, they’re heavily focused on males.”

The youth took a second to process that information. But then realized he had no reason to since it served him no purpose. He leaned his head on his hand.

As the horses pulled the carriage slowly, Chun Don who was driving it saw a mass of people gathering on the road.

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“D-Dear?” Ma Fei started getting jittery. Clearly, she knew what might happen.

“They p-probably just want a fee to get through,” Chun Dong assured his wife though his voice lacked confidence.

They became solemn as fear began to rise the closer they approached the band. Chun Dong turned around and said resolutely, “Tuck your heads inside the carriage; I don’t think they’ve seen you guys. So, we might just be safe.”

“Okay,” she lowered her head but soon turned around and told her husband, “Be safe!”

“I will,” he smiled at her reassuringly. He then turned to look at the youth. Though he couldn’t see the latter’s expression through the cloth covering his mouth, he still decided to put his trust in him. “Please look after her. Don’t let her do anything stupid.”

“No,” the youth shook his head, “I’ll go with you to intercept them.” He then looked at Ma Fei who had already tucked her head inside the carriage with the kids; he took a large white cloth from the luggage and covered them with it.

He sighed before sitting next to Chun Dong on the coachman’s seat. As they edge closer to the bandits, the youth finally cared enough to pay attention to their appearance. Animal hide tunics with fur on the collars and hems of the sleeves, wacky hairstyles, and feral looks. They all had one thing in common- a red tiger symbol on their clothes.

As the carriage arrived in front of them, the bandits raised their weapons threatening Chun Dong to stop. Chun Dong pulled on the reins and stopped the horses. He smiled meekly, “What may I do for you gentlemen?”

One of the rougher and bigger-looking men laughed, “Nothing, just leave us all of your things.” He then paused and grinned, “As well as that woman.”

Chun Dong flinched. He hastily spoke up, “W-What are you talking about? I’m just a simple m-merchant transporting cargo.”

“Is that so?” the bandit’s grin receded into a malicious smile, “Then you wouldn’t have a problem if we checked the cargo? I mean, it’s going to be ours anyway.”

Chun Dong could not think of an excuse and began to sweat profusely. As he was about to move forward and block them with his body, the youth spoke, “I wonder how bandits roam fearlessly in Mount Hwa Sect’s territory. Is it because you guys are crafty or the Sect is being too incompetent?”

He then paused and looked at the bandits whose smiles had frozen on their faces, “No, you look too dumb to avoid their eyes. It’s probably that you’re too weak that Mount Hwa doesn’t even bother to deal with.”

The lead bandit’s smile slowly turned into a menacing frown as he said slowly, “What did you say?”

“Damn, the leader’s both deaf and dumb. How are you guys even a bandit group? Be honest with me- this is your guys’ first robbery.”

“Shut the fuck up!” one of the smaller-looking bandits rushed out from the bandit. He looked like a Chihuahua barking at the youth, “If you want to die, then you got your wish fulfilled.” He then looked at Chun Dong, “And you! Get that fucking woman to stop hiding. Our scouts already told us that there is a woman and two brats in there!”

Chun Dong’s heart leaped into his throat and he realized that there was no way out. He instinctively looked towards the youth who looked just as nonchalant as before.

“Wow, this is my first time seeing bandits who lack women. Don’t the bandit bosses always have like three or four women attending to them? Ah, right. You guys still aren’t that big.”

Perhaps the youth’s words had hit the mark but the bandits including their leader's lips twitched in shame.

After a while, the bandit leader opened his mouth and his voice seethed with rage, “It seems you’re really eager to die, eh?”

“I should be the one to say this,” the youth looked at them curiously, “Where do a group of ordinary mortals gather their courage from?”

“What are you harping on about?” the small bandit from before shouted again. The leader had a bad feeling about the words the youth said. And sure enough, as soon as the small bandit stopped speaking, the youth pounced toward them. Before they could react, a pair of daggers was lodged in the leader’s head.

The atmosphere froze. The youth’s lips curved as he let out the aura of the Fourth Stage Qi Refinement Realm cultivator’s aura. The difference was not that big to make them feel like they were drowning but it still felt like standing in front of an insurmountable wall.

With their leader dead, the bandits fell further into disarray. However, one of the bandits snapped a twig underfoot as they tried to silently back off. And that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

“C-Cultivator, fuck!” with a frightened shout, all of the bandits bolted in different directions. The youth did not pursue. He took out the daggers from the leader’s skull and flicked the blood off them. He bent over and checked the leader’s body. Aside from a ring of silver taels, he had nothing else of note. The saber in its holster was useless to him.

Meanwhile, Chun Dong watched with jaws agape. His brain worked in overdrive to make sense of things. “A stranger I picked up was a…cultivator?”

As Chun Dong was spacing out, the youth took the corpse by the leg and tossed it into the trees. He dusted his hands with a satisfied look, “Now, the kids don’t have to see something they shouldn’t.” He turned around and saw Chun Dong looking at him incredulously.

The youth smiled bitterly. “I should bail before I make things too awkward.”

“Well, Chun Dong, it seems my presence is making you uncomfortable,” he sighed. “I’ll take my leave. Tell Ma Fei and the kids I said goodbye.”

He turned around and started walking on the road again. However, a set of hurried footsteps came from behind him. He turned around before Chun Dong could get close and saw him bowing after running a few steps. “Please don’t go. Let us drop you off at Bluebranch City. It’s the least we could do.”

“…are you sure?”

“Yes,” his voice did not lack sincerity.

“…then I’ll take your offer.”