After following the pair of bandits for almost an hour, Wu Guang and Yuan Taotu noticed a light in the distance, which after approaching some more turned to be a series of campfires.

Seeing that their destination was in view, they stopped tailing the bandits as there may be a guard posted somewhere near the camp.

The camp was too far to be observed fully, so after thinking for a brief moment, Wu Guang motioned for Yuan Taotu to retreat. When they had opened enough distance so they would not be heard, Wu Guang whispered

"We need to scout the camp before attacking, let's separate and carefully go around it to meet at the other side"

"Agreed, I'll take the left" Yuan Taotu even during normal conversations half-whispered and when he answered this time, Wu Guang almost missed the words, so low he spoke.

"Ok"

The pair separated, Wu Guang slowly started moving towards the camp while leaning towards the right with each step.

When he was about one hundred feet from where the nearest campfire light reached, Wu Guang had already circled almost a quarter of the camp. From this distance, he carefully observed the four tents and three campfires that seemingly composed the full camp, before starting moving, but this time maintaining the current distance from the light edge.

During all the time until he reached the supposed point where he would reunite with Yuan Taotu, he did not stop observing the camp. He did not find any signs of bandits except the two that after entering it simply went inside one of the smaller tents and disappeared from sight. This fact was still troubling him when he noticed a shadow nearing him, but he quickly recognized it as Yuan Taotu, after all, who else could merge so well with the darkness that even his skin looked like part of the night?

As both of them met at the point opposite from where they started the scouting, they could whisper without any fear to be heard, so Wu Guang explained what troubled him

"I have not seen any other bandit except the two we tailed here. Even if they don't have guards, isn't it too strange that in a full hour no one came out? At least to meet the scouts that returned, what if they had any important news?"

"Three campfires"

"Yes, I also noticed it, but even one person could prepare enough firewood for them to burn during the night"

"Plan?"

"Wait until morning, if no one comes out, then most probably the bandits are out - and we will have to either wait or search for them"

"We killed two"

"Yes, so if no-one appears during the day, which I judge that the scouts will use to rest then we will attack them when they leave the camp. If the bandits are simply away, they will return here anyway"

"Why not attack right now?"

"I don't want to leave any tracks inside the camp in case the bandits are indeed away"

"So we wait"

"Yes, we wait"

With this exchange done, during which they formed a plan of action the pair searched around until they found a small mound that although could not hide them from the elements, still would let them observe the camp without being noticed from there.

As qi was constantly circulated and all of the body was infused with it, an intermediate or advanced Spirit realm could remain awake for a pair of days without any loss, thankfully both Wu Guang and Yuan Taotu had a similar amount of qi and would be able to do so albeit being only beginner Spirit realm cultivators.

Utilizing this advantage, the pair decided to take turns observing the camp while the other one would be in charge of scouting the surroundings, although they were unseen from the camp, they still did not know if all the bandits were present - and if they were not, from where they could arrive.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

***

Wu Guang's prediction turned out to be right, as when morning arrived no one had left the tents. Around midday, the pair they had followed here the previous night exited the one they had entered, seemingly having slept during all this time.

Wu Guang who had just started his observation turn after analyzing their actions confirmed that these were the only bandits present at the camp, especially from the fact that they each simply grabbed some food from the biggest tent and ate it without cooking or preparing anything.

With this known, Wu Guang motioned to Yuan Taotu as soon as the latter returned from a small walk around their surroundings. They soon both concluded that judging from the lack of any preparation, the bandits were not expecting the return of their mates, at least today.

As they guessed before, the pair of bandits showed signs of leaving the camp around noon, so Wu Guang and Yuan Taotu slowly and silently moved towards the path they walked yesterday, intending to ambush them somewhere midway.

They had long guessed that this pair was the same as the two they ambushed during the night, non-cultivators left here to observe and take note of the road, so no preparation other than finding a patch of grass high enough to fully obscure them as needed.

A patch like the one they searched for was quickly found, after all, the village did not have any livestock outside the walls and the wild grass-eating beasts were already either hunted or scared off by the hunters.

Laying there, the pair concentrated on minimizing their presence while maximizing their hearing, as they would need to attack right as the bandits passed nearby, after all, it was a sunny day and they did not have the advantage of approaching covertly in the darkness.

It did not take long for the moment of the ambush to happen, and as expected from a pair of cultivators against mortals, it went well and finished almost instantly. When lunging forwards to meet his target, Wu Guang decided that a prisoner would serve them more than a dead body, so in place of crushing the unprotected neck with a punch as Yuan Taotu did, Wu Guang simply punched his target with all the strength of his qi infused muscles, albeit targetting the torso, so in place of killing, he simply sent his target to the ground after tumbling for a moment.

The maximum strength that Wu Guang had and used at this moment could be compared to half a dozen non-cultivating martial artists or soldiers, so his opponent not only was downed but also lost consciousness as the punch was directed towards his stomach and could be only described as being hellishly painful.

After checking that no injuries were visible and the bandit was still alive, Wu Guang took out some rope from the supplies in his holding pouch and roped him before turning towards Yuan Taotu, who was standing near the other bandit. The latter laying on his back, dead and with his throat fully crushed by the punch.

"Let's try to find out where the main group of bandits went" after explaining his actions and receiving an affirmative nod, Wu Guang added

"While I interrogate him, could you go where the other two dead are? Our mission states that complete elimination is needed for the full reward, so we need to get a token or something. Also, bring back anything on them, maybe something useful or we at least valuable can be found"

"Okay" Simply answered Yuan Taotu and after confirming the direction rushed off.