From the long explanation that followed, Wu Guang simply took the important bits and after carefully analyzing them, concluded that "At least one of the bandits is from the village or related to it, how else they would appear in this not very transited area right as merchants started coming to the village. Judging that they only attack merchants trading with the village means their lair is not far from here, after all, the plains don't offer any advantage for ambushes, on the contrary giving a far and clear range of vision so assaults on the merchants could be only possible if following them or knowing their itinerary".
The information about the fresh influx of merchants was something that was not included in the scroll they got, as it simply mentioned some attacks from the bandits, but in truth, this was extremely important, at least in Wu Guang's opinion.
Judging from the chief explanation, the bandits appeared right as the first merchant came and confirmed that the ore discovered in the small mine that the village had only had used for mining stone for internal use was indeed valuable, at least enough to make merchants travel them. Hearing of this timing, Wu Guang stopped the explanation that was anyway already reaching the end and asked
"Chief Zhu, could you tell me about the time this first merchant appeared? Did anyone from the village called for them?"
"Young Master is right, a fellow called Rong but everyone called him 'Fat Fox'. He was the one who called for this merchant right as the ore was discovered. This merchant surnamed Pang seemingly works for a small caravan owned by a Qiu family subsidiary. When called, he arrived quickly and after examining the ore determined that it's Heaven Stone. He also explained that it's only valuable to nobles and rich people. Hearing this we were extremely happy, as the village has been surviving mostly by selling crafts and hunting, as the ground around here although flat is not very rich - the price he offered seemed low for something intended for noblemen, so after consulting with the senior miner, we refused the deal until we spoke with at least a pair of merchants more. Merchant Pang did not stay after the refusal and left after an angry outburst and seemingly 'Fat Fox' left with him, as he was not seen around. It turned out to be the right decision as the other merchants that we contacted did behave honestly and offered us a price several times over the refused one. But why Young Master is interested in this?"
"Oh, don't mind me Chief. I was asking to know more about the discovery and to get a read on what the bandits are after. Just confirm me one last thing before we get on our way, the bandits attack the merchants after they leave the village? Or before they reach it?"
"Both, although they attack the merchants after they leave the village more often"
"Thank you, Chief. We will be taking our leave and shall return after dealing with the bandits. If we don't appear after a week passes, then notify the sect as agreed in the request. Also, I would prefer if our visit is known to only the guard that saw us and yourself" Said Wu Guang and after nodding in response to the chief bow turned around and accompanied by the until now silent and immobile Yuan Taotu started descending the hill that gave this village its name.
Only when they descended the hill and the village was only seen in the distance, Wu Guang turned to Yuan Taotu and explained his conclusions
"The bandits are based somewhere nearby and either paid by the Pang fellow or the Rong one invited not only a merchant but them as well"
"Agreed" in his normal half whispering voice without almost opening his lips Yuan Taotu answered
"Let's scout the surroundings in search of a place that could be used to observe the villa while remaining unseen from both the road and village. I doubt that they were alarmed by the arrival of two people as most probably they only act when a merchant passes but stationed scouts make our work easier if we capture and interrogate them or follow them towards their camp. We should try to find this place and then scout it after nightfall, deciding which path to follow after finding out more"
As this was met with a nod from Yuan Taotu that indicated his agreement, Wu Guang brought out the basic map that they were given which was the radius of three miles around the road near the village was marked and after scanning it concluded as there was only a single road and all attacks were on it, the most probable scouting would be located nearer to it than the village, after all, the scout or scouts would need to get the rest of the bandits to come.
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Closing and storing the scroll, Wu Guang carefully examined both sides of the road that they were currently walking on and after a while noticed that there was a par of bushes located on the edge of visibility, which could be used to hide someone.
Judging that this was extremely convenient, Wu Guang motioned to Yuan Taotu as they continued their way as if moving away of the village with a normal walking speed, but after walking until the bushes were not visible at all, both of them left the road and finding a rock that could partially hide them from the surroundings rushed to it and disappeared from sight by laying down on the grass behind it.
Wu Guang's plan was basic, but still was effective as when the night descended, he and Yuan Taotu indeed found a pair of men hiding behind the bushes after carefully returning and even crawling the last few dozens of feet towards them.
Before trying to grab the scouts, Wu Guang analyzed them and found that most probably they would leave or be exchanged for other people soon as he saw no fire which automatically meant no provisions or camping necessities. Finding this, Wu Guang motioned towards Yuan Taotu that they should wait for now, which the latter confirmed with an acceptance motion after also observing the pair of barely visible bandits.
Their wait was rewarded, although not so soon as expected. A distant light appeared and started approaching the two hidden bandits only after the moon had completed more than half of its path. This light after a brief while turned into the silhouette of two men holding a torch each. Wu Guang and Yuan Taotu had made some distance between them and the bushes, so they were pretty far from the light, so they should not be noticed, although this also gave them the disadvantage of not hearing what the men said when approaching.
Wu Guang had deliberately not used the senses that he could gain from activating his consciousness. This decision came from the fact that it would go against the main idea of gaining experience, but also that he still had no manner of fully recuperating his consciousness after using it.
After a small unheard exchange, the two men that had arrived exchanged places with the ones that were lying behind the bushes until now, and the other pair took the torches and started walking away.
Judging that if followed the pair would lead them to the bandit camp, Wu Guang almost wanted to leave right away and ignore the new arrivals, but after rationalizing that they could not leave any bandits alive, and even more they could not leave a threat behind he motioned to Yuan Taotu with the basic sign that indicated attack or action and sensing that the other had understood - as his dark skin made him almost invisible in the night and no answer if even motioned could be discerned, Wu Guang lunged forward after waiting for about an incense stick of time, with his silent partner following almost right behind.
Both of the new arrivals were non-cultivators and did not even manage to react before their heads were pressed into the ground, muffling any possible sound. Wu Guang and Yuan Taotu both were infusing qi into all their muscles, so their speed and strength were about eight to ten times the one of a normal person, which meant that their lunge of over half of a couple hundred of feet was almost instant and the strength that they used to press the heads was almost enough to crush them. Still, such a way would be too dirty and so neither of them did so. They both simply landed a palm on the uncovered backside of the neck of their designated prey, breaking the neck and instantly killing them.
Checking that both were dead, Wu Guang touched Yuan Taotu and both of them launched in pursuit of the now far torchlight.
They only used a few breaths of time to kill both of the newly arrived bandits and so by using their full speed, they managed to close the distance to the torches quickly. After it decreased from a thousand feet to a meager one hundred, they slowed down to match their prey's speed.
With this, the distance at which they followed was twice the one covered by the torches. Adding the fact that their dark blue sect uniform blended into the darkness almost perfectly, only advanced cultivators would be able to notice them.