The grassland was flat as long as the eyes could see. Xue Wei understood that encountering the bandits under these conditions would be very hard.
If the bandits, who would have no place to hide in such an environment, found pleasure in hunting the students of the academy, then finding them would not take much effort.
Fortunately, the only one in their group who had a high rank of spiritual energy was Bai Tianyi, and even he was not an Earth Knight when it came to that, so there was a big chance that the four of them might be seen as easy targets.
Xue Wei was counting on this part to be their way of luring in targets. Unfortunately, after walking for a full day, the results of his plan were rather bad.
They had encountered three groups during this day, but they were all bearers of the black wristbands.
They had charged at the four of them at first sight, but upon seeing the black wristbands on their arms, they had stopped in their tracks with disappointment.
They had never seen Xue Wei and his comrades before, so some of them had thought that they were bandits that had found a way to wear a wristband. But after closer consideration, they realized it was unlikely. A heavenly oath was not something that they could go against.
Xue Wei was also slightly disappointed. He wanted to get his hands on some bandits for merit points, but it seemed that they were hiding deeper into the grasslands.
"You are new? Okay, let me give you some information about the grasslands." The fourth group that they encountered had a quite friendly leader, who quickly saw that these four had no clue about the current state of affairs in the grasslands.
"The further into the grassland you travel, the more bandit groups you will meet, and logically the stronger they will become. The strongest of the bandits have gathered in a group at the mountain walls you can see far out in the distance."
"The bandits mainly consist of two and three-eyed experts, but there are also seven four-eyed nobles in their group." The leader of the other group frowned when he mentioned the latter part. He himself was merely a three-eyed cultivator, and he could not imagine the fame and status they could have had if they had just stayed on the righteous path.
Unfortunately, they had picked a criminal lifestyle, so they would be killed without a doubt. The question was then just how many they would kill before that.
"Well, in this region of the grasslands, there aren’t really any bandits left. You’ll find more if you head further in, but their strength approaches the end of the Ordinary Knight rank, so not many dare venture too far ahead."
"Also, the bandits are always moving around in groups. Their groups are a minimum of three, and some of us have encountered even up to ten bandits together!" the man continued to explain with a friendly voice.
"I would suggest that you do not try to take on too much," the man continued as he looked at them with friendly eyes.
"I can sense that two of you must be Primordial Beasts," he looked at Hei Gou and Lin Xiao, "as your spiritual energy is simply so low, but even so, with only the support of a ninth layered Ordinary Knight and a seventh layered Ordinary Knight, it is truly too dangerous."
Xue Wei smiled when he saw his concern. From his point of view, they were indeed weak. Xue Wei was only at the seventh layer of the Ordinary Knight rank if one looked at his spiritual energy, but his strength in combat could not be easily determined. Especially not since he specialized in Qi attacks.
"Thank you," he said with a smile on his face. No matter whether or not they were strong, this group leader had been kind enough to explain the situation to them, and had not been hostile even though they were a two-eyes group.
In fact, his entire group looked at them with malice and disdain. It was clear that they felt that they were wasting their time, but none of them wished to say anything to their leader because they genuinely respected him.
"Well, in that case, good luck!" The leader saw that they were enlightened by his words. It was clear to him that they had the intent to head deeper into the grassy fields when they met, but it was not his place to tell them what to do. So instead, he wished them good luck. He hoped that at least one or two of them would be able to survive this, in his opinion, foolish decision.
Nodding his head, Xue Wei bid his farewell before he and his companions started moving further into the grassy plains. The further in they came, the more silent the area became.
There were no Fierce Beasts here, no humans, and no nothing moving in the grass. Not even bugs could be heard in the vast ocean of grass. In this fashion, a couple of hours went by before they finally caught sight a group of people sitting rather far away from them.
This group of people consisted of seven experts. They had ragged clothes on their bodies and three of them were injured, but their injuries were not so severe that they could not move or fight.
The moment Xue Wei noticed them, they also noticed him, and the two groups stopped in their tracks, observing one another.
"They don't seem to be wearing the black bracelets?" Xue Wei questioned when he looked at them, straining his eyes to their limits, but no matter what arm he looked at, there was nothing.
"It seems as if we are fairly lucky this time," Lin Xiao grinned. "Look, there are five people with three eyes, and two with two eyes like us! Do you think they will feel gratitude knowing that their downfall was to someone with two eyes, or do you think they will feel resentment?"
"Who cares?" Hei Gou also grinned widely. He had already extracted his claws from his storage ring and had placed them on his hands, ready to begin the fight at any moment.
"Uh, I am sorry to burst your bubble, but this will be a rather difficult match," Bai Tianyi was finally the one to call them all to their senses. "Although some of them are injured, they are actually seven people while we only have four. Out of those seven, I see that four are Earth Knights. While only at the first layer, they are nevertheless Earth Knights, and the others are ninth layered Ordinary Knights."
"So what?" Xue Wei listened and snickered. "Don't forget, we have many things that they do not, including two Earth Knights at a ridiculously high level. They can take two each, and we can take the other three. It should be easy to manage."
Bai Tianyi was stunned and then he shook his head in a defeated manner. He had to admit that what Xue Wei said made sense. "Yes, it should," he agreed after considering for some time.
Usually, Bai Tianyi was the one who was most confident in his own strength, but after entering Yan Dalu, he had suddenly felt a feeling of being inadequate.
In this place, the other three knew spiritual energy and their current achievements in cultivation seemed more impressive than his. He, however, forgot that he had only had his human shape for about a year. Having his achievements at his age was actually incredibly frightening.
Xue Wei gave him a long glance, because he understood the thoughts that floated in Bai Tianyi's mind. But after seeing his eyes suddenly turn bright again, he understood that the latter had finally come to terms with his own strength.
"Oh, we are being left behind," Bai Tianyi suddenly said, lifting his head. Xue Wei looked up as well, only to see that Hei Gou and Lin Xiao had rushed ahead; one with a set of claws on his hands, the other with a long staff in his grip.
"Come on," Xue Wei could not help but snort, grinning. "He is a monk, so he must use a staff?"
"I can hear you!" Lin Xiao yelled back, but his face could not hide the grin that was plastered on his lips, clearly showing that he was looking forward to this. Lin Xiao was like a free bird, soaring in the skies and always seeking new adventures. Now he had finally found some comrades to go on adventures with!
"Let us catch up!" Bai Tianyi also laughed out heartily and then started moving. A sword of spiritual energy appeared underneath his feet, sending him hurtling forward at a speed so fast that he quickly caught up to Lin Xiao and Hei Gou.
"Don't leave me behind!" Xue Wei exclaimed and unhesitantly activated the Forbidden Rush movement technique to follow the other three.
The group of bandits could not hear exactly what was being said amongst these youngsters, but their eyes were showing disdain when they looked at them.
They were only four, and one of them was even a child. All four of them had two eyes only, and the strongest seemed to be the child at the ninth layer of Ordinary Knight rank.
But for some weird reason, these four people were charging towards them without any fear or consideration. They had brandished their weapons. Wait, weapons? Who would use such crude arms in their world where spiritual energy was the king? Only a few Primordial Beasts would do so.
"Watch out, two of them seem to be Qi beasts," one of the bandits cautioned, but honestly, they were not overly worried even then.
"This is going to be fun!" Just as the bandit had told them to watch out, a loud booming voice sounded out as Lin Xiao was the first to make contact with the bandits. His staff swept out and sent three experts at the ninth layer of the Ordinary Knight rank reeling, blood spurting out from their mouths.
"Oh, right, they are weak like twigs when you get close enough!" Lin Xiao grinned and ran towards one of the people who had the cultivation base of an Earth Knight.
"Well, they are weak to physical attacks," Bai Tianyi said as he came closer, hovering on his spiritual energy sword. His white clothes were fluttering in the air, and his arms were crossed over his chest.
"Honestly, I don't think I even need to do anything," he said with a sigh as he saw how one sweep of Lin Xiao's staff had knocked three away vomiting blood.
"Come on, join in the fun!" Xue Wei grinned as he went for the three ninth layer Ordinary Knights.
Inner Might: Qi Sword Style!
A sword appeared in his hands, which immediately severed a head with a flourish of his hand.
"They really are like paper tigers!" Xue Wei exclaimed in shock. "Their physical strength is even weaker than what I thought... their Qi levels are only at the Heavenly Warrior level!"
"So that is why." Hei Gou could not help but also lament at the sad truth about these experts. Like a hurricane, their group had appeared and severed head after head.
Even while speaking, Hei Gou was inching closer and closer to one of the Earth Knights. When he reached him, his claws came slashing down, instantly ripping open the man’s throat before he could even react. Blood oozed out of the bandit’s mangled neck while looking at Hei Gou with unwilling eyes before he died
"This is kinda too easy is it not?" Xue Wei could not help but ask after a bit of time. They had already killed the entire group and it was a one-sided slaughter. There had been no possibility to retreat or retaliate for them.