Maiden Galaxy

Chapter 80: Mountain Stronghold

The hundred bandits stared wide-eyed as their invincible leader was smote by an ordinary young man. Everyone was stupefied.

Bodyguard Guo seized this chance to roar. The Ning Family's guards stirred their qi and blood, counterattacking. The bandits did not dare stay any longer. With their big brother, whose cultivation was the strongest, now dead, they immediately turned tail and scattered, escaping into the mountains.

Chen Mo walked before the pale-faced man's corpse and searched. He was a bit disappointed to not find an Astral Stone. This man's Five Sacred Mountains Chant was apparently derived from the Five Elements, an ability not to be underestimated once practiced. If it was not for his own strength exceeding the normal bounds of a Qi Flower warrior, other Qi Flower or even Spirit Flower warriors perhaps would be in great danger. In the end, that Overlooking Mountain nevertheless had a loftiness that looked down on all things.

What a pity that it was his misfortune to have met Chen Mo's Bagua.

With "Qiankun" as a technique, the power of whatever Mount Tai that was could not possibly be sufficient.

"Thank you, Young Lord, for saving my life." The young woman delicately walked over, calm as limpid autumn waters, the bearing of beloved daughter.

"You're welcome, it's something that should've been done." Chen Mo politely said.

"This Young Girl is Ning Xiaoyuan,¹ may I be so bold as to ask for Young Lord's name." Ning Xiaoyuan said.

"Call me Chen Mo. Lady Xiaoyuan, you deserve praise for your courage. I'm very impressed." In Chen Mo's eyes, although the girl was too weak to stand against the wind, she still had unyielding backbone. Perhaps it was because he himself was unable to practice martial arts before, but he had quite a good impression of the girl.

"If it was not for Young Lord Chen's rescue, Xiaoyuan's courage would have been nothing more than a joke." Ning Xiaoyuan forced a smile.

"You have so many loyal bodyguards. There's no need to be so dejected, just worry about it later." Chen Mo consoled her.

"Young Lord Chen Mo must be going to Changluo??" Ning Xiaoyuan's complexion was slightly red as she softly asked.

"En. I got other things to take care of first. You'll soon reach Changluo from this route, so you should be safe now." Chen Mo smiled.

Ning Xiaoyuan wanted to say something but hesitated. Hearing his words, she was a bit crestfallen, "But the Ning Family has yet to express thanks for Young Lord's rescue."

"To be able to receive Lady Xiaoyuan's smile, this is the best thanks." Chen Mo praised.

Ning Xiaoyuan's face was a bit redder, somewhat happy in her heart: "Young Lord, do not make fun of This Young Girl."

Chen Mo smiled. Seeing Bodyguard Guo and the others return, there was no need for him to linger any longer. He bade farewell and left.

Ning Xiaoyuan was a bit sad.

"This man is so rude even though Young Miss treated him so well." Her maid summoned her own courage.

Ning Xiaoyuan smiled and said: "Perhaps he is participating in the metropolitan examination. But with my body, I can only watch afar. There's no choice."

"Young Miss." Her maid was saddened.

After Bodyguard Guo returned, he first urgently inquired about Ning Xiaoyuan's injuries. After learning that Chen Mo had left, he felt quite regretful. "That young man is so formidable, to have reached Qi Flower Realm at that age. I've never seen that technique at the end. As expected of Changluo, to be able to see such a powerful warrior."

"That technique at the end should be from the legendary Bagua." Ning Xiaoyuan said.

"Bagua? Don't tell me you mean the Bagua from the Book of Changes, of the Four Books and Five Classics?" Bodyguard Guo was astounded.

Ning Xiaoyuan was unable to practice martial arts, but she read intensively about ancient texts like the Book of Songs and the Book of History. She was certainly right. The Book of Changes in Star World was able to develop into countless cultivation methods. The benefits of the most original Book of Changes Cultivation Method could even be enjoyed by Heavenly Stars, a Human Star warrior notwithstanding.

The Ning Family's caravan reorganized themselves, burying their dead warriors. The pale-faced man was directly beheaded, his head put on display as a warning to other bandits. Afterwards, they set off again. Along the way, Ning Xiaoyuan pulled back the curtain, gazing into the deep blue sky. For the first time, her limpid eyes had the preoccupation of a young girl.

…

"That girl rather likes you. Don't you want to develop something with her. I think she's quite pretty, too." Zhongli Sanmei landed the Nebula Chariot. When she saw Chen Mo walk over, she teased him.

Chen Mo rolled his eyes at her. That was nothing more than the cliche plot point of the hero saving the damsel in distress. She was the King Of Extinguished Ashes, a Four Heavenly King of Her Excellency Xiang Yu. How could she have such childish notions of romance.

Zhongli Sanmei laughed out loud.

"Did you find it?" Chen Mo asked about the main topic.

"The bandits' mountain stronghold?" Zhongli Sanmei nodded. After Chen Mo killed the bandit leader, he had her specially monitor them. For brigands that had entrenched themselves in the peak above for so many years, their mountain stronghold definitely would have many good things. Rather than let others help themselves to those, he would rather help himself.

On the mountain was a dilapidated forth. Logs were used as fencing all around, forming the den of the bandits. The bandits who scattered were all fleeing back to their camps, but having lost their leader, this hundred strong group of bandits were somewhat out of their wits. The few warriors with the highest cultivations gathered, proposing the selection of a new leader or to reorganize and go their separate ways. The mountains surrounding Changluo had several such forts. In particular, one "Clear Breeze Fort" fifty li away was troublesome. If they were found out by other forts, they would definitely be devoured.

In the end, they felt that they may as well split up the white-faced man's belongings. That man relied on his formidable abilities to rule over the mountain stronghold with an iron fist, taking the whale's portion of the benefits.

Just at this moment, there was suddenly a commotion outside the fort.

The warriors promptly walked out. When they saw a man and woman enter the fort, several of the bandits were already dead.

"It's you." Seeing it was the youth who killed their leader, the bandits' second-in-command was scared out of his wits.

Although there were so many bandits here, they had no chance of victory against the oppression of a Qi Flower warrior. Particularly noteworthy was the woman at that youth's side. She seemingly smiled, her red hair like fire, something even more terrifying.

"We request that Young Master spare our lives!!" The second-in-command knelt and pleaded for clemency on the spot.

The bandits who saw Chen Mo's might from before also prostrated themselves in trepidation.

"Please spare us, we had no choice."

"We are willing to pledge loyalty to you, sir."

This made things a bit difficult for Chen Mo, who originally wanted to wipe out this camp in one go. These bandits were too lacking in their professional accomplishment, to beg for their lives like this.

"Bring out your boss' things." Chen Mo thought for a moment.

Several of the stronger bandits immediately dashed off into a storehouse. After a search, they placed more than ten locked large iron chests. The chests were moved to a large open space. Surrounding the chests were chains and talismans, quite a tight seal.

However, this could not stop Chen Mo. Zhongli Sanmei took a bandit's blade and slashed several of the chests. In a flash, all of the chains were severed and the sealing talismans destroyed, making the bandits stupefied. What level of martial arts was this.

When they opened the chests to look, the gold, silver, and other precious treasures inside were simply blinding under the sunlight.

Even if Chen Mo was a young master born in Chang'an mansion and had seen plenty of wealth before, he was still stunned by the riches before his eyes. The dozen large chests were packed to the brim with bar after bar of gold. These gold ingots were about the size of a brick, nearly arranged, giving an enormous visual shock. Each piece of gold was worth at least ten thousand liang. One chest contained at least fifty bars, so there was at least five hundred thousand liang of gold. Altogether, the dozen chests were worth more than five million. In the Great Chong Dynasty, this was considered an astronomical sum for a bandit stronghold.

Even the bandits were flabbergasted.

"Motherfucker. No wonder I always felt we were short on money. It turns out the big boss from before was always stealing gold to turn them into bars." The second-in-command cursed.

The next few in the chain of command also had looks of resentment from being deceived.

It turned out their stronghold had so much money. If they had known, they would have already disbanded and washed their hands clean of the outlaw way of life.

Other than these gold bars, the chests also had some other things, such as weapons, precious stones, books, and some herbs and seed. These chests were the spoils of battle that the pale-faced bandit had collected over many years. That man perhaps had a hobby of hoarding precious metals, having not spent any of the money they stole, instead collecting the funds just to admire them.

However, after a long search, Chen Mo did not find that Five Sacred Mountains cultivation method.

"Where's the cultivation method from your old chief? Do you know? If nobody speaks, you will all die." Chen Mo threatened.

The second-in-command promptly said: "I know, it's in his room."

They reached the pale-faced man's room. Hidden behind a calligraphy of "When You Reach The Top," Chen Mo finally found the Five Sacred Mountains. The Five Sacred Mountains Chant was carved onto a slab of stone. It seemed a fine work, each word vigorously etched and very robust. 

Chen Mo studied it carefully. As expected, this Five Sacred Mountains Chant was an ability derived from Earth Element. Its power was incomparably profound, each technique full of the force of a mountain, capable of fully displaying a warrior's tyrannical strength. Even against stronger weapons, it could still hold an advantage. This made Chen Mo very astonished. In Star World, Star Weapons were always the pursuit of warriors. Powerful Star Weapon were even a greater safeguard than cultivation, yet the Five Sacred Mountains Chant contained power exceeding a weapon's. Furthermore, when cultivated to high levels, the warrior would contrarily find using weapons to be very unsuitable. No wonder that pale-faced man never used a weapon.

Chen Mo memorized the Five Sacred Mountains, preparing to go back and study it more carefully.

His Northern Dipper Great Overflow and Northern Dipper Staff took the method of using the brute force of one to overcome the skill of ten. The Five Sacred Mountains Cahnt was quite suitable for him. Other people using the Five Sacred Mountains Chant would be unable to wield the power of weapons, but the Northern Dipper could work; if he combined the profundity of the Five Sacred Mountains Chant into Northern Dipper…Chen Mo was somewhat excited just thinking about it.

Having obtained the Five Sacred Mountains Chant, he had no interest in searching through the other things.

Looking at the cautious and uneasy bandits, Chen Mo's brows creased again.

"Sir, you promised not to kill us."

"You bandits committed so many evils, even death cannot wipe away your crimes." Chen Mo coldly said. He was extremely disgusted with these kinds of thieves who robbed other people. Even death a hundred times over was the bare minimum for them.

The bandits went pale in the face, kneeling in fright once again as they plead forgiveness.

But if he did not kill them, these bandits would most likely return to their old ways. If he took them in, that might work. Right now, Chen Mo felt that he had no power in Changluo, but he had not taken Iron Blade on this trip. Otherwise, he would have left them to Iron Blade.

This would have settled the problem.

"Don't tell me I have to be the chief of these bandits?" Chen Mo pondered. Suddenly, he recalled a person. He lifted his head, looking evilly at the completely unconcerned Zhongli Sanmei.

"You want to have This King help you look after these pieces of trash?" Zhongli Sanmei could discern his intentions.

Chen Mo walked over and discussed with her quietly: "En, your identity is special, after all. News of me should also have reached Changluo, and you can't easily stay by my side. It just so happens you can stay here and help me train these bandits. On the trip to Changluo, I don't have any influence or power, and Nianyou…" Looking at her, Chen Mo also did not want to embroil Nianyou in Chen Family politics.

Zhongli Sanmei thought so as well. "Fine. This King was bored anyways."

Chen Mo turned back. "From this day forth, I am your new leader, but you are no longer allowed to commit acts of evil. Otherwise, you will be executed without pardon."

"We surely heed Leader's command. We little ones actually also want to live safely and steadily." Everyone flattered him.

Chen Mo sneered.

"Also, this is my wife. From now on, she will command you. If you make one misstep, she won't be as forgiving as I am."

"We greet the Mistress!!"

The bandits immediately saluted to curry favor.

The wife of a bandit leader, how interesting.

Zhongli Sanmei smiled in amusement.

1. 寧小緣 ↩