On such a rainy night, the dozen or so martial warriors didn’t bother examining the bandits’ bodies too carefully, simply assuming that they had killed them themselves.

As for the lack of wounded, they attributed it to the assumption that they had all been taken away, leaving the rest dead.

The previous fight had been too chaotic. Naturally, these dozen or so martial artists had no idea how many people they had injured or killed. This kind of mechanical fighting could easily lead to the illusion that they had killed a large number of people alone.

After searching for a while, the few people in the group found some items that they thought were useful, while their companions temporarily recovered some strength.

“Everyone, let’s hurry up and leave. Although we have fought off those bandits, who knows if they might come back!”

“Yes, let’s quickly find a safe place to shelter. Some of our wounds need to be treated.”

Under the urging of the hooded man leading the group, everyone stood back up. The leader then patted the live bandit’s back and spoke coldly.

“Let’s go, point me in that direction.”

“Yes, yes, it lies along a line that travels east and west from this point.1 We should follow the old forest path down the hill in that woodland over there.”

The dozen or so individuals were martial artists, after all; although they were not in a good state, they still moved swiftly after having recovered for a while. They traversed the muddy forest slope at a pace no slower than the bandits that had been sitting two to a horse.

The heavy rain continued to pour down. Maneuvering in the muddy terrain and rainy night was quite inconvenient for everyone, and drained their energy.

After a while, the bandit Ba Zi led the group to the old forest path. He wiped his face and pointed up ahead.

“Fellow warriors, this is it. This path is rarely traveled. Just follow it and you’ll reach the deserted village.”

The hooded man looked ahead and said nothing. After conferring briefly, the picked up the pace and hurried on their way. With a path to follow, their speed now increased considerably.

The village Ba Zi had been referring to was precisely the deserted village that Ji Yuan and his small group of people were currently located.

A distance of seven or eight li was actually not too far, and soon the warriors reached the edge of the abandoned village. When they arrived, the leading man suddenly stopped.

“Everyone, stop! We’ve almost arrived, but there is a fire!”

Sure enough, as they looked out, everyone could faintly see the glow of a fire in the distance.

“Is there someone there?”

“Did that idiot lead us to a bandit den?”

A man grabbed he bandit who was shivering nearby.

“No, no, I’m innocent! That village has long been abandoned. There’s no one around, and no defenses. How could it possibly be our hideout? Maybe someone just happened to be passing by and is resting there!”

“Well, he might be right. The firelight is too faint. It doesn’t look like a large group of bandits. Let’s go and have a look first.”

. . .

In the abandoned village, Ji Yuan had already picked up the sound of movement outside. From what he could visualize in his mind, he knew that there were sixteen people approaching, both men and women. Although some needed assistance, most walked with a swift pace, presumably martial artists.

When the new group entered the village, the commotion they made alarmed the seven or eight people inside the dilapidated mansion. Han Mind and two young men nervously approached the door and saw that Ji Yuan had stood up and was looking outside.

“Mr. Ji, are there more people outside?”

“Yes, some martial artists. They must have just been in a fight, and many are covered in blood and injuries.”

Han Ming and his companions glanced at the men approaching from the village entrance. They couldn’t help but nervously glance at Ji Yuan once more.

“Mr. Ji, how can you tell that they are injured?”

Ji Yuan pointed to his nose.

“My nose is very good. I can smell the scent of blood, both their own and of others.”

Wasn’t that nose way too good? Plus, how could he even distinguish between the scent of the warriors’ blood and that of other people? In any case, now wasn’t the time to dwell on such matters. Han Ming and his companions were are all focused on the newcomers.

They could vaguely make out a dozen silhouettes entering from outside the village, clearly headed straight for them, getting closer by the minute.

“These people will definitely come here. There is no way to avoid them.”

Ji Yuan explained to Han Ming as the men drew closer. He then spoke loudly to the outside.

“Are you guys looking for a place to stay? There is only one large house on the side of the deserted village that is still relatively intact, and there is plenty of firewood. If you don’t mind, feel free to come squeeze inside.”

Having finished his words, Ji Yuan addressed Han Ming.

“Mr. Han, please lead those two horses to the dilapidated side room for the time being. There is plenty of room to tie the horses up there. This house has no owner, after all, and they are in a bad state, so we should provide any necessary assistance.”

Although Han Ming was somewhat critical of Ji Yuan’s presumptuous decision, considering how his own group had arrived here, and the fact that there were more people in the group outside, he concluded that it was best to avoid conflict. He said nothing more, but simply assigned someone to take the horses inside.

“Xiao Jiu, lead the horses in.”

“Okay!”

Ji Yuan had directly decided for several reasons: first, to save time and ease any potential awkwardness, and second, because he had already detected a hint of that strange odor that he had smelled before on these people, and wanted to learn more.

The warriors outside heard Ji Yuan’s words, and after murmuring amongst themselves, they continued their path towards the mansion.

The hooded man was still walking in front. He bowed and thanked him loudly before even reaching the house.

“Thank you, sir, for your help. We just needed a place to rest!”

As he spoke, he took a few steps to cross the yard and arrived at the front of the house.

Inside was a room the size of an ancestral hall. Looking inside, he could see two fires burning.

A group of people, young and old, men and women, all gathered in the inner area.

Three people stood outside. One looked like a scholarly gentleman, and was the one who had invited them inside. The other two, upon seeing the sword in the man’s hand, bowed, then walked back inside. The fear on their faces at the sight of the blade was clear to see. Inside the house, someone was tying up the horses further away. The hooded man knew that they had clearly just been moved in order to make room for them.

The more he looked, the more certain he was that these were civilians. The scholarly gentleman outside did not show any fear, but he certainly did not seem to harbor any ill intent.

Neither Ji Yuan nor the people inside seemed to possess any martial arts skills, making the hooded man a slightly relieved.

“You’re welcome. It’s inevitable to encounter difficulties when you travel. I can only hope that someone might lend me a hand when I need help as well.”

Ji Yuan glanced at the chipped sword in the man’s hand, returned the bow briefly, then deliberately moved his stool some ways away.

The hooded man nodded, and quickly returned to his waiting companions.

“It’s safe over there. They’re probably all ordinary people with good hearts. Everyone, be careful and don’t disturb them!”

“Haah… that’s good!”

“Yeah, I can finally take a break…”

“Let’s go, hurry up, it would be great if we could have some hot water!”

The companions a little further outside let out a long sigh of relief. They called out to each other as they hurried towards the mansion.

Over a dozen people, fully soaking wet, entered the house. The sound of dripping water filled the air incessantly. They all looked extremely disheveled.

Han Ming and the others observed them carefully, and indeed saw that many of them were covered in red stains, and the stench of blood was perceptible even to the civilians.

This room was indeed quite large; if the two horses had still been there, it might have been too crowded, but now that the horses had been taken away, although it was not particularly spacious, it did not feel cramped.

After a brief exchange with the people in the room, the three groups of people settled down peacefully for the time being.

Due to concerns about the potential shortage of firewood, the third fire remained unlit. Instead, Ji Yuan’s fire in the corner was moved further away, allowing most of the dozen or so newcomers to warm up.

Current conditions prevented them from fully removing their clothes to dry them all, so they could only temporarily remove their outer garments and tend to their wounds.

A simple conversation and mutual understanding greatly eased everyone’s initial tension.

The hooded man was named Huang Zhixian. While wringing out his coat, he recounted to Ji Yuan, Han Ming, and the others how they had fought with the bandits previously. Han Ming and his group gasped and exclaimed from time to time.

Ji Yuan was sitting in the outer corner. When he heard about how the bandits had retreated and dragged people along in a panic, he finally spoke.

“You warriors are naturally very brave, but I’m afraid there might have been other reasons for those bandits to retreat.”

Ji Yuan’s words attracted the attention of the martial artists. No one immediately refuted him. On the contrary, Huang Zhixian, who had already come to his senses at this moment, quite agreed.

“To be honest, looking back on it now, it is indeed a bit strange. Mr. Ji, did you hear something wrong?”

Ji Yuan glanced at the men who were temporarily recuperating in the corner, obviously very restrained.

“They must have encountered something foul, that frightened those warriors into retreating, leaving their companions behind in their haste.”

“Something foul? Sir, do you mean… a ghost?”

Huang Zhixian asked this question subconsciously.

Everyone else’s attention was also drawn to Ji Yuan, Han Ming’s group included. After all, in a place like this, the word “ghost” was a little too touchy.

Ji Yuan shook his head.

“It’s not necessarily a ghost, but it’s definitely something sinister. To be honest, my friends, I have a special sense of smell, and just now I detected a strange odor on your group.”

Hearing this, someone in the crowd asked.

“What strange odor? The smell of blood?”

“No. There are many kinds of Qi, each with a different fragrance. Ordinary people have human Qi and Yang Qi; ghosts have Yin Qi and ghostly Qi; even demons will have demonic Qi. What you encountered does not fall into this category.”

Ji Yuan explained. A thoughtful look crossed his face.

“But since this thing didn’t follow you, I think it followed the bandits to their camp. You would have been a much easier target…”

Ji Yuan muttered to himself, scanning the crowd of warriors again.

“Could it be that you wouldn’t have satisfied its appetite?”

These words sent a chill down everyone’s spines. Even the dozen or so warriors felt their scalps go numb. Their clothes, already soaked, now felt cold, even as they warmed themselves by the fire.

“No, this thing is extremely evil, I cannot let it go. Warriors, I will need to take out these bandits for a little bit.”

Huang Zhixian was stunned for a moment, then immediately reacted:

“Sir, are you going to the bandits’ hideout?”

Ji Yuan nodded.

“Yes. I have seen quite a few evil spirits, but this one is particularly special. The bandits deserve death, but we cannot let this evil creature grow more powerful! It is skilled at hiding, if we don’t eliminate it today, we might miss our chance.”

As he spoke, Ji Yuan had already passed by a few people and reached the bandit, grabbing his hand.

“No, no, no! I, I don’t want to go…”

“Come with me, I’ll keep you safe.”

Ji Yuan, though he appeared slender and unimposing, possessed immense strength, making it impossible for the bandit to break free, and he was dragged to the door.

At the door, Ji Yuan paused, thought for a moment, then pulled out a piece of yellow paper and handed it to Huang Zhixian.

“I’ll lend this thing to you for protection. There may be more than one foul creature. I have already applied my spiritual technique on it. Remember, if anything goes wrong, bite your finger, apply your blood to it, and shout ‘I await my Warrior!’”

“Uh…”

“Can you remember that?”

Huang Zhixian was stunned for a moment then replied subconsciously.

“I’ll remember…”

“Okay, I’ll be back before dawn.”

Ji Yuan finished speaking, grabbed the bandit, and stalked out of the house.

“Ah…I don’t want to go…”

The warriors were still a little stunned. Seeing Ji Yuan actually carrying a man out the door, they all felt a bit absurd.

When Huang Zhixian and some others nearby looked outside, they couldn’t see anyone around. Gazing further, they could clearly see a figure already at the village entrance, moving as if walking, not running, but still somehow rapidly receding.

“Gulp…”

Huang Zhixian swallowed and examined the object in his hand seriously. It was a paper figure cut from a thin sheet of yellow paper.

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T/n: JY really just put on his innocent normal mortal act and then immediately slung a whole-ass bandit over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and told everyone he was gonna kill a supernatural monster, brb

1. 东 (dōng): east, 西 (xī): west – “east-west direction.” … Refers to a line running to the east and west latitudinally.