Sinisi had long been accustomed to Taichi's behavior and was not surprised. Seeing Li Xi approaching, wanting to speak, Li Xi immediately shook his head, stopping whatever Sinisi was about to say.
After cutting off Sinisi's words, Li Xi clapped his hands at everyone, "You guys are amazing, you actually killed so many bandits. Unlike me, I could only hide in the back."
Taichi was in a great mood and comforted Li Xi, "Little brother, don't worry. You'll get better after doing a few more missions."
Li Xi appeared to be humbly accepting advice, "Thank you, Captain Taichi, for your guidance. I will work hard."
Taichi laughed proudly, but beside him, Sinisi looked at the feigning-youthful Li Xi and couldn't understand why Li Xi was so endlessly enthusiastic about acting like he knew nothing. Did all masters have some peculiar habit?
The bandit encounter lasted a total of half an hour. The caravan suffered minimal losses, with only two drivers twisting their ankles in fear and haste. No one else was injured or killed.
Robert grabbed Sinisi's hand as if he were his own father, "Thank you, Commander Sinisi, for your carefulness in discovering the bandits' tracks in advance. Otherwise, if they had attacked us from the middle after we passed, our losses would have been immense."
Sinisi forced a stiff smile, "It's my duty."
As the caravan set off again, Sinisi quietly thanked Li Xi.
Li Xi waved his hand, "I'm just an E-class mercenary, no need to stick my neck out."
"By the way, Commander Sinisi, do you know where the bandits' base is?"
Sinisi thought carefully, "I really don't know. No one has completed the bounty mission for their whereabouts in the mercenary hall yet."
"I suspect they have a very hidden location, evading all investigation."
Li Xi looked in the direction the bandits had fled, lost in thought, "You think these bandits have robbed a lot of treasure over the years?"
Sinisi didn't think much of it, "Probably a lot. To my knowledge, there's tens of thousands of gold coins worth of property. What I don't know is likely even more."
"Tens of thousands."
Tens of thousands of gold coins could buy a large manor. Li Xi felt his ancestral home was too small now, and it was time to get a bigger house. Otherwise, there would be no place to put the ten maidservant dolls in his spatial ring. In his current small home, ten people would have to stand outside the door, and where would be the fun in that? Su Dan Novel Network.
Thinking of this, Li Xi suddenly clutched his stomach, "Oh dear, my stomach hurts. You guys go ahead, I need to use the restroom. I'll catch up with you later."
Without waiting for Sinisi and the others' reactions, Li Xi threw them his mount, leaped, and disappeared into the woods. With a few bursts of speed, he vanished from their sight, showing no signs of a stomachache or needing to use the restroom.
Sinisi extended his arm, "I say, brother Li Xi..."
Before he could finish his sentence, he couldn't even see Li Xi's tail lights.
From Li Xi's sudden actions, it was obvious what he was going to do. Sinisi originally wanted to tell Li Xi to be careful, but then he thought, the ones who should be careful when encountering him were the bandits.
Far from the caravan, Li Xi took off his shirt, revealing dragon wings like tattoos on his back. With a "swish," two dragon wings, three meters long each, unfurled, and Li Xi flew straight into the sky.
He flew until he could no longer see the ground, ensuring no one below could see him. Then, he closed his eyes slightly and reopened them, revealing a pair of vertical pupils.
The ground that was previously unclear instantly became sharp, even Sinisi, who was walking at the back of the caravan, leading his horse, was clearly visible.
At this moment, Sinisi should feel someone observing him and was constantly looking up, down, left, and right to find the source of the observation. After searching for a long time with no results, he scratched his head, suspecting he was being paranoid.
His expert intuition told him someone was watching him, but finding the observer would be in vain, as the observer was thousands of meters in the sky.
After toying with Sinisi for a bit, Li Xi began to search for the bandits' tracks. The advantage of being high up was the wide field of vision. With a turn of his eye, he locked onto the fleeing bandits.
They were now like stray dogs, darting through the forest. Li Xi watched them move slowly through the forest like ants carrying their belongings. He followed them from high in the sky, keeping a safe distance.
Finally, after circling the forest many times and confirming no one was following, the bandits headed straight for their lair.
Their lair was not on a mountain, nor in a hidden valley, but inside a cave.
Li Xi personally saw them all crawl into the cave. Someone even meticulously cleaned away their footprints and then placed a stone to block the entrance, fitting so perfectly that there was not a single flaw. If no one had told them, no one would have ever discovered the bandits' lair that the Mercenary Guild had been tirelessly searching for.
"They really went to great lengths, but running into me today means you're out of luck." Li Xi landed at the cave entrance, his dragon wings fluttering.
Li Xi extended a finger and gently tapped the stone. "Bang, bang." A faint muffled sound echoed.
"It's not that thick yet."
Li Xi clenched his fist. His entire arm was covered in tiny, rice-sized scales. He then smashed his fist against the stone at the cave entrance.
"Boom!"
The stone, not too thick, only a little over two meters thick, was shattered by Li Xi's punch.
Dust flew everywhere without restraint. Li Xi moved a bit further away in annoyance, planning to wait until the dust settled before entering.
However, such a massive disturbance naturally alerted the bandits inside.
Confused footsteps and curses emanated from the cave. Li Xi closed his eyes slightly, and upon reopening them, they were a pair of vertical pupils like those of a dragon.
Through the thick dust, Li Xi could see that the cave was brightly lit. Many bandits were rushing towards the exit, weapons in hand, their killing intent palpable.
The straight tunnel tempted Li Xi to use his newly acquired ninjutsu.
"Clap." He brought his hands together, his chakra surging rapidly within him.
"Suiton. Suidantōha!"
A high-pressure, thin stream of water shot out violently from Li Xi's mouth, like a sword drawn from its scabbard, or like a peerless swordsman displaying their exquisite swordsmanship. The thirty-meter-long water stream was a thirty-meter-long sharp sword. The bandits who were approaching had no time to react before a white light shot out. Then, they felt a chill and, before they knew what happened, saw the bandits in front of, behind, to their left, and to their right being cut in half at the waist by this white light.
The Suidantōha ninjutsu was incredibly sharp. Li Xi only had to slightly turn his head, and dozens of bandits were instantly severed into two pieces. Because it was his first time using it, Li Xi didn't control it well, and the Suidantōha cut into the mountain. The thirty-meter-long water stream acted like it was cutting into soft tofu, splitting everything it encountered in two.
The remaining bandits, not yet within the thirty-meter danger zone, experienced an even greater psychological impact. A bandit standing at the thirty-meter mark looked down at his already cut clothing, reached out to feel his intact belly, and with a "plop," his legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground. At this moment, even his most beloved mother wouldn't be able to pull him up.
The bandit next to him was luckier. Holding his sword, which was now only half its original length, he turned and bolted back.
The rest of the bandits followed suit. Witnessing the water stream cut through the mountain itself, they knew cutting them would be easier than cutting ants.
The group of bandits who had rushed out so aggressively were now, scared by Li Xi's Suidantōha, rushing back in equal numbers.
Li Xi had already withdrawn his Suidantōha. He was counting on robbing enough money from the bandits to buy a manor. If he accidentally collapsed the mountain, Li Xi wouldn't have time to dig gold coins out of the mountain.
The dust at the cave entrance had significantly lessened. Li Xi walked in leisurely. By the time he reached the bandits, many of them were still alive, dragging their severed bodies. Blood flowed downwards on the ground, attracting mosquitoes that were feasting on the scent of blood. They were probably wondering why there was so much food today.
Li Xi raised his small fist at these still-living, half-bodied bandits and smiled, "Keep going, crawl back and get some holy water, and you might survive."
"Devil, you demon."
The bandits looked at Li Xi with a smiling face in horror. Even a devil wasn't as cruel as him.
Li Xi didn't have time to waste on them. Even if these people survived, their future would only be more painful. Besides begging on the streets, Li Xi couldn't think of any other profession they could pursue.
"Oh, look, another living person. Lucky you. Go help your friend quickly."
Li Xi was referring to the one who was particularly lucky, whose clothes were cut by the Suidantōha but whose skin was unharmed. At this moment, his eyes were vacant, and water stains appeared around his lower body. He didn't react even when Li Xi approached, having been scared out of his wits.
Li Xi continued inward. After a few dozen meters, he turned a corner and discovered the bandits' secret mountain base.
The entire mountain had been almost hollowed out. They had built houses within this vast mountain space, even grown some vegetables, and a small stream flowed down the mountain wall.
It was unclear how they managed it, but the lighting inside wasn't from magical fluorescent stones. Instead, they had drilled through the mountain at key points to let in sunlight, illuminating the space just right without being dazzling.
"This is a doomsday shelter. The person who built this is a genius."
Li Xi freely looked around as if no one else was there, admiring the construction. However, opposite him, weapons had already been deployed at the exit. A triple-barreled ballista was aimed at Li Xi.
This type of ballista resembled the siege crossbows used in Li Xi's previous life. Each bolt was over two meters long, and it required a winch to operate. This version in this world was almost the same, except for the faint magic patterns appearing on the arrowhead.
"It's magical equipment too. You guys are really rich."
Li Xi was targeted by the ballista, feeling as threatened as an ant holding a pine needle, but he wasn't scared at all.
Li Xi's contemptuous behavior completely enraged the commander opposite him. This man had a full beard and a ferocious face, "To die by the Dragon Slayer Crossbow, you can consider yourself fortunate."
"Fire!"
With a roar, his subordinates immediately smashed a large hammer onto the firing pin, instantly triggering the ballista.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" The bowstring vibrated at high speed, and three bolts were shot out successively, like three venomous dragon arrows, whistling through the air towards Li Xi. Their speed was so great they were almost instantaneous.
But just as they were about to hit Li Xi, a half-broken greatsword, two meters long, forty centimeters wide, and five centimeters thick, appeared like a shield in front of him.
This was the greatsword plundered from the demon horn Taylor, which had been broken in half by the mountain giant ape.
The reason this greatsword was broken in half was not due to a lack of hardness, but rather due to its extreme hardness, which prevented it from bending at all. It was this rigidity that caused it to be smashed apart after enduring hundreds of punches from the mountain giant ape.
Li Xi didn't know what level this weapon belonged to, but he knew he couldn't break it yet, which made it a good weapon. With such a weapon as a shield, he could ignore most physical attacks in the world.
Unfortunately, there were no absolutes in the world, and Li Xi would have to pay the price for his ignorance.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
Three huge explosions sounded. Li Xi, along with the greatsword in front of him, was instantly engulfed in flames and black smoke.
The bandits cheered and rejoiced at this sight, believing the demon had finally been killed here.
The magic patterns on the arrowhead of the Dragon Slayer Crossbow were not for any other effect but to inscribe the intermediate fire magic spell, Crimson Burn.
It could generate immense destructive power upon contact and emit flames of thousands of degrees, capable of instantly igniting a human body and burning the prey alive.