Chapter 42: Clever Plan

The middle-aged man’s head separated cleanly from his neck, tumbling into the mud, his arrogant sneer permanently frozen on his lifeless face. A fraction of a second later, his headless, armored corpse swayed twice and collapsed heavily onto the gravel, dark blood pooling across the dirt.

The entire clearing went dead silent.

The groaning bandits froze mid-whimper, their eyes bulging in sheer, paralyzing horror. The plump merchant pissed his pants entirely, burying his face in the mud, praying to every god in heaven for mercy.

I casually brushed an imaginary speck of dust from my collar, turning toward Shen Qingxue with a relaxed, instructional smile.

"Never let your enemy yap endlessly when you can just cut off his head," I said, pointing my chin toward the corpse. "That fellow was at the Peak of the Qi Condensation Realm. With the spiritual qi in his spear, he could have effortlessly slaughtered you and every single bandit in this clearing within ten breaths. But he was an arrogant idiot who thought he had the luxury of talking down to people."

Shen Qingxue stood by her horse, blinking repeatedly, completely dumbstruck by the instantaneous, terrifying execution.

"Master..." she stammered, looking from the headless cultivator back to my smiling face. "What... what is actually happening here?"

I was genuinely amused by the sheer confusion painted across Shen Qingxue’s face, but I didn’t blame her in the slightest for falling into the trap.

She was twenty years old, and though she had crawled through mud and witnessed the butcher’s knife take her family, she was still fundamentally a sheltered young woman when it came to the twisted schemes of the world.

To anyone glancing down from a ridge, a band of thirty savage bandits swarming four burning carriages looked like an open-and-shut case of wilderness robbery.

Her righteous instinct to draw steel and protect the caravan was completely natural. In fact, that was precisely why I had allowed her to charge down alone in the first place, some lessons could only be burned into the mind through blood and sweat.

I turned my eyes back toward the merchant groveling on the ground and let out a soft, disdainful scoff.

The plump man hadn’t even waited for my interrogation. The second my hand took the spearman’s head off, his courage had dissolved like salt in hot water, and he had passed out cold, face-down in his own puddle of fear.

I had to agree with the dead spearman on one point, this fat bastard truly was an embarrassment to cowards everywhere. A true, noble slacker like myself avoided danger through wisdom and careful planning, whereas this wretched creature simply lacked a spine.

Before explaining anything to my bewildered disciple, I reached into my sleeve and flicked my wrist.

Several small porcelain vials materialized in my palm. Uncorking them with a thumb, I scattered a handful of jade-green pills across the mud, tossing them directly to the groaning bandits scattered across the clearing.

"Swallow them," I commanded casually. "Mid-Mortal Grade Bone-Knitting Pills. They won’t turn you into immortals, but they will knit your cracked ribs and mend your torn sinews."

’If only this would also trigger a investment return. Alas, I can’t just take randoms as my disciples for returns. I have to control my greed.’

The bandits, terrified and trembling, hesitated for only a fraction of a second before scrambling to shove the medicine into their mouths.

The medicinal efficacy took hold almost instantly. Faint wisps of green vitality mist seeped through their torn wolf pelts. Fractured bones clicked back into alignment, deep bruises faded into pale skin, and their ragged breathing stabilized at a visible rate.

While they were still far too weak to take up arms and wage battle today, the pills had patched their internal damage enough for them to stand, walk, and survive the journey home.

"T-Thank you, Immortal Senior!"

The bandit leader, a burly, bearded man with a shattered jaw that was rapidly mending dragged himself to his knees, pressing his forehead into the dirt alongside his surviving men. They were thoroughly baffled, one moment my disciple was snapping their joints like dry twigs, and the next, I was raining down high-grade healing pills like an old Buddhist monk handing out sweet cakes.

I ignored their groveling, casually stepping over the headless cultivator’s corpse and turning toward Qingxue, who was still staring at me with wide, searching eyes.

"These men are bandits by name, Qingxue," I began calmly, tucking my hands into my wide white sleeves. "However, they are fundamentally different from the ruthless cutthroats who infest the imperial highways. They did not ambush this convoy to loot gold, nor did they come here to indulge in pillage. The merchant lying in the mud, along with that dead fool and the caravan guards who ran for the hills, were the true villains of this valley."

I pointed my chin toward the heavy, iron-reinforced carriages still billowing black smoke into the sky.

"If my eyes do not deceive me," I continued, "those four heavy carts are not hauling silk, grain, or medicinal herbs. They are mobile prison cages, specifically reinforced with spirit-restricting iron to transport slaves."

Shen Qingxue’s breath hitched violently.

"Slaves?!"

Her obsidian eyes widened, cold fury erupting across her delicate features as her mind flashed back to the helpless refugees she had seen auctioned off in border towns. Without thinking, she tightened her grip on her hilt and bolted straight toward the nearest burning carriage to wrench the iron door open.

"Hold on, little wildcat," I said with a soft laugh, catching her slender shoulder with one hand and pulling her back to my side.

She looked at me, completely bewildered.

"Husband? Why are you stopping me? If there are people trapped inside those burning cages, they will suffocate."

"There is no one inside," I said with a faint smile, patting her shoulder reassuringly. "The cages are already empty. The captives were rescued before you even drew your sword."

I had already confirmed that before by scanning it with my Divine Sense. The carriages were as empty as they could be. That was also why I was so relaxed.