Chapter 3404

Liao Yaotian sent a voice transmission to Ye Liuyun: “Those exiles are all desperate criminals. When the time comes, you must not show them any mercy, or you’ll suffer badly. You could even end up losing your life.”

“Don’t focus only on capturing them alive for the reward. Staying alive comes first. Follow me and charge forward, but don’t get too far ahead—being at the front makes it easy to get yourself killed. Don’t fall too far behind either, or the commander will punish you.”

“All right!” Ye Liuyun agreed, not wanting to reject Liao Yaotian’s good intentions.

There were several other soldiers who had a good relationship with Liao Yaotian. As long as they stayed together, they would indeed be much safer than the others.

However, the exiles all knew that if they were captured, they would be sold as slaves, so they would fight desperately.

The soldiers all knew that capturing a slave would earn them one mid-grade Taixu divine crystal, but very few dared to capture prisoners one-on-one. Only when they had the advantage in numbers would they try to take captives. Otherwise, they simply killed them.

As soon as Ye Liuyun left the city, he released his spiritual sense and began surveying the surroundings. Even when there was no danger, regularly using his spiritual sense to scout would gradually expand the range he could detect.

The range he could currently detect was only about five li, but that was already much farther than an ordinary soldier could detect.

Xiao Han immediately sensed Ye Liuyun’s spiritual sense as well. He glanced at him but said nothing.

Before long, they reached the designated area. However, to locate that group of exiles, they still needed soldiers to scout ahead.

“You! Go ahead and investigate. Report back immediately if you find anything, and don’t act rashly!”

Xiao Han immediately singled out Ye Liuyun and ordered him to serve as a scout, believing that Ye Liuyun’s soul power was strong enough to detect things from farther away.

“Yes, sir!”

Ye Liuyun did not refuse. Instead, he felt that Xiao Han had a talent for recognizing people’s abilities and assigning them appropriately. He immediately stepped out of formation and dashed ahead.

“That kid is really unlucky. I hope he makes it back!”

Liao Yaotian watched his retreating figure and sighed inwardly.

Ye Liuyun extended his spiritual sense and continued several more li ahead before discovering a group of more than forty people gathered together. They had even stationed scouts around the perimeter, making them look like fairly experienced bandits.

Ye Liuyun did not know how strong martial cultivators in the Taixu World generally were, and he did not dare approach too closely on his own. Instead, he first looked over with his Golden Eyes.

Those people seemed to be distributing the resources they had plundered. A second-level Taixu martial cultivator, presumably their leader, had placed everything in the middle of the group and divided it into countless small piles. The others all wore eager smiles.

Ye Liuyun surveyed their cultivation levels and discovered that there were not merely two second-level Taixu cultivators, but three. There were also three first-level Taixu martial cultivators with exceptionally solid true essence, and their physical bodies seemed quite sturdy as well.

After gathering all the information, Ye Liuyun immediately hurried back to report to Xiao Han.

“Reporting to the commander, I’ve located them. There are forty-two people in total. Three are at the second level of the Taixu realm, and three are particularly powerful first-level Taixu martial cultivators.

“They’ve also stationed six scouts. The scouts are three li away from the main group...”

Xiao Han frowned when he heard this. If things were as Ye Liuyun described, their opponents were indeed quite strong and clearly experienced.

The distance at which they had positioned their scouts was precisely the limit of an ordinary martial cultivator’s spiritual-sense detection.

The scouts could detect as far as three li, and the scouts themselves were another three li from the main group. Together, that made six li, a distance ordinary soldiers should not be able to detect.

Even Xiao Han’s spiritual sense had a range of less than five li.

Thus, Xiao Han asked Ye Liuyun seemingly casually, “Can your spiritual sense detect beyond five li?”

“No, but my Golden Eyes are special. Without any obstructions, I can see at least a hundred li away!” Ye Liuyun reported truthfully.

He also understood the issue of distance. If he did not tell the truth, Xiao Han probably would not believe him.

Only then did Xiao Han believe the information Ye Liuyun had brought back.

After thinking it over, he still decided to lead his troops into battle against those people.

He immediately assigned Liao Yaotian and another soldier to each lead ten men and restrain two of the second-level Taixu martial cultivators. He would handle one himself, while the others attacked together, first killing half of the group before capturing prisoners.

Ye Liuyun also felt that as long as they worked together, dealing with these bandits should not be a problem.

Who would have thought that the soldiers would object?

“Boss, I’m worried that even ten of us won’t be able to hold off a second-level Taixu expert!” Liao Yaotian complained to Xiao Han.

“Exactly. The gap in cultivation isn’t something we can make up for with numbers!” said the other soldier Xiao Han had appointed.

Xiao Han really knew how to choose his men. Both of them were highly respected and well-liked among the soldiers.

Xiao Han looked at them and curled his lip disdainfully. “If you can’t beat them, then go die! If you refuse to carry out my orders, you’ll be dealt with under military law when we return!”

Clearly, he had plenty of experience dealing with these soldiers. Nothing he said to them would work; he could only threaten them with death.

Liao Yaotian and the others wore bitter expressions, but there was nothing they could do. They could only select their men and make the arrangements.

“You lead the way. We’re setting out!” Xiao Han again ordered Ye Liuyun to guide them.

“Yes, sir!”

Ye Liuyun acknowledged him and immediately led the way, hurrying toward the bandits.

Before the bandits’ scouts discovered them, Xiao Han’s spiritual sense detected one of those scouts.

“Stop.”

Xiao Han immediately called for Ye Liuyun to halt.

“Can you take out that scout without making a sound?” Xiao Han asked Ye Liuyun directly.

Ye Liuyun thought for a moment before telling Xiao Han, “Killing him would be easy, but doing so without being noticed by their people will be difficult. Their scout is only three li from them. They’ll definitely notice.”

“Of course they will. I just don’t want to make too much noise. The later they discover us, the better,” Xiao Han said.

“All right. I’ll do it!” Ye Liuyun readily agreed without saying anything more.

He then used Spatial Force to conceal himself in the void and crossed the distance in a single step. A blade suddenly slashed out from the void and slit the scout’s throat.

“Charge forward at full speed! Anyone who disobeys will be dealt with under military law!”

At that moment, Xiao Han issued an order and led the soldiers forward at full speed, trying to get as close as possible before the enemy discovered them.

The soldiers were all afraid of this side of Xiao Han. If they truly disobeyed his orders and retreated in the midst of battle, Xiao Han really would kill them after they returned.

Thus, they gritted their teeth and cursed Xiao Han inwardly, but still did not dare slacken.

Ye Liuyun was not idle either. Since killing one scout would expose them sooner or later, he did not wait for Xiao Han’s instructions and went straight after the other scouts. Each time, he used Spatial Force to teleport over and kill one with a single slash.

Xiao Han had assumed that Ye Liuyun would wait where he was after killing the first scout. When he saw Ye Liuyun take the initiative to kill the other scouts, he could not help but regard him more highly.