My Home's Ancient Well Connects to the Martial Arts World

Chapter 273: Chapter 269: Golden Saber Yuan Hong

"Get up!"

Ye Xing picked up a copper coin and flicked it lightly out of the carriage.

"WHOOSH!" The copper coin hit the back of the head of the young Escort Master, Little Fei, who was sleeping outside the carriage.

"Ouch!"

The young Escort Master, Little Fei, cried out in pain and slowly woke up. Seeing that it was Ye Xing who had hit him with a copper coin, he asked with a pained expression, "Young Master Ye, why aren’t you asleep? It’s the middle of the night. Why’d you hit me with a copper coin?" He felt a little annoyed, but he didn’t dare complain too much to an expert like Ye Xing. Dazed and groggy, he prepared to go back to sleep.

"Bandits are here," Ye Xing said nonchalantly, shrugging.

"Oh."

The young Escort Master Little Fei’s sleepy eyes closed again as he prepared to lie back down. But before he was fully horizontal, his eyes suddenly shot wide open. He leaped to his feet, startled, and stammered, "Bandits? What bandits? Young Master Ye, what did you just say? B-bandits are here?"

"Yes. Judging from the footsteps, there are about one or two hundred of them. They’re roughly three hundred meters ahead, slowly encircling our convoy," Ye Xing said calmly.

As a Martial Artist at the Peak of the Martial Arts Ninth Realm who practiced a Celestial Rank Inner Strength Cultivation Skill, Ye Xing’s hearing was far sharper than that of an ordinary Martial Artist.

The young Escort Master Little Fei was terrified. Snapping out of it, he scrambled to his feet and ran to shout for the escort guards on patrol, telling them to wake up all the other Escort Masters.

Soon, all the Escort Masters had been woken up. But having been roused from a deep sleep in the middle of the night, they were all groggy and exhausted.

"Everyone, stop sleeping! The bandits are here!" the young Escort Master Little Fei said urgently.

The moment he finished speaking, all the Escort Masters scrambled to their feet, now wide awake.

"Where are the bandits? Where?" The awakened escort guards looked around at the hazy, moonlit woods. Seeing no movement, they grew disgruntled.

The Weiyang Escort Agency’s Chief of the Escort, Yang Lei, grabbed the young Escort Master Little Fei with a large hand and said in a low voice, "Spouting nonsense is a punishable offense. You said bandits are here. So where are they?"

"Ch-Chief of the Escort, it wasn’t me who said it! It was Young Master Ye," the young Escort Master Little Fei said hastily. He was baffled himself; if bandits had arrived, why was there no sign of them?

"Oh?" Chief of the Escort Yang Lei was inwardly startled. He had to be much more careful when it came to a distinguished expert like Ye Xing. ’If Young Master Ye said so, surely he wouldn’t be so bored as to joke with us about this,’ he thought.

Just as he was thinking this, Chief of the Escort Yang Lei’s expression suddenly changed. His own ears had now picked up the sound of footsteps in the distance—faint and numerous, growing closer and closer.

"RUSTLE!" "RUSTLE, RUSTLE!"

The sound of feet treading on fallen leaves grew nearer and louder.

"Bandits! The bandits are here! Get ready—" Big-Beard Yang Lei bellowed. His terrifyingly loud voice was like a sudden clap of thunder, jolting nearly everyone in the convoy awake.

"Haha, so we’ve been discovered. Looks like we’ll have to attack head-on. Chief Yang of the Weiyang Escort Agency, it’s been a while." A loud laugh rang out, and figures in black emerged from the woods, wielding gleaming great sabers and surrounding the entire convoy.

"It’s you?" Chief of the Escort Yang Lei’s face fell when he saw the towering, sturdy man at the head of the group, who stood nearly two meters tall.

The man was nearly two meters tall, with the build of a tiger and the back of a bear. He wielded a golden Nine-Ringed Saber that reflected an intimidating, cold light under the moon. Golden Saber Yuan Hong was quite infamous among the mountain bandits in this area, known for his savagery and brutality. When he killed, he would often cleave his victims in two from head to toe.

"WAAAH—" The cries of children erupted from within the convoy.

"The bandits are here!" "The bandits have come!"

"So many bandits!" "It’s over, we’re surrounded!"

Panic swept through the convoy. Men were terrified, women’s faces turned pale, and babies wailed. It was chaos.

"Quiet! What’s all the panic about!" Chief of the Escort Yang Lei roared. The Escort Masters quickly fell into formation to face the enemy. Some passengers in the convoy also hurriedly grabbed weapons to help fend off the bandits’ attack.

Chief of the Escort Yang Lei looked at the towering man and said gravely, "Golden Saber Yuan Hong, you’ve mobilized so many men, surely it’s for money. Weiyang Escort Agency is willing to offer five hundred Gold Coins. Let us—"

"Five hundred Gold Coins?" Golden Saber Yuan Hong sneered. "Chief Yang, five hundred Gold Coins is only enough to chase away a stinking beggar. My name, Golden Saber Yuan Hong, is worth far more than that."

"Then how much do you want?" Yang Lei’s brow furrowed.

Golden Saber Yuan Hong said coldly, "I can’t be bothered to waste words on you. Let’s make this simple: hand over five thousand Gold Coins to pay for safe passage. Otherwise—Hmph!"

The eyes of all the Weiyang Escort Agency’s Escort Masters blazed with fury, their expressions turning ugly.

The man was demanding five thousand Gold Coins right off the bat—an absolutely outrageous demand. Their Escort Agency was only being paid a total of three thousand Gold Coins to protect this merchant convoy. If they gave the bandits five thousand, they’d have to pay two thousand out of their own pockets.

That meant not only would they not earn a single copper coin, but they would also lose money. At that rate, the entire Escort Agency would have nothing left to eat.

"Golden Saber Yuan Hong, you’re not even satisfied with five hundred Gold Coins for doing nothing but sticking out your hand," Big-Beard Yang Lei roared, his eyes filled with fury. "Don’t take it too far! Otherwise, we’ll fight to the bitter end, and that won’t do either of us any good." Chief of the Escort Yang Lei was still quite confident in his own strength. He had been escorting goods along this route for years and had fought Golden Saber Yuan Hong before; their power was comparable. A head-on clash would only result in mutual ruin. He couldn’t believe that after the ambush failed, Golden Saber Yuan Hong would dare to launch a direct assault.

"A fight to the bitter end? Hmph, I doubt you have what it takes! Men, kill them!" Golden Saber Yuan Hong shouted.

Instantly, the surrounding bandits’ killing intent surged. Wielding gleaming steel sabers, they charged toward the convoy with sinister grins.

’A real frontal assault? This shouldn’t be happening!’ Chief of the Escort Yang Lei was utterly astonished. A successful ambush could have taken the convoy with minimal losses. But now that the ambush had failed, a direct attack would mean paying a heavy price to defeat the Escort Agency’s convoy. The cost would far outweigh the reward. ’Have these bandits gone mad?’

"Yang Lei, die!" Golden Saber Yuan Hong roared. He pushed off the ground with both feet, his Nine-Ringed Golden Saber in hand, and leaped into the air. With a whistling slash, he brought his saber down directly on Big-Beard Yang Lei’s head.

Not to be outdone, Big-Beard Yang Lei swung his great axe up to meet the blow.

"CLANG!"

Saber and axe collided, sending sparks flying. The deafening clang of metal on metal rang out.

An immense Power burst forth from the impact. The Chief of the Escort Yang Lei’s face contorted in shock. He felt a colossal force wash over him, numbing both his arms. He stumbled back a dozen steps—STOMP, STOMP, STOMP—before he could finally halt his momentum.

"You?" Big-Beard Yang Lei’s face was deathly pale as he stared at Golden Saber Yuan Hong in horror. He knew Yuan Hong’s strength very well. In a head-on clash, his great axe should have had an advantage over the other’s Great Saber. But now, a single strike had sent him stumbling back a dozen steps. This was—

"It’s just as you think. I have already broken through to the Martial Arts Seventh Realm!" Golden Saber Yuan Hong declared proudly.

The Martial Arts Seventh Realm was also known as the Early Stage of the Qi Condensation Stage. A Martial Artist in the Qi Condensation Stage possessed incredibly dense True Qi, making them far more powerful than a Martial Artist in the Qi Gathering Stage. To draw a comparison, if the True Qi of a Martial Artist in the Qi Gathering Stage—from the Fourth Realm to the Sixth Realm—was like a piece of wood, then the dense True Qi of a Martial Artist in the Qi Condensation Stage—from the Seventh Realm to the Ninth Realm—was like a sharp stone. Wood and stone have vastly different hardness. In a direct confrontation, the wood would inevitably be broken by the stone.

"So you’ve already entered the Qi Condensation Stage. No wonder you dared to launch a direct attack!" Chief of the Escort Yang Lei’s face was pale, his expression tense and grim.

Although the Martial Arts Sixth Realm and Martial Arts Seventh Realm were only one realm apart, it was the difference between the Qi Gathering Stage and the Qi Condensation Stage. From that single exchange, Big-Beard Yang Lei’s arms were numb, the qi and blood in his body were in turmoil, and he had already suffered an internal injury.

"Boss, there’s a beauty over here! A real gorgeous one!" a bandit shouted excitedly from nearby.

Golden Saber Yuan Hong immediately turned his head. In the panicked crowd ahead, he saw a woman in a purple dress, her lovely face pale as she nervously held the hand of a little boy in brocade clothes. Her frightened, helpless, and pitiable appearance was utterly captivating.

"Haha, she’s a stunner, all right. That little dame is mine!" Golden Saber Yuan Hong exclaimed, his excitement flaring.