Apprenticeship at Qingcheng Mountain, Senior Brother Yu Canghai

Chapter 286
"Who are you?"

Cao Yinglong, the leader of the four major bandits, looked at the handsome, elegant young Taoist in front of him, with his hair tied up in a hairpin and wearing a Taoist robe, and said with a serious face.

Just now, this young Taoist priest and several of his companions suddenly appeared.

And they attacked the group of thieves who were attacking Pegasus Ranch, as well as him and Xiang Batian.

This group of people who suddenly appeared were all very powerful in martial arts, at least at the level of innate masters.

Under the leadership of the young Taoist priest in front of them, they moved freely among the group of tens of thousands of bandits, and their men were unable to stop the enemy.

What's even more amazing is this young Taoist priest who, without even making a move, has already caused Xiang Batian, "No Grass Will Grow", to suffer a great loss just by relying on his spiritual power.

The sudden appearance of these masters affected their plan to attack Pegasus Ranch.

Pegasus Ranch also realized that a powerful enemy had appeared behind them and began to organize a counterattack, which caused them heavy losses.

"Who do you think we are?"

The young Taoist priest and his group were naturally Chu Yuan and his group. Chu Yuan did not tell the four bandits about their origins. He used the protective qi that he had regained after cultivating the golden elixir and had not used for a long time. The weapons in the hands of the bandits who were holding weapons and rushing towards him were all bounced back. Chu Yuan remained calm among the group of bandits and asked Cao Yinglong in return.

He didn't know much about the four great bandits.

However, on the way to Pegasus Ranch, Chu Yuan and others heard the news that Pegasus Ranch and Duba Villa were being besieged by four major bandits.

Don't think of the Four Great Bandits as just four horse thieves and bandits who have done all kinds of bad things.

According to Li Shentong, these four major bandits are active in the Jingzhou area. They are a huge force, and each of them has at least 10,000 horse bandits and robbers under his command.

These four great bandits gathered together bandits and roamed around looting. Wherever they went, they destroyed disasters like locusts, raped and plundered, doing all kinds of evil, and were hated by gods and ghosts.

Among them, the one with the greatest power and the highest martial arts skills is "Ghosts Crying and Gods Howling" Cao Yinglong. He also has the largest number of thieves under his command, as many as 30,000, and he is still constantly recruiting new people. His power is expanding every day.

According to Li Shentong, there must be someone secretly supporting the four bandits, otherwise it would be impossible for their power to expand to such an extent in such a short period of time.

As for the people who support the four major bandits behind the scenes...

It's not Wagangzhai, Li Mi who just took over Zhai Rang's position, or Zhu Can, Wang Shichong and the like...

The purpose was to weaken the local forces in Jingzhou area and prevent the emergence of another rebel king in Jingzhou area who could pose a threat to Wagangzhai, Zhu Can, or Wang Shichong.

Anyway, he is not someone supported by Li Tang.

Li Tang would not support a group of bandits who made a living by burning, killing and looting.

Looks like a teenager!

Taoist dress!

And he possesses such terrifying martial arts...

Just now, even Xiang Batian, the second-ranked one among their four major bandits, almost died at the hands of the enemy before they even had a head-on fight.

If it weren't for my timely rescue, Xiang Batian would have died.

In Cao Yinglong's mind, the image of Taoist Qingyang, who dominated Shu, founded the Qingcheng Sect and the Shu Alliance, and rose to prominence in the martial arts world at an extremely fast speed, immediately emerged. Although he was still a teenager, he was already as famous as the older generation of masters such as the "Queen of Yin" Zhu Yuyan.

I'm afraid that only the other party can come and go freely among his tens of thousands of subordinates.

Although these people under his command were local bandits, horse bandits, ruffians and gangsters before they joined him, they were far from comparable to the regular army under the rebel kings.

But the number of people is there, nearly 50,000 people. Not to mention breaking in by force, even getting close would be daunting.

"Are you the leader of the Shu Alliance, Taoist Qingyang Chu Yuan?"

Cao Yinglong looked at Chu Yuan with a serious look.

This kind of master cannot be killed even by the "Queen of Yin" Zhu Yuyan herself, so they simply cannot afford to offend him.

What's more, that happened two years ago.

There have been rumors in the martial arts world now that two years have passed and Taoist Qingyang's martial arts have become more advanced. He is probably able to rival the "Queen Yin", or even surpass her.

Li Shentong threw the three-pronged halberd in his hand. With a flash of cold light, a sharp and unstoppable air blade shot out from the three-pronged halberd, cutting off the scimitar weapon in the bandit's hand and cutting off the opponent's head. After killing a bandit casually, Li Shentong caught his own weapon, the three-pronged halberd, and stabbed a bandit next to him who was chopping at him with an iron axe.

The bandit had no power to resist, and his body was instantly cut into several pieces by the three-pronged halberd in Li Shentong's hand. Blood spurted out and his limbs flew everywhere.

Holding the weapon again, seeing that Cao Yinglong recognized Chu Yuan's identity, Li Shentong said: "Not bad, it seems that you are quite sensible and actually recognized Leader Chu!"

"Your Excellency is..."

Seeing that Li Shentong's martial arts were equally extraordinary, Cao Yinglong retreated with Xiang Batian in his hand, while putting some distance between himself and the crowd and asking questions.

"I am Li Shentong."

Li Shentong responded.

"It turns out to be Li Shentong, the master of Li Tang!"

Cao Yinglong stood in awe.

Li Shentong is a long-established master of the Li family in the martial arts world.

This man is the younger brother of Li Yuan, the current Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. His prestige in the martial arts world is even greater than that of his brother. He is skilled in using three spears and halberds, and is famous in the north.

Today, not only Taoist Qingyang showed up, but also Li Tang master Li Shentong showed up.

Cao Yinglong's heart moved. It seemed that not only Taoist Qingyang and the Shu Alliance behind him, but also Li Tang, were heading for Pegasus Ranch.

"I'll give you a choice. Withdraw now and live. Continue to attack Pegasus Ranch and die."

Chu Yuan said in a calm tone.

He didn't have enough patience to talk to Cao Yinglong.

Since he arrived at Pegasus Ranch, he saw that the four major bandits were indeed besieging and attacking Pegasus Ranch, so he proposed to capture the leader first. After solving the four major bandits, the bandits who were besieging and attacking Pegasus Ranch naturally dispersed.

When everyone first heard Chu Yuan's proposal, they thought he was crazy.

Although the four great bandits' subordinates were a motley crowd composed of horse thieves and mountain bandits, no matter how motley they were, with a scale of tens of thousands of people, they could be drowned by a single spit from each of them.

But Chu Yuan insisted. Seeing that Chu Yuan had already rushed into the group of bandits alone, Li Shentong, Shi Qingxuan and others could only follow.

Fortunately, they are all innate masters. Even if they can't help Chu Yuan, in the next battle, they can at least ensure their own safety and not hold Chu Yuan back.

Perhaps because the four major bandits and their subordinates were all paying attention to the siege and attack on Pegasus Ranch, they did not notice the intrusion of Chu Yuan and his group. Chu Yuan quickly found the leaders of the four major bandits among the group of bandits.

Cao Yinglong and Xiang Batian!
Chu Yuan used the power of his soul to use the "Male and Female Dragon and Tiger Sword" against Xiang Batian.

In fact, if Cao Yinglong had not rescued him in time at the critical moment, Xiang Batian would have been dead now.

What surprised Chu Yuan was that Cao Yinglong, the leader of the four major bandits, had surprisingly high martial arts skills, on the same level as Jie Hui, the lord of Duzun Fort. He did not look like an ordinary bandit at all.

However, although Cao Yinglong saved Xiang Batian, he himself was injured by Chu Yuan's Yuanshen Sword.

This is also the reason why he is willing to talk to Chu Yuan and others.

Chu Yuan's words made Cao Yinglong feel depressed.

"Master Qingyang, you..."

The four bandits led by Cao Yinglong are a powerful force in Jingzhou. No one has dared to speak to him like this so far, he said with a somewhat grim expression.

In the past, he was the one threatening others, but this time the situation turned around.

"If you don't leave, you will die!" Chu Yuan said calmly.

It seemed like he was stating a simple fact, nor was he threatening Cao Yinglong.

As he spoke, he activated the "Five Thunders Method". With the five internal organs in his body as the core, the power of the five thunders formed by the five energies gradually condensed. Wisps of electric light condensed in the palm of Chu Yuan's hand, flickering and jumping non-stop.

Seeing this scene, Cao Yinglong's heart trembled and he began to think of backing down.

This time, the four major bandits besieged Pegasus Ranch and Duba Villa at the same time. There were nearly 50,000 bandits besieging Pegasus Ranch alone, but these 50,000 people were not gathered in one place.

It should be noted that Pegasus Ranch is also a major force in Jingzhou.

In the hundred years since the first owner Shang Xiong led his people to move here to escape the war in the late Jin Dynasty, Pegasus Ranch has seen seven owners. After a hundred years of reproduction, in addition to the main family surname Shang, other surnames have also emerged, including Liang, Liu, Tao, Wu, Xu, and Luo.

Due to continuous migration to the surrounding areas, nearby towns and villages were formed, and even two large cities were formed by the Ju River.

Yuan'an and Dangyang!
More than half of its residents came from Pegasus Ranch.

Pegasus Ranch has also become the economic lifeline of this area.

So when they besieged Pegasus Ranch, their 50,000 bandits were scattered across the surrounding land.

The number of thieves who actually participated in the siege of Pegasus Ranch could be as high as 20,000.

In addition, the area of ​​Pegasus Ranch is also quite large, and the number of people besieging the castle not far away from the Pegasus Ranch base camp is even smaller, probably less than 10,000.

This was also the reason why Chu Yuan and others took advantage of them. Chu Yuan directly attacked him and Xiang Batian, but they were helpless.

"Wait..." Cao Yinglong looked at Xiang Batian who had just been severely injured and was half dead even though he was rescued by him: "We are willing to retreat."

"Stop, let's retreat!"

Under Chu Yuan's gaze, Cao Yinglong gave the order very decisively.

The group of thieves who had just been besieging Chu Yuan and others, after hearing the order from their eldest brother, looked at each other and quickly retreated.

They themselves also breathed a sigh of relief.

The other masters were okay, but the martial arts of that young Taoist priest were simply too terrifying.

The opponent's whole body was protected by an invulnerable internal Qi, so the weapons in their hands could not hurt the opponent at all.

The other party had just attacked for the only time, and they didn't even see the young Taoist make any movement. They just glanced at him and vaguely heard the sounds of dragons roaring and tigers howling. They saw sword marks on their leader's body, blood gushing from the wounds, and he almost died in front of everyone.

In the eyes of the thieves, Chu Yuan was extremely terrifying.

If the four bandits were not so ruthless, especially Cao Yinglong who had extremely high demands on his subordinates, they would have fled long ago for fear of losing their lives if they escaped without permission.

Now hearing the order from their leader himself, many people ran away, and some even dropped their weapons.

In the blink of an eye, most of the thieves who were crowded around just now left.

Not only here, but all the thieves in the entire Pegasus Ranch received the news and then retreated quickly like the tide.

Cao Yinglong was originally planning to help Xiang Batian leave, but after seeing the group of thieves leave and everyone gathering around Chu Yuan and Shi Qingxuan holding a bamboo flute, Cao Yinglong suddenly stopped.

He said to Shi Qingxuan, "This girl looks very similar to someone I've seen before. May I ask her name?"

Shi Qingxuan put away the bamboo flute in her hand and frowned slightly: "I don't know you, and I don't think you have anything to do with the person you are talking about."

Along the way, Shi Qingxuan learned a lot of information about the four major bandits, and she did not have a good impression of them.

Because wherever the four great bandits and their men passed, the land was turned into scorched earth.

Although she is Shi Zhixuan's daughter, she is very kind-hearted and cannot stand people slaughtering civilians.

Cao Yinglong was embarrassed: "It seems that I recognized the wrong person."

After saying that, he took Xiang Batian away with him.

Chu Yuan looked at Cao Yinglong's back as he left. He thought of what Cao Yinglong had just said. Chu Yuan thought to himself, "Could it be that the person behind Cao Yinglong is..."

This is just speculation after all, and it is just speculation until it is confirmed.

However, this does not necessarily mean that he is behind Cao Yinglong. It may just be that Cao Yinglong has some relationship with him.

……

Shortly after Cao Yinglong and his group of bandits left.

Many people appeared on the watchtowers and bunkers built in various dangerous and key locations, looking out.

Judging from his dress, he was obviously different from the other thieves.

At the exit of the gorge, there is a city tower. In front of the tower, a tunnel three meters wide and five meters deep is dug, crossing the gorge. The bottom is covered with spikes and passage is made by suspension bridge. It is like one man guarding the pass against ten thousand men.

Behind the tower is the road leading to the castle.

Cao Yinglong and Xiang Batian, two of the four major bandits, led their men to attack Pegasus Ranch, and their main target was this city tower.

boom!
There was a loud bang.

As the gate of the city tower opened, a woman with long hair falling to her shoulders, graceful manners, deep beautiful eyes, healthy bronze skin, and a curvaceous body, led a group of people and rode out of the city tower on horseback.

"May I ask if you are the leader of the Shu Alliance, Taoist Qingyang?"

After the woman walked up to Chu Yuan, she asked Chu Yuan.

Although she didn't know what had just happened outside the castle, she listened to the brief account of what had happened from her subordinates who were guarding the city gate and the castle and who had seen it all.

After some analysis, Shang Xiuxun felt that the master who suddenly appeared outside to rescue Pegasus Ranch was most likely the Taoist Qingyang who had recently become famous in the martial arts world.

"good."

Chu Yuan nodded.

"I am Shang Xiuxun, the owner of Pegasus Ranch. Thank you Taoist Qingyang for helping Pegasus Ranch out of trouble."

Shang Xiuxun sat on the horse and saluted Chu Yuan with a fist.

Chu Yuan said: "It's just something that comes naturally. We came here to ask for a favor, so we need to trouble the mall owner."

Shang Xiuxun's expression remained unchanged when she heard this, but her heart was moved.

It is true that one does not visit a temple for no reason. Taoist Qingyang came here with a purpose.

Compared with the four bandits, Shang Xiuxun felt that the arrival of Taoist Qingyang was a real trouble for Pegasus Ranch.

But since he's here and just helped Pegasus Ranch out of trouble, it's not easy for me to refuse him.

Shang Xiuxun could only ask: "I don't know what Taoist Qingyang is asking for. If there is anything I can help with, Pegasus Ranch and I will do our best."

Chu Yuan said: "Mall owner, I want to find someone who can definitely help me."

Shang Xiuxun: “Who?”

Chu Yuan said: "Lu Miaozi, the world's most versatile person!"

Chu Yuan's words made Shang Xiuxun's face change slightly. Her expression remained unchanged, but her attitude quickly became cold.

Shang Xiuxun said with a vigilant tone: "I don't know where Taoist Qingyang got the news from. I don't know him."

(End of this chapter)