Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 156: Bandits in the Mountains
Lu Zheng and his group hid in the mountains and forests, waiting for Qing Wan to return.

Several people also took out the equipment they brought with them and sorted it out.

Lu Zheng leaned against a tree, looked at Zhang Bo and the others, and asked, "Have you ever killed anyone?"

Zhang Bo and the other three looked at each other in surprise when they heard this. They usually studied in the academy, so how could they do such a thing?

Zhang Bo whispered, "I've never killed anyone, but I've hunted wild beasts with my elders and even killed demons."

Others also shook their heads to indicate that they had never killed anyone.

Li Zhao couldn't help but ask curiously, "Brother Lu, have you ever killed anyone?"

"Not really..." Lu Zheng shook his head slightly.

Li Zhaoxing said anxiously, "Maybe we can all make an exception today. If this were a group of bandits, we could still bring their heads to collect the reward!"

Whether it is the previous dynasty or the nine countries today, those who occupy the mountains and act as bandits can be called serious criminals.

If you collude with demons and ghosts, it is an even more serious crime. You deserve to be beaten and killed, and you can even take your head to the government to collect the reward.

Zhang Bo looked towards the mountain stronghold and whispered, "It's been almost half an hour. Is she okay?"

Lu Zheng was not panicked at all. He did not hear any unusual noise coming from the mountain village.

"Let's wait a little longer." Lu Zheng said calmly.

After a while, Lu Zheng vaguely heard a sound.

Qing Wan hurried back, gesturing with her hands, "So many bad guys! Many more are imprisoned..."

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "No rush, take your time."

Qing Wan calmed down after hearing this and tried her best to describe what she had seen.

"I saw a few people in the yard. One of them wasn't good-looking, with a scarlet face... He was quite powerful, like that blue monkey... There were a lot of people imprisoned underground, men and women, young and old... I also saw a monster with a pig's head. When I went there, I saw it eating people, dead bodies..."

Qingwan's ability to express herself verbally is still somewhat lacking, and some things she says are vague and not clear enough.

Lu Zheng asked patiently and carefully.

Only then did everyone have a general understanding of the situation in the village.

It seems that there are indeed some vicious bandits living in the village on the opposite hill.

According to what Qing Wan saw, there was at least one person at the third realm in the mountain village, ten people at the second realm, and dozens of people remaining who were all capable.

Lu Zheng also heard Qing Wan talking about some kind of deal, and realized that these people had had many transactions with Jiaolong's subordinates in the past.

Unfortunately, those monsters are dead now, and these people can’t wait for the transaction.

Lu Zheng looked at Zhang Bo and the others and said, "How about going there?"

Several people understood that when Lu Zheng said he was going there this time, he really meant to take action.

After all, according to Qingwan, those people in the mountain village are not good people, and they are not as easy to talk to as those monkey monsters.

Zhang Bo pondered after hearing this: "Third realm, the opponent might be a warrior, can Brother Lu really deal with it?"

When Lu Zheng competed with Lan before, he did show extraordinary skills.

But if we go to the mountain stronghold this time, we will have to use real swords and real weapons. People who practice in the third realm are not easy to deal with. They will run away if you can't beat them. If we can't capture them alive or kill them, we will be letting the tiger go back to the mountain.

Lu Zheng nodded slightly and said, "I'll try my best to catch them alive."

Seeing Lu Zheng so confident, Zhang Bo no longer worried about anything and said, "I'll go with Brother Lu. Since we've encountered these villains, how can we let them go?"

Li Zhao and his companions expressed their fearlessness and wanted to go with Lu Zheng.

Lu Zheng couldn't help but laugh and said, "Okay, I have some talismans here, all of which are spoils of war I got before, I can give them to you..."

Lu Zheng took out some talismans and handed them to Zhang Bo and others.

The group of bandits they are going to deal with are quite powerful.

At a time like this, they couldn't afford to be pretentious, so they all took Lu Zheng's talisman in case of emergency.

Lu Zheng looked towards the mountain stronghold and whispered, "These bandits are quite capable. They've built a place in the mountains that's easy to defend but difficult to attack. I think there must be a secret escape route. Let's search from the foot of the mountain upwards..."

It is said that a cunning rabbit has three burrows, and these bandits built such a stone stronghold, obviously to leave some secret doors for themselves to escape.

Lu Zheng gave a rough battle plan, and no one had any objection.

Afterwards, Zhang Bo and his three companions went to the green hills opposite in groups of two.

Lu Zheng and Qing Wan were also in a group, hiding their bodies and quietly heading towards the location of the mountain stronghold.

Bai Fei squatted on a big tree in the dense forest, watching Lu Zheng and his companions disappear quickly, his eyes flashing.

Bai Fei didn't expect that Lu Zheng, with only five people, would dare to break into that mountain stronghold.

Lu Zheng and his group arrived at the foot of the mountain stronghold, quickly dispersed, and secretly searched all the way up the mountain.

Not long after, Zhang Bo found a hidden passage.

According to Lu Zheng’s previous plan, Zhang Bo went directly into the secret passage and posted two talismans in the passage.

As long as someone escapes from here, the talisman will trigger an explosion. Even if it doesn't kill the person, it will bury the secret passage.

After some investigation, Lu Zheng also found a hole covered by wooden boards under a tree.

After a quick inspection, Lu Zheng confirmed that this was a secret passage.

He thought about it, and called Qingwan in with a piece of paper treasure.

After a while, Qingwan came back empty-handed.

After slowly groping their way up, it took some time for the group to gather at a place outside the stone fortress.

Lu Zheng took out the spirit wine given by Lan and asked a few people to take a sip.

Alcohol can give people courage. Let everyone drink some wine at this time so that they won’t be afraid when the fight starts.

Lu Zheng himself did not drink any alcohol. He was very brave and did not need alcohol to boost his courage.

Then, Lu Zheng lowered his voice and said, "I'll go and attract them first and lure out their leader. You guys act according to the situation... and try to rescue those people."

Zhang Bo nodded and said, "Brother Lu, be careful."

Lu Zheng said nothing more and quickly headed for the stone stronghold. While no one was paying attention, he leaped onto the high wall and headed towards the nearest watchtower.

On the roof of the blockhouse, a man was standing guard, his eyes were dazed and a little unclear.

Normally, there wouldn't be any outsiders coming to the mountain stronghold for ten days or half a month, so the guards were not very vigilant.

Suddenly, the man seemed to see something out of the corner of his eye and couldn't help but tilt his head slightly.

The next moment, a stream of light like an arrow flew towards them.

The arrow shot silently and hit the man's head.

The man on guard suddenly trembled and fell down.

[You acted righteously and killed a wicked person, your literary spirit +2.]

Lu Zheng raised his eyebrows. As expected, his literary aura was full of righteousness. Even if he killed a human being, if the other party was a great evil, he would still be promoted.

Lu Zheng killed a man, took a step, and leaped up lightly, quickly reaching the top of the blockhouse.

He swept his eyes across the entire village.

"That's the one!"

Qing Wan huddled in Lu Zheng's pocket and spoke softly.

Lu Zheng paused and saw several people in a yard. One of them had a dark red scar on his face and looked hideous and ferocious.

A thought flashed through his mind, triggered by a poem in the Taishi Jian.

Another longbow condensed in Lu Zheng's hand.

The bow was bent like a full moon, pointing directly at the scarred man.

The man was discussing something with his brothers when he suddenly felt a sudden shudder in his heart.

He suddenly had a bad premonition, and when he glanced sideways, he saw a flash of light.

"careful!"

The man quickly dodged and shouted at the people around him.

Before others could react, the arrow transformed from the righteous energy had already shot into the yard.

Although no one was hit, the arrow exploded instantly.

The majestic and sharp righteous energy swept over like a strong wind.

Everyone was unable to dodge and was overwhelmed by the righteous energy in the blink of an eye.

Although these people are not demons or ghosts, they usually do many evil things, and their aura is incompatible with righteousness.

Now that the righteous spirit enveloped them, several people felt as if they had entered a boiling wok of oil, with unbearable burning and stinging pain.

"what!"

"hiss……"

Several people screamed and retreated repeatedly, their exposed skin burning red like boiled shrimps.

The scarred man looked grim. Although he was more skilled in Taoism, he had also suffered some injuries.

Scarface looked at Lu Zheng who was standing on the top of the tower and shouted angrily, "Who are you to dare to cause trouble in our territory?"

"A scholar who acts on behalf of heaven."

Lu Zheng's expression was indifferent and his tone was calm as usual.

He drew the sharp sword from his waist, raised his hand and wiped the sword again, and a poem was added. In an instant, the sword light was bright and the sword energy was intertwined.

"The sage said, 'Human nature is good, just as water flows downwards.'"

As the sage's words came out, the sword light became even brighter.

Lu Zheng looked at the few people and swung a sword directly through the air.

An invisible sword energy slashed towards the people in the yard.

Scarface's heart skipped a beat, he was well aware of some of the methods used by Confucian and Taoist scholars.

This sword is blessed by the words of the saints and is much more powerful than ordinary swordsmanship.

Especially for bad people like them...

"Get out of the way!"

The big man roared, and quickly circulated the blood and energy in his body. He raised his hand and raised a big knife, and the blood-colored blade energy slashed out to block the sword energy coming towards him.

In the courtyard, a man was burned by the righteous energy just now and was still in pain. He did not dodge in time and was directly hit by the invisible sword energy.

The whole person was cut in half on the spot, and bright red blood splattered all over the ground.

The others used their martial arts skills to barely resist the righteous energy and did not suffer any harm.

"Kill him! Third brother, go outside and check the situation!"

The man was furious and stared at Lu Zheng fiercely, as if he wanted to eat him.

The people around were caught in a surprise attack. They were only frightened at first, but they quickly calmed down and began to take action.

"call out!"

A sharp whistle echoed in the village.

When the bandits in the village heard the sound, they all rushed towards Lu Zheng's location with their well-trained weapons in hand.

Seeing so many people gathering around him, Lu Zheng still maintained a calm expression.

He raised his hand, took out a few talismans, and flicked his fingers.

The talisman turned into several streams of light and bombarded the bandits.

When those people saw this, they quickly dodged.

Immediately afterwards, Lu Zheng jumped off the blockhouse and headed towards the scar-faced man and his men.

(End of this chapter)