30 Chapter 30 – Commence the Operation (2/2)
He also taught them about the basics of how to use the activation solution, how to learn the techniques and mantras to progress in their cultivation.
After teaching them what all they should know, he bid farewell to the villagers. They were sad to see him leave, so he promised them that he will visit again when he has time and started his journey.
While he was travelling, he remembered what he learnt from the bandits the previous day. This place was a wide forest that spanned hundreds of kilometres and it contained more than fifty villages. The Blood claw bandit stronghold was hidden deep in the forest on a mountain, roughly two days travel from the village he stayed. The bandits pillaged from these villages every six months, and the only city the bandits knew that bordered this gigantic forest is Feng Wu city on the west end of the forest.
Zhu Xuan was shocked when he heard the information last night and finally realised he was not in the Lei Shu kingdom, and he wondered where did that light bulb Senior Long teleported him.
Zhu Xuan specifically thought about an important information he heard from the bandit yesterday, which confused him and he went into deep thoughts. The bandit said that they usually pillage the resources like food, money mainly and women for fun. But this time, their commander sent everyone out, including the leaders to catch young men and women from the villages and bring them to their stronghold.
He wondered ”Why did the Blood claw wanted those young women and men? What are they trying to do? Something is definitely not right and I need to find out.”
As he was thinking his thoughts through, he travelled towards the Blood claw bandit stronghold.
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Two days went by in a blink of an eye.
Zhu Xuan was sitting hiding in the bushes and observing the mountain in front of him and the guarded cave entrance in the middle of the mountain. The stronghold was inside the mountain, and the only way in and out is through the cave entrance.
On his way to the stronghold, he came across many bandit groups in the number of twenties and thirties who were transporting tied up young men and women with them towards the stronghold. After killing everyone except one or two and rescuing the men and women, he provided them the direction to nearby villages. He interrogated the bandits and found more details regarding the interior structure of the stronghold and the total number of bandits in the stronghold.
He found there was close to 1000 bandits in the stronghold, but was not sure how many are inside the stronghold now. He already killed more than 250 soldiers including one leader in these three days and he need to move fast since only four days left to complete the mission.
So when he reached the mountain near stronghold few hours back, he waited patiently to catch and interrogate a bandit who was inside the stronghold to find out about the details of the situation inside the stronghold.
Finally he came across two bandits who were sent to patrol the mountain area. He easily knocked them out and took them to interrogate them.
He relaxed after finding out the details from the bandits. Currently, most of the bandits returned and over 600 bandits are inside the stronghold. Only one leader among the remaining three leaders returned to the stronghold, Tiger claw. The other two are still on their way back and should reach the stronghold within two days according to the scouts the two groups sent in advance. He also found out about the route these two groups are taking from the patrol bandits.
Zhu Xuan decided he should kill at least one out of the two leaders and their group or both before they reach their stronghold. So, he thought of a plan how he should proceed in the next few days efficiently and created an operation plan in his mind.
He finally decided his plan, stood up and moved fast towards one of the roads leading towards the direction of one of the group led by Lion claw.