Chapter 125: Twisted Thoughts
"You two, something wrong?"
Seventeen or eighteen men jumped down from the carriages, each pulling out long knives and clubs from inside, every single one of them wearing gloomy expressions, the corners of their mouths carrying unfriendly smiles.
Their gazes swept back and forth over Ryosuke and Terumi Mei, especially when looking at Terumi Mei, the lust in their eyes almost overflowing.
As their three carriages stopped, behind them another thirty to forty people stumbled forward.
However, this group of people all had their hands tied with ropes, strung one after another, hanging behind the carriages.
Ryosuke sat on his horse, expression calm, but Terumi Mei who knew him well was clear, his anger was silently burning.
"These."
Ryosuke pointed at the woman bleeding from her forehead, then pointed at the bound men and women dragged along, and seriously asked,
"This is the 'fairness' you pursue?"
Hearing Ryosuke's question, the bandit in front who was grabbing the woman's hair and baring his upper body instantly got angry.
He was already overwhelmed by lust, and now that Ryosuke interrupted his good deed, his lust turned into rage.
He pulled a hand axe from his waist and hurled it fiercely at Ryosuke, shouting, "Kid! Didn't your father tell you not to answer other people's questions with questions?"
The hand axe spun as it flew, making a whistling sound as it cut through the air.
The bandits all looked excited, as if they already foresaw Ryosuke's head being chopped off by the axe, and then they could seize the chance to enjoy Terumi Mei.
Until the axe stopped in midair out of nowhere, and then...
BOOM!
A violent roar came, the ground beneath their feet trembled, many bandits lost balance and fell heavily on their butts.
A few drops of scalding liquid splashed onto their faces. When they reached up to touch, they felt hot red blood.
Turning their heads, they saw the bandit who had thrown the axe standing there stupidly, one arm cut off at the shoulder, blood gushing out endlessly.
The cause of this was…
The very hand axe he had thrown earlier, now deeply embedded in the ground, still radiating rolling heat.
"With the angle of your axe throw, if it had been an ordinary person, their shoulder would have been smashed, arm cut off. So, I cut off one of your arms."
"Fair enough?"
Only then did the bandits come back to their senses, one by one pulling out their blades.
Ryosuke ignored them, got off the horse, and walked to the carriage, lifting the curtain.
Three carriages, one filled with women, and the other two with gold, silver jewelry, food, and fine wine.
Looking again at the people who had been tied up, they all carried various tools on their backs, carpenters, tailors, and even construction tools.
Ryosuke asked again, "This is the 'fairness' you pursue?"
"What's wrong with that?!"
A bandit shouted, "These women can give rich merchants pleasure, can give them children, why can't they give us pleasure, give us children?"
"Officials can live in mansions, with servants waiting on them, why can't we live there, why can't we enjoy?"
"We've suffered hardship our whole lives, now it's our turn to enjoy!"
He shouted himself hoarse, shouted with such righteousness that even he seemed convinced by his own reasoning.
Seeing Ryosuke silent, the bandit shouted even louder, "Our boss is the student of Lord Ryosuke himself, he listened to that lord's lessons in Kirigakure!"
He pointed at Ryosuke, "I advise you to get lost quickly, otherwise our boss won't spare you, and that legendary Lord Ryosuke won't forgive an old-era remnant like you either, gah!"
Star Platinum swung a fist, and the bandit screamed as he was sent flying, crashing heavily into the shallow water.
The shallow puddle rippled red, the group of bandits gulped down their saliva in fright.
Although their boss always said "arm yourselves with the weapon of thought," when facing a true strong one, their so-called "thought" couldn't make them brave.
"A monster!"
The bandits turned to flee, but just as they were about to take a step, Ryosuke's voice came from behind them, "Can you take me to see your boss?"
No threat, voice steady, like talking to an old friend.
Yet at the moment they heard this sentence, it was as if a gray filter spread over their vision, the world dimmed down.
This man… wasn't human at all, but a monster radiating overwhelming demonic aura.
They only felt as if terrifying, pitch-black ropes were spreading from around them, under their feet, above their heads, wrapping their throats and limbs. If they stepped even half a step forward, they would be strangled, life worse than death.
"I'll take you."
The bandit who had first thrown the axe clenched his teeth and said.
Ryosuke shook his head, softly said, "Not you, it's all of you taking me. Today, "
"None of you can leave."
The one-armed bandit glared at Ryosuke, throwing out harsh words, "Fine, if you're not afraid of dying then come with us!"
In his view, Ryosuke did have some tricks, but such small means, compared to their leader, weren't worth mentioning at all.
Once they reached the place, he would let Ryosuke see… what true strength was.
Ryosuke and Terumi Mei, together with the seventeen or eighteen bandits, and the captured women and craftsmen, the group of dozens marched in a strange atmosphere, grandly arriving at the mountain's foot.
Suddenly, a bandit pulled a signal flare from his waist, broke it, lit it, and hurled it into the sky.
A sharp screech sounded, the crimson flare streaked across the sky like a fleeting meteor, then vanished into the thick mist, silent.
The one-armed bandit swallowed hard. Two or three seconds of silence, to them, was simply inner torment.
At that moment, the mist suddenly churned violently, clumps of fog condensed together, forming a terrifying asura dozens of meters tall, its ferocious gaze looking down on them from above.
The dreadful aura made many timid craftsmen and women faint on the spot; those who didn't faint still trembled, collapsing to the ground.
The horses neighed frantically, rearing up, trying to break free of their reins to flee.
"Shh..."
Ryosuke soothed softly.
Hearing this sound, all the horses calmed, standing quietly in place, ignoring the towering asura.
"Large-scale genjutsu?"
Ryosuke raised his hand, at his fingertip a mountain-colored ripple condensed into a wisp of golden flame, which he flicked lightly.
The golden flame fell into the mist, like fire touching springtime willow fluff, instantly tearing open a vast swath of mist, revealing behind it a middle-aged man.
"Boss!"
The bandits shouted excitedly, faces flushed, fists clenched, hearts surging, trusting that their boss would uphold justice and cut down the evildoers allied with the old forces before them.
But they were too excited to notice, just how filled with…
Terror their boss's eyes were at this moment.
The bandit leader had not lied, he truly had listened to Ryosuke's lectures in Kirigakure, counted as among the first members to attend the awakening lessons.
He recognized Ryosuke.
The bandit leader's heart skipped a beat, without the slightest hesitation, he turned and bolted deeper into the mist.
Ryosuke gave Terumi Mei a look, then stepped alone into the mist, chasing after him.
Seeing Ryosuke swallowed by the fog, the bandits shouted in excitement, "It's working! Boss's lure-the-enemy-in strategy!"
Terumi Mei sighed lightly, "Can you all be quiet?"
The one-armed bandit sneered, "What, you think your man will walk out alive? I say he's dead for sure, soon it'll be your turn, stinking woman, ah!"
A kunai shot upward from below, piercing through the one-armed bandit's jaw and tongue, its tip stabbing into his upper palate, yet under Terumi Mei's precise control it didn't pierce into his brain.
She wanted to leave them alive, to let them witness the outcome with their own eyes.
Then kill them afterward.
Terumi Mei looked at the mist, her expression full of contemplation. She wasn't worried Ryosuke couldn't deal with the bandit leader.
This level of opponent, let alone Ryosuke, even she could handle.
The key was the meaning behind this matter.
She recalled that night, when Ryosuke had mentioned three types of enemies.
"Enemies who are alive, can be killed."
"But enemies born from 'twisted thoughts'… what should be done with them?"
Terumi Mei couldn't think of an answer.
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