Chapter 83: Execute Half
Duan Gujin was dead serious, as he released eleven yellow Heavenly Dragon Martial Souls above his head. He did not restrain the aura emitted by the eleven yellow Heavenly Dragon Martial Souls nor deliberately conceal the terrifying pressure released by the Demonized Martial Soul.
Before this, he had been attempting to fuse the Heavenly Dragon Martial Soul with the Demonized Martial Soul. After sparring with Seventh Imperial Uncle the previous days, he discovered that he could indeed attach the Demonized Martial Soul to the Heavenly Dragon Martial Soul.
If a cultivator's cultivation is too low, they would not be able to glimpse the mysteries within his Martial Soul.
However, those cultivators with strong abilities could see a black shadow within his Heavenly Dragon Martial Soul.
That black shadow was the Demonized Martial Soul.
Duan Gujin was very clear in his heart that the current situation was bound to make him and that mastermind behind the scenes irreconcilable enemies. He must force the mastermind out using this method, as he didn't wish to blindly speculate about the identity of that mastermind.
For him, the best approach was to force the mastermind into the open!
Just at this moment, some of the bandit leaders saw Duan Gujin, and they rushed towards him.
Duan Gujin's eyes flickered. He quickly saw some bandits he had some recollections of from his previous life charging at him.
For those bandits he remembered from his past life, his approach was simple: to kill them all.
In his previous life, he was unable to find out the identity of the true culprit from those bandit leaders, and he believed that in this life it would be just as difficult to learn the truth from them.
Since it was impossible to learn the truth from those bandit leaders anyway, the next thing for him to do was to kill them all, to prevent them from causing harm to others.
While Duan Gujin and others were charging forward, there were also numerous bandits who had not been poisoned.
When they saw their comrades collapsing beside them, with their faces turning black, they knew their companions had been poisoned.
On seeing Duan Gujin, Seventh Imperial Uncle, and others rushing over, they realized it must have been these people who had poisoned their comrades.
Thus, those unpoisoned bandits all charged together, attempting to block the assault from Duan Gujin and the others.
Some of the bandit leaders then took out their Detoxification Elixir Pills, hastily administering them to the poisoned bandits, hoping to help them purge the toxins from their bodies.
However, it didn't take long for the bandit leaders to realize that the Detoxification Elixir Pills they had given to the poisoned individuals had no effect.
"Damn it!"
The bandit leaders were frantic, though they didn't care much about the lives and deaths of their fellow bandits.
To them, if all the bandits died, who would charge into battle for them?
The bandits were at a loss, and at this very moment, not only did they hear nearby screams of agony, they also sensed an extremely terrifying pressure in the air around them.
The bandit leaders at the scene felt their hearts beating forcefully due to the influence of this pressure.
At that moment, they all felt their usual bravery slipping away, replaced by an overwhelming fear.
Meanwhile, Duan Gujin charged forward unrelentingly, cutting down many bandits along the way.
Although several bandit leaders attempted to stop him midway, they were no match for the combined efforts of Duan Gujin and Seventh Imperial Uncle.
Under their joint attack, all of these bandit leaders eventually suffered a crushing defeat.
Those who could die died, and those who could escape did.
However, at this time, Duan Gujin, Seventh Imperial Uncle, and others had no way to deal with the fleeing bandit leaders. There were too many bandits they needed to kill, and they could not spare the effort to pursue those who slipped through the net.
Duan Gujin had no interest in dealing with those who had slipped through the net; his heart was set on the mastermind behind the scenes knowing it was he who had destroyed the bandit group.
Duan Gujin, Seventh Imperial Uncle, and the others fought a bloody battle with the bandits and quickly reached the location where the bandits had placed various barriers.
They removed all the barriers set up by the bandits and then fired off signal flares to inform the nearby cavalry to charge.
The cavalry of Country Gulai, stationed about two kilometers from the bandits' camp, swiftly noticed the signal flares released into the sky nearby, and they knew that Seventh Imperial Uncle and the others had succeeded.
So, they all mounted their horses and launched a fierce attack on the bandits' camp.
In less than fifty breaths' time, the cavalry surged toward the bandits' camp like a tide.
After the cavalry charged in, they began to pursue and kill the bandits.
Nearly one-third of the bandits had already been poisoned before, and under the pressure released by Duan Gujin, they had become terrified.
Now, as they saw a large group of cavalry charging towards them, they were scared out of their wits, and many of the bandits immediately turned to flee.
Those bandits were originally just a mob; although they had slaughtered many and had once rampaged through the Capital City, that was because someone was backing them from behind.
But what they faced now were the well-trained cavalry of Country Gulai; in terms of strength and experience, the cavalry far surpassed the bandits.
Soon, the bandits were routed and, before the might of the formidable cavalry, they eventually chose to surrender.
After capturing the bandits, Duan Gujin began to interrogate their leaders.
"Who ordered you to dress like this?"
Among the bandits, quite a few leaders were quick to tell Duan Gujin that it was their Great Leader who ordered them to disguise themselves as soldiers from Sky Martial Country.
Having heard the words of the bandit leaders, Duan Gujin analyzed the situation for a while and realized that these bandits had not really occupied any cities.
"This means that the real force occupying our Country Gulai's cities are the soldiers of Sky Martial Country! These bandits are just a smokescreen to confuse us!"
Seventh Imperial Uncle agreed with Duan Gujin's analysis.
Duan Gujin interrogated many of the minor bandit leaders seriously and eventually focused his attention on the Great Leader mentioned by the bandits.
"It seems only this Great Leader knows the truth!"
Moreover, this interrogation yielded an unexpected piece of information for Duan Gujin.
"Who would have thought, the Great Leader is stationed just ten kilometers away from here!"
Duan Gujin took a deep breath; he knew that this time, he absolutely could not let the Great Leader of the bandits escape.
He estimated that, in the entire bandit force, it was highly likely that only the Great Leader knew who the mastermind behind the scenes was.
It was at that moment that Seventh Imperial Uncle asked Duan Gujin how to deal with the surrendered bandits.
After his eyes flickered a few times, Duan Gujin told Seventh Imperial Uncle to order the execution of half the bandits.
"These bandits deserve to die a thousand times over, so having you execute half of them is actually a blessing for the citizens of Country Gulai! If these bandits don't die, who knows how many more people in Country Gulai will perish in the future!" Duan Gujin said coldly.
"You are right! I will immediately order the execution of half the bandits!"