The border army camp that had suffered an attack found it nearly impossible to withstand the assault of over five thousand horse bandits. In the midst of a raging sea of flames, they scattered and fled in all directions.
With General Yuan Xiao leading a large contingent to confront the horse bandits, the remaining Wuli Army stationed at the camp numbered less than two thousand. Although there were many cultivators among the Wuli Army, facing such a vast disparity in numbers, they ultimately found that bare fists could not contend against many hands, and they could not turn the tide of the situation.
However, on the night of their defeat, two thousand-man captains who had cultivated their inner strength took decisive action, ruthlessly killing dozens of horse bandits, even nearly threatening the bandit leader Tu Wahar.
Yet, faced with such a large number of cavalry, even the most skilled inner strength masters dared not linger in battle and ultimately chose to retreat.
"Cough, cough!"
Surrounded by a considerable number of people, the fallen Tu Wahar was looked at with concern. However, he merely wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and remounted his horse, casting a wary glance at the direction in which the two inner strength experts had departed.
These two inner strength experts were Qian Hong and Guo Zhentong, the two captains stationed at the camp. Their formidable martial prowess had nearly cost the naturally strong Tu Wahar his life.
"Leader, are you alright?"
Tu Wahar shook his head but smiled, "The warriors of the Maple Kingdom are indeed not simple; they can threaten me from such a distance."
At this moment, the wise strategist among the horse bandits spoke up, "Those who can cultivate their martial arts to such a level are ultimately few and far between. There are not many to be found in the entire Maple Kingdom; otherwise, the Maple Kingdom would have long since conquered the Liang Kingdom!"
Tu Wahar shook off his earlier displeasure and immediately ordered, "Send some brothers to hunt down the remaining fleeing soldiers. We must not let a single one of these cultivators escape. The rest of you, gather all the supplies from the camp and bring them back to Bandong Grassland!"
"Leader, we have captured some prisoners!" a horse bandit reported.
However, Tu Wahar grinned, a fierce aura emanating from him as he shouted loudly, "The Tu Wah tribe does not keep prisoners! Kill them all, hahahaha!"
"Tu Wah!!!"
With the horse bandits roaring, Tu Wahar led his men to begin looting the entire camp's supplies. For these horse bandits from the grasslands, the salt, iron, grain, and cloth within the military camp were the most precious resources. Every year, they did not hesitate to raid the surrounding countries, even if it meant suffering considerable casualties.
They rarely engaged in trade; compared to the resource-rich Maple Kingdom and Liang Kingdom, a tribe with only cattle and sheep found trade to be quite disadvantageous. Thus, their only option was to plunder!
As the horse bandits frantically swept through the military camp, one of them discovered something amiss.
"Not good, the granary is on fire!"
Upon hearing this, Tu Wahar's expression changed almost instantly. He pulled on the reins and hurriedly rode toward the source of the sound.
In the next moment, this leader, exuding an undeniable aura of a great hero, arrived at the granary engulfed in flames. He looked at the scene before him, his expression nearly frozen.
"This is not a natural spread; it looks like someone set the fire," the bandit strategist sighed.
Immediately, a fierce killing intent surged from him as he ordered, "Send another five hundred brothers to hunt down the scattered fleeing soldiers. We must ensure not a single one escapes!"
Grain was an extremely precious resource for the grassland tribes, and seeing it consumed by flames naturally filled him with rage. In the past, when they plundered, the defeated would usually leave behind their supplies, which had almost become a customary agreement. Only then would they pursue the fleeing soldiers less vigorously.
Now, this fire had burned into his heart. At this moment, in the Eternal Night World, the one responsible for setting the granary ablaze, Li Qing, was carefully hiding the large amount of grain he had taken.
He was nearly exhausted from the effort; carrying so much grain was a heavy burden, even for someone who had begun to cultivate martial arts.
Li Qing lay atop a pile of grain bags. Even if he gorged himself, the food stacked there would last him a considerable time.
"If I save a bit, I could eat for a year or two, but I wonder if it will go moldy," Li Qing patted the rice flour beneath him, a satisfied smile on his face.
"Although it disrupted my original plan, it seems I have gained some freedom for now."
Originally, Li Qing had planned to wait for the horse bandits to arrive, then find a corpse of a similar build in the Eternal Night World to replace his own death. He would toss the body into the furnace, and no one would recognize it, thus making his departure seem justified.
Dying at the hands of horse bandits was quite reasonable; no one would suspect a mere blacksmith apprentice.
Having escaped the military camp and secured enough grain, he was temporarily safe. However, there was one downside: the place he had traversed to enter the Eternal Night World would be where he returned to when he crossed back.
Transporting such a large amount of grain had nearly exhausted him, so he did not have the energy to escape to a suitable location to traverse back to the Eternal Night World. If he returned now, he would still find the granary engulfed in flames.
"Sigh, calculating the time, if I stay in the Eternal Night World for a year, then four months will have passed on the other side, and it should be nearing winter."
"That could be a good time to return; I hope they don't rebuild a granary in that place."
Every military camp's granary was a heavily guarded stronghold, which was why Li Qing had chosen to burn it down after leaving. He hoped to cover up the traces of his taking a large quantity of grain and wished that they would not rebuild the granary afterward.
He did not want to return after a long time only to face a heavily guarded granary, as that would expose him to too much risk.
As for why winter was a good time to return, it was because every winter, many soldiers would return to the interior of the Maple Kingdom to visit their families, of course, under the premise that there were no military conflicts.
The grassland horse bandits would also choose to retreat and return to Bandong Grassland for the winter. Therefore, regardless of how the situation in Wangyuan City would unfold in the future, the border during winter was relatively empty.
"Sigh, I will have to stay in this bitterly cold place for a year!"
Having regained some strength, Li Qing jumped down from the rice flour bags, brushed off the white powder from his backside, and comforted himself, saying, "This is also a good opportunity to explore Obsidian City in detail, and I can also calm down and practice martial arts. Hopefully, I can reach the level of an outer strength expert soon."
Previously, due to being in the military camp, he had little free time. If he disappeared for too long, it would raise suspicions among others.
Thus, every time he traversed to the Eternal Night World, he could not stay long, always coming over in the dead of night and returning before dawn.
Staying for a whole year was a first for Li Qing. He had never considered staying in this place where food was scarce forever; he ultimately had to return.
But before that, he hoped to improve his martial skills as much as possible.
Please collect, please follow along!!
(End of Chapter)