Robbery

Nothing happened along the way.

Before nightfall, the merchant caravan successfully arrived at their destination, Daliang Village.

Through casual conversation, Zhou You knew that the trip was not too dangerous.

Bandits did not do business without profits.

The goods transported to Daliang Village were not worth much. High-value silver notes were distributed among them for transport.

If they encountered small-time thieves, they could easily get rid of them. If they encountered the elites of the Plum Mountain Bandits, they could just abandon the carriage and escape if they were no match for them. Their losses would not be too great.

Instead, the return journey was even more dangerous.

Even if the Plum Mountain Bandits could not do anything to the merchant caravans, they could still bring back all the medicinal herbs and meat. No matter what, it was a win-win for them.

They rested in Daliang Village for the night.

Early the next morning, Zhou You was busy identifying the medicinal herbs. After confirming that there were no mistakes, Yang Xiupei and his subordinates bargained.

The others did not idle either. They were mainly in charge of selling the goods they brought, buying meat and some mountain goods they needed.

Unlike the merchant caravans that had a good reputation well-suited for long-term cooperation, when people went personally to the countryside to buy medicinal herbs, the quality was mixed.

Moreover, the villagers believed once the goods and money were exchanged, the deal was done. Often, the customers could not identify the problem on the spot. After they found out and tried to rectify the problem, no one would admit to it.

This required a professional apothecary to accompany the team to avoid suffering in silence.

It was not until dark that the empty boxes on the ox cart were finally filled with herbs. Coupled with meat and other goods, the entire convoy was filled to the brim.

After that, they rested for the night.

At five o'clock in the morning on the third day, the convoy set off, just in time to return to Mengyang City before midnight.

The convoy was full, and the journey back to the city would be slower.

After leaving the patrolling area of Daliang Village, everyone kept their eyes open and looked around vigilantly, afraid that they would miss any signs.

The scouts at the front would send back safe signals from time to time, making everyone in the convoy feel slightly at ease.

They walked like this for more than two hours.

The sky was already bright. Golden light shone through the gaps in the forest. It was warm, making Zhou You, who had cultivated late last night and woke up early today, feel a little sleepy.

At this moment, something unexpected happened.

"The Plum Mountain Bandits are here!" A loud shout came from the distant forest, accompanied by a figure staggering and retreating frantically.

A group of men in black was also chasing after him rapidly.

Almost instantly, everyone in the convoy's expression changed drastically.

Zhao Yi from the White Crane Fist Dojo stood up and tapped his foot on the carriage floor. He spread his arms like a big bird and glided into the forest.

With just a few jumps, he arrived behind the person being chased. After a few quick exchanges, he forced back the masked man who was charging at him menacingly. He picked that person up and retreated swiftly.

Zhao Yi only let go of the man after retreating to the side of the convoy. He stood side by side with the other martial artists with a solemn expression, protecting Zhou You, Yang Xiupei, and the others in the middle.

The masked men quickly approached. There were about forty to fifty of them, and their killing intent was strong. They locked onto the martial artists from the four dojos in the front row.

The Plum Mountain Bandits' greatest feature was their masks.

It was clearly an open robbery, but they often hid their tracks.

There had always been news circulating in the city that two groups of people from the four dojos had joined the Plum Mountain Bandits. There were even people from the Meng clan.

As such, the Plum Mountain Bandits had never dared to reveal their true faces for fear that their identities would be exposed.

As for the truth, no one knew.

"Our merchant caravan is with the four dojos. We've always minded our own business. Do we have to fight?"

"If it's money you want, I'm willing to hand over 3,000 silver notes and consider us friends."

Although he knew that a fight was inevitable, Yang Xiupei still stood up with hope and said loudly.

"3,000 taels? Do we look like beggars to you?"

The masked man in the lead scanned the convoy and shouted coldly, "10,000 taels! If you pay up, my friends and I will leave immediately! I guarantee that you will all get to leave in one piece along with your goods."

Keeping their word was also a characteristic of the Plum Mountain Bandits.

Yang Xiupei's expression was extremely ugly.

If it was 3,000 taels, the four dojos could still split the cost.

If it was 10,000 taels, they would make a loss for this trip, but not an entire one.

The price that the masked man offered was actually within the bottom line.

For a moment, Yang Xiupei hesitated.

In any case, people took turns supervising. This time, he would be given credit if he brought the people and goods back safely. The slight loss of money was a minor detail in comparison.

Just as he was about to agree, the masked man spoke again.

"Oh yes. The apothecary has to go back with us. We won't make things difficult for him. In a year or so, we'll let him go back."

Hearing this, Zhou You's expression changed slightly.

Why was he suddenly talking about him?

However, after thinking about it, he understood why.

In the past two months, the four dojos had fought with the Plum Mountain Bandits several times. Both sides had their own victories.

The Plum Mountain Bandits had snatched a lot of medicinal herbs and sold them to Xining City behind Longmen Mountain. It was too troublesome to travel through mountains and rivers. It was better to snatch an apothecary back to refine medicine. Selling medicinal pills was more convenient than selling medicinal herbs.

The others' expressions also changed slightly, but their expressions immediately became firm and no longer hesitated.

Each of the four dojos only had one official apothecary and several disciples while the Plum Mountain Bandit did not have any apothecaries at all. This showed how precious apothecaries were.

If he were to hand over the apothecary to the Plum Mountain Bandit this time, even if it was just a disciple, once the apothecary knew about it, he would definitely ruin their ties.

It was very likely that there would be no apothecaries in the future.

Without an apothecary, the income of the dojo would be greatly reduced, and there would be no cheap medicine provided. The cost of cultivation would definitely increase greatly.

This was something they could not tolerate.

Yang Xiupei also understood the severity of the problem and immediately rejected him.

"Your request is too much! Looks like we can only rely on our own abilities!"

"You talk too much!"

The masked man in the lead snorted coldly. "I told you we should just fight. We have to beat them up! If we win, everything will be ours!

"Boss said that we have to be polite before resorting to force. It's too troublesome. It's a waste of my saliva!"

As he spoke, the masked man took a step forward. His entire body's aura surged, and a bloody smoke suddenly rose from the top of his head.

"Blood qi smoke! Purification Greater Mastery?"

Exclamations sounded one after another. The expressions of Luo Jin and the others, who were standing at the front, changed drastically.

When martial artists in the Purification Stage cultivated, the quality of the blood in their bodies would greatly increase after repairing the hidden injuries in their bodies and removing the impurities of the blood clots. It was called true blood.

After the true blood replaced all the blood in the martial artist's body, it turned into fog and moistened his internal organs. It was released like smoke and fire.

Luo Jin and the others were all Purification Stage martial arts practitioners. They had already begun to condense their true blood and could also release their blood qi smoke.

However, every time he released it, it would consume his true blood and slow down the progress of Purification. He would not choose to do it unless he had to.

The expressions of the other Bone Forging martial artists also changed drastically.

If they faced a martial artist in the middle stage of Purification, he would be unwilling to burn his blood vitality. He would not be much stronger than Bone Forging martial artists like them.

If he could not win, he could still run.

However, when faced with a martial artist who could burn his blood and qi at will, if the other party really wanted to chase after him, no one had the confidence to escape alive.

Zhou You's heart tightened.

Although he seemed to be the safest as an apothecary's apprentice, no matter how one looked at it, it was not a good thing to be captured and brought back to the thieves' nest.

Who knew if they would kill him after he outlived his use?

Besides, he would definitely be watched very closely in the thieves' nest. He would not have the chance to cultivate and increase his strength. He could only hope that Master Lu would save him.

He would be in such a passive position.