Rabble Round-Up

Though each of the remaining bandits had a unique color to their energies they all carried a dark feeling, one that made Ding Wei feel disgust.

It still felt uncomfortable for him to fully activate his qi-sight, the colors and emotions so different from what he had experienced the previous fifteen years of his life. But it had been necessary in the hunt of the Coiled Serpent Gang and now in finding the remainding members. And it would stay necessary, or become even more so in the future. Battles in higher Stages of cultivation depended on the ability to see the many energies in the surroundings, as did many techniques and skills.

And so he had kept it activated as much as possible in the preceding week, only deactivating it when the strain became too much or when he practiced his movement technique at night.

The practice had helped the skill improve and he was now beginning to grasp the importance of the many colors and shapes Qi took. It gave him confidence in pronouncing that the Coiling Serpent Gang had recently been involved in something dark, and not because of their attack on the mechant and his family. No, this was something cultivation related. Perhaps some dark ritual or sacrifice, though he was too unfamiliar with the many aspects of cultivation to know what it had been.

Still, it helped him find the runaway bandits which was helpful.

"If you kill me my seniors will be sure to avenge me! This gang was but a small part of the Coiling Ser-!"

A swipe of his knife and the bandit gurgled, choking on his own blood. It had been chipped, damaged in the fight against their Leader, and bathed in so much blood that the carved handle had changed color. The bone was now dyed slightly red, the collective life-fluid of over two dozen men permanently altering it.

"I'll be happy to kill as many of you animals as I can, I hope they all come!" Ding Wei announced to the corpse, frowning.

So what if they came after him? It just saved him from looking for them! Even if they were stronger than Leader Kang, it didn't matter! He would grow stronger too, and if it had taken a bit over a week for him to nearly reach the Fourth Stage then he was hopeful for his growth in the future.

"There's still one missing..." Ding Wei noted, mentally tallying their number. He had spent most of that day hunting them down but one was still missing.

Brother Zhou, the strategist of the group.

The man had been smart, smart enough to know that hiding in the forest was a fool's endeavor. He had probably found some way to escape from Guangzhu. There was no future for their group here, now that nearly all of them had been killed. Even if there were other groups out there they would not risk coming here if they knew what had happened to the last team, not with mortals at least. And this place was too small for cultivators to find attractive, there was too little meat for people of that ranking out here.

Leader Kang was an anomaly in that sense, but Ding Wei thought the man must have had some lucky find. Perhaps he had discovered a powerful herb or flower that had suddenly shot him to the Eye-Opening Level. According to Fatty Wan and Han Jin, that sort of thing was actually somewhat common.

They had even tried to find something like that in the forests on their own, hoping to become cultivators themselves, but had quickly grown afraid after running across a pack of wolves and barely escaping with their lives.

He sighed. "I'll have to leave him be, it seems. My chances of finding him are slim, and if he came across a horse I'd never be able to catch him. I'll have to head back to town."

The day was cold and his clothing was badly torn, so Ding Wei ran all the way back to the village to keep himself warm. By the time he made it to the Inn he was covered in sweat and had received many looks of disgust because of his appearance.

At this point his robes exposed more skin than they covered and there was so much blood and grime on it that the original color couldn't be determined. Li Xuan had forbid him from entering the tavern, his smell and dirty clothing too much for the other occupants to handle.

Instead, the merchant came down to see him.

"Young man, you've returned!"

"The Coiled Serpent Gang was slaughtered down to a single man, the only one who managed to escape. Their leader was known as Leader Kang and his head now rests outside the village."

Satisfaction and sadness rose on the merchant's face in turn, happiness that those responsible for his family's murder were all but gone and pain at the reminder of their passing. Still he bowed, kneeling at Ding Wei's feet.

"Thank you! Thank you! You have done me the greatest service, whatever you ask of me I will give!"

Wei shook his head. "Uncle, please stand up. I don't need any of your posessions, all I ask for is information. Whatever you can tell me about cultivation I'll be glad to know."

"Little Brother... Truthfully, I don't know much about cultivation at all. I am not a cultivator and I don't have any cultivators in my family."

"This little village is very remote, and apart from the Liu Family few know even the most basic information of cultivators. Whatever news you know regarding cultivators, even if it seems like common knowledge, is probably lacking here."

The merchant paused for a moment, pacing in thought. When Ding Wei had first met him Chen Shang had been a little fatter than most villagers. Nothing like his uncle or aunt who were both grotesque in their size and reminded him of fattened pigs, but he had still been a little round in the stomach. But in just the past week the merchant was thinner and his skin was pallid and unhealthy, Ding Wei wondered if he had eaten anything at all.

"The Divine Talent Exam! Do you know about the Divine Talent Exam?" the merchant asked, snapping his fingers.