The Masked Man Who Suddenly Appeared

Upon returning to the XingHai Space, Shao Qian didn't hear the sound of the system prompting him to recover the data. He frowned, looking at the system menu, but was unable to find anything that had changed. Perhaps this time, there hadn't been enough energy for the system to recover the data?

However... Maybe it was just him, but did it feel like the decorative pattern on his right hand seemed to have become fainter? Shao Qian didn't dwell over this matter for too long though. Since the system didn't inform him of any upgrade, he immediately grabbed the small, light ball beside him and left the XingHai Space.

When Shao Qian regained his awareness, he heard a seemingly suppressed cry coming from nearby. Cracking his eyes open, he observed his surroundings. He was in a courtyard that was fenced off with wood logs. There were some hefty fellows wearing light armour [1] and carrying sharp swords that were on guard. The sound of weeping that he just heard had came from a young child. His mother was hugging him tightly as she comforted him.

"Boss, what do we do with the one that fainted?" That burly man pointed towards Shao Qian's direction and asked gruffly. "Since someone had already paid to take his life, then let's just kill him."

"No need to rush." The boss sneered. "That person only gave us this much money, and he wants this father to kill? Go. Go and tell that person. Add another five hundred taels, if not we'll spread around what he did."

"Boss is still the most shrewd." That burly man wielding the sharp sword immediately beamed and turned around to leave.

Seeing that his life was temporarily out of danger, Shao Qian divided a part of his attention and transferred it onto the plotline he had received from the system.

In this time, many great heroes gathered together to compete for the title of the greatest martial artist — Martial Master. In this dynasty, the power of the imperial court was weak, whereas the martial world dominates. In the end, the male lead of this world had defeated all the other heroes and obtained the title of the Martial Master.

However, these matters didn't concern Shao Qian at all...

His identity was the son of the head of a rich family, who listened to a certain person's instigation and became a wanderer. With only a hundred taels on him, absolutely no knowledge of martial arts, and also not bringing along a servant boy in fear of being stopped, he had set off.

However, he just left the town and walked a few Li [2] before he was captured by mountain bandits. Naturally, he lost his money, and also immediately lost his little life.

The first time Shao Qian crossed over and became the son of a rich family, he had even wondered: Was the system making him suffer on purpose? At that time, when he had first crossed over, it had been at a little later point of the story compared to right now. And after that, the system had given him his lines that consisted of a mere three sentences: Don't kill me. Save me. Ahhh...

Three sentences. Six words in total. After speaking those words, he died a glorious death [3] and returned to the XingHai. Moreover, he felt as if the system, that thing, had specifically sent him to experience death.

However, according to those two kidnappers, it was very likely that he had been framed by a certain someone in his family. This rich family's son was born from the Di wife and it could be said that he had been doted on by both parents until he grew up. Especially his mother. Towards this Di son, she doted on him to no ends. Furthermore, it was a 'place in the mouth yet afraid it will dissolve, hold in hands yet afraid it will drop' kind of doting.

This also directly caused the rich family's son to have a naive and innocent nature. This time when he had ran away from home, it was due to him reading about those chivalrous knights in books. A story about robbing the rich to give to the poor, along with the instigation from a person with high aspirations, immediately made him hide some money within his clothes and stealthily leave the house.

Mn. After leaving home for no more than two days, he was killed.

The story of this rich family's son was very brief. After Shao Qian finished going through the plot, he sneered. Listening to the words of those men just now, there was only two people that wanted him dead. The first was the Original's second brother, Shi Yao. Whilst the second was his fourth brother, Shi Xing. Which one of these two brothers hired these mountain bandits? Or could it be that both had a hand in this?

Thinking about this now was useless though. Upon returning home, he would naturally find out who the culprit is. Shao Qian opened his eyes and sat up, turning to look at the little boy sobbing in his mother's embrace. He patted the boy's head. "You're a man. You have to comfort your mother and not be afraid.

How could a child around four to five years old understand these words? When the little boy saw Shao Qian patting his head, he had instead burrowed deeper into his mother's embrace.

"Hey! I didn't expect that you would actually wake up." The boss took a few steps towards Shao Qian, laughing coldly. "So what if you were born in a well-off family? Aren't you still a domesticated animal that can't hide from the wolves?"

"You're right." Shao Qian nodded. "Therefore, this young master needs to return and drive the savage wolf cub — that the domestic animals had invited into their house — away.

"You won't get that opportunity." The boss instantly drew his sword and pointed it towards Shao Qian. "If you want to blame anyone, then blame your heartless little brother. When you reach the Hall of Darkness [4], don't forget to file a complaint to King Yama."

Upon seeing the blade pointed at him, Shao Qian didn'y hide. Instead, he stood up and patted down his white clothing that were stained with dirt. "That's right. Dying without knowing the reason, in the end is terribly unbearable. I will remember these words."

With an evil grin on his face, the boss held his sword and approached Shao Qian. When there was simply a single step of distance between them, he swung his blade.

Converting his soul power into internal force, Shao Qian leisurely held up his right hand, extending his index and middle finger and sandwiching the steel blade flying towards him between them. Abruptly exerting his strength, he broke the blade under the disbelieving eyes of that person.

"How..." How can this be? However, without getting the chance to say the following words, Shao Qian instantly pierced through that person's throat with the sharp end of the broken sword wielded in his right hand.

The boss breathed his last. With a loud 'thump!', his lifeless body fell onto the ground, his eyes wide open as he died with a remaining grievance. Didn't that person tell him that this rich family's son lack even the strength to truss a chicken? Where did that profound internal force come from?

After the boss's body dropped to the ground, those that had stood by at the sidelines recovered from their shock. Those few men swung their blades towards Shao Qian with vicious looks on their faces. Shao Qian took a few steps foward and stood before those who had been sinilarly captured like him, his right leg kicking the boss's broken sword up in the air and towards himself.

Were those few men a match for Shao Qian? Not even the time taken to brew a small cup of tea had passed before Shao Qian finished beating them into the ground. He didn't even take their lives, merely causing them to lose conscious.

Although Shao Qian may have spared their lives, it didn't mean that those they captured would spare them too. Seeing those atrocious hoodlums get beaten unconscious, those that were captured got up unsteadily to their feet and after confirming that those men had really fainted, couldn't help but wail.

Shao Qian stood at the side, not knowing how exactly to go about comforting them. However, he was immediately shocked by the actions of these people. He saw a person picking up a sword on the ground and stabbed one of the unconscious mountain bandit's body repeatedly — one stab after another. A blood-curling scream tore its way out of the bandit's throat as he regained conscious, however, he was immediately held down as his throat was slit open, resulting in him losing his life.

"This..." Shao Qian watched as the first bandit got killed, and after that, saw yet another person picking up a sword and killing another unconscious bandit.

"My husband was killed by these mountain bandits." The woman who had been embracing her child the entire, covered the child's eyes and walked up to Shao Qian's side, speaking indifferently, "Originally, my husband and I had wanted to pay a visit to my parents. As we were walking along the mountain path, we were robbed by these group of men. Those men had said that my husband was glaring at them, and for that reason alone, they immediately killed him."

"Restrain your grief [5] elder sister." Shao Qian didn't know anything about comforting, therefore he could only stammer out this five words.

"Little brother, there is no need to show mercy towards these mountain bandits. Do you know how many human lives are on their hands? The local authorities had dispatched their men to encircle and suppress them several times. However, as their boss excelled in martial arts, the encirclement suffered heavy casualties every time instead. Over time, the mountain bandits in this area became all the more aggressive." The woman shook her head. "My husband and I had taken a roundabout route, but we didn't expect that their claws had extended such a length and that there would also be an ambush lying in wait there."

Shao Qian opened his mouth to say something, however he wasn't able to speak before he heard the sound of hurried footsteps in the near distance. It was probably those mountain bandits that felt like something wasn't right and had rushed over.

"Quickly hide, you guys." Shao Qian hastily pulled aside those that were hacking at the mountain bandits' corspes and got them to hide. From the footsteps, he could tell that the number of bandits weren't small. If they were to be entangled in a conflict with them, he would most likely find it difficult to protect these people.

Fortunately, although these people abhorred the mountain bandits, they didn't completely lack a brain. Upon hearing Shao Qian's words, they quickly squeezed into a nearby horse shed.

The few of them had just finished hiding when the mountain bandits charged into the small courtyard, swords grasped within their hands. When they saw the dead bodies on the ground, all of them gazed at Shao Qian with wrath in their eyes.

The few people had just hidden away, when the mountain bandits wielded their swords and charged into the small courtyard. Upon seeing the dead bodies on the ground, all of them gazed at Shao Qian with wrathful eyes.

Tightening his grip on his blade, Shao Qian warily watched the group of men that were armed with swords. Their numbers weren't small. As he was facing them alone, he naturally had to be extremely careful.

"Just now, the humble me had been watching from the side and witnessing this Gongzi's [6] skills had widened my field of vision." Just as Shao Qian's expression became grave and he intended to strike, he heard a voice. Immediately after that, a man dressed in black garments and wore a mask dropped down not too far away from Shao Qian.

"Who are you?" Shao Qian didn't dare to be careless towarda this person who had appeared out of the blue. In the original plot, even when he was killed, it didn't invoke the arrival of someone.

"Just a nameless person." From his tone, the masked man seemed to be smiling. "I watched this Gongzi's martial arts movements. They were agile and graceful, not at all like a man... cough, cough... May I know which teacher this Gongzi studied under?"

The man's underlying words weren't said out loud. However, the entirety of his spoken contents caused Shao Qian's face to be filled with black lines. What was your intention when you stopped in the middle to cough dryly?

"What is it to you." At the moment, not only did Shao Qian have to be wary against the bandits equipped with swords, but in an instant, he had to also keep his guard up against this masked man who appeared suddenly.