Chapter 79: The Ungrateful and Treacherous Bunch

  Seeing Zuo Xiao Yao also following them forward, the faces of the four Zheng brothers looked a bit unsightly at first, but in their hearts they felt quite relieved. After these few days of traveling together, they knew that she was different from their own simple and straightforward youngest brother. She was someone who, although warm and polite to others, was very cautious and clever. Combined with what the fourth brother had just said, she must also be clear about the situation ahead, yet she chose to move forward with them, just like a true friend in need. This proved that she was a person who valued loyalty and righteousness, and it wasn't in vain that Zheng Ning treated her with sincerity.

  But fortunately, the situation was already not good. The "battlefield" was in front of him, and even Zuo Xiaoyao, a "weak scholar" who was not familiar with horse riding, followed closely behind. Wouldn't he just be a hindrance? Zheng Jia's eldest son shouted loudly, "The front is too dangerous! Xiao brothers should hurry back! Your feelings of justice, we brothers will take care of it!"

  She swung the whip in her hand, urging the horse she had temporarily bought to speed up and barely keep up with the Zheng brothers who were skilled at riding horses. Knowing what impression she gave them, after all, she hadn't taken action during the previous two robberies, and could be said to have just gotten used to it but wasn't quite proficient in horseback riding yet, Zuo Xiao Yao smiled and said "Brother Zheng doesn't need to worry, although I'm not good at riding horses, I do know some martial arts moves, with more people, we can also divide the power."

  Although he felt that Zuo Xiaoyao's "hand and foot work" was not reliable, the four Zheng brothers had no chance to persuade him again. Seeing that Zheng Ning had already rushed up and started fighting with those gray-clothed, black-scarved bandits, they could only follow suit and join in afterwards.

  The battlefield is not large, and although the side dressed as bandits has a lot of people, their individual strength is mostly clearly inferior to that of the "robbed" side. As a result, most members of both sides are wounded and in a stalemate, but since neither side has an absolute advantage, the side with more people, who have already surrounded the "robbed" ones in the middle, has the upper hand. Victory is only a matter of time, but unexpectedly, a "hot-blooded hero" appeared, with a strong sense of justice, and immediately took sides.

  The people dressed as bandits were amazed, and before they could rejoice at the limited strength of the "Hot Blooded Heroes", a horse-drawn carriage was hijacked by the other side. After a momentary thrill, they felt somewhat disappointed, only to see five more riders rushing over quickly.

  The Zheng family's martial art is boxing, while Zuo Xiao Yao specializes in palm strikes. Both are suitable for close combat. Before joining the battlefield, the five of them quickly dismounted their horses and rushed towards the crowd on the field, who were only half-paying attention to them. In the first moment, Zuo Xiao Yao saw that Zheng Ning was about to be slashed by his opponent's knife on his left arm. With her Light Cloud Step, she swiftly moved forward and pulled him away. She also managed to land a palm strike on the unguarded opponent.

  Zuo Xiao Yao didn't even have the time to explain to Zheng Ning, who was left staring in shock. She then raised her palms and charged towards the surrounding enemies dressed as bandits. Meanwhile, the bandit's side not only noticed Zuo Xiao Yao's strength but also discovered that the other four brothers of the Zheng family, who had newly joined the battlefield, were using cunning tactics that far surpassed those of the young man they had underestimated earlier.

  The tall, gray-robed man who seemed to be the leader of the bandits held a long sword in his hand and confronted the white-robed youth who also held a sword. He shouted loudly: "You gentlemen have no enmity or feud with us, yet you attack and harm people without reason. Isn't that too impolite? Please leave quickly for your own good, lest you bring calamity upon yourselves!"

  It seems that even if they wanted to 'see death and not rescue', they would have to consider the situation, so they didn't meet these people head-on at the bend. They could have pretended not to see them and avoided them, but now that they've gotten involved with Zheng Ning, it's clear that there's no way to retreat halfway, regardless of what considerations are at play. Openly doing something 'see death and not rescue' would clearly be unacceptable to the other four brothers in the Zheng family.

  After all, the situation in front of them is already very clear. Once they withdraw, the outcome of being "robbed" will not be good at all. Although they know that not everyone who does evil things is an evil person, since the other party has made such a showy and villainous appearance, and uses despicable means to try to kill people, it's obvious that they are not good people. Therefore, no matter how unclear Zheng family brothers' minds are, when facing each other now, they cannot choose to ignore and do nothing.

  Zheng Wen hadn't even had a chance to speak, when Zheng Jia's loud voice rang out "Who says there's no grievance? You're blocking my way, I'll definitely have to clear you away!"

  With a raised tone and sufficiently arrogant words, the provocative meaning was truly self-evident. A sharp, delicate, and feminine voice immediately rang out from among the bandits, saying "Hmph! You ignorant thing, let's see who cleans up whom!"

  "Thank you all for lending a helping hand, and please take care of yourselves, beware of their treacherous private tricks!"

  The white-clothed youth who had been standing guard beside the horse carriage loudly reminded him.

  Time waits for no one, and in this short span of time, Zuo Xiao Yao had already relied on her extremely swift movements to knock down the three 'bandits' surrounding her who were still unable to react. They could only groan in pain, completely powerless to fight back, causing those around them to secretly feel apprehensive.

  Among them, a masked man in a black robe flashed a fierce color in his eyes, stretched out his left hand and took out an object from his pocket. Taking advantage of the opportunity that several people surrounded and attacked, forcing Zuo Xiao Yao and Zheng Ning, who was intentionally brought by her side, into the encircled area where most people were, he suddenly made a strange sound, causing most of his own people to quickly retreat backwards at the same time, and then immediately threw out the round ball in his hand.

  Ling Xiu was extremely alert and didn't feel surprised by the sudden withdrawal of her opponent. At the moment when a black sphere the size of a marble had flown over, almost in a conditioned reflex, she no longer tried to conceal her true martial arts skills. Her hair stood up without wind as an exceptionally strong aura suddenly surged out from her body. The invisible internal force nearly condensed into a tangible form on her fist, and the powerful impact force brought by that fist then repelled the sphere.

  Before the gray-clothed man who threw out the sphere had time to retreat to a safe distance, nearly ten gray-clothed men who were shocked by Zuo Xiaoyao's sudden release of aura were somewhat panicked. The sphere, however, had already automatically transmitted a loud explosive sound, and after the thick smoke dispersed, the severed limbs on the ground announced the astonishing power of the sphere.

  Compared to the joyful faces of Zheng Jia brothers and the 'kidnapped' Fang Ren, Zuo Xiao Yao's smile seemed somewhat forced. It wasn't because the scene in front of her was too gruesome, but rather due to the smell of sulfur emitted from the gas after the explosion of the ball, a similar smell produced by modern firecrackers, fireworks, and gunpowder-based weapons.

  As far as she knew, such things didn't seem to exist in this world. Even the ways of expressing joy during festivals were just firecrackers. Real firecrackers, she had been to the capitals of two states, although only passing through and not staying for too long, but it was enough for her to buy more books with a wider range of topics, so that she could understand this world better.

  Because their people had gathered too much just now, nearly a dozen people were lost immediately after the explosion of this ball, plus the previous casualties. The situation was extremely unfavorable for them. Although the 'bandits' side regained their composure after being stunned for a moment and started fighting again with their respective closest opponents, they seemed to have lost some morale unintentionally, and subconsciously cast sidelong glances at the tall gray-robed man who was still fighting against the white-clothed youth. In the midst of clashing long swords, he, who was about to completely seal off the youth's moves, also lost his footing several times, giving the youth a chance to counterattack.

  The tall grey-clothed man, who had also exchanged blows with the white-clad youth for a moment, finally couldn't help but let out a strange shout. The remaining twenty or so 'bandits' immediately came to their senses, no longer wanting to fight, and only thinking of quickly shaking off their opponents and escaping. Several of them even retreated towards both ends of the narrow valley.

  In Zuo Xiao's spiritual consciousness, a gray-clothed man with his face covered was sitting cross-legged on the ground, staring at him. The old man suddenly said, "Quick! Don't let anyone escape!"

  This remark was full of meaning, although Zuo Xiao Yao didn't know what it specifically referred to. However, she clearly understood that if she let those people go, they would inevitably bring her some trouble in the future. Therefore, relying on the convenience of having a light cloud skill, she took on the task of chasing after the fleeing bandits without any hesitation.

  Unfortunately, the other party escaped in different directions. Although they managed to capture two "bandits" who were heading towards Luoshan State, by the time Zuo Xiaoyao returned to the scene, she found out that not only had the tall gray-clothed man escaped smoothly, but also seven or eight others had not been caught up with. The gray-clothed man who was suspected of being a Taoist and was sitting opposite the old man had also escaped smoothly. From Zheng Ning's dissatisfied muttering, it turned out that the main reason was that the eight people on their side were unwilling to leave this carriage that they had been protecting all along.

  Upon hearing Zheng Ning's discontented complaints, a seventeen-year-old girl in red attire glanced at him with an arrogant expression and coldly sneered, "Hmph! What's so great about you? You can't even capture a few scattered remnants of defeated soldiers!"

  Zheng Ning's face turned red with rage. "You... how dare you be so ungrateful! We saved your lives, and yet you have the nerve to be so rude!"

  When the girl spoke out, the old man who was about to speak up and chase after her heard Zheng Ning's words and his face suddenly flashed a hint of displeasure, with some other emotions faintly discernible beneath. He lowered his eyes and stopped speaking.

  Although it's unclear what the "other emotions" represent, it's quite obvious that the other party doesn't take them seriously. With a cold glance at several people, anger flashed on his face before Zheng Wen spoke up. Before he could say anything, Zuo Xiao Yao calmly replied, "Brother, let's go, no need to waste words with these people who don't understand the meaning of 'gratitude'."

  The old man heard this and frowned, saying "Miss, your words are wrong. If you help us out, we will definitely reward you heavily. How can you speak so rudely!"

  "The old man is also a person of considerable age, who has seen more right and wrong than us. How can he be like this young lady, not distinguishing good from bad? We didn't want to get involved in your affairs, but because my brother was too young, we saw injustice on the road and came forward with enthusiasm to rescue you. It was only for his safety that we had to come over and rescue you. We didn't think about how you would repay us, just hoping that you wouldn't forget our kindness and not use a petty person's heart to measure a gentleman's intentions. We thought that rescuing you must have some other purpose!"

  After finishing speaking, she didn't care about the old man's ugly face or the red-clothed girl's anger. She didn't even spare a glance at them as Zuo XiaoYao pulled Zheng Ning to leave. The kind of people she disliked most in her life were those who bullied others with no reason and those who were ungrateful and disloyal.

  Because of seeing Zuo Xiao Yao's astonishing aura when she repelled the circular ball earlier, Zheng Wen still felt some lingering doubt in his heart and suddenly stopped talking. He turned around and left with the other three brothers, using their actions to prove that they indeed didn't bother to repay the "favor" that they considered as just "aid", even though Zuo Xiao Yao repeatedly mentioned this "favor".

  Fortunately, the horses of several people were still grazing on the nearby slope, although they neighed a few times when the grenade exploded, but did not run away. The "bandits" who had tried to escape earlier were chased tightly and wanted to ride them to escape, but it was too late to get on horseback.

  With a somewhat embarrassed expression, Zheng Ning just mounted his horse and heard the white-clad young man who had just gotten out of the carriage say: "I am Ma Ke, thank you all for your chivalrous rescue. My family has been quite rude, I'm afraid we have offended you. Can you please give me some face and forgive us?"

  PS: Thanks for the support from Dizzy Girl, hehe, I'll try to update more tomorrow and finish this volume as soon as possible!