Transmigrated Scoundrel's Exchange System-Chapter 97: Ambush

Han Cai released the glorious black panther from absolute zero. They rested for a day. The next day, Han Cai rode on Blacky's back, and they started their return journey towards his first subordinate.

Riding an elite beast was a whole new experience for Han Cai. On the back of Blacky, he felt a thrill of excitement coursing through him.

The wind rushed past him as the blacky sprinted through the forest, leaping over obstacles and darting through trees with effortless grace.

To Han Cai, it felt better than riding in a sports car would feel. Not that he had ridden any sports cars in his past life. But who was going to stop him from having an imagination? Han Cai felt that riding the car, no matter how fun it is, might not make him feel the same sense of freedom and exhilaration.

And the best part was that lazy Han Cai did not have to spend any celestial Qi or do any work; he just rode peacefully. He couldn't help but let out a cheer of joy as he clung to the panther's back.

He felt completely at ease riding on its back. It was as if he and the panther were one, moving together in perfect synchronization. He could feel the muscles of the beast rippling beneath him and the warmth of its fur.

Despite the speed of the panther, it took three weeks for Han Cai to meet Yongnian again. Yongnian almost relieved his bowels when he saw the big panther walking towards him, but only when he saw Han Cai signaling on the back of the Panther did he calm down.

After reaching their designated location, they camped for a week.

Han Cai was in a positive mood, enjoying the camping life.

Yongnian roasted delicious meals for him, and Han Cai felt content.

However, out of nowhere, Han Cai felt an ominous feeling creeping up on him, and his expression changed drastically.

Han Cai attempted to use his enhanced perception. When he used his perception, the smile on his face vanished, his face went blank, and his eyes became devoid of emotion.

Yongnian and Blacky, both noticed the change and became alert.

Yongnian approached Han Cai and asked if everything was alright.

Han Cai responded, "It's all fine," but there was no aloofness in his voice or actions, as he pretended in general. The teasing look in his eyes turned serious, and his voice was devoid of emotion as if he had just witnessed something terrible. The change in his demeanor left Yongnian and Blacky puzzled.

A week passed, but there was no change in Han Cai.

During this time, inner core disciple Niu had left the Sky-Soaring Sect to complete the mission of eradicating the bandits. Some outer sect elders and outer sect disciples accompanied her on this mission, including well-known disciples such as Liqin, Shihong, Fan Zixin, Bohai, Kong Dandan, and others. They traveled on strong, muscled horses provided by the sect and journeyed rapidly towards the area where the black wind bandits were active. After traveling for one and a half months, they finally reached the location where the bandits were reported to be.

Once they reached the location, they spent days traveling and looking for the bandits, but they could not find any.

One day, one of the outer sect disciples finally noticed a man lying on the ground, knocked out. The man was wearing black robes and silver-colored bottoms. This was the usual attire of black wind bandits. The group immediately caught the bandit and tied him up.

When the bandit woke up, he was shocked to see Sky-Soaring Sect disciples. They started interrogating him to find out where their whole bandit camp was, how many bandits were in their gang, and the whereabouts of their leader.

The outer sect elders did not interfere in the disciples' activities, as the mission had to be completed by the disciples themselves.

The bandit was very afraid, and he spilled all the details. He told them that their bandit gang had camped beyond two mountain ranges in the Red Forest Valley, where their leader was also present.

A few days ago, the leader had become displeased with him and knocked him out. When he woke up, he was here. So he did not understand how he was here tied up right now or how he got caught.

After receiving all the details from the bandit, they tied him to a tree. They believed this was just an unlucky bandit who was removed from the gang for incompetence.

However, this also meant they had to move fast. If the bandit camp moved, it would take them a long time to find it again.

They traveled for a day and a night and finally reached the Red Forest area where the bandits had camped.

When they spied to see if the camp was still there, they found out that it was indeed still there.

The group immediately started to plan to attack the camp, aiming to get the mission done by the evening.

When they were planning to attack the camp, one of the outer sect elders spoke, "Something is not right. The camp is too quiet." Soon, other elders and disciples noticed it too. The bandit camp was indeed very quiet; it was eerily quiet.

Before they could figure out what was going on, they heard a laughing sound.

When they looked, they saw a man sitting on a black horse, looking at them and laughing. It was none other than Black Wind Yan, the leader of the Black Wind Bandits.

One of the outer sect disciples trying to act heroic in front of Niu spoke with a proud face, "Black Wind Bandits, today we Sky Soaring Sect have come here to end your banditry."

The leader of the Black Wind Bandits laughed out loud and spoke, "You fools, is your sect filled with only idiots? Look around you."

When they looked around, they realized they were surrounded by bandits. Another outer sect elder spoke: "Something seems fishy; this bandit already knew that we were coming. Let us elders handle it."

The leader of the Black Wind Bandits confirmed their suspicion: "We have been expecting you. Sky Soaring Sect, it seems you are not as smart as we thought. Attack us if you dare. You will regret it."

One of the elders spoke again: "Disciples huddle together and protect each other."

While disciples huddled together to watch each other's back, the elders prepared to attack, but suddenly, two people dressed in black appeared out of nowhere and blocked their path.

The elders were taken aback when one of the black-clad men released his spirit QI, causing them all to shiver. One elder couldn't help but exclaim in shock, "Core formation level?"

The man who had released his spirit QI spoke, trying to diffuse the situation. "We don't want to hurt you. If you surrender willingly, you will be captured but will not suffer. But if you decide to battle, many of you will die today."

The outer sect elders were unsure of how to proceed. Should they take their chances, attack the bandits, and risk fighting against the man at the core formation level? Or try to escape?

One elder spoke up, trying to understand the situation. "Senior, has the Sky Soaring Sect offended you in some way? Why are you supporting these bandits?"

The man in black spoke calmly, "We are not your enemies. We are simply here to ensure the safety of the people and to prevent any unnecessary violence."

One of the outer sect disciples spoke up, "How can we trust you?" "You're dressed like them, and you're clearly working with them."

The second man in black spoke: "We understand your skepticism, but we have no reason to lie. We are not here to harm anyone, only to prevent harm from being done. Why would a cultivator of our level work for bandits like these?"

The elders whispered amongst themselves, unsure of what to do. Finally, one of them stepped forward and said, "We are willing to surrender peacefully. What are your terms?"

The man in black responded, "Drop your weapons." "You will all be taken into custody and questioned about your intentions here. If we find that you truly had no ill will, you will be released unharmed. If we find that you had malicious intent and purpose, you will be punished accordingly."

One of the disciples spoke," What malicious intent? We came on a secret mission to clear these despicable bandits who harm innocent people."

The First Man in the Black spoke, "If that was your intention, then you do not have to worry about it; we will let you go after we confirm it with your sect. But we can not let you harm the bandits, as they are working for us. I will give you an incense of time to surrender; if you do not, I will not be merciful."

The elders hesitated for a moment, as half of the things about this man in black did not make sense—what malicious intent? What Questioning? First, he wanted the safety of people. Now he says bandits are working for him. If he had doubts, he should have asked for sect medallions, but the man wanted them to surrender first.

Something was not right, but they noticed they did not have many options here. It was not like they could fight a core formation level cultivator with their foundation establishment strength. They dropped their weapons and nodded in agreement.

The Moment the elders dropped their weapons, Cui family's elder pounced. His plan was to kill some elders to send as proof to put fear in the core elders of the sky-soaring sect. There were too many people in this crowd for him to manage, so he planned to kill most of them.

The bandits roared and attacked too.

Seeing him attack, all the elders and the disciples of the Sky Soaring Sect shivered.

When the attack was just inches away from them.

The attackers, which included the core formation cultivator, foundation establishment cultivator, and bandits, all came to a halt.

The elders and disciples of the sky-soaring sect were all perplexed.

The man was in front of them, inches away from their throats, but it felt like he was a fish caught in a net; he was not able to move.