But to raise these one hundred thousand taels of silver, Hall Master Liu had practically emptied the Liu Family Medical Hall’s coffers. He had even mortgaged the storefront passed down by his ancestors and taken out a massive high-interest loan from families he knew.

’If I can’t rescue the Young Hall Master, how could I possibly face Hall Master Liu?’

The bearded thug couldn’t be bothered to listen to any more of his nonsense. In his eyes, these guards were merely lambs to the slaughter, not even worthy of him wasting his breath.

He glanced at the inspected silver, then at the guards’ deathly pale faces. A flash of killing intent crossed his eyes.

’The show is over, and the silver is mine. I can’t be bothered toying with these people any longer.’

"Kill!"

The bearded thug waved his hand impatiently and spat out a single, cold word.

Before the word had even faded, the surrounding Flying Horse Thieves pounced like a pack of hungry wolves, their roars echoing as they charged. The cold steel of their blades and axes glinted as they swung at the guards.

The Flying Horse Thieves surged forward like a tide, their brandished blades and axes flashing, soon reflecting the color of blood.

The guards’ spirits had already been crushed by the two Dark Energy masters. How could they possibly dare to resist now?

A few of the braver guards managed to raise their blades to parry, but they were swiftly cut down by the bandits. Agonized screams rose one after another.

Seeing this, the remaining guards lost all courage to resist.

They knew the disparity in strength was immense; to stay would be to throw their lives away for nothing. Casting aside all sense of duty, they wheeled their horses around and fled in a panicked rout, not even sparing a glance for their fallen comrades’ bodies.

The guard captain watched his men scatter and flee, then looked at the advancing Flying Horse Thieves. All the color drained from his face.

He knew all was lost. To persist any longer was pointless. He could only cover his face with his hands and let out a helpless, long sigh.

Finally, he dug his heels sharply into his horse’s flanks, wheeled around, and fled into the distance, leaving behind several cooling corpses sprawled on the ground at the Black Wind Valley Entrance.

In just a few moments, only the Flying Horse Thieves remained at the entrance to Black Wind Valley.

The bearded thug trotted his horse over to one of the carriages. He casually picked a silver ingot from a chest, squeezing it with his rough fingers to feel its satisfying weight. A vicious, pleased grin spread across his face. "Not bad. All good-quality silver."

He waved a hand and ordered his men, "Get these carriages moving! Take them back to the chief!"

"Yes, sir!"

Several bandits stepped forward at once, skillfully hitching the reins and preparing to depart.

Soon, the column was on the move.

The one-eyed man, a master of the Dark Energy Realm, took the lead with five or six of his men. They drove the seven carriages, laden with one hundred thousand taels of silver, deeper into Black Wind Valley. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The bearded thug, meanwhile, led the rest of his men on horseback, following at a distance. His wary eyes scanned the surrounding mountain forests, clearly on guard against pursuers as he brought up the rear.

Concealed within the mountain forest, Yang Jing moved in utter silence, using the dense foliage for cover.

His movements were phantom-like. Channeling the Dark Energy of his Raging Tides Legs technique, each step landed in the most concealed blind spots, so quiet that he didn’t disturb a single fallen leaf.

Although the bearded thug and the one-eyed man were both highly vigilant Dark Energy masters, they were still leagues behind Yang Jing and completely failed to detect his presence in the nearby forest.

His Body Technique was incredibly fast, and in this complex terrain, his advantage was maximized. He seemed to merge with the forest itself, an invisible shadow tailing the Flying Horse Thieves’ column.

’They must be heading for the Flying Horse Thieves’ main lair,’ he surmised.

’It’s bound to be heavily guarded, with even more experts. The slightest mistake will get me discovered.’

Yang Jing took a deep breath, suppressing the killing intent in his heart as his gaze grew even more steady and composed.

’Until I find Liu Maolin, I absolutely cannot alert the enemy.’

But deep within his eyes, a cold, sharp glint flickered.

’But once I’m actually in the Flying Horse Thieves’ lair, a direct confrontation will be inevitable. When that time comes, I might just have to unleash a massacre.’