The Other Side of A Cultivation Story

"Right there," the bandit boss exclaimed.

He then pointed at the place where Jing and Shandian made their way as he somewhat noticed the unusual movement of his bandits.

"Check that spot," one of the bandit commanders told his underlings as he answered to the boss' command.

However, the uproar brought about by the fights here and there made it difficult for the bandits to follow Jing and Shandian's movements.

Qai on the other hand continued to lead the path for Jing and Shandian as he unrelentingly rained down arrows after arrows precisely hitting bandits with the help of his eye skill.

'Swoooosh,' 'swoooosh,' 'swoooosh,' 'swoooosh,' 'swoooosh.'

More and more teams from the Han Valley side were able to recover their formation and gradually advanced uphill closing the gap to the bandits main force.

"It's Jing and Shandian," Shu Liang shouted to his big brother as she noticed the two from afar.

Shu Wu looked at the direction and quickly gave an instruction.

"Cover them and let them through," he yelled.

Immediately, Xiao Ning focused her 'Burgeon' attacks in the area where Jing and Shandian were while Shu Liang and the two Dire Wolves charged in that direction.

Realizing that the cultivators around them were immobilized by Xiao Ning's skill, Jing and Shandian were quick to take advantage of the situation and assaulted the trapped bandits.

'Swissh,' 'swissh.'

'Roooaaaaar.'

Jing's 'Incision' and Shandian's 'Lightning Claws' were so swift that the trapped bandits were not able to retaliate but succumb quickly to death.

Shu Wu was delighted by Jing and Shandian's quick reaction and instantly lined up some walls to protect Shu Liang and the Dire Wolves from attacks as the they try to approach the two.

****************

Meanwhile, the Han Valley elite teams lead by Mo Clan's Elder Long were slowly gaining advantage of the battle.

Elder Long's 'Inferno' was unmatched in the battle so much so that many bandit groups were avoiding his advance.

The tides of the battle were easily drifting in favor of the bandits making the bandit boss think twice of the situation.

'We're losing our advantage,' he thought.

Looking at the situation, the Han Valley army was seemingly on its way to its goal of exterminating the bandits.

"Fall back," the bandit boss unintentionally muttered.

"Retreat!?" One bandit near bandit boss Jin softly asked himself.

"Did the boss say retreat!?" Another said.

Many heard the slight commotion and looked at the direction of the bandit boss.

"Retreaaat..," boss Jin screamed, "get back to the mountain and lets regroup."

As the bandit boss loudly screamed, he gathered his aura and and unleashed another rockslide with great force.

"Call everyone and get back to the mountains," he added.

"Cover their withdraw," a bandit commander yelled as he ordered his underlings to aid their fleeing comrades.

***************

Han Valley chief Xing Yi noticed the sudden withdrawal of the bandits in the direction of a forested area and asked the elders their view.

"Should we tail them?" She asked.

"It could be trap," an elder replied. "The sun is already setting."

"Chief," another elder said. "This is an our chance to finish them once and for all."

"Hmmm," the chief murmured.

She felt that something was amiss and decided to recall all the teams.

'I would rather not risk everything,' she thought.

"Call everyone back and get me the guide," she instructed.

A cultivator immediately left and heeded his orders. Soon the guide arrived in the place where the Han Valley chief and elders gathered.

"Tell us what's behind the forest," the chief immediately asked the guide upon his arrival obviously not wanting to beat around the bush.

"Chief, its a small-sized gorge which is one of the ways to the mountains," the guide politely replied.

"A gorge!?" An elder suddenly uttered in surprise.

"Eh."

"Yes, many called them 'Pixie Gorge' as they believed it was an entry to some fairylike world," explained the guide.

"Good thing we did not follow them..," another elder said, "..there could be an ambush waiting for us.."

"That may be true, and it may be not," the guide said.

"Why is that?" The chief asked.

"Although an ambush could be set up in there, I don't think the bandits could utilize it to create a massive ambush as the gore is really small.. it could probably hide only a hundred of them.. so at most it could only delay our advance.. unless.."

"Unless what!?" An elder asked.

"Unless they opt to surprise us in that gorge with all of their sage level cultivators in one go..," the guide opined.

The opinion of the guide actually made sense. Should the bandits placed all of the sage level cultivators, then the ambush would pose a problem as it could disastrously massacre a portion of their cultivators.

"Alright," the Han Valley chief said. "Let's do this then."