"The men in my group are not bad men. Please let them go! I'll be the one who is responsible for everything!" said the tall and handsome bandit with a firm voice…

"Boss!"

The rest of the group started to shed tears after hearing their boss' words. The meaningful words that came from their boss' heart turned their fear into courage. Instead of wanting to run away, the whole group decided to stand by their boss' side instead…

"You guys!?"

"We've been together since the first day in the army until today. You've been helping us go through hardship countless times. I'm ashamed of myself for thinking about leaving you to save myself. I don't want to leave you now, so I'm going to fight with you."

"Yeah! Yeah! Me too! You've saved my life. Without you, I would have drowned that day!"

"You were not so smart that day! Who in their right mind would go into the water with all those things on their back like that? You're lucky that you did not drown."

Hahaha!

The stressful atmosphere earlier had turned into something lighter. The group started to talk about the past experiences that they had shared, and they completely forgot about Zheng-Fu and Jin-Tian. Zheng-Fu did not try to stop them and let them continue their reminiscences…

"Alright! Everyone! Let's get ready to fight for our lives! Let's not die today!" When the group finished talking about their memorable pasts, the boss of the bandits turned to Zheng-Fu and prepared to fight…

"Die!? Who's dying? And who's killing who?" Zheng-Fu said with a look of confusion on his face as if he did not know what the bandits were talking about…

"What!?"

When the boss of the bandits looked at Zheng-Fu, he saw only an innocent kid in front of him. That got him even more confused. The only thing he could feel a minute ago was dead, but now the atmosphere had changed completely…

"Aren't you the one who wants to kill us?" The boss of the bandits tried to get back to himself…

"Are you crazy? Who wants to kill you? I just want to ask for directions. I just have to be more careful when I see that you guys are bandits. That's all," Zheng-Fu answered with the same tone of voice…

"Asking for directions? In what direction do you want to know amidst a forest like this?" asked the big-bodied bandit with a tint of fear in his voice…

"You can think in whatever way you want to. I just want to ask for directions. Do you know the way to In-See City? It's a city on the eastern part of the continent," Zheng-Fu said with a firm look…

"In-See City?"

The boss of the bandits tried to think about the city and the directions to get there. Then he said, "Of course I do. But are you sure you don't want to kill me?" asked the man, making sure that Zheng-Fu was speaking the truth…

"Absolutely! If you give me the right direction, I'll give you this bag of money as a thank you."

Rustle!

Zheng-Fu said while taking out the bag of money he had taken out and played with earlier. The group of bandits widened their eyes the minute they saw the money bag. However, the group found it hard to believe Zheng-Fu…

"Did you mean it? But how can I believe you?" The boss of the bandits asked Zheng-Fu again while showing his seriousness and paranoia…

"I already told you what I wanted. If you can tell me the direction to In-See City, then this money bag will be yours. But if you don't know the way, then I can go ask somebody else." When Zheng-Fu finished the sentence, he pretended to put the money bag back in…

"Wait a second!"

The boss of the bandits rushed to stop Zheng-Fu from putting away the money bag. Then the man walked a few steps forward and said, "The road to In-See City is not complicated. The city is just a very long way from here. And this is the map of the city." The boss of the bandits took out a map and handed it to Zheng-Fu…

Grab!

Without the group of bandits' realizing it, Zheng-Fu, who was far away from the group, suddenly appeared in front of them and took the map from the boss' hand…

"Whoa!"

The bandits were shocked to the utmost when they saw Zheng-Fu reach them without seeing him walking there. The boss of the bandits also stepped back when the map was taken from his hand…

"I see. So, that's the right way. It means that I was heading in the wrong direction!" Zheng-Fu mumbled to himself when he checked out the map. Then he looked up and looked at the boss of the bandits. He walked toward him slowly…

Gulp!

The boss of the bandits took a big gulp of air when he saw Zheng-Fu coming toward him. The rest of the group prepared to run away, but their feet would not move. So, what they could only do was stand still and wait for Zheng-Fu to reach them. The boss of the bandits thought that the situation was not good, so he said,…

"I just gave you the map! I thought you…"

Whoosh!

Zheng-Fu took out the money bag and tossed it to the boss of the bandits when he got closer to the group. He smiled with an innocent look and said, "That's for helping me with the directions. Thank you so much for the map." Zheng-Fu turned back and walked to Jin-Tian when he finished the sentence, leaving the group of bandits in their confusion…

"You guys don't look like bandits. Did one of you say that you guys used to be soldiers?" As Zheng-Fu was walking away, he stopped and turned back to ask, out of curiosity…

"Yeah!"

The boss of the bandits nodded to answer the question. The rest of the group also nodded their heads. The group's eyes turned strange when Zheng-Fu mentioned that they had been soldiers…

"Then why did you become bandits?" Zheng-Fu asked…

"It was because of that bad commander!"

"Bad commander!?"

"We think that it's not good to talk about this. But since you want to know, I'll tell you," the big-bodied bandit said while stepping forward with pride. Then he started to tell the story…

"I don't know where you are from, but if you want to know the story, I'll tell you the story. We lived in the countryside when we were drafted into the army. We were stationed at the border under the supervision of 'Commander Yong-Xi-Gui.' Our duty was to protect the border between Blue Land and Green Land. One day, we were ordered to survey the Cave of Monsters which was located near the border.

We encountered many higher-level monsters, and most of us got killed, so we asked for reinforcements from the commander, however…" The big-bodied man was bitter and found it hard to continue, so he stopped. And then he got back to himself and said,…

"We were abandoned. They left us there without any reinforcement from Commander Yong-Xi-Gui. He intended to leave us there and let the monsters kill us. However, we managed to escape from the monsters. All of us tried to stay put and waited for help outside of the cave. Then the troops that were not from Blue Land came.

It was the troops of the enemy. They came to take all the armor and weapons from the soldiers who were killed earlier. We would not get so furious if we did not see that Commander Yong-Xi-Gui came with the enemy's troops!"

Bang!

When the big-bodied man got to this part of the story, the rest of the group shed tears once again. They were all in agony, with the utmost grudge toward Commander Yong-Xi-Gui. The person who felt it the most was the boss of the bandits…

"Are you saying that the commander joined hands with the enemy to lure you to the cave for you to get killed?" Zheng-Fu asked when he knew what it was all about…

"That's right! You could say that. The commander agreed to sell our armor and weapons to the enemy. He made it look like the monsters killed lower-level soldiers like us. And he told others that the armor and weapons were destroyed by the monsters!"

"I see. So, that's the story. What an incompetent army. Sigh… How would our country survive when there's this kind of corruption?"

"You can be right again. But no one can do anything. The authorities don't know about this. The soldiers who got killed were either laborers or homeless people. No one would care about us. We can only be the lower-level soldiers in front of them.

We're not like those martial artists." The boss of the bandits spoke bitterly about the grim destinies of his and his men…

"And do you guys want to be martial artists?"

"What!?"

The group thought that they heard something from up above when Zheng-Fu asked them the question. Their hearts started to beat fast. They all looked at Zheng-Fu without blinking in the hope of hearing the question again…

"You heard it right. I asked whether you guys wanted to be martial artists. If you want to, come with me. I can teach you. But I have to tell you one thing first. Anyone who betrays me, I'll make sure he won't die well." Zheng-Fu discarded the smile on his face when he talked about betrayal.

It made him think about the Great Elder Lao-Chu, who betrayed the clan by joining hands with the Cult of Savage Evil. The man even kidnapped his mother…

"Did you mean it? You're not kidding, right?" one of the bandits asked out of joy…

"I don't have any reason to lie to you. Everything that I said was true. If you want to come with me, just tag along. I don't have much time to play because I have to rush back to my clan." Zheng-Fu turned back and walked over to Jin-Tian when he finished the sentence…

The group of bandits was in a state of delight to hear that from Zheng-Fu. Even though they were in the Foundation Building stage, they were not martial artists. It took a man who was in the Golden Core stage to be a martial artist. It was every man's dream to become a martial artist…

"What do you think, boss?" The big-bodied man turned to ask his boss…

"I don't know. But I think we have nothing to lose. If what he said is true, we don't have to be homeless like this anymore. Let's go with him."

The group agreed with their boss. They knew that it was not good for them to continue this way of life. They might encounter real bandits one day and eventually get killed…

The rest of the group agreed with their boss. They all could escape when they were lured to get killed in the Cave of Monsters. For the past several months, they could say that it might have been their luck or good karma that saved them from harm. However, they would not know what would happen to them if they went on this way.

If they chose to go with Zheng-Fu, it meant that they had created another choice for themselves. So, choosing between uncertainty and a better life, they definitely wanted a better life even though they did not know how it would go…

After everyone agreed to choose to be martial artists, they rushed to follow Zheng-Fu instantly. They walked toward Zheng-Fu, cupped their fists, and said…

"We're coming with you!"

"Great! Then, let's get going!" Zheng-Fu put Jin-Tian back into the crystal dimension as soon as he finished the sentence. It would not be good for anyone to see Jin-Tian because it was too big and too powerful…

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