Just as the bandit had spoke, his legs were grasped by two hands which then pressed hard, crushing the legs to minced meat.

"ARGH!!!" The bandit cried in pain as snot trailed down his nostrils and his body fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

"WHO ARE YOU? WHAT ARE YOU!?" Ba Lian shouted in shock.

But now Lin Mu had broken the legs of nearly every bandit, and only Ba Lian and little Bo were left. Upon hearing his question, a voice appeared.

"Me?" The voice said, before a person emerged from the ground. "I am your death."

~shua~

Lin Mu's leg moved like a whip and hit the legs of Ba Lian, severing them instantly and knocking his body away. 

~Crash~

The legless Ba Lian crashed into the tents as he groaned in pain. All the bandits that Lin Mu had fought were weak compared to him, being in the body tempering realm, except for Ba Lian who was a cultivator and at the early stage of the Qi refining realm.

"LEADER BA LIAN!" Little Bo shouted upon seeing the scene. He had rushed back upon hearing the pain filled shouts and was greeted by a horrifying scene.

~shing~

A sword suddenly appeared next to Little Bo's neck, which made him freeze in place.

"Take another step and lose your head." Lin Mu spoke in a cold tone.

"Wh-what… why-why are you doing this?" Little Bo questioned.

Lin Mu didn't know whether to laugh at his word or pity the man. Such a question was ridiculous if he considered his position.

"I don't think I need to answer that. Any sensible person will know why, and since you need to ask such a question, you are definitely not one of them." Lin Mu ridiculed.

He turned back to Ba Lian and stepped on his gory stumps that were bleeding profusely.

"NOO!!" The man shouted in pain as Lin Mu pressed his heel against it.

"If you don't want a repeat of this, tell me everything. Tell me where you got these kids and who you are selling them to." Lin Mu questioned, his eyes looking deadly sharp.

The injured man spilled the beans pretty quickly. What Lin Mu had done was enough to reduce a grown man to a crying child. There was no way he could hold up against the threat.

Lin Mu finally learned how all these bandits were actually working. Ever since the kingdom set up multiple army outposts and blockades, these bandit groups had to move to the outer regions of the kingdom that were either less protected, or were under the authority of a local power like the cultivation sects.

Usually, these powers would exterminate criminals like these bandits on their own, but for some reason the Tri cauldron peony sect didn't. The bandits didn't know the exact reason for it, either. It was either out of ignorance, or arrogance about the fact that no bandit group would dare to operate in their territory.

As for the kids, the bandits had simply taken them from the carriages that passed by. A lot of people had been moving to the souther kingdoms ever since the news about the Northern tribes had spread. Their numbers were in the minority, but they were slowly growing little by little.

'Hmm… so what they said about people migrating in the Dusty Mill town wasn't entirely false. It's just that they are moving from other towns and the ones in the Dusty Mill town were being specifically targeted.' Lin Mu thought.

But when Lin Mu heard who was buying the kids, he couldn't identify them. Lin Mu had originally thought that the Gu Legion was behind this too, but then he realized that they would much prefer the grown adults as they had more blood than children. Though he didn't know if they really discriminated against that or not.

The people who were buying the children would come by this bandit camp and buy them for two to ten gold coins each. This was a rather high price for these bandits and thus they now refereed to kidnap children rather than steal heavy goods which would yield lesser profit.

Lin Mu got the description of the group of slavers and memorized them. 

"Where are the other bandit groups?" Lin Mu questioned.

But unfortunately, by now Ba Lian had suffered a massive bloodless and could not speak coherently. In less than a minute, he took his last breath and died. Lin Mu looked around for the other bandits, but they were dead too, leaving Little Bo alive.

Lin Mu extended his finger and beckoned the man to come to him.

~gulp~

Little Bo swelled his saliva in fear as he felt his legs turn to jelly. He had seen the torture that his now-descended companions had gone through and was utterly terrified of the man in front of them. To him, Lin Mu may as well be a devil in disguise.

  Little Bo gradually approached Lin Mu and struggled to speak.

"Now tell me, where are the rest of the bandit groups?" Lin Mu questioned.

"Do-don't kill me… I'll tell you… please…" The man pleaded while crying and trembling.

"Speak!" Lin Mu ordered.

"Th-there are two camps to the south, three to the south west and one to the west. There are more, but I don't know about them. If you ask those bandits, I think they should know." Little Bo answered.

"I see…" Lin Mu muttered before a muffled thud was heard.

~thud~

A head rolled on the ground and then the body fell beside it as well. The man named little Bo was now dead, having fulfilled his purpose in Lin Mu's eyes.

Lin Mu went to check up on the condition of the kids and found them to be relativity well. They had some minor scratches and bruises, but they were not in a bad condition. Lin Mu could tell that they had been dosed with some tranquilizing herb and found it in one of the collapsed tents.

"I think it's better you leave them sleeping." Xukong suggested.

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