He had already been chasing the bandit leader for several minutes. Each push against the ground cost him energy. And even so, the distance kept increasing little by little.

  If it weren’t for his abnormal physical strength and the endurance granted by his body technique, he would have already lost sight of him completely.

  Damn it… that movement technique is too advantageous in forest terrain.

  The sound of breaking branches could be heard farther and farther away.

  Suddenly, Jin realized something—up ahead was the area where they had left the caravan’s mounts.

  His golden eyes gleamed.

  Right…

  He slightly changed the direction of his run and accelerated toward that point. It didn’t take long for him to spot the horses among the trees, restless from the noise of the earlier battle.

  He searched with his gaze and immediately found what he was looking for—his purebred horse, the one he had bought when he began his journey. With dark fur and defined musculature, it wasn’t a spiritual beast, but it was an exceptional specimen among ordinary horses.

  Without reducing speed, Jin made a clean leap and landed on the saddle with precision. The reins barely tightened before he was already settled.

  “Let’s go.”

  The horse neighed loudly, as if understanding the urgency. In the next instant, it galloped at full speed in the direction Jin indicated, its hooves striking the ground with a powerful rhythm.

  The wind began to lash against Jin’s face as the landscape blurred at the sides. This time, the bald man wouldn’t have such an advantage.

  After a few minutes of pursuit, the distance between them was already short enough.

  Jin slightly loosened the reins with one hand and, with the other, took his silver spear. He gripped it tightly. The muscles of his arm stood out beneath the fabric of his tunic, tensing as he gathered power for the throw.

  The horse continued galloping without slowing down and with a shout, Jin hurled the spear with tremendous force.

  “Watch out, if you don’t jump it’s going to hit you!”

  The silver projectile cut through the air with a terrifying whistle, leaving a visible trail in its wake.

  The muscular bandit, already nervous and mentally exhausted from the excessive use of his technique, heard the warning and reacted out of pure panic. Without thinking, he made a desperate leap upward.

  In the air, his brain finally processed what he had just done.

  …I’m an idiot.

  The spear, which had been thrown aiming slightly low, passed through the space he himself had left open by jumping… and ended up striking his thigh directly as he descended.

  A bloodcurdling scream tore through the open field as the blade pierced flesh and completely destabilized him. He lost control of his landing and crashed hard against the ground, rolling several times before ending up sprawled out, writhing in pain.

  “You damned brat with no martial ethics! Why shout something if you’re lying?!”

  The young man arrived seconds later and gently pulled on the reins, stopping the horse near the injured bandit. He looked at him from above with a flat expression and couldn’t help rolling his eyes.

  Maybe this bandit really is an idiot after all…

  He calmly dismounted, approaching the bald man who was still thrashing while clutching his pierced thigh.

  He walked unhurriedly until he stood before the fallen bandit. The bald man tried to get up, but the spear embedded in his thigh kept him practically immobilized.

  Without any ceremony, Jin grabbed the silver shaft and moved it slightly.

  “AAAAAHHH!”

  The bandit writhed like a crushed worm, the veins on his head throbbing with fury and pain.

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  Jin couldn’t help looking at him with disdain.

  “What martial ethics are you talking about when you’re the bandit?” he retorted dryly.

  “You wretched child! If you don’t let this father go, you’ll have a thousand years of bad luck!” the man spat, sweating cold.

  The only response he received was Jin twisting the spear a little more.

  Another sharp scream tore through the open air.

  “Listen, bald man,” Jin said with feigned patience, leaning slightly forward. “How about this? If you give me all your things, I’ll let you go. And in a friendly manner, I’ll even give you a pill for the wound.”

  The bandit, pale but still stubborn, clenched his teeth.

  “Now you’re robbing me! Brat, if you want this lord’s treasures, they’re nothing but your dreams!”

  Jin observed him in silence for a second. Then he released the spear, which remained embedded in the man’s thigh, and calmly cracked his knuckles.

  “I see…” he murmured, tilting his head. “So you want it the traditional way.”

  His shadow fell over the bandit’s face.

  And for the first time since the chase began, the bald man felt that perhaps… running away had been the best part of his day.

  Dry sounds of blows echoed across the open field, accompanied by pitiful groans; the contrast was almost ridiculous.

  A refined-looking young man with slightly golden hair delivered methodical punches onto a muscular bald man who, minutes earlier, had unleashed a fierce technique and proclaimed his “divinity.”

  Now he was lying on the ground.

  “Alright, alright, stop hitting me!… Not the face! Fine, I’ll give you my things!” the bandit shouted in a broken voice, covering his head as best he could.

  Jin barely stopped the next punch just inches from his face.

  The man, trembling from head to toe, clumsily took out a ring and held it forward as if offering a tribute to a demon.

  “There… there are this lord’s treasures…”

  Seeing him so frightened, Jin lowered his fist and straightened up, brushing a bit of dust off his sleeve.

  “See how easy that was? It didn’t have to come to this.”

  He extended his hand to take the ring… but as soon as he held it before his eyes, he froze and his pupils slightly contracted.

  That… there was no doubt—this was a storage ring.

  The type of spatial artifact that only cultivators with certain backing could obtain. Compact, discreet, and far more valuable than a simple bag like the one he used.

  How the hell does a bandit have one of these… when I barely have a stinking bag to carry my things?

  His gaze slowly descended toward the bald man, who was still trembling on the ground.

  Suddenly, the loot had become… much more interesting.

  He turned the ring between his fingers, observing the fine inscriptions almost invisible on its surface. The more he looked at it, the stranger it seemed that it was in this man’s hands.

  He fixed his gaze on the bandit.

  “Where did you get this?”

  The bald man, still lying on the ground and clutching his injured leg, hesitated for a second before answering.

  “I… I found it when I fell off a cliff years ago. I thought I was going to die, but I got stuck in a crevice. There was a skeleton there… and that ring was on its finger.”

  Hearing that, Jin couldn’t help blinking in surprise.

  A cliff? A skeleton? A mysterious ring found by chance after a fall that nearly killed him?

  For a moment, he almost opened his mouth to ask:

  And didn’t you hear a grandfather’s voice coming out of the ring teaching you secret techniques?

  But he held back. He remained staring at him in silence, evaluating him from head to toe.

  The bald man began to sweat more, uncomfortable under that fixed gaze.

  “What are you staring at?” he muttered nervously. “Are you going to break your promise and not let this poor handsome man go?”

  Hearing that, Jin looked at him for another second and then sighed. Without a doubt… he had encountered a unique and extremely strange person. He hesitated only a few seconds more, looking at the ring in his hand and then at the man lying on the ground.

  Finally, he slipped a hand into his tunic and took out a small bottle of healing pills. Without much ceremony, he tossed it to the bandit.

  The bald man caught it clumsily.

  “Take it. A man must always keep his word,” Jin said calmly. “But don’t make me see you around here again. Next time it won’t be your leg that ends up with a hole.”

  The bandit looked at him with a mixture of relief and resentment. He hastily opened the bottle.

  “Without a doubt I will never return to these places again, child. You’re worse than those youths from the demonic cult I ran into… well, this fath—”

  He didn’t finish the sentence.

  Suddenly, blood gushed from his nose in large amounts. His eyes rolled back and his muscular body collapsed sideways with a dull thud against the ground.

  “Huh?”

  Jin quickly approached and crouched down to check him. After a few seconds of inspection, he let out a sigh.

  He had only fainted.

  The excessive use of that strange technique had drained his body beyond its safe limit; the prolonged escape and the previous fight had taken their toll.

  “…What a troublesome guy.”

  While holding the ring, he straightened up, the wind of the open field gently moving his tunic. “Definitely, this pursuit had been worth it.”

  Once he confirmed he was only unconscious, Jin grabbed him by the shoulders and began dragging him without much delicacy toward some nearby bushes.

  The muscular body left a furrow in the dirt as it was moved.

  Once there, he shoved him into the undergrowth and arranged some branches over him, covering him as best he could. It wasn’t perfect, but from afar, hardly anything seemed out of place.

  He stepped back a couple of paces and crossed his arms, observing his “masterpiece.”

  Then he briefly pressed his hands together, bowing his head with feigned solemnity.

  "May luck decide your fate… and may some hungry beast not find you before you wake up".

  Without adding more, he returned to his horse and mounted nimbly. He took the reins and began galloping back toward the forest.

  As he rode, he took out the ring and held it before his eyes, letting it spin between his fingers under the light.

  Without a doubt, something curious…

  A faint smile appeared on his face.

  I wonder what’s inside.

  With that thought circling his mind, he rode back toward the place where he had left Han Ping and the guards, the sound of hooves marking the rhythm of his return.

  Thank you so much for reading ??