CHAPTER 56: ON THE ROAD.

T.P.P.

Later that night while everyone slept.

Diana and David sat in their separate tents cultivating when they heard something.

Something was moving in the woods around them.

They both got up and got out of their tents.

As they came out they saw each other and were surprised.

They could see each other since torches were lit around the camp.

"Did he/she also sense them?" They both said to themselves.

They were not the only two who came out of their tents.

The Patriarch and the Second Elder also came out of their tents and so did some guards after a while.

The sound was getting closer and they all got on guard ready to attack.

David who had no weapon asked for a sword and he was given a spare old sword.

"The Namgoong family are known to be users of swords and few times spears, so I shouldn’t use daggers or any of those assassin techniques, hmmm, I also shouldn’t use the Phantom Technique and the Heavenly Demon Technique." He says to himself.

Diana pulls out two daggers waiting.

"I was able to dismiss the colouration of my hair and eyes along with the dark mist surrounding me as effects of the Poison Unity Technique but, how do I explain that to someone of the Namgoong Clan, it would be best if I just don’t use them." She tells herself.

After waiting for a while everywhere becomes silent.

No more sounds from the woods, only the sounds of crickets could be heard.

The wind blew and suddenly an arrow comes flying out of the bush right into the head of one of the guards.

"They have archers!" Another guard yells, signalling for them to take cover.

On instinct David and Diana immediately began putting out all the lights.

"Ohhh, you are quite smart." David says to her.

"Yes, I learnt from the best ever." Diana replies.

"Ohhhh, I would like to meet that best ever one day." David says.

"Yhhh, maybe you will soon if you don’t survive this." Diana responds as she dodges an arrow flying towards her.

"Ohhh, I see, I’m sorry about that." David says as he deflects an arrow with his sword.

The Patriach and the Second Elder dash into the woods and one by one, the attackers came flying out into the open.

Loud screams were heard from the bushes.

Diana, David and the guards attacked the ones who were thrown out into the open.

"Dont kill them." Diana says to David and the guards.

"I should be telling you that, member of the Dang Clan." David replies.

Diana rolls her eyes and looks away.

They subdue the attackers while muffled screams could still be heard from the dark woods.

After a while, everywhere quiets down and a few seconds later, the Patriarch and The Second Elder come walking out of the trees.

The Patriarch was still neat with a little blood stain at the helm of his garment while the Second Elder was covered in blood on his arms, chest and legs.

"Why is he covered in so much blood, aren’t you all supposed to be like poison people?" David questions.

"Well, we are but, The Second Elder has his own kind of technique." Diana replies.

"I’m fascinated." David says.

"I can see that." Diana responds.

"Nice job not killing them all." The Patriarch says as he gets to them.

"I will be back, I need to go clean up." He says as he looks at the little stain on his garment.

"Me too." The Second Elder says and they both walk away.

The guards go to light up some of the torches.

"Who are they?" David asks.

"Isn’t it obvious they are bandits?" Diana responds.

"Hmmm, yhh that’s true." David says.

For the remainder of the night they forked out information from the bandits.

Where they were from and how many they were.

Apparently they were just average mountain bandits.

Day broke and the crew packed up their stuff and continued their journey leaving the bandits tied up in that place.

David rode on a horse and sometimes Diana would come ride on the horse while David walked.

They spoke a bit, mostly about their clans and their pasts, though they were mostly lieing to each other.

"So about this your ’Best Ever’ was he your Master? Teacher?" David asks.

"No he was my br..."

"Bandits up ahead!" A guard suddenly yells cutting Diana short.

The carriage and horses come to a stop.

A guard went to meet them and after a while he comes back with information.

"They are requesting we pay a toll if we want to pass this route." The guards says.

"How much is the Toll?" The Patriarch asks.

"Fifty gold coins." The guard replies.

"Thats outrageous." The Second Elder says.

"What is their numbers." Diana asks.

"They number above twenty from what I could see." The guard replies.

"Their Martial Arts Level?" David asks.

"Around Second Rate to Late Peak pherhaps." The guard says unsure.

"That is very vague." David says.

"Do we just scoop out the fifty gold coins?" The Second Elder says.

"Naaa, that’s a lot." Diana objects.

"So do we face them and risk having casualties?" The Second Elder questions.

Everywhere goes silent for a while as everyone awaits the decision of the Patriarch.

"Ummm, may I say something?" David asks as he raises his hand in the air.

The four, Diana, The Patriarch, The Second Elder and the guard turn towards him.

"Go ahead." The Patriarch says.

"Thank you." David says as he began to talk.

"As we stand here right now I do not sense any human around us." David says, before he could continue the Second Elder questions him.

"At what level do you think you are that your senses could be used to make a judgement in this case." He asks David.

"It may be meager, but I am in the Early Peak Realm sir." David Responds.

Everyone is genuinely shocked aside Diana who fakes being shocked.

"Early Peak you say?" The Patriarch asks.

"Yes." David Responds.

"Ok then, continue." The Patriarch says.