419: Chapter 330 419: Chapter 330 Some people voluntarily beat drums and gongs, loudly proclaiming that someone had eliminated a scourge for the common folk, while others set off firecrackers.
Those working the fields or engaged in commerce all put down their work to witness the bandits being captured and brought down from the mountain!
They wanted to see with their own eyes the bandits being executed by gunfire, but for those families who had been harmed by the bandits, they knelt on the ground weeping and kowtowed to the heavens: “Heavens above, Buddha Ancestor, you have finally opened your eyes, send these people to the 18 Levels of Hell, so they may never be reborn, for they are truly despicable!”
When the Advisor and the Government Officials were escorting the bandits down the mountain, the bandits kept begging for mercy.
Their hands and feet were bound, and they incessantly spoke, even threatening the governmental authorities!
“Stop talking, it’s your bad luck that you provoked such formidable characters, there’s nothing we can do.
If we don’t capture and detain you, we will be the unlucky ones!”
“Is there any chance that you might let us go when we’re in custody?”
This person was still entertaining unrealistic hopes, thinking that, after all, they had interactions with the governmental authorities and it wouldn’t be so heartless!
“Look up and see, all those people are watching.
If we let you go, we’ll be the ones facing misfortune!” said the Advisor.
Upon looking up, indeed, there were people flying in the sky!
Those with good eyesight could see that these were the ones who had defeated them utterly, such formidable people who, like Heavenly Gods, could wield wind and thunder spells!
One careless move could result in being struck dead by lightning!
Seeing the people flying in the sky, the bandits knew that having such formidable people watching made anything they said at this moment pointless; anything they openly said would be overheard by them.
It would be better to wait until after they were locked up to see if there were other ways to escape!
As the governmental authorities brought the responsibility of dealing with the bandits down the mountain, the road from the foot of the mountain led straight to the town and was lined with spectators on both sides.
Although people had no rotten eggs or vegetable leaves, there was plenty of mud in the fields by the roadside.
Grabbing handfuls of it, they threw it at the bandits, scarred from the lightning strikes.
Although their faces were not clear, one could guess that those were definitely bandits!
Being so severely punished by the heavenly gods, it was surely a divine retribution for their many sins!
Having heard that some bandits on the mountain had been struck to death, everyone believed it was retribution for their wickedness, punished by the heavenly gods who were eliminating harm for the people!
Though these bandits had not been struck dead, they had committed many evil deeds alongside the other bandits.
While death sentences could be pardoned, living crimes could not be forgiven.
People of all ages, both men and women by the roadside, grabbed mud to throw at the bandits.
As for why there were only old and middle-aged men and women by the roadside, it was because the young girls had been frightened out of their wits—even hearing that the bandits had been captured, they dared not come out.
The rest of the young people had other plans, organizing the event with drumming, gongs, and dancing.
Those who had been rescued no longer looked as they once did.
The women of the stockade had managed to escape again, leaving behind those who had been harmed and captured by the stockade’s people but did not submit!
Not all were locals of this place; some were regular passersby who had been captured, while others were captured during their travels.
Some were from wealthy families, others were ordinary folks from the Martial World.
One characteristic of those who had consumed the Degrading Pill was that they previously possessed cultivation skills.
Some had taken it for a long time, and even if they had the antidote, they had lost ninety percent of their original power, while others could recover fifty percent.
Even so, like ordinary people, they could walk on their own, carrying a bundle on their back.
They could no longer wear their previous clothes and had temporarily donned clothes found in the stockade.
The bundles on their backs undoubtedly contained some money for their journey home; the wealth they had when captured had vanished!
It’s not that they did not want to search for it.
Having their lives saved was already a stroke of great fortune.
Since that wealth was given to the governmental authorities, they had returned the money to the people.
Though they had little faith in such a corrupt government, with the rescuers keeping watch, they dared not do much!
The bandits, seriously injured and having taken healing medicine, were still in a daze from the lightning strikes and had yet to fully recover.
Being humiliated by the very ordinary people they once bullied and pelted with mud made them so ashamed that they wished for death!
Hatred gleamed in their eyes as they stared at the bystanders by the roadside, but the mud covering their heads and faces, like the hatred now in their eyes, prevented them from seeing clearly.
“Beat them…
beat them…
beat them to death!”
This was the voice of the people, the voice of public outrage aroused!
The Advisor and those Government Officials escorting the bandits, seeing the mud on the bandits’ bodies, could feel the pain of the bandits!
In their hearts, they silently exclaimed, “That was close, that was close, thank goodness they stopped right there, or they would have been beaten just like them!”
This was an absolute humiliation, a humiliation like being bitten by ants!
The ants they could usually crush with one foot were now biting them so pompously, bite after bite—a different kind of reprisal with another meaning!
Some parents, whose daughters had been kidnapped, upon seeing only men being released, became anxious.
They hurriedly went about inquiring, asking mainly the Advisor and Government Officials.
“As for the women mentioned, we did not see a single one in the stockade, according to the bandits, when they were being annihilated, those women had already fled with some children!”
People inquiring about their relatives could only shake their heads and sigh at this news.
If a woman had a child with a bandit, and if he had not died, she could only raise the child!
To flee was also a sin, raising a bandit’s child who might become another wolf.
Knowing that their daughters might not have died but had been violated and become bandit’s women, what could their relatives do?
They could only wipe away their tears, let them go, and hope that the heavens would protect them, allowing them to live healthily!
Not far from the stockade, through a secret tunnel, those women had already made their escape to the outside of the mountains.
Some were leading children by the hand, some holding children in their arms, with a backpack on their backs.
In the backpack, there were not children’s clothes but the wealth plundered by their men!
As long as they had wealth, they could still go beyond the mountains to raise their children!
If it meant returning to their relatives’ homes, now they no longer had the face to do so.
Previously detained by robbers and unable to return home, they had spent so many years and had several children, their hearts already set on the bandits!
Of course, there were also some women of fierce nature.
But those of such fierce nature had long since died—bandits would not have granted them a good outcome.
This time someone came to exterminate the bandits, and these women did not feel grateful to those people in their hearts; instead, they felt some hatred.
Had it not been for these people killing and capturing the bandits, they and their children would not have lost their home!
Speaking of the Bandit Leader, he had played dead and had not been discovered.
After a long period of time, while his men were being detained and brought down the mountain, he heard that the Governmental Authorities had taken all the wealth of the stockade!
Full of hatred yet powerless, when no one was paying attention to him, he crushed the medicinal powder in his hand, secretly consuming the remaining Healing Medicine and Spirit Supplement Pills.
When people were not looking, she slipped into a large pit she had just found, burrowing in with her spell.
At this moment, he couldn’t care about the burns on his body, nor that he was without any clothes on!
Desperate to escape, he ran through the tunnels faster than those women with children, yet he never encountered them.
He ended up in a decrepit temple at the base of interconnecting mountains, a haven he had created long ago for himself to escape danger!
It was here that he had hidden the important treasures, for as a bandit, he did not fully trust his brethren.
This was also the place where he produced his medicinal concoctions!
Everyone knew he could make medicine but did not know where he made it.
The secret passage underneath the bed did not lead to just one place!
One reason he did not fully trust the people around him was that his brothers’ cultivation was too weak; one day they might not even be able to protect themselves.
He could only flee alone, this time using feigned death to escape.
He did not know if anyone had discovered his escape; looking at his own wounds, he wrapped them angrily, swearing!
He swore he must have his revenge!
He must find those enemies and avenge his grievances!