Against The Heavens

This allowed him to not only stay undiscovered by any scouts that the bandits might have set out to keep an eye on the road, it also allowed him to send out Jinwu to hunt some food for them.

Jinwu was only the size of his palm, but his talons and beak were incredibly sharp. Jinwu alone could easily kill any Demonic beast or person that had not reached the early stage of the Mortal Rune realm. And since Jinwu was capable of flight, he could cover much more ground than Li Yang, making it easier for him to find prey.

With Jinwu providing the meat for them, Li Yang only had to make sure that the meat was cooked and that they had enough water on them. After spending a bit over three days walking to the east, Jinwu warned Li Yang that they were approaching the bandit camp.

After hearing Jinwu"s warning, Li Yang stopped walking forward and started moving to the side. He kept moving to the side until he managed to reach the edge of the Cloud Wilderness. The bandit camp was located a short distance away from the Cloud Wilderness, so entering the edge of the Cloud Wilderness would let Li Yang climb up a tree and get a better view of the camp.

Li Yang found a tree that he considered close enough and tall enough and climbed until he reached a point where he could see the entire bandit camp. It was slightly hard to climb the tree with his small body, but he managed it after spending some time.

The bandit camp that revealed itself to him consisted of six small one-room shacks, as well as one larger three-room shack located at the very center. The shacks were built with logs from the surrounding trees, but they were built very shoddily. A wooden fence surrounded the entire camp, preventing entrance from any other place than the gate.

Seeing the way the camp looked, Li Yang was now certain that the only reason the bandit camp still existed was that the Royal Dragon Pavilion was saving them to test the strength of newcomers. Even the guards of the city would have no problem taking down this bandit camp, so it was clear that someone had stopped the guards from doing so.

"So that"s the bandit camp. That shack at the center should be where the boss is living. That should be his beast companion, a Metal Eater. Should we just go in from the front?"

Li Yang looked over the entire bandit camp from his vantage point. Resting next to the entrance of the largest shack was a large metallic lizard. It was about two meters in length, and its scales looked like solid steel, large metallic spikes grew out from it"s back.

This type of Demonic beast was called a Metal Eater, as its diet consisted mostly of varying types of metal. Its scales did not simply look like solid steel, they were in fact solid steel, just like the spikes growing out from it"s back. The teeth in its maw could easily crush most types of metal that had not been strengthened or carved with an array.

Li Yang"s question was directed at Jinwu, who was perching on his shoulder and overlooking the camp, looking at the Metal Eater with a hungry gaze. After hearing Li Yang"s words, it let out a few caws and jumped around on his shoulder in protest.

"I know that it might cause the bandit leader to flee if we attack like that, but what better plans do we have? Ranged attacks will lose too much strength before reaching them to deal any proper damage."

Li Yang furrowed his eyebrows as he spoke. Simply attacking from the front could easily lead to the bandit leader fleeing when he saw their strength. But their ranged attacks would lose too much power before they managed to reach the bandit camp. Jinwu seemed to have come up with what it thought to be a brilliant idea because its eyes lit up and it jumped around on his shoulder with an excited expression.

"What?! You"re f.u.c.king with me, right? You can"t expect me to actually do that."

Li Yang couldn"t help but curse out when he heard Jinwu"s suggestion. Jinwu ignored his cursing, hopping down from his shoulder and flying around his head as it let out a few excited caws.

"You"re serious? I do agree that it is a better plan, but you really expect me to do something like that?"

The corners of Li Yang"s mouth couldn"t help but twitch when he heard Jinwu talk about his plan. But no matter how much he disliked it, he had to agree that the plan was better than his, he just wished that it wasn"t so humiliating.

"If this does not work, or Fang Ying ever learns about it, I am having Golden Crow soup for dinner."

Li Yang sighed and shook his head, making up his mind. He gave Jinwu a quick glare before making his way down from the tree, a snickering Jinwu following after him.

"Help! Help me! Please help me!"

Not long after he climbed down from the tree, Li Yang ran at full speed into the bandit camp, shouting for help. His wolf skin was torn and shredded, his hair unruly and dirty. His body was covered in small wounds and dirt, making him look like an unfortunate child.

"Halt! Who are you, what are you doing here?!"

After Li Yang fled into the bandit camp, 7 people ran out from the shacks and stopped in front of Li Yang. One of the men was tall and burly, his chest completely bare. He had short brown hair and was blind in one eye.

This man was the only person here at the early stage of the Mortal Rune realm and the Metal Eater followed this man, so he was clearly the bandit leader that Li Yang was looking for.

"Oh thank the heavens, I found people! Please help me, I was attacked by a beast while wandering in the woods, it killed everyone! You need to help me, I"m begging you, I will give you everything I own!"

Li Yang fell down to his knees upon seeing these men, tears streaming down from his face as he crawled forward, begging them on his knees. This was the plan Jinwu had come up with, taking advantage of Li Yang"s small body to get into the camp and have them pity him.

This was the first time Li Yang had ever begged anyone, even when he included his past life, he had never begged anyone. This was just a play, a fake begging, but it was still begging.

The Thunder Monarch kneeled and begged someone who was only at the early stage of the Mortal Rune realm if the people who knew him in his past life ever got to hear this, he did not know how much they would start laughing.

"Calm down, little child. No beast will invade here and attack you, so just calm down. Bring him to a house and give him some food to let him calm down."

One of the bandits walked forward and picked up Li Yang, handing him over to another one of the bandits as he talked. Li Yang was currently just twelve years old, and his body was small and thin, so when he roughed himself up a bit, he easily attracted sympathy from others.

"Its gonna be okay kiddo, people die all the time, you need to learn to overcome it and become stronger. Everything will be fine eventually."

The bandit took Li Yang and started leading him towards a building, all the while trying to comfort him. With them comforting him like this, Li Yang felt slightly bad about what he was going to do next. But he also knew that they were bandits, they had kidnapped several women and killed several travelers.

They were not good people, so he would not spare them if it came to battle. Had it not been for the fact that he was a child, they would probably have chosen to kill and rob him once he entered their camp.

Li Yang placed his hand on the leg of the bandit who was holding him, activating the power of his runes as he did so. Azure lightning shot out from Li Yang"s hand, shooting directly into and through the leg of the bandit. The moment the lightning entered his leg, it spread throughout the rest of his body, frying all of his internal organs.

"What?! Who are you?!"

The moment Li Yang activated the power of his runes, the skill he used to hide his cultivation stopped working, allowing the bandit leader to sense the energy lurking within Li Yang"s body. His expression quickly turned grim as he turned to look at Li Yang.

"I need the head of those two, if you choose to attack me, I will not mind killing all of you."

Li Yang did not respond to the bandit leader, looking at the remaining bandits as he spoke. They were bad people, they did not deserve his mercy. But that did not mean that he would simply engage in a slaughter. If they chose to leave now, he would not pursue them. But he needed the head of the bandit leader and his beast companion, so they could not leave.

"Step back men. Leave this place and don"t look back."

The bandit leader"s expression was solemn and grim as he stepped forward, standing between Li Yang and the other bandits. The Metal Eater also walked forward alongside him. Since he had started the attack, Jinwu flew down from the air and landed on Li Yang"s shoulder, preparing to join in at any time.

The bandit leader could tell that Li Yang was powerful, probably terrifyingly so. If any of his men stayed back, they would just die a pointless death. The fact that Li Yang was willing to let them leave was already something he was thankful for.

"No! We will stand with you, boss, no matter what."

Despite the words of the bandit leader, the other bandits pulled out their weapons and stepped forwards. Their legs and arms were shaking in fear, but they refused to abandon him.

"Admirable. While you are bad people, it seems like there are some honorable parts to you. I will make sure to spread your ashes with the wind."

Li Yang couldn"t help but exclaim slightly. Despite knowing that they would die if they stayed here, they still chose to stay behind. Only extremely loyal or extremely foolish people would do that.

"Me and Little Steel will take the front, everyone else just focus on supporting us."

The bandit leader was both gratified and saddened when he saw how his men had chosen to step forward. He took a step forward, the Metal Eater following right next to him. All he could do now was stand at the front of the battle, doing his best to slay the enemy ahead of him.

"Really, I have no idea how a monster like you can exist."

The bandit leader looked at Li Yang as he spoke, his voice dark. Li Yang was clearly just a child, but he had already managed to engrave a rune, reaching the same level as him. He had spent over thirty years just to carve that single rune he had, yet he was now faced with a child who had reached at least the same level as him. If such a person could not be called a monster, no one could.

"Thank you for the compliment."

In response to the bandit leader"s words, Li Yang"s face lit up with a smile as he unsheathed his weapon. He and Fang Ying would probably have to face the entire world in this life, just as they had in their last life. Only a monster would be able to face the entire world and manage to survive. A monster was exactly what Li Yang needed to become to protect that which he held dear.