Six old soldiers captured one female soldier and three male soldiers.
The captives’ hands were bound behind their backs, their wrists tied with zip ties, rendering them completely immobile; they could only walk under pressure from their captors.
Gu Xiaoxi looked in the direction they were heading; it was exactly the next stronghold she intended to visit, where the fifth-ranked expert resided.
Gu Xiaoxi lay in the bushes, listening to the conversation from afar.
"Don’t even think about running away. Let me tell you, the mission card is on me; running away is useless. If you don’t complete the mission, you’ll be eliminated just the same."
"Song Jingyi, isn’t it? Don’t think that just because you’re good friends with Gu Xiaoxi, she’ll come to your rescue. To tell you the truth, Gu Xiaoxi is being targeted by our Captain Zhao, who has already dispatched three teams to capture her. By now, she might already be a captive."
Song Jingyi was drenched in sweat, her backpack was incredibly heavy, and to make matters worse, her hands were tied behind her back. She was in quite the predicament.
This group of men, six of them capturing her alone, she was just unlucky to have fallen into their encirclement.
"Don’t get cocky. Three teams are nothing special. For all you know, Gu Xiaoxi might have already wiped out that bunch of trash."
"Who are you calling trash?" The leader of the six, Yang Jian, angrily stepped forward, poking Song Jingyi’s head with the barrel of his gun.
Song Jingyi’s face darkened instantly, "I spoke of those defeated by Gu Xiaoxi, I didn’t mention you all. Don’t assume it’s about you."
"Woman, you must be tired of living! Don’t you know, Zhu Zheng and Wu Gui are my brothers, and you dare call them trash. Believe it or not, I can teach you how to speak and behave all over again in minutes. If it weren’t for the fact that you’re a woman, I would have punched you already."
Song Jingyi lifted her chin, flicked the sweat from her forehead, took a deep breath, and glared at Yang Jian, her demeanor as defiant as ever, entirely unafraid of him. She said, "So you don’t allow me to denigrate your brothers, then don’t you denigrate my sisters. I’ll have you know, the likes of you, Gu Xiaoxi could knock out three with a single punch."
"Hahaha! Did you hear that? Did you hear what she said? Ridiculous! Hahaha," Yang Jian laughed instead of getting angry upon hearing what Song Jingyi said.
His teammates behind him also burst into uproarious laughter.
"She actually says Gu Xiaoxi alone could take on three of us. The calf doesn’t fear the tiger because it’s new. Let me tell you who I am!"
Yang Jian puffed out his chest, stood tall and spirited as he proudly declared, "Wu Gui and I are both disciples of Southern Shaolin. My specialty isn’t marksmanship, nor Wu Gui’s Golden Bell Shield, but the Seventy-Two Ultimate Skills. If it weren’t for the fact that I drank too much that night and got drunk, Gu Xiaoxi wouldn’t have been able to show off as she did."
"It’s not just Brother Tang talking big. If he hadn’t been defeated in marksmanship, tactics, and overall ability by the top four, he wouldn’t be known as the fifth. I tell you, no one except for Zhao Zilong has ever beaten him in combat," another soldier bragged on the side.
Yang Jian immediately lifted his head, his face glowing with pride, as proud as a peacock.
Song Jingyi rolled her eyes, glanced at Yang Jian; tall and burly, with solid arms and thunderous steps, he could leave a crater in the forest floor’s rotting leaves with just one step.
It was clear enough that he indeed had some skill.
But in Song Jingyi’s mind, Gu Xiaoxi’s abilities were always a mystery, like a bottomless pit; no matter how one probed, they could never grasp the full extent.
Therefore, defeating Yang Jian would naturally be no problem for her.
"Song Jingyi, you disagree? Let me tell you, unless I never encounter Gu Xiaoxi. But if I do, you’ll see how I deal with her. Wu Gui, Na Qi, Zhu Zheng, they’re a disgrace, defeated by her in just a few moves. It just shows that their cultivation isn’t strong enough," Yang Jian thumped his chest and guaranteed.
He spoke as though he were already invincible in the world.