Not long after, footsteps were heard in the distance, gradually approaching. Yuchi Jie first raised his eyebrows slightly and took two steps in that direction. Then he paused slightly and turned back to look at Wang Anfeng, shaking his head as he said in a deep voice:
"There are others on this mountain."
Wang Anfeng smelled a faint scent of blood coming from the tip of his nose.
Suddenly everyone heard the subtle sounds of weapons scraping against each other, a continuous low clanking sound that was moving toward them at a not-so-slow speed.
Wang Anfeng looked in that direction, paused for a moment, and said softly:
Two what? Two swords?!
Jue Que, Fish Intestines?
Immediately thinking of the encounters from days before, Lin Qiaofu's face paled slightly, and her right hand tightly grasped onto Lv Baiping's garment. Lv Baiping, as usual, positioned her junior sister behind her, pursed her lips, also not looking very composed.
Though Gong Yu's expression remained cold, her right hand had already gently rested on the hilt of her sword.
The slightly elongated longsword then revealed an inch of cold light.
Uncle Jian hurriedly stepped in front of Lin Qiaofu and Lv Baiping. Yuchi Jie chuckled dryly, looked at Hong Luoyu not far from him, and ultimately did not have the courage to step forward, so he timidly moved behind Uncle Jian.
Lv Baiping glared at him and said nothing but gripped the sword in her hand tightly, her breath showing slight instability.
Having encountered another strange scenario after being ambushed by two first-rate masters last time, she was genuinely nervous. Yet, with a Grandmaster like Hong Luoyu by her side, her nervousness was only to that extent.
Her eyes slightly widened, staring intently in the direction from which the sound came.
They did not have to wait long.
Accompanied by rustling noises and the snapping sounds of dry branches breaking under the weight on the rocky mountain path, two figures tumbled and stumbled down a steep part of the mountain path. They seemed very experienced. When they hit the ground, they rolled into a ball to avoid rolling off the path directly, which gave Lin Qiaofu and the others quite the scare.
The two men also did not expect, at this time, to find others on the mountain path. Disheveled from their fall, they paused slightly.
Looking at their appearance, they seemed to be just two ordinary Taoists, except their Taoist robes were soiled from tumbling down the path, making them appear quite ragged.
Each was holding a sword in their right hand.
These were just ordinary swords sold in any blacksmith's shop, yet these two Taoists, despite their disheveled state from falling down the mountain path, had not loosened their grip, which softened Uncle Jian's gaze slightly.
Observing their Qi Mechanism, they seemed like ordinary Martial Artists. The older one appeared to have Ninth Grade Inner Strength, while the younger was just an ordinary warrior who had barely crossed the Ninth Grade threshold and was not yet stable.
Seeing that the newcomers were not the Famous Sword Masters he first thought of, Wang Anfeng relaxed slightly, and then chuckled to himself, feeling he had been overly anxious. Looking at the two Taoists, he lowered his guard somewhat and asked:
"Sirs, what is happening here?."
The older Taoist got up from the ground and also helped his junior, who had weaker martial arts skills, to stand. Hearing Wang Anfeng, he first bowed and was about to speak when his junior lightly pushed him on the shoulder, causing him to stagger to the side.
Wang Anfeng saw several tears in the Taoist's clothing at the waist, where the wounds had picked up dust and looked dark, then wet again with fresh blood.
The younger Taoist, noticing his elder brother's condition, appeared annoyed at himself for forgetting his brother's wounds, and quickly supported his elder's arm, saying:
"Oh, what time is this to be bowing? Do you want to die."
But the elder brother just smiled. The younger Taoist looked at Wang Anfeng and the others. His eyes swept over Gong Yu and the others, flashing a moment of admiration but quickly suppressed it, and sped up his speech, saying:
"You should all leave soon too."
"This place has been attacked by bandits. My brother and I originally planned to head up the mountain earlier tonight, but we had no choice when those murderous bandits were so brutal. We barely escaped by running blindly, so it's better for you all to leave the mountain sooner as well."
"Also, it's best if these ladies could cover their faces, lest the bandits see them and get evil ideas... that would be really bad."
Seeing the injuries on the two Taoists, Wang Anfeng said:
"There's no rush, please wait a moment."
"We have medicine for healing here, let's attend to this Taoist's injuries before discussing anything else."
Lin Qiaofu, always kind-hearted and never having bloodied her hands, upon hearing that the Taoists had fled from bandits, immediately saw them as good people. She had already opened her small cloth bag and began searching through it.
The younger Taoist, upon seeing this, was nearly hopping mad, pulling his elder by the arm and loudly saying:
"Elder brother, let's go!"
"If they want to die, let them seek their own deaths, hmph!"
"Losing some blood now is better than having our heads chopped off and being humiliated later!"
The older Taoist, being pulled forward, wore a helpless, wry smile, and looking at Wang Anfeng, apologized: "My junior is somewhat straightforward and outspoken, please do not take offense, young hero."