Martial Arts Have Mastery - Chapter 21
Chapter 21: They Can’t Do Anything to Hurt Me
Translator: Tuiwen Editor: Tuiwen
Seeing the doubtful look on Shen Ling’s face, Miss Qin filled him in on what happened.
Shen Ling had guessed right.
Because the Chennan Trading Company was a very powerful group, normally, even if there was a merchant group that traveled without guards, as long as they had put on Chennan Trading Company’s banner, bandits and robbers would keep out of their path.
But there was one thing that Shen Ling did not expect to happen.
Shen Ling turned to look at Miss Qin with a puzzled expression on his face. “You said that someone had interfered and deliberately stopped the theft from being reported?”
Miss Qin nodded her head and said in a slow voice, “The Chennan Trading Company is not a united business. For example, someone stopped the process of our transaction because it didn’t match their interests.”
Shen Ling thought this over for a while and then asked, “Who stole the goods?”
“Green Mountain Bandits.”
Miss Qin replied calmly. “Even if any of the other bandits knew about the goods, they wouldn’t dare to attempt to steal them.”
“Green Mountain Bandits…”
Upon hearing the name, Shen Ling could not help but sigh.
The Green Mountain Bandits were notorious for being the number one force in the world of bandits. Not only were their members too numerous to count, but they were also a very powerful group. Even the government armies could do nothing to suppress them.
Shen Ling thought this over some more and said in a slow voice, “Miss Qin, I know that you trust me, but this is no easy matter to handle…”
“I know this.”
Miss Qin nodded her head. “If it was easy to deal with, I would not have troubled Young Master Shen.”
As she said this, Miss Qin set a notebook on the table.
“What is this?”
Shen Ling looked at the notebook and flipped through it upon Miss Qin’s nod of approval.
The famous leaders of the bandits and even detailed information on the strength of these people were clearly underlined.
Shen Ling continued to look through the pages.
This notebook, almost as thick as a tome, recorded everything worth knowing about the bandits here. From the origin of the bandits to their history later on, the book was a detailed record of the bandits.
Shen Ling felt quite shocked at this massive amount of information collected.
This book was even more detailed than some family tree.
As Shen Ling was looking through the information on the bandits, Miss Qin headed into the secret chamber again.
When Shen Ling finally finished reading the book from front to back, there was already a book on cultivation techniques on the table.
It was called ‘Regretless Mountain Fist.’
Shen Ling lifted his head and asked, “Miss Qin, what is this about?”
Miss Qin said with a calm look on her face, “The original payment will stay the same. Consider this cultivation technique book my advance for Young Master Shen.”
“Miss Qing is really too generous.”
Shen Ling flipped through the ‘Regretless Mountain Fist’ book and saw the label of ‘rank-eight upper-grade’ stamped on it. He blinked his eyes rapidly and exclaimed in a loud voice.
Stuffing the fist manual in his pocket, Shen Ling said with a smile on his face, “Alright, I’m in.”
After he said that, Shen Ling stood up.
Seeing that Shen Ling was heading out to leave, Miss Qin held the book that had all the information on the bandits up, and asked, “Young Master Shen, aren’t you going to take this book with you and look through it some more?”
“There’s no need.”
Shen Ling turned his head, smiled, and said, “I have already memorized everything in the book.”
A flash of surprise shot across Miss Qin’s eyes.
By the time she came to her senses, Shen Ling had already gone.
After coming back home from the Chennan Trading Company, Shen Ling put the ‘Regretless Mountain Fist’ book away and rubbed his temples heavily.
Green Mountain Bandits.
The first time he had come across them was through that bunch of swindlers who had impersonated them. But now, he was going to have to face the real deal.
This was different from the time the swindlers entered the village. This time, he had to face the real Green Mountain Bandits and their weapons and equipment would prove to be far more superior than what the impersonators were waving around.
It could be said that the Green Mountain Bandits were very well equipped with state of the art weapons, and they were on par with the royal army of the Great Qian Empire.
They even had the triple crossbows.
There was no chance of beating them if they were to face these bandits head-on.
This was proving to be a very difficult situation!
As he went through the information on the Green Mountain Bandits in his head, Shen Ling’s eyes suddenly lit up.
According to the information given to him by the Chennan Trading Company, the leader of the Green Mountain Bandits was different from the other bandit leaders. Unlike all the others, this person valued integrity and justice.
Maybe, just maybe, they didn’t need to fight…
The very next day.
Shen Ling rode his horse to the top of the Green Mountain.
As he rode up the winding and rugged mountain path, a fortress located at the top of the mountain started to show up in front of Shen Ling.
“Who are you? Why are you here? State your business.”
Before he arrived at the mountain stronghold, an arrow landed on the ground in front of Shen Ling.
Shen Ling cupped his hands and shouted out loud, “I am Shen Ling from the Shen family. I would like to meet with your chief. Can you let him know?”
“Meet our chief?”
A bandit gave Shen Ling a look and put away his sword. “Wait right here. Don’t move a muscle.”
His words were crude and not polite at all, and after he said that, he turned around and walked into the forest.
Some time later, the bandit reappeared and said to Shen Ling, “The chief agrees to meet with you. You can follow me.”
Shen Ling followed the bandit into the mountain fortress.
He passed his horse to another bandit at the entrance gate of the fortress as he walked all the way into the fortress.
Once they reached the top of the mountain, Shen Ling was greeted by a huge wooden house.
The bandit walked into the house, bowed, cupped his fists, and said, “Chief, Shen Ling is here to see you.”
“You can go now.”
A man in his forties, who had a scholarly look to him, said in a slow voice.
“Yes.”
The bandit respectfully made his way out of the house. Only then did he slowly shift his body around.
Seeing that the bandit had left, the scholarly-looking chief turned to look at Shen Ling, giving him the once-over as he said, “Why has the young master of the Shen family left Qi Hua City and come here? What business do you have with my people?”
Shen Ling looked at the axemen surrounding their chief and smiled. “I’m here to discuss a business deal with the chief.”
“You’re here to talk about business?”
The chief suddenly burst out laughing. “We only snatch things. Business is not something we do.”
Shen Ling shook his head back and forth. “That might not be the case for long.”
Seeing the confused look the chief was giving him, Shen Ling said, “Chief, from what I know, you are troubled about your food supply. The food stored in the fortress will not last until next month’s harvest.”
“Huh?”
The chief glanced over at Shen Ling and laid himself down on a chair. “Continue with what you’re saying.”
Shen Ling slowly opened his mouth to say, “I am willing to exchange grain for the batch of items you have snatched from the Chennan Trading Company.”
The chief stared at Shen Ling, his expression suddenly turning cold through and through. “How do you know about this?”
Shen Ling turned to look at the chief and said in a tone neither servile nor overbearing, “Then for what reason does the chief think I came here for?”
The two of them gave each other a look, and after some time had passed, the chief’s face suddenly revealed a smile.
The chief slammed his fists onto the table. “So that’s how it’s going to be!’
“Take him down.”
Before he finished speaking, the surrounding axemen instantly inched closer to Shen Ling.
Shen Ling stood there without moving, totally ignoring the axemen approaching him.
“Stop where you are.”
When the axemen were closing in on Shen Ling, the chief lifted his hand and turned to look at Shen Ling. “Why didn’t you dodge their attack just now?”
Shen Ling swept his gaze to the surrounding axemen and said in a soft voice, “Because they can’t do anything to hurt me.”
The chief clapped his hands. “I like your confidence!”
Suddenly, an axeman made a move and chopped his ax towards Shen Ling’s chest.
Shen Ling ducked to the side, and then directly crushed into the arms of the axeman. The blade of the ax slipped out of the axeman’s hand, and Shen Ling caught it with his backhand, and set the blade on the neck of the axeman — all of this happened within a split of a moment.
“Did you see enough?”
Shen Ling turned his eyes to look at the chief. His eyes were calm throughout all this.
He could tell that the chief had been testing him this entire time.
It was most likely that the chief had arranged this surprise attack from the axeman after the bandit had notified him of Shen Ling’s arrival.
As for what would occur if he somehow didn’t manage to dodge it?
One simple word: Die..
