Chapter 20 - Trouble.

After organising and putting all of his gains into his backpack, Raymond started pondering a little. He had two options to choose from currently. He could either go back to the city and sell what he had gathered before it became dark, or he could keep going, in hopes of finding something more valuable. To Raymond, the decision seemed pretty easy to make. He didn't want to bite off more than he could chew, so for now, he decided to return. He really wanted to get some more combat experience, but that could wait until the next day.

When he was just about to leave, he could hear the sound of footsteps, and when he turned his head to the side to look, an arrow whizzed right past his right cheek, drawing a neat line of blood. Raymond was both confounded and alerted. If he didn't turn his head, that arrow would've hit him squarely in the face. Trying to ascertain the position of the archer, Raymond noticed three people walking towards him.

One of the men looked at the archer with a disdainful look on his face.

"Huh, come on man, how could you miss a stationary target like that?"

Incensed, the archer instantly started berating him. "Shut up man, if you didn't walk ahead like that, he wouldn't have turned his head you fucking idiot!"

"What did you say?"

The man walking in the middle, presumably their leader, suddenly interrupted their heated discussion. "Both of you shut the fuck up, you can fight all you want later, but don't mess this up."

"Yes, boss!" The two men both replied in unison.

Trying to ascertain their cultivation levels, Raymond's expression became darker. The two dudes who were arguing were both in the peak of the 5th revolution of body-refining, whilst their leader was in the middle of the 6th. This lineup was something that would normally easily deal with a 4th revolution body-refining cultivator, but Raymond wasn't exactly normal. The three of them had arrived just in time to see Raymond emerge from the cave with the Green Spirit Grass in his grasp.

They also saw the dead twin-headed cobra on the ground, but since Raymond was unscathed, and since he was only in the 4th revolution of body-refining, they assumed that he had either ambushed it or that someone else had killed the beast. There was no way for someone at the 4th revolution of body-refining to kill an adult twin-headed cobra without injuries.

"Kid, although I'd usually just take your valuables and let you live, that won't be possible today."

"Just stand there quietly and let us take your life."

The cruel words of the boss echoed in the forest whilst Raymond was quietly observing them. The words of a mere bandit weren't enough to unsettle Raymond, instead, his expression just became colder. Although he had never killed anyone before, there had to be a first time for everything right?

The boss noticed that Raymond wasn't responding, and he instantly lost interest. "Who wants to do the honours?"

"Let me deal with him, I like the look in his eyes." The man who had been at odds with the archer earlier responded with a creepy look on his face.

With his sword drawn, he started walking towards Raymond at a moderate pace. Because of the short distance, he arrived within 5 meters of Raymond in just a few seconds. When he was just 3 meters away, Raymond suddenly sighed.

"What? Did yo-"

Before the man could finish his mocking sentence, he noticed that no words were coming out. As he looked down, he saw a large hole in his throat. Blood was pouring out profusely, but instead of feeling pain, the man only felt sheer terror. His life was slipping away from him, and there was nothing he could do about it. He didn't even notice when Raymond had appeared in front of him, but that was the last of his problems right now.

Whilst he was busy trying to cover the hole in his throat, Raymond had already arrived in front of his accomplices. The look on their faces was both of shock and pure anger. They had just seen their comrade being stabbed in the throat, and in their experience, they knew he was done for the moment Raymond took his sword out.

Raymond's speed was definitely his strongest trait, along with the sharpness of his attacks, but even so, the boss could keep up with his speed. Although Raymond had initially been aiming for the archer, the boss stepped in front of him, protecting him in the process. Raymond was surprised, but he took advantage of the opportunity and slashed out with his sword. The attack fell short by a significant margin, which surprised the boss, did this kid just miss that badly?

Whilst he was thinking, he could feel a warm and wet substance hit him straight in the eyes. There was still some blood left on Raymond's sword, which he made use of to blind his opponent by flicking it in his eyes.

With the boss temporarily blinded, Raymond took the opportunity to finish off the archer beside him. Since the boss was temporarily blinded, he wasn't much of a threat, but the same couldn't be said for the archer. The archer's original attack almost killed him, so there was no way he was going to give him another chance to finish him off. The archer had originally felt a little smug after his boss stepped in, expecting the kid to be finished off in just an instant, but to be safe, he had prepared an arrow just in case.

To his surprise, his boss was suddenly blinded, and the kid took the opportunity to attack him. Since he had nocked an arrow, he just let it fly in Raymond's direction, hoping for the best. Raymond was prepared, and he dodged it to the best of his ability. Unfortunately, the arrow was still a bit too fast, and it lodged itself deep in his left shoulder. The pain didn't come immediately because of the adrenaline rush, and Raymond swung his sword with additional ferocity.

The archer who saw his arrow hit Raymond's shoulder was originally happy, at least until his head was severed from his body.

The boss had already wiped off the blood in his eyes just to see this scene unfold. Before Raymond could recover, he unleashed all of his strength and lunged at him with his sword. Raymond could barely react and put his sword up to defend in time, but the impact sent him flying backwards for more than 5 meters.

The boss didn't intend to let Raymond recover, and he instantly followed him with his sword raised high. Raymond's mind was unprecedentedly focused as he was whistling through the air, and he saw that he was heading straight for a tree. A thought appeared in his mind, an idea. It was now or never. He manoeuvred his body so that his feet landed on the trunk of the tree.

With his sword in hand, he pushed off the tree with all his might and clashed swords with the boss. A high-pitched sound echoed throughout the forest, and a head was sent flying through the air....