Volume One, Chapter 21: Encounter with Bandits

Sunlight slanted across, illuminating the masked man’s stern features.

The others all played the role of silent strongmen, ostensibly bowing their heads in deep thought, but what they truly pondered remained a mystery to everyone.

The abilities of the Third Kazekage were incredibly useful. In fact, the powers of the Kazekages throughout history were all extraordinary, some resembling the elemental Devil Fruits from One Piece.

If Su Hai hadn’t casually brought up such a taboo subject, Su Tianxin wouldn’t be so unsettled at this moment.

The leadership team of Shelter No. 2 sat together in a vehicle custom-made by Shelter No. 9, slowly moving forward, while the accompanying corpse clan members were forced to walk on foot.

He turned and approached the seventh-level barrier. The spiritual herbs on the sixth level were already remarkable—what wonders might the seventh level’s herbs hold? Filled with excitement, he took out the array-breaking stone and continued to dismantle the seventh-level restrictions.

Therefore, the Third Kazekage only needed to assign someone to monitor Lin Xi’s words and actions, ensuring no disturbance would come to Naruto.

There was no turning back now; they had to obediently move forward. Seeing the situation, he knew they had already fallen into the old man’s encirclement—escape was impossible.

“No wonder this place doesn’t look like it was just moved into a few days ago,” Ning Zhou thought, recalling that laboratory.

Su Tianxin suspected this matter might have further developments today. She wanted to ask this person exactly what was going on, so she could prepare herself mentally. She was genuinely worried that this prince might come to China and challenge or spar with her.

“This Hongyang Qin is yours now,” Elder Shengran said with a smile. “In your leisure moments, playing it might be a good way to calm your mind and clear your spirit.” Though he wasn’t entirely satisfied with Duan Gaoyang’s performance, it was better than he had imagined—at least not as bad as feared.

After two and a half months of training and continuous nourishment from medicinal ginseng, this split form could now nurture and store the essence deep within the body, making it much stronger than the average person. Upon opening the dantian, it immediately generated eighty-one strands of true qi.

The iron bowstring was taut and resilient. The arrows it shot were sharp and powerful—any that struck would pierce the flesh nearly an inch deep. With blood grooves carved into the arrowheads, these seemingly harmless arrows were in fact potent toxins, rapidly draining the silver-tailed monkey’s blood.

“How can you say it’s for my own good! Look at what you’ve done—making me wear these fully covered pants in this scorching heat! How am I supposed to face anyone now?” Liu Nianfeng was utterly infuriated upon hearing Xiyue’er’s sly excuses.

“...Your Majesty, forgive me, I truly don’t know,” Chen Shihan and Liu Nianfeng could only plead ignorance in the face of Leng Qiuzhi’s questioning.

Clearly, the price of the first water spirit crystal and the last one was often the highest. Few were willing to risk everything to obtain them.

Especially at this auction, judging by what the two captains said, both managed to acquire valuable items.

Such damage once or twice was hardly significant; no one would take it to heart. But if a warship suffered continuous assaults like this, even its admiral would be spitting blood in frustration.

Today, Wu Yun’er dressed with special care. Though she never wore skirts, she donned the one Chu Yun had gifted her. She looked truly beautiful, and despite a slight flaw in her chest area, Chu Yun was still deeply impressed.

This was actually Chu Yun subtly alluding to Zhao Li and Zhao Zhe. Particularly, Zhao Li was unaware that Zhao Zhe had already revealed their formation of a united front, so he didn’t realize Chu Yun was deliberately trying to unsettle him and sow discord between the two.