The cages were made out of hardwood which could be found anywhere in the forest. If it were a normal adult man, or even a teenager with little body tempering realm cultivation, they would be able to break through the cage easily, but for children, something like this would not have been possible.
Lin Mu could see the traces of the cages being used extensively and there were even scratch marks on the cage which showed that whoever was imprisoned within them struggled a lot.
His spirit sense spread around and discovered two more cages kept inside the tents. But these cages were not empty. Each of the cages had a child trapped in it, both of them being boys of around six or seven years of age.
From their clothes Lin Mu could tell they were probably low born peasants and seeing their tan skin, they were probably from this region since they got more sunlight here than in the north.
"Seems like they were kidnapped by these bandits to be sold as slaves…" Lin Mu muttered to himself as his eyes trained on the bandits.
The scarred man who was carrying the sack with the child put it down and opened it, revealing the unconscious girl within it. She looked to be of five years of age but was wearing better clothes than the other two boys.
'She doesn't seem to be a peasant… perhaps the child of a merchant or businessman?' Lin Mu thought.
Lin Mu did not act right away, as he wanted to know what these bandits did with the other children. Even if he could save these three children right now, and kill the bandits, he would be missing out on the information about the other children.
He could also interrogate them, but obtaining information that way would be a bit inefficient. Whereas just by eavesdropping on them, he reckoned, he should be able to obtain plenty of clues to the whereabouts of the others.
"Today was a good haul, we'll get a good price for this girl. Look at her, she got better skin and face, in a few years she'll be worth ten times her price." The scarred bandits spoke.
"You're right. Though, when will those people be coming to buy next?" Another short bandit questioned.
"They come around every week, so perhaps today or in a couple of days from now. Shouldn't matter much, we just need to watch them for a bit and keep them here." The scarred bandit spoke.
"Who would have thought the safest place for us to hide would be near the territory of a cultivation sect." Another bandit spoke.
"Though what sect is it that we are near?" A younger bandit questioned.
"You should ask this to Ba Lian, he's the only one who's a cultivator here." The short bandit replied.
The bandit who had the scarred face was evidently named Ba Lian. He opened a gourd that was placed nearby and took a swig. The pungent smell of cheap and crude wine could be felt coming from it.
"Ah~ good wine… The cultivation sect? It's called as the Tri Cauldron peony sect, they're pretty big in the kingdom and call shots nowadays. Apparently, even the king heed's their orders and they have great sway among the other sects too." Ba Lian answered.
"Why would they allow us to function here, then? I mean aren't the sects 'righteous'?" The Younger bandit asked curiously.
~slap~
The short bandit slapped the back of the younger bandit's head while the other bandits chuckled in delight.
"Whose side are you on Little Bo, huh? You're gonna jinx us if you say things like that." The Short bandit said.
"Bah! What do you know, those sects are just like us all, dirty. They're just better at hiding it, but behind their 'masks' they're all the same." Ba Lian spoke.
"Now don't spoil the mood and get the food. I'm hungry after all that work. Get some of that money and buy more stuff tomorrow when you go out, and don't forget to get the wine I like." Ba Lian spoke.
The other bandits also made requests of what they all wanted while the Little Bo did his best to remember it, though it looked like he was having a hard time. One of the bandits looked at the kidnapped girl and spoke.
"Look, she's waking up. Put her in the cage too." The bandit ordered.
Little Bo couldn't do much but to listen to the orders. He was new here and just like any junior, he would have to do menial tasks for his seniors till another junior came in. He couldn't do much other than to just grit his teeth and do his work. At least he was getting good money from banditry, much more than he did when he worked at his old man's farm.
He picked up the girl and locked her inside one of the empty cages outside. Once he returned back, he was sent to prepare the food while the rest of the bandits lazed around.
Lin Mu's eyes narrowed as he checked the distance between the bandits and the cages where the children were held. Confirming that the distance was sufficient, Lin Mu decided to act.
He sank into the ground using Phase and appeared below the group of bandits. They were completely unaware of him and were joking around when suddenly a squelching sound was heard.
~splatter~
"XI LAO!" The bandits shouted as they suddenly saw the legs of a bandit pretty much explode.
"AAAAAAA!!!!" The bandit named Xi Lao cried in pain.
Xi Lao was sitting at the very back and hence the rest of them had not seen what had happened. But they didn't have to wonder about it for long as it happened another time.
~splatter~
And again.
~splatter~
And once again.
~splatter~
"What the hell is that?!" Ba Lian exclaimed, not knowing the cause.
"I-I… I think I saw a hand…" another bandit said while stammering.
"What?" Ba Lian questioned again.
"A HAND CAME FROM THE GROUND!"
