"Nian Ye, why have you been captured as well?"

An older woman, who was dressed in short robes with a floral pattern, noticed Gu Ruoyun immediately as she entered the square and looked mildly shocked. She then cried out angrily, "These bandits simply have no humanity! They wouldn't even spare a maiden. Furthermore, she's only a passerby yet this time, she has been dragged down by the Wind Fall Village."

Gu Ruoyun smiled gently as she asked, "Auntie Hua, are these bandits very powerful?"

"Of course they are," sighed Auntie Hua. "Apparently, the Leader of these bandits is a Martial King! To us common folk, a Martial King is simply invincible! It looks that the Wind Fall Village is finished this time."

A Martial King?

Gu Ruoyun shrugged her shoulders.

There were numerous Martial Kings in the Northern Block Territory so they were not considered to be particularly outstanding. However, how could they have possibly been reduced to looting from villagers?

After all, generally speaking, cultivators were a very proud bunch. They have always viewed anyone attacking the common folk with disdain! Hence, even though common folk does exist on the mainland, they have always lived peaceful and untouched lives.

"Nian Ye, if you get the chance, just run. Don't worry about us. These bandies have never blinked whenever it comes to murder so no good can come from falling into their hands."

Under these circumstances, some of the simple villagers were still worried about Gu Ruoyun's safety. It made her feel rather touched.

"Don't worry, just leave this matter to me."

Gu Ruoyun smiled and turned her gaze towards the bandit at the foremost of the group.

"Leave it to you?" Auntie Hua was stunned and she could not understand the meaning behind Gu Ruoyun's words. "Nian Ye, I know that you're not an average person so perhaps you're a cultivator too. However, these bandits' powers aren't like anyone else's. If you rush towards them, you'll lose out!"

These villagers have never left Wind Fall Village all their life so they do not really understand the world outside. Therefore, when it comes to the insignificant Martial Kings who were not even worth mentioning, they were like gods in the villager's eyes.

Gu Ruoyun shrugged her shoulders and carried a nonchalant smile on her face as if she had not heard Auntie Hua's exclamation.

When Auntie Hua noticed that Gu Ruoyun had paid no notice to her warning, she became anxious. "Nian Ye, I see that you're still very young and even if you do have pretty good talent, you must only be at the rank of a Martial General now. You're no match for those bandits."

The Black Mountain Cliff Bandits have always mentioned that their leader has great power and Martial Kings at their Leader's age were too few to count. Hence, to the villagers, regardless of how talented she was, Gu Ruoyun's young age could only mean that she must be a Martial General.

However, the guileless Auntie Hua was not aware that there was such a thing called bragging in this world!

"It looks like everyone is here now."

The head of the bandits stood up from his chair and swept his fearsome gaze across the villagers cowering beneath him. His face carried a cruel sneer as he said, "Today, I'm going to make an announcement! The Wind Fall Villagers shall contribute one woman to the Black Cliff Mountain Bandits every month. If you miss out on one month, I'll come down to the Wind Fall Village and kill two people!"

What?

Hearing this, the men of Wind Fall Village exploded with rage.

"You want us to use our women in exchange for us to drag out an ignoble existence? We won't do this! This is a complete damage to our honor as men!"

"That's right! Brothers, we're not going to listen to these bandits anymore! We can deal with the fact that he's making us contribute a big half of our food every year but now he's making grand designs over our wives and daughter! A real man would never allow anyone to tarnish our wives! I'd rather die than allow anyone to abuse my family!"