A little earlier, when Chu Yang went to confront the bandit leader, Qing Yi quickly made her way over towards the location of the two first stage Foundation Establishment bandits.
Whoosh~
Making her way through a side tunnel in the mountain cave, Qing Yi soon found herself out in the open again.
Several small wooden buildings soon appeared in front of her, as Qing Yi quickly realized that she had made it through the mountain and reached the other side.
This should be the real base of the bandit group!
Coming to this conclusion as she quickly scanned over the surprised bandits about to carry a few crates through the tunnel she had just come out of, Qing Yi soon focused on two middle-aged men standing in the back. Looking over at her cautiously with their weapons drawn.
"You are one of the disciples from the Flying Sword Sect!? What are you-"
Exclaiming in surprise upon recognising who Qing Yi was, the bandit was soon interrupted by the fact that Qing Yi did not wait for him to finish as she attacked.
Fwoosh!
The attack of Qing Yi was different from how it had been in the past, as a large flame coated her sword before shooting out in the form of a large fire sword made of fire qi, that rushed over towards one of the two Foundation Establishment bandits.
After she trained with her new cultivation mantra and the fact that she had gotten more control over her Bright Sun Divine Physique. Completely transformed her combat style over the past few months.
However, Qing Yi had not come close to fully mastering her new fire related abilities, Qing Yi had still experienced a leap in strength.
"Argh!"
The Foundation Establishment bandit did his best to block the fire sword of Qing Yi, but had no way to stand up to it, as he was directly reduced to dust…
Whoosh!
The other Foundation Establishment Realm bandit, who just watched his fellow bandit friend being reduced to dust in an instant by a young girl, did not dare to stay around any longer. Turning around before escaping into the distance.
However, Qing Yi did not plan to let him run away, as she gathered her qi together and launched another sword made of fire in the direction of the escaping bandit.
Fwoosh!
"Wha-!?"
Only able to let out half a word, the escaping bandit did not even manage to react and put up a defensive barrier before joining his friend.
The difference in strength between them was simply too large, as the two first stage Foundation Establishment Realm bandits could not even block a single attack from Qing Yi, who was at the fifth stage of the Foundation Establishment Realm…
That was not counting the fact that she was stronger than normal fifth stage Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators, due to her Bright Sun Divine Physique and Heaven Rank cultivation mantra.
The Foundation Establishment Realm bandit could be considered quite unlucky to have met someone like Qing Yi as their opponent…
""…""
The remaining bandits standing around the base with crates and other things in hand, preparing to move out. Did not know what to do as they just saw their two leaders being reduced to dust within the span of no more than a few seconds.
Qing Yi also stood still like the bandits and looked over at what remained of the two bandit leaders. Not knowing what to say as a part of her felt bad for killing the bandits, but another part of her remember what Chu Yang had told her and quickly supressed her regret for killing the two bandits.
"Hah…"
Letting out a sigh as she turned to look at the shivering bandits, Qing Yi closed her eyes.
Someone had to deal with these bandits… If not, they will just bring even more suffering to the surrounding villages in the future!
Thinking about how these bandits were using their cultivation to take advantage of the normal mortals, Qing Yi could not help but feel something fundamental change inside of her as she no longer felt hesitant when thinking about killing the bandits around her.
"L-let's get away!"
"Y-yeah… She seems to be deep in thought or something…"
"True, this is our only chance!"
As Qing Yi was slowly changing her way of thinking. The surrounding bandits did not let go of such an opportunity, as they quietly conversed among each other, while slowly beginning to move away from Qing Yi.
Of course, all of this was heard by Qing Yi as she opened her eyes once again. No longer hesitant about how to deal with the remaining bandit!
Earlier when she had killed the two Foundation Establishment Realm bandits, she had not truly wanted to kill them, it was just that they were way weaker than she had expected.𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂
Even when she had lowered the strength of her second attack, Qing Yi did not expect for the escaping bandit leader to not even put up any defensive barriers, as he joined the other bandit leader…
Fwoosh!
"Wha- Flames! Where did these flames come from!? Argh!"
"W-what is thi-"
"H-help m-"
Not hesitating about killing the bandits any longer, Qing Yi fully showed off her brilliant mastery of fire qi for the first time ever, as the slowly retreating bandits. Along with the wooden buildings, were directly swallowed up by a sea of fire.
The sea of fire continued to spread out with Qing Yi at the centre before reaching a little over a hundred meters away from her in all directions.
Rumble!
In a dazed state as she kept the sea of fire going, Qing Yi did not notice that the cave she came through collapsed behind her.
Fwoosh!
"Hah…"
After another few seconds passed, Qing Yi could finally not bear the qi consumption of keeping the sea of fire running, as she directly fell onto the ground and began breathing in heavily.
Looking around at the surrounding terrain, Qing Yi could not help but suck in a breath of cold air. The bandits, the small wooden houses and even a few trees, were all completely gone!
All that remained was the ground that had turned completely black under Qing Yi's fire…
Maybe… She had overdone it…
Smiling wryly at this thought, Qing Yi quickly sat up in a meditative position before trying to recover the qi that she had just spent.
Walking around in her current state was way too dangerous and she would have to recover before going back to where Chu Yang and Huang Yongyu were at. After all, she did not want to run into a bandit on her way back in her current state…