So he got up and said he would go into Anhui to see the boy, and he started packing. He was happy to have some freedom at last, and he wanted to get out without anyone noticing.
He did not know that twenty carriages and more than a hundred guards were already being made ready for him. Everything was prepared for him to go out.
But to him, all of that was only extra weight. So he thought of a plan.
He called everyone together for drinks and announced that he would leave tomorrow. His sister was planning to say her goodbyes. But when he heard the sound of his brother-in-law mixed in with a whole herd of opinionated men, he decided to wait outside instead.
Meanwhile the guards were being drugged by Han. Not with the wine, but with something that scattered their internal energy. They would not be able to move until morning. It was a paralytic poison that his doctor had given him for emergencies.
He was about to leave when his sister came out. She hugged him and told him to stay safe, not to push himself too hard. If he ever grew tired, or ever grew frightened, he was to come home. She and Papa would always be waiting.
Then he went to the stables, took the Emperor's finest horse, and began his journey.
The next day he reached a small village, but the people there still looked at him as though he were a criminal. In the best case, a chicken thief who had come to steal a chicken. So he posed as an officer. He said he was looking for something on behalf of a master's son.
He asked whether anyone had seen a red glowing stone up on the mountain. The villagers were confused, until an old man said that he had seen a light while walking on the mountain at sunset. A red beam reflecting back at him in the evening sun.
Han quickly asked where. The name of the place was Pagoda Mountain, but the old man warned him not to go there. That was the territory of the Nine Dragons clan, and they were no ordinary bandits. They were savages.
This only confirmed to Han that he was in the right place. So he asked the old man to guide him. He was frightened at first, but he agreed after Han begged him with an almost tearful face. The two of them went into the forest together.
As soon as they came close, Han did not put the old man's life at risk. He only asked for directions, and the old man told him the way. Han promised him a reward.
At sunset he saw the red light. The Virgin Ginseng was there.
He moved forward at full speed and crossed the stream, thinking that if he were discovered he would have an edge fighting in the water.
Finally he reached the stronghold of the Nine Dragons. A direct fight had to be avoided, so he spread his spiritual energy out to find the Virgin Ginseng.
Instead he found a bandit beating a woman, and when her child started crying, the bandit turned towards the girl.
For a second Han hesitated. Then he jumped in. In a moment the bandit was dead on the ground.
Han had never intended to interfere. But having seen the mother and the child, he decided to go through to the end.
Guards came out of a nearby hut, and their hero quietly put every one of them to sleep. After dragging them into a cabin, he found several more villagers locked up inside. They could not be left behind.
The problem was that they were terrified and difficult to control. So he put the child's mother in charge of them and quickly laid out a plan.
When a guard went into that cabin looking for the man who had disappeared, he saw everyone sleeping and understood instantly that the prisoners had done something. He shouted. But the saggy man came up behind him, strangled him by the neck, and threw him out to sleep with the others.
Now the planning could begin. First target: the main guard post.
In a moment the saggy man had crossed the whole area and reached the bottom of the tower. A torch in one hand, a powerful strike in the other. Pouring spiritual energy into it, he hit the post with everything he had. The entire guard tower came down along with the man stationed on top of it.
Nobody had expected that. Then he remembered: this was the signal. Everyone had to evacuate and run.
At the same moment a figure left at a crazy speed. He took the torch with him, the loose-skinned man. He ran to burn a cabin. Tonight he intended to turn this place into chaos.
Another cabin nearby had several bandits sleeping inside it. He woke them suddenly with a harsh glow. Many cabins were already burning. Han appeared boldly in his doorway and announced that the fire had started right there.
The loose-skinned man watched that cabin burn too. Then he kept running, and kept setting more buildings alight, avoiding any drawn-out fight.
Soon a group of bandits caught sight of him. Running was the best thing to do, but another man cut off the way. He survived a hysterical attack and knocked the man out immediately. The loose-skinned man was not stopping.
That night, two guards were posted at the village gate. Tossing a small stone caught their attention. One of them bent to pick it up and saw a bright flash behind him. Then the idiot realised that the place he was guarding was burning.
Both guards ran off in a panic to help, and left the gate open.
All the people hiding nearby took their chance and ran. The girl's mother could only pray for the warrior who had saved them. Then she ran with all her strength towards freedom.
Their loose-skinned lord kept sprinting through the camp. He kept trying to pull all the attention onto himself. But his energy began to fade.
Then he noticed that someone was ready to strike. The attacker was so fast that there was no time to avoid it. The blow caught the loose-skinned man and threw him several metres through the air.
Rok asked who the intruder was. But the loose-skinned lord stayed silent, so the enemies gathered around him and began to make fun of the bandages. They asked whether there was some other face hidden under there.
There were guards everywhere, and that last blow had done serious damage. Rok sent his men to put out the fires while he tried to take the loose-skinned lord away with him.
Han sat down. He was buying time to restore his spiritual energy. He sat and caught his breath.
Finding fighters this strong and this fast who were willing to become bandits was not easy. The leader kept talking. He started thinking about the strange behaviour of the man in front of him. Was this man really meditating in the middle of all this?
Han recovered soon enough. His spiritual energy was terrifying. He asked them whether any wolf had ever served a small puppy.
At that the leader immediately gave his men the order to attack. They were coming to crush him alive. After a single blow his mask came off, and the men saw the face that had been hidden under all that loose skin.
The fight went on. Han was incredibly fast, and although the bandits were not especially strong, they worked well together. A combined attack finally forced him down. They reached the loose-skinned lord and threw him to the ground.
When too many hyenas break in at once, even a lion can fall.
Seeing no way out, Han changed his style. His body became lighter and stranger. Then he used the Drunk's Immortal Step, and passed straight through the guards. Even the leader was shocked by those movements.
Then Han shifted again and used the Shadowless Fly technique. He struck at the leader's side like lightning. In a split second they exchanged blows, but it was not enough. The leader was not going to die from that. His power had been used up.
The only way out was to jump off the cliff.
Falling, he admitted to himself that he still was not strong enough to beat all of them. Even so, he swore that he would come back and cut off every one of their heads. Then he raised his middle finger and disappeared beyond the edge.
Watching him go, Rok's anger burned beneath the eye patch. He ordered his men to go down and recover the body of the loose-skinned lord.