The woman had an astonished expression as she saw how effortlessly Ye Yuan dealt with the bandit leader.
"T-Thank you for saving me," she said, bowing slightly while trying to keep her injury from worsening.
"Hmm." Ye Yuan simply nodded, his eyes now falling on the twins who were confronting the two brothers.
But the fighting there had already stopped. The remaining bandits now wore expressions of fear as they watched how easily their leader had been killed.
"Run!" one of the twins shouted in panic, already turning tail with his brother right behind him.
"Where are you going!!" the burly brother roared, swinging his large stick from the side. The weapon nearly struck one of the twins in the head, while the other ducked sideways to avoid a palm strike.
"Hahahaha! Now who's got the numbers advantage!" the burly brother laughed, continuing to swing his stick fiercely at one of the twins, while his sibling attacked the other.
"Ahhh!"
"Help!"
Short cries echoed through the temple as the remaining three bandits collapsed to the ground, their heads or chests smashed in.
[Killed 3 ordinary criminals: 5 Evil Slaying Points]
The twins managed to retreat a short distance away, regrouping with tense, frightened faces.
"Brother, you go! I'll stay behind and buy you time!" the twin with the scar on his left cheek shouted without hesitation.
"You–" the other twin's voice choked, but he quickly swallowed his words and steeled himself. "I'll take revenge for you in the future."
As he turned to run away, with a swish, two or three palm-sized balls came flying toward his back. But he dodged to the side as if he had already predicted it, and the balls smashed into the ground, scattering dust and debris.
"Take care, brother!" he shouted sarcastically, different from his sad tone,as he sprinted ahead, leaving behind his twin, whose arm was still stretched out in a throwing motion, a dark expression clouding his face.
"Do you think you can run away?"
Just as he reached the broken doorway, a cold voice came from behind. A sharp pain shot through his neck, and for a brief instant, he felt his head floating, the world spinning around him.
The last thing he saw was a familiar body — his own — running forward without a head, while his twin stared at the beheaded corpse in horror. Another figure had appeared behind him, and with a single swing of his claw, the twin's head flew up along with a burst of blood, not knowing he is already dead.
'So fast…' was his final thought before everything faded into darkness.
[Killed 2 Quasi Skin-Refining Criminals: 26 Evil Slaying Points]
As the system prompt appeared before him, Ye Yuan had already lowered his hand, a few drops of blood dripping from his fingertips onto the ground.
"Thank you, benefactor, for saving our lives today," the one-eyed brother said, his voice strained as he limped forward with his burly brother supporting him by the shoulder.
"Yes, yes! If not for you, the two of us would have most likely lost our lives here," the larger brother added quickly.
"No need to thank me. They were trying to kill me too, so it's only natural for them to die by my hand," Ye Yuan replied calmly, waving his hand slightly.
"But still, we brothers owe you a life debt. If, in the future, you ever need help, I, Xiao Yan, and my brother, Xiao Ba, will be there for you," said the one-eyed brother, Xiao Yan, looking at Ye Yuan with sincerity.
"Yes! My brother is right! If you ever need us, we, the Xiao Brothers, will be there for you!" Xiao Ba added, thumping his chest loudly with his fist.
"If so, then I won't shy away from calling on you if the time comes," Ye Yuan said, nodding lightly before glancing toward the side. "But first, let's find out why they were here."
His gaze settled on the scarred woman sitting a short distance away, who was carefully applying some kind of medicine to her wound.
As if she had felt something, the woman opened her eyes and looked toward the three.
Seeing the questioning look in their eyes, she hesitated for a while before finally sighing in resignation.
"I can disclose it to you, but remember not to disclose it to others, as it can cost both you and me our lives if someone with bad intentions gets the message," she said, a deep look appearing on her face.
Mixed with the scars, it made her appear a little frightening.
"Our team had gotten news from spies of the Black Forest Bandit Group that their leader is planning to attack and take down Blackwood City," she finished in an instant, ignoring the shocked looks on their faces.
She continued, "And the recent case of Ji Yao is also somehow connected to them. They made him kill the nephew of the City Lord's most favorite concubine to lay a trap for the City Lord."
"Ji Yao is currently with the third leader of the Black Forest Bandit Group, who is at the perfection stage of the Skin-Refining Realm. They spread the news of him being here to lure many ghostwriters and other personnel to this place, intending to kill them off. This will create a certain impact on the city, and the City Lord will be forced to send more people to investigate what happened here.
After that, they will conduct a large-scale cleaning of those sent here in intervals, eliminating them one by one and reducing the city's overall fighting strength."
"And while getting this news, we were discovered by the second leader of the Black Forest Bandit Group, who had secretly followed the spy. Because of that, the captain and others in the team were killed on the way. Only I managed to escape, but they scattered their men to hunt me down, leading to the current situation," she said, a sad expression appearing on her scarred face.
"You mean they are actually planning to attack Blackwood City? Is your spy even sane? Doesn't he know that the City Lord, as well as the first-class noble families in the city, have masters above the Flesh training realm?
According to rumors, the leader of the Black Forest Bandits is at most in the Flesh training realm," Xiao Yan asked in doubt, looking at the scarred woman.
"Yes, you're right to doubt it – we were the same. But what if I tell you they are being supported by someone from behind? Someone like the Dragon Slaying Cult?"