Xiaoyao's current appearance—riding a thin horse and wearing ordinary clothes—he had already changed into the most ordinary clothes possible. No one would think there was anything special about his attire. During travel, the more ordinary one appeared, the better to avoid attracting attention. Xiaoyao understood this well.
Looking like this, how could Xiaoyao have attracted bandits? Even if there were one or two who didn't care about small targets, they would just be petty thieves. Why would so many people mobilize together? Was such a large operation necessary?
This was clearly problematic!
"Even mosquitoes are meat. Recently, we masters haven't had any income, so we can't let even someone like you go. Not only that, you said you're a servant, right? Perfect—serve us for a few months, and we'll consider it payment for passage," the one-eyed bandit spoke again.
"That's not fair," Xiaoyao immediately protested. "I still have business to attend to. How about I give you the clothes on my back? They're worth some money."
Xiaoyao's implication was: All I have left are these clothes—take them if you want!
"Kid, are you joking? Your shabby clothes aren't worth much. I'd rather take your thin horse—at least we could slaughter it for soup and have some meat," the one-eyed bandit said.
"Fine, I'll give you this thin horse, and you let me pass," Xiaoyao said.
"No way. You have to serve us for several months. Grab him, Why is there so much chatter?" The one-eyed bandit realized he might have said too much and directly shouted at his subordinates.
"Wait!" Xiaoyao shouted loudly.
"What now?" The one-eyed bandit said somewhat impatiently.
"At this point, I can only hand over my most precious treasure. Just let me pass," Xiaoyao gritted his teeth, as if making a very difficult decision.
"What treasure?" The one-eyed bandit was somewhat curious.
"This treasure is... here, take this!" After speaking, Xiaoyao threw something out—something furry and white...
"Chi Chi~~" The furball made chi chi sounds. It was indeed Chi Chi—once again "betrayed" by Xiaoyao.
"..."
The one-eyed bandit caught Chi Chi, fell silent for a moment, then threw Chi Chi hard to the ground. However, Chi Chi only made a pained cry and bounced like a ball several times.
"Don't joke with me! This useless little monster beast is a treasure?"
"Don't underestimate it—it really is a treasure!" Xiaoyao smiled, then suddenly shook the reins.
"Hyah!"
With Xiaoyao's action, the thin horse suddenly started moving, accelerating to top speed with amazing explosive power. This surprised the one-eyed bandit—he hadn't expected such a thin horse to have such explosive force.
This sudden action caught the bandits off guard. Those in front of the thin horse were easily knocked aside. The horse's strength was great, and the surrounding people weren't particularly strong. Without preparation, they were naturally knocked away.
Xiaoyao easily broke through the bandit encirclement, but this didn't mean he had escaped, because there was still a chain barrier ahead.
Jump over it? Don't think the others were dead—if he jumped, they would raise it higher. Just slightly tripping the horse's hooves could stop Xiaoyao's escape. They also had ambush forces ahead. Even if Xiaoyao abandoned his horse and fled, he would be intercepted.
Furthermore, even without the people ahead, given the speed the one-eyed bandit had displayed, the bandits were confident they could stop a mere servant.
However, at this moment, something unexpected happened—the chain barrier suddenly snapped.
Xiaoyao rode on without needing to stop or jump, and his actions showed no such intention, as if he had calculated that this chain would break.
"What happened?" The one-eyed bandit was stunned, his body movements showing some hesitation. Though not obvious, it further increased the distance between him and Xiaoyao.
"Chi Chi!" Chi Chi jumped onto Xiaoyao, seeming to claim credit.
That's right—it was the little monster beast. The little monster beast had run to the chain barrier and somehow broken it. When Xiaoyao threw the beast over, he had planned for it to do this.
However, this chain barrier wasn't ordinary goods. Even swords and blades couldn't cut it—otherwise, if someone could charge with a blade and cut it in one strike, what would be the point of the barrier? It would be completely useless.
This particular chain barrier was top quality. Not to mention ordinary people, even a General-level expert with a treasure sword might not be able to cut it in one blow. Why could this little monster beast do it?
This was too strange. What kind of special ability did this little monster beast have to break this chain?
Corrosion? Or cutting?
Looking at the break in the chain, it didn't look very neat, but it wasn't very rough either. How was this caused? The curve looked like it had been bitten—could it be...
Of course it was bitten.
So far, there was nothing Chi Chi couldn't eat—meaning anything could be bitten off and then eaten by it.
This chain barrier posed absolutely no problem. It didn't even need much biting force—it broke very easily.
Xiaoyao had calculated this early on, knowing these people would be careless and think he was trapped like a turtle in a jar, not knowing that their jar could be easily punctured.
Among this group of bandits, only the one-eyed man was an expert. The others weren't much—they seemed like a ragtag bunch, so they couldn't stop Xiaoyao from leaving.
However, Xiaoyao had some doubts. This group of bandits seemed to appear abnormally. The reasons had been mentioned—they shouldn't have mobilized so many people against him. Also, the one-eyed bandit seemed different from the other bandits.
Could this be a trap?
This was too strange. If it were a trap, it shouldn't be targeting him—he was just a small servant with nothing worth their effort.
Regarding medical skills, he would work for money. His fees weren't very high, and this wasn't necessary. Besides, not many people knew about his medical skills.
Xiaoyao wasn't unaware of his sensational effect in the New Moon Empire's capital, but those people only knew his nickname "Little Doctor"—they didn't know who he was. Only a small portion of people knew.
Even if this small group had spread Xiaoyao's information, not many would believe it. Without seeing it with their own eyes or hearing it themselves, who would believe that the highly skilled Little Doctor they spoke of was actually just a small servant?
This was hard to believe. Most people would think it was a joke and laugh it off!
Therefore, Xiaoyao felt the possibility of this being a trap was low, unless someone made a mistake and mistook him for someone else. That was still possible.
But soon, Xiaoyao could confirm one thing—this was not only a trap but a carefully prepared one, and it was indeed set for him, because the mastermind soon revealed himself.
"Eh?! Dragon Binding Formation?"
Xiaoyao never expected the other party to deploy a Dragon Binding Formation. This was a special formation for jointly dealing with experts, using martial artists as formation nodes, with numbers in multiples of three. The smallest was three people, and the largest would be eighty-one people.
Martial artists input true essence to maintain the formation, which naturally forms a barrier, like a boundary that traps people inside. Unless one's strength far exceeded the formation's, it was very difficult to break out!
Xiaoyao's formation had six people, and these six seemed to be General-level martial artists. This was enough to trap all General-level martial artists and could even confine King-level ones for a period.
Besides numbers, the strength level of the formation nodes was also a calculation standard for the formation's power. If eighty-one King-level experts were concentrated, even Emperor-level or even Saint-level experts would be trapped and unable to move.
However, the Dragon Binding Formation had a small but crucial flaw—it could only trap people, not attack. At the same time, people outside couldn't launch any attacks on those inside. Simply put, this was just a barrier.
In a standoff, the martial artists at the formation nodes would gradually exhaust their true essence, while the trapped person inside could wait at leisure. Unless it was for delay tactics, few would use such a formation.
Therefore, Xiaoyao found it incredible that someone would use such a Dragon Binding Formation for him. Why not just let these six General-level martial artists deal with him directly? According to his known strength level, just one General-level martial artist would be enough to defeat him.
"You really think too highly of me," Xiaoyao frowned, feeling somewhat flattered.
"It's not thinking highly of you—we just don't want you to get hurt. This is the safest method," A person appeared before Xiaoyao, making him understand somewhat. So it was because of him.
"Fourth Prince Your Highness, what are you doing?" Xiaoyao looked at the newcomer. Wasn't this the Fourth Prince of the Heavenly Wind Kingdom? How did he appear here, and why did he want to capture him?
"Of course I'm here to capture you. Originally I didn't want to show myself, but thinking we'd meet sooner or later anyway, what does it matter?" The Fourth Prince seemed very calm and noble, as if he wasn't doing something so underhanded.
Mobilizing so many people just to capture a small servant—if this got out, he would definitely be despised. But the Fourth Prince knew this matter definitely wouldn't be known by anyone.
Everyone here was his people—his secret forces. The one-eyed bandit outside was too, but those bandits were temporarily assembled to make it look more like a bandit robbery.
The one-eyed bandit hadn't pursued either, just guarding outside. After all, they didn't want people to know the Fourth Prince was involved. This was also for the Fourth Prince's reputation.
(End of Chapter)