Rise Of The Worm Sovereign

The Real Wandering Head Bandit had not even sensed when the fake one had arrived.

With his skills, knowing who was around in an area of a couple of kilometers was nothing. But despite that, he had not sensed the man in front of him. If not for him appearing openly and seeing with his own two eyes, he knew that there was a great divide between the two.

"For someone like you to have appeared… and even taken my name… I can only take that as a compliment." The Real Wandering Head Bandit spoke.

Lin Wu watched the man in front of him, finding his behavior to be a lot different than what was described in the report.

"Hmm… you are quite strange… Your reputation says something else and your behavior is something else too." The fake Wandering Head Bandit stated.

"Ahah, yeah that is indeed true." The Real Wandering Head Bandit.

"So it's all an act?" the fake Wandering Head Bandit questioned.

"That is true as well." The real Wandering Head Bandit nodded his head. "My whole existence, is a fabrication. I'm merely a pawn created by a great player." He revealed.

"Oh? Saying this openly?" Lin Wu was surprised now.

"In front of such ability, I don't think there is much use in hiding." The Wandering Head Bandit replied. "Originally I had the thoughts of testing you out, but from what I've glanced at… it was a foolish thought." He shook his head.

"I certainly overestimated myself, but my owners did even worse, haha…" The man laughed in self-depreciation.

"So what was the goal today? It can't just be to lure me out, can it?" Lin Wu questioned the man.

"Luring you out was the first step yes. But I doubt we can go beyond that." The Wandering Head Bandit answered. "I can't even sense your cultivation base, and with your disguising abilities I doubt you will have an issue messing up the owner's plan." He said feeling a bit depressed.

Lin Wu understood the situation that the Wandering Head Bandit was in by now.

'So he was under the control of someone right from the start… he never had an option of his own, huh… Interesting.' Lin Wu felt like there might be an opportunity here.

"What do you think is going to happen now?" Lin Wu asked the man.

"Now? I don't know… I die?" The man spoke without much fear.

Seeing that the man had already come to terms with his situation, Lin Wu felt like he had an even greater chance at turning this.

"What if I told you, you don't have to?" Lin Wu spoke, surprising the man.

"I'm guessing this is in exchange for information about the people behind me?" The Wandering Head Bandit asked.

"Partly, but yes." Lin Wu replied.

"I'm afraid that won't work. The people behind me are powerful. They have restrictions placed on me that prevent me from ever revealing it. And if someone forces it through some method, my soul will automatically detonate." The Wandering Head Bandit revealed.

"Oh? Is that so?" Lin Wu was intrigued. "System, scan him." He ordered.

~DING~

——

SCANNER: Activated

TARGET SELECTED: Wandering Head Bandit

SCAN: Completed

.

TARGET: Wandering Head Bandit

CULTIVATION BASE: Shell Expansion Stage of the Dao shell realm

BLOODLINE: None

PHYSIQUE: None

VITALS: Stable

.

NOTIFICATION: Soul Restraining Formation Array has been detected!

——

'So there really is one… Can this be dispelled system?' Lin Wu inquired.

"Affirmative." The system replied mechanically.

"Good… Looks like I can fix that." Lin Wu spoke out loud.

"You can what?" The Wandering Head Bandit was confused.

"What would you say if the restriction on your soul was removed?" Lin Wu questioned.

"If it is removed… Then I'll be willing to do work for you… but not forever. I've been a servant for far too long… I want to be free." The Wandering Head Bandit answered.

"That's enough for me." Lin Wu replied before ordering the system in his mind. "Remove the formation system."

~DING~

——

FORMATION DETECTED: Soul Restraining Formation Array

ANALYZING: Please wait a moment…

ANALYSIS: Completed

DISPELLING ARRAY: Please wait a moment…

——

The Wandering Head Bandit suddenly felt an unknown presence covering his body. It was shocking to him since it had passed through his body's defenses as if they were just air.

Even if he knew that he was greatly outclassed against the person in front of him, he never thought it would be at this level.

But that was merely the start of the shock that Wandering Head Bandit was about to receive.

"AHH!" As a minute later, he felt a sharp and stabbing pain in his chest.

It was as if the pain transcended his flesh, directly piercing his soul!

'Is this the end?' The Wandering Head Bandit thought that the restriction on his soul had been triggered.

But a few seconds later, he felt different.

"The pain… is gone?" The Wandering Head Bandit felt like his body had suddenly become lighter.

Not just that, but his mind also felt a lot free and even his vitality seemed to be bubbling.

"What is this?" The man couldn't believe his senses.

~DING~

——

ARRAY: Dispelled

NOTIFICATION: Soul Restraining Formation Array has been removed.

——

Seeing this Lin Wu looked at the man.

"There you go, I've freed you." Lin Wu spoke.

"What?!" The Wandering Head Bandit was left stunned. "How is that possible?" he knew something had covered him, but the thought that it could remove the formation on his soul was simply unbelievable to him.

After all, he knew just how difficult and complex the formation was. He wasn't the only one who had it on his soul either. He knew of several other people in the same situation as him.

They too were the servants of his owner and some had also tried to struggle. They had tried to get the restrain removed, but all of them had failed. Some were even stronger than him, and yet they had perished to the formation.

By now there had been too many bad results, thus the Wandering Head Bandit didn't think that there was a way out at all. Even his owners couldn't remove the restrictions that were placed on him.

It was a one-time thing and would be permanent.

The only way for it to be removed was to die.

And yet… that fact had just been overturned.

The gobsmacked Wandering Head Bandit looked at the doppleganger in front of him and fell to his knees.

~THUD~

"Thank you… I don't know…" The man struggled to find words to speak.

While he had spoken willfully before as he had no hope of his restraints being removed, now that they had really been removed, his thoughts changed.

"You don't have to do much, just tell me who's behind you." Lin Wu stated.

"Of course." The Wandering Head Bandit nodded his head. "It's… Hu Peiliang and Hu Shui." He revealed.

"Them?" Lin Wu knew the two names.

After all, they were big shots and were none other than Hu Dagao's elder siblings.

"The number one and number two… huh, so they are collaborating?" Lin Wu spoke.

"They are indeed… they always have." The Wandering Head Bandit stated.

"But aren't they competing for the position of the patriarch?" Lin Wu questioned.

"That is merely a facade." The Wandering Head Bandit shook his head. "The two of them have been in cahoots for a long time." He added.

"I see… that does make sense." Lin Wu nodded his head. "So they are also the one's who kidnapped Hu Dagao?" he questioned.

"They did indeed. In fact, the real Hu Dagao was kidnapped way before I was made to kidnap a fake one." He answered.

"I see… and do you know where the real one is?" Lin Wu asked next.

"No… I don't know." The Wandering Head Bandit replied.

Lin Wu knew the man wasn't speaking a lie too. 'It would be too foolish of the two heirs to let their servant know of something like this. So this is true.'

"But I do know someone who'll know." The Wandering Head Bandit added.

"Oh? You do?" Lin Wu raised a brow.

"Yes… it's the Duke of the Bai Yang Province." The Wandering Head Bandit answered.

​ Lin Wu had heard of the man and knew who he was.

The Duke of the Bai Yang Province was actually an external elder of the Hu clan who had been granted the position of a duke after contributing greatly to the Hu clan.

'Now that I think of it… the are that Hu Dagao was kidnapped in also comes under the limits of the Bai Yang Province…' Lin Wu looked at the map and confirmed.

"Looks like I'll have to pay this duke a visit." Lin Wu muttered.

"You can't go there carelessly. Hu Peiliang and Hu Shui will be on alert now. It is likely they will have prepared for it." The Wandering Head Bandit warned.

"Oh, I'm counting on that." Lin Wu smoke with an eerie smile that gave chills to the Wandering Head Bandit.