Chapter 131: Black Hand

As Hong Yan moved, it was like some kind of signal; the figures in both camps immediately swayed and intermingled.

A group of Escorts stepped on their stirrups almost simultaneously, flew down, and drew their blades to strike at the other side!

The crisp sounds of weapons clashing rang out in an instant!

Although Sun Huang saw Hong Yan occupy the advantage with a mid-air spear strike, he showed no fear, leaping into the air as well to strike with his blade.

Sun Huang not only met Hong Yan head-on, but he also used a hard-hitting style right from the start!

As their weapons clashed, both their figures stalled, and they fell from the air!

Sun Huang touched his toes to the ground, moved his figure again, and slashed horizontally at Hong Yan, who had not yet steadied himself after landing.

Hong Yan retreated half a step, his eyes fierce, and with a shake of his long spear, it struck at the flat of Sun Huang's blade like a swimming dragon...

Duan Rong had also leaped into the fray at the start of the battle; he seized the right moment and intercepted an old man with graying hair and beard!

This old man was actually at the Inner Breath Realm Second Layer; although he was spirited, he was, after all, full of wrinkles with gray hair and beard, and fighting like an old ox plowing a field, he already felt quite strained!

If Duan Rong used all his methods, he could immediately defeat this old man, but he did not want to reveal his strength, so he fought steadily, tangling with the old man; looking only at the surface, the two exchanged blade flashes, but they were evenly matched...

Liu Ao's expression was as cold and hard as stone; he was being besieged by two middle-aged men!

These two were similar in build, and their appearances were even very much alike; they seemed to be twin brothers.

Both of these men were at the Internal Breath Second Stage, and Liu Ao was at the Inner Breath Realm Third Layer Small Success; he should have been able to suppress them, but their techniques seemed to have some kind of resonance, and they coordinated seamlessly!

Liu Ao could not take them down for the moment, but he was not anxious; his eyes were like those of a venomous snake, cold and devoid of any emotion!

While Liu Ao tangled with the two from left and right, he paid attention to the way their techniques coordinated; gradually, he had seen through the trick!

Although the two moved cleverly, after finishing a set of moves, they would cross paths and perform the routine again from the opposite direction. And in the moment their figures crossed, a momentary opening was created.

Although Liu Ao discovered his opponents' flaw, he did not strike immediately, because he was still waiting for another opportunity...

The corner of Liu Ao's eye glanced from time to time toward the battle group behind him...

Not far behind Liu Ao was Duan Rong, who was tangling with the old man; Liu Ao was paying attention to the battle situation there...

Suddenly, Liu Ao's eyes moved, he twisted his wrist, his blade light flipped, and he subsequently sliced off three fingers from the right hand of one of the brothers!

As the three fingers hit the ground, the blade in that man's hand fell from his grasp.

While that blade was still in mid-air, Liu Ao suddenly reversed his blade edge and struck the end of the hilt of the dropped blade with the back of his own, sending the dropped blade flying off at an angle with a 'ding' sound...

At this moment, the battle was intense, a sheet of cold light, when suddenly a Blade Shadow flew out from the sea of blade light, moving with great speed, stabbing diagonally toward the center of Duan Rong's back!

Duan Rong caught it with the corner of his eye and was instantly terrified out of his wits!

The old man opposite Duan Rong even spotted the cold light shooting diagonally toward Duan Rong's back!

The old man's eyes shot out a sharp gleam, he shook his sleeve, and suddenly a Crossbow Arrow shot out from his cuff, aiming straight for Duan Rong's throat!

Two cold lights, one large and one small, attacked from front and back in a pincer movement, fast as lightning!

At this life-or-death moment, Duan Rong's heart suddenly became as still as water; his eyes were bright and clear, revealing a focused and calm expression.

Duan Rong's body suddenly wound and turned sideways like a snake, his body tilting slightly backward, and his right wrist moved swiftly at a strange angle; the blade edge flashed out a blade flower, almost grazing his own face! The cold blade edge even scraped across the tip of Duan Rong's own nose!

The Crossbow Arrow and the blade edge formed a triangular formation, shooting toward Duan Rong's face and chest almost simultaneously, but they happened to collide with the blade flower; stirred by the blade flower, they bounced away with two 'ding' sounds!

Duan Rong turned sideways and then tilted slightly, having already used the Cloud Snake Step movement technique, but he made no further moves, and in the chaotic battle group, it was not easily noticed!

And the way his wrist twisted the blade flower at a strange angle used the technique of the Bone Shrinking Technique; this was even more obscure, and even someone who had practiced the Bone Shrinking Technique would find it hard to spot the clues in such a chaotic scene.

As for his martial arts method of twisting the blade flower, it looked ordinary, but it actually combined the techniques of the Abi Saber Technique and the Reckless Bull Saber Technique, because while the blade flower was rotating at high speed, it also avoided his own nose, and the blade edge traced a steep, winding curve in front of his face, just barely avoiding his nose!

This curve looked ordinary, but to be able to draw it with such precision in such a narrow space was actually a very high-level move!

And although Duan Rong had devoured and digested the Reckless Bull Saber Technique and the Abi Saber Technique, he had no time to study their fusion; at this moment, it was purely a tempering between life and death that allowed him to use it all at once!

It was a sudden realization in a moment of haste!

Duan Rong avoided this killing blow, having used nearly all his trump cards; if he had used one less, he would have died here, or would have had to slice off his own nose to survive...

Duan Rong avoided the killing blow, his heart filled with rage; he glanced at Liu Ao not far away, then immediately glared at the old man in front of him, his blade light flipping as he prepared to slaughter this old man first.

But just at this moment, he suddenly heard a loud shout from the battle group: "Stop!"

Hong Yan jumped away holding his spear and shouted to stop; hearing this, Sun Huang also raised his left hand, signaling the Escorts to pause their attack!

All of Hong Yan's men retreated and jumped away; seeing that Sun Huang did not move, the Escorts also stopped attacking.

Hong Yan looked at Sun Huang and said, "Escort Head Sun! It is truly not worth it for you and me to fight like this for the sake of a scandalous fellow!"

Sun Huang saw Hong Yan's intention to retreat, so he offered a way out: "I am here on duty and have no choice! Brother Hong, our two sides are evenly matched in strength; if we continue to fight, I fear both sides will suffer, which is truly unwise!"

"Escort Head Sun is right; brother will take his leave here! When we meet again in the Jianghu another day, I, Hong, will compete with Escort Head Sun to see who is better!" As Hong Yan said this, he turned his head to look at his subordinates and said, "Brothers, retreat!"

In fact, both Hong Yan and Sun Huang were paying attention to the changes in the battle situation.

On Hong Yan's side, someone had had their fingers sliced off, someone had their forearm broken, and someone else had an ear sliced off; their injuries were clearly more serious than those of the Escort Team, and if the fighting continued, the losses would likely expand further.

On the Escort Team's side, Escort Luo Fanglong had a shoulder injury, Intern Escort Lu Feng had his left arm pierced, but none of the others were injured; the battle losses were clearly much smaller!

On Hong Yan's side, everyone mounted their horses and left; one middle-aged man picked up the severed half-arm from the roadside, bit it in his mouth, mounted his horse with one hand, and followed the team away...

Hong Yan rode on his horse, sighing inwardly; he had done his best, and with his brothers injured like this, it would be hard to explain to the family head upon returning.

Hong Yan was actually willing to risk the lives of his own brothers just to have an excuse for the Wang Family head! He knew clearly that his side was no match for the Yuanshun Escort Agency, yet he still performed this bitter-meat trick!

(End of chapter)