Chapter 182

The horse was moving at full speed when it was caught off guard by his violent pull, its head tilting to one side. It wasn't a famous steed, just an ordinary pack horse, and it wasn't used to carrying people, so it lost its balance and slid out in a long, shrill neigh. Or to put it another way, it was forcibly pulled into a slide.

The position of the passengers on the horse suddenly dropped, and they were thrown off, grazing the ground. The black shadow's target suddenly missed, and while it was in mid-air with its momentum undiminished, it extended a long, snake-like object, chasing straight after He Chunhua.

Once hit, he imagined the victim wouldn't have a good end.

It turned out the mastermind wanted to kill both targets, arranging assassination moves for Ke Jihai and He Chunhua respectively.

However, the He couple used the force of the fall to roll into the jungle, and the snake-like object was only a foot away from He Chunhua's face at its closest, with the distance increasing as they went further.

Lady Ying screamed.

During the horizontal fall, although He Chunhua held her in his arms, it was hard to protect her completely while rolling, and a tree branch pierced her calf, going in the front and out the back, stabbing all the way through.

The black shadow bounced off the ground, as light as if it had no weight, and spun around to hunt He Chunhua again, completely ignoring everyone else.

Only after it paused like this did everyone see its true face.

"Is this... a werewolf? A leopard-man?" He Lingchuan was shocked, not expecting the classic werewolf image from the movies of another world to be replicated here.

Uh, at least mostly similar.

Its head was like a wolf's, but the muzzle was short and the face was large, with four fangs—upper and lower—that left a deep impression; its body was like a human's, thin and slender, but its knee joints were reversed, like a leopard's hind legs.

The strangest thing was that its tail grew directly from the back of its head, equal in length to its body, but it was completely different from the fluffiness of a normal wolf tail. It was thin and long like a whip, with a sharp, gleaming edge at the tip.

The snake-like object that had ambushed He Chunhua earlier was this tail.

When this thing stood, it could wave its palms and throw punches like a human, and when it crouched, it could run fast like a tiger or leopard.

Now its two front claws gripped the ground, and its body swung an arc in the air, calibrating its direction before charging again!

Its speed was like an arrow released from a bow, its trajectory almost impossible for the naked eye to capture.

However, as soon as He Lingchuan saw it pounce from behind the solid rock, he grabbed his broken blade and threw it like a flying knife.

In the moment of life and death, it was time to test the results of his hard work.

For the past half month, he had been practicing flying knives diligently, not slacking for a single day; even when taking a boat on the Hongchuan River, the mast was the best target.

Persisting in throwing thousands of times every day, even a fool would make progress, let alone He Lingchuan.

He also estimated the angle, aiming at the direction where the monster would land.

At this instant, he focused his eyes on his nose and his nose on his heart, casting all other distracting thoughts out of his mind, and threw this blade with all his heart and soul.

And it really lived up to expectations; the broken blade traveled exactly along his predetermined trajectory, without the slightest error.

This was probably the most perfect blade he had thrown in over half a month of practice; the force, trajectory, and angle were all flawless.

He Lingchuan held his breath, watching the broken blade flash with cold light as it shot toward the monster, and then—

It missed.

It... missed!

The monster turned at the last minute; his prediction and his plan all fell through.

He Lingchuan couldn't hold his breath, feeling so frustrated he wanted to vomit blood.

Half a month of hard work! Fortunately, at the critical moment, the broken blade's magical automatic navigation ability came to the rescue again; it made a sharp turn in mid-air, and although the distance was short and the angle of the turn was small, it happened to nail the monster's shoulder joint! It had just been using that arm as a pivot to spin, and the unexpected, excruciating pain suddenly exploded in the joint socket. The monster let out a roar, couldn't hold on, and flew out sideways, face-scraping the ground, almost hitting He Yue's horse.

He Yue pulled his horse to a stop and began to fumble with hand seals and incantations in a panic.

His cultivation was mediocre, and he knew some spells, but he usually didn't want to show off in front of his big brother. But the He family was at a life-and-death moment, so he had to give every ounce of strength he had; he could never avoid the battle or fear the difficulty.

"Father, Yuan energy!" He Lingchuan whipped his horse desperately, surpassing the civilian youth in front and rushing to the edge of the forest. Before the horse's pace was steady, he took a great leap, his blade qi like a rainbow, slashing straight at the monster's face! The tables had turned, and now it was his turn to look down from above.

After falling from the horse, He Chunhua jumped up, not caring to look after his wife, took out a Yuan coin, waved it at He Lingchuan, and shouted urgently: "With Yuan energy, assist He Lingchuan!"

In the dim light, the green kite on the copper coin seemed to move.

He was a court official and a local high-ranking official in charge of the Xiazhou military and government, and he enjoyed high prestige in the supporting army. Although the army wasn't here at this moment, the unity of hearts and the blessing of national destiny provided Yuan energy! A bright light surged on He Lingchuan's body.

He already held a rank in the supporting army, and with He Chunhua's temporary assistance, the Yuan energy he possessed suddenly became abundant.

Just at this moment, a heaven-shaking roar came from not far away!

It was that violent ape.

Then, the civilian youth's voice of surprise came over: "It's General Ke! General Ke is still alive!"

It turned out that when Ke Jihai heard He Lingchuan's loud shout of "Enemy attack" from the carriage behind, his heart had tightened, and then he saw with his own eyes that boulder smash down.

The enemy's attack wouldn't stop halfway, so Ke Jihai didn't have time to think and jumped out of the carriage window, toward the side near the cliff.

One attendant followed suit without a second thought.

This side was open, and there would almost be no enemies attacking. Using the carriage as cover, he shrank to the edge of the cliff, where he could hide in the blind spot of the enemy's attack; no matter if the opponent shot arrows, threw stones, or set fires, he could remain calm.

He had been in the military for many years and had been attacked no fewer than seven times, so he had long since developed an instinct for avoiding danger, his body reacting before his mind.

Unexpectedly, he still underestimated his opponent.

The visitor was a violent giant beast that tore the carriage apart without a word. If he had jumped out of the window a breath later, he would have been smashed into meat paste without a sound, just like the subordinate who didn't jump out in time.

Fortunately, the carriage lanterns had long been extinguished, and the light was dim, so the giant ape didn't notice him and the other attendant lying on the edge of the cliff.

When the giant ape threw the carriage and its chest was wide open, Ke Jihai leaped up, summoned a long spear in his hand, and "whoosh," stabbed it straight at the giant ape's chest! He didn't hide his movements when he jumped, and orange light surged all over his body; he was mobilizing all his Yuan energy for a strike in anger! He was the chariot and cavalry general most relied upon by the monarch, the rebellion-suppressing general in whom the people placed high hopes, and the commander of over a hundred thousand elite government troops; the purity and strength of the Yuan energy he carried were far beyond what He Chunhua could compare to.

Coupled with his own fierce combat power and the addition of Yuan energy, this spear that broke through the air had already pierced into the giant ape's chest before it even made a sound!

One man, one spear, actually knocked the huge ape demon back two zhang, almost making it stumble and fall.

His attendant didn't waste time either, grabbing a whistling arrow and throwing it into the air; the specially made arrowhead flew into the sky with a sharp, shrill whistle, exploding into a sky full of sparks.

Ke Jihai couldn't lead a large army into the capital, so he only brought a dozen elites as attendants. Tonight at the Zhu family's night banquet, Ke Jihai went up the mountain, and they all stayed at the post station at the foot of the mountain to wait.

This whistling arrow went up into the sky, its sound as loud as a ghost's howl, intended to notify Ke Jihai's men: The general is under attack, come to the rescue quickly!

The giant ape clutched its chest, grabbed the spear, and pulled it out with force, while its other palm, as large as a millstone, reached out to scoop up Ke Jihai.

If this had really scooped him up, it could have squeezed a person into pulp.

Ke Jihai didn't even dodge, turning the red-glowing spear tip to stab at the giant ape's palm.

This spear was born for horse combat, one zhang long, and it was perfectly suited for dealing with such a long-limbed monster; it just tested the owner's ability, as it had to be used freely even when not on horseback.

The giant ape had suffered, and not wanting its palm to become a skewer, it jumped backward, broke off a tree trunk that one person could wrap their arms around, and swung it at Ke Jihai.

Every move and style actually had a method to it, not just brute force.

The civilian youth and the two drivers not far away were stunned.

Ke Jihai couldn't be considered tall, and standing in front of the giant ape, he seemed even shorter. But he fought the giant ape with increasing courage, and after a dozen rounds, he forced the opponent to retreat step by step.

There was no lack of hard clashes between the long spear and the tree trunk, and he actually had the upper hand! The giant ape's several fierce roars had the effect of a lion's roar, and even the three people standing so far away were shaken until they were dizzy and nauseous, but Ke Jihai, who was facing the giant ape directly, didn't even blink, as if he hadn't heard it.

But the onlookers all knew that this was likely the work of Yuan energy. For a high-ranking commanding general like Ke Jihai, the thick Yuan energy on his body not only added to his martial arts and footwork but also had a powerful suppressive effect on the enemy's supernatural powers and demon arts.

The specific thresholds for strength, increase, decrease, and growth in this were determined by the rules of the Heavenly Dao, but in a word, if the enemy didn't have Yuan energy protection, or if the opponent's Yuan energy was weaker than Ke Jihai's, then they would definitely suffer a big loss.

This was also the fundamental reason why the human nation could suppress the demon race and flourish.

The giant ape's roar could usually deter the enemy's courage, but this was ultimately driven by demon power and was its innate supernatural ability, so it was also suppressed by Ke Jihai's Yuan energy.

Ten percent of the effect entering his ears might not even have two percent left.

With this, how could it deter a fierce general who had traversed the battlefield for more than ten years?

Others didn't know, but Ke Jihai was also muttering in his heart.

The spear stab toward the giant ape's chest earlier was launched with full force, and even an elephant would have been pierced through; how could this giant ape still fight after pulling out the spearhead?

The hardness of the bone armor on the opponent's body was indeed astonishing; it wasn't just fierce in appearance—could it be the latest military equipment of the Northern Demon Nation? No, it seemed to be something that grew from its own body.

And Ke Jihai was very sure that after the spearhead pierced the bone armor, it only entered the opponent's chest by a finger's depth. For such a huge ape demon, it didn't have the effect of piercing the heart with one spear.

This monster's body was unexpectedly hard; could it be that even a spear strike infused with Yuan energy couldn't kill it?

Ke Jihai's eyes flashed, and he took the opportunity to throw three iron caltrops, all of which stuck into the giant ape's body—one in the front leg and two in the back.

The iron caltrops themselves were ordinary, but they were infused with Yuan energy, and sticking into the giant ape, they further suppressed its demon power.

With this, even the giant ape's size visibly shrank.

(End of chapter)