Chapter 276: Killed in Action

He turned to leave, so he bore the brunt of the attack. Fortunately, He Lingchuan had warned him beforehand; Mao Tao felt a jolt in his heart, and the arrow failed to strike home, being knocked away by his blade.

Immediately after, the sound of arrows piercing the air was incessant; over a dozen were fired at once.

He Lingchuan knocked away the arrows aimed at him and immediately smashed a medicine bottle against the ground. The bottle shattered upon impact, erupting into a thick cloud of white smoke that instantly filled the surrounding area.

This was a smoke bomb recipe he had learned from the female guard Liu Tiao in the Panlong Dream. He had asked the Medicine Ape Ling Guang to prepare several types, and the one he threw now had the effect of a smoke grenade.

Both sides in the battle were imbued with Yuan power, so the effectiveness of smoke summoned by spells to disrupt vision was limited; it was not as good as these smoke bottles.

The light in the forest was already dim, and with the white smoke filling the air, the enemies could see even less.

Shan Youjun also drew his blade to defend himself, but he seemed to hear Shan Youjun grunt; he had likely suffered a loss.

Even the Qingbo Beast He Lingchuan was riding had a flash of faint light; two arrows struck its hindquarters and were deflected away.

To catch the bandits, first catch the ringleader; to catch the rider, first shoot the horse.

Fortunately, the horse bell hanging on its chest was also a magic artifact; it couldn't ring, but its defensive effect was excellent.

However, against Yuan power, it also dissipated quite significantly.

Yet, more than half of the arrows here were aimed at Mao Tao. He raised his hand to strike down two arrows, which was already very timely, and another two were blocked by his protective artifact, also failing to achieve their goal, but the remaining ones...

From the corner of his eye, He Lingchuan saw a flash of green light on Mao Tao, which then vanished. The jade talisman the size of a fingertip at his waist shattered with a 'pop'.

There were too many enemy arrows, and they were imbued with Yuan power; the artifact's protection was exhausted in an instant.

The remaining three arrows, *whoosh, whoosh, whoosh*, all nailed into his body.

He Lingchuan saw clearly that Mao Tao's body shuddered, and a section of an arrowhead pierced through his back—a shocking sight.

"Mao Tao!"

He Lingchuan was both shocked and furious, but he only dared to let out a low shout. He had already seen shadows flickering behind the rocks and trees around them; several archers were drawing their bows again, ready to fire.

He squeezed the horse's belly, and the Qingbo Beast charged forward like an arrow.

One must move quickly in the fog so as not to be used as a target again.

He Lingchuan reached back and took a heavy crossbow from his storage ring; it had been loaded long ago and could be operated with one hand. He was no longer the rookie he once was, and he still had excellent accuracy while moving; two crossbow bolts were fired, striking two archers squarely.

One was shot through the right wrist, and the other was struck in the throat.

The Qingbo Beast was too fast; the enemies only saw the smoke swirling as a tall, powerful horse charged out. They didn't have time to raise their bows and had to draw their weapons to fight.

He Lingchuan slashed down with his blade, and the two enemy soldiers froze.

By the time he caught up to the third person, the upper bodies of the first two slid off, blood splattering the ground.

That strike was delivered in fury, swift as thunder, cutting both the men and their weapons in two. Especially the second person; the blade edge hadn't even touched his body, but the cold light it spat out was over a foot long, breaking through leather armor and cutting bone as if slicing through butter.

He Lingchuan had killed four people here, and the enemy cavalry arrived, their long spears pointing straight at his throat.

As the two horses crossed, He Lingchuan's first strike broke the spear tip, and the second strike swept back like a swallow returning to its nest, slicing off half of the rider's head.

Others only saw two flashes of cold light, and the cavalryman became a headless corpse.

Who wouldn't be afraid of such an attack? The Xunzhou men directly in front of him couldn't help but dodge in all directions. The occasional cold arrow was either dodged or swatted down by him, causing no harm.

These soldiers were agile, but in the face of the Qingbo Beast's impact and the sharpness of the Fusheng Blade, they had almost no ability to respond.

This was also the significant gap between a general and his soldiers.

He Lingchuan himself was not even aware that as he reached this point, his bearing as a general was slowly emerging.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "He's the one who wounded General Baili!"

Finally, someone recognized him.

Among the men Hong Chenglue had left behind for the ambush, a few had followed Baili Qing to raid Xinhuangzhen, and they had a deep impression of how their general had been defeated. It was just that the visibility here was poor, and it wasn't until He Lingchuan killed several men in a row that he was identified.

He Lingchuan suddenly heard Shan Youjun give a warning: "Watch your back!"

There was indeed a disturbance of the breeze behind him.

He Lingchuan lunged low, his upper body pressed tightly against the belly of the Qingbo Beast, and a red figure swept over the horse's back. Had he not dodged in time, he might have been knocked off the horse.

The creature even lowered its head in mid-air, opening its mouth to bite at his neck. He Lingchuan tilted his head, and it bit into empty air, but its upper and lower teeth clicked together with a crisp "clack."

When the creature landed, He Lingchuan realized that it was actually a giant red cat, its limbs long and thick, clearly possessing outstanding jumping ability.

Shan Youjun said urgently: "It doesn't eat sword and blade attacks!"

He was currently locked in a struggle with another giant cat, and there were already several bloody gashes on his body. The monster emitted a faint green light and did not dodge or evade Shan Youjun's attacks, because the blades passed directly through its body as if hitting nothing!

This thing had no physical form? No, that wasn't right; it was that it had no physical form when dodging, entering a state of nothingness. Because it was also bolstered by its master's Yuan power, Shan Youjun's Yuan-infused weapon had no effect on it.

It could be said that they basically canceled each other out.

This blood cat was extremely fast, leaving only a blur when it ran. Shan Youjun had encountered danger several times, and his eyes and throat had nearly been clawed.

He managed to see clearly that the wrinkled surface of the blood cat's body was not fur at all, but one human face after another! Human faces with different features, expressions, and genders—some laughing, some angry, some crying, some screaming—yet all were silent.

He did not know that this kind of thing was called a Chang Spirit. The sun had already set, which was just right for it to come out and wreak havoc.

Just as Shan Youjun was fighting the blood cat with all his might, a shadow quietly emerged behind him, and a halberd stabbed toward his back.

It was Tao Ze, the Xunzhou general who led the ambush team.

The hair on the back of Shan Youjun's neck stood on end; he knew it was bad, but it was already too late to turn around.

Just at this moment, a long spear shot from the front, grazing his ear as it flew backward, and with a "clang," it accurately hit the tip of Tao Ze's halberd, knocking it off course.

It was He Lingchuan who had taken action, pulling out the Tenglong Spear and throwing it like a javelin, narrowly saving Shan Youjun's life.

This move was a standard skill that every Da Feng soldier knew, and as a reserve patrol guard of the Da Feng army, he naturally had to practice it diligently. The javelin—no, the long spear—that He Lingchuan threw did not have the same majestic momentum as Xiao Maoliang's, but its accuracy and force were already becoming qualified.

After knocking the long halberd askew, the Tenglong Spear flew off to the side and "thwacked" into a tree trunk.

The blood cat locked in a struggle with him also did not dodge or evade his attacks, being far too arrogant, so He Lingchuan had only swung the Fusheng Blade once to split it in two.

This big cat did not bleed, nor did it scream; it simply fell to the ground and turned to ash, but the human faces covering its body floated out, transforming into wailing vengeful spirits that filled the field!

The halberd in Tao Ze's hand was named "Red Tiger," and the souls of those who died under the halberd were likely sucked into the halberd's body, filling the blood cats transformed from the two Chang Spirits, providing them with a continuous supply of energy.

Now that one of the Chang Spirits had been slain by He Lingchuan, the vengeful spirits trapped within immediately broke free, harboring vicious hatred, and began indiscriminate retaliation against the living things around them! Having stayed in the Chang Spirit's body for so long, they had also become tainted with the Chang Spirit's characteristics: usually formless and bodiless, only solidifying at the moment of attack. The nearby Xunzhou soldiers did not expect such a turn of events, and in the blink of an eye, four were pounced upon; some had the vengeful spirits drill into them through their mouths and noses, causing chaos in their brains, while others were eaten alive, screaming incessantly.

Seeing this scene, Tao Ze, the owner of the Red Tiger Halberd, was also deeply surprised and had no choice but to withdraw the Yuan power from the Chang Spirits.

Once the faint light around these vengeful spirits disappeared, they would be blocked by the Yuan power on the Xunzhou soldiers, at best bounced away, at worst knocked apart, no longer posing a threat.

But Tao Ze could not understand how He Lingchuan had been able to easily kill the blood cat just now. This kind of Chang Spirit maintained a void soul body when it hadn't bitten its opponent.

Of course, he did not know that the Fusheng treasure blade in He Lingchuan's hand had a characteristic called "Void-Breaking," which could deal with formless and bodiless objects. Clearly, the Chang Spirit met this standard; would Fusheng be polite to it?

He withdrew the Yuan power from the Chang Spirit, and the pressure of the remaining blood cat on Shan Youjun was greatly reduced. As an aggregate of vengeful spirits, it did not pose much harm to the Yuan-infused Xiazhou soldiers.

Shan Youjun caught his breath and turned back to challenge Tao Ze one-on-one.

At this time, white smoke filled the field, and the Xunzhou men were wary of the blade in He Lingchuan's hand, not daring to rush in rashly. He Lingchuan seized the opportunity to jump to the ground, rushed to the side of the dying Mao Tao, pried open his mouth, and stuffed a life-saving elixir inside.

He had taken this kind of medicine himself—after being knocked off a cliff by a leopard demon, it had indeed kept him alive for two hours, and he had only taken half a pill at the time—he knew it was effective, but it was so precious that it was hard to find even with heavy gold.

The elixir melted as soon as it entered his mouth, but Mao Tao had no luck enjoying it. He stared at He Lingchuan, and with all his might, he could only squeeze out a few words:

"Go... run!"

Just after speaking, his eyes lost focus.

Medicine cannot cure the dead. His heart had been pierced through; it was already a miracle that he had lasted until now, and the medicine was useless.

Shan Youjun shouted: "We have to go!"

With the enemy in front, he did not call out the word "Proprietor."

By this time, two Xunzhou soldiers had already blown their whistles, and the sharp, urgent sound echoed throughout the entire mountain forest.

Hong Chenglue's team was not far away, and they would surely come to support upon hearing the whistle.

With two against hundreds, and they were not General Hong, they would surely die.

He Lingchuan gritted his teeth, closed Mao Tao's eyes, then jumped onto the Qingbo Beast and charged toward Tao Ze.

The Bo Beast was similar in size to an ordinary horse, but its acceleration was faster, reaching top speed within three zhang.

Tao Ze was locked in a struggle with Shan Youjun, and the white smoke was about to dissipate, at which point his soldiers could swarm in. Who would have thought that at this moment, the wind would howl in front, and He Lingchuan would crash over, man and horse together! Tao Ze had already heard his men shouting and knew that the youth in front of him was the culprit who had wounded Baili Qing, and with only one move at that. He had not gone to that raid in person, nor did he know that He Lingchuan had happened to trigger the "Army-Breaking" characteristic of the Fusheng Blade at that time, making him fiercely powerful; he only knew that his own strength was far inferior to Baili Qing's, and now that he was entangled by Shan Youjun, his heart faltered—how could he dare to take He Lingchuan's move head-on?

(End of chapter)