Chapter 114: Attack

Everyone's gaze turned toward her, and Ding Yingqiu immediately buried her head between her two knees.

Bai Bufan stifled his laughter beside her, his body convulsing violently, on the verge of losing control.

He had experienced this too; how happy he had been chatting with Zhao Xiaohu at their first meeting, and how awkward it became once he learned the boy was only thirteen.

At that time, he had been on the verge of calling Xiaohu his big brother.

Now seeing Ding Yingqiu fall for the same trick, he felt both sympathy for her plight and found it quite amusing.

Li Lin shook his head helplessly.

Ding Yingqiu was, after all, a 'child of the Jianghu'; after a moment of shyness, she walked over, grabbed Zhao Xiaohu by the ear, pulled him aside, and began to scold him.

As for what she said, everyone could hear it, but no one wanted to listen.

The group planned to rest here for the night; Fan Shan, having found a hoe from somewhere unknown, began digging into the earth.

This mountain was Red Earth Mountain, not the common stone mountain, so he quickly dug a pit half a zhang deep, built a fire at the bottom, ensuring that people far away would not see the firelight here.

Seeing this, the others went down to help, expanding the area at the bottom of the pit, then several of them squatted at the bottom to warm themselves by the fire.

Those responsible for keeping watch sat on the edge of the pit, observing the surroundings.

They had expected this to be a quiet night, because normally, the transport of supplies would not take place at night.

But unexpectedly, Yan Han, who was responsible for 'keeping watch' above, suddenly said, "Brothers, something is wrong; people are coming from the official road."

Everyone immediately leaped out of the earthen pit, lay flat in the grass, and looked down at the official road.

Indeed, a 'source of light' was approaching from the distance.

These were soldiers carrying torches, moving about, and the formation was quite long, with many donkey carts dragging supplies.

Bai Zhiwei could not help but say, "Are they not afraid of the Desolate Abominations? I do not see any Spirit Hunters present."

Because there was no red light visible.

Ding Yingqiu suddenly said, "I know; they are pulling a very long line that wraps around the entire formation."

"What use is pulling a line?"

"What if that line is made of protective barrier powder, or coated entirely in protective barrier powder?"

Bai Zhiwei was stunned: "Can that work?"

"I hadn't thought of that before; I've learned something this time." Ding Yingqiu smiled: "My Ding family has a mental technique specifically for training the eyes, allowing one to see farther than you; the people walking on the outer circle are holding a rope in their hands. Some parts of the rope are even hooked onto the flatbed carts."

"That is to say, as long as we cut that rope, we can wipe out this entire grain transport team."

"Yes." Ding Yingqiu nodded.

Bai Zhiwei said, "But everyone must still be careful; since there is protective barrier powder, there may be Spirit Hunters within the enemy ranks, and martial artists are certain to be present."

Everyone nodded.

At this moment, the supply convoy had reached the foot of the mountainside.

"I, Yan Xunshou, Ding Xunshou, and Brother Fan will attack the enemy's front." He paused in his tone and continued: "Li Xunshou, Bufan, and Zhao Xiaohu Xunshou, attack the enemy's rear, and you must wait until we have made our move before you act. Li Xunshou, you are in charge of the two little ones; do not let them act recklessly."

Li Lin and the other two nodded.

This was a very reasonable distribution.

Because Li Lin, Bai Bufan, and Zhao Xiaohu had all joined the Spirit Hunters not long ago.

Naturally, they could not be assigned the more difficult tasks.

The group lay prone and waited a while longer.

"Act!" Bai Zhiwei shouted in a low voice.

The four used the Light Body Technique to dive down.

Li Lin, however, beckoned with his hand, and Bai Bufan and Zhao Xiaohu immediately followed.

They did not dive down directly, but instead circled around to the rear of this grain transport team.

By now, fighting had already broken out in the front; faintly, someone could be heard shouting in anger: "Where did these bandits come from, daring to rob the Great Yue's military grain?"

Immediately after came the sound of swords and blades clashing.

At this moment, the soldiers at the rear of the formation also charged forward, leaving only a middle-aged man to guard the rear.

After about a few breaths of time, someone shouted: "The protective barrier rope has been cut; they have red light on them, they are Spirit Hunters!"

Li Lin looked at the white jade token on his body, which had also begun to glow red.

The Desolate Abominations in the surroundings, having smelled the scent, had already begun to surround them.

"Act; the priority is to burn the military grain."

Li Lin, holding his long spear, charged forward first.

Just as he emerged from the grass, that middle-aged man guarding the rear looked up sharply.

Such a fast reaction!

Li Lin had already raised his long spear.

And at that very moment, a bow suddenly appeared in the man's hand; with a flick of his wrist, an arrow shot toward him.

The speed was extremely fast.

Clang!

With the long spear in hand, Li Lin possessed the 'Spear Intent'.

The instant the opponent released the arrow, he seemed able to sense the arrow's 'trajectory'.

Li Lin thrust the spear forward and, taking advantage of the momentum, swept the shaft; the spear tip traced a circular line, the arrow flew into the center of the circle, and was knocked aside.

Although he successfully deflected the arrow, Li Lin felt his hands go somewhat numb.

Such tremendous force.

The opponent's face also tightened with alarm.

At this moment, both sides had become wary of each other.

Seeing the enemy seemed very formidable, Bai Bufan and Zhao Xiaohu wanted to rush up to help.

"Go burn the military grain," Li Lin shouted.

These two were very obedient and immediately turned to go.

The two of them uncorked the water skins on their bodies, then rushed into the convoy and splashed wildly onto the flatbed carts.

"How dare such scum do this!"

The man roared, turned, and bent his body to aim at Zhao Xiaohu.

The arrow was nocked, and it looked as if it were about to be released.

But at this very moment, he suddenly turned sharply to the side; the arrow was released, but because this person's body had moved, it deviated severely from the target.

The spear tip, flashing with cold light, appeared at the middle-aged man's previous position.

If he had not dodged, he would most likely have been struck by the spear and died.

He glared angrily at Li Lin and drew the broadsword from his waist.

At this time, the flames in the convoy had already started to burn; Bai Bufan shouted, "The convoy is on fire, it's on fire!"

Zhao Xiaohu then chased after and stabbed two enemy soldiers who wanted to put out the fire to death with his long spear.

Li Lin looked at the white jade token on his body; the red light was becoming increasingly obvious.

He slowly retreated.

But at this moment, that middle-aged man rushed up as if he had gone mad.

He swung down directly at Li Lin.

However, just as his action reached halfway, he was forced to retreat.

Because the attack range of the long spear is always greater than that of the opponent.

This man threw his head back, dodged the spear strike, and then counterattacked in the same motion.

A series of blocking sounds rang out as the man retreated repeatedly.

After the two sides fought for a while, he suddenly covered his face with his sleeve and retreated frantically.

At this moment, a cloud of white powder scattered in front of him.

"Li Xunshou, let's go," Bai Bufan shouted.

Li Lin looked and saw the four clusters of red light in front of the grain transport team gathering together and moving toward the mountain.

He immediately turned and leaped up, wanting to rush into the forest on the official road.

Just at that moment, a sound of breaking the air came from behind; Li Lin twisted his body in mid-air and struck out with a speed that was perfect and natural, the spear tip deflecting that arrow.

At this moment, Li Lin knew who the archer was: the man outside the Bibo Army Garrison who had almost shot him to death before.

The deflected arrow bounced back to the man's side; the man looked at Li Lin's retreating back, and his face was extremely ugly.

And at this time, a large number of soldiers began to inexplicably grow old... and die.

The roaring flames engulfed the convoy's supplies.

The man sighed, took a thin blanket from the pocket of his waist, draped it over his body, and then left.

He completely ignored his comrades-in-arms screaming behind him.

Li Lin and the others returned to the mountainside and entered the protective barrier circle again.

At this time, the flames at the bottom of the pit were still burning and had not gone out.

All seven had returned; except for Ding Yingqiu, who had suffered a minor injury—a blood scratch on her arm—there were no other injuries.

Zhao Xiaohu walked over and said, "Let me bandage you."

"Get lost!" Although Ding Yingqiu shouted fiercely, she looked at the people around her with an uneasy expression.

Zhao Xiaohu chuckled but did not "get lost"; instead, he took out a white cloth and prepared to help.

Everyone pretended not to see the interaction between the two.

Bai Zhiwei smiled and said, "Everyone, rest for one night; tomorrow, ask Brother Fan to take us back."

Fan Shan laughed happily; burning the enemy's grain convoy also counted as achieving great merit, and he could finally return to Yulin County.

(End of this chapter)