Chapter 126: Arrow Bamboo Forest, Rat King, New Camp

Sss...

"Close up and move forward, keep driving them to the north side!"

Xia Hong had already killed his way into the end of the rat pack. Confirming that the rat pack in front was retreating, he cut a Gnawing Rat trying to escape into two sections with one knife. He didn't even turn his head and directly gave the order.

The two groups of people separating the east and west sides were already gradually gathering toward the south. Hearing Xia Hong's instruction, they immediately slowed down the arrow shooting speed and accelerated the gathering.

Above the mountain wall on the east side, Zhao Long and the three brothers led the crowd, directly sliding down along the mountain wall slope. Although the mountain top was over a hundred meters away from the ground, it couldn't cause any harm to the Woodcutting Realm cultivators.

After landing, they shot arrows while quickly gathering toward Xia Hong's position.

On the Red Wood Ridge side on the west, Xia Chuan and Luo Yuan also led people, shooting arrows while continuously forcing the Gnawing Rat pack to retreat, accelerating toward Xia Hong's side.

In no time, the two groups of people gathered together.

They were only ten-plus meters away from Xia Hong at the very front.

Xia Hong charged too fast. The ten-plus Gnawing Rats that had just surrounded him had already been cut by him by half. I don't know if he was already forgetful in his charge, or if he was a bit unsatisfied, he was actually still continuing to chase forward.

"Zhao Long, you three continue to lead the team, don't get close. Luo Yuan, Yuan Cheng, come up with me, help the leader!"

Seeing that Xia Hong had already caught up with the end of the Gnawing Rat pack and rushed into the rat pack himself, Xia Chuan finally couldn't stand it anymore. After shouting to Zhao Long and the three brothers, he pulled Luo Yuan and Yuan Cheng, who were beside him, and immediately rushed over to help.

Xia Hong had already mixed with the end of the rat pack. The people in the rear naturally couldn't shoot arrows at his position anymore.

This meant that Xia Hong no longer had bow and arrow cover support.

The three of them naturally had to rush up to help.

All three of them held the strength of the Earth-Digging Realm and didn't put the poisoned Gnawing Rats in their eyes at all. But after really entering the middle of the Gnawing Rat pack, the three realized how naive they were.

Xia Chuan, who rushed in first, was about to get close to Xia Hong when the hair on his back suddenly stood up, and a strong sense of crisis floated into his heart. Without thinking, he directly sacrificed the black knife and blocked it behind his head.

Swish...

Two inches of red light suddenly attacked and collided violently with the black knife.

Although the black knife blocked the red light, the arm holding the knife trembled violently, and his body also flew backward for two or three meters. If he hadn't been helped by Xia Hong, who came over in time, he would have fallen to the ground directly.

"Be careful, this red light has extremely strong penetrating power, but the distance is very short, at most one or two meters. Use silk threads to interfere with them, let Yuan Cheng and Luo Yuan cooperate, the three of you join forces, killing them is not difficult!"

"Understood, leader!"

Luo Yuan and Yuan Cheng also came over at this time. Both of their faces were slightly embarrassed, and Yuan Cheng's arm even had a wound, clearly having suffered a big loss from the Gnawing Rat's red light.

Because they were too far away before, added to the fact that it was night, the three didn't see it at all and thought that Gnawing Rats poisoned by Teng Jiao mist couldn't release red light.

At this moment, they realized that Xia Hong, who had rushed into the rat pack first, looked like he was slaughtering Gnawing Rats like cutting melons and vegetables, but the pressure he was facing was far greater than they had imagined.

"The leader's strength is very strong to begin with, added to the Yi Dao in his hand, the attack range is wide and long, which is just right for dealing with Gnawing Rats. Our strength is a bit worse, so we still have to honestly join forces. I'll interfere, you two attack."

"Good!"

Xia Chuan's silk threads flew, entangling a Gnawing Rat nearby. Luo Yuan and Yuan Cheng followed immediately with big knives. Having had the experience of suffering losses before, the Gnawing Rat's red light didn't take any advantage in the hands of the three. Just as Xia Hong said, the three joined forces, and dealing with Gnawing Rats was indeed not difficult.

There weren't many Gnawing Rats left here, and most were chased and killed by Xia Hong. The three joined forces and only had to deal with four or five Gnawing Rats in total.

And while the three were communicating with Xia Hong, his movements didn't stop either. In just this short while, three or four Gnawing Rats had already been separated from their bodies under his Yi Dao.

After killing this wave nearby, seeing that the few Gnawing Rats at the end of the rat pack had already run out twenty meters away, Xia Hong's expression flickered slightly. He didn't chase forward anymore, but turned to clean up other Gnawing Rats nearby that were running slowly.

In the rear, Zhao Long turned his head to look at the arrow quiver on his back, then looked at the arrow quivers of Zhao Hu and Zhao Bao beside him, and found that all three only had six or seven arrows left. His eyebrows immediately tightened slightly, and then he loudly asked the crowd:

"How many arrows are left

"Seven arrows."

"I have six left."

"I only have two left."

"Seven arrows."

"Five arrows."

"Six arrows!"

As expected!

Hearing the voices of the crowd one after another, Zhao Long's expression suddenly grew a bit more solemn.

He had a rough idea of how many arrows everyone had left.

Basically everyone who came tonight was in the Woodcutting Realm, with similar strength, and the duration of their archery practice was also basically the same, so their archery skills were not much different to begin with.

Xia Hong had equipped the three brothers with fifty arrows, and their rate of fire was twice as fast as the others; they only had six or seven arrows left, and excluding a few whose archery skills were slightly stronger, the others basically had six or seven left as well.

"We can stop for a moment. The gnaw-rat pack is already retreating. Follow me to pursue them for a while longer, and be ready to continue shooting at any time."

Xia Hong, not far away, had focused his attention here after Zhao Long asked that question. Upon hearing everyone's answers, he immediately issued a new order.

With six or seven arrows, they could organize at most one or two more decent offensives.

The gnaw-rat pack had already begun to retreat. Since there was no possibility of keeping them all here, there was no need to shoot all the arrows. It was most prudent to keep a portion for emergencies.

The people in the rear heard the command and immediately stopped shooting. Then, led by Zhao Long and the other two, they quickly caught up to Xia Hong, who had deliberately slowed his pace.

Although the rain of arrows had stopped, the gnaw-rat pack was still rustling as they fled toward the north.

Xia Hong led the crowd in pursuit for nearly two kilometers. Only when he saw a frost-white bamboo forest in the distance did his expression brighten slightly, and he waved his hand to stop the crowd.

"That is an arrow-bamboo forest, right?"

Xia Chuan asked softly. Xia Hong had already shown him the map Luo Ming left behind, so he recognized it at a glance.

Xia Hong nodded. His gaze turned to the left side of the bamboo forest, and seeing a three-to-four-meter-wide mountain path, his eyes flickered slightly.

According to what Luo Ming said before he left, if one took this small path and passed through the arrow-bamboo forest, the Pingxi Plain would be behind it, and there was a giant camp named Hive on the Pingxi Plain.

If things went smoothly, Luo Ming should be there now.

"No wonder Luo Ming wanted to wait for the crystal fruit ripening period to pass. This arrow-bamboo forest is almost connected to Red Wood Ridge, and there should be quite a few cold beasts entrenched inside."

Luo Ming had said back then that every year when the ice-shuo trees bore fruit, for three to five days, the cold beasts would burrow into the arrow-bamboo forest. During this period, as long as one's luck wasn't too bad, passing through as an adventure was not a big problem.

If it could attract a large number of cold beasts to gather, then this arrow-bamboo forest certainly wasn't simple.

If there really were any dangers inside, driving this group of gnaw-rats in would be just right.

"Continue shooting arrows and drive them in!"

Seeing the gnaw-rat pack slow down as they approached the arrow-bamboo forest, Xia Hong immediately ordered the crowd.

Even if they didn't want to go in, they had to!

Although there was no one blocking the mountain wall on the east side, climbing the mountain wall also took time. The gnaw-rat pack, already panicked by the arrows, naturally dared not run toward the high mountains on the east side again.

The Vine-Dragon toxin was still having an effect, and their efficiency in digging holes was too slow.

Over a hundred people fired at the same time, and another wave of arrows struck.

The gnaw-rat pack had no other choice but to enter the arrow-bamboo forest.

"Zhao Long, give me your bow!"

Seeing that a few gnaw-rats at the very front of the pack were still hesitating, Xia Hong turned his head and took Zhao Long's bow.

Zhao Long handed over an iron arrow as well.

Xia Hong took the iron arrow, nocked it on the iron-frame bow, and looked at the few gnaw-rats at the very front. His eyes narrowed slightly, and his hands suddenly exerted force. He pulled the bow to a full moon, and then added a few more points of strength, almost causing the bow body to deform.

Twang......

Xia Hong released his right hand, and the bowstring let out a loud sound. The iron arrow shot out at a terrifying speed, pulling the surrounding air along its path.

The distance of over a hundred meters was covered almost in an instant.

Puchi......

The sharp arrow pierced straight into the skull of the gnaw-rat at the very front, and the powerful force carried the gnaw-rat forward for three or four meters.

The arrowhead protruded from the back of the skull, pinning the gnaw-rat directly to the ground.

That gnaw-rat didn't even let out a scream, nor did its body struggle instinctively. After being pinned to the ground, it didn't move at all and died instantly.

All the people nearby who were still shooting arrows looked at Xia Hong at the front, their eyes filled with reverence and fanaticism.

From such a distance, a single arrow killed it.

Even Zhao Long and the other two probably couldn't do it.

Yet for the leader, it was as simple as eating and drinking!

"Again!"

After Xia Hong killed one with an arrow, he was not satisfied.

Zhao Long heard this and immediately handed over another one.

Twang... twang... twang... twang......

Xia Hong shot four arrows in a row, all of which hit targets at the very front of the rat pack. Although the force was not as great as the first one and failed to kill with a single arrow, it still caused the group of gnaw-rats at the front to stir incessantly, clearly panicked.

At this time, it wasn't just Xia Hong shooting arrows; the others hadn't stopped either.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak......"

A gnaw-rat at the very front, perhaps overly frightened, let out a shrill cry and rushed straight toward the arrow-bamboo forest.

And its movement immediately triggered a chain reaction. The more than two hundred gnaw-rats in the back all followed suit, all fleeing crazily toward the north side.

The five arrows Xia Hong shot as a follow-up had inadvertently become the last straw that broke the camel's back.

The gnaw-rat pack swarmed toward the arrow-bamboo forest to escape.

"Hoo......"

At this moment, Xia Hong finally truly set his mind at ease. He let out a fierce sigh of relief and returned the longbow in his hand to Zhao Long.

"They ran, the gnaw-rat pack ran."

"Hahaha, that goes without saying. From so far away, and poisoned, they were just living targets staying here; they had to run."

"I just shot twenty-seven arrows, I should have only missed one, hehe!"

"What are you showing off for? I shot twenty-eight arrows, all of which hit."

"Both of you are no good. I shot twenty-five arrows and all hit. Seven of them hit the gnaw-rats' eyes, but I don't know if those gnaw-rats died or not."

"Stop comparing. I just looked; the three lords Zhao Long and his brothers killed at least a dozen or so combined. Your level is simply not worth looking at."

"The three lords Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and Yuan Cheng are also very strong. Just now, they joined forces and killed six or seven."

"The leader is even more amazing. I didn't see him on the mountain wall, but in the short time he came down, he killed a dozen or so by himself with that long saber. Tonight, he probably killed the most."

"That's for sure. The leader charged directly into the rat pile. Who can compare?"

"The long saber in the leader's hand, the gnaw-rats couldn't dodge it at all. So strong!"

"It's called a Yi saber. The leader said it himself just now; I heard it."

As the gnaw-rat pack all entered the arrow-bamboo forest and disappeared, everyone's mood suddenly relaxed a lot. Many people even began to discuss the battle process just now, boasting about how many gnaw-rats they had hit.

Faced with such a massive victory, Xia Hong couldn't help but feel much more relaxed as well.

After all, this was nearly four hundred low-level cold beasts.

Under normal circumstances, let alone the hundred or so people present today, even if everyone in the Great Xia camp piled their lives on it, they would never be able to defeat this group of gnaw-rats.

Ninety-nine bows, more than three thousand iron arrows.

They actually solved this group of heart-troubling problems!

Xia Hong's mood was turbulent. He looked back at the crowd, waved his hand slightly, and was about to order people to clean up the prey on the ground.

But before he could speak, a slight tremor came from under his feet.

"Everyone, be quiet!"

Xia Hong subconsciously thought that the movement under his feet was caused by everyone being too excited, so he spoke to signal everyone to be quiet.

But as soon as the words left his mouth, he suddenly realized something was wrong.

Given the hardness of the ground in the Frozen Abyss World, it was impossible for a group of people in the Woodcutting Realm to cause such movement.

"Everyone, scatter!"

Xia Hong turned his head and roared at the crowd first, then his body suddenly lunged to the side to dodge. He felt very clearly that the movement was right under his feet.

The crowd, not knowing why, was startled, but out of habit, they still reacted quickly and all scattered.

No sooner said than done, Xia Hong lunged, and the crowd scattered; it was all a matter of an instant. Before they had even finished their movements, a ray of red light an inch long suddenly broke through the ground at the position where Xia Hong had just been standing.

That red light broke through the ground and arrived almost in an instant.

Before Xia Hong could dodge to the side, it had already pierced through the sole of his foot and shot straight toward his head.

"It's over!"

A flash of panic crossed Xia Hong's face, and his pupils instantly became bloodshot. Although he had already reacted by tilting his head, the speed of this red light was truly too fast; it was absolutely impossible to dodge it completely.

If his head were pierced through, even if he were lucky enough not to die, half his life would probably be gone.

"Leader!"

At the critical moment, Xia Hong didn't know who was calling out at all. He only felt his body being fiercely bumped, and then the red light made a puchi sound, piercing through something.

Xia Hong couldn't care about the sole of his foot that had been pierced through at all. He turned his head fiercely and discovered that the one who had just bumped him away was actually Luo Yuan.

Luo Yuan had already been sent flying more than ten meters away, and a blood hole the size of a baby's fist appeared on his shoulder. He fell directly to the ground, not knowing whether he was dead or alive.

What was even more fatal was that after the red light passed through Luo Yuan's shoulder, it actually flew forward for more than ten meters and pierced through the bodies of seven or eight more people. Two of the unlucky ones were shot through the head and definitely couldn't survive.

"There is something underground! Everyone, scatter! Xia Chuan, go save Luo Yuan!"

Xia Hong roared at the crowd while dragging his injured leg. He looked back at the ground where he had just been standing and saw an extra round hole the size of a baby's fist, his pupils suddenly freezing.

This red light, whether in size, speed, or lethality, was completely different from those emitted by the gnaw-rats earlier.

Not to mention, it was shot directly from underground!

Judging from the distance where he had just felt the movement underground, the position where this red light was emitted was definitely five or six meters away from the ground. That meant that the attack distance of the red light from this gnaw-rat underground also far exceeded that of other gnaw-rats.

"It's a rat leader, it must be a rat leader. These cold beasts really have a leader!"

Whether looking at the super-high intelligence possessed by creatures like cold beasts, or the experience of encountering a frostwolf pack during the previous migration, all made Xia Hong vaguely feel this point. But since he hadn't seen one, he didn't dare to be sure.

At this moment, he could finally be sure.

It was just that he was sure a bit too late.

Xia Hong looked down at his pierced sole. Although his forehead was already dripping with cold sweat from the pain, he couldn't care about it at all. He took out some golden sore powder from his bosom, smeared it on indiscriminately, and immediately turned his head to deploy.

"Everyone, stand where you are! Don't move, don't make any sound!"

Since it was hiding underground to launch a sneak attack, no matter what strength this rat king had, at the very least, its temperament must be extremely cautious. If it didn't come out, it could only rely on its hearing to judge people's positions.

Due to the low temperature of the Frozen Abyss World, even on the surface of the earth, the aura of species was extremely difficult to transmit, let alone this rat king hiding underground at this moment; it was even more impossible to judge people's directions through aura.

It could only rely on listening!

At the same time as Xia Hong's voice fell, everyone immediately stopped their bodies. Even Xia Chuan, who was carrying Luo Yuan on his back, froze in place.

=9+Shu_ba

The environment, which had been extremely noisy just a moment ago, instantly became quiet and soundless.

Sure enough, as everyone stood still, the movement underground also came to an abrupt end, and no further red light was shot out.

In the whole field, only Xia Hong was moving.

It wasn't that he didn't want to stop; it was that the sentence he had just used to tell everyone to be quiet had already exposed his position.

Xia Hong clearly felt that the rat king was scurrying around underground right beneath his feet, sticking to him tightly, clearly preparing to shoot a second red light.

"This evil beast, it's so fast even underground. It's over!"

The speed of gnaw-rats was already fast, let alone a rat king underground, and the opponent hadn't been affected by the Vine-Dragon toxin. Finding that no matter how he ran, the rat king underground followed closely, Xia Hong felt a bit desperate in his heart.

Judging from the penetrating power and speed of the first red light just now, he, with his injured sole, definitely couldn't dodge it.

Once the second red light was shot out, he would definitely die!

"Big brother, I'm coming to help you!"

"Leader, I'm coming to assist you."

Just as Xia Hong was in despair, four voices suddenly came from the field one after another.

It was actually Xia Chuan and the three Zhao brothers.

Xia Chuan had already put the unconscious Luo Yuan on the ground and was rushing toward Xia Hong while constantly shouting; the three Zhao brothers were the same. As they rushed, they nocked arrows and shot crazily toward the ground behind Xia Hong.

Seeing the actions of the four, a flash of emotion suddenly crossed Xia Hong's eyes.

Shouting loudly and shooting arrows at the ground were obviously futile efforts; how could Xia Chuan and the three Zhao brothers not know that?

The four were using this method to distract the rat king underground for him; how could he not know that?

"Don't come over! I have a way myself!"

Xia Hong's gaze swept across a large tree nearby, and a flash of inspiration appeared in his mind. He shouted at the four of them, then held his long saber in his mouth, endured the great pain from his sole, and climbed directly up the tree.

"Since I can't dodge it, then I'll lure you out and see just how strong you evil beast really are!"

The red light of ordinary gnaw-rats had an attack distance of only one or two meters, which was extremely limited;

Although the rat king was stronger than ordinary gnaw-rats, judging from the first red light just now, it was at most just over twenty meters.

Standing on the ground, he naturally couldn't dodge it.

But once up a tree, it was different.

Xia Hong gritted his teeth and climbed to a height of more than twenty meters in one breath, then pressed his ear against the large tree, concentrating on listening to the movement inside.

And seeing his actions, the four of Xia Chuan immediately reacted as well. Although they all stopped their bodies and continued to stand still, their eyes were still full of worry as they looked at Xia Hong.

Crack......

The scene became quiet again. Xia Hong, who was lying on the large tree, heard a faint but fast clicking sound and realized that the rat king was digging all the way up from the bottom of the tree along the underground. His pupils suddenly froze.

"I was just afraid you wouldn't come!"

In fact, there was no need to listen to the sound to distinguish it. When the rat king had dug less than five meters upward, Xia Hong had already clearly felt the large tree shaking.

This rat king, the movement made by digging holes was actually so loud; it wasn't even as strong as those ordinary gnaw-rats.

Although Xia Hong was joking in his heart, the hands tightly gripping the Yi saber had already burst with veins, and the cold light in his pupils had also climbed to the extreme.

The rat king seemed to have already decided on him, just digging straight up. In four or five breaths of time, it had passed the middle section, leaving less than ten meters from him.

Xia Hong gripped the Yi saber tightly, watching the movement under the tree intently. During the rat king's digging upward, he remained motionless throughout.

Until the moment the rat king dug to a position five or six meters away from him and suddenly stopped.

Xia Hong moved!

He aimed at the position, jumped down from the treetop, kicked a tree branch fiercely with his uninjured foot, and used the recoil force to use the Yi saber as a spear, stabbing it with all his might into the position where the rat king had just stopped.

Xia Hong's basic strength had already reached twenty-one thousand earlier. During the nearly one month of crazy bow-making, he had never stopped eating the cold beast meat of gnaw-rats and Vine-Dragons, and every day was according to the limit standard.

Although he hadn't gone to test it specifically, Xia Hong estimated that his basic strength was at least between twenty-three thousand and twenty-four thousand. Let alone mere tree bark, even if a pile of cold beast bones were placed in front of him, his saber strike could steadily pierce through it.

Puh......

The surface of the large tree was pierced through by the Yi saber without any suspense. The force was too great; the 1.5-meter blade of the Yi saber was almost entirely inserted, leaving only the handle that Xia Hong was holding in his hand on the outside.

Squeak......

An angry rat cry came from inside the tree. Xia Hong was not afraid; instead, an excited smile appeared on his face. Then he immediately let go, and while falling downward, he turned his head and shouted at the three Zhao brothers.

"Look at the position of my saber!"

Swish... swish... swish......

The tacit understanding formed by long-term joint hunting didn't need Xia Hong's reminder at all.

Before he had even finished speaking, the special iron arrows of the three Zhao brothers had already cut through the sky and steadily inserted themselves into the position near the Yi saber.

And after the first wave of three was shot, two more rounds followed. A total of nine special iron arrows were all inserted into the large tree, and almost not even the tails were left on the outside, which showed how great their strength was.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak......"

The rat king inside the large tree, not knowing where it was shot, let out a cry that was even angrier than before and also carried a hint of shrillness.

Crack......

A giant tail about seven or eight meters long suddenly stretched out, splitting the large tree into two halves from the middle. A giant gnaw-rat with a body length of more than four meters was squeezed in the very middle of the large tree, with its head facing up and feet facing down.

The large tree collapsed, and the giant gnaw-rat also fell to the ground.

Unlike the silver fur of ordinary gnaw-rats, a small part of the hair on this rat king's body had already turned golden.

Its pair of small, crimson eyes were staring fixedly at Xia Hong, full of hatred and resentment. Two giant gnawing teeth were emitting a chilling light, and the flesh-colored giant tail with barbs behind it was swaying left and right, which was quite terrifying.

Its body size was actually four times that of an ordinary gnaw-rat.

No wonder, no wonder the movement it made in the tree just now was so loud.

Unlike what others were focusing on, as soon as the rat king landed, Xia Hong saw a long saber cut under its armpit and four or five blood holes on its back.

Obviously, just now in the tree, his Yi saber and the arrows of Zhao Long and the other three had caused damage to the rat king. Although it wasn't considered serious, at least it was injured.

Moreover, the moment the rat king came out of the large tree, although its expression was subtle, the fleeting sense of confusion was still noticed by Xia Hong. Combined with the fact that the rat king had not shown itself before and chose to launch a sneak attack on him from underground, Xia Hong easily guessed it.

The poison mist of the natural enemy Vine-Dragon, even for a rat king, would be affected.

"Everyone, close in and raise your bows, aim at it, don't shoot!"

The crowd that had scattered just now was already closing in as the gnaw-rat broke out of the tree. Hearing Xia Hong's order, they immediately accelerated their speed to get together, all nocking arrows and aiming at the rat king at the same time.

Looking at the rat king's thin, pointed face, which was still full of ferocity and resentment, and its body was also motionless, Xia Hong's brows sank slightly, and he raised his hand directly behind him.

"It's useful!"

The moment he raised his hand, the fleeting wariness in the rat king's eyes, although subtle, was still captured by Xia Hong. His heart was suddenly filled with joy.

"Don't shoot, just hold it like this, see if it dares to come!"

To tell the truth, although he hadn't fought the rat king head-on, judging from the fact that his saber strike just now only injured its armpit, and the wounds caused by the arrows of Zhao Long and the other three.

In all likelihood, they couldn't defeat the rat king in its prime state.

Right now, although the rat king was forced out and poisoned by the Vine-Dragon toxin, they still didn't know to what extent its strength had been affected. Rashly engaging in battle could very likely lead to a big loss.

Even to exaggerate, it wasn't impossible for the whole army to be wiped out.

His own leg was seriously injured, and he couldn't exert his full strength either. Judging from the rat king's body size and the red light it shot just now, it was highly likely a medium-level cold beast they had never encountered before.

Heaven knows if it had any other skills besides the red light.

Furthermore, the gnaw-rat pack had already been forced to retreat. They had no need to fight the rat king to the death at all. As long as they could safely force the opponent to retreat, that was the best result.

Kill the rat king?

Xia Hong directly cut off this thought. Among them, those who could injure the rat king were probably only the six in the Earth-Digging Realm. Right now, Luo Yuan was unconscious, so one was missing.

The arrows of the three Zhao brothers were already empty, and for the arrows shot by the remaining Woodcutting Realm people to want to injure the rat king, it was obviously wishful thinking.

The problem was, the rat king didn't know this.

Earlier, when the gnaw-rat pack was slaughtered like this, the rat king was unwilling to come out; even later when the rat pack retreated, the rat king couldn't help it and only hid underground to launch a sneak attack on Xia Hong and the others; even at this moment, after being forced out of the large tree by Xia Hong's scheme, it didn't make a move immediately.

Just these three points were enough to show the character of this rat king.

To put it nicely, it was called cautious; to put it bluntly, it was afraid of death.

Afraid of death, and smart, then that was easy to talk about!

Just as Xia Hong guessed, over a hundred people raised their bows at the same time. The rat king, aimed at by so many iron arrows simultaneously, had a fierce expression on its face, but its feet remained motionless for a long time. And as the confusion in its eyes grew thicker, its tail even stopped swaying.

It gave up the attack; it intended to withdraw!

At this moment, even if Xia Hong didn't speak, the others could understand his meaning. Everyone held their bows and arrows and glared at the gnaw-rat, making a gesture as if they were about to shoot the iron arrows in their hands at any time, not daring to make any movements at all.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak......"

"Squeak, squeak......"

"Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak......"

However, a large burst of squeaking sounds that suddenly rang out from the north cast a shadow over Xia Hong's heart instantly, and a hint of despair appeared in his eyes.

Not just him, the other ninety-plus people, including Xia Chuan and the others, were the same.

The more than two hundred gnaw-rats that had already burrowed into the arrow-bamboo forest had actually rustled out of the forest again.

Although they came out scattered, some were heading toward them.

How could this group of gnaw-rats come out again!

At this very moment, completely different from the hundred or so people in the Great Xia camp, was the gloomy, tyrannical, and incomparably proud and ferocious expression on the rat king's face.

It seemed to have already seen the fate of this group of people in front of it and was laughing.

However, the ferocity on the rat king's face didn't last for a few seconds.

The gnaw-rat pack scattering over from the north, judging by their pace, was clearly panicked, with a state similar to when they were just driven in by Xia Hong and the others.

Swish... swish... swish......

Dozens of iron arrows actually came galloping from the arrow-bamboo forest behind the gnaw-rat pack.

This group of gnaw-rats didn't come over by themselves, but were driven out by someone.

In the arrow-bamboo forest, there was actually someone?

Everyone in the Great Xia camp, including Xia Hong, was stunned. Immediately after, hearing a few voices coming from the bamboo forest, they suddenly showed expressions of ecstasy.

"Who drove this group of stinking rats into the forest? Really wicked!"

"There are quite a few iron arrows stuck on their bodies; they should be people from other camps."

"There should only be one called Hive in this vicinity, right? Are there other camps?"

"Hive is on the Pingxi Plain north of the bamboo forest; these should be from another family."

In the arrow-bamboo forest, more than a dozen figures walked out slowly.

They were all holding strong bows, shooting at the gnaw-rat pack fleeing in a sorry state as they walked. Unlike the crowd in the Great Xia camp, the arrows shot by these ten or so people were incomparably powerful, all killing with a single arrow, exactly the same as the three Zhao brothers earlier.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak......"

As soon as those ten or so figures appeared, the rat king immediately looked up and made a few sounds.

The originally disorganized gnaw-rat pack, upon hearing the sound, quickly gathered together toward the east side. Immediately after, the rat king turned into a silver light and rushed straight into the middle of the rat pack.

The gnaw-rat pack, which only had more than two hundred left, soon turned into a giant silver wave and rustled toward the depths of the high mountains on the east side.

That rat king actually just fled so cleanly and neatly......

At this point, Xia Hong's mind was settled. He turned his head and looked at the group of people walking out of the arrow-bamboo forest, a hint of gratitude first appearing on his face, and then he moved forward slowly for two steps, intending to express his thanks.

"There really are people. Didn't Old Lu say that there was only a medium-sized camp called Luo Ge here, along with a few other small camps?"

"So many bows and arrows, this doesn't look like a small or medium-sized camp at all!"

The group of people walking out of the arrow-bamboo forest obviously also discovered the crowd in the Great Xia camp.

The information revealed by the words of the two people in the lead made Xia Hong's expression move slightly. He was just about to report his own name, but he didn't want to, and another person from the other side spoke up.

"Are you the bunch of people who drove the rat pack into the bamboo forest?"

Hearing the obvious tone of questioning and blame in the other party's voice, and realizing that this was another group of people who were not easy to deal with, Xia Hong's expression suddenly sank. He stood firm first and moved his injured right foot backward.

Then he realized something, signaled to Xia Chuan on the side with his eyes, and spoke to him softly, saying two words.

"Torch!"

Xia Chuan understood, immediately took out a torch, and lit it directly.

(End of chapter)