Chapter 224

As for what the good show Li Ying Xuan Ling spoke of was, although Xia Hong was not clear, judging by the current situation, he certainly could not miss it.

It's just a pity that Li Ying Xuan Ling only called Chen Yingyuan and Peng Bo.

Moreover, after Chen and Peng left with Li Ying Xuan Ling, the large group of people who had originally been lying in ambush on both sides of the dense forest all walked out.

Emerging from both sides of the dense forest were two hundred black-armored soldiers, fully armed and wearing sturdy armor. They all carried long bows, held a black-shafted, silver-tipped snake spear, and wore a pointed-feather iron helmet on their heads.

This group of soldiers had firm gazes and a vigorous temperament. Even their pace out of the dense forest was extremely consistent. They gathered together in a dark mass, exuding a thick aura of iron and blood.

Looking at the iron armor on those soldiers, all of which had hundred-forged silver patterns; the silver light radiating from the tips of the snake spears in their hands; the material of the bowstrings of the iron-fetal bows on their backs; and their base strength, which was all over thirty thousand, Xia Hong was filled with solemnity both on his face and in his heart.

The reactions of the others were much worse than his.

Whether it was Ma Yong and Chen Yuan of the Beehive, or Peng Yuan and the others of Yanglu, all the Earth-Digging Realm experts trembled involuntarily the moment this group of soldiers walked out of the dense forest. Some of the more timid ones were even triggered into a self-protection mechanism, directly drawing their weapons and assuming a battle-ready posture.

The military appearance of the Longyou Army was even more powerful than before!

There were eight hundred more soldiers like this in the Longshan camp.

Chen Yingyuan and Peng Bo looked at each other, and the lingering fluke mentality in their minds was completely extinguished after seeing these two hundred Longyou soldiers.

Seeing Li Ying Xuan Ling take the lead and walk toward the north side, the two hurriedly followed.

After Li Ying Xuan Ling left with the two leaders, a young general in golden armor holding a long sword stood out from the two hundred Longyou soldiers and spoke loudly to the crowd: "I am Longyou Captain Li Ying. Everyone, follow me to the Longshan Post first!"

Although Li Ying used the humble "I" (zai xia), his bossy tone, combined with his head-held-high posture when speaking, made his disdain for the more than fifty Earth-Digging Realm experts of the two families almost written on his face.

But even so, Peng Yuan, Chen Yuan, Ma Yong, and others did not dare to have any rebellious emotions and could only obediently push the carts and follow behind him.

"Those in the back, come to the front to replace the cart pullers!"

Seeing that the people in the front row of the two carts were starting to pant, Ma Yong immediately spoke up to let the people pushing the carts in the back come forward to rotate. Hearing this, the people in the back quickly stepped forward to alternate.

But watching the crowd finish alternating, Ma Yong's brows suddenly furrowed.

"Where is Hong Yu? Don't be lazy, come over quickly!"

He had a deep impression of Hong Yu: first, because he was the newest member to join the hunting squad; second, because all twenty-four members of Chen Yingba's squad had exceeded thirty thousand jin, and only Hong Yu was at twenty-six thousand; third, because during the past ten days of travel, he found that this kid seemed to be lazy often.

"Hong Yu, are your ears deaf?"

As the first call went unanswered, Ma Yong felt he was losing face and increased his tone, but this shout still fell on deaf ears.

The person who had just rotated to the back row spoke up at this time.

Besides, as a dignified Frost-Resisting Realm expert, having to do it himself for a bite to eat was a bit ridiculous.

"He's not in the front either."

"Where is this kid?"

…………

Hearing this, Ma Yong rushed to the back row and searched, only to find that Hong Yu had truly vanished into thin air. His expression changed instantly.

"Missing?"

"He was just here."

Ma Yong stood in place, looking at the silent snow behind him, then turned his head to glance at the Longyou soldiers walking on their own in the front row, gritted his teeth, and said to the crowd:

"Don't worry about him, keep walking."

Judging by the attitude Li Ying and the others had just shown toward them, even if they reported that someone from the Beehive had mysteriously disappeared, they certainly wouldn't care. Instead of going up and bringing humiliation upon themselves, it was better to act as if it hadn't happened.

Hong Yu had joined the camp for a very short time and had no relatives or family members. With such a person missing, there was no need for aftermath handling, so Ma Yong naturally wouldn't take it to heart.

"Just assume he went missing on his own, and report it when the leader returns."

Ma Yong quickly caught up with the team and continued to move toward the Longshan Post.

………………

In a northern area of Longshan, there was an empty dirt slope.

Around the dirt slope stood three hundred Longyou soldiers, fully packed. They all held strong bows and were pulling the bowstrings, aiming at the middle of the dirt slope.

In the middle of the dirt slope, an incomparably fierce battle was taking place.

There were six people in the field, all of whom were middle-aged.

Two snake spears, one great blade, and one long sword.

The four people on the periphery, clad in golden armor and holding three types of weapons, were besieging the two in the middle.

The two snake spears swept across each other, and the arc light separated the snowflakes in mid-air inch by inch;

The great blade slashed angrily, and the surrounding accumulated snow was stirred up by the cold edge, forming a thick mist of snow;

The long sword slashed rapidly, and the sword light reflected off the heavy snow, flickering endlessly in the night sky.

The four people not only had terrifying strength, but their control over their weapons was also astonishing. Under their combined siege, the momentum was terrifying to the extreme. The entire dirt slope was almost shrouded in snow mist, and anyone with slightly poor eyesight simply could not see the situation inside clearly.

In stark contrast to the four were the two being besieged.

One holding a sword and the other holding an axe, under the siege of the four, they could only dodge in a panic. Several times they wanted to break out from one direction, but in the end, it all came to nothing. Moreover, as time passed, their bodies began to be injured by the four, and before long, they didn't even have the chance to dodge in a panic.

"Ah..."

The man holding the axe let out a miserable cry. It turned out that the two snake spears were stabbing toward his left and right armpits. Although his body had already leaped high and he was leaning back and pushing hard, the snake spear on the right seemed to have seen through his movements long ago and actually made a turn in mid-air, not only piercing his right arm but also using the hook of the snake spear to pull his body back fiercely.

The position he was pulled back to happened to match the snake spear on the left that hadn't turned.

One pulling back, one stabbing out—judging by the terrifying strength shown by the two snake spears, if he were stabbed, that person would undoubtedly die.

Clang...

At the critical moment, a long sword slashed onto the shaft of the snake spear on the left.

The shaft was struck, and the snake spear naturally lost its accuracy.

The man holding the axe naturally escaped danger smoothly!

And the person who slashed this sword was the other person who was also being besieged at the same time.

A large gash had already been cut into that man's back by the great blade, and blood was gushing out from it. After saving his companion, not only was there no joy on his face, but it was filled with fear and horror. He hurriedly lifted his head toward the west side of the dirt slope and spoke with a hint of pleading:

"Eldest Young Master, Liu Xian swears to heaven that Changning has absolutely no second thoughts toward Longshan. Not bringing iron ore on this trip is not out of disrespect for the Alliance Leader's Decree; it is truly because the two iron mines of my Changning have already bottomed out, and we really couldn't scrape together that much in a short time. I hope the Eldest Young Master will see clearly!"

As soon as Liu Xian spoke, the man holding the axe followed closely and said: "The Songyuan camp is also the same. Wang Hu's loyalty to Longshan is clear to heaven and earth. Eldest Young Master, please do not be provoked by others and wrong us!"

In the front row of the soldiers on the west side of the dirt slope, there were a total of nine people.

The leader was a middle-aged man with a refined appearance. He was dressed in white, with a calm and introverted face. At this moment, he was quietly watching the situation in the field. Hearing the words of Liu Xian and Wang Hu, his brows only twitched slightly, and he did not speak.

The four people on the left behind the middle-aged man were dressed similarly to the four who were besieging Liu Xian and Wang Hu, also clad in golden armor, middle-aged, two holding blades, one holding a halberd, and another using a long spear.

Among the four on his right, one had an appearance eighty percent similar to him, and his attire was also similar. The other three were none other than Li Ying Xuan Ling, Chen Yingyuan, and Peng Bo, who had just come from the south.

Watching Liu Xian and Wang Hu being besieged in the field, already in precarious situations, and even several times just one step away from death, Chen and Peng's brows jumped fiercely, their breathing became rapid, and their hearts were both fortunate and horrified, while also carrying a trace of hesitation.

Fortunate, naturally, because they had made the right choice; otherwise, their fate would likely be about the same as Liu Xian and Wang Hu before them, and it was not impossible that they would die like Yan Chuan.

Horrified, it stemmed from the lingering fear of Longshan's thunderous strike this time.

Yan Chuan of Yucheng was already dead, and Liu Xian of Changning and Wang Hu of Songyuan were currently being besieged by four of the Eight Great Vajras; death was only a matter of time. Three of the ten families were already gone, and excluding their own two families, only five families remained.

The problem is that what is standing here at this moment is not all of Longshan's strength. Regardless of whether Li Tianhua is alive, besides him, there are at least thirteen Frigid-level experts in Longshan that they know of.

Chen Yingyuan turned his head to look forward. He was very familiar with the people of Longshan. The one at the very front was the Eldest Young Master Li Ying Xuan Yan, the one beside him who was eighty percent similar to him was the Third Young Master Li Xuandu, and then counting the Young Master Li Ying Xuan Ling and the Eight Great Vajras, that made a total of eleven people.

Li Tianhua's younger brother Li Tiancheng and the Second Young Master Li Xuantian had not appeared at this moment. And the Longyou Army—there were three hundred present now; counting the two hundred seen just before, that was only five hundred people in total.

Where is the other half of the Longyou Army?

Besides going to deal with the remaining four families, where else could they go?

No, it's not impossible that they went directly to deal with the Zhaoyang camp!

That Alliance Leader's Decree was not a case of being fierce in appearance but weak in reality; it was clearly an ultimatum given to their ten camps. Those who did not obey the Alliance Leader's Decree were killed directly!

Before they came, they had also considered whether they should not bring iron ore and wait to see the situation of the alliance assembly. Recalling it now, that was equivalent to walking on the edge of life and death. How could they not have lingering fear in their hearts?

As for the last trace of hesitation, it was entirely out of fear for the future.

Yan Chuan is dead, and Liu Xian and Wang Hu before them will also die soon. Once the three leaders are dead, Longshan naturally will not let go of the Yucheng, Changning, and Songyuan camps. Does this mean that Longshan is going to abandon the previous way of playing the Longyou Alliance and start annexing these camps under them?

If this is the case, even if the two of them luckily escape this disaster today, in the not-too-distant future, the Beehive and Yanglu families will probably still be unable to avoid being annexed.

Chen Yingyuan and Peng Bo looked at each other, saw the hesitation on the other's face, both sighed slightly, and then couldn't help but look at Li Ying Xuan Ling, the chill in their hearts growing thicker.

!

What good show? This is clearly a threat.

A naked threat!

They were deliberately made to see Yan Chuan's corpse just now, and then brought here to witness Liu Xian and Wang Hu being killed with their own eyes.

The intention of the threat could not be more obvious!

Chen Yingyuan and Peng Bo could even feel the teasing gazes that Li Xuandu, Li Ying Xuan Ling, and the other six were casting at them from time to time.

There was only one question in the minds of the two at this moment.

That is, when Li Ying Xuan Yan really proposes that the Beehive and Yanglu families merge into Longshan, how should they answer?

Except for obedience, there seems to be no other way.

…………

It was not just Chen and Peng who saw that Li Ying Xuan Ling was threatening the two families.

At this moment, Xia Hong, who was hiding in the dark, was no longer watching the fight in the field, but had cast his gaze on the nine people in Li Ying Xuan Yan's group.

Wang Hu and Liu Xian both had strength of only about Eight Manes, while the four people besieging them had a minimum strength of Nine Manes, and the highest was Eleven Manes. In a one-on-one fight, neither of them was an opponent, let alone a siege.

If it weren't for their desperate fighting style, they wouldn't have been able to hold on for so long.

Defeat and death were only a matter of time, so he naturally wouldn't pay attention to it.

"The leader should be that Eldest Young Master Li Ying Xuan Yan, the one on the left should be his younger brother, and the four on the right, together with the four besieging Liu Xian and Wang Hu, are about the same age and dressed similarly. If nothing unexpected happens, they should be the Eight Great Vajras of Longshan. That already makes eleven Frigid-level experts. Plus the Longyou Army, this Longshan's strength is indeed very strong. However, their strength..."

As he watched, Xia Hong's eyes gradually became strange.

The reason is very simple: he could see through the strength of all eleven Frigid-level experts.

The Eight Great Vajras had two with Eleven Manes, two with Ten Manes, and the remaining four were all Nine Manes; Li Ying Xuan Yan was Eleven Manes; his younger brother was Ten Manes.

That is to say, it seems that the Young Master Li Ying Xuan Ling is standing at the very back.

But her strength is actually the strongest among these eleven people.

Xia Hong looked at Li Ying Xuan Ling's beautiful face from a distance, a hint of playfulness rose on his face, and his expression became quite interested.

"Is it deliberately hidden to confuse outsiders, or do even their own family members not know? If it's the latter, then that would be interesting!"

Puchi... Crack...

Snake spears piercing bodies, great blades breaking bones—two sounds came from the dirt slope one after another.

Xia Hong didn't need to look to know that Liu Xian and Wang Hu were likely gone.

Sure enough, on the dirt slope, Liu Xian was pierced through the heart by two snake spears, and Wang Hu was struck in the neck by a great blade, his head falling to the ground. Two Frigid-level leaders died in the snow like this, unable to even let out a miserable cry.

The moment the two fell to the ground, Peng Bo and Chen Yingyuan's bodies trembled in unison, then their heads drooped, and their expressions became increasingly terrified.

"Alright, go to the east side. It's about the same over at Second Brother's side. The Xiling, Bai Yuan, and Dongkang families arrived together; let's go over early and solve them all at once!"

With Liu and Wang dead, Li Ying Xuan Yan also spoke.

His voice was easygoing and steady, which fit his refined and introverted temperament; one couldn't hear any of the domineering nature of being the Eldest Young Master of Longshan.

"You two, to deal with those three families, I will have to trouble you to take action. Since you two have hearts toward Longshan, I suppose you won't refuse this small request, right?"

Li Ying Xuan Ling also spoke, asking Chen Yingyuan and Peng Bo beside her.

"Of course not."

"As a member of Longyou, eradicating rebels is our duty!"

Looking at her beautiful face with a blooming smile, the fear of Chen and Peng was almost written on their faces, and they nodded repeatedly like a rattle-drum to agree.

No one saw that Li Ying Xuan Yan in front, hearing the conversation between Li Ying Xuan Ling and the two behind, furrowed his brows slightly, but he didn't say anything and continued to walk toward the east side.

The others, including the three hundred Longyou soldiers, all packed their gear and followed behind him, rushing toward the east side together.

After everyone had left, Xia Hong walked out from the dark and went all the way to the top of the dirt slope. Looking at the blood left by Liu and Wang on the snow, his brows were tightly furrowed, and he fell into thought.

"That Alliance Leader's Decree is indeed used to test loyalty, but to strike so fiercely—as long as those participating in the alliance assembly don't bring iron ore, they are killed immediately—this is also a bit... too exaggerated, right?"

A hint of confusion gradually appeared on Xia Hong's face.

If Longshan truly had the confidence to sit firmly on the Diaoyutai and wasn't afraid of the ten camps of Longyou rebelling and mixing with Zhaoyang, then they should wait until the alliance assembly to suppress Zhaoyang with thunderous force, and then use the excuse of not obeying the Alliance Leader's Decree to either punish or directly eradicate those camps that didn't bring iron ore. That would be more logical.

Scattering people like this and guarding at the foot of Longshan, killing people directly whenever they find a family that didn't bring iron ore, is actually a bit strange.

He truly couldn't understand Longshan's behavior.

"No, this seems to be in a hurry to eradicate the unstable factors of the alliance!"

Xia Hong's expression suddenly froze. Immediately after, he thought of something, his expression changed drastically, and he turned his head to glance in the direction of Longshan.

"So that's it. Strike first to gain the advantage; this is striking first to gain the advantage!"

Yucheng, Changning, and Songyuan—the three families that originally intended to lean toward Zhaoyang—had their leaders killed so easily;

The Yanglu and Beehive families were so frightened that they could only follow Longshan to the end;

As of now, five camps have already been dealt with.

Even if the remaining five families successfully unite with Zhaoyang, with Longshan's strength, they can probably deal with it easily, and their chances of winning are even very high!

The originally excellent momentum of Zhaoyang was actually resolved so easily by Longshan. Not only resolved, but if that Hou Hu of Zhaoyang is also very careless, maybe even he will be solved together this time.

This Longshan camp is smart!

While seeing through Longshan's intentions, Xia Hong could also be certain of one point.

That is, Li Tianhua definitely has a problem!

"Even if he's not dead, he must have a big problem. Otherwise, Longshan wouldn't need to be in such a hurry to take action against these ten camps. It's just because they are afraid that if they unite with Zhaoyang and become a major force, it will be irreversible."

Seeing through Longshan's behavior, Xia Hong's mind instantly became clear. At the same time, he knew what he should do. Looking at the figures in the distance to the east, he chuckled, his body swept across the snow, and he galloped to follow them.

"I hope that Hou Hu can be smarter. If these ten families are truly wiped out by Longshan in one net, then for my Great Xia, let alone reaching out to the Pingxi Plain, I'm afraid I'll have to guard against this neighbor to the north at all times from now on!"

(End of chapter)