Chapter 491

One hundred breaths ago, east of Ruhu Forest, at the main camp of the Dragon Guard Corps

“North! Watch out!”

Cheng Guang’s warning caused Meng Ying, Tie Xinchuan, and the other Dragon Guard soldiers to turn their heads northward; when they saw the scene to the north, their pupils sharply contracted.

Thousands of Dragon Guard soldiers had been continuously firing powerful arrows, nearly covering the sky above the carriage in a hundred-meter radius; these soldiers all had a base strength of at least 25 zong, and their combined arrow volleys carried immense force.

At this moment, even snowflakes and air currents had been scattered by the arrowwind.

Yet in the air dozens of meters to the north, there was a small region where nothing was visible—yet no arrow could penetrate it; each arrow that struck it seemed to hit an invisible wall and fell clattering to the ground.

"Is this a trickery technique?"

Huh…………

“Stop wasting time—light the yellow candles!”

Meng Ying reacted fastest; while Cheng Guang and others hesitated, he had already drawn his blade and slashed violently toward that region, while simultaneously signaling others to light their yellow candles immediately.

Yellow candles are not only used in rituals to enhance the spiritual power of spirit tablets, but any trickery technique within their illuminated radius is rendered inert.

Cheng Guang, Jiang Ping—the two Xianyang-level soldiers—and Tie Xinchuan and all other Dragon Guard soldiers suddenly realized, quickly pulling out their yellow candles to light them.

Yellow candles were mandatory equipment for every Dragon Guard soldier.

Their movements were already swift—less than half a breath passed before hundreds of yellow candles ignited simultaneously, illuminating the entire area around the carriage within a hundred-meter radius.

But the illumination radius of each yellow candle was only about three meters, meaning its upward reach extended no higher than three meters.

Jing…………

As Meng Ying charged forward, his greatsword struck the region blocking the arrows—he felt a tremendous force ahead, and his expression instantly changed.

Someone had blocked him with a weapon; he could even sense two qi signatures far stronger than his own—yet his eyes saw nothing.

"Invisibility trickery technique—these are Xianyang-level agents from the Fanzhen! Damn it!"

Bang…………

The moment Meng Ying’s mind registered the threat, his chest was struck with crushing force; his body plummeted from midair to the ground with a thunderous crash.

“Puh… Cheng Guang, Jiang Ping—enter the carriage and protect the Prince at close range!”

Suppressing the blood surging in his chest, Meng Ying barked orders to Cheng Guang and Jiang Ping, then without a second’s delay, rose swiftly and charged toward the carriage.

But at this critical moment, no matter how fast he moved, it was too late.

As he was kicked downward, the two invisible assailants had already rushed toward the carriage, arriving at its roof in an instant.

Only Cheng Guang and Jiang Ping, who had remained pressed against the carriage, reacted quickly enough; upon hearing Meng Ying’s order, they immediately yanked open the carriage curtain and dove inside.

Yet the enemy had reached them!

The two invisible assailants, though now close to the carriage roof, had also entered the yellow candle’s illumination zone—thus their invisibility trickery technique was naturally broken.

They were two middle-aged men clad in black, one wielding a blade, the other a sword; both had slender builds. The man on the left emitted thin white smoke that curled around himself and tightly enveloped the man on the right.

Both were upside-down, their upper bodies exposed within the yellow candle’s light, while their lower halves—still outside the illumination zone—remained invisible.

Clearly, that white smoke was the core of the invisibility trickery technique!

The two assailants realized their cover was blown; their expressions flickered with panic—but the arrow was already on the string, and they were but a step away from the carriage; they could not possibly retreat now.

They gritted their teeth and accelerated, diving toward the carriage.

“Shoot! Drive them back!”

Tie Xinchuan’s reaction was slower than Meng Ying’s trio, but seeing the two assailants now clinging to the carriage roof, he immediately shouted for everyone to fire.

The Dragon Guard’s bows had never ceased firing, but many soldiers were too slow to match the speed of the two invisible assailants, so most arrows missed.

Upon hearing Tie Xinchuan’s command, they instantly turned their bows and fired at the two now-visible assailants.

This was their final chance—the Prince Xia Yu was inside the carriage; once the two assassins made contact, their bows would become utterly useless.

Every Dragon Guard soldier understood this; after firing, they immediately discarded their heavy bows, drew their blades, and charged furiously toward the carriage.

Jing… Keng…………

Undeniably, this final volley of enraged arrows had an effect; had the Dragon Guard numbers been slightly fewer, the two Xianyang-level assassins might have shrugged it off—but at this moment, nearly all Dragon Guard soldiers were present.

Thousands of silver-forged Wandaan arrows shot forth in unison; the two invisible Xianyang-level assassins’ pupils sharply contracted.

“I’ll block—break the carriage and seize the target!”

The man on the right roared, wildly swinging his greatsword to form a blade curtain over two meters in diameter, directly shielding his companion and absorbing the majority of the arrowstorm.

Duk duk duk…………

A single arrow—or even a few—from a Yuhán-level soldier, even if forged from Wandaan silver, could not pierce a Xianyang-level’s bones; but hundreds or thousands, fired by Dragon Guard soldiers whose base strength all exceeded 25 zong—this outcome was entirely different.

The assassin who volunteered to shield his comrade, no matter how fast he swung his blade, could not block arrows raining from all sides of the carriage; ultimately, two or three tenths of the arrows pierced through the curtain and embedded in his body.

Two or three tenths meant over two hundred arrows.

Without question, his entire body was instantly riddled like a sieve; though the sound indicated the arrows had not pierced his bones, the terrifying impact force caused his body to sway violently, his sword-swinging speed halved, and the blade curtain slowly dissipated.

Not only him—even the man behind him was pierced by over a dozen arrows.

Yet Xianyang-levels remained Xianyang-levels; though his body was riddled with arrows, the shielding assassin still raised his hands to guard his face and vital areas, proving this arrowstorm had not inflicted fatal wounds.

If he could endure this, the man behind him—who had taken only a dozen arrows—was even less affected; he had already lunged onto the carriage roof, his longsword suddenly plunging downward through the roof.

Bang!

The two assassins had lain hidden for so long, used air currents to feint from the north, endured countless arrows, and finally reached the carriage—this strike carried unimaginable force.

He clearly understood: surrounded by thousands of Dragon Guard soldiers, this was his only chance—he must succeed in one blow.

Bang…

The sword blade descended violently; the ground around the carriage trembled violently, the force transmitting into the earth and blasting up a cloud of snow dozens of meters high, instantly engulfing the entire carriage—and over a hundred nearby Dragon Guard soldiers.

“Twenty-five jun strength—only pierced a hole? How is this possible…”

Within the snow cloud, the invisible assassin—Cai Qiu—stared at his own sword; it had pierced only a hole less than half a meter wide in the carriage roof, his pupils contracting in utter shock.

Xiu…………

Yet his shock did not last long.

Two green spiritual lights suddenly shot out from inside the carriage, striking his right wrist and neck; the assassin looked down and saw two green miniature snakes, each as thick as a thumb.

“Tengshe King—Great Xia has more than twelve Beast Kings…”

As the invisible assassin’s mind registered this final thought, the two small snakes coiled violently, their bodies instantly expanding to over a hundred zhang in length, seizing the assassin in their jaws and lifting him into the air, tearing him apart mid-flight.

This was not over; the other assassin, who had been shielding him, had already tried to retreat the moment the two green snakes emerged from the roof—but the Dragon Guard soldiers would not let him escape.

“Protect the Second Prince!”

“Charge onto the carriage roof—don’t let the assassin get away!”

“Charge!”

………………

Lu Dong, Luo An, Zou Ping, and other young Dragon Guard soldiers roared as they charged toward the fleeing assassin.

Their shouts triggered every nearby soldier to surge forward—all targeting the carriage.

Tie Xinchuan, seeing countless soldiers swarm the carriage, felt a sudden dread in his chest; his brows twitched violently as he roared: “Fools! Fall back! What are you doing?!”

Leaving aside the fact that Cheng Guang and Jiang Ping, two Xianyang-levels, were already inside the carriage—just from those two Beast King-level Tengjiao snakes, it was clear Lady had layered multiple safeguards for the Second Prince’s safety; they had no need to intervene.

Their mass encirclement of the carriage, while successfully trapping the assassin, had plunged the entire situation into chaos.

The second assassin, whether he fled or stayed, was certain to die.

But if chaos erupted around the carriage, the situation would turn dire.

Of the thousand Dragon Guard soldiers present, half had been on perimeter patrol around Ruhu Forest and had only just returned to formation.

Who knew if any infiltrators had slipped in among them?

“Clear the area! All of you, get back! Don’t give anyone an opening!”

Yuan Bai, Deputy Commandant of the Dragon Guard, was the second to react—he shouted the same warning mere moments after Tie Xinchuan.

Yet even so, their timing was half a beat too late.

Lu Dong, Luo An, and the eight battalion commanders, along with hundreds of Dragon Guard soldiers, had already surged forward halfway—they now stood atop the carriage, pinning the assassin, or surrounded the carriage.

Gong…………

Hearing Tie Xinchuan and Yuan Bai’s shouts, Lu Dong and the others realized the chaos around the carriage and reacted instantly—but it was too late.

A violent gust of wind exploded from the center of the Dragon Guard ranks; dozens of soldiers crowded atop the carriage were flung outward, and the shockwave sent over a hundred surrounding soldiers flying as well.

The yellow candles held by the soldiers were also knocked away.

Jing… Keng…

Two sharp metallic clashes suddenly rang out from within the carriage.

Ding…………

Then a blinding white light erupted violently from the large hole in the carriage roof; Tie Xinchuan, Yuan Bai, Lu Dong, Luo An, and all the scattered Dragon Guard soldiers turned deathly pale.

“Aunt Han Shuang…”

From inside the carriage came Xia Yu’s startled cry; Tie Xinchuan’s pupils contracted sharply as he rushed to the front of the carriage, fearing for its interior—he reached out to pull back the curtain.

Hu…………

The moment his hand touched the curtain, a palm strike slammed toward his face; the force was terrifying, the speed astonishing—he had no time to dodge, and could only twist his shoulder to absorb the blow.