Chapter 84: Crossfire

Seeing Meng Yifan regain his clarity, Lv Dazhi knew that things were looking dire; after the public condemnation just now, Meng Yifan's will seemed to have been tempered, becoming unshakable. Unless more Dynasty Luck and the People's Will could be gathered, it would be impossible to shake Meng Yifan's will.

"You are a corrupt official who disregards the lives of the common people; you deserve to die!" Meng Yifan shouted, as if pronouncing judgment on Lv Dazhi's crimes, then mobilized his True Qi and executed Lingbo Microsteps, his speed instantly soaring to 400 meters per second.

Meng Yifan's speed exceeded the speed of sound; with a flicker of his body, he crossed over two hundred meters and appeared before Lv Dazhi, his Ghost Head Blade raised high, ready to cleave this County Magistrate in two.

"Zhang Butou, save me!" Lv Dazhi was terrified out of his wits and hurriedly called out to the nearby Zhang Butou for help.

"What an arrogant brat, daring to get close to me." Zhang Butou gripped the Artifact Demon-binding Rope and channeled another ten percent of his True Qi into it. The rope shook violently, its tip opening into a large net once more to block the path in front of Lv Dazhi, then lunged toward Meng Yifan.

Meng Yifan appeared to be attacking Lv Dazhi, but in reality, he was waiting for Zhang Butou to come to the rescue. He knew very well that Zhang Butou holding the Artifact Demon-binding Rope posed a great threat to him; a moment of carelessness could lead to being bound and left at the mercy of others, so the first person Meng Yifan had to eliminate was Zhang Butou.

"Hmph! I've been guarding against this move of yours for a long time." Meng Yifan let out a cold snort, then channeled True Qi into the Ghost Head Blade and unleashed Ghost Crying Wolf Howling once again.

"Eh!" Meng Yifan was stunned. This time, executing Ghost Crying Wolf Howling was different from before because there were three souls trapped inside the Ghost Head Blade. As Meng Yifan executed the technique, he actually drove the souls to launch an attack together, which was formidable.

The original Ghost Crying Wolf Howling was merely a sonic attack meant to affect a person's mind, but if combined with a soul assault to strike directly at a person's spirit, it would cause double interference for the enemy, doubling its power.

"Sonic attack!" The sound of Ghost Crying Wolf Howling rang in Zhang Butou's ears, as if countless wronged souls were coming to claim his life.

Zhang Butou was a Third Grade Martial Artist with a firm will; as his True Qi surged, he instantly regained his clarity. However, suddenly, he felt three strands of Yin Attribute energy enter his body, rushing toward his Consciousness Sea as if to seize control of his body.

"Get out, you bastard!" Zhang Butou was shocked, and the Divine Soul within his Consciousness Sea began to drive out these three foreign souls.

Zhang Butou was a Third Grade Martial Artist; not only was his physical body powerful, but his Divine Soul Origin was also far stronger than that of an ordinary person. The three souls Meng Yifan drove were all collected from First Grade Martial Artists and were inherently much weaker.

Furthermore, after they entered Zhang Butou's Consciousness Sea, they were repelled by the entire sea, and their strength was reduced by another large margin.

Their attempt to possess Zhang Butou was nothing but a pipe dream; they were quickly defeated, torn apart, and absorbed by Zhang Butou's Divine Soul.

Breaking the sonic attack and defeating the three souls in his Consciousness Sea took Zhang Butou only 0.1 seconds, but in a clash between experts, 0.1 seconds could determine the outcome of the battle.

During these 0.1 seconds, Zhang Butou stood frozen on the spot. Meng Yifan took the opportunity to step to the left, dodging the net of the Demon-binding Rope, then took a step forward and swung his Ghost Head Blade toward Zhang Butou's neck.

"Clang!" Meng Yifan's blade felt as if it had struck diamond; it barely managed to cut through a tiny bit of Zhang Butou's bronze-colored skin before it could go no further.

A Third Grade Martial Artist is in the Flesh Refining Realm; their skin is tough and their muscles are dense, like steel and iron. Meng Yifan's current physical attributes were mainly added to speed, so his direct attack power was relatively weak; even with an all-out attack, he could not break through Zhang Butou's defense.

"The skin and muscles are solid, but the eyes can't be as hard as iron and stone." Meng Yifan flicked his right hand, and the tip of the Ghost Head Blade jabbed twice.

"Ah!" Zhang Butou felt excruciating pain in his eyes; both of his eyeballs had been gouged out by the Ghost Head Blade, and everything before him turned to darkness. What made him even more furious was that Meng Yifan's Ghost Head Blade was also coated with toxins, which merged with the toxins already in his body and spread rapidly toward his heart.

"Bastard!" Zhang Butou cursed in anger. He could no longer afford to suppress the toxins and swung the Demon-binding Rope at the spot where Meng Yifan had just been, but he only struck the air.

Having succeeded in his strike, Meng Yifan had long since retreated a hundred meters; how could he possibly remain in place waiting for Zhang Butou's attack?

Meng Yifan was very fast; in less than a second, he rushed into his own courtyard, carried out three more loaded Elm Cannons, and then charged toward Zhang Butou.

Once he was within a hundred meters of Zhang Butou, Meng Yifan hugged an Elm Cannon, preparing to blast him to death.

"Zhang Butou, watch out! That brat is a hundred meters to your front left, he's holding a cannon to blast you!" Lv Dazhi hurriedly warned.

Zhang Butou swung the Demon-binding Rope at high speed, trying to intercept the cannonball that might come from the front, but Meng Yifan flicked his body, crossed over a hundred meters, and appeared to Zhang Butou's right rear.

"Watch out, he's appeared behind you on the right again!" Lv Dazhi shouted at the top of his lungs. Unfortunately, Meng Yifan's limit speed was supersonic; by the time Lv Dazhi's words traveled through the air to Zhang Butou's ears and Zhang Butou reacted, it was already too late.

"Boom!" The Elm Cannon emitted a violent roar, and a solid Iron Ball shot out, smashing toward Zhang Butou's head.

Zhang Butou could not see and could only rely on sound to locate his target. By the time he sensed something smashing toward his head, the Demon-binding Rope in his right hand was still swinging toward the front left and could not be retracted in time. In the moment of crisis, Zhang Butou clenched his left fist and smashed it in the direction of the Iron Ball.

"Thud!" Zhang Butou's left fist collided head-on with the Iron Ball.

"Crack!" Although Zhang Butou was a Third Grade Martial Artist, the Iron Ball had been fired from an Elm Cannon and contained powerful kinetic energy. Zhang Butou used his fist to resist the impact of the Iron Ball, and the bones in his left hand were smashed directly; even the bones in his left arm were shattered section by section under this formidable force.

"You bunch of trash, all of you get on him! Kill this rebel, and I will reward you heavily." Lv Dazhi roared at the surviving constables.

Some constables acted as if they hadn't heard and didn't move at all. Too many yamen runners and constables had already died in the previous battle; they were already terrified and dared not fight anymore.

There were over fifty yamen runners who obeyed Lv Dazhi's order, aiming their Bird Guns at Meng Yifan and firing. However, Meng Yifan's speed was too fast and his figure was erratic; the Lead Bullets fired by these runners could not hit Meng Yifan at all, though they inevitably caused some interference.

There were also sixty constables who were loyal to Zhang Butou. Seeing that Zhang Butou was in great danger, they gritted their teeth, brandished their weapons, and charged forward.

Fighting tigers requires brothers; going into battle requires father and son. How could Meng Dayong let Meng Yifan fight alone? He had also run back to the courtyard and carried out three Elm Cannons. At this moment, he hugged one, and with a single blast, he fired a large spray of iron fragments, blocking all the constables who wanted to rescue Zhang Butou.

Not only that, but Meng Yitong and other able-bodied men, as well as three teenagers including Meng Qingshan, also rushed out carrying Elm Cannons. At most, they were First Grade Martial Artists and dared not hold the cannons while firing, but they could move the cannons out, place them on mounts, and fire at the constables and runners.

The old, weak, sick, and disabled hunters were not idle either. Unable to carry the Elm Cannons, they grabbed their Bird Guns and rushed over, firing at the runners and constables.

The runners and constables also launched a counterattack.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

"Ah! My arm is broken!"

"My leg, my leg!"

The roar of the Elm Cannons, the sound of Bird Guns firing, and the screams of those hit rang out one after another. Near the battlefield, smoke filled the air and sparks flew everywhere.

Both sides engaged in a crossfire. Lv Dazhi quickly organized a Bird Gun squad of over a hundred men, divided into three rows to fire, hoping to crush the hunters of Qinghe Village opposite them.

Casualties were inevitable on the Qinghe Village side, and people kept falling, but the mountain folk were tough and fearless, continuing to fire the Elm Cannons and Bird Guns.

Lv Dazhi had more men and more Bird Guns, but the Qinghe Village side had Elm Cannons, completely suppressing the other side in terms of firepower.

Every roar of an Elm Cannon could spray out dense iron fragments, causing the constables and runners to fall in droves.

Corpses littered the ground, blood flowed like a river, and severed limbs could be seen everywhere.

The remaining constables and runners were terrified by this cruel scene of war and could no longer hold on; ignoring Lv Dazhi's scolding, they all fled toward the rear.