Chapter 1369

Hu Xiaotian had already seen the person walking at the very front of the troop; this person was precisely Feng Xianlin, who had failed to assassinate him the previous night and fled in panic. Hu Xiaotian said: "If I'm not mistaken, they are mostly disciples of the Sword Palace, and this time they are targeting me!"

Zhuge Guanqi nodded to Hou Shengnan and whispered: "Crescent Formation!"

Hou Shengnan loudly shouted: "Form ranks!"

The soldiers behind quickly arranged themselves, forming an arc-shaped formation in a short time; viewed from above, it resembled a crescent moon.

Zhuge Guanqi and Hou Shengnan rode their horses into the formation, and Hou Shengnan's voice rang out again: "Release arrows!"

Hundreds of feathered arrows shot into the sky, pouring down together with the torrential rain into the enemy camp.

"Tuo! Tuo! Tuo!" The dense metallic scraping sound rang continuously; Xichuan soldiers raised steel-reinforced iron umbrellas, shielding the sky and the arrow rain, protecting their bodies; the arrowheads densely rained onto the fine iron umbrella surfaces, producing a heart‑pounding tapping sound.

After the arrow rain ceased, the fine steel iron umbrellas folded back up, turning again into long spears in their hands.

Gazing at the relentlessly approaching enemy, Hu Xiaotian's expression changed; he drew the sword hilt from his waist, intending to break the enemy formation, but could rely only on this light sword as his weapon.

Seeing that this round of arrow rain had no effect, Zhuge Guanqi immediately tilted his small flag downward, then swept it sideways; the signal officer shouted loudly: "Low shot!"

The front‑rank archers half‑squatted, holding their longbows parallel to the ground, and fired low‑trajectory arrows; this time the lethality was somewhat greater, with over ten enemies hit, yet most of the arrows were still blocked by the enemy's iron umbrellas.

Zhuge Guanqi said: "Tortoise Shell Formation!"

"Thud thud thud thud," soldiers holding long shields gathered around the outer edge of our camp; the enemy formation was tightly defended, and our attacks had little effect. We could only first strengthen our defense, look for a breach in the enemy, then launch a full counter‑attack, hoping to destroy them in one blow.

The distance between the two camps had already shortened to twenty zhang.

Although Zhuge Guanqi was confident he could break the enemy camp, the time left for them was scant; the Xunyong River had burst its banks. Floodwaters surged from behind, while ahead the enemy's great formation blocked the road.

Hu Xiaotian fixed his gaze on Feng Xianlin at the forefront of the enemy camp; in his view, eliminating Feng Xianlin would throw the enemy forces into disarray, leaderless.

At this moment Zhuge Guanqi had already perceived the subtlety: the core of the enemy formation lay at its rear, the central axis being the point of greatest offensive power, while the wings focused on defense. To break the formation one must circle to the rear and slay the commander.

He reported his discovery to Hu Xiaotian and simultaneously ordered the Tortoise Shell Formation to be reinforced.

Hu Xiaotian concealed himself within the Tortoise Shell Formation; he already had a plan in mind.

At this moment Su Yuchi led his men in retreat to this place; he had thought the standoff was between Xingzhou Governor Guo Shaoxiong and Hu Xiaotian, since Hu Xiaotian had broken the latter's fingers, inviting retaliation was not surprising, yet he never imagined that it would be Xichuan blocking Hu Xiaotian's path.

Yuan Qing Shan asked Su Yuchi for instructions: "General, the way ahead is blocked by both armies; should we choose to detour?"

Su Yuchi shook his head: "Too late! Pass the order: whoever blocks me dies!"

Declaring "whoever blocks me dies" was a public proclamation of his stance; he intended to aid Hu Xiaotian against Yang Daoyuan. After Su Yuchi's thousand troops joined the battle, it became a two‑against‑one situation, giving them a numerical advantage.

Before Su Yuchi joined the fray, the two camps had already clashed; Xichuan deployed three triangular formations advancing side by side, like arrowheads slamming into Hu Xiaotian's Tortoise Shell Formation, and a spear‑shield struggle thus began.

Meanwhile, as the two sides collided fiercely, two figures flew out from the Tortoise Shell Formation; Hou Shengnan, in mid‑air, drew her bow and nocked an arrow, and in an instant loosed more than ten arrows into the enemy formation.

Hu Xiaotian rose more than three zhang, then employed the Art of Soaring, gliding through the air like a great bird; in his hand he held a hilt about a chi long, the hilt bare and empty. Rising and falling, he lightly tapped the tip of his foot on the steel‑reinforced iron umbrella below, then leapt again, locking his gaze on the enemy rear, he shouted angrily and swooped straight down.

Six warriors raised steel‑reinforced iron umbrellas to block Hu Xiaotian's path; behind them, a gray‑clad middle‑aged swordsman had gathered his internal energy to its peak, intending to deliver a fatal strike the instant Hu Xiaotian collided with the umbrella.

Hu Xiaotian's body was only two zhang from the bronze wall ahead; he suddenly twisted the hilt, and with a "hum!" a bright blue light shot out from the hilt. Hu Xiaotian brandished a four‑chi light sword and fiercely chopped at the barrier formed by the enemy's iron umbrellas; this blow cleaved the barrier without hindrance, and the bodies of the warriors hiding behind the umbrellas also snapped apart.

The sword light illuminated the surrounding frightened faces.

The gray‑clad middle‑aged swordsman reacted instantly, shaking his heavy sword and thrusting at Hu Xiaotian's abdomen before he landed.

In the flash of Lan light, the gray swordsman's heavy sword split in two, the break resembling molten metal. In such a tense situation Hu Xiaotian gave him no chance to breathe; his Spirit‑Serpent Nine Swords unfurled like a silkworm spitting silk, continuous and unending, greeting the opponent.

That gray swordsman, after his heavy sword was severed by Hu Xiaotian, began to retreat, layer upon layer of steel‑reinforced iron umbrellas attempting to block Hu Xiaotian. Yet Hu Xiaotian's light sword was terrifyingly powerful—"cutting iron like mud" hardly does it justice—and its blade length could be adjusted according to the gear setting. From the outset Hu Xiaotian had resolved to win quickly; he immediately set the light sword to third gear and carved a bloody path with the force of tearing through rotting wood.

The gray swordsman fled in panic under Hu Xiaotian's pursuit; Zhuge Guanqi judged correctly—their formation's core was the rear—and Hu Xiaotian's disruption of that core threw the Xichuan camp into leaderless chaos.

Meanwhile, Hou Shengnan also led troops in a counteroffensive, and the addition of Su Yuchi's forces instantly reversed the situation.

Xichuan immediately collapsed along the entire front; Zhuge Guanqi ordered no mercy, to strike down these Xichuan soldiers ruthlessly. Only death could quickly intimidate them and force them to clear a path.

Under the joint encirclement and annihilation by both sides, Xichuan troops scattered in all directions; once their morale dissolved, there was no possibility of reorganizing an effective attack.

Hu Xiaotian put away the light sword; this killer weapon, though powerful, had a fatal flaw: its energy drained too quickly. It was old‑fashioned, likely containing electronic components that had aged; often the more advanced something is, the less reliable, and the more electronic, the less durable—better to rely on primitive cold weapons.

Hu Xiaotian raised his long sword, breaking the wind; with one stroke he cleaved an enemy warrior together with his shield. Seeing Feng Xianlin's figure ahead, old enemies meet with narrowed eyes—last night he had let this scoundrel escape; this time he would not give him a chance to flee.

As Hu Xiaotian swung his sword, overbearing inner energy condensed on the blade, then transformed into a fierce sword aura that shot off the blade like lightning.

Although Feng Xianlin could not see the invisible blade aura, he sensed an unprecedented, dense killing intent tearing through heaven and earth, rushing toward him. He had already lost twice to Hu Xiaotian and knew full well that his strength paled in comparison; facing Hu Xiaotian alone meant certain defeat, so as Hu Xiaotian pursued him, his first reaction was to flee. Though he reacted quickly, Hu Xiaotian moved faster; the blade aura from the Seven Slays of Heaven Sword was just as overpowering, and Feng Xianlin seemed to smell death, feeling that no matter which way he ran he could not escape Hu Xiaotian's killing move; his face turned ashen, his heart like dead ash, he silently cried "It's over"—this time he would likely die under Hu Xiaotian's sword.

At the critical moment of life and death, a figure lunged in from the side, also delivering an empty‑handed sword strike; the sword aura bursting from his blade struck Hu Xiaotian's blade aura. Although his inner strength fell short of Hu Xiaotian's by a notch, it nevertheless served to weaken the opponent's power, and because the strike came from the side rather than a head‑on clash, it cleverly redirected Hu Xiaotian's blade aura to one side.

It was precisely this crucial strike that pulled Feng Xianlin back from the brink of death; nevertheless, the blade aura grazed his left arm, breaking it at the elbow.

Hu Xiaotian secretly regretted, "If not for this person intervening mid‑fight, I could have cleaved Feng Xianlin in two with a single blow." He turned his gaze to the one who had struck, seeing that the person came and went like the wind, striking then instantly vanishing into the Xichuan ranks. Hu Xiaotian then realized that this person was actually Xiezhou Prefect Yang Daoyuan, unable to hide his astonishment. It turned out Yang Daoyuan was a hidden master, and moreover he had already reached the stage of emitting sword aura externally.

Yang Daoyuan also knew he could not match Hu Xiaotian head‑on; after delivering his emergency sword to aid Feng Xianlin, he immediately concealed himself among the troops and withdrew westward with them.

Hu Xiaotian could almost conclude that Yang Daoyuan had an extremely close relationship with the Sword Palace; whether it was the Heavenly Net Sword Array that ambushed him last night, or today's Seven Slays Formation combined with martial arrays, many Sword Palace masters participated, their aim clearly directed at him, seeking to obtain from him the secret of the Seven Slays of Heaven Sword.

Seeing the Xichuan troops retreat, Hu Xiaotian did not continue the pursuit; instead he commanded his subordinates to withdraw swiftly toward Tuolong Mountain. Everyone knew the situation was urgent, and they spurred their horses, whipping them to race desperately toward Tuolong Mountain.

Hu Xiaotian rode the little gray horse, which moved like a dragon, leading the charge at the front of the column; ahead the outline of Tuolong Mountain was already visible, and once there even a flood would be nothing to fear. Hu Xiaotian turned his head and saw Zhangming Xia already riding the Snow Eagle from behind, flying low over his head, calling out: "My lord, you still need to speed up; the flood has arrived!"

Hu Xiaotian gazed far into the distance, only to see a thin white line on the northern horizon—undoubtedly the flood rapidly approaching; he shouted: "Everyone, rush up Tuolong Mountain as fast as you can!"

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