Chapter 690

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As the opponent drew nearer, Xiong Tianba also recognized Lahhan in the troop; in fact, he only knew this one. He proudly raised the hammer in his hand and gritted his teeth: "I will definitely smash that big fool to death!"

Hu Xiaotian said: "He is after all a member of the Black Hu envoy; unless absolutely necessary, do not harm his life, for this is not Dakang."

Zhou Mo said: "Little bear, your task is to provide cover; if anything changes, do you know what to do?" Xiong Tianba glanced at the nearby boulder, hehe-laughing: "I'll smash these scumbags with stones."

Hu Xiaotian said: "Tang Tiehan should be inside the carriage; under no circumstances should you harm him."

While the three were speaking, the seven Hu guards escorting the carriage had already approached, stopping about twenty zhang away. Zhadan's chubby round face broke into a sly smile: "Who did I think you were? Turns out you are Hu Xiaotian, the Sir sent by Dakang for the marriage mission! The one who earlier broke into my manor and injured my men—that was you too, right?" From Hu Xiaotian's build he had already matched the person who previously broke into the manor and rescued Tang Qingxuan.

Hu Xiaotian laughed: "Zhadan, this is not Black Hu territory, nor is it a place for you to do evil. You have seized my brothers, already violating Da Yong's laws. Be sensible and quickly release Tang Tiehan, or else I will report this to the Da Yong Emperor—lightly, I will have you expelled; heavily, I will capture you all and examine your heads."

Zhadan burst into loud laughter, and the surrounding Hu people laughed with him. The laughter lingered before fading; Zhadan narrowed his eyes. Raising his horsewhip, he pointed at Hu Xiaotian and said: "Have you brought the Book of Baojun's Marvels? As long as you obediently hand over that book, I will return Tang Tiehan intact; if you dare play any tricks, just wait to collect his corpse."

Hu Xiaotian felt in his bosom and pulled out a book, saying: "The book is here."

"Throw it over!"

Hu Xiaotian, however, shoved the book back into his bosom: "Do you think I'm that easy to fool? Where is the person? At least let me see whether he's alive."

Zhadan looked back at the carriage and said: "The person is inside the carriage; give me the book, and we will leave the carriage behind and depart."

Hu Xiaotian sneered: "Are you brainless? First let me see whether Tang Tiehan is inside that carriage!"

Zhadan nodded. He waved his hand, and the warriors split to both sides; the carriage behind slowly moved forward.

Hu Xiaotian listened intently; although far away, he could still clearly hear the sound of bowstrings being drawn taut from inside the carriage, and his heart involuntarily startled. Using voice transmission, he separately told Zhou Mo and Xiong Tianba: "There are archers lying in ambush inside the carriage. There should be two of them!"

At this moment, Zhou Mo fully trusted Hu Xiaotian's perceptiveness; he gave Xiong Tianba a look, and Xiong Tianba retreated behind them, hiding behind a broken wall.

The cloth curtain at the front of the carriage slowly lowered, revealing the two archers inside, their bows fully drawn. They each fixed their gaze on Hu Xiaotian and Zhou Mo, then simultaneously released the bowstrings; black-feathered arrows shot toward their targets like chasing wind and lightning.

Zhou Mo let out an angry roar, his feet pausing. His body leapt into the air, covering three zhang in a single stride. He reached out barehanded to seize the arrow aimed at him; the black lightning could tear the air, yet it could not escape Zhou Mo's iron grasp—he seized the arrow's tail in one grab. He did not worry about Hu Xiaotian. With Hu Xiaotian's perceptiveness and agile footwork, dodging this arrow was utterly no problem.

Yet Hu Xiaotian remained standing there, watching the swiftly incoming arrow without rushing to act; the lightning-fast arrow appeared somewhat slow in his field of vision, and even while maintaining such high speed, he could still discern the arrow's details—even see the blood groove on the tip, the pattern on the shaft above, and the posture of each tail feather in high-speed flight.

Zhou Mo still thought Hu Xiaotian had been stunned by the arrowhead, and he shouted loudly: "Third brother!"

At that moment, Hu Xiaotian finally raised his black-gold blade and, with extreme casualness, swung it down; the blade struck the arrowhead squarely, producing a sharp 'Dang!'—the arrow's flight path ceased, veering off to one side and embedding itself in the scorched earth.

Zhou Mo's steps halted for a moment, unable to hide the astonishment on his face; Hu Xiaotian's strike was marvelous to this degree. Not only him, but even Hu Xiaotian himself was conquered by his own divine blow, and without pausing to gloat, he shouted loudly: "Little bear!"

Xiong Tianba emerged from behind the broken wall, holding a millstone-sized boulder; with both arms exerting force, he hurled the boulder as if throwing a hammer, the boulder flying like a shell from a cannon, accompanied by whistling winds, greeting the carriage.

The two archers had intended to fire a second arrow, but seeing the stone coming with tremendous force, they panicked and jumped down from the carriage; just as they leapt off, the stone had already landed on the carriage, and with a 'Peng!' the carriage was shattered into pieces. The two horses pulling the carriage were startled, neighing as they ran off to either side, each dragging a fragment of the carriage away.

Hu Xiaotian saw that they had not brought Tang Tiehan at all, and his anger flared instantly. He told Zhou Mo: "Big brother! Capture that fat bastard!" Capturing the leader first is the key to victory in a confrontation.

By this time, Zhou Mo had already flown over twenty zhang; a Black Hu warrior charged at him on horseback, the steed's hind hooves lifted high, and the warrior raised his long blade to strike fiercely at Zhou Mo's head. Holding the high ground, he had the advantage, but Zhou Mo's speed far exceeded his expectation; his target was not the warrior himself—a punch struck the horse's jaw, sending the steed flying sideways. The Black Hu warrior's attack veered off, and he toppled to the ground together with his mount. Zhou Mo stepped forward, planting his foot on the warrior's chest; the warrior spat blood from being stepped on—this was Zhou Mo holding back, otherwise that stomp could have taken the man's life. Stepping on the chest, Zhou Mo took another step forward, leaving less than three zhang to Zhadan.

Zhadan saw Zhou Mo's formidable approach and felt something was amiss; he hurriedly turned his horse to flee. Although they had made full preparations, they had not expected the opponent's strength to be so formidable; they had always thought the strongest in Hu Xiaotian's camp was Xiong Tianba, but they never imagined the truly formidable one was Zhou Mo.

Two Black Hu warriors spurred their horses forward, just in time to block Zhou Mo's path.

Little bear hurled another boulder, which seemed about to land in the enemy camp, when a big man burst out from the side, raising his great hammer to smash the airborne stone; one blow shattered it into fragments, sending gravel and dust flying everywhere. The big man was indeed the Black Hu strongman Lahhan; after knocking down the stone, he clamped his legs around his horse's belly, the steed flinging its four hooves as it charged toward Xiong Tianba, and Lahhan yelled shrilly: "Little southern barbarian, surrender your life!"

Xiong Tianba grabbed stones from the ground and hurled them in succession at Lahhan; Lahhan blocked left and right, fending off every stone aimed at him, while the distance to Little bear kept shrinking, and he roared: "Little southern barbarian, dare you fight me honorably for three hundred rounds?"

Xiong Tianba laughed loudly, seized two great hammers from behind him, and boomed: "Good! Your grandfather has arrived!" He took three big steps forward; Lahhan spurred his horse to greater speed, charging at Xiong Tianba with the force of thunder, and raised his twin hammers to smash down on his head: "Go die!" In this clash, Lahhan no longer held any contempt for Xiong Tianba; having compared strength with him at the Grand Princess's residence and found himself inferior, he now faced a life-and-death struggle and dared not be careless.

Xiong Tianba shouted: "Come on!" The two hammers met upward; both were powerhouse warriors, and the four great hammers swung back and forth, their deafening roar never ceasing, making the blood surge. Although Xiong Tianba was simple-minded, this lad was exceptionally cunning in battle; he deliberately lured Lahhan toward the ruins, where Lahhan, though mounted and holding the high ground, found his horse unable to penetrate the debris, and thus succeeded in pulling Lahhan off his mount.

Lahhan had originally greatly feared Xiong Tianba's strength, but after engaging him he discovered that Xiong Tianba kept repeating the same few moves, clearly inferior in grappling technique; his confidence surged, and he raised his pair of hammers with a cold snort: "Today I will make you perish here!"

Xiong Tianba said: "I've dug the pits for you; I'm just waiting to bury you!"

"Wah-yah-yah!"

In the thick forest, Huo Shengnan closely monitored the battlefield's movements; the female officer beside her whispered: "General, when shall we move out?"

Huo Shengnan raised her hand: "Let's see the situation first!" Originally she had agreed with Hu Xiaotian that as soon as Tang Tiehan appeared, she would immediately lead the forces to encircle him; but the Black Hu group had not brought Tang Tiehan, and from the outset they had arrayed themselves to wipe out Hu Xiaotian's side in one sweep. Although the Black Hu side had a ten-to-one numerical advantage, the three from Da Yong displayed strength that completely surpassed Huo Shengnan's expectations.

When Huo Shengnan had previously encountered a Black Hu attack and fought side by side with Hu Xiaotian, his impression on her was of excellent footwork and decent lightness skills; but today Hu Xiaotian deflected the arrow aimed at him with a single blade, displaying such exquisite swordsmanship that Huo Shengnan was impressed, and it also made her temporarily set aside the idea of rushing to reinforce—under these circumstances, it was best to wait and see.

Hu Xiaotian also raised his blade and charged into the enemy formation; his aim was to divert their attention, to engage an additional opponent, thereby lessening the pressure on Zhou Mo. He swung his blade twice in succession, cleaving the two arrows aimed at him, and had already drawn near the archers.

A Black Hu warrior brandished his saber and lunged at Hu Xiaotian with a 'Whoosh!'—the blade carved a bright arc toward his throat. Hu Xiaotian realized his perception and insight had undergone a qualitative leap; even the slightest movement of his opponent could not escape his eyes, and the trajectory of the saber was entirely within his grasp. With his right hand he reversed the black-gold blade to block the saber's slash, while his left hand lashed out like lightning toward the opponent's chest.

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