Chapter 369: 343 Maneuvering

A beam of light shone in; Ding Xu squinted his eyes slightly, then his eyes widened.

"Ah... you!"

He stood up abruptly and turned to flee, but there was no other way out of this small room; the young girl lunged forward and grabbed his wrist with one hand.

Ding Xu opened his mouth to shout, only to hear someone outside say: "Yu Guniang, are you in there? Have you found them?"

Ding Xu felt his pulse point tighten and a chill run through his body; the young girl whispered in his ear: "Don't make a scene, be quiet."

A cold-faced youth entered from outside the door. Seeing the young girl already holding a strange young man, his expression softened slightly, and he said: "Yu Guniang, have you found them?"

Yu Guniang smiled and said: "Found them, Ouyang Dage. Look, this is the hostage."

Ouyang Zhou didn't look closely; regardless of whether they were bandits or hostages, they were all played by soldiers from the Qianxian, and there was nothing they could do to them anyway. He dutifully stepped forward and announced: "Countryman, it's alright now. I've driven the bandits away, you are saved."

Ding Xu chuckled: "I'm saved, my..."

Then he felt a surge of heat; a strand of Internal Energy was channeled in from his pulse point, circulating through his body and making him feel hot all over. This Internal Energy was quite disciplined, stopping after a shallow circuit, but if the owner of the energy used even a little more force, it could lose control and rush into his heart meridian, with unimaginable consequences.

In an instant, his life was in another's hands. Ding Xu knew this was a warning and had no choice but to shut his mouth and hold his breath. Yu Guniang smiled and said: "You don't need to worry, just follow me obediently and you'll be safe."

Ouyang Zhou had already searched the mountain stronghold, finding only some dry rations and a Spirit-Grain Storage Art-Tool Pocket originally hidden by the stronghold. It could hold quite a lot of things and was actually valuable, so he handed the Art-Tool Pocket directly to Yu Guniang and said: "This is for you."

Yu Guniang smiled sweetly and said: "I'll hold onto it for now; we can put both of our things inside."

Ding Xu curled his lip at the two's expressions and actions, but since he had already fallen into their hands, he naturally had nothing else to say and followed them down the mountain.

The three of them descended the mountain and arrived at the mountain path entrance. Yu Guniang pressed Ding Xu onto her horse, intending for the two of them to ride together. Ouyang Zhou felt slightly surprised and said: "Is that convenient? Let him come onto my horse."

Yu Guniang laughed lightly: "It's fine, I'm quite light, and adding him won't crush the horse; otherwise, how could two grown men ride on one horse?"

Ouyang Zhou hesitated for a moment, feeling that something was wrong, when he saw dust billowing in the distance. Two horses were running in the lead, and looking far behind them, there were hundreds of various monsters in hot pursuit.

The rider on one of the horses saw people here and shouted: "Move! Everyone move! There are puppets coming."

Ouyang Zhou shouted: "Qin Yongcheng?"

Immediately after, he saw Qin Yongcheng's situation clearly—two people being chased by about a hundred puppets; the situation was already extremely critical. Although their horses were fine steeds, they were already exhausted and were about to be caught.

Ouyang Zhou shouted without hesitation: "Qin Yongcheng, come over here!"

Qin Yongcheng looked back, saw Ouyang Zhou, and laughed: "Don't be stupid. You still have a girl with you."

Ouyang Zhou yelled: "There is a geographical advantage here, and a way to escape, where else do you want to run?"

Behind them was the bandits' mountain. Though called a mountain, it was actually a pile of bare giant rocks with sheer, steep cliffs, comparable to the Devil City in the great desert.

Why else would the bandits be fake? This place had no water, no grain, and not even a bird would lay an egg here; if robbers built a stronghold here, wouldn't they just be waiting to starve to death?

Qin Yongcheng also saw the advantage of that place, and after a moment of hesitation, he turned his horse over.

Ouyang Zhou said to Yu Guniang: "You..."

Yu Guniang smiled: "I will naturally follow Ouyang Dage."

Ouyang Zhou said: "Good, then let this person go. He isn't an examinee; he should go do whatever he needs to do."

Yu Guniang said casually: "He should just follow us. Otherwise, if these puppets split off a few to chase him, wouldn't that cost him his life?"

Ouyang Zhou nodded. Although he found this hostage to be delicate and pretty, and Yu Guniang was holding him tightly, which was truly a bit annoying, this was not the time to quibble. He told Yu Guniang to lead the two horses and take the person to hide in the back first, while he stayed in place to cover for Qin Yongcheng.

Qin Yongcheng and Feng Ling rushed over and successfully joined Ouyang Zhou. Ouyang Zhou said hurriedly: "Follow me, I'm familiar with this place."

Although it was a fake stronghold, to increase the difficulty of the exam, the fortifications were built quite well. Once the drawbridge in front was raised, the walls were towering, the traps were deep, and the iron railings and obstacles were layered one upon another; those with ordinary skills couldn't climb in.

But among the puppets behind were tall ones that might be able to push straight through. Ouyang Zhou didn't dare stay in the front, leading them through twists and turns to the rear of the stronghold, stopping only when they reached a pass that was easy to defend and hard to attack.

Qin Yongcheng and the others dismounted and sat on the ground, panting from exhaustion. Ouyang Zhou leaned against a pillar of a sentry tower and said: "What's going on with you? Where did those messy things come from?"

Qin Yongcheng recounted what happened and explained how the two of them had struggled and risked their lives to escape to this point, saying: "Our side is still just a chase, but the valley behind should already be a full-scale battle. There must be powerful Puppet Charms sitting in the center of the Talisman Puppet swarm, which the examiners have tacitly allowed. Tang Xiansheng probably looks down on small-team skirmishes and wants to play out real legion warfare. It's just that since we've separated from the main force, we've lost the chance for the real decisive battle."

Ouyang Zhou said: "That's somewhat the case. I didn't expect Instructor Tang to not teach military strategy, but instead enjoy arranging grand scenes." He patted Qin Yongcheng and said, "Don't worry, the Instructor has definitely seen your performance. Not everyone in a large legion needs to charge into the fray; scouts, feints, cover, and rearguard—every part is crucial. Is your role not important? Even Instructor Tang can see that."

This meant that Tang Xiansheng was unskilled but loved to play. Qin Yongcheng hurriedly changed the subject: "If it weren't for you, Ouyang, it would be a miracle if I could have escaped. What performance? By the way, that cute girl beside you isn't our classmate, right? Who is she?" Saying this, he winked, revealing a "you know" expression.

If it were someone else, this question might make them blush or speak in a rush to cover it up, but Ouyang Zhou was a cold-faced man who never blushed. He only said: "This is a good friend I met on the road, Yun Zhongyu."

Qin Yongcheng was rarely able to relax from the tense atmosphere and laughed along: "Good name, good person, and the name is good too. And a 'good friend,' truly good in every way."

Ouyang Zhou said: "Who is this friend of yours?"

Qin Yongcheng said: "My old friend and childhood companion from the Jing'an Division. Feng Ling. He was originally from Lingzhou, then moved to Yunzhou to avoid bandit trouble, and was my neighbor for a few years. We went our separate ways a few years ago and I thought we wouldn't see each other again, but today we've reunited."

He and Feng Ling were not like Ouyang Zhou and Yun Zhongyu, who were chance acquaintances with nothing to introduce but their names; they were true old friends who knew each other's roots and trusted each other deeply, so he explained his background clearly. The reason he said so much was also to indicate that Feng Ling was trustworthy.

Ouyang Zhou heard "Jing'an Division" and his expression didn't change; instead, he nodded and said: "So Brother Feng is also from the Jing'an Division? Yu Guniang is too. The Jing'an Division truly produces talented and beautiful people."

Feng Ling frowned: "What? She is from the Jing'an Division, but..."

Just then, with a "Boom," a watchtower at the front of the stronghold was knocked down.

Looking from afar, that massive Talisman Puppet figure was indeed sweeping over like a whirlwind, and everything in its path was ground into dust.

How could the few of them care about chatting? They jumped up one after another and shouted: "It's here!"

At this time, the horses were still resting nearby. The group tacitly ignored the horses and instead turned back to the stronghold wall, thinking it safer to leave the horses in the rear.

Just as they ran along the wall to the front, they saw Yun Zhongyu running over, shouting: "Don't go to the front, artificial fortifications can't stop the big ones; only natural mountain rocks can. Let's retreat and go to the very back."

Behind the stronghold was a stretch of sheer "Stone Forest," which was the most core and complex part of the "Devil City." The group hurried to the stone wall and saw that the stronghold had already been flattened. The giant puppets were marching in.

The five of them stood together on the stone wall, looking at each other. Although they each had their own thoughts and their stances were completely different, they were now truly comrades in the same trench.

Seeing the hundred-plus puppets getting closer and closer, the group lay on the giant rocks without a word. It was Ding Xu who spoke first: "Everyone, shall we run first? Are we just going to stay here and wait for death?"

The others ignored him; this was clearly the perspective of someone who hadn't studied well in school. Ouyang Zhou, thinking that he was just a hostage who hadn't attended school, explained slightly: "Outside is the Pingyuan, with no obstacles or dangers. They have more people than us, and they are faster, so we can't escape. We might as well take a gamble by using the terrain."

Ding Xu said: "How to gamble? That big guy pushed the wall flat. If you were Sword Guests, you could take one down with one sword, but aren't you just Knights-Errant? Are you a Sword Guest?" He looked at Yun Zhongyu.

Yun Zhongyu said: "I am not a Sword Guest, but there is definitely a fight to be had. After all, we have the geographical advantage."

Ouyang Zhou gave an "um," his study of the Art of War was quite good, and he pondered: "When we attacked the stronghold earlier, we saw a few dead ends; those should be the key. We will split these guys into several groups and lure them into the dead ends separately. They won't be able to get out and naturally won't be able to regroup, so we can defeat them one by one."

Yun Zhongyu said: "The key is that big guy. The other Talisman Puppets are fine, but I've tried that big guy; it can't be cut with Art Tools. We can only slowly maneuver around it, so we must lure them away separately into different dead ends. Then we can focus on dealing with one, which will be much easier."

Ouyang Zhou said: "This big guy is indeed powerful, but isn't it essentially a Talisman Puppet? It's made by Rune Formulas; as long as the Rune Formula is destroyed, it's just a pile of scrap metal."

Yun Zhongyu praised: "Ouyang Dage is truly smart..."

Qin Yongcheng said bitterly: "Everyone, there is a problem here—these puppets are controlled by the Puppet Charm, they will not easily divide their forces, nor can they be easily lured into a dead end, and even if they enter a dead end, they will turn around; I fear this is not something that can be easily swayed by strategy."

Yun Zhongyu was taken aback and said: "But I just tried luring them, and they were just ordinary Talisman Puppets, dull and foolish, they followed my bait and left, so how can they not be lured?"

Qin Yongcheng was stunned, then suddenly slapped his thigh and shouted: "That's right! There is only one such powerful Puppet Charm, it followed the main force, so aren't the ones left behind to chase me just scrap metal?"

Having figured this out, his morale soared, and he stood up and said: "Good, let's take apart this scrap metal together!"