Chapter 517: Arrowhead

The battle formation overlapped, twisted, and collided, spraying flesh and lives from the gaps. The Japanese pirates' charge was blocked for a moment, and then slowly began to push forward again.

"Something's wrong."

Wu Mingxiao deflected the incoming Japanese sword, but his hands shook, and the hilt almost slipped from his grip. The opponent had already raised the Japanese sword high, letting out a shrill, monkey-like scream, and was about to slash down!

*Ssh! *

A fair hand reached out from behind his back, five fingers forming a claw and tearing open the opponent's throat.

The corpse fell to the ground.

Wu Mingxiao took the opportunity to catch his breath, and heard Zhao Ying say calmly.

"So the Japanese pirates are all this fierce; you Dengzhou Guard troops can actually hold them off."

Wu Mingxiao shook his head.

"No, Miss Zhao, these Japanese pirates are not right."

"The so-called Japanese pirates are mostly refugees, at most mixed with a few *jianghu* ruffians... that is, 'ronin' from the Japanese side; even those who can perform sword moves are rare. Usually, I kill them one by one."

"Today, these Japanese pirates are very strong."

He raised his hand to look at his Japanese sword; several notches had already broken on it. Almost one in every ten of these Japanese pirates was a tough nut to crack; although they weren't as difficult to deal with as that one just now, they were enough to trade moves with him.

Zhao Ying kicked, kicking the sword in the corpse's hand to Wu Mingxiao's side, turned around, hooked the ankle of the person kicking at her back quietly, twisted it with a *crack*, and then backhanded the throat of the person sneaking an attack, saying coldly.

"If they could hide for so long without leaving a trace, and their numbers were so large, it would be strange if they were just ordinary refugees."

Wu Mingxiao nodded.

"That is the logic."

He picked up the sword, rushed forward a few steps, and leaped onto a raised stone.

Taking advantage of this short instant, he scanned the battlefield.

The two were at the rear of the battle line, and together with Ming Wanhai and a few other *jianghu* people in this area, they were intercepting the scattered Japanese pirates rushing out of the battle circle.

And ahead of them was the defensive line formed by the Dengzhou Guard soldiers, surrounding the entire cliff in a semi-circle, preventing the Japanese pirates from breaking through.

And in the center of the battle circle was the Qi Family Army, with Qi Jiguang as the arrowhead, drilling fiercely into the Japanese pirate formation; by now, they had almost chiseled through the Japanese pirate formation, only ten *zhang* away from the cliff.

It looked like the situation was excellent.

Wu Mingxiao, however, had a solemn expression.

Because the Japanese pirate line was pushing the Dengzhou Guard's defensive line back bit by bit.

Most importantly, the Qi Family Army's advance speed was visibly slowing down. The width of the arrowhead formation was also constantly being squeezed narrower.

This group of Japanese pirates was very tricky.

At the same time, in the center of the battle circle, the middle-aged man following Qi Jiguang also said suddenly.

"Assistant Commissioner, it won't work, we can't drill through."

"The ones who came up first were just cannon fodder to spread the formation; the ones coming up later are the real deal. If we stop for another hour or three quarters, the brothers behind will be trapped."

Qi Jiguang in front gave an "um" without turning his head, but made no response, only rushing, slashing, and hacking forward incessantly, his gaze, however, shifting imperceptibly through the crowd toward the highest point of the cliff.

There were two people there.

One old, one young.

The old one was short but extremely sturdy, robes open, revealing a solid chest full of scars. A Japanese sword was stuck at his waist, five feet long, the scabbard dark purple with complex and gorgeous patterns. He had a dog-tail grass in his mouth, eyes narrowed, watching the battle formation ahead.

The young man was tall, wearing armor, his expression calm, and he was shifting his gaze toward Qi Jiguang; the two just happened to meet eyes, and then tacitly shifted their gazes away.

The young man pursed his lips and said in a deep voice in Japanese.

"This General Qi is indeed extraordinary. If it weren't for the elite brought by the three *daimyo* this time, we might really have been chiseled through by him... we fell into a trap, Lord Tanaka." ===== CHAPTER 518 =====