Chapter 485: Ambush, Reinforcements!

The Tiger Roars to Heaven Battle Spear swept out, colliding again with the Khan's weapon; Li Guanyi felt his breath surge, then surged forward himself, his movement sharp and fierce, behind him the three thousand iron cavalry now numbered only two thousand eight hundred.

The Cloud-Piercing Thunder Bow, as a divine weapon, fired arrows of immense power.

Even if the Khan blocked most of them, at least a tenth or less of the arrows could pierce through the flanks of the army.

Even the elite heavy cavalry, bolstered by military formation, had little chance to resist arrows fired by a half-legendary warrior wielding a divine weapon.

Generally, when a divine general leads an army against a lone top-tier expert and fails to trap the opponent within the formation immediately, he falls into this state; any martial master above the peak Grandmaster will know it is time to retreat.

The military momentum holds the upper hand; even a Grandmaster who tries to fight to the death will only meet demise.

At this point, both sides should realize continuing further brings no benefit.

It is time to cease.

One side drives the other off; the other withdraws unharmed.

But the Khan, eyes bloodshot, clung relentlessly to Li Guanyi's heels, as if determined to swallow him whole.

Relying on military might to drive off such a top-tier expert is fine if the opponent excels only in close combat—then you simply push him outward—but when facing an opponent like Li Guanyi, wielding a contemporary top-tier divine weapon, the soldiers of the formation will gradually dwindle.

"Too few troops!"

The Khan's eyes were faintly streaked with blood.

Li Guanyi's Wu Gong surpassed his expectations.

At initial contact, Li Guanyi possessed only the aura of the Wolf King legend; now he himself had forged the aura of a martial legend, and also wielded the aura of a sovereign—three forces combined, augmented by that divine weapon of the Bai Hu Da Zong.

Three thousand troops are not enough!

At least ten thousand iron cavalry are needed.

With ten thousand iron cavalry, their military momentum stacked, Li Guanyi would be trapped within.

Li Guanyi surged forward again; the three forces hammered within his body continuously—it had been three hours—ten thousand li away, even with Chi Long's speed, multiple round trips would take time.

Since childhood, the extraordinary pain tolerance granted by ten years of exposure to Fei Xue poison allowed Li Guanyi to endure the pressure of the three auras within him; rather, it was during this relentless forward rush that his blood and qi surged violently.

Li Guanyi's body was gradually adapting to simultaneously channeling three legendary-level auras.

Zhang Ziyong's Immortal Body granted his body exceptional adaptability.

He had created such a Wu Gong, yet pursued only ultimate immortality.

It was a waste.

Li Guanyi could not understand it.

Rapid regeneration, rapid recovery—such a physique would grant any martial artist immense combat power, yet Zhang Ziyong fixated solely on achieving rebirth from a single drop of blood.

No matter how strong one's vitality, without protective power, it can still be utterly severed.

The bloodshot Khan swung another brutal technique, his aura surging violently.

Li Guanyi blocked the direct impact with the Jin Tie of the Jiuli Divine Weapon, endured the second wave of aura pressure with his sovereign physique, and, aided by the Immortal Body within him, restored the injuries within ten breaths.

The steppe's combat method resembles a wolf pack chasing prey.

Constantly weakening, applying a sense of looming pressure that never lets up, keeping the opponent's spirit perpetually taut—until, as time passes, his condition declines, and only then does the true attack commence.

But this fellow before him—

Had been sprinting for hours.

Nothing wrong!

His lips bled, he looked badly wounded, just like past opponents—who, even in peak condition, with surging, unrestrained blood and qi, would see their condition collapse after being pursued by the army.

Slowly, they could no longer escape the formation's encirclement.

Finally, they died beneath the army's hooves.

This was the army's second method against top-tier experts: martial masters fighting against formations inevitably drained their yuan qi; the army, bolstered by formations, possessed far greater endurance than any lone warrior.

Exhaust the opponent's yuan qi, weaken his blood and qi, crush his spirit.

As long as he is human, as long as he can be weakened—

He will be worn down to death!

Yet this Qin Wang, though spitting blood and appearing on the verge of collapse, sprinted like a raging tiger and recovered within moments—this infuriating resilience stirred memories in the Khan of an enemy he had faced decades ago.

A man in blue robes, his face plain and unadorned.

He was the brother of the previous Turkic Khan, the Third Khan who invaded the Central Plains.

He had once breached a small town, and according to tradition then, violated every woman, then departed—only to return ten months later to take away every child born.

The men were killed; the children taken back to the tribe to be raised as their wolves.

The women were taken back too.

If a woman refused to leave and was near term, they would slit her abdomen and extract the infant; if not yet ready, they killed her outright.

Whether she lived or died did not matter.

It was their custom.

Many tribes roamed the steppe, but later migrated into the Western Regions, where the Turks settled, their ways brutal.

That blue-robed man had once made a promise with a child from that town—he entered the town in the rain, and the child held an umbrella for him, forging a bond; the child promised to help him test medicines, and in return, the blue-robed man would cure his mother's illness.

One final herb remained, from Kunlun Mountain in the Western Regions.

The blue-robed guest went himself to retrieve it.

On the way, he encountered the Daodao Sect blocking his path, discussing the Dao.

The blue-robed guest gained a faint insight, realizing his path was extreme; he discussed with the Daodao Sect and co-created the 【Ze Tian Guai】, representing vitality and recovery, within the Book of Imperial Governance.

When he returned to the town, he saw the woman he had cured, her abdomen slit open, lying there beside a child soaked in blood—the child's hand still clutched the promise made to the blue-robed man, even in death.

The blue-robed guest merely said softly: "Dead, then."

He placed the herb into the pool of blood.

"Wasted."

He turned and left.

On that day, this man in the blue robe crossed three thousand li and arrived at the Turks.

Bearing the charge of a thousand armies and ten thousand horses, he seized the neck of that generation's Three Khans King. He ripped it out, the spine beneath the neck trailing with it, a glaring scarlet, and then with an undying body, he burned through his vitality, regenerating again and again, slaughtering three thousand heavy-armored cavalry.

On that day, the blue-robed man's body was almost covered in wounds, but his vitality was just as seen today.

Like a surging great sun wheel turning, pressing horizontally across the heavens.

It was also after that day that the blue-robed man offered the head of the Turkic Three Khans King as sacrifice to that small town, placed the snow ginseng from the Kunlun Mountains into that child's palm, and then took the promised contract out from the child's palm.

War God Jiang Su met the blue-robed man face to face.

After this battle, the blue-robed man's temples gained the white hair that later generations would come to know.

The blue-robed man only said calmly: "Life and death are impermanent; in the end, so it is."

On that day, Jiang Su discovered that the original blue-robed man Zhang Ziyong had undergone some kind of change; the previous discussions with the Dao Sect had failed to stop him from walking toward a more extreme direction, and such a tragic scene directly led Jiang Su to lead eighteen riders, charging straight into the grasslands.

War God Jiang Su, with a single spear named Silence, led eighteen riders as a lone force to pierce into the battlefield.

In the end, only he alone returned.

But they succeeded in personally cleaving that generation's Great Khan King to death on the grasslands, then used the spear Silence to impale that generation's Great Khan King's head, tightened the reins with one hand, softly hummed the military songs of the Central Plains' sons, and opened the Northern Domain Pass.

No one knew that the fuse for this tragic war was merely a routine Turkic raid, and this raid, over a small town, caused two Central Plains martial legends to personally set foot upon the grasslands.

And eighteen brave war generals threw their lives away there.

War God Jiang Su offered that generation's Great Khan King's head as sacrifice to that small town.

These past events surfaced one by one in the Great Khan King's heart; that undying, indestructible physique, and martial arts comparable to a martial legend, caused a sliver of unease to rise within the Great Khan King's heart.

Such martial arts, such vitality.

Wasn't it said that the blue-robed man had already died?!

Li Guanyi learned his martial arts?!

Li Guanyi once again discovered the gathering place on the grasslands, and without hesitation charged toward it; it was a village made of tents, cattle and sheep, where people herded. Li Guanyi leaped into the air and seized a horse.

He casually tossed down a golden bean: "I'll buy it!"

He shouted, then rode the horse in a wild gallop; the Tie Futu behind pursued at full speed, but ahead were after all their own kin and people, and even the most valiant warriors could not have no ripples at all in their hearts, charging straight through here on horseback.

The Tie Futu army's speed began to decrease.

The Great Khan King keenly noticed that his warriors were beginning to tire.

People are not mechanisms; for these heavy-armored cavalry to maintain formation is itself a violent drain. The original plan was to wear down the Qin Wang, but instead it was their own side that began to show decline.

The Qin Wang's speed increased further.

Li Guanyi felt that he was beginning to get used to it.

The best strategy is to arrive secretly and depart at ease.

The middle strategy is to come secretly, be discovered, and then flee.

The worst strategy is to march in full force, coming from the Western Regions, first fighting a great battle to the death with the Turkic Great Khan King, and then entering. But now the various Central Plains kingdoms are recuperating; in the previous great war, the Turks at the height of their national strength were merely circling around outside.

If Li Guanyi were to fight the Turks head-on, it would likely drag on for a long time.

Even if he ultimately won, the Sword Madman's lifespan limit would surely have passed, and it would cause national strength to be further drained; a Central Plains war would directly fall into a disadvantageous and unfavorable state.

Now it is in the middle-strategy state.

The Blue Luan Bird's Dharma Image was clear by his ear; Li Guanyi's mind stirred the Nine Provinces Cauldron, and flowing light shifted atop the Nine Provinces Cauldron. Li Guanyi said: "Senior Nine-Colored Divine Deer, can you sense it?"

A gentle woman's voice rang out.

"Mm."

Li Guanyi briefly explained the general situation and said: "Then, as discussed before, I'll trouble you, Senior."

The woman's gentle voice fell: "Alright, Guanyi."

"How are things over there for you?"

Li Guanyi said: "Me? Don't worry, I've eaten the Longevity Pill."

He tilted his head to dodge an arrow and said calmly, "Naturally, they cannot beat me to death, but neither can these people stop me. Jiang Su could come and go freely among my hundreds of thousands of troops in the Western Regions; I am not as capable as him."

"But three thousand Tie Futu still look down on me."

"My initial rehearsal was meant to be eight thousand."

The Nine-Colored Divine Deer heard Li Guanyi's mind-voice but did not listen to his deliberate exaggeration, only saying: "Be careful."

At the same time, the Nine Provinces Cauldron suddenly shrieked; a mysterious sensation transmitted back through the connection between the Western Regions' Nine Cauldrons and Li Guanyi's Nine Provinces Cauldron, causing nine-colored flowing light to appear within the Nine Provinces Cauldron inside Li Guanyi's body.

It then transformed into jade liquid, and the jade liquid flowed into Li Guanyi's body.

Li Guanyi's original fatigue and the drain on his qi and blood were instantly replenished after the Nine-Colored Divine Deer shared her vitality; even the oppressive feeling brought by the entanglement of those three kinds of vitality within his body was greatly weakened.

Li Guanyi's heart relaxed, and he couldn't help feeling—

This is what an auspicious omen is!

That Primal Taigu Chilong fellow, a thug dragon with nothing but muscles in his head—how could he be compared to Senior Nine-Colored Divine Deer?

Li Guanyi exhaled and sensed the army behind.

The Great Khan King noticed that the Qin Wang's condition seemed to rise once more.

Had he recovered, or had he broken through again?

He exhaled a breath and said: "Mu Zhahe."

Mu Zhahe said: "Great Khan King?"

The Turkic Great Khan King said: "Go and redirect troops from the surrounding area; the Tie Futu won't make it in time. Take my token and summon the elites of the surrounding Khan Kings over here. With two armies surrounding and killing, I don't believe that, with such might alone, he can still escape!"

"Yes!"

The army set out. Li Guanyi noticed that some individuals behind had disappeared; the Turkic Great Khan King tried using arrow volleys to guide the army formation's baleful qi to attack Li Guanyi, but although the rain of arrows was fierce, the Jiuli Divine Weapon Gold-Iron protected the vital points, making it hard to produce any effect.

That fellow also has a shield around him that looks like a tortoise shell!

It spun naturally around him, resisting the volley of arrows.

Li Guanyi ran in a wide arc the whole way, making no attempt to conceal himself, charging toward a particular direction. This time the arrows fell like rain, and just as he was about to reach out to intercept them, a low roar exploded through the air.

Blazing flames surged up violently.

Countless arrows rained down, only to be utterly incinerated within those flames.

Li Guanyi swept his weapon in a broad arc, knocking down every arrow that had pierced through the flames and lost most of its force. Then he heard a roar in the air—the Fire Qilin's aura appeared ahead, shielding them from being struck down by the army formation's killing blow from above.

Li Guanyi laughed heartily and urged his divine power once more.

His speed exploded. The Fire Qilin was already visible ahead. Li Guanyi met up with the Fire Qilin and called out: "Did you hand over the thing?!"

The Fire Qilin said: "That fellow has already taken the thing and headed to Jiangnan."

Li Guanyi laughed: "Good!"

He flipped himself onto the Qilin's back. The Fire Qilin threw caution to the wind and unleashed its full power—no longer needing to worry, as before, about concealing their aura to avoid being exposed during the earlier chase.

Now there was not the slightest concern. The Fire Qilin galloped at full speed.

Li Guanyi spun his body, settling backward onto the Qilin's back, war-bow in hand. No longer needing to divide his attention between fleeing, he simply kept drawing and loosing arrows. The bowstring's whine rang out, and beams of light poured forth from his war-bow almost like a torrential downpour.

With no need to worry about dodging and weaving.

Li Guanyi's entire body could be devoted to pinning them down.

An Eighth Heaven Qilin, and Li Guanyi channeling the aura of legend.

They were the most mobile combination in all of Jiangnan and Tiance Prefecture. So long as Li Guanyi didn't lose his mind and refuse to be pulled back, insisting on fighting someone to the death, he was almost impossible to intercept.

Unless a Martial Dao legend intervened.

The Qilin said: "Which way do we go?! Guanyi!"

Li Guanyi laughed loudly: "Where else? We're pulling out!"

Under these circumstances, taking to the air would be a living target. On the ground, the Fire Qilin's speed would normally have been tightly clamped by the heavy cavalry charge under such momentum, but Li Guanyi's war-bow never stopped, and he forcibly pinned down the army formation.

The Great Khan occasionally seized an opening to clash with Li Guanyi.

The Great Khan was indeed stronger than Li Guanyi.

But unfortunately, leading only three thousand troops, he could not deliver a single strike heavy enough to cripple Li Guanyi outright. And as long as he failed to cripple Li Guanyi, the Great Khan could only watch helplessly as this fellow astride the Qilin began recovering at an even faster pace.

The Green-Robed Immortal's cultivation base!

Fury and unwillingness churned in the Great Khan's heart, along with the crushing pressure brought by that Martial Dao legend, lingering like a shadow he could not dispel. Li Guanyi drew his war-bow, then slightly raised his eyes.

The Jiuzhou Cauldron keened. A flowing radiance gathered in Li Guanyi's eyes.

With his naked eye, he saw in the distant direction a surging mass of military killing intent rise to the heavens, shifting and transforming into a great eagle that swept toward him.

Li Guanyi grinned: "We'll have to be faster."

"Otherwise it'll be the fallback plan. Wait—is that Tie Futu coming from over there?" Li Guanyi's eyes narrowed. The Fire Qilin said: "Do you want to go through that direction?"

Li Guanyi said: "When waging war, one must understand what the objective is."

"If the strategic objective has already been achieved, yet one plunges into a great battle because of one's own temperament, it's like wading into a quagmire. Back then, Yuwen Lie fell into defeat and lost an arm precisely because of this."

"I've already got what I came for. I have no interest in fighting a great battle here."

"Auntie and Great-Grandfather are still waiting for me to come back for dinner."

The Fire Qilin recalled the Ancient Crimson Dragon's words: "The old man isn't coming, is he?"

Li Guanyi smiled: "Great-Grandfather knows my cultivation base. Three thousand Tie Futu are not my match, but if I'm determined to run, three thousand Tie Futu can't hold me either."

"Besides, we're almost there."

"Push harder!"

The Qilin said nothing, only accelerating further. Seen from above, the vast grasslands rolled like waves, and Li Guanyi and the Fire Qilin were like a single arrow, driving straight toward their target at full speed.

The Great Khan pursued close behind, while on the left and right, great armies thundered in.

After realizing that three thousand Tie Futu could not take down the Qin Wang before them, the Great Khan immediately made his judgment: he would use the great armies to trap the Qin Wang's steps, to pin him down among them. So long as they could slow the Qin Wang's pace, the army formation could grind him to death!

Even if it cost ten men, a hundred, or even several hundred ordinary soldiers' lives—turning their flesh and blood into mud and walls to stall the Qin Wang for even a single breath—it would be worth it!

The great armies closed in. Li Guanyi's eyes lifted slightly.

A martial artist's cultivation advances step by step. Sometimes, steady cultivation alone cannot reach a higher realm; sufficient pressure and worthy opponents are needed, like the Xue Shen General and Duke of Chen back in the day.

Li Guanyi had already anticipated what the Great Khan intended to do.

Li Guanyi had his own cards to play, but right now, that most crucial trump card could not yet be revealed—it wasn't time to reveal it. If he exposed it prematurely, wouldn't that be a waste?

And under such pressure, his own Yuanshen was being compressed and forged inward.

His aura surged, faintly brushing against a certain threshold, yet still falling just short.

Once he crossed that threshold, perhaps it would no longer be merely channeling the aura of a Martial Dao legend as he did now, but truly stepping onto that very path.

Martial artists throughout the world sought that gate but could not find the way in.

The great armies closed in. Earlier, Li Guanyi had been running circles around the Tie Futu.

The result was that Mu Zhahe had already led his men to appear from the side-front, drew his bow, and roared:

"Qin Wang, you have toyed with us three times!"

"Three times!"

"Since you refuse to become a son-in-law of our grasslands, today I will take your life! Leave your bloodline here, but you need not live!"

Amid the roar, arrows had already been loosed. At the same moment, the Great Khan surged forward to attack, unleashing a strike he had long been积蓄. Either Li Guanyi would have to face this strike head-on—and the Qilin might not be able to receive unharmed a blow from the world's seventh-ranked Divine General—

Or Li Guanyi would have to turn back to shoot down the arrows and take this strike head-on.

"This King does not believe that even if you truly received that Immortal's legacy!"

"You can receive this strike of mine and come out unscathed!"

But Li Guanyi did not turn back. Three streams of aura suddenly converged, the Dharma Aspects roared and chanted. As the auras of the five Dharma Aspects gathered together, an ancient, vast dragon's cry rose from the depths of Li Guanyi's heart.

The Jiuzhou Cauldron keened without cease.

Li Guanyi's halberz slash, the Snake-Slaying Slash, collided with the Great Khan King's technique. This time, his chest and abdomen only churned with blood and qi, unbearably uncomfortable, but he did not vomit blood again. Meanwhile, Mu Zhahe's arrow flew in, and the Fire Qilin roared, spewing a blast of fierce flame.

Though the arrow was buffeted by the impact, it still pierced through the flames, aiming straight for Li Guanyi's back!

But at this moment, another arrow fell from the sky.

Its incoming momentum was extremely swift!

It struck this arrow directly.

With a crisp crack, both arrows fell to the ground together.

Mu Zhahe's expectant gaze faltered: "Who!!!" The answer was a clear, soaring phoenix cry. Above the steppe's sky, the clouds churned, nine-colored radiance flowing. Upon the back of a nine-colored divine deer, a girl with a high ponytail bound by a golden ring raised the war bow in her hand.

Beneath the realm of the Eighth Heaven, a phoenix spiraled at her side.

She nocked the arrow in her hand to the bowstring, ignoring the thousands of troops and cavalry, ignoring the kings and famous generals on either side. Her eyes looked at the beleaguered monarch, and she said with a smile:

"Brother Li, you, you truly do love taking risks."

Li Guanyi laughed heartily: "You're here, what have I to fear!"

"When we departed, didn't we agree—only I may enter this game; you all are to provide support from outside."

"Originally, I was still thinking whether I could borrow the Taigu Chilong to come and go."

Li Guanyi's forces had little contact with the Turks, but Xiyicheng lay just below the steppe Turks. Li Zhaowen drew back her bow, her upraised eyes sweeping over the blood on Li Guanyi's battle robe and his pale face. She glanced to either side and said softly:

"Yes, only I can fight side by side with you."

Mu Zhahe roared furiously: "Lord of Xiyicheng, what is the meaning of this!!"

"We and the State of Ying have not yet torn up the agreement, nor declared war!"

The phoenix cry rose and soared.

The girl's black hair flew up, its edges tinged with golden flowing light. In her eyes seemed to echo a phoenix cry as she said: "What do I wish to do? You pursued my friend—what did you intend to do?"

Mu Zhahe's and the Turkic Great Khan King's expressions both shifted.

Li Guanyi's bow dispersed, transforming into the Tiger Howling Heaven halberd.

Li Zhaowen's arrow pointed straight ahead, and the girl's voice rang clear and stern:

"As was agreed before."

"At the border between my Xiyicheng and the Turks, eight thousand Black Armor and thirty thousand heavy cavalry are already in position, awaiting the King's return to the realm."

"Your Majesty, give the order!"

?? Control your schedule, control your schedule

? Hoping to finish chapter two before one o'clock

? Also recommending a book~