Chapter 282: Breaking Out of the Siege (Part Two)

Master Xuanmiao swept out a sword strike, and the three people and two demons who had only charged halfway were knocked down from midair.

She descended slowly, just as Tao Ji arrived driving the carriage.

Master Xuanmiao sheathed her sword, landed lightly beside Pan Yun, and said in a low voice, "There's an ambush ahead. Miao Zhen, the four of you don't need to stop—just charge forward. Another fifty li ahead is the Three Pure Realms."

Miao Zhen: "What about Little Xiao Shishu?"

Master Xuanmiao said calmly, "With me and your Third Xiao Shishu here, she won't come to harm."

Master Xuanmiao's gaze fell, swept over Pan Xiaohei once, then said, "Take this cat too."

"Meow~ I'm not leaving. Besides, where could I run? If I stay away from Pan Yun too long, my spirit consciousness will leave my body, and this body will die."

But Master Xuanmiao couldn't understand its cat-speak. As the carriage gradually approached the narrow pass, Master Xuanmiao took out four talisman papers and slapped them directly onto the four corners of the carriage.

The instant the carriage entered the narrow pass, Master Xuanmiao activated the talismans. At the same time, from the darkness on both sides, countless shadows flew out, charging straight at the carriage. Master Xuanmiao instantly took flight, meeting the shadows head-on, and shouted, "Go—"

Tao Ji lashed the whip hard, speeding up. "Giddyup—"

At the same time, Miao Zhen and Miao He also sped up, dodging things falling from midair, flying close alongside the carriage, and slashing with a blade at enemies attacking from below.

It was Xiaohong and Tao Honghu's first time experiencing something this thrilling since being born. They screamed ahhh as they flew, while tightly following Miao Zhen and Miao He.

Tao Honghu stepped onto a chunk of earth that came drilling toward her, and came face-to-face with a person attacking along the ground. She screamed ahhh ahhh, but her claws were anything but polite—whoosh—she swiped directly at them…

Xiaohong was even more terrified, but since she was a ghost, ordinary people couldn't see her. She stuck close to Tao Honghu, and whenever she saw Tao Honghu about to take a loss, she would pounce at the opponent and forcefully reveal her form.

Yao Wulun knew this trip would be full of demons, monsters, and ghosts. His goal wasn't the so-called "heavenly treasures and earthly marvels" they spoke of—he had been hired. If the job succeeded, he'd get a hundred taels; if it failed, he'd already taken fifty.

His mission was to stop the carriage.

He had already evaded the famously renowned Master Xuanmiao in midair, and charged at the two little Daoist Priestesses who looked like greenhorns. But he hadn't expected that the moment they met, the fat Daoist Priest let out a "Ha!" and brought a blade down on his head.

He dodged by a hair's breadth, leaning aside, and shot out a hidden weapon. Seeing her turn her blade to knock it away, and another companion charging up to entangle her, he spun on the spot to dodge out of the fight, then charged toward Tao Ji—only to run smack into a fox.

A fiery-red fox. A flash of amazement crossed Yao Wulun's eyes, and he saw the companion ahead of him get her face clawed to ruin by it, kicked flying, and land on the road. The carriage went clatter and rolled right over him…

Yao Wulun shuddered, not daring to be careless. The blade in his hand went whoosh whoosh whoosh stabbing at it. Man and fox, chasing the carriage as it moved swiftly, traded blows with clanging clashes.

Just as he gained the upper hand and was about to run the fox through with one thrust, he suddenly felt the night wind was a bit chilly. A chill ran down his spine, and his movements slowed slightly.

Twice in a row he nearly had his neck clawed open by the fox. His face changed, and as he channeled his internal power to go on a rampage, suddenly his back went heavy—his lightness skill almost failed. He felt it was strange, turned his head, and a head with hair draped over it and bleeding from every facial feature suddenly appeared beside his neck…

Startled out of his wits, Yao Wulun's body went limp, his lightness skill gave out, and he went thump straight onto the ground—luckily dodging Tao Honghu's claw swipe.

But the moment he hit the ground, a carriage wheel went bang and rolled over his arm onto his waist, then went bang again as it hit the ground…

Yao Wulun let out a miserable shriek and immediately scrambled up from the ground, patting himself left and right, only to find he wasn't much hurt. He looked up, and a rain of blood and severed arms and legs came pouring down, drenching him from head to face.

Yao Wulun's heart trembled. He saw Master Xuanmiao in midair cut out with a sword, flying forward to chase the carriage, while all eight people besieging her fell heavily wounded.

One unlucky fellow was pierced through the chest by a sword, went bang as he landed beside Yao Wulun, his breath cut off, eyes still wide open.

Yao Wulun's eyes rolled back, he swayed, and went splat straight onto the ground playing dead. Forget it—he'd already gotten the deposit anyway; the remaining fifty taels weren't really that important.

Yao Wulun was the main force of the first wave of ground attacks. Once he played dead, the rest were nothing to fear, and the carriage charged in one breath to the middle of the narrow pass.

Miao Zhen and Miao He had already fought their way to the front of the carriage, one on each side. The people hiding in the dark were debating whether to let them pass or ambush them along with the others, when they saw the two of them whoosh forward, sliding a stretch before braking to a halt.

Then their blades went clang as they were stabbed into the ground. At the same time they pulled out a talisman, hands forming hand-seals and shifting—in just two breaths, a sharp cry: "Go—"

The yellow talisman in their hands flew out along the ground. Several bangs of explosions, a burst of firelight rose, and the fishing nets and trip ropes buried in the earth were instantly blasted up…

The people holding the fishing nets and trip ropes instinctively gave a pull, only to find both things had already been blown apart. They themselves tumbled backward, exposing their positions.

Miao Zhen and Miao He drew their blades and were about to charge in, but were held back by Tao Ji cracking his whip. Two pills whooshed out toward them. "Get back to Huishan!"

Miao Zhen and Miao He reached out and caught the pills, stuffing them into their mouths without thinking, but they didn't really want to leave them and go back. "Xiao Shishu\Master—"

Tao Ji glared at them, tossed a pill to Tao Honghu, then used the horse whip to lasso her and fling her toward Miao Zhen. Seeing Miao Zhen catch her, he said, "Go now—"

Before his words had even faded, the people ambushed in front, seeing the fishing nets and ropes hadn't been able to trip the carriage, stepped out of the darkness and directly blocked the front of the carriage.

Miao Zhen and Miao He gripped their blades tight at once, looking at the people and demons that had suddenly appeared before the carriage.

More than ten people, plus five or six demons that hadn't finished transforming, blocked the narrow pass completely. The carriage simply couldn't get through.

Tao Ji's face grew heavy, but he didn't pull the carriage to a stop—instead he slapped the horse's rump and charged forward.

Miao Zhen and Miao He moved at the same time, gripping their blades and charging forward to kill. At the same time, Master Xuanmiao, who had flown and landed on the carriage, raised her head with an utterly calm expression.

From the mountaintop, an aged voice said, "Xuanmiao, it wasn't easy cultivating to where you are today. I advise you to cherish it!"

Master Xuanmiao laughed coldly. "Insignificant rabble, not even daring to show your faces. I, Xuanmiao, have even wounded the First Marquis—would I fear a bunch of rats hiding in the gutter?"

"I'll put it plainly today: anyone who leaves now, I will not pursue. But anyone who dares to strike again—after tonight, even if you flee to the ends of the earth, I will absolutely not let you off."

Master Xuanmiao declared in a clear voice, "The Qi-Seeking Method of Long Hushan—anyone who wants to try it, come!"

Tao Ji also called out loudly, "You think because it's dark and you're masked, we can't recognize you? A person's face can change, but their Qi cannot. If you keep blocking us, Mount Sanqing will absolutely not let this go."

The people hiding in the darkness exchanged glances, and finally some quietly left.

Tao Ji looked at the demons that remained, and declared loudly, "My senior martial brother is Wang Feiyin of Mount Sanqing, a disciple of Pan Gong. Fellow demon brothers—are you certain you want to offend my senior martial brother?"

The older demons visibly trembled, scared into retreating a step, thought about it, and ran.

Once they ran, the younger demons weren't stupid either, and ran along with them. In an instant most of the demons were gone, leaving only three or four not-so-bright ones staring at Pan Yun on the carriage and drooling.

They thought she smelled so good, so good.

!.

The senior martial brother Tao Ji spoke of seemed very powerful, but the person on the carriage smelled too good. They decided to stay.

Seeing this, the people on the mountaintop could hold back no longer. At one command, the four people and two demons still remaining on the mountaintop descended in an encircling circle, attacking Master Xuanmiao from six directions at once.

At the same time, the people and demons blocking the front of the carriage also attacked the carriage together.

Tao Ji's whip lashed forward, letting out a tremendous crack in the air. In the darkness, a bag of gray-black powder exploded, and the one person and two demons charging head-on went dizzy and tumbled sideways to the ground…

Miao Zhen and Miao He, with Tao Honghu, burst through the gap in one breath. The two of them braked, turned their heads to look back.

Tao Ji scattered poison as if it cost nothing—one whip sent out a packet, crack crack crack, each crack meant an explosion. Anyone who charged up to him got another handful of powder flung at them; the blade the opponent had raised didn't even have time to come down before they went splat onto the ground…

Tao Ji scattered poison with calm composure. Seeing the two of them and the fox stop and turn back, he shouted, "Why aren't you running yet!"

Miao Zhen stamped her foot. "We're going!"

Seeing Miao Zhen grabbed Miao He and used lightness skill to run off; Hong Yan hurriedly got down on all fours and swiftly followed.

Xiao Hong had no need to worry—she was a ghost, invisible to ordinary people and immune to poison; she hovered behind Hong Yan with a swift whoosh.

The carriage finally came to a forced stop; Tao Ji swung his whip, circling the vehicle, and with a few sharp cracks, powder scattered into the air, felling countless people.

He quickly slipped a detoxifying pill into Pan Xiaohei's mouth.

Pan Xiaohei, with the detoxifying pill in its mouth, glared fiercely at the attackers; whenever someone held their breath to strike, it kicked off with both legs, leapt forward, and raked its claws across their mouth and nose, forcing them to exhale.

Tao Ji's magic and martial arts were mediocre, but not nonexistent; though flustered, with his poisons as reinforcement, he still temporarily protected Pan Yun, keeping others from approaching her.

All the experts were intercepted midair by Master Xuanmiao, directly above the carriage.

Master Xuanmiao, soaring into the air, struck with brutal ferocity, unconcerned that she was surrounded.

In one glance, she spotted the weakest of the six and attacked him directly, giving them no chance to react.

But their speed was also extremely fast—they instantly shifted positions.

Master Xuanmiao did not pause; her sword flashed, delivering two strikes in succession, piercing straight through the one who had replaced him.

"You..."

Master Xuanmiao sneered. "He's weak—do you think you're strong? Calling you scoundrels—is that an insult to you?"

With that, she spun and soared higher, evading attacks from three directions; her figure flickered, appearing behind another man, her sword already piercing through his chest. She coldly withdrew the blade and turned toward another demon, saying coldly: "Merely stating facts."

The remaining two humans and one demon could no longer hold out; they abandoned their assault on Master Xuanmiao and turned to seize Pan Yun.

The abandoned demon shrieked, "Save me!"

Yuan power instantly coated the sword; Master Xuanmiao thrust forward—clang! —its claw blocked the strike. Then its form shifted, its mouth becoming a sharp beak, it lunged forward with a sudden peck, while its wings flared violently, sending a gale rushing toward Master Xuanmiao.

Master Xuanmiao's body swayed once midair, then stabilized; instantly, she merged with her sword, becoming one with it, piercing through the hurricane straight toward its heart.

It felt an icy chill to its bones; instinctively, it flapped its wings and shot upward, dodging Master Xuanmiao's attack, no longer daring to fight her; it flapped its wings twice in haste and vanished into the darkness. "I'm not playing with you anymore—"

(End of Chapter)