Prison Break

Prison Break

Half an hour later.

A carrier pigeon flew out from both the Xu Family and the Hundred Herbs Gang.

"The fish has taken the bait. Follow it."

The Black Armored Army's Dark Division martial artists immediately chased after the carrier pigeons and left Luyang County.

These Dark Division martial artists responsible for tracking might not have been particularly skilled in combat, but their disguise techniques and qinggong were exceptionally superb.

To put it another way, they were like Sikong Zhaixing from The Legend of Lu Xiaofeng—their disguise skills had reached a divine level, leaving ordinary people utterly unable to spot any flaws.

That was why these Dark Division martial artists had infiltrated Luyang County for so long, keeping watch over the Xu Family in secret. Some had even slipped into Xu Residence and become servants, yet the Xu Family had not noticed the slightest irregularity.

Among these Dark Division martial artists, some specialized in qinggong. Their overall strength might not even have matched that of First-class Martial Artists, but when it came to qinggong, even some Aperture-Opening Martial Artists might not have been able to compare.

Some Dark Division martial artists who cultivated peerless qinggong could even escape with their lives from an Innate Realm Grandmaster.

Night fell.

Zhou Shan held watch over the Black Armored Army's prison, guarding against a prison break.

There were no other buildings within a hundred meters of the prison, and the place felt dark and eerie.

"Tonight is destined to be anything but peaceful!"

Standing atop a roof, Zhou Shan surveyed the surroundings. Fires had broken out in many parts of the city.

His gaze swept across the area. Flames rose from several locations in all four directions—east, south, west, and north. The Black Armored Army stationed in those directions had sent reports saying that bandits had infiltrated the city and were looting everywhere, and that they were heading out to suppress them.

But Zhou Shan knew that this was clearly someone posing as bandits to deliberately create chaos.

If the Black Armored Army in all four directions had to suppress the bandits, then should someone attempt a prison break, they would be unable to arrive in time to provide reinforcements. Still, it did not matter. So long as the people breaking into the prison were not Innate Realm Grandmasters, he had nothing to fear.

Innate Realm Grandmasters were not cabbages growing by the roadside. The Vajra Sect had already been wiped out, and its Innate Realm Grandmasters had basically all been killed. Only one heavily wounded Innate Realm Grandmaster had escaped.

What was more, the Black Armored Army's Dark Division had already found the hiding place of the Vajra Sect's surviving disciples. They were concealed in Golden Mountain Temple, eighty li away. One of the Blood Fiend Sect's strongholds had also been exposed alongside them—an unexpected gain.

At this moment, Commander Fang Yuan should have been leading men to surround and suppress Golden Mountain Temple and the Blood Fiend Sect stronghold. Therefore, the people attempting this prison break could at most be experts from the Xu Family and the Hundred Herbs Gang. The people sent by the Vajra Sect and Blood Fiend Sect had been dealt with on the road and could not possibly reach Luyang County.

Whether it was the Xu Family or the Hundred Herbs Gang, they only had Superclass Martial Artists.

"They're here!"

At that moment, Zhou Shan noticed a group of people several hundred meters away rapidly approaching the prison.

"Black Armored Army, form ranks!"

Zhou Shan immediately shouted.

At his command, the Black Armored Army soldiers guarding the prison stood ready in tight formation.

"Kill!"

Before long, several hundred black-clad, masked figures charged out from a hundred meters in front of the prison.

"Fire!"

The instant the several hundred black-clad masked figures appeared, Zhou Shan gave the order. Arrows and crossbow bolts immediately shot from the watchtowers around the prison, raining down upon the masked men ahead.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The black-clad masked men instantly swung their blades and swords, knocking aside the incoming arrows and bolts.

Judging from the way they defended against the arrows and bolts, all several hundred of these black-clad masked men were martial artists. After one volley of arrows and bolts, only a dozen or so were injured. The rest emerged unscathed.

But the prison possessed more than just arrows and crossbow bolts. It was equipped with five Armor-Piercing Ballistae.

Armor-Piercing Ballistae were the pinnacle of mechanical crossbows, a type of bed crossbow. The massive arrows mounted on them were as thick as an arm. Their drawback was their enormous size, which made them difficult to carry, but in return, their power was immense.

Even a Superclass Martial Artist would die on the spot if struck head-on by an Armor-Piercing Ballista.

Beyond ordinary Armor-Piercing Ballistae, there was also a kind capable of firing more than a dozen arrows in succession. However, these repeating Armor-Piercing Ballistae required extraordinarily advanced craftsmanship and were extremely costly. Even the Black Armored Army possessed only a few, treating them as trump cards. Whether used to defend a city or assault one, they were peerless weapons.

Boom—

A massive mechanical roar erupted as the Armor-Piercing Ballistae launched giant arrows as thick as arms.

In an instant, five massive arrows shot toward the several hundred charging black-clad masked men at supersonic speed.

The giant arrows fired by an Armor-Piercing Ballista could pierce heavy armor even from five hundred paces away. A Superclass Martial Artist struck head-on would die instantly. Only an Aperture-Opening Martial Artist with over a hundred years of cultivation could barely withstand an Armor-Piercing Ballista's attack.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

Amid the thunderous sound of tearing flesh, the black-clad masked men charging at the front were struck by the Armor-Piercing Arrows. Their bodies were instantly pierced through, blood and flesh spraying everywhere as bowl-sized bloody holes burst through their chests.

And the cold gleam of those Armor-Piercing Arrows did not lose its momentum, continuing to blast furiously toward the black-clad masked men behind them.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft—

Only after piercing through five bodies in succession did the Armor-Piercing Arrows finally lose all their force.

Five Armor-Piercing Arrows directly killed twenty-five black-clad masked men, and every one of them was a martial artist.

At this point, the black-clad masked men were only fifty meters from the prison.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh—

Another volley of arrows flew out.

At the same time, the five Armor-Piercing Ballistae were reloaded with Armor-Piercing Arrows and fired at the black-clad masked men ahead.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft—

Another twenty-five people died beneath the Armor-Piercing Arrows.

But by then, the Black Armored Army had no time to unleash a third volley. The black-clad masked men were almost upon them.

"Kill!"

The Black Armored Army surged forth like a torrent of black steel.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

The two sides immediately clashed, blood and severed limbs flying everywhere.

The Black Armored Army and the black-clad masked martial artists were locked in melee, so naturally the Armor-Piercing Ballistae could no longer be used.

Using Armor-Piercing Ballistae in such chaos would basically mean killing their own people as well.

Just as Zhou Shan's attention was drawn to the fierce battle below, a black-clad man somehow slipped behind him. Holding a short blade that gleamed with cold light, he stabbed toward Zhou Shan's lower back, where his kidney lay.

This man's breath-concealment technique was so exquisite that he had actually deceived Zhou Shan, who had reached the peak of the Aperture-Opening Realm.

"Killing intent!"

At the instant the figure struck, Zhou Shan still sensed a trace of killing intent and immediately activated the Golden Bell Shield.

Vast Internal Force condensed over the surface of his body into a golden bell, blocking the black-clad man's assassination attempt from behind.

Crack—

The terrifying rebounding force directly shattered the short blade in the black-clad man's hand into powder.

Then Zhou Shan turned and struck out with a Great Strength Vajra Palm.

Boom!

The black-clad man exchanged a palm strike with Zhou Shan, and his body was sent flying backward, smashing viciously into the ground.

"A peak Aperture-Opening Martial Artist!"

The black-clad man wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, then fled without looking back.

He was an assassin from the Black Dragon Society. Someone had posted a bounty in the Black Dragon Society for Zhou Shan's assassination, and he had accepted the task. Now that the assassination had failed—and the target's strength had exceeded his expectations—he naturally would not stay behind and fight to the death.

At most, failing the mission would cost him some reputation.

If he stayed and fought to the death, what he would lose would be his life.

(End of chapter)