Poison crossbows fired in volleys! Arrows fell like locusts!
"Enemy attack! Protect the carriage!" The commander of the elite guards roared like thunder!
The dozen or so Black-Clad Elite Soldiers surrounding the carriage moved in an instant! Instead of dodging, they stood like the most loyal rocks, viciously smashing their heavy iron-bound wooden shields into the ground! They braced themselves firmly behind the shields, forming an impenetrable circular wall of iron!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The dark blue poison arrows slammed into the wooden shields with dull impacts! Their arrowheads sank deep into the wood, poison seeping out along the shafts and corroding the shield faces into hissing green smoke! Several arrows slipped through gaps between the shields at vicious angles, instantly piercing through the shoulders and thighs of two elite soldiers! Blood sprayed, and the two grunted in pain, yet gritted their teeth and refused to retreat, plugging the gaps with their bodies!
Almost at the same moment the bolts were fired, savage battle cries sounded from the woods! Dozens of fierce figures in mismatched leather armor and face coverings charged wildly from the dense forest, brandishing long sabers and short axes like wolves scenting blood! They moved swiftly and worked in perfect coordination. They were clearly no ordinary bandits, but trained death warriors!
"Kill!" Ying Zheng stood atop the carriage, cold light surging in his eyes as Killing Intent became almost tangible! He did not draw his sword. He simply made a sharp downward gesture!
The other half of the crossbowmen, who had long since drawn and waited, moved! Cold triggers clicked down!
Bzzz—!
A dense chorus of bowstrings trembled, enough to make scalps go numb! Dozens of specially made Triangular Armor-Piercing Bolts flew from their strings, ripping through the air with the shriek of death!
The seven or eight death warriors charging in front were struck as if by invisible Giant Hammers. Their crude leather armor was like paper, instantly pierced through! The powerful bolts carried enormous momentum, smashing them to the ground as blood and shattered organs burst from their horrifying wounds! Their screams ended abruptly!
Yet the death warriors far outnumbered the bolts! The desperadoes behind them trampled over their comrades' corpses and rushed forward even more frantically! Saber flashes reflected the morning light, carrying bone-chilling cold!
"Form ranks! Meet the enemy!" The elite commander drew his blade and roared! The shield-bearing soldiers burst apart from their shield formation, drew the short swords at their waists, and collided fiercely with the charging death warriors! The clanging of metal, furious roars, and agonized screams instantly echoed through the forest!
Ying Zheng stood atop the carriage like a demon god overlooking the battlefield, his dark robes utterly still amid flashing blades and blood shadows. His cold gaze swept across the chaotic battlefield, and every gesture precisely indicated wherever the death warriors attacked most fiercely or defended most weakly. Following his commands, the outer crossbowmen moved swiftly, reloaded, and fired like the most precise killing machines, each volley taking several lives with exacting accuracy!
Inside the carriage, Cheng Xi curled up as the deafening slaughter and dying wails outside filled his ears. The thick scent of blood poured through gaps in the curtains. His face was pale, but there was little fear in his eyes—only cold calculation. The elite soldiers Ying Zheng had brought were far stronger than he had expected! Especially those crossbowmen. The Powerful Crossbows they used were immensely powerful and fired at an astonishing rate; they were certainly no ordinary military weapons!
[Passively scanning battlefield... Target analysis: Death Warrior Camp x47 (remaining)... Equipment standard: Han and Wei mixed (disguise)... Combat pattern: Death Warrior Camp standard... Command node: behind the third Giant Sophora Tree in the woods...]
The system prompt flashed through his mind. Han and Wei mixed? A disguise? A command node?
Cheng Xi abruptly lifted a corner of the side window curtain! His gaze was like lightning, instantly locking onto the ancient sophora tree in the woods that would take two men to encircle! In the shadows behind it, a lean figure in inconspicuous gray cloth was sticking out half his head and making urgent hand signals!
It was him!
Without a moment's hesitation, Cheng Xi grabbed a heavy Bronze Wine Goblet from the small table in the carriage and, with all the strength in his whole body, hurled it fiercely toward the dark figure atop the carriage!
Clang! The goblet struck the roof, letting out a piercing tremor!
Ying Zheng atop the carriage suddenly turned his head! Following the direction of Cheng Xi's pointing finger, he instantly spotted the commander behind the sophora tree!
A cold glint flashed in Ying Zheng's eyes. Without a word, he made a sharp downward gesture with his left hand!
The elite commander, who had been guarding the carriage like a shadow, immediately understood! Like lightning, he pulled a specially made Heavy Crossbow from his back, larger and entirely black! Cold Beast Sinew was wound around its limbs, and set in its groove was a massive arrow twice as thick and long as an ordinary bolt, forged entirely of refined steel, its head shaped into a savage Armor-Piercing Cone!
"Ha—!" The elite commander exhaled with a shout. The muscles all over his body bulged as his arms erupted with terrifying strength, steadily raising the heavy crossbow and instantly locking onto the gray shadow behind the sophora tree!
Bang—!!!
A dull bowstring explosion so heavy it seemed to stop hearts! That terrifying armor-piercing giant arrow Turned into a black lightning bolt that tore through the air, crossing dozens of yards at a speed too fast for the eye to follow before violently piercing into the Giant Sophora Tree!
Crack! Splat!
The hard trunk was instantly pierced through as if it were rotten wood! The giant arrow did not stop, carrying a spray of glaring blood and shattered bone as it brutally nailed the horrified commander in gray behind the tree to another tree like a rag doll! Its tail still shook in a violent tremor, humming with the lingering note of death!
The commander was dead! The death warriors' assault instantly stalled, falling into brief confusion!
"Kill them all!" Ying Zheng's cold voice seemed to come from the depths of hell.
The Black-Clad Elite Soldiers erupted with even fiercer roars, like tigers charging into a flock of sheep! Crossbow bolts picked off targets with precision, while swords and sabers raised waves of blood! Though fierce and valiant, the leaderless death warriors were swiftly divided and slaughtered before such absolute elite strength and killing efficiency!
The battle soon calmed down. Corpses covered the clearing, and the scent of blood was so thick it could not disperse. The elite soldiers silently cleaned the battlefield and bandaged the wounded.
Ying Zheng leaped down from the carriage roof, his dark boots crunching softly on muddy ground soaked in blood. He walked to the sophora tree pierced by the giant arrow and coldly glanced at the gray-clad man nailed to its trunk, his eyes still open in death.
An elite soldier quickly stepped forward, retrieved a bronze token half the size of a palm from the gray-clad man's person, and respectfully presented it to Ying Zheng.
The token was ancient and worn around the edges. One side bore an intricate engraved Taotie Pattern, while the other displayed a clear ancient seal character—"Lü"!
Ying Zheng held the cold token In his hand, his knuckles whitening slightly from the force of his grip. He slowly turned, his gaze like two ice-tempered blades piercing through the carriage curtain and falling upon Cheng Xi, curled up in the shadows of the carriage.
Morning light finally broke through the clouds and spilled into the woods, yet it could not dispel the heavy scent of blood or the Killing Intent churning in Ying Zheng's eyes—enough to freeze a soul.
He raised the bloodstained "Lü" token, his voice low but like Ten Thousand Years Mystic Ice grinding together:
"Royal Brother, it seems your life is... worth more than I thought."
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