Blood Shadow in the Woods

A volley of poison crossbows! A swarm of arrows like locusts!

"Enemy attack! Protect the carriage!" the commander of the escorting Elite Guards roared like thunder!

The dozen or so black-clothed Elite Guards protecting the Carriage instantly moved! They didn't dodge or evade, but like the most loyal Bedrock, they slammed their heavy iron-clad wooden shields into the ground! They pressed their bodies tightly behind the shields, forming a dense, impenetrable circular Iron Wall!

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

Azure poison arrows fiercely embedded themselves into the wooden shields, emitting dull thuds! The arrowheads sank three inches deep, and the poison dripped down the shafts, corroding the shield surface and emitting hissing smoke! Several arrows shot at tricky angles through the gaps between the shields, instantly piercing the shoulder blades and thighs of two Elite Guards! Blood sprayed, and the two men grunted but gritted their teeth and didn't retreat, using their bodies to plug the gaps!

Almost simultaneously with the crossbows firing, a chorus of ferocious war cries erupted from the woods! Dozens of burly figures clad in mismatched Leather Armor and masked with kerchiefs, wielding long sabers and short axes, charged out of the dense forest like jackals smelling blood! Their movements were swift, their coordination seamless; they were clearly not ordinary bandits but well-trained Death Warriors!

"Kill!" Ying Zheng, standing on the carriage roof, had his eyes flash with cold light, his killing intent palpable! He didn't draw his sword, merely waved his hand!

The Crossbowmen, who had been drawing their bows, moved! The cold triggers were pulled!

"Whizz--!"

A dense, scalp-numbing twang of bowstrings! Dozens of specially made Triangular Armor-Piercing Bolts shot from the bows, tearing through the air with the shriek of death!

The first seven or eight Death Warriors were struck as if by invisible giant hammers; their flimsy Leather Armor was like paper, instantly pierced! The powerful crossbow bolts, carrying immense kinetic energy, slammed them to the ground, blood and shattered organs gushing from the horrific wounds! The screams cut off abruptly!

However, the Death Warriors far outnumbered the crossbow bolts! The desperate attackers behind them trampled over their comrades' corpses and charged even more ferociously! The glint of blades reflected the morning sun, carrying a bone-chilling cold!

"Form ranks! Meet the enemy!" the Elite Guards commander roared, drawing his saber! The shield-bearing Elite Guards scattered their formation with a rumble, drew the short swords at their waists, and clashed fiercely with the charging Death Warriors! The clang of metal, shouts of rage, and screams of agony instantly filled the woods!

On the carriage roof, Ying Zheng was like a demon god overlooking the battlefield, his dark robes unmoving amidst the flashing blades and bloody shadows. His gaze coldly swept over the chaotic battlefield; with every wave of his hand, he precisely targeted the areas where the Death Warriors' assault was fiercest or their defense weakest. Following his gestures, the outer Crossbowmen quickly moved, loaded, and fired, like the most precise killing machines, each volley accurately taking several lives!

Inside the carriage, Cheng Xi huddled, listening to the deafening battle and the dying screams outside. The strong smell of blood seeped through the gaps in the carriage curtains. His face was pale, but there was little fear in his eyes, only cold calculation. The Elite Guards brought by Ying Zheng were far more powerful than he had anticipated! Especially those Crossbowmen, whose Powerful Crossbows were immense in power and astonishing in rate of fire, certainly not ordinary military equipment!

[Passive battlefield scan... Target analysis: Death Warriors x47 (remaining)... Equipment standard: Han and Wei mixed (disguised)... Combat mode: Death Warrior Camp standard... Command node: Behind the third Giant Sophora Tree in the woods...]

The system's prompts flashed through his mind. Han and Wei mixed? Disguised? Command node?

Cheng Xi suddenly lifted a corner of the side window curtain! His gaze was like lightning, instantly locking onto the ancient Sophora Tree that required two people to embrace, in the woods! In the shadows behind the tree, a thin figure dressed in inconspicuous grey cloth was peeking out half his head, urgently making hand signals!

That's him!

Without hesitation, Cheng Xi grabbed a heavy Bronze Wine Goblet from the small table inside the carriage and, with all his might, hurled it fiercely towards the dark figure on the carriage roof!

"Clang!" The wine goblet struck the carriage roof, emitting a piercing clang!

Ying Zheng on the roof suddenly turned his head! Following Cheng Xi's pointing direction, he instantly spotted the commander behind the Sophora Tree!

A cold glint flashed in Ying Zheng's eyes. Without a word, he sharply waved his left hand downwards!

The Elite Guards commander, who had been guarding the carriage like a shadow, understood immediately! He lightning-fastly took down a much larger, completely black special Heavy Crossbow from his back. The crossbow arm was wrapped with cold Beast Sinew, and in the groove lay a giant arrow twice as thick and long as a normal crossbow bolt, forged entirely from steel, with a ferocious triangular Armor-Piercing Cone tip!

"Hmph--!" The Elite Guards commander exhaled, his muscles bulging. His arms unleashed terrifying strength, steadying the heavy Heavy Crossbow and instantly locking onto the grey shadow behind the Sophora Tree!

"Boom--!!!"

A dull explosion of the bowstring that made the heart stop! The terrifying Armor-Piercing Cone arrow transformed into a black lightning bolt tearing through the air, at a speed barely visible to the naked eye, crossing dozens of feet and fiercely piercing the Giant Sophora Tree!

"Crack! Splurt!"

The hard tree trunk was instantly pierced like rotten wood! The giant arrow, its momentum unabated, carrying a spray of dazzling blood and shattered bone, slammed the terrified grey-clothed commander behind the tree into another tree like a rag doll! The arrow's tail still vibrated violently, emitting a buzzing death rattle!

The commander was dead! The Death Warriors' assault instantly faltered, showing a hint of chaos!

"Kill them all!" Ying Zheng's cold voice was like that from the deepest abyss.

The black-clothed Elite Guards let out fiercer roars, like tigers entering a flock of sheep! The crossbow bolts fired precisely, the swords and sabers brought up waves of blood! Although the commanderless Death Warriors fought bravely, they were quickly divided and slaughtered by the absolute elite and killing efficiency!

The battle quickly subsided. In the clearing in the woods, corpses lay everywhere, the smell of blood so thick it was almost tangible. The Elite Guards silently cleaned up the battlefield, bandaging the wounded.

Ying Zheng leaped down from the carriage roof, his dark boots stepping on the blood-soaked muddy ground with a slight crunch. He walked to the Sophora Tree pierced by the giant arrow and indifferently glanced at the grey-clothed man nailed to the trunk, his eyes wide with terror in death.

An Elite Guard quickly stepped forward, retrieved a palm-sized bronze token from the grey-clothed man's embrace, and respectfully presented it to Ying Zheng.

The token was ancient, its edges slightly worn. One side was intricately carved with a Taotie Pattern, and the other side bore a clear ancient seal – "Lu"!

Ying Zheng gripped the cold token, his knuckles turning slightly white from the force. He slowly turned, his gaze like two swords quenched in ice, piercing through the carriage curtain and landing on Cheng Xi, who was huddled in the carriage's shadow.

The morning sun finally broke through the clouds, scattering light into the woods, but it couldn't dispel the heavy scent of blood or the churning killing intent in Ying Zheng's eyes, enough to freeze the soul.

He raised the blood-stained "Lu" token and said, his voice not loud, but like the grinding of ten thousand-year-old profound ice:

"Royal Brother, your life, it seems, is worth more than I thought..."