Your Excellency, Spare My Life!

Zhang Kuangfeng snapped out of his shock, the ferocity of a warlord returning to his face.

"You've got some skill."

He spoke, his voice icy.

"I, the Great Leader, admit I underestimated you."

"But do you think these little tricks are enough to survive in front of my army of thousands?"

Zhang Kuangfeng abruptly raised his arm and pointed at Shen Che.

"All soldiers, heed my command!"

"Discard your sabers, switch to bows!"

"I'll shoot him until he's a hedgehog!"

As the order was given, the bandits in the rear reacted, uniformly unhooking their iron-core bows from their horses' sides.

These bows, their bodies gleaming with a cold metallic sheen, required immense arm strength to draw.

Thousands of bandits drew their bows and nocked arrows, all aimed at the lone figure a hundred meters away.

"Fire!"

Zhang Kuangfeng's hand slashed down heavily.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Sharp whistling sounds merged into one, and thousands of arrows soared into the sky, forming a vast dark cloud that obscured the rising morning sun.

The arrow rain descended upon Shen Che and the two others.

Shen Che pushed the True Qi within his body to its absolute limit.

Tiger Roar Golden Bell Shield!

A low hum resonated.

A massive, solidified-as-glass golden bell phantom materialized from Shen Che's body and rapidly expanded.

On the bell's surface, a lifelike golden tiger totem coiled, radiating majesty.

This bell completely enveloped the stunned Elder Bai and Bai Fengling, along with Shen Che himself.

The next second, the arrow rain struck.

Clang clang clang clang clang clang!

A dense sound, like a torrential downpour on a tin roof, erupted madly.

Thousands of arrows, capable of piercing iron armor, slammed into the golden bell but left not a single trace.

They merely burst into sparks before bouncing off harmlessly.

The bandits in the distance stared at the scene, dumbfounded.

What in the world was that?

Zhang Kuangfeng's pupils contracted to the size of pinpricks.

Before they could react.

Something even stranger happened.

The rebound property of the Tiger Roar Golden Bell Shield was fully activated.

The arrows that bounced off didn't fall powerlessly.

Instead, they returned along their original path, faster and more ferociously than they had come!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!

An even more terrifying whistling filled the air.

The bandits who had just loosed their arrows, their faces still etched with bewilderment, were met by the arrows of death they themselves had fired.

"Ah!"

"Pfft!"

"Help!"

Screams and the sounds of flesh being pierced echoed.

The bandit formation instantly fell into chaos.

Countless riders were shot by their own arrows or those of their comrades, falling from their horses with screams.

The warhorses, in pain, bucked and charged wildly, throwing more men to the ground.

One volley of arrows, and the enemy was unharmed.

On their side, however, casualties were heavy, with men and horses in disarray.

In close combat, charging forward resulted in a mist of blood.

In ranged combat, the arrows shot out would fly back and kill their own men.

How can we even fight this?

A feeling of fear spread wildly among the bandits.

They looked at the figure standing in the pool of blood, protected by a golden bell shield, and felt that it wasn't human, but an invincible god or demon.

"Those who retreat will be executed by a thousand cuts!"

Zhang Kuangfeng's roar drowned out all the screams.

He drew the long saber from his waist and beheaded a bandit next to him who was trying to retreat.

"Anyone else dares to take another step back, this will be their fate!"

"Charge for me! How much True Qi can one person have? We'll wear him out!"

Under the dual pressure of heavy rewards and cruel torture, the bandits' chaotic formation was barely stabilized.

But although they didn't retreat, no one dared to step forward.

Shen Che dispersed the Golden Bell Shield.

He no longer had to worry about Elder Bai and Bai Fengling's safety.

He looked at Zhang Kuangfeng, who was putting on a brave front, and a cold, sharp curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"A turtle hiding behind his subordinates."

"Do your rules still count now?"

As the words fell.

Shen Che moved.

To capture the leader first, capture the king.

The sandy ground beneath his feet suddenly collapsed into a deep pit.

He shot forward like a cannonball, leaving a straight black line as he charged directly at Zhang Kuangfeng, who was a hundred meters away.

Several bandits who were forced forward tried to block him along the way.

But the moment their bodies came into contact with Shen Che, it was as if they had collided with a prehistoric behemoth charging at full speed.

They were smashed into pieces, people and horses alike, turning into a sky full of minced meat.

A muffled sonic boom even echoed through the air.

Zhang Kuangfeng's face changed completely.

He knew he had to act.

This young man was not someone his subordinates could stop.

"Good!"

Zhang Kuangfeng roared, dismounted from his beast-like warhorse, and landed firmly on the sandy ground.

He gripped the hilt of the ancient long saber with both hands and drew it out forcefully.

Clang!

The blade left the scabbard. It was a wide, thick Horse-Slaying Saber, nearly five feet long and weighing a hundred pounds!

"Die for me!"

Zhang Kuangfeng held the saber with both hands, pouring all the Primordial Qi in his body into it without reservation.

A saber aura several feet long extended from the blade.

Horse-Slaying Saber Technique!

He swung it horizontally at Shen Che, who was charging towards him!

This saber strike was both fast and fierce. Before the blade even arrived, its sharp qi had already carved a deep gully in the ground.

This was his signature ultimate skill; countless masters had died by this saber.

Facing this mountain-splitting, rock-shattering saber strike.

Shen Che did not dodge or evade.

He extended his right hand.

Under Zhang Kuangfeng's horrified gaze, he grabbed the blade, enveloped by the green saber aura, with his bare hand.

Screeeech--

A grating sound of friction.

The ferocious and unparalleled Horse-Slaying Saber stopped abruptly half an inch from Shen Che's body.

The blade was firmly clamped by one hand.

Zhang Kuangfeng felt all the power of his Primordial Qi Realm vanish like a pebble into the sea, without causing even the slightest ripple.

He used all his strength to try and pull the saber back, or to push it forward another inch.

But the saber did not move at all.

He felt as if he wasn't holding a saber, but a mountain.

And the hand gripping the saber wasn't flesh and blood, but the iron pincers of an immortal from myths and legends.

"You... you..."

Zhang Kuangfeng was completely panicked. He looked at Shen Che's impossibly young face, and a terrifying thought surged into his mind.

This wasn't the Primordial Qi Realm!

To be able to crush him so easily, could this person be a legendary Innate Martial Artist who had returned to simplicity?

Cold sweat trickled down his temples.

"Your saber isn't very good."

Shen Che spoke coldly.

The five fingers gripping the blade suddenly exerted force.

Crack!

A crisp sound.

The Horse-Slaying Saber, forged from a hundred refined steels and which had accompanied Zhang Kuangfeng for over ten years, snapped in half.

Shen Che casually tossed aside the half-broken blade in his hand.

Zhang Kuangfeng, holding his broken saber, was stunned.

With his weapon destroyed, his fighting spirit was also completely shattered.

Fear drowned out all his ferocity and cruelty.

Thump.

The Great Leader of the Gale Bandit Group, the local emperor of the Forgotten Sand Sea, his legs went weak, and he knelt on the sandy ground.

"Your Excellency, spare my life! Esteemed senior, spare my life!"

He dropped the broken saber in his hand and faced Shen Che.