He did not even spare a glance for what was behind him. He simply leaped from the city wall into the pass. This was a time when one saved oneself first and let others fend for themselves; he had no time to worry about anyone else. He had to escape with his own life first. It was just a pity that he probably would not get another chance at that Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng.
Zushan Pass was far inferior to Shanhaiguan Pass, but its inner area was still quite large. It was a pure fortress, though, with the inner city consisting almost entirely of military structures. Apart from the army, the only residents were people connected to it, such as soldiers' families. There were no ordinary civilians, so even if he jumped inside, he had nowhere to hide.
Still, no matter how bad it was, it was better than being in the barbican. That place was far too dangerous.
The moment he landed inside the city, he kicked an archer off the roof of a two-story stone building and was about to flee when an angry roar came from behind. He instinctively turned around and saw Golden Eagle Envoy Wang Zhen slap a Black Armored Guard away. But by then, a long wound had opened across his chest, blood pouring down and dyeing half his body red.
What made him roar in fury, however, was not the saber wound. It was the arrow that had pierced through his chest from behind—an arrow shot by the new commander guarding the pass in the distance.
After suffering a saber slash and then an arrow, especially one that had struck a vital point, and while surrounded on all sides, Lin Xiao knew that this renowned supreme expert of the martial world would not escape his calamity this time.
Compared to Lin Xiao, who was merely an unknown nobody whom the commander would not pay attention to, Golden Eagle Envoy Wang Zhen had been famous for decades. He was probably one of the commander's targets for certain death, and the man would absolutely not let him escape.
Wang Zhen realized this as well. With a bitter laugh, he said:
"I, Wang Zhen, never imagined that after roaming the martial world for decades, I would die here. What a joke."
He suddenly raised his head, his hair disheveled, and looked around. The others were in little better shape than he was. Apart from Purple Elephant Dharma King, who remained temporarily unharmed thanks to his profound cultivation, every other expert was injured. They would probably all meet their doom.
And in fact, once he died, Purple Elephant Dharma King would be the second person marked for death. Whether he could escape was hard to say.
Then he looked at Lin Xiao, who had already leaped out of the inner barbican walls, and a wry smile appeared on his face.
"That kid's luck is pretty good. I never thought I'd really end up benefiting him."
He reached into his robes, pulled out a brocade box, and shouted at Lin Xiao:
"Boy, catch!"
He suddenly hurled the brocade box.
Everyone saw the box fly through the air. The commander naturally knew that it contained the most precious of the tribute items, the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng. He was just about to order his men to intercept it when he saw Golden Eagle Envoy Wang Zhen roar and attempt to force his way out. If he sent his men after the box, this target marked for death might seize the opportunity to break through.
After weighing the two options, he chose to surround and kill Wang Zhen first. With a wave of his hand, a volley of crossbow bolts mixed into the rain of arrows, unleashing a sweeping barrage with no distinction between friend and foe.
This was the difference between an army and the martial world. It was also the main reason that, despite the martial world being packed with experts, it was utterly powerless before the imperial army. No matter how many experts you had, how could they compare with the army's numbers? Even if several hundred or a thousand soldiers fought to the death to take down one expert, they could still wipe out every martial artist above the first-rate level.
After that indiscriminate rain of arrows, several experts were caught off guard and struck. The worst among them were directly pierced through and killed by the powerful crossbows.
Of course, the Black Armored Guards and soldiers surrounding them also suffered heavy losses. But those who were not dead quickly withdrew, and a second wave of Black Armored Guards and soldiers surged forward.
On the other side, Lin Xiao caught the brocade box without the slightest obstruction. He quickly opened it, and a rich fragrance rushed into his nose. It was indeed the Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng.
With a snap, he shut the box and stuffed it into his robes. Then he glanced at Wang Zhen once before turning around and leaving without hesitation.
With a single leap, he landed on another rooftop five or six meters away, kicked away the seven or eight archers standing there, and used the recoil to leap up again. The moment he landed on the next rooftop, dozens of arrows shot from the surrounding roofs struck it.
Although no expert came after him, soldiers outside the barbican had surrounded it completely. He did not dare descend and could only leap from roof to roof.
After a few jumps, he reached the outside of the encirclement. The officer directing the forces nearby grew anxious, pointed at him, and shouted:
"Prepare the throwing spears!"
"Fire!"
In an instant, countless soldiers below put every ounce of strength into hurling the long spears in their hands. Several hundred spears shot toward him in a concentrated barrage, while Lin Xiao...
He did not even bother with them. After a few leaps, he had already gotten away. The several hundred spears ran out of momentum halfway through and fell, instead striking quite a few soldiers below.
They were only long spears thrown by ordinary soldiers. How high could they possibly fly? Even if they hit him, they probably would have exhausted all their force.
Zushan Pass was not very large. After a few leaps, Lin Xiao reached the tall section of city wall near the pass entrance. He pressed his fingers into a crack in the wall and used it to propel himself upward. After leaping back and forth several times, he reached the top of the wall and saw soldiers rushing toward him from both sides. He smiled and waved at them, then vaulted over the wall and leaped down, returning outside the pass once more.
That was right—he had not entered the pass to go to the Central Plains. Instead, he had jumped back out.
The inside of the pass was imperial territory, with the imperial court's eyes everywhere. Given the current situation, he had no doubt that there were more people waiting behind Zushan Pass.
Back outside the pass, that problem no longer existed. The imperial court's strength was greatly reduced here. He could simply find some uninhabited deep mountain or old forest and hide there. Even the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion would not be able to find him.
Although the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's intelligence network was formidable, it was not omniscient or omnipotent. Its information also came through various channels. If he hid alone in the deep mountains, at most they would know the direction in which he had fled. They absolutely would not know where he had gone specifically.
Once he refined this Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng, he would gain a large number of Potential Points as well as... perhaps some other good things.
He always felt that this Thousand-Year Snow Ginseng was extraordinary, unlike an ordinary thousand-year-old ginseng.
Then again, this was a low-martial small world whose power level was only at the second tier. A thousand-year-old ginseng was already extraordinary in itself.
The moment Lin Xiao leaped over the city wall and plunged into the forest, a deafening boom came from behind the wall. Then came a tremendous uproar. After gazing into the distance for a while, he unexpectedly saw five figures break through layer upon layer of interception and escape.
But just after they leaped out, countless arrows rained down from the city wall. Two of the five escapees were nailed dead to the ground on the spot. The other three were all struck by arrows, but they did not die immediately. They fled while bleeding all the way. Lin Xiao vaguely thought one of them looked familiar. It seemed to be Purple Elephant Dharma King.
Once the three had left, more than a dozen Black Armored Guards successively jumped down from the city wall. Immediately afterward, the city gates opened wide, and a cavalry unit streamed out in pursuit.
Lin Xiao hid behind a tree in the forest and watched the scene of pursuit and escape. He shook his head, feeling somewhat regretful.
Dozens of experts, including a supreme martial artist like Golden Eagle Envoy Wang Zhen, had been almost completely wiped out with ease when faced with the army's encirclement. Lin Xiao had only been lucky. He was not famous and had not received their special attention. By the time they realized his strength, he had already taken the opportunity to escape. If he had been even one step slower and a few Black Armored Guards had entangled him, fleeing would not have been so easy.
This was the limitation of a low-martial world. Moreover, even among low-martial worlds, this one could only be considered middle-tier. It could not even produce a third-tier martial artist. Against a prepared military encirclement, there was simply no power to fight back.
The public account: mokei000
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