Blood Battle (Part 1)

"Oh? He actually survived!" Li Ming frowned.

"Young Master, this man has mastered his ruler technique. Since the first wave of ambush failed, killing him with arrows won't be so easy now." Elder Cang's eyes held a hint of approval.

The technique "Nine Layers of Iron Ruler" was widely circulated, easy to learn but hard to master. Using dual rulers was even more difficult.

Shen Zhui had reportedly only studied it for three years before reaching mastery. Under the county office's crude teaching system, with no dedicated instructor, to achieve such a level—Elder Cang had to admit Shen Zhui was indeed a genius.

"No wonder Yang Wu kept telling me this man was a threat... But if he hasn't reached Xiantian, it's ultimately useless."

As he spoke, Li Ming noticed Shen Zhui charging through the rain of arrows toward the two archer squads. His interest piqued: "Uncle Cang, order the archers to stop shooting. Have A'Da and A'Er join forces to kill him."

"Yes, Young Master."

Shen Zhui closed in on the archers' position. The arrows ceased.

"Chi~"

Under the command of two Ninth Stage Houtian leaders, both squads of archers abandoned their bows and drew longswords in unison.

With a silent gesture, twenty men swiftly formed an encirclement, slowly closing in on Shen Zhui.

Seeing this, Shen Zhui's heart sank.

Besides the two Ninth Stage Houtian, among those archers were ten Sixth Stage Houtian, seven Seventh Stage Houtian, and three Eighth Stage of Acquired Realm!

The enemy's strength exceeded his imagination!

Their swords were drawn in perfect unison, armor complete, commands passed without a sound... These were no common bandits, but well-trained experts!

They didn't even bother to hide their faces, proving they had no fear of his official status—they never intended to let him live.

"Only the Li and Yang clans could afford to field such a squad and send two Ninth Stage Houtian right off the bat. I didn't think they'd actually find their chance—someone must have leaked my movements!"

Shen Zhui's heart turned cold. The tragic fate of his colleagues was still fresh in his mind; he'd always been cautious on duty.

Yet he'd still been marked!

"Sin Value assessment!" Shen Zhui thought silently.

A glint of light flashed in his eyes, and the world before him shifted subtly.

As he looked at the twenty-two men...

Above each head appeared a number formed from gray mist.

Among the twenty, every value was at least 5,000.

The two Ninth Stage Houtian bore two blood-red 9,000s!

This meant all of them were drenched in blood, and every one had reached the Execution Threshold.

This was the system's edge. The Execution Token Dao Plaque on Shen Zhui couldn't sense it, but with the system's granted ability, it was clear at a glance.

"Kill!" With no more hesitation, Shen Zhui roared and charged at one of the Ninth Stage Houtian.

"Formation!"

At the command, the twenty men closed in, arranged in an Eight-Character Formation.

The squad moved without breaking formation, the wide end of the eight-character shape facing Shen Zhui.

The battle formation was small and spread out, layers overlapping front and back. Each man on the sides struck only once—whether the blow landed or not, they withdrew immediately, never lingering, and reorganized.

At first, Shen Zhui only faced two slashes from left and right by Sixth Stage Houtian. But as he advanced, the number of incoming blades increased, each strike heavier and more forceful.

Then came Seventh Stage Houtian, Eighth Stage of Acquired Realm...

Until the narrow end of the Eight-Character Formation, where he had to face the full-force strikes of two Ninth Stage Houtian.

This eight-shaped Combined Attack Formation aimed to exhaust the enemy with relentless, escalating attacks. The further in, the fiercer the assault.

If Shen Zhui turned back to kill the Sixth Stage Houtian, he'd expose his back to the others' blades!

This seamless, grinding kill was perfect for outnumbering an opponent—originally conceived to counter Xiantian Martial Artists.

Of course, to hunt a Xiantian, this lineup fell short. It would need all members at Ninth Stage Houtian, with a Peak Houtian anchoring the tail.

And the team's coordination had to be flawless; any pause in the blade momentum would let the enemy pick them off one by one, rendering it useless.

Even a lion uses full force to hunt a rabbit. Using such a formation against a mere Eighth Stage of Acquired Realm like Shen Zhui showed the fighters' discipline and the mastermind's ruthlessness.

On the hillside, Li Ming watched Shen Zhui sink into the formation and smiled: "Uncle Cang, do you think he can survive one round?"

"Yang Wu said this man has a record of killing a Ninth Stage Houtian, and his blade technique is mastered. This old servant believes he can last one round."

Li Ming rubbed his thumb ring, surprised: "Uncle Cang thinks so highly of him? I thought you'd say he wouldn't last twenty strikes and would fall before A'Da and A'Er. Even a Peak Houtian from the clan, after one round of this formation, would be ground down to exhaustion by the third if they didn't burst their Essence of Vital Energy. And Shen Zhui is only Eighth Stage of Acquired Realm, having to watch his flanks and rear..."

"This man practices the 'Bloodburn' technique after all. His vital energy is thicker than an average martial artist's—he can't be compared to a common Eighth Stage of Acquired Realm. And if he fights for his life, bursting his Essence of Vital Energy, he can't be underestimated."

"Uncle Cang, he's just an Eighth Stage of Acquired Realm..."

Li Ming was about to retort when his eyes went wide, staring downhill.

"What?!"

Below the slope, Shen Zhui swung his iron ruler, crossing ten zhang in the blink of an eye to stand before the two Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artists.

Relying on his watertight Ruler Technique defense, he had weathered twenty slashes and even crippled three Seventh Stage Houtian fighters!

Everyone knew his Ruler Technique had reached Great Accomplishment Realm, but no one expected his movement technique to have also stepped into Great Accomplishment Realm just now!

With Great Accomplishment Realm movement, against an equal realm, he could dodge seventy-five out of a hundred slashes—how high was that evasion efficiency?

So his opponents were doomed to miscalculate!

"Die!" The iron ruler in his left hand parried a Ninth Stage Houtian attack from one side as Shen Zhui's body tilted at a bizarre angle to the ground, his right hand thrusting straight at another Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artist's lower abdomen.

"What?! He blocked it!" A'Da was utterly shocked. Seeing Shen Zhui's other ruler stab toward his brother, his eyes nearly split with rage!

"No! A'Er!"

In an instant, he tried to draw his blade to block Shen Zhui.

Too late!

"Pfft!"

The ruler tip pierced the abdomen. The other Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artist, A'Er, was run clean through, spewing a torrent of blood from his mouth.

The slash he had aimed at Shen Zhui, weakened by the injury, veered off course and landed limply on Shen Zhui's left chest, stopped by the Silver Scale Soft Armor.

"Captain!"

"Captain!"

The other fighters froze, never expecting that their seemingly unfathomably strong captain would be gravely wounded by Shen Zhui!

"Aaaah! You're dead!" A'Da went berserk. He and A'Er were blood brothers, deeply bonded. He never thought they'd fall to a mere Eighth Stage of Acquired Realm like Shen Zhui.

With his lower abdomen's dantian shattered, even if A'Er survived, he'd be a cripple.

"Shua shua~" In that instant, countless blade lights slashed toward Shen Zhui.

Chaos! The formation was in total chaos!

"Damn it! Idiots! What's the panic! Hold the formation!" On the slope, Li Ming was first stunned, then flew into a rage.

The key to the Combined Attack Formation was the final two Ninth Stage Houtian fighters. If one attempt failed, they could shift the formation, removing the injured from the lineup for support.

As long as the formation held, they could keep up the encirclement and restrict Shen Zhui's performance.

Repeated like that, even a Peak Houtian would be ground down!

But he forgot—fighters were human, not puppets. As long as they had feelings, especially blood brothers, how could they stay calm?

Besides, in normal encirclements, even against Ninth Stage Houtian fighters, they rarely faced enemies with both movement and Martial Skills at Great Accomplishment Realm. Let alone Shen Zhui, who had reached Great Accomplishment in both at once!

Caught off guard, with their leader gravely wounded, the two squads fell into disarray from panic or concern.

"Shua shua shua~" A'Da's long blade whipped up a storm of blade shadows, slashing at Shen Zhui to avenge his brother.

In the nick of time, Shen Zhui suddenly dropped the iron ruler from his left hand, grabbed A'Er's neck with that hand, twisted his waist, and spun hard, using the ruler still stuck in A'Er's body!

The long blade hung in the air, stopping a hair's breadth from the gravely wounded A'Er's face.

A'Er, already vomiting blood from his injuries, broke out in a cold sweat at the sight, his face flushing red as he spat out more blood.

A'Da, who had nearly chopped his own brother, yanked his blade back and reached out with one hand to grab Shen Zhui.

"Don't move! Come any closer, and he's dead for good!" Shen Zhui, holding A'Er hostage, instantly retreated several steps to create distance.

"Let him go!" A'Da roared, pointing his long blade at Shen Zhui, eyes bloodshot.

"You can swing that blade!" Shen Zhui kept backing away, his voice steady.

"Let him go!"

"Swing it, then."

"You can't escape!"

"Are you from the Li Family, or the Yang?"

"You'll die horribly!"

"Back off."

The grass withered, leaves scattered, and the setting sun's afterglow bathed the ravaged valley in a bloody red, as if suffocating the standoff. Blade light, crossbow bolts, iron rulers, and a dying hostage.

A'Da roared, radiating murderous intent, as over a dozen men formed a semicircular encirclement.

In contrast, Shen Zhui, a few zhang away, seemed outnumbered, but his hand clamped A'Er's throat as he calmly watched the crowd.

Threats rose and fell, the fighters' faces twisted, each seeming ready to devour him.

But Shen Zhui only kept retreating and questioning.

"Keep your distance! Don't come closer!"

"If my brother dies, you won't live either!"

"You don't come closer, and he won't die."

"You can't run!"

"Have all your men retreat a hundred zhang."

"You let him go first!"

"Fine, then kill all the horses and leave only one."

"That's impossible!"

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