"Hmm? He actually survived!" Li Ming frowned.
"Young Master, this man's Ruler Technique has reached Great Accomplishment. Since the first ambush failed, it won't be easy to kill him with arrows." There was a trace of admiration in Elder Cang's eyes.
The technique known as Nine Layers of Iron Ruler was widely circulated, but easy to learn and difficult to master. Using two rulers made it even harder.
Shen Zhui had reportedly studied it for only three years, yet had already reached Great Accomplishment. In a crude instructional system like the county office's, without a dedicated teacher to guide him, being able to reach this level meant that Elder Cang had to admit Shen Zhui truly deserved to be called a genius.
"No wonder Yang Wu repeatedly told me this man was a threat... But without reaching Xiantian, he's useless in the end."
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Ming noticed that Shen Zhui was actually advancing through the rain of arrows toward the two teams of archers. His interest immediately stirred. "Uncle Cang, have the archers stop firing. Order A'Da and A'Er to combine their strength and kill this man."
"Yes, Young Master."
Shen Zhui approached the archers' position, and the arrows had stopped flying.
"Shing~"
Under the command of two Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artist leaders, the two teams of archers abandoned their bows and drew their long blades in perfect unison.
With a silent hand signal, the twenty men rapidly formed an encirclement and slowly surrounded Shen Zhui.
Seeing this, Shen Zhui's heart sank.
Apart from the two Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artists, there were actually ten Sixth Stage Houtian Martial Artists among the archers, seven Seventh Stage, and three Eighth Stage!
The enemy's strength was beyond his imagination!
Moreover, judging by the uniformity with which they drew their blades, their complete armor, and the silent transmission of orders as they moved... these clearly weren't ordinary bandits, but well-trained experts!
They did not even bother to conceal their faces. That proved they weren't afraid of his status as an official constable. They had not even intended to let him live!
"To support such a squad, and send two Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artists from the outset, only the great Li Family or Yang Family could manage it! I never expected them to actually seize an opportunity. Someone must have leaked my whereabouts!"
Shen Zhui's heart turned cold. The miserable state of his fellow officials was still fresh in his memory, and he had always been wary while handling cases and carrying out his duties.
Yet he had still been targeted!
"Sin Value assessment!" Shen Zhui silently said.
A glint appeared in his eyes, and the world before him underwent a subtle change.
When he looked toward those twenty-two men...
A number formed from gray mist appeared above every person's head.
Among the twenty men, every value was at least 5,000.
As for the two Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artists, they each bore a scarlet 9,000!
This represented the fact that every one of them had blood on their hands, and all had reached the Execution Threshold.
This was where the system surpassed all else. The Execution Token Dao Plaque on Shen Zhui could not sense it, but with the ability granted by the system, everything became clear at a glance.
"Kill!" At this point, Shen Zhui no longer hesitated in the slightest. With a furious shout, he charged toward one of the Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artists.
"Combined Formation!"
Upon hearing the order, the twenty men immediately surrounded him in a V formation.
The squad's formation remained orderly as they moved, with the wider end of the Eight-Character Formation facing Shen Zhui.
The battle formation was compact yet spread out, overlapping front and back. Each person on the left and right struck only once. Whether the blow landed or not, they withdrew immediately afterward without lingering in battle, then reorganized the formation.
At first, Shen Zhui only had to face two blows from the two Sixth Stage Houtian Martial Artists on his left and right. But as he advanced, the number of great blades striking at him increased, and each became heavier and more forceful.
After that came the Seventh Stage Houtian Martial Artists, then the Eighth Stage...
Until he reached the narrow end of the Eight-Character Formation, where he had to directly face the full-force strikes of two Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artists.
This Eight-Character Combined Attack Formation was designed to wear down an enemy's strength through continuous attacks, with the offensive growing stronger the farther it progressed.
If Shen Zhui lost focus and turned back to kill those Sixth Stage Houtian Martial Artists, he would be placing his back beneath the butcher's blades of the other enemies!
This seamless, interlocking slaughter formation was most suited to using numbers against a smaller force. It was originally devised by predecessors to deal with Xiantian Martial Artists.
Of course, this lineup was still insufficient for hunting Xiantian Martial Artists. At the very least, every member had to be a Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artist, and a Peak Houtian expert had to hold down the rear!
The squad's coordination also had to be flawless. Otherwise, if the Blade Momentum faltered and allowed the enemy to regain their focus and break through one by one, the formation would lose its meaning.
Even a lion used all its strength to fight a rabbit. It had to be said that using such a lineup to fight Shen Zhui, an Eighth Stage Houtian Martial Artist, showed both these men's combat quality and the ruthlessness of the mastermind behind them.
On the hillside, seeing Shen Zhui begin to sink into the Combined Attack Formation, Li Ming asked with a smile, "Uncle Cang, how many rounds do you think this man can withstand?"
"Yang Wu said that this man has a record of killing Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artists, and his Blade Technique has also reached Great Accomplishment. This old servant believes he should be able to withstand one round!"
Li Ming rubbed his thumb ring and said in surprise, "Uncle Cang actually thinks this highly of him? I thought you would say he couldn't withstand twenty blades and would be defeated once he reached A'Da and A'Er. Even a Peak Houtian member of the clan would be worn out by the third round after passing through one round of this Combined Attack Formation if he did not erupt with Essence of Vital Energy. Yet Shen Zhui is only an Eighth Stage Houtian Martial Artist. He has to split his attention between both sides while also guarding against attacks from behind..."
"This man cultivates the Bloodburn technique, after all. His vital energy is more abundant than that of ordinary martial artists, so he cannot be compared to an ordinary Eighth Stage Houtian Martial Artist. Moreover, once he fights desperately and erupts with Essence of Vital Energy, he still cannot be underestimated."
"Uncle Cang, he's only an Eighth Stage Houtian Martial Artist..."
Li Ming was just about to refute him when he suddenly widened his eyes and stared down the slope.
"What?!"
At the foot of the hillside, Shen Zhui swung his Iron Rulers. In the blink of an eye, he crossed thirty feet and arrived before the two Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artists.
Relying on his watertight Ruler Technique defense, he had forcibly endured twenty blades and had even severely wounded three of the Seventh Stage Houtian Martial Artists!
Everyone knew that his Ruler Technique had reached Great Accomplishment, but no one had expected that his movement technique had also entered the Great Accomplishment Realm just now!
With a movement technique at the Great Accomplishment Realm, one could evade seventy-five out of a hundred blows against an opponent of the same realm. What kind of evasion efficiency was that?
Thus, his opponents were doomed to miscalculate!
"Die!" Shen Zhui used the Iron Ruler in his left hand to block the attack from the Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artist on one side. His body formed a bizarre angle with the ground as he thrust the Iron Ruler in his right hand straight toward the abdomen of the other Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artist.
"What?! He blocked it!" A'Da was utterly horrified. When he saw Shen Zhui's other ruler stabbing toward his brother, his eyes instantly bulged with rage!
"No! A'Er!"
He tried to draw back his blade and block Shen Zhui in that instant.
Unfortunately, he was a step too late!
"Pfft!"
The ruler's tip pierced through the abdomen, and the other Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artist, A'Er, was stabbed straight through. A great mouthful of blood spilled from his lips.
The blade he had originally swung at Shen Zhui also veered off course because of his injury, landing weakly against Shen Zhui's left chest, where it was stopped by the Silver Scale Soft Armor.
"Captain!"
"Captain!"
The other martial artists froze as well. They had never expected their unfathomably powerful captain to be the one severely wounded by Shen Zhui!
"Argh! You deserve to die!" A'Da went mad. He and A'Er were blood brothers with an extremely deep bond. He had never imagined that A'Er would fall into the hands of an Eighth Stage Houtian Martial Artist like Shen Zhui.
With his lower abdomen dantian destroyed, even if A'Er survived, he would probably become crippled.
"Swish, swish~" In that instant, countless flashes of blades hacked toward Shen Zhui.
The formation was in chaos! The entire formation had collapsed!
"Damn it! Idiots! What are you panicking for?! Maintain the formation!" On the hillside, Li Ming was first shocked, then flew into a rage.
The key to the Combined Attack Formation was the two Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artists at the end. If one attempt failed, they could simply alter the formation and remove the wounded member from the squad's support.
As long as the formation did not collapse, they could continue their encirclement and restrict Shen Zhui's ability to fight.
Repeating this again and again could grind even a Peak Houtian martial artist to death!
But he had forgotten that martial artists were people, not puppets. As long as they were human, they had emotions—especially when they were blood brothers.
Moreover, during ordinary encirclements, even when facing Ninth Stage Houtian Martial Artists, they rarely encountered enemies who had mastered both movement techniques and Martial Skills. Shen Zhui, however, had reached Great Accomplishment in both at the same time!
Caught completely off guard, with their leader severely wounded, the two squads first lost their formation in panic—or concern.
"Swish, swish, swish~" A'Da's long blade carried layers of blade shadows as it hacked toward Shen Zhui, seeking revenge for his brother.
In the blink of an eye, Shen Zhui suddenly discarded the Iron Ruler in his left hand. He clamped one hand around A'Er's neck, twisted his waist, and, with the Iron Ruler still lodged in A'Er's body, spun violently!
The long blade hung in midair, landing a hair's breadth before the severely wounded A'Er's face.
Already badly wounded and vomiting blood, A'Er broke into cold sweat at the sight. His face flushed crimson, and he once again spat out a great mouthful of blood.
A'Da, who had nearly hacked down his brother, immediately withdrew his blade and reached out with one hand to seize Shen Zhui.
"Don't move! Come any closer, and he'll be completely out of chances!" Shen Zhui retreated several steps while holding A'Er hostage, widening the distance.
"Release him!" A'Da roared furiously, pointing his long blade at Shen Zhui with bloodshot eyes.
"You can strike." Shen Zhui kept retreating to maintain the distance, his voice steady.
"Release him!"
"Go ahead and strike."
"You won't escape!"
"Are you people from the Li Family or the Yang Family?"
"You'll die horribly!"
"Back away."
The grass and trees had withered yellow, and fallen leaves carpeted the ground. The afterglow of the setting sun illuminated the ravaged valley, staining it blood-red, as though reflecting the suffocating atmosphere of the standoff. Blade flashes, crossbow bolts, Iron Rulers, and a hostage on the brink of death from his wounds.
A'Da roared, his entire body radiating ferocity, while more than a dozen people around him formed an arc-shaped encirclement.
By comparison, Shen Zhui, several yards away, seemed utterly outnumbered and alone. Yet his palm was clamped around A'Er's throat, and he merely watched everyone coldly.
Threats rose and fell one after another. The surrounding martial artists wore savage expressions, each looking ready to devour someone alive.
But Shen Zhui only kept retreating and questioning them.
"Keep your distance. Don't come over!"
"If my brother dies, you won't live either!"
"If you don't come over, he won't die."
"You won't get away!"
"Have all your men retreat a hundred yards."
"You release him first!"
"Here's what we'll do. Kill all the horses and leave only one."
"That's impossible!"
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