Big Black Skin Appears! Body Tempering Ninth Level!

The sun slanted westward, and the curtain of night was drawn.

After the You hour, the sturdy men of the town gradually gathered outside Niushi Fort.

As usual, Niu Hanshan gave the order for the night patrol.

Though some people had died in the town these past few days, thanks to the Night Patrol Squad, the situation had not spread.

Everyone understood that without the Night Patrol Squad, Niushi Fort itself would still be safe, but the surrounding villages would likely be left with nine empty homes out of ten, blood flowing into rivers.

Yet after several consecutive clashes with those "Black Skin," the Night Patrol Squad had failed to gain the upper hand each time.

For the moment, everyone's morale was inevitably somewhat low.

Those Mountain Leopards were swift as ghosts, and their strength was astonishingly great.

Though these hot-blooded men feared no death for the sake of protecting their wives and children, the gap in strength still left them somewhat powerless.

Fortunately, tonight was ultimately different.

Standing atop the fort tower were not only Niu Hanshan, but also Lu Yang and his group.

The arrival of people from the County Yamen gave them a few more points of confidence.

From atop the fort tower, Niu Hanshan's gaze swept across the crowd.

"Proceed according to the plan!"

"Yes!"

The crowd answered in unison. Holding torches and carrying machetes, they followed the main street and began their patrol as usual.

Everything was normal during the first half of the night.

Until midnight, when the first group of the Night Patrol Squad gradually returned and began changing shifts, nothing still happened.

Another two hours passed, and the Yin hour was approaching.

Atop the fort tower, Niu Hanshan let out a breath of relief.

"In another half hour, it'll be daylight."

"Looks like those 'Black Skin' won't be coming tonight."

Lu Yang shook his head. "Even you've let your guard down. The brothers in the Night Patrol Squad probably aren't doing much better."

Niu Hanshan shuddered at his words, a chill shooting from the soles of his feet straight to his head.

Wang Fang beside him said gravely, "The brothers have been patrolling all night. They're probably already exhausted. With dawn so close at hand, it's inevitable that their vigilance has slackened. If I were those 'Black Skin,' now would be the best time to strike!"

Niu Hanshan immediately looked at the family servant beside him. "Quick, notify the Night Patrol Squad! Stay alert and do not let down your guard!"

Before Niu Hanshan's words had even faded, and before the servant could run more than a few steps, a wave of chaotic roars came from the distant village.

"Cunning fiends!" Niu Hanshan's expression darkened.

"If the Night Patrol Squad is wiped out over there, our plan will come to nothing."

"Captain Lu, what should we do now?"

Lu Yang's expression did not change. "Don't worry. I already instructed Zhao Hu and the others to go support them. With the three of them there, they should be able to hold things steady."

At this, Niu Hanshan's expression improved slightly.

The Night Patrol Squad was led by guards from the Niu Family. Each team had twenty or thirty martial artists; while their cultivation was not high, they had strength in numbers.

With Zhao Hu and the other two at Body Tempering Sixth Level added to the mix, they should not collapse anytime soon.

The only thing these people needed to do was lure those "Black Skin" beneath Niushi Fort.

Here, with Niushi Fort as their foundation, Lu Yang and the others would occupy an invincible position from the outset.

By then, even if there were more "Black Skin" than expected, they could retreat into Niushi Fort and use the dangerous terrain to resist.

And sure enough, events unfolded just as Lu Yang had anticipated.

The Night Patrol Squad formed into a tight cluster, their blades facing outward as they fought and retreated.

In the darkness, the glow of the torches soon returned to the vicinity of Niushi Fort.

A moment later, Zhao Hu's booming voice rang out from the crowd below.

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"Brother Yang, if you don't make a move soon, your brothers are done for!"

In the darkness, several Black Panthers darted continuously around the crowd at incredible speed.

From time to time, a claw would suddenly lash down from the darkness, passing straight through the Night Patrol Squad's long blades and leaving bone-deep wounds across their arms and chests.

Screams and cries of pain rang out without end.

Zhao Hu and the other two constables stood back-to-back, joining forces to fend off a Mountain Leopard, yet they were clearly struggling.

Elsewhere, Chen Fang, the Body Tempering Seventh Level head guard under Niu Hanshan, was joining several Niu Family servants at the fourth and fifth levels of Body Tempering to hold back another Mountain Leopard.

However, the third mountain leopard moved as though it had entered a land with no one to stop it.

Even the combined efforts of the other twenty-odd skilled fighters and household guards from the town could not hold it back.

In a single exchange, several men were struck by its claws and sent crashing to the ground, unable to rise.

"Wang Fang, go help Zhao Hu and the others. Leave the big cat on the left to me!"

"Yes!"

Wang Fang sprang forward and promptly joined the battle.

Four Body Tempering Sixth Level fighters joining forces against a Body Tempering Eighth Level Leopard Demon finally stabilized the situation.

Lu Yang was even faster than him. After a few bounds, he had already charged into the midst of the town's martial artists.

"All of you, scatter. I'll handle this big cat!"

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Lu Yang swung his long saber, clashing repeatedly with Black Skin's sharp claws. A shower of sparks burst through the night.

Back when he was only at the Body Tempering Seventh Level, he had relied on his perfected Mountain Splitting Saber Art to kill that Body Tempering Ninth Level Bat Demon.

Though the Bat Demon had been wounded at the time, it was still enough to prove Lu Yang's strength.

Now that he had reached the Body Tempering Eighth Level, dealing with Black Skin, likewise a first-rank eighth-level beast, was even more effortless.

After several exchanges, a bloody saber wound had appeared across Black Skin's back.

Seeing that it had suffered at Lu Yang's hands, Black Skin had learned its lesson.

It no longer fought him head-on. Instead, it let out a strange cry, pulled away, and relied on its speed to keep tangling with Lu Yang.

Just then, a sudden warning flared in Lu Yang's heart.

From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a black shadow suddenly shooting out from beneath Niushi Fort, from where the torchlight could not reach!

"Chen Fang, watch out!"

Lu Yang suddenly roared.

Chen Fang had been focusing all his strength on dealing with a Black Skin.

Relying on his Body Tempering Seventh Level cultivation, along with the assistance of five or six bodyguards at the Body Tempering Fourth and Fifth Levels, he could barely hold the line.

But he had been injured last night, after all. Even with the Baleful Intent Dispelling Powder Lu Yang had given him, his wounded arm was still not very nimble.

Thus, fending off the opponent before him already took everything he had. Chen Fang had no attention to spare for anything else.

Hearing Lu Yang's warning, Chen Fang instinctively turned his head toward his back, and his pupils abruptly contracted.

A black shadow had somehow already crept up behind him.

Demonic aura billowed heavily from the shadow, and it was a full size larger than the three big cats present.

"Body Tempering Ninth Level!"

Chen Fang's hands and feet turned icy cold, and he felt as though the blood throughout his body had chilled.

At such close range, with two big cats attacking from front and back, Chen Fang inwardly cried, My life is over!

At that moment, a crisp twang of a bowstring rang out from atop Niushi Fort.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three Iron Arrows tore through the air. Two sealed off Big Black Skin's movements, while the third flew straight at the face of the big cat before Chen Fang.

The mayor of Niushi Town was, to everyone's surprise, also a Body Tempering Eighth Level martial artist!

Though he was advanced in years and his vitality was no longer as abundant as it once had been, from the fort tower, drawing his bow and firing arrows still posed quite a threat.

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