Xiantian

"Enemy attack."

He immediately shouted a warning.

The other seven Inner Disciples had been resting in various spots. At the sound of Li Gan's warning, they all sprang into action.

Pfft, pfft, pfft.

More arrows whistled through the air.

"Ah!"

Someone grunted, then shouted furiously, "I've been hit! Damn it, the arrow's poisoned!"

Everyone's hearts tightened.

A midnight attack.

They were using crossbows, and had poisoned their arrows. The attackers were definitely no ordinary foes.

At that moment, only the courtyard was lit. Everything beyond it was swallowed by darkness.

No one knew how many enemies had come.

Li Gan had already drawn his Treasure Sword.

Before his eyes, one Shadow after another leaped down from the rooftops.

Suddenly, a figure charged straight at Li Gan, its blade tearing through the darkness in a savage flash.

Li Gan narrowed his eyes and instantly drew on the Chen Bell's power.

A bell rang, turning into a spiritual attack that struck his opponent and momentarily disrupted him.

However, the attack formed by the bell's toll was weak at such a great distance from the Chen Bell itself. It could only interfere with the enemy slightly.

Even so, it was enough to give Li Gan a small advantage.

He flicked up his Treasure Sword. Internal Qi erupted, and a blade of light flashed as he slashed across his opponent's throat.

The man clutched his throat. His saber fell to the ground, and he convulsed with a gurgling sound before collapsing.

At that moment, a streak of Sword Qi shot in from the side.

A layer of qi covered Li Gan's body. The Sword Qi seemed to strike a layer of cowhide; it failed to pierce through and instead glanced aside.

He followed through with a backhanded thrust, driving his sword into the man's chest.

In less than a breath, two enemies had fallen to Li Gan's sword.

The entire courtyard had become a battlefield.

"Quick, everyone, fall back to me!"

Ji Su shouted.

The others fought as they retreated toward her.

Ji Su was the strongest among them, making her the backbone of the group in a chaotic battle like this.

Once they had gathered and formed a defensive line, they were finally no longer fighting alone.

Almost everyone was wounded.

The most severely injured was Inner Disciple Wang Xiangyu. An arrow had struck his shoulder, and his face was deathly pale. He sat slumped against the wall, looking to be in bad shape.

Li Gan finally got a clear count of the enemies.

There were roughly seventeen or eighteen people in the courtyard.

Several more stood on the rooftops with repeating crossbows in hand.

Now they had stopped attacking and surrounded Li Gan and the others.

The commotion had long since woken everyone in the merchant caravan.

But not one of them dared to come out. They all hid inside the buildings.

Whoosh!

A figure leaped down from a rooftop.

He was a burly man dressed in black with his face covered, carrying a large, ghost-headed saber. The aura he gave off was terrifying.

"You should know we've been holding back. Stand aside now, and we'll take what we came for and leave. Everyone walks away happy."

The burly masked man's icy gaze swept over Li Gan and the others as he spoke in a low voice.

"Don't make me laugh. If we let you take it, what face would the Divine Sword Sect have left?"

Ji Su gave her longsword a flick and pointed it at the masked man, snorting coldly.

She had no idea what the Yongcheng Merchant Caravan was transporting that had drawn so many enemies.

These attackers were all formidable.

The masked man in particular made her feel intensely threatened.

That meant he was at least a Postnatal Realm Seventh Layer martial artist.

She had thought this Escort Mission would be relatively easy. She hadn't expected it to be so dangerous.

If they let the enemy take the goods, the Divine Sword Sect's reputation would surely suffer.

They would also face punishment from the sect when they returned.

"Heh. If you're determined to be fools, don't blame me for being ruthless. It's not as if people from the Divine Sword Sect can't be killed."

The burly masked man sneered and sprang into motion. His ghost-headed saber blazed with terrifying sword light as he swung it viciously at Ji Su, who stood at the front.

Ji Su let out a sharp cry. She flicked and lifted her longsword, sending out a flurry of sword shadows like a peacock spreading its tail.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Sword and saber clashed, and their Internal Qi surged violently.

Ji Su grunted as the longsword flew from her grasp. A terrifying blade of qi struck her hard.

Her Protective Qi Shield couldn't hold it back. It was torn apart in an instant.

Blood sprayed through the air.

Ji Su grunted and flew backward, crashing heavily into the wall before sliding down. She slammed into Wang Xiangyu, who was already terribly weak, knocking him unconscious.

"Postnatal Realm Ninth Layer."

Blood poured from Ji Su's mouth as she stared at the burly masked man. She tried to get up, but she had no strength left.

A horrifying saber wound gaped across her chest. Blood welled up, staining her white clothes red.

If her Protective Qi Shield hadn't weakened the blade's force, Ji Su would have been disemboweled.

Even so, she had suffered a severe injury and lost the ability to fight.

The other Inner Disciples were stunned.

Senior Sister Ji hadn't even managed to withstand one blow before being gravely wounded.

"Senior Sister Ji is the Personal Disciple of Green-Robed Elder of Yuping Peak in the Divine Sword Sect! You dared to hurt her. Green-Robed Elder won't let you get away with this!"

One of the Inner Disciples shouted, his voice sharp with fury.

Among them, Ji Su had the highest Cultivation Base and the highest status.

Though she was only the Personal Disciple of an Ordinary Elder, she still ranked far above an ordinary Inner Disciple.

She had an Elder backing her.

"Hmph. I gave her a chance, but she didn't take it. Then you'll all die!"

The burly masked man sneered.

He had always loathed disciples from prestigious sects. They were arrogant and full of themselves, as if the jianghu were a playground.

"Attack! Kill them all!"

He waved his hand, and his men surged forward.

Those on the rooftops also seized the chance to fire their crossbows.

In an instant, the group was driven to the brink of death.

Li Gan swung his Treasure Sword again and again, batting away the incoming bolts, but he also had to fend off the fierce enemies closing in on him.

He could only circulate his Internal Qi and use the Sacrificial Tool, the Chen Bell, to form a protective shield against the arrows.

But his Internal Qi was draining too quickly.

Suddenly, Li Gan felt a chill run down his spine. His heart tightened, and he glanced aside. The burly masked man with the ghost-headed saber was staring at him.

Clearly, his performance had drawn the man's attention.

Compared with the other Inner Disciples, Li Gan was faring much better. He had not only blocked every attack, but could also counterattack and wound his enemies.

"Heh. I didn't expect the Divine Sword Sect to send two elite disciples."

The burly masked man sneered and prepared to take action himself.

Just then, a cold snort came from the darkness outside. "How dare you injure disciples of the Divine Sword Sect!"

A figure swept out of the night like a nightingale, sword lights blossoming around him like brilliant fireworks filling the sky.

When the Sword Qi struck the men in black, it punched through them, leaving bloodied holes in their bodies.

In the blink of an eye, all the men in black who had been surrounding Li Gan and the other Inner Disciples lay dead.

"Xiantian."

Even the strongest of them, the burly masked man, couldn't withstand a single streak of Sword Qi. It pierced straight through the top of his head, and blood gushed out in a grisly spray.

His eyes bulged as he managed to force out two barely intelligible words.