"Kek! Kek! Kek!"
"You know you're facing the Illusionary Mist Nine Bandits and still dare act so arrogantly? Kid, you've already chosen the path to death. 😾♛ ★😾"
On the other side of the official road, opposite the direction of the riverbank, ten figures riding magical beast horses emerged and quickly came into view.
Visibility in the mist was extremely low. If they wanted to ambush them with bows and arrows, they naturally could not have been far away.
In this world, anyone who dared go "Kek! Kek! Kek!" was the one who had chosen the path to death—the kind even Hun Tiandi could not save.
"Illusionary Mist Nine Bandits, you've all come together so neatly. Is there some reason you must always move as a group?" Zhang Yuan's sharp gaze swept across the ten men before finally settling on a man in black robes.
They really came.
Zhang Yuan reached behind his back and secretly gave Xiao Boyuan a hand signal.
Understanding at once, the latter discreetly injected Dou Qi into a stone on his chest.
"Kid, haven't you heard that the tallest tree catches the wind?"
A plain-looking middle-aged man with dark circles around his eyes and armor on his body spoke. He was Sen Ma Rong, leader of the Illusionary Mist Nine Bandits, a Nine-star Da Dou Shi.
At that moment, undisguised killing intent filled his eyes.
He had not expected Zhang Yuan to be so clever, to actually discover one of the Illusionary Mist Nine Bandits' greatest secrets.
He did not know whether Zhang Yuan had told anyone about this discovery, but no matter what, Zhang Yuan had to die here today.
The nine people beside Sen Ma Rong slowly spread out. At the same time, they summoned Dou Qi Gauze and Dou Qi Armor, forming an encirclement around Zhang Yuan's group.
Ten people surrounding more than twenty?
It seemed laughable, but considering the difference in strength, there was no problem at all.
Four Da Dou Shi and six Dou Masters—among the Black Armored Guard, that number of experts would have been comparable to the senior commanders under a Dou Ling Commandant.
Meanwhile, Zhang Yuan's side only had one Da Dou Shi: himself. The captain of the personal guards, Ye Ya, and the vice-captain, Xiao Boyuan, were Dou Masters, while the rest were only peak Dou Zhes. The gap was enormous.
"The tallest tree catches the wind? Never heard of it. I've only heard of people being stupid enough to die." Zhang Yuan smiled. "Like you. You walked right into my trap and still don't know it."
Hearing this, Sen Ma Rong frowned and instinctively looked at the black-robed man beside him.
Under normal circumstances, he would never have believed Zhang Yuan's nonsense and would have simply started killing.
But Zhang Yuan had first exposed the secret that all nine of them had to act together, and now he remained so calm. Sen Ma Rong could not help but think more deeply about it.
"Captain Sen, don't waste words on this brat. Delays breed complications." Sensing Sen Ma Rong's gaze, the black-robed man immediately urged him on. His voice was somewhat hoarse, clearly disguised.
"Jia Lie Bi!"
Before Sen Ma Rong could speak, Zhang Yuan suddenly shouted, "You colluded with the Illusionary Mist Nine Bandits to ambush me, yet you're still hiding your face. Are you afraid I'll escape?"
The black-robed man's body trembled. After a moment of silence, he raised a hand and removed his hood, revealing an incomparably gloomy face. It was Jia Lie Bi. He asked, "Zhang Yuan, how did you figure out it was me?"
"How did I figure it out?" Zhang Yuan sneered. "I didn't figure out it was you. I knew from the very beginning that you would seek out the Illusionary Mist Nine Bandits to ambush me, because I already knew that both your Jia Lie family and the Ao Ba family had dealings with them."
Jia Lie Bi's face turned increasingly livid at those words, and he nearly cursed aloud.
He knew nothing about the Ao Ba family, but neither he nor the Jia Lie family had ever colluded with the Illusionary Mist Bandits.
By chance, he had once reached an agreement with them to deliver daily supplies in the form of being robbed, treating it as toll money so the family's merchant caravans could pass safely.
Over time, he had indeed acquired a way to contact the Illusionary Mist Nine Bandits, but he had never used it.
This time, to have the Illusionary Mist Nine Bandits ambush Zhang Yuan, he and the Ao Ba family had both shown considerable sincerity. Worried there might be a trap, the bandits had even demanded that he personally take part.
And because he did not trust the Illusionary Mist Nine Bandits, and also wanted to confirm Zhang Yuan's location, he had arranged for his family to send over a Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill with something extra mixed into it.
Yet Zhang Yuan claimed he had long known that Jia Lie Bi was connected to the Illusionary Mist Nine Bandits. Could Zhang Yuan really foresee the future?
But the Illusionary Mist Nine Bandits were right beside him. He could not explain himself, nor was there any need to explain anything to a dead man.
"Wait."
As the head of a family, Jia Lie Bi was not stupid. Realization suddenly dawned on him. "You deliberately revealed your talent and strength in front of me, luring me and Ao Ba Pa into contacting the Illusionary Mist Nine Bandits to ambush you!"
"You're stupid, but at least not stupid beyond saving." Zhang Yuan nodded.
"That's not right!" A chill suddenly ran down Jia Lie Bi's back.
It was true that he had hired the Illusionary Mist Nine Bandits to kill someone now, but he had never colluded with them before. He had merely paid toll money in another form, and there was absolutely no evidence left behind.
So Zhang Yuan could not possibly have discovered his connection to the Illusionary Mist Nine Bandits. How could Zhang Yuan have used that as the basis to provoke him into hiring them?
Zhang Yuan could only have been gambling, or deliberately forcing him to do this.
Then what was the purpose behind Zhang Yuan going to all this trouble?
"Could it be, you—"
Jia Lie Bi's eyes widened as he suddenly thought of a possibility.
But before he could say anything, the only woman among the Illusionary Mist Nine Bandits suddenly changed expression and shouted to Sen Ma Rong, "Boss, a Da Dou Shi and a Dou Ling have appeared. They're heading this way."
Zhang Yuan's gaze immediately locked onto her, while one hand reached for the First-tier Dou Weapon longbow on his back.
"What?!" Sen Ma Rong's expression changed. He immediately shouted, "We really fell into a trap, and this brat has been deliberately stalling for time. Retreat at once!"
As he spoke, he clamped his legs around the magical beast horse's belly, preparing to flee immediately.
Zhang Yuan was quite surprised by that decisive reaction.
He had a Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill in his possession. A Nine-star Da Dou Shi could use it to attempt a breakthrough to Dou Ling; even if it failed, it would prevent his cultivation from declining, and his chances of success during the next attempt would improve. Yet Sen Ma Rong had no intention of taking a chance and fighting him.
Zhang Yuan noted that strange detail, but his hands did not stop moving.
"Jia Lie Bi, be a better person in your next life."
Zhang Yuan snapped his fingers at Jia Lie Bi while drawing an arrow from the quiver at his feet.
He drew the bow and nocked the arrow in one smooth motion, then began infusing it with lightning-attributed Dou Qi.
At that moment, Jia Lie Bi felt an overwhelming sense of impending disaster.
He had been feeling it often lately, but never as intensely as he did now.
His sixth sense told him to flee at once, but an abnormal disturbance came from within his dantian, causing him to lose control of his body.
A Dou Zhe could look inward. As a Da Dou Shi, Jia Lie Bi naturally had no difficulty doing so. With a thought, he inspected his dantian and discovered a cluster of silver-purple flames beside his Dou Crystal, though he had no idea when it had appeared.
The flames could devour his Dou Qi to grow, releasing lightning-like power that numbed his body. They wrapped around his Dou Crystal, constantly burning and stimulating it.
"Crack."
Cracks appeared on the surface of the Dou Crystal, and Dou Qi spilled out uncontrollably, becoming part of the silver-purple flames.
"Silver-purple flames... could it have been then!?"
"He really had been plotting this all along."
"It's over."
Jia Lie Bi realized what was about to happen, and his face turned ashen.
He looked at Zhang Yuan and tried to beg for mercy, his eyes filled with regret, but he could not open his mouth at all.
"Goodbye, then."
Zhang Yuan's lips moved.
Boom!
The Dou Crystal in Jia Lie Bi's dantian shattered completely. Under the amplification of the Three Dragon Thunder Gang Fire, its energy instantly spread outward, no different from the self-destruction of a Three-star Da Dou Shi.
Everything happened too quickly and too suddenly. One Da Dou Shi standing close to Jia Lie Bi was directly caught in the blast. His Dou Qi Armor shattered, and he was sent flying. After coughing up blood, he barely managed to steady himself.
The other two Dou Masters who had been relatively close were not so fortunate. Their Dou Qi Gauze shattered outright, and their mangled bodies were blasted far away.
The few Dou Masters farther away fared better, merely being thrown back by the shockwave.
Sen Ma Rong relied entirely on his strength to withstand it, but the magical beast beneath him was not so lucky.
The luckiest was the female Da Dou Shi. She had been far away and escaped quickly, suffering no injuries whatsoever.
But before she could feel relieved, an intense sense of unease rose within her.
Screech!
A bolt of silver-purple lightning erupted, illuminating the mist.
Before you continue