Assassination Raid

All around was the clattering roar of rain, as though the heavenly river had overturned. Thick water mist spread several yards in every direction, and everything beyond thirty feet was blurred beyond recognition.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Something seemed to be beating!

The domineering, powerful heartbeat, brimming with explosive force, pierced through the curtain of rain and rang clearly in everyone's ears.

Eunuch Huang was slightly startled. He had just raised his head when—

A heaven-shaking roar suddenly exploded from deep within the rain!

Before everyone's eyes,

An immense mass of rainwater, mud, and shattered stone blasted into the sky ahead, forming a curtain several meters high that blotted out the heavens and covered the earth.

The ground shook without end. It turned out that someone had forcibly ripped a broad, heavy stone platform out from beneath the earth!

It was a dilapidated stone platform nearly twenty feet square and weighing at least a dozen tons. In an instant, it tore through the rising curtain of mud and water and was hurled toward the carriage, carrying a terrifying shadow that seemed capable of crushing all things!

A heavy shriek tore through the rain. That enormous shadow alone, blanketing the sky, was enough to fill one with despair.

If it struck, the entire carriage and everyone inside would be crushed into pulp in an instant.

"Form ranks!"

A shout suddenly rang out from among the black-armored guards.

The many black-armored guards showed no panic whatsoever. In a heartbeat, they formed a disciplined battle formation and swiftly removed the Armor-Piercing Guns from their backs.

"Fire!"

Boom!

Amid successive roars, scorching waves of air instantly swept in all directions.

Inside the carriage, Su Qingyang slightly turned his head.

Outside the carriage, billowing smoke rolled like a sandstorm that filled the sky. Blossoms of bewitching, searing flame bloomed one after another in the water mist, intertwining into a net of firepower that represented death.

Bang bang bang!!!

As the massive stone platform howled through the air, countless sparks immediately burst from its surface. Then, under the roar of the firearms, the huge platform gradually collapsed and exploded into broken rocks.

In an instant, from detection to reaction to opening fire, everything had flowed like clouds and running water, completed in one breath.

Su Qingyang's brow lifted slightly. It seemed Great Jin had long since forged a complete and mature tactical system for firearms.

At that moment!

The heavy, forceful heartbeat deep in the rain had not vanished. Instead, it drew ever closer, while savage killing intent piled layer upon layer, nearly forming an overwhelming tide!

"An expert in blood-and-qi body cultivation!"

Eunuch Huang spoke in a low voice, the aura around him taut as a drawn bow as he prepared to protect his master at any moment. "And there is more than one!"

The instant his words fell, the rain and mist in the street ahead suddenly churned and exploded!

A scarlet giant nearly three meters tall smashed through the pooled water and charged out brutally. His flesh was flushed red, and his veins twisted like coiling earthworms. It was Red Arhat.

His eyes were blood-red, his expression savage and terrifying. The raindrops falling upon him were dried instantly by the violently steaming blood and qi around his body before they could even hit the ground.

Behind the carriage, a graceful beauty in red stood silently atop the standing water, her bare feet light and leaving not a single ripple.

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

Three more men in blue, draped in straw rain capes, abruptly sprang out from behind the rooftops of the shops lining both sides of the long street. Accompanied by shrill gusts of wind, they pierced through the rain curtain and silently crouched atop the roofs.

"..."

"Red Arhat, Blood Matriarch!"

"Five people! And every one of them is an Innate Warrior."

A hoarse voice escaped Eunuch Huang's lips, and his aged face darkened uncertainly.

"This is the Imperial Capital of Great Jin. This servant advises you all to withdraw at once. Do not seek your own destruction!"

Eunuch Huang's roar pierced the dense rain curtain and echoed for thirty feet around. At the same time, a majestic aura surged skyward, rolling up the rain across the heavens and crashing fiercely toward the five people.

Yet the five people around them did not budge in the slightest. The powerful aura capable of overturning a carriage quietly dissipated before them.

"Hehe, then that truly is unfortunate. We came precisely to kill that dog emperor's son in this Imperial Capital."

One of the men in blue laughed wildly, while the other two said nothing and merely nodded faintly.

The red-clothed woman's eyes were enchantingly alluring. With a radiant smile, she cast flirtatious glances at the three men in blue.

"I never expected you gentlemen to be here for this head as well. Whoever kills the Sixth Prince, this humble woman will accompany him for a night of spring."

"Enough nonsense. This poor monk only wants to twist off this prince's head as quickly as possible."

Red Arhat gave a savage grin and strode through the air. Every step he took sent the water on the ground splashing in all directions and cracked the patterns in the earth.

Violent blood and qi erupted like a volcano. Red Arhat charged straight through the lingering smoke and water mist, barreling barehanded toward the black-armored battle formation!

He simply did not take the might of the firearms that had just erupted seriously.

"Keep firing! Do not let him get close!"

Another round of thunderous fire erupted, shells pouring down like a torrential downpour.

Boom!

Scorching blood and qi boiled up. A red glow lit across Red Arhat's body as he activated some body-tempering martial art. In an instant, he seemed to transform into a Tyrannosaurus Rex, his terrifying muscles nearly bursting through his flesh.

The roaring firearms struck Red Arhat's body,

Leaving only shallow dents before being shaken off by his surging blood and qi. They could not even tear a trace of blood from him.

Terrifying currents of air compressed and ground against the void. Red Arhat charged forward in great strides, carrying an air of bloodshed and frenzy as he grinned savagely and crashed toward the black-armored formation.

Inside the carriage, Su Qingyang slowly pushed open a side window and gazed indifferently at the approaching Red Arhat.

As expected, it was still too much of a strain!

Even if this so-called Red Arhat had used some opportunistic method to luckily achieve three breakthroughs in blood and qi, he was still an expert among Innate Warriors.

Although the Armor-Piercing Guns could blast apart boulders,

They were still lacking when facing such a body-tempering monster. Against ordinary Innate Warriors, so long as they hit their target, they should fare somewhat better.

"Hahahaha!! I'll just... crush you all to death!!"

Red Arhat burst into wild laughter. Like a Tyrannosaurus Rex pouncing upon prey, he stirred up howling winds and raging waves that flung aside layers of rain curtains. He was practically unstoppable.

Within the black-armored formation, cold light flashed in a pair of tiger eyes. His gaze was as sharp as a blade, carrying iron-blooded ferocity and baleful intent, his presence overwhelming.

A flood dragon was emblazoned upon the chest of his black battle armor. The sword hanging at his waist was entirely black, with a notch at its hilt resembling the open jaws of a flood dragon.

He had been the one directing the formation just now. He was a military marquis, stationed here to guard against unexpected incidents!

"Rebellious traitors, you know neither heaven nor earth, yet you truly dare charge the formation!"

"Today, I will sweep you all up in one net!"

The military marquis charged from the formation. The Flood Dragon Sword flashed with exposed cold light like a bolt of lightning, its speed reaching the utmost extreme.

Red Arhat's pupils contracted slightly. At a glance, he recognized it as a divine weapon capable of slicing through the protective force of body-tempering arts.

Martial artists like him who specialized in the flesh feared sharp treasures like this most of all.

His huge hand shot out, sweeping up a curtain of water that filled the sky. In an instant, the two became entangled in battle. Fist winds and sword cries intertwined, and the splashing water vaporized the moment it struck their force.

Seeing Red Arhat tied down, the woman in red no longer stood idly by.

Her beautiful eyes turned icy. Three illusory lotus flowers suddenly rose above her head and shoulders, each faintly tinged with blood!

A scarlet Dharma form ten feet tall emerged behind her. It had three faces and six arms, each of its six hands holding a short blade. It was as though a rakshasa demon had descended into the world.

Wielding six bloodthirsty, cruel short blades, the red-clothed rakshasa tapped the air with her toe and abruptly flew toward the carriage, sweeping her blades across with tremendous force!

Eunuch Huang said nothing. His fleshy palms turned black as iron, and the rain falling around him transformed into poisonous needles the instant it entered the shroud of his inner force.

Thousands upon thousands of poisonous needles shot forth like an arrowstorm, hurtling toward the scarlet rakshasa!