Heavenly Demon Disintegration, One Rider Breaks the Army!

At first, it was only a rumble that seemed to come from the edge of the world.

Yet before long, the unceasing thunderous roar surged from far to near, like monstrous waves reaching for the heavens, rushing toward Wang Ping with an indescribably terrifying momentum.

Rumble—!

The air shook, the ground trembled, and blazing blood qi turned the entirety of Longxing County into a furnace. Even the gusts that struck one's face carried scalding heat.

As far as the eye could see, there was only a sea of black.

The county yamen's hundred-plus constables had poured out in full force. Yet instead of their usual light attire and sabers, they had changed into a sight that made scalps go numb.

"Beast-faced armor, crescent blades... Good heavens..."

"How is this possible? There are clearly no rebel troops attacking the city, and no decree has arrived from the prefectural government... The county magistrate actually dared to open the [armory]? Is he trying to rebel?"

"They've gone mad! They've all gone mad!"

For a time, the respectable citizens and wealthy households within the city were so frightened that they shut their doors tight, casting wary, even fearful looks toward the scene.

To the martial artists of Great Shun, fist-and-kick techniques were not the foundation.

At the end of the day, weapons were the key to victory or defeat. Even an external arts martial artist, if wielding a [Divine Artifact], could still slaughter Inner Force martial artists like dogs.

That was precisely the case now. Among the county yamen's hundred-plus constables, one hand was enough to count those who had broken through all six gates and attained External Arts Perfection. Most had merely passed two or three gates. Yet once they donned full heavy armor and horse-cleaving greatswords, the situation became utterly different.

What was more, they could form a battle formation.

The county yamen constables already practiced the court's standardized martial arts. Equipped with the court's standardized weapons and then arranged into formation, the enhancement was simply the pinnacle of perfection.

No one understood that more deeply than Wang Ping.

Within the range of his Spirit Sense, what stood before him was not a formation of a hundred men at all, but a breathing, moving mountain!

Every constable's breath, heartbeat, and pulse had synchronized at this moment. The weapons in their hands resonated as well. In a daze, Wang Ping even saw an armored giant standing above the military formation, staring coldly at him just like the Golden-Winged Roc curled up within the county yamen.

"They have strength in numbers..."

Wang Ping narrowed his eyes slightly and instantly understood why Shouchong, after ambushing and severely wounding Xu Bingzheng that day, had not pressed the advantage and stormed into the county yamen.

Because the court's rule had never depended upon a single person.

The chief constable dead? The county magistrate gravely wounded? That would certainly shake the court's control over Longxing County, but only to that extent. The chaos would ultimately be temporary.

The court's true foundation was the hundred-plus county yamen constables supported by an entire county's grain and provisions. So long as they remained, Longxing County could not descend into disorder.

"A group of external arts martial artists, armed with the court's superior weapons and mounts, then bolstered by battle formation techniques, can actually display Divine Intent comparable to a Titled Martial Master. And this is with Chen Haoyan dead, without a chief constable to serve as the formation's core. Otherwise, its power should be even greater..."

Wang Ping slowly exhaled.

"Spirit Sense intimidation... it won't work. It might be effective one-on-one, but this sort of battle formation can no longer be shaken. I can only meet them head-on."

One man charging a formation, breaking an army?

"He's courting death!"

Watching the imminent clash converge at the center of the county town, an old man gave his judgment almost without hesitation.

"He cannot possibly survive."

"Even if he is a Titled Martial Master, facing such a military formation would make him no different from an ordinary Inner Force Martial Master. His Inner Force will soon run dry."

"If he can kill more than ten men, that will already prove his skill."

One had to know that in this flourishing age of Martial Dao, martial artists who truly possessed special privileges and could contend against armies alone were all granted the title of "Grandmaster."

In other words, unless one became a Martial Grandmaster, facing a true army of martial artists—even one merely at the county-town scale, the smallest establishment of a hundred men—would mean falling into a bitter battle. Once an army's numbers exceeded ten thousand, even Martial Grandmasters faced the danger of perishing!

"By order of the county magistrate!"

At the front of the battle formation, all the constables spoke as one, their voices booming like thunder. "Rebel Wang Ping, servant of the demonic cult, gathering crowds and forming associations to plot treason..."

"Execute him!"

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The perfectly synchronized roar even kicked up visible waves of displaced air. Almost simultaneously, the battle formation moved, and every constable charged at Wang Ping.

The instant they moved, it was like a mountain collapse.

More than a hundred greatblades rose high, their cold gleams forming a forest before they chopped down in a sweeping arc. In that instant, all Wang Ping could see were shining blade edges!

This was only the first wave. Though those swinging their blades had gathered the strength of the entire formation, there were only a dozen or so of them. Several dozen more waited behind. Even if Wang Ping erupted with all his power and blocked this round of chops, the next round would immediately take over, denying him the slightest chance to catch his breath.

This would continue for roughly ten rounds.

After ten rounds, the first group of attackers would have recovered their strength and join in again, creating an endless cycle.

"The first strike alone will decide life and death."

Every inch of his body stung with the warning of danger, yet Wang Ping grew increasingly calm. Even his breathing became deep, steady, and drawn-out.

"The longer I drag against this rotating-chop formation, the worse it is for me."

"They have many people and can rotate endlessly, so the power of their strikes will not weaken in the slightest. I stand alone; my stamina and Inner Force will eventually be exhausted."

"So if I want to break the formation, the only way is to unleash power beyond what it can endure on the very first strike, leaving their rotation impossible to sustain."

With that thought, Wang Ping raised one foot, then stomped heavily onto the ground.

In an instant, the earth shook and the mountains swayed!

Centered on Wang Ping, clumps of dirt burst and flew in every direction. As his foot rose and fell, the ground itself surged and rolled like raging waves!

The constables surrounding Wang Ping clearly had not expected the earth to suddenly quake. Their footing instantly faltered, and their formerly seamless formation swayed. The forest of blade light scattered at once. Though it quickly closed together again, it still revealed a fleeting flaw.

"Heavenly Demon Disintegration Art!"

Wang Ping strode forward. As the longsaber in his hand left its sheath, a layer of blood-red color had already spread across his brow. The cultivation foundation he had only recently completed explosively shattered apart!

Then, a flash of blade light.

Military art, [Yama's Death Writ]!

The demonic saber, its speed reaching the ultimate limit, completely surpassed what the eye could capture. The blade light took the form of an incomparably dazzling streak of fire.

Within the spreading blaze, earth-shattering saber cries rang without end, rolling clouds and mist into the shapes of ghostly soldiers and generals. It crashed brazenly into the exposed flaw in the county yamen formation, flowing as naturally as drifting clouds and running water, effortlessly cleaving apart the formerly mountain-thick formation!

The sight instantly robbed every onlooker of speech.

Because what lay before them did not resemble a martial artist charging a military formation at all. It looked more like two evenly matched armies meeting on a narrow road!

Heaven and earth fell still.

Only after a moment did the spectators realize that this silence was not ordinary. It was the great sound that seemed soundless—the saber cry had been so immense that it produced this strange phenomenon!

A moment later still, the sounds of bodies hitting the ground, screams, clashing metal... countless noises gradually emerged from that bizarre silence. The once-unified formation collapsed with a crash, and the military formation's Divine Intent, once as immovable as Mount Tai, disintegrated. Only one figure moved freely through it.

"No... unbelievable..."

The old man who had just declared Wang Ping was courting death nearly held his breath. He unconsciously clenched his fist and stared fixedly at that figure.

Just where had this man come from, to be so valiant?

"Could he be a Martial Grandmaster... No, impossible. If he truly were a Martial Grandmaster, a mere hundred-man formation could be suppressed with ease, without staining a single blade with blood."

"What a ferociously brave man!"

For a moment, many spectators revealed excited expressions. After all, which martial artist had never dreamed of facing a thousand alone, charging a formation and breaking an army?

But they soon calmed down.

Because Wang Ping within the formation was not uninjured.

Quite the opposite—each step he took left behind broad patches of blood, while one or two more saber wounds deep enough to expose bone appeared upon his body.

Battlefield slaughter differed from martial artists fighting one another.

In the latter, one could dodge and evade. In the former, there was not the slightest room to avoid anything. One could only endure it head-on, until one could endure no longer and died. It was that simple.

Splurt!

One constable endured Wang Ping's saber light, paying the price of half his heavy armor shattering and being sent flying while vomiting blood, but he carved a gash across Wang Ping's chest with his crescent blade.

Trading injury for injury.

That was the advantage of weapons. Beneath heavy armor, even a mere external arts martial artist dared trade wounds with him—and might not even die as a result.

Because Wang Ping had no opportunity to finish him off. Just as that constable flew backward vomiting blood, more men had already pounced like wolves and tigers. Relying on their sturdy armor and superior numbers, they steadily drained his Inner Force and stamina, while four old constables at External Arts Perfection watched from afar.

"They want to wait until my Inner Force is exhausted before coming out to clean up?"

He had to admit that the tactic was correct. He could use [Qi Suppression] to recover from injuries, but the depletion of Inner Force was real.

Wang Ping's gaze darted about. He could practically see the county yamen's eaves already, yet he was firmly blocked at the final street intersection, unable to advance any farther.

Even if he somehow broke through, he would have to face the joint assault of several old constables at External Arts Perfection. Not to mention Xu Bingzheng, the county magistrate, who was watching like a tiger eyeing its prey.

"Peril upon peril."

Wang Ping remained calm. In the end, he even took the initiative to stop using [Qi Suppression] to heal himself, because he discovered that these grievous wounds covering his body were precisely his chance to win.

That was right—not a chance to survive.

Since he had come, he had never intended to walk out alive. From the beginning, he had come seeking victory, and now he saw a sliver of hope for winning.

Because he was about to die.

At this point, the disparity in strength no longer mattered. What mattered was that he was about to die, while everyone else still had long lives ahead of them. Who would dare risk their life fighting him again?

Why had the several old constables at External Arts Perfection not acted? If they disregarded their own safety and charged at the front of the formation, he might have died long ago. But they had not. They would rather watch their colleagues suffer grave wounds and die than emerge from the rear before his Inner Force and stamina had been completely depleted.

"Heh."

Wang Ping sneered, looking down upon the entire field. The battle formation that he had torn through had already closed up again, surrounding and trapping him in ring after ring.

"The overall situation is settled!"

Inside the county yamen, Xu Bingzheng, who lay on his side in bed amid the pervasive scent of medicine, abruptly sat up. His gaze was icy, and a faint smile tugged at his lips.

"The courage of a common man ends here."

"I was still wondering how to capture you and bring you back. Who would have thought you would walk straight into the net yourself? You have saved me quite a bit of effort, and spared me the waste of time."

As he spoke, Xu Bingzheng's voice suddenly rose.

"Flay him alive!"

At the command, the military formation moved again. Yet unlike at the start, the formation that had once been thick and solid as a mountain was now far thinner—and far more hesitant.

First, Wang Ping's strength had vastly exceeded expectations. After using the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Art, his Inner Force had surged severalfold. Following his frenzied slaughter after breaking the formation, nearly thirty of the hundred-plus constables had already been removed from the fight, many of them severely wounded. Their wails still echoed beyond the formation.

That alone was an enormous deterrent.

Second, just as Wang Ping had expected, not a patch of flesh on his body remained uninjured. Blood poured from him in streams, and he clearly did not have long to live. Why bother risking their lives again?

They only needed to wait patiently. Once he died, they could safely collect their reward.

But even a rotten ship still had three pounds of nails. If they charged in now and fought, what if he dragged them down with him before dying? That would be a truly unjust death.

At the end of the day, I only earn that little salary each month. Why should I risk my life?

For a time, although Wang Ping had clearly fallen into a fatal situation, no one pressed the advantage. Instead, they surrounded without attacking, allowing him to successfully draw the crucial breath he needed.

The next moment, Wang Ping finally discarded his saber, removed the Black Chi Bow from his back, and held it in his hand. With his other hand, he drew out a long arrow and nocked it to the string.

"Huu..."

As he exhaled, the last remnants of Wang Ping's cultivation foundation within his body completely shattered, exchanging themselves for Inner Force at his peak—and even beyond his peak!

He bent the bow and nocked the arrow.

The Inner Force wrung out through the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Art now took on the color of blood, all of it pouring onto the arrowhead.

There was no need for further words. The final bottleneck of the [Cloud-Piercing Heaven-Shaking Bow], which he had studied intensively with Madam Su for many days, shattered at once. Wang Ping finally understood the true essence of this archery technique. As the saying went, once the arrow was on the string, it had to be loosed. What this technique pursued was the resolute state of mind of an arrow leaving the bowstring.

An arrow released from the string ought to never return!

[Cloud-Piercing Heaven-Shaking Bow], complete!

In an instant, heat surged through Wang Ping's arms as he bent the bow and nocked the arrow. The Inner Force on the arrowhead grew ever brighter, ever more resplendent.

Military art, [One Arrow Frost Chill].

Military art, [Heavenly Dipper Breaks the Formation].

Wang Ping calmly drew the bowstring back until even the Black Chi Bow itself gave a dragon's cry under unbearable strain. Only then did he aim from afar in the direction of the county yamen.

Throughout the entire process, not one person stepped forward to stop him.

Because everyone could see that this was his final strike. Whoever dared stand before that arrow would be a substitute for the dead.

Thus, as Wang Ping moved, the military formation trapping him at its center not only had no intention of blocking him, but even took the initiative to open a path. The sight left the surrounding spectators dumbfounded. Even Xu Bingzheng, who had been brimming with confidence, underwent a drastic change in expression and abruptly sat bolt upright!