"Protect His Majesty!" The armored soldiers used their shields for cover, raised their long blades, and charged forward with a united roar, swift as thunder.
"Kill!" Amid shrill commands, bowstrings trembled wildly and powerful arrows shrieked through the air. Shooting at such close range—especially in a melee—would normally kill their own men as well, but at this moment, no one could care about that.
So long as they could kill the enemy, even killing their own was imperative.
"Puff, puff!" Almost at the same instant, seven or eight long spears shot toward him.
Cao Yiyan charged ahead without regard for anything else. A dazzling, icy blade light flashed out in an instant, streaking across the space before him.
"Puff, puff!"
Where the blade light passed, spears, shields, and men all flew apart, blood blossoms spraying into the air.
"Protect His Majesty!"
Eight armored soldiers let out shrill, frenzied cries. Rather than retreating, they advanced to meet him head-on. The blade qi did not pause in the slightest. Amid a succession of metallic clangs, screams mingled with the faint rumble of wind and thunder. The soldiers were chopped into dozens of pieces, yet their hands still gripped the hilts of their blades as they crashed to the ground.
Blood and brains, red and white, splashed everywhere, but the dazzling, icy blade qi also faltered for a moment.
"Kill!"
A guard lunged forward, risking his life. With a series of puffs, the guard who had just thrown himself forward gave a muffled grunt as the blade pierced through his flank.
"Go to hell!"
A wounded guard suddenly sprang up from the pile of corpses and threw himself around the entire blade light. Blood sprayed, his body severed at the waist, but the blade light contracted, revealing Cao Yiyan, whose footing had yet