Breaking Through the Formation

Of those Lan Bloods from Clearwind City, Song Du was not the oldest, but he was the strongest.

If they truly wanted to break out, they should not head in Song Du's direction. Any other direction offered a better chance of survival.

With a thunderous crash, the earthen wall collapsed. Through the dust and smoke, Yang Yi charged out at the forefront.

"Follow me!" Qin Siniang did not hesitate, closely following behind Yang Yi while calling out to the others.

"My Dragon-Scaled Horse!" Shen Qian raised the longsword in his hand and charged as well. He and Song Du bore a blood feud as deep as the sea. Having lost the verbal exchange earlier, he had been holding in a bellyful of rage, long wishing he could raise his sword and chop off Song Du's dog head. Now, heedless of everything, he followed with reddened eyes.

No matter how bad things were now, they could not get much worse. If luck favored him, perhaps he might get the chance to perish together with Song Du.

Zhuang Laosan was momentarily at a loss...

This sudden change had never been part of the plan. He had only two choices now: either follow Yang Yi and the others to huddle together for warmth, or take advantage of the commotion caused by the three and break out alone in another direction.

A seasoned veteran of the martial world, he made his decision in a single thought.

"Reckless, far too reckless!" Zhuang Laosan was only a few steps behind, falling in behind Shen Qian.

In the end, he chose to act together with everyone. It was not out of loyalty, but a choice made after weighing the situation.

Of Clearwind City's eight Lan Bloods, only Song Du had shown himself. The other seven were hidden in the dark, and no one knew which direction they were lurking in.

Yet even divided evenly among the four directions, there would be two people stationed at each.

If he charged out alone in any direction, he might run into an enemy pincer attack. Then, whether he lived or died would be anyone's guess.

He might as well follow Yang Yi and the others. If Song Du had only one helper at his side, their chances of breaking through the encirclement were still great. The premise was that they had to be fast—if the other enemies arrived as reinforcements, it would be too late.

In an instant, the four members of the Qiao Household, regardless of their reasons, stood united as one!

"Hmph!" Song Du naturally could not miss the commotion here. With a wave of his hand, he barked, "Loose the arrows!"

The mass of archers beside him immediately drew their bows and nocked their arrows.

The next moment, the sound of arrows tearing through the air rang out.

This time, to encircle and eliminate Yang Yi and the others, Clearwind City's three great families had almost mobilized in full force. Not only had every Lan Blood been dispatched, but seven or eight-tenths of their clan forces had been deployed as well. Even though they were spread out in an encirclement, their numbers were overwhelming.

Though the archers at Song Du's side had not entered the Lan Blood, all had cultivated the Body Tempering Art. Each held a ten-stone heavy bow. The front ranks faced the enemy, the middle ranks stood ready, and the rear ranks fetched arrows.

Thus, once the arrows began flying, there was no sign of stopping. Worse still, the arrows had been coated in poison, making them incomparably vicious.

In the darkness, a patch of deep crimson suddenly blossomed. Like a barrier, it stretched across before Yang Yi, shielding the space ahead and above him.

Mountain Suppression!

The outward manifestation of Mountain Suppression was different from before in Clearwind City. Since every attack now came from the front, Yang Yi only needed to block the front; there was no need to protect his entire body.

This was another wondrous use of Mountain Suppression.

Sss, sss, sss...

Numerous arrows sank into the blood mist, unable to shake it. A few pierced several inches through the mist, but they still could not harm Yang Yi.

"This blood and qi..." Qin Siniang, less than a step behind Yang Yi, had wonder in her beautiful eyes. Back in Clearwind City, she had vaguely noticed that Yang Yi's blood and qi were extraordinarily condensed. Seeing it again now, it was indeed so.

Had she been the one charging at the front, she could barely have achieved this as well. But how great was the gap in age between her and Yang Yi? She had cultivated for many more years than he had. Judging only by the condensation of his blood and qi, Yang Yi's strength was not inferior to hers in the slightest.

That allowed Qin Siniang to relax somewhat.

After several waves of arrow rain, Yang Yi had already charged to within ten zhang of the archers' formation. The barrier before him had grown much thinner from the immense expenditure.

"He has some skill, at least." Song Du sat atop his horse, his expression calm. Although Yang Yi and the others had emerged unscathed from this round of attacks, he had never expected those methods to inflict any effective casualties.

The arrow rain was only meant to drain them.

The true killing move came next!

At that moment, every bowman suddenly tossed aside his heavy bow and instead picked up a powerful crossbow from beside his feet. They aimed at Yang Yi, and in the darkness, the bolts gleamed with a cold, ghostly light.

"Yang Yi, be careful!" Qin Siniang's expression changed drastically behind him.

Compared to bows, crossbows had shorter range, but far greater force.

During the earlier arrow-rain assault, Song Du's men had been rotating in three shifts. But now they all attacked at once. The pressure Yang Yi faced would not simply be tripled.

Qin Siniang knew that at such close range, she could not withstand such a barrage of crossbow bolts. And once Yang Yi, who was leading the charge, suffered, the three behind him would have no hope of escape either.

"Kill!" Song Du barked coldly.

The crossbow bolts fired in unison, carrying the chill of death.

"Ha!" Yet Yang Yi did not slow down, nor did he change direction. As he shouted, the blood-and-qi barrier before him, which had already dimmed, abruptly solidified. Even its color shifted from deep crimson to scarlet.

Whoosh...

The blood-and-qi barrier expanded violently, becoming several times its original size.

Shen Qian and Zhuang Laosan stared dumbstruck. They had never imagined Yang Yi still possessed such a shocking burst of power.

They quickly realized that until just now... Yang Yi had not used his full strength!

Qin Siniang was only a step behind Yang Yi, so she merely had to follow him without worrying. The two of them were different. They were some distance from Yang Yi, and the earlier arrow rain had also depleted their blood and qi.

Seeing Song Du's side unleash a volley of crossbow bolts, they had thought themselves doomed. Yet at the brink of despair, they found a path to survival.

Yang Yi's defensive technique could not only protect himself, but shield them as well.

Sss, sss, sss...

Countless crossbow bolts slammed into that scarlet barrier, sending ripples everywhere, yet they could not break through it.

Shen Qian and Zhuang Laosan did not feel even the slightest threat, much less Qin Siniang, who was closer to Yang Yi.

This brat... Zhuang Laosan's thoughts churned endlessly. He could not understand how Yang Yi, at such an age, could possess blood and qi so pure and abundant.

"My Dragon-Scaled Horse..." Shen Qian could not help losing focus as well. Based solely on the blood and qi Yang Yi had displayed, he was simply no match for him. Secretly, he felt fortunate that at Xiude Hall that day, this fellow had not fought him. Otherwise, he would likely have lost a great deal of face.

What he did not know was that if they had truly fought that day, Yang Yi would not have been his match. Yang Yi's current strength had all come from his recent cultivation.

"Ah..." Song Du was equally shocked. The arrangements he had thought foolproof had been violently broken by the enemy just like that? For a moment, he could hardly accept it.

Ten zhang passed in a few breaths. When Yang Yi charged in, wrapped in astonishing blood and qi, the people beside Song Du had no time to react.

Those standing in the front all revealed looks of horror.

Like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, once Yang Yi and the other three charged into the formation, the crossbowmen's methods became utterly useless.

And Yang Yi was not the only fierce tiger who had entered the flock. Compared to these martial world people who had not entered the Lan Blood, which one among Qin Siniang and the others was not high above them?

The three spread out to Yang Yi's left and right, using him as the arrowhead. Though there were only four of them, they were like an unstoppable torrent cutting into the Song family formation, leaving men and horses tumbling in disarray.