Capturing a Da Dou Shi Alive

"Any news of the young lady?"

In the Iron Cavalry Mercenary Group's main hall, Han Jue sat at the head of the room and looked down at the mercenaries, his face dark as he questioned them.

"Commander, n-not yet."

The mercenary under Han Jue's command answered with a tremor in his voice.

This man was Qin Yang, captain of the Iron Cavalry Mercenary Group's scouts and Han Jue's trusted subordinate. Han Jue had modeled the group's entire structure on military discipline.

Han Jue himself had retired from the army. With some backing from the imperial military, he had gradually built up his influence in Desert City and single-handedly established the Iron Cavalry Mercenary Group.

By a stroke of chance, he had even discovered a stalk of Swallowing Hundred Herbs deep in the Tagor Desert. He had brought it back, intending to use the herb to transform his innate talent.

Han Jue understood that with his talent alone, Da Dou Shi was the highest rank he could reach in his lifetime. But once the Swallowing Hundred Herbs matured, he could soar into the heavens once more.

Thus, he had kept the herb's existence a tightly guarded secret. He had even disposed of every mercenary who had accompanied him into the desert, all to prevent word from leaking out.

After he brought it back, only his daughter knew about the herb.

His daughter was exceptionally clever. Knowing that the Iron Cavalry Mercenary Group alone could not provide the resources needed to bring the Swallowing Hundred Herbs to maturity, she had set her sights on mercenaries from elsewhere.

Thanks to Han Qianqian's disguises, the Swallowing Hundred Herbs had grown ever closer to maturity. Yet at this critical moment, someone had actually abducted Han Qianqian from the Iron Cavalry Mercenary Group's own headquarters.

An ominous premonition stirred in Han Jue's heart.

"Useless! Every last one of you!"

Bang!

Han Jue slammed his palm onto the table and demanded furiously, "Someone snatched the young lady right out from under all your noses! What the hell are you good for?"

Qin Yang did not dare answer. The commander had already dealt with all the mercenaries who had stood guard the previous night, leaving the entire group under a suffocating pall.

Yet despite sending out so many men, they still had not found a single lead.

"Any movement from the Flame Mercenary Group?" Han Jue turned to question Qin Yang.

Qin Yang answered immediately.

"We investigated as soon as something happened to the young lady last night. Zhu Yan of the Flame Mercenary Group spent the entire night at the Spirit Martial Tower, and their other deputy commanders were all under our surveillance. None of them made a move. It looks like the Flame Mercenary Group wasn't behind what happened yesterday."

Hearing Qin Yang's answer, Han Jue narrowed his eyes and murmured, "If it wasn't the Flame Mercenary Group, who else could it have been?"

Qin Yang continued, "Although we failed to stop the person who abducted the young lady last night, judging by the strength he displayed, he was a Dou Shi at most. But he wielded a very strange white flame that inflicted heavy losses on our men."

"A Dou Shi? White flame?" Han Jue sank into thought at Qin Yang's words.

The flames ordinary Dou Shi conjured from their Dou Qi were yellow. Only certain Alchemists possessed flames of other colors. A white flame... could it be one of the heavenly flames?

Han Jue's heart jolted.

"That's it. If it was a heavenly flame, then the intruder was an Alchemist. Damn it, how did we offend an Alchemist?"

Han Jue's heart immediately sank to rock bottom.

The most frightening thing about Alchemists was not their strength, but their ability to rally others. Once an Alchemist called in his friends and allies, Han Jue's strength as a Da Dou Shi would be nowhere near enough.

While Han Jue was pondering this, hurried footsteps sounded outside. A mercenary entered and addressed him.

"Commander, someone just shot this into our entrance with an arrow. He said it gives the young lady's location."

Han Jue's head snapped up at the man's words, like an enraged lion. Then he concealed the murderous intent in his eyes and took the letter from the mercenary.

After glancing at the letter, Han Jue laughed in sheer fury. "Hahaha! Good. Very good! Let's see just who you are!"

Sure enough, the letter not only stated that the other party knew about the Swallowing Hundred Herbs, but also demanded that Han Jue bring it alone to make the exchange.

Han Jue had already made up his mind. Even if the other party was an Alchemist, he would never hand over the Swallowing Hundred Herbs. Moreover, the intruder had ventured into danger alone the previous night, which meant he was still on his own. As long as Han Jue killed him, he could deny everything even if the man's allies arrived. After all, Han Jue had backing of his own. No one would needlessly become his sworn enemy over a dead man.

After reading the letter, Han Jue ordered harshly.

"Recall all our men outside and prepare everyone for battle. Get my horse ready. Once you see my signal, come to reinforce me as quickly as possible!"

"Yes!" A flash of hot-blooded excitement crossed Qin Yang's eyes as he looked at Han Jue.

Before long, Han Jue was riding a swift horse toward a secluded spot outside Desert City.

On Desert City's ramparts, Xiao Fan watched Han Jue leave the city below, a slight smile curling his lips. Everything was proceeding according to plan.

Beneath the blazing sun, a tall chestnut horse galloped across the desert. Its rider was Han Jue, on his way to the location Xiao Fan had specified.

Along the way, Han Jue carefully surveyed his surroundings for ambushes. Although he possessed the strength of a Da Dou Shi, he was wary by nature, which was why he had ordered his mercenaries to prepare before setting out.

At the first sign of anything amiss, Han Jue would immediately send a signal for help. The Iron Cavalry Mercenary Group would then arrive swiftly, and with his strength as a Da Dou Shi, he could hold out until reinforcements came even if he was ambushed.

Clop!

The chestnut horse's hoof crushed a Sand Crab that had just emerged from the desert. Sand Crabs were low-ranked magical beasts of the Tagor Desert that usually hid beneath the sand to ambush passing prey.

Unfortunately, this Sand Crab had barely crawled out of the sand before its life ended forever.

Whoosh!

A sharp arrow shot toward Han Jue from behind a sandbank.

Han Jue remained completely composed. Staring toward the arrow's source, he said through gritted teeth, "You finally couldn't hold back."

He knew he would certainly encounter an ambush on the way to the exchange, so he had prepared for it.

Bracing his left hand against the horse's back, Han Jue kept his eyes fixed on the speeding arrow. Using his left hand for support, he spun atop the horse as Dou Qi Armor swiftly covered his entire body. His right hand, wrapped in Dou Qi, reached straight for the incoming arrow.

Then, using the momentum of his spin, Han Jue hurled the arrow in his hand back behind the sandbank.

An arrow thrown with a Da Dou Shi's full strength was no slower than one fired from a mechanical crossbow-and was even more terrifying. Its tip now carried Da Dou Shi-level Dou Qi, allowing it to pierce people's armor with ease.

"Missed?" Han Jue muttered.

The scream he had expected never followed the arrow's flight.

Just then, more arrows flew toward Han Jue from the surrounding sandbanks.

With Dou Qi Armor covering his entire body, Han Jue shouted, "You think these things alone are enough to catch me off guard?"

Han Jue effortlessly released his Dou Qi, wrapping it around his entire body and shredding the incoming rain of arrows.

The relentless arrow rain continued to fly toward Han Jue. He carefully examined his surroundings, yet still found no trace of the enemy.

He knew these were merely traps laid by his opponent. But if the man thought such tricks alone could injure or even kill him, Han Jue felt he was being rather naive.

After several volleys, Han Jue still had not spotted any sign of his enemy. Then he roared.

"Earth-Splitting Scroll!"

As Han Jue roared, his Dou Qi gathered around him, forming an earthen-yellow sphere, which he then pressed into the ground.

Waves of Dou Qi spread outward with Han Jue at their center.

Dozens of mechanical crossbows buried around Han Jue were instantly shaken out of the ground.

"Is that all you've got? Huh?"

Whoosh!

At that very opening, an arrow carrying wisps of white flame shot toward Han Jue's face from an extremely tricky angle.

Han Jue's pupils abruptly contracted. That arrow gave him the sensation that his scalp was about to be pierced.

With no time to react, he raised both hands in front of his forehead.

Clang!

The arrowhead struck Han Jue's wrist guard with a piercing sound.

Looking at the arrow in his hand, Han Jue could hardly imagine that it had come from a Dou Shi. Moreover, that cold white flame could actually ignore his Dou Qi Armor outright. No, it had not ignored it-it had instantly vaporized it. That was the most terrifying part.

Fierce murderous intent flashed in Han Jue's eyes. No wonder the man had dared to ambush him single-handedly.

If he had not come prepared, the man might truly have succeeded.

Looking at the youth standing in the distance, Han Jue's gaze turned vicious, and he charged straight at him.

Yet barely two steps later, Han Jue suddenly felt a wave of dizziness wash over him.

Then his vision went black, and he collapsed on the spot.

In the distance, Xiao Fan watched Han Jue fall and murmured.

"Tsk, this pill really works." Xiao Fan toyed with a purplish-black pill in his hand.

"But this Half-Day Tour is far too difficult to refine. It's clearly a third-grade pill, yet it requires fourth-tier medicinal ingredients. And the yield is extremely low."

The pill in Xiao Fan's hand was one he had refined using Yao Lao's stored knowledge, called Half-Day Tour. Although it was a third-tier pill, it consumed fourth-tier medicinal ingredients, making it extremely uneconomical. Furthermore, an ordinary third-grade Alchemist could not refine it. Only one on the verge of advancing to the fourth grade could do so.

Xiao Fan had only managed to refine it thanks to the Bone Spirit Cold Flame, and it was precisely his means of subduing Han Jue.

First, he had set traps along Han Jue's route to stoke his anger and wear down his patience. Then he had pretended to fire a lethal arrow. In truth, Xiao Fan had coated every arrow fired earlier with the aura of Half-Day Tour. He had also made preparations around his own position, but to his surprise, he had succeeded before things even reached that stage.

It could only be said that ordinary cultivators were far too unfamiliar with Alchemists' methods, leading to battles with such unequal knowledge. Against an Alchemist, none of these tricks would have worked.