"Everyone, fall back! Form up and defend!"
As the second wave of black-clad assailants sprang into action in the dense woods on either side of the gorge and charged down the slopes,
the gray-clad man commanding the residence guards from atop the carriage also sensed the danger.
He frowned and immediately ordered the guards who had charged out to withdraw to the carriage and form a defensive formation again.
By then, more than half the bandits blocking the road had been killed.
When the residence guards retreated, the bandits had an opportunity to counterattack.
But they had already been scared out of their wits. How could they dare stand and fight?
Their burly leader was so terrified he looked like a chastened grandson, turning tail and running.
"Brothers, things are getting hot! Let's scram!"
The remaining black-clad men also fled in panic toward either end of the gorge.
The corpses and blood strewn across the ground were like the opening act before the real performance.
Before those black-clad figures had completely vanished from the gorge,
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...!
another group of black-clad assailants rushed out of the woods on both sides, weapons in hand, charging toward the carriage without missing a beat.
They, too, wore black clothes and masks, but they were swift and agile, like a pack of leopards descending from the mountains.
There were no blustering roars or cries of battle.
Only footsteps scraping over sand and stones, robes whipping up gusts, and blades slicing through the air, all interwoven...
They swept in with a surge of astonishing killing intent!
This was undoubtedly a well-trained force.
Even their individual strength was no lower than that of the residence guards.
When the two sides met, neither wasted a word.
Clang, clang...!
Blades clashed, striking straight for vital points. From the first exchange, it was a fight to the death.
In an instant, all around the carriage,
the clash of weapons, the sound of blades cutting flesh, and muffled grunts... rang out together.
As the two sides fought fiercely, the gray-clad man atop the carriage remained motionless.
Then, several breaths later,
Rattle...!
from the dense woods behind them to the left,
an iron claw attached to a chain and shining with a vivid blue glow shot out like lightning, aimed straight at the gray-clad man's back.
Whoosh!
The gray-clad man seemed to have eyes in the back of his head.
His wrist turned, and golden light flashed.
With a clang, the iron claw was swept away by the golden light.
At some point, the gray-clad man had drawn a longsword that gleamed faintly gold.
Yet the instant the iron claw was knocked back, its chain coiled like a python rolling over.
The claw traced a circle in midair and shot toward him again.
The gray-clad man remained still, his sword flashing in a flurry of strikes.
No matter what treacherous angle the claw attacked from, he knocked it aside with ease.
The force erupting from the clashing weapons sent sand and stones flying around the carriage, raising clouds of dust.
Both combatants clearly possessed extraordinary cultivation.
After knocking the claw away more than a dozen times, the gray-clad man narrowed his eyes and swept his sword around.
He wound the chain around his blade, then gave it a powerful yank.
"Get out here!"
"Ugh!"
A muffled grunt rang out.
A slender woman in black was dragged out of the woods and sent flying toward the carriage.
The gray-clad man followed through with a sword thrust aimed straight at her throat.
Her pupils contracted, and she abruptly drew the short saber at her waist to engage him.
But after only a few exchanges, his sword slashed her shoulder, and a kick struck her abdomen.
"Pfft...!"
The woman in black flew backward, spitting blood, then staggered to a halt.
"The Gu Lineage's Blood Tiger Guard certainly lives up to its reputation!"
"Who are you? How dare you intercept the Right Chancellor's Residence's convoy!" the gray-clad man demanded coldly, murderous intent spilling from him.
"Heh... ask that again if you make it out of here alive."
Before she finished speaking, three more black shadows swooped down from the woods on either side.
Like soaring hawks, all three leaped fifty or sixty feet high, charging toward the carriage with weapons gleaming with strange light.
The aura of each was every bit as powerful as that of the woman in black.
The four joined forces, but rather than attacking the gray-clad man, they lunged straight for the carriage.
A cold light flashed in the gray-clad man's eyes.
"Hmph! You won't hurt my young master!"
The next instant, he sprang up and flipped over in midair.
His sword pointed downward, sweeping like a furious storm.
Hiss...!
As his blade whirled, golden sword light surged out of it, forming Golden Sword Rays several feet long that intercepted the four black-clad assailants.
Boom, boom, boom!
Every powerful attack the four unleashed was blocked by the Sword Aura, producing thunderous explosions and splashes of light.
The Golden Sword Rays formed something like a golden bell, sheltering the carriage cabin within.
Brilliant!
Inside the carriage, Gu Chenfeng's eyes blazed with excitement. He nearly cheered aloud.
He possessed a spiritual perception that let him see in every direction, without a single blind spot.
Although he was inside the cabin, everything happening within thirty feet lay within his perception.
It was like watching an immersive holographic movie.
Gu Chenfeng witnessed it with his own eyes.
The gray-clad man fought four opponents alone, his longsword scattering an astonishing skyful of Sword Aura.
Source Qi leaving the body!
Only Source Sea Realm martial artists possessed that ability.
The four black-clad assailants besieging the carriage were clearly Source Sea Realm martial artists as well.
Yet their cultivation and fighting prowess were clearly far inferior to the gray-clad man's.
Even together, the four could not break through his defense.
If the gray-clad man's foremost duty had not been to protect him,
and he had taken the offensive instead, even all four together might not have been his match.
"Blood Tiger Guard!"
Gu Chenfeng murmured the name.
He thought that the Gu Lineage did seem to have some depth to its foundations.
However, the immediate danger had not passed.
Although the gray-clad man had blocked the attacks of four Source Sea Realm experts,
the ordinary residence guards were in a much more difficult position.
Gu Chenfeng had brought a full forty guards on this journey, already a sizable escort.
But the enemy outnumbered them by more than two to one.
Not only were they well prepared, but every one of them wore flexible armor beneath their black clothes.
Their individual strength and coordination in battle were no worse than those of the residence guards.
As a result, the residence guards were locked in a bitter struggle, with men falling wounded from time to time.
Yet the residence guards were utterly loyal.
Even at a disadvantage, their fighting spirit remained firm.
They held the enemy firmly at bay, protecting Gu Chenfeng's carriage.
Though the situation looked grim, they were, after all, close to the Imperial Capital.
A guard had already broken through successfully and gone to the Imperial Capital for help.
If they could hold out for a while, the enemy would surely be defeated once reinforcements arrived.
However, if the residence's men understood this, their enemies naturally did too.
Rumble!
Suddenly, Gu Chenfeng's carriage shook violently and sank several feet.
The hard earth beneath it abruptly softened, flowing as though it had become a river of sand.
It carried the carriage rapidly forward.
"Quicksand Formation!"
The Blood Tiger Guard fighting the four black-clad assailants above the carriage
was caught off guard and separated from it.
He touched his toes to the ground and shot upward, about to chase after the carriage.
But the four black-clad assailants joined forces to block him.
Golden Sword Rays clashed with their weapons, bursting into dazzling light as force spilled in every direction.
The four were driven steadily backward, suffering wounds and struggling to withstand him.
"The Blood Tiger Guard really is formidable!"
"This fellow even has metal-attribute Source Qi. Nothing is sharper."
Shock appeared on the faces of all four black-clad assailants.
Then, at the same time, each took out a crimson pill and swallowed it.
As the pills entered their stomachs, their auras abruptly surged and intensified, and even their eyes grew somewhat bloodshot.
Blood-Burning Pills!
The gray-clad man was inwardly startled.
The enemy's preparations were far too thorough.
Not only had they brought large numbers and set up a formation beforehand,
they had even prepared pills that temporarily increased strength at the cost of damaging one's own vital energy.
After taking the pills, all four grew considerably stronger.
Working together, they managed to keep the gray-clad man firmly tied down.
"Damn it!"
Unable to break free for the moment, the gray-clad man grew anxious.
He watched the quicksand created by the formation carry the carriage deeper into the gorge.
He hastily shouted, "Protect the young master!"
Seeing this, the residence guards charged toward the carriage without a thought for their own lives.
But they were already at an overwhelming disadvantage.
Simply maintaining their formation and holding the enemy outside had been difficult enough.
Now that the carriage was moving rapidly toward the enemy ranks, how could they possibly stop it?
In the end, the formation still carried the carriage beyond the enemy's encirclement.
The residence guards rushing to its rescue were firmly blocked by their enemies.
"Quick, seize Gu Chenfeng and take him to the agreed location!"
Delight flashed in the eyes of the woman in black besieging the gray-clad man, and she immediately gave the order.
The moment the carriage left the encirclement, several black-clad martial artists had already converged on it.
They were like hungry wolves catching the delicious scent of meat.
"Hahaha... we finally did it."
"Once we grab this pretty-boy young master, we'll have earned ourselves a great merit!"
"Enough chatter. Grab him first. The Gu Lineage's reinforcements will be here soon."
A five-star Meridian-Opening Realm martial artist in black decisively leaped onto the carriage platform.
He lifted a corner of the carriage covering and ducked inside.
But the black-clad man had only just poked his head in when
Bang!
a muffled impact erupted, and his body flew backward like a cannonball.
He slammed straight into a boulder dozens of feet away, his brains splattering as he died on the spot!
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