Liu Wuxie spent the entire night hunting Demon Beasts.
He slew ten peak first-tier Demon Beasts and twenty eighth-layer first-tier Demon Beasts. Second-tier Demon Beasts only appeared deeper in the mountains. Their beast cores turned into pure liquid, and the True Qi in his Dantian slowly increased.
A hint of fish-belly white appeared in the east. A new day was about to begin. He rose and headed toward the gorge.
Phoenix Roosting Gorge!
Mountains flanked both sides, their steep cliffs seemingly sliced by a blade, smooth as mirrors and impossible for ordinary people to climb. Nature's ghostly axe and divine craftsmanship were displayed to the fullest.
At the bottom of the gorge lay a stone road wide enough for five horses abreast, a route the Xu Household had to take whenever they transported goods.
In the distance!
The sound of wheels crushing loose stones drifted over as the Xu Household's convoy slowly approached.
This time, Deacon Qi of the Xu Household personally escorted the shipment. He was an expert at the seventh layer of the Xiantian Realm, ensuring that the goods reached Canglan City without mishap.
They had already lost several shipments of purple-gold ore. If this batch was lost too, the Xu Household's weapons workshop would close for good.
"Everyone, stay sharp. Once we pass through Phoenix Roosting Gorge, we'll be safe."
Deacon Qi barked the order. Yesterday, the Xu Household had sent him a message by carrier pigeon saying that an expert would come today to assist them and ensure their safety. Only then had he dared to pass through Phoenix Roosting Gorge without fear.
As for who it was, no one present knew, including Deacon Qi. The patriarch had not mentioned it.
Fifteen guards drew their sabers and took positions on either side of the convoy. This shipment consisted of ten carts of purple-gold ore, worth several million gold coins.
Nothing could go wrong!
Half an hour later, the convoy entered Phoenix Roosting Gorge. Deacon Qi ordered the procession to spread out. Being too close together could easily cause chaos, so each horse cart maintained a distance of roughly ten meters from the next.
If something unexpected happened, those in front and behind could support one another.
The gorge was over a thousand meters long and would take around ten minutes to cross.
They reached the halfway point without encountering an ambush. Deacon Qi and the other guards breathed sighs of relief. Perhaps the Xu Household's expert had arrived and cleared the obstacles along the road.
Just as everyone thought the danger had passed, countless arrows blotted out the sky, hurtling down from the distance like raindrops toward the Xu Household guards.
"Ambush! Prepare for battle!"
At the command, the Xu Household guards pulled shields from the horse carts and held them in front of themselves. The incoming rain of arrows was blocked, falling to the ground.
In a brief instant, a layer of arrows covered the ground. There were quite a few people ambushing them this time.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
More than fifty black-clad men surged out from both sides of Phoenix Roosting Gorge. Extremely powerful, they sealed off the road ahead and blocked the retreat, trapping the Xu Household's convoy in the middle of the gorge, unable to advance or withdraw.
"Listen up, Xu Household! Lay down your weapons, and we'll consider letting you live. Anyone who resists will be killed without mercy!"
A tall man in black stepped out of the crowd. His suffocating Spirit Cleansing presence enveloped the entire gorge. Deacon Qi's expression changed. No Spirit Cleansing Realm expert had appeared in the ambushes a few days ago.
"Deacon Qi, what should we do?"
The Xu Household guards panicked and gathered together. Deacon Qi was the strongest among them, and they wanted him to decide quickly whether they should surrender or resist to the death.
These guards drew salaries from the Xu Household. There was no need to fight to the bitter end. At worst, they could leave Canglan City and find another livelihood.
There were also many guards fiercely loyal to the Xu Household. The Xu Household had trained them, and their families were still in Canglan City. What would happen to their families if they surrendered? The guards could only turn their eyes toward Deacon Qi's face and await his orders.
"Prepare to break out!"
Taking a deep breath, Deacon Qi gave the order. The patriarch had sent him a message by carrier pigeon yesterday saying that an expert would come to help. That expert might be hiding nearby.
The fifteen guards automatically formed a circle, minimizing casualties as much as possible.
The horses grew restless, trying to break free of their ropes and flee.
The black-clad men held crossbows aimed at the Xu Household's fifteen guards. These black crossbows were tremendously lethal and generally used by the military. Rarely seen on the market, they could easily pierce the body of someone at the ninth layer of the Houtian Realm.
Even someone in the Xiantian Realm could be pierced by the black bolts if caught unprepared.
"Who exactly are you? How do you have military crossbows from the Great Yan Imperial Dynasty?"
Deacon Qi's face darkened. These people's identities were far from simple. Initially, he had suspected they were sent by the Tian Household and the Wan Household. Now, things did not seem so simple. Neither household could possibly purchase such crossbows. There was only one possibility: a third party was stirring up the waves.
"We originally intended to cripple you and leave you to your fate. Since you've recognized the black crossbows, we'll have to kill you to silence you."
A sharp killing intent flashed in the black-clad commander's eyes. He waved his hand, and the crossbows clicked as they were cocked.
The tension on the scene was ready to erupt at a touch!
A bone-chilling wind swept through from the other end of the gorge, dislodging loose stones from the cliff tops. They fell to the ground with faint clattering sounds.
Clap, clap, clap...
Many crooked trees grew on the cliffs, rooted in the cracks and struggling to survive.
At that moment, a series of claps drifted down from above the cliff. A youth in blue sat on the trunk of a crooked tree, watching everything below with perfect clarity.
The black-clad men tensed. Someone else was nearby, yet none of them had noticed.
The Xu Household guards looked toward the crooked tree. When they saw that youthful face, the corners of their eyes twitched, and bitter smiles appeared.
"Deacon Qi, you said earlier that the patriarch would send an expert to help us. Don't tell me you meant this trash?"
Although Liu Wuxie's standing in the Xu Household had improved considerably of late, he remained a piece of trash in the eyes of many guards.
Deacon Qi's face darkened with exasperation. He did not know how to answer. The patriarch's secret letter had not mentioned who would come. The moment he saw Liu Wuxie, his heart sank to the bottom of a valley.
A black-clad soldier approached the commander and whispered a few words. A strange look appeared in the commander's eyes.
"Boy, you're the Xu Household's live-in son-in-law?"
The black-clad commander's voice was icy. He made a gesture, and every black-clad soldier aimed his crossbow at Liu Wuxie alone.
"How interesting. The illustrious Stone-Breaking Army of the Great Yan Imperial Dynasty has come to intercept a batch of the Xu Household's purple-gold ore. You've truly opened my eyes."
Liu Wuxie folded his arms across his chest, an icy smile appearing at the corners of his mouth. The Great Yan Imperial Dynasty's Stone-Breaking Army was immensely formidable. They had always guarded the frontier and rarely appeared, so not many people knew of them.
As soon as he finished speaking, the fifty black-clad men erupted with an intense murderous presence. Only countless battles and killings on the battlefield could condense such a terrifying slaughter intent.
Upon hearing the name Stone-Breaking Army, every Xu Household guard went weak. Several fell flat on their backsides, their faces deathly pale with fright.
The Stone-Breaking Army was invincible, unstoppable. Their dozen or so men were not even enough to fill the gaps between its teeth.
"Very good. You have some discernment to recognize us as the Stone-Breaking Army. But do you know that the moment you exposed our identities, it meant every one of you had to die?"
No one could mobilize the Stone-Breaking Army. If word that they had interfered in Canglan City's affairs reached the imperial dynasty, everyone from the generals down to the soldiers would be punished.
The commander spoke each word distinctly. Fierce killing intent enveloped the entire gorge. Both exits were blocked. Everyone present today had to die.
"Tell me who sent you, and I might consider letting you live."
Unless absolutely necessary, Liu Wuxie did not want to offend the Stone-Breaking Army either. They were too powerful, the Great Yan Imperial Dynasty's elite army. If things truly reached that point, he could only tear away all pretense and kill them to silence them.
"Hahaha..."
The Stone-Breaking Army commander burst into wild laughter, while the Xu Household guards groaned inwardly.
"My dear young master, please stop making trouble and hurry up and find a way to escape."
Deacon Qi wanted to cry. He urged Liu Wuxie to find a way to escape quickly instead of getting in the way here. If Liu Wuxie were not here, at worst they could take the enemy down with them. But if he died and they escaped, how could they answer to the patriarch?
"Escape?" Liu Wuxie was utterly bewildered, though warmth still stirred within him at Deacon Qi's concern. "Why would I escape? I'm here to save you."
He suddenly stood, pressed his right hand against his saber's hilt, and swooped from the cliff toward the ground. It would take no more than two breaths.
"Kill him!"
At the Stone-Breaking Army commander's order, fifty crossbows aimed at Liu Wuxie alone. If he was hit, he would undoubtedly be turned into a sieve.
Without the slightest warning, they attacked. The Stone-Breaking Army was renowned for its decisiveness in killing, having swept through the surrounding great nations. Its reputation was not undeserved.
The bolts whistled through the air with piercing shrieks. In the blink of an eye, densely packed bolts surrounded Liu Wuxie, leaving him nowhere to dodge.
"You're seeking death yourselves, so I'll grant your wish!"
He abruptly swooped down like a great eagle spreading its wings, his body plunging rapidly as the speeding bolts reached him.
His short saber left its sheath. A strange red curtain of saber light enveloped the sky. The meteor-like bolts burst apart one after another, splitting in two and falling from the air.
No one could dodge such densely packed bolts. Deacon Qi had already covered his eyes, unable to bear watching Liu Wuxie being shot full of holes like a hornet's nest.
Crack!
Crack!
More and more bolts snapped. Two breaths passed in a blink. Before his feet touched the ground, his short saber struck a second time, and a suffocating presence swept through the entire gorge.
"Momentum Like a Rainbow!"
It became a single strike at the pinnacle, incorporating the core principles of the Blood Rainbow Saber Technique, surging outward like blood.
"This is bad!"
The black-clad commander realized something was wrong. This power rivaled the peak of the Xiantian Realm. How was that possible? According to the intelligence they had received, the Xu Household's live-in son-in-law had always been trash.
The Xu Household guards stared as though they had seen a ghost, their eyes wide. The young master they had always looked down on had unleashed such formidable power. It was simply inconceivable.
The guards who had once mocked Liu Wuxie, in particular, felt chills down their spines.
Deacon Qi seemed to understand why the patriarch's letter had not mentioned who it was. Even if it had named Liu Wuxie, probably no one would have believed it.
Giving them no time to think, the saber strike cleaved through the air and crushed down from above. Powerful waves of air swept across the ground, sending thumb-sized stones flying everywhere.
Blood spurted, painting the cliffs on both sides with crimson blossoms, strikingly beautiful.
In a single move!
Ten black-clad men were slain, becoming headless corpses that collapsed among the loose stones. Blood trickled along the stones and seeped underground, its thick stench unbearably pungent.
At that moment, the cold wind in Phoenix Roosting Gorge vanished, as though cooperating with that saber strike. The entire gorge fell silent.