"Hmph! I knew you'd resort to such petty tricks."
In the Blood Baleful Intent Hall's largest training ground, Zhao Fengxue sat atop a high platform, looking down at the more than two thousand assassins below, his face somewhat sinister.
Standing behind him, Zhao Dachui's face was also quite grim, with a hint of worry deep in his eyes.
The more than 2,300 assassins present were a joint effort by the three major gangs. They even specially transferred assassins of various ranks from their strongholds near the capital, which resulted in such a large number.
Even Zhao Dachui, Super-First-Rate expert, would find such a lineup difficult to deal with; if he were to be surrounded, he would have no chance of survival.
Although Wang Hao is powerful and a master of external martial arts who excels in group battles, and his sword technique is the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle, which is best suited for dealing with group battles, it is still too risky for him to face such a lineup.
"Hehe... Master Zhao, the previous bet didn't forbid us from joining forces!"
Ye Qingqian, the leader of the Blood Baleful Intent Hall, chuckled lightly, but his smile concealed a ruthless and smug expression.
He was one of the three hall masters who gambled with Zhao Fengxue that day, and he was the one who first proposed the alliance of the three halls today. He even provided the venue.
The other two hall masters also smiled sinisterly, fully confident about today's battle.
Today, they are not just united in numbers; they have also put in a lot of effort in other areas.
Sitting in the main seat, Lu Weilou, the leader of the Blood Robe Tower, looked helpless. He hadn't expected those three guys to be so Shameless, but since they hadn't broken any rules, he couldn't say anything.
"I hope you'll still be happy in a little while!"
With a cold snort, Zhao Fengxue also had great confidence in Wang Hao, and for now, he could only maintain that confidence.
"Crunch, crunch..."
Just then, a piercing, creaking sound came from outside the training ground, followed by the pushing of a huge cart. The person pushing the cart was none other than Wang Hao.
As the cart was pushed in, a strong smell of oil quickly spread.
Tung oil?
The powerful figures on the platform looked at Wang Hao with confusion, not understanding what he meant.
The assassins in the training ground below were equally puzzled.
The battle is about to begin, what are you doing bringing over such a large vat of tung oil?
But what happened next filled them with horror, and their faces turned pale.
Wang Hao walked to the side and pushed hard, causing the tung oil, weighing over ten thousand pounds, to spill out and soon flow across most of the training ground.
"Fire attack!"
"You're not a human being! You're truly not a human being!"
The Blood Baleful Intent Hall and the other two hall masters were furious when they saw this. They never expected Wang Hao to act so unpredictably, bringing over a large vat of tung oil.
If this gets set ablaze and turns into a sea of fire, how can you even crack an egg?!
Wang Hao, however, was a master of external martial arts, and it seemed that he had cultivated the Golden Bell Shield to its peak, which was enough to withstand the Complete Integration heat of the Lie Yan for a short time, thus giving him a great advantage.
"Hehe... you three, the bet didn't forbid us from using fire!"
Zhao Fengxue laughed, chuckling with obvious delight, which made the three hall masters' faces darken once again.
The familiar tone and words made them very uncomfortable, because that was exactly what they had said before, but now Zhao Fengxue had retorted.
Even if I wanted to refute it, I had no excuse!
"Clang!"
"Who dares to fight me!"
Wang Hao drew his greatsword from his back and slashed it heavily across the ground. A trail of sparks flashed, and the tung oil spilled on the ground was immediately ignited, quickly spreading to the surrounding area.
Standing amidst the sea of fire, Wang Hao brandished his sword and roared fiercely, his fighting spirit soaring.
He wore several layers of clothing today, all of which were soaked in water beforehand. He also wore an outer garment made of Heavenly Silkworm Silk from the Blood Wind Hall's treasury.
In this state, he could easily fight for half Tokiomi within the Lie Yan.
However, this was not the main reason he used this tactic. Its greatest use was to force the opponent to change locations, as only by changing locations could he disable the opponent's previous setup.
After all, he came to challenge the formation, and according to the rules of the Blood Robe Tower, once the challenge begins, the side that set up the formation must choose the home ground. Therefore, he had no choice but to resort to this tactic.
Sure enough, as the fire spread, the assassins in the training ground showed expressions of terror and jumped to the very edge to avoid the raging flames.
"Kid, you're pretty good!"
Ye Qingqian's eyes flashed with rage as he roared, "Everyone, listen to my command! Move the formation to the woods to the east of the training ground!"
To the east of this training ground is a grove of trees used for special assassination training, which can also be used for battle formations. Moreover, the killing formations of their three major halls are also suitable for this complex environment, and their combat power will not be weakened much.
Unfortunately, many of the arrangements previously made in the training ground were no longer usable, rendering nearly half of their backup plans useless.
Even if only half of my abilities remain, I can still destroy that kid.
That brat is absolutely doomed to die today!
The assassins, who had been driven to the edge of the area by the fire, were overjoyed upon hearing this and quickly used their lightness skills to leap over the walls and head towards the woods to the east.
"Ugh... it's so hot!"
Seeing that Ye Qingqian finally ordered a change of battlefield, Wang Hao breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly jumped out of the sea of fire to strip off his clothes.
Even with the help of the fire- and water-resistant Heavenly Silkworm Silk, it was impossible to completely avoid the scorching heat; once the clothes were taken off, the inner garments were steaming hot.
Although after mastering the External Training Golden Bell Shield technique to Complete Integration peak, this heat could no longer cause him any real harm, it would still make him feel very uncomfortable.
Fortunately, Ye Qingqian was decisive enough to immediately change the location of the formation.
Watch out for what's above you!
Just as Wang Hao had taken off his clothes, a voice suddenly entered his ears. With a thought, Wang Hao met Zhao Fengxue's eyes, who was enjoying tea on the high platform.
It was clear that his own sect leader had secretly reminded him using a secret technique of Sound Transmission into the Ear.
Nodding thoughtfully, Wang Hao didn't say much. He then climbed over the wall and arrived at the woods to the east, where the more than two thousand assassins, each with a yellow letter in their name, had already disappeared into the woods.
But strangely, the entire dark forest was eerily quiet; not a single person could be seen.
"Are you hiding in the treetop?"
Looking at the dark, dense canopy of trees, Wang Hao suddenly realized, but...
"You think you can stump me like this? I'll see where you can hide after I cut down all the trees!"
With a cold laugh, Wang Hao wielded his greatsword and began to run wildly along the edge of the forest, unleashing a series of Sweep Away a Thousand Troops attacks that cut down all the trees in front of him.
The greatsword itself was forged from Thousand-Forged Refined Steel, making it incomparably sharp. Combined with Wang Hao's explosive power of 3,600 jin at this moment, even a tree as thick as a person's embrace could not withstand it and would be cut in half with a single blow.
In just a short time, hundreds of huge trees were cut down. If this trend continues, the entire forest could be cleared out in no more than an Tokiomi.
After all, this is the capital city where every inch of land is precious. Even though the headquarters of the Blood Robe Tower is backed by the Eastern Depot, its area is limited. Although this grove of trees is not small, it is only about 100 feet in diameter. It can be dealt with in a little time.
Anyway, this is Smiling Proud Wanderer World, and the imperial court hasn't set any laws against indiscriminate logging; you can just cut down trees as you please.
Lu Weilou and the others, who also emerged from the training ground, were all stunned by Wang Hao's method of breaking the spell, and then they sneered.
Ye Qingqian sneered mockingly, "Trying to break the formation with this method? You're underestimating the strength of our three major halls' killing formations!"
Sure enough, as soon as Ye Qingqian finished speaking, the assassins hidden in the outer tree canopy jumped down and launched an attack on Wang Hao from above.
At the same time, several figures hidden in the surrounding low bushes also launched an attack, targeting Wang Hao's lower body with ruthless moves.
The assassins from the three major gangs had long been cooperating, and last night they even joined forces for special training, developing considerable tacit understanding and maximizing their combat effectiveness.
Dozens of weapons attacked Wang Hao in an instant, striking him from all directions from bottom to top.
Faced with this deadly attack, Wang Hao showed no fear. He slammed the pair of Red Gold arm armors he was wearing against each other, triggering an internal mechanism that allowed them to detach from his arms.
After being freed from the restraints of the Red Gold arm armor, Wang Hao's greatsword unleashed a burst of cold sword light, enveloping an area of about ten feet around him.
"Clang clang clang..."
"Hiss hiss hiss..."
"Clang!"
A crisp sound and the sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh rang out simultaneously, followed by a dull thud at the very end.
"A thousand- Spirit Refinement?"
Wang Hao stared intently at the longsword that had pierced his greatsword by a full two inches. This was definitely a divine weapon of the Thousand-Forged Refined Steel level, and not just any Thousand-Forged Refined Steel; it was two levels higher than the greatsword in his hand.
It was exactly the same as the divine sword he had found in Wang Heihu's treasure vault. He hadn't expected that the three major sects would be so extravagant as to acquire such a rare and powerful weapon.
If his greatsword hadn't been so thick, it probably would have been cut in two with a single blow.
Before Wang Hao could make a further move, the assassin wielding the divine sword vanished into the dark woods once more.
Only then did the surrounding figures fall to the ground, spewing out clouds of blood mist, adding a touch of bloodshed and cruelty to the dark forest.
It wasn't that the assassin didn't want to continue the offensive, but rather that Wang Hao's strength was too immense; the explosive force of 3,600 jin was something not everyone could withstand.
Even with the cushioning effect of his internal energy, that attack had left his entire arm numb. He was lucky he wasn't left there by Wang Hao; how could he dare to launch another attack?
"Trying to run? Not so easy."
Wang Hao's face turned ferocious. He directly drew his sword and chased after him with Lightning Straight-Line Step, each step taking him a full ten feet forward.
Although the Lightning Straight-Line Step puts a considerable strain on the user, even with Wang Hao's current physical strength, he cannot be completely immune to it, but that refers to its execution at full power.
If you only take one zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) each time, the pressure will be much less. With the powerful recovery ability carried by your Bloodline Power, you can recover in an instant, so you can continue to use it continuously.
Since that person could wield such a divine sword and block his attack head-on, he must be someone Ye Qingqian valued, and perhaps even a major trump card in this battle.
Such a threatening figure naturally had to be eliminated first, which is why Wang Hao didn't hesitate to rush into the dense forest.
At the same time, he also wanted to use this immense pressure to continue to push himself, in order to quickly enhance the power of the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle.
Of course, most importantly, he realized that he had underestimated the strength of these assassins. Their coordinated attack in this terrain was exceptionally ruthless. If he hadn't been on guard and decisively abandoned his heavy Red Gold arm armor, he would probably have been caught off guard by now.
In particular, the divine sword wielded by the opponent posed too great a threat to him. If he were to cut down this entire forest, he would be attacked and killed by them at least a thousand times, which was not worthwhile. It would be better to concentrate all his attention on charging in.
Similarly, the sneers on the faces of Ye Qinggan and the others standing outside the woods froze, and they looked at Wang Hao had rushed into the woods, with serious expressions.
The speed at which Wang Hao just unleashed his attack was simply too fast; even First-Rate -tier experts couldn't achieve that. This was also the first time Wang Hao had unleashed such astonishing speed.
They felt as if they had miscalculated, failing to grasp Wang Hao's true strength at all!
This inexplicably made the group feel uneasy.
In comparison, Zhao Fengxue and his son seemed much more relaxed, and even showed a smile.
That kid really did bring them another surprise!