He couldn't understand how Wu Shuangren had trained to such a level. What kind of monstrous talent was he?
He couldn't lift his right arm anymore; if he continued fighting, he would surely die!
Thinking of this, Zhang He did not turn his horse around in an arc to fight Wu Shuangren for a third round. Instead, he spurred his horse and galloped towards the manor gate.
He was planning to escape back!
Wu Shuangren had already turned his horse around. Seeing this, the black warhorse accelerated again and gave chase.
Both sides are getting closer and closer to the gate.
Suddenly, a dozen archers on the wooden wall drew their bows and fired arrows at Wu Shuangren!
This was arranged by Zhang He long before he set off—if he lost the duel and chose to flee back to the manor, the archers lying in ambush on the wooden wall would shoot and kill Wu Shuangren!
"Mean--"
Behind them, Bai Jinhuan and the others roared and immediately spurred their horses forward to meet Wu Shuangren.
Wu Shuangren remained calm and composed, unleashing a barrage of blades with his Mo Dao (a type of long-handled sword). The blade deflected several arrows fired directly at him, breaking the shafts in two. One arrow grazed his shoulder guard, sending sparks flying. However, two arrows still struck his chest, but were completely blocked by his iron armor and the leather armor underneath, failing to penetrate the two layers of protection.
Three more arrows were shot at his warhorse; one grazed its belly, and two embedded themselves in the mud.
After the first volley of arrows, Wu Shuangren was completely unharmed.
He discarded his longsword, took the horn bow hanging beside his saddle, and nocked an arrow.
The bowstring twitched, the first arrow left the bow, and struck the right hind leg of the blue-maned horse in front!
The blue-maned horse let out a miserable neigh, its right hind leg buckled, and its speed decreased. Zhang He was thrown forward by the inertia and almost fell off.
The second arrow arrived in quick succession, striking the hindquarters of the blue-maned horse. The horse was completely startled and lost its balance, throwing Zhang He off its back and causing him to crash heavily to the ground!
Clang—
Wu Shuangren drew his Fish-Dragon Saber from his waist and spurred his horse toward the fallen Zhang He.
At this moment, Bai Jinhuan and the others were already riding their horses and shooting arrows at the wooden wall to suppress the archers on it and buy time for Wu Shuangren.
Zhang He struggled to his feet. His helmet had been knocked askew when he fell from his horse, obscuring half of his face. He reached out to straighten the helmet, and the sound of rapid hoofbeats came from behind him.
Wu Shuangren charged in on horseback!
Zhang He turned around, drew the sword from his waist with his left hand, and struggled in his death throes.
Using the momentum of the horse, Wu Shuangren traced a crescent-shaped arc in the air.
Clang!
With a crisp sound, the knife in Zhang He's hand was knocked away.
Immediately afterwards, his head flew up as well!
The head tumbled twice in the air before landing on the muddy ground three zhang away, facing the sky. The helmet lay to the side, revealing a face with wide eyes, filled with fear and resentment.
The headless corpse knelt on the ground, fell forward, and blood gushed from the severed neck, staining a large patch of soil red.
Watching this scene from the wooden wall, the archers all gave up shooting arrows.
Wu Shuangren stopped his horse and raised his left hand.
Bai Jinhuan and the others behind him stopped shooting arrows.
Wu Shuangren looked at the manor ahead, activated his Internal Skill, and his voice carried far and wide:
"Zhang He is dead! Those who surrender will not be killed!"
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112. Elixirs and dietary supplements
Zhang He's headless body lay on the ground, his head rolling to one side.
Wu Shuangren looked towards Zhang Clan Village ahead, activated his Internal Skill, and spoke again:
"Listen up, everyone in the village! Open the gates and surrender within ten breaths. Otherwise, I will raze this village to the ground and leave no one alive!"
The chilling killing intent sent a shiver down the spines of everyone in the manor.
Some people turned and ran towards the gate, trying to open it, but were quickly stopped.
"Don't open the door! They might not be able to break in—"
"Opening the door means being at our mercy!"
"If we defend the estate, they can't break in!"
But their voices were quickly drowned out by another voice.
This man was a captain in the militia and also a Zhang Clan. He shouted loudly:
"That guy outside is First Rate top-tier expert. Do you think these wooden walls and gates can stop him? If he breaks in, who will stop him?"
"No matter how powerful he is, he's only one person. We have over four hundred..."
"Bullshit! Look how many people are behind them!"
"..."
An argument broke out in the village.
With the death of Zhang He, the leader, the entire militia fell into complete chaos!
Amidst the arguing, Wu Shuangren's voice came from outside.
"Ten!!!"
The ten square formations behind them, each with a thousand militiamen, stepped forward simultaneously, their footsteps landing in perfect unison.
Thump!!!
The commotion immediately drowned out the argument inside the manor, and everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Nine!"
Thump!!!
Another step, the footsteps growing heavier.
"Eight!"
Thump!!!
Thirdly, those who were blocking the gate from opening began to hesitate, and some turned pale.
"Get out of the way!"
"Open the gates!"
Several members of the Zhang Clan family and some other team leaders were shouting...
When Wu Shuangren counted to three, a group of people had already arrived at the door bolt and forcefully lifted it.
As the count reached one, the gate slowly opened.
Wu Shuangren looked at the open gate of the manor and let out a heavy sigh.
The pent-up frustration and anger from being ambushed and narrowly escaped death yesterday finally found some release at this moment!
' Mist Hidden Temple!'
Wu Shuangren turned his head and glanced in the direction of Yi Province, his eyes filled with icy killing intent.
He withdrew his gaze, spurred his horse forward, and entered the manor first.
The militiamen from the Zhang Clan family's local militia stood on both sides, holding weapons, but none of them dared to move.
Zhang Clan Village thus submitted to Wu Shuangren's horse hooves!
Thousands of militiamen entered Zhang Clan Village in turn and quickly took control of the entire village.
Take control of the watchtowers and platforms on the wooden walls as soon as possible, capture all the high points in the village, and have archers stand guard with bows and arrows.
They then confiscated all the knives and guns of the Zhang Clan family's militia and separated the hundreds of people for guarding.
There were more than 400 people in Zhang Clan Village, and their leather armor was removed immediately.
More than half an hour later, the count results came out.
There are 127 sets of leather armor, in addition to five sets of iron armor, which are similar in style to the one Zhang He is wearing, and should all be custom-made.
Including the armor taken from Zhang He's corpse, there were a total of six sets of iron armor. Wu Shuangren took two sets, and the remaining four sets were distributed to Bai Jinhuan and the three captains.
As for the 127 sets of leather armor, they were divided equally among the ten battalions, and the battalion commanders allocated them themselves.
Besides the armor, the manor's storeroom also contained a batch of grain, roughly estimated to be enough to feed five hundred people for more than two months. In addition, there were some militia uniforms, weapons used by the militia, more than thirty bows, several hundred arrows, and sixteen warhorses.
Even if you don't find any money, the gains will still be substantial!
Wu Shuangren looked at the Traits above his head; after the battle with Zhang He, the sky blue color had increased again.
Zhang He was already a Fourth Rank martial artist, and his strength increased further when fighting on horseback. Therefore, Traits 'experience points' gained from defeating his opponent were more than those gained from defeating an ordinary Fourth Rank martial artist.
Wu Shuangren summoned Bai Jinhuan: "I'll take my personal guards back to West River Market first. I'll leave this place to you. Gather all the Zhang Clan and keep them under guard. After everyone has eaten, I'll send three battalions back to West River Market."
Bai Jinhuan was a little worried. "Commander, should we take more people back?"
Wu Shuangren shook his head. "No need. The Mist Hidden Temple's forces have just been driven back, and the Zhang Clan is finished. There's nothing to worry about for now. My personal guard is enough."
Although he was ambushed once, Wu Shuangren did not become a frightened bird. He should be prepared, but he didn't need to be overly restrained.
His personal guard has now expanded to fifty men, eleven of whom are relatives of the Wu and Liao families. The rest are skilled veterans, several former guards of the Mo Family, and several skilled martial artists from the former Flying Feather Gang.
At Wu Shuangren's request, all of these people have learned to ride horses.
With the sixteen warhorses captured from Zhang Clan Village today, plus the more than thirty warhorses Wu Shuangren brought back today, his personal guards finally all have horses to ride.
He led fifty men on horseback away from Zhang Clan Village and returned to West River Market.
The journey from Zhuangzi to West River Market took about half an hour by horse, and the trip was uneventful. When Wu Shuangren returned, it was already noon, just in time for the militiamen to have their lunch.
The aroma of food wafted from the walled village.
Wu Shuangren told his guards to go eat, then changed out of his armor and headed to his private dining room.
As he instructed, the kitchen prepared a table of dishes. When he walked in, Xu Nanzhi and Xu Yu were sitting at the table chatting.
Both of them had smiles on their faces, and they seemed to be having a good conversation.
"Shuangren."
Seeing her son return safely, Xu Nanzhi finally felt relieved.
"Mother."
Wu Shuangren walked over with a smile and looked at Xu Yu, "You must be starving!"
He sat down. "Let's not stand on ceremony, let's eat!"
Although the kitchen prepared a large table of dishes for the three of them, all three were martial artists, and Xu Yu was naturally strong with a much larger appetite than ordinary martial artists, so the large table of dishes was really not enough for the three of them.
Fortunately, they were prepared, and Wu Shuangren had the kitchen continue serving dishes.
The meal lasted for almost half an hour before it ended.
This was the first time Wu Shuangren had seen Xu Nanzhi eat so much food in front of him. A thought struck him, and he asked curiously:
"Mother, you once said that the higher a martial artist's Internal Skill cultivation level, the greater their need for food. You are First Rank martial artist, so you must need a lot of food every day, but I've noticed that your appetite used to be less than my father's. Could it be that you've been secretly taking some special pills or dietary supplements?"
When Wu Shuangren first learned Internal Skill, Xu Nanzhi told him that if one's Internal Skill cultivation reached the level of Grandmaster, one would even need to eat an elephant's worth of food every day!
Therefore, major powers all have dedicated fields or breeding farms for planting, cultivating the nutritional supplements needed by martial artists, and refining special elixirs.
Wu Shuangren had already inquired with the Mo Family, but they did not possess any relevant pill formulas or recipes.
After taking over West River Market, he carefully investigated several major forces, but none of them possessed such elixirs and dietary supplements specifically for martial artists.
Before a martial artist reaches the First Rate level, even without special elixirs or nutritional supplements, there won't be many obstacles. Even if they have to travel a long distance alone, they can simply carry extra provisions.
However, once you reach the First Rate level, it will be very inconvenient without elixirs and nourishing foods.
Wu Shuangren found pills packaged in iron boxes on the bodies of Kongzheng and Liaoming, which were clearly provided by Mist Hidden Temple to its First Rate- tier experts.