Ten Thousand Surnames Kill, Ten Thousand Surnames Protect

The sun shines brightly in the sky, and clouds drift and swirl across the horizon.

Han Rui's team moved from a place covered in snow to a region where there was hardly any snow, only the cold wind still blowing.

They carried flags, swords, water bags, and dry rations, walking leisurely through the vast wilderness and woods, as if strolling in their own backyard.

These hundreds of people are all veterans of Han Rui's army.

Three of them were even people who had followed Han Rui since the Cai Wuju Uprising in Southeast China fifteen years ago.

Their hometown wasn't in Bashu or Chongqing; by heading south, they were actually going home.

Most of these hundreds of people were like this; they had been far from home for so long, having traveled to so many places over the years that they felt no place was home anymore.

But this time, as they set out on their campaign, they felt as if they were back home.

It seems that every piece of terrain and every mountain is like a relative, evoking memories of when they passed through here.

Therefore, they walked steadily and happily, skillfully yet lively.

Meanwhile, the global situation, revolving around them, was undergoing rapid and dramatic changes, becoming even more intense and turbulent.

The dignified Master Han only brought a few hundred people with him when he left the mountain. Anyone could see that it might be a trap, but no one could ignore the significance of this matter.

Because the route chosen by Master Han was too arrogant.

The fall of Dadu could be attributed to treacherous officials and cunning rebels who took advantage of the situation, or it could be said that the events were sudden and the people and noble families who were loyal to the Great Yuan were unaware of the situation and had no way to serve their country.

But now, the Grand Tutor has completely given these opportunities to the powerful local magnates, and the treacherous officials in the court can no longer plot against him or create obstacles for him.

Under these circumstances, if Master Han can still make a big show of it and successfully reach Dadu to announce the alliance of righteous armies from all over the world.

So, what makes the powerful and influential people in the land so confident that they can definitely defeat the rebel army?

At that time, I fear that many of the powerful figures who are not so ambitious or bold will try to join the rebel army.

Therefore, those who are the most ambitious, cunning, and powerful will inevitably have someone step forward to target Han Rui.

If this risky move succeeds, killing Han Rui will itself bring immense prestige.

Countless people are inquiring about Chu Tianshu's movements and the location of the Grand Tutor, hoping that the two of them can confront each other, or even if they haven't arrived yet.

Then, I'll have a better chance of taking action.

Call!!!

The wilderness was covered with waist-high weeds, where many skeletons might lie, and there were also many swamps and puddles.

When the Central Shu rebels arrived here, a gust of wind blew, and suddenly many insects flew up from the grass.

It was a swarm of mosquitoes, thick as smoke and dense as clouds, that attacked the rebel army.

Even tiny mosquitoes can pose a risk of infecting people with diseases, let alone whether these mosquitoes are deliberately bred poisonous mosquitoes?

The rebels waved their large flags, trying to drive away the mosquitoes.

Hundreds of assassins in tight-fitting clothes have been hiding in the weeds for two days and one night.

The weeds that had once been disturbed where they were now standing tall again, completely obscuring their figures.

Each person carried a black bag for holding poisonous mosquitoes and a metal tube mechanism as thick as a child's arm and about a foot and a half long.

As the poisonous mosquitoes took flight, they all crouched down and quietly raised the mechanisms in their hands.

The black steel needles that shoot out from inside are where the real poison lies.

The flying needles were mixed in with the mosquitoes, and even a martial arts master who had practiced hidden weapons for twenty years would probably have difficulty distinguishing them, let alone these soldiers.

The assassin pulled the trigger, the sound of which was masked by a buzzing noise. The flying needles shot out, hitting a large number of targets as they expected.

Some veterans, after being hit by poisoned needles, would still stand there blankly and reach out to grab them.

Haha, it's too late to catch them now!

Ten? That's not enough for me.

An old soldier wiped the poisoned needles stuck in his armor and flicked his wrist.

The assassin in the grass was shocked and dodged suddenly, but was still pricked in the left arm by a poisoned needle. He felt dizzy and his heart went numb, and he collapsed to the ground.

At least a hundred people in the Central Shu rebel army did similar things.

They deduced the assassin's hiding direction from the needles stuck in their armor and immediately flung the poisoned needles back.

The assassins panicked and dodged, leaping out of the tall grass and flying in all directions.

The veterans suddenly planted their flags into the ground, their figures leaping into the air. One of them kicked the flag, seemingly using the flagpole's elasticity to accelerate themselves and launch themselves forward.

The assassins' agility was no match for these armored veterans; they were all caught up by these veterans, who drew their swords and slashed them.

Sparks flew, and figures darted about.

The killer's knife and their limbs severed together, blood splattering on the grass.

A person, dressed similarly to the other assassins and with a green cloth covering their head, was trudging quickly through the weeds.

He moved with incredible speed, his path serpentine, leaving only slight ripples in the weeds as if blown by the wind, making it difficult for outsiders to see anyone inside.

"What exactly happened with those low-level soldiers?"

This man was the leader of the assassins. As he fled at full speed, he couldn't help but roar in his heart.

"This trap could clearly pierce even the iron armor of the Great Yuan's elite troops. A mere puncture would release a deadly poison, so how come these people are unharmed?!"

The assassin leader suddenly stopped.

The wind blew from behind him, sweeping forward, and the wild grass in front of him bowed down like waves, revealing Han Rui blocking his way.

"You are the eleventh group I have encountered along the way, but you are the first to use purely martial arts assassination methods instead of setting up ambushes and charging into battle."

Han Rui asked curiously, "Which faction in the martial arts world are you from? Why are you behaving so petty?"

The assassin leader straightened his back, ripped off his mask, revealing the rugged face of a man in his thirties or forties.

"I am a relative of the Yuan Dynasty Emperor, Tai Buhua. My family has been a relative for generations. How can I be a member of the world?!"

The assassin leader, his face contorted with rage, said, "My Night Owl Elite Warriors unit has repeatedly distinguished themselves in officialdom. You, you country bumpkin, truly lack discernment, mistaking me for a mere outlaw!"

Han Rui remained calm and showed no anger.

"You're also called Tai Buhua? If you don't look at the full name, there are so many people with the same name. But you're not as interesting as that old one."

As he was speaking, the assassin leader's pupils contracted, and he suddenly launched a hidden weapon.

This hidden weapon resembled a perfectly round sphere, about the size of a baby's fist. When it was launched, countless cracks appeared on the surface of the sphere, scattering into countless steel nails.

As the spinning sphere completes one rotation, it ejects all the steel nails in front and behind it in sequence, leaving only a small, thumb-sized core in the center.

This is one of the seven ultimate hidden weapons once selected by the Great Yuan court, known as "Thousand Stars and One Moon".

It may seem like only one ball is being shot, but it can drive thousands of steel nails towards the same target.

The last small, round core is made of a secret material. After being infused with a large amount of vital energy, it can produce a violent, blazing white explosion.

The assassin leader had been channeling his inner energy into the hidden weapon throughout his escape.

At this moment, although his men had suffered heavy casualties and were on the verge of defeat, he couldn't help but feel a sense of triumph when he saw the hidden weapon being launched.

However, as soon as the stars lit up, Han Rui drew a sword from his sleeve!

The sword light exploded, almost instantly striking the first five hundred steel nails and sending them flying back onto the sphere.

Before the subsequent steel nails could be activated, the sword light had already trembled into a small circle, encircling the sphere.

Buzz!!!

The small circle of swordplay contracted slightly, and the sphere was ejected, striking the assassin leader.

The assassin leader froze, his entire body ripped apart from the inside out from his chest cavity and exploded on the spot.

Han Rui had already gracefully departed, dodging the blood mist and steel nail fragments, and returned to the front of the group.

"I, for one, have cultivated to the point of Celestial Person Resonance and Man on my own, and I even received a considerable amount of power from Baiyu."

Han Rui sheathed his sword. "If you want to devour me, you'll need at least a dragon whale."

One veteran chuckled, "We've earned the title of the First Anti-Rebel Army, after all. Surely no one really thinks we're just good at hiding because we've lived long enough."

These hundreds of the most mentally resilient veterans, although many of them only started learning martial arts after adulthood, have only cultivated their skills for about ten years.

However, with Han Baiyu present, each of them could be said to possess thirty years of internal martial arts skills.

Moreover, this thirty years is not calculated according to the standards of ordinary small sects in the martial arts world, but rather it is comparable to the internal strength quality of the Shaolin lineage, which requires thirty years of dedicated cultivation.

Their iron armor alone was indeed insufficient to withstand the traps and poison needles.

But thirty years of internal energy poured into such armor could even capture the tip of a needle, causing those flying needles to remain fixed on the surface of the armor.

The cold wind howled, and the withered grass was mottled with green and yellow.

The assassins' corpses lay scattered across the grassland as the Central Shu rebels continued their advance.

They came from Central Shu and had already traversed two provinces, yet they had only encountered eleven waves of attacks.

Among them, only this group primarily used underworld assassination methods.

However, they encountered six such attacks over the next three days.

The assassin, lurking in the forest, seems to blend seamlessly with the tree bark and bamboo, appearing and disappearing unpredictably. His throwing knives whirl and ricochet, capable of slicing through gold and jade.

Bamboo rafts drifting downstream, carrying many people but few in number, were suddenly pulled towards the shore by the boatman as they approached, and all the rafts were detonated. It turned out the rafts were filled with explosives.

Mass graves, ancient battlefields, Dadu Ferry Crossing----

After Han Rui and his men successfully crossed the river in the early hours of the morning, everyone inevitably showed signs of fatigue.

They were all highly skilled in internal energy, but with such repeated depletion and emergency use, their meridians would become extremely fatigued.

Han Rui's headscarf was also a bit disheveled, with a strand of hair on his right forehead curving down to his chin and touching his beard.

The veteran strategist Wen Gou, walked up to him and said, "These attacks over the past three days don't seem to be isolated. There's probably a group of people instigating and manipulating them behind the scenes."

Han Rui's eyes shone brightly. "Isn't this exactly what we've been waiting for?"

The old strategist smiled, waved the flag, and said, "Continue forward, at least three miles from the water, then rest."

Several miles away, the hillsides are covered with lush trees that extend over the cliffs, while below the hills are jagged rocks that resemble pillars and drums.

Chaghan Temür stood on the ridge, leaning on his sword and gazing at the sky, saying, "I had already foreseen that today would be a very cloudy day, and even at dawn, there would be no sunrise."

"A freezing wind howls, and dark clouds roam about – perfect weather for murder."

Sain said, "Are we going to take action now? Can we mobilize more people?"

Chaghan smiled slightly.

"Today, South Sea, there are probably tens of thousands of people who want to kill this Master Han."

"But in each of their territories, there are also rebel armies watching with predatory eyes. Regardless of their true intentions, this behavior, this very existence, is tantamount to protecting this Master Han."

As he spoke of this grim situation, Chaghan's gaze seemed to reflect the countless intrigues and battles raging across the land of Nine Provinces, all under the same sky and at the same hour.

The raging flames pierced the land, spreading across the entire Nine Provinces.

But his smile grew even wider, and his voice became even more forceful, reaching the ears of his subordinates.

"What the common people cannot and are forbidden to do, we can do. Is this not destiny?!"

His men were preparing for an ambush. Their discipline was strict and their resolve was as firm as iron. Naturally, no one responded loudly, but the atmosphere in the entire mountain forest seemed even more solemn.

Sain was also deeply moved and couldn't help but nod.

However, after a long while, he couldn't help but lean closer and ask in a low voice, "Where is the Grand Tutor? And where is Chu Tianshu?"

The Arrow God, standing nearby, whispered, "The Grand Tutor is already nearby. He can sense that Chu Tianshu is also lingering in the vicinity, but neither of them is confident."

Chaghan's voice was drawn out. "Whether our ambush will succeed, whether it will be fast enough, whether it will be fierce and treacherous enough to shake people's minds, may also increase the Grand Tutor's chances of victory!"