Racing to the Rescue

"I got a clear look. The Ghost Horse Owls of Guo County, the Jia Mountain Bandits of Xuping County, and the Fire Saber Stronghold of Tanggu County brought not only their core members, but also recruited a dozen or so desperate Evil Cultivators who came out of who knows where to swell their ranks. There should be only one Late Qi Refinement cultivator: Zhao Gu, the leader of the Ghost Horse Owls."

The second master of the Lu Household had the single given name Zhen. His spell-fighting skills were nothing remarkable, but he had a relatively outstanding knack for concealing his Qi. He had volunteered to make a trip around the outskirts of the Ye Household's formation and had learned quite a bit about the Evil Cultivators who had banded together.

The Ghost Horse Owls and the Fire Saber Stronghold were both groups of outlaw cultivators with fearsome reputations. The Jia Mountain Bandits were less well-known, but since they had joined forces with the other two, they were certainly no good either.

Kang Dabao's face darkened as he listened, and he immediately thought of retreating. But he feared that, as Pei Yi had said, a single Ye Household wouldn't be enough to sate this pack of villains! If they retreated to the sect, the enemy might pick them off one by one.

"Otherwise, how about letting Third Brother take the children to the Lu Household first, then come back to help?" Yuan Jin also felt their chances of winning were too slim.

"Let's go into the walled settlement and rescue the Ye Household's mortals first. We'll see if we can draw a few of them over." Kang Dabao shook his head, rejecting Yuan Jin's suggestion, and led the others into the Ye Household's walled settlement.

By now, the Ye Household's last remaining defenders had been driven into a desperate situation.

Their spear formation had long since fallen apart. Before the middle-aged cultivator's horsetail whisk, even the bravest men could only be sliced apart like straw.

Some fled in fear, while others continued to fight stubbornly against the armored soldiers before them, but none of it seemed to matter anymore.

The ranks of black-armored soldiers drew ever closer. It was as though a giant beast in black armor had opened its maw and was about to bite the Ye Household's ancestral hall to pieces.

The Ye clansman commanding the Ten-Ox Crossbow had been blinded in one eye by a stray arrow. Despite the agonizing pain, he still shouted for his clansmen to load the crossbow, but received no answer.

He turned to look and saw that a black-armored warrior who had broken through the formation had cleanly cut down the last of his clansmen.

Roaring in fury, he picked up a crane-headed hoe from the ground, not knowing whether its original owner was alive or dead, and charged forward to fight.

But the black-armored warrior seized the shaft of the arrow lodged in his eye. A mad grin spread across his savage face as he twisted it hard and yanked it backward.

As the arrowhead came free, bringing a black-and-white orb with it, the mad grin on the black-armored warrior's face turned to astonishment. The young Ye clansman hadn't cried out in pain once. The pickaxe in his hands rose high and drew closer and closer, close enough to pierce the warrior's sturdy faceplate, then closer still, easily punching through his forehead.

The young Ye clansman did not stop. He plunged headlong into the sea of armored soldiers surging toward him, his pickaxe, stained with red and white matter, rising again and again until its new owner was utterly swallowed by the sea.

"Those killers finally won!" The white-robed cultivator, holding a small banner ablaze with black light, joined the middle-aged cultivator. A smile touched his lips as he watched the groups of defenders being separated and cut to pieces.

The middle-aged cultivator glanced at him without a word. The dead were all mortal servants raised by the Fire Saber Stronghold, yet the Devil Cultivators of the Ghost Horse Owls had reaped a windfall. They were just relying on Zhao Gu being at Late Qi Refinement. Who did they think they were?

Fortunately, it had been agreed beforehand that the valuables and children would go to his own group. As for the Jia Mountain Bandits, they had only one Middle Qi Refinement cultivator among them. They should count themselves lucky to get the leftovers. Would they dare complain?

As for the scattered Evil Cultivators, some couldn't even scrape together a single first-tier Law Artifact. Once the three groups had eaten their fill, giving them a little soup and scraps would be enough.

If the other three households on Cold Crow Mountain didn't still need dealing with, why would they have bothered considering that rabble's wishes?

The world really was getting worse and worse, but that was for the best. The stronghold master was right: if the world weren't in such a bad state, how could they have such a good life?

As the middle-aged cultivator was thinking this, he suddenly felt something warm spatter his face. He turned and saw that the white-robed cultivator who had just been standing beside him had had his head smashed by a punch from a short, stocky man.

"Yuan Jin of the Chongming Sect!" The middle-aged cultivator was so terrified that he hurriedly retreated into the ranks of armored soldiers.

How could ordinary armored soldiers stop a Middle Qi Refinement cultivator like Yuan Jin? The middle-aged cultivator was driven to bitter distress by Yuan Jin's onslaught. He wanted to return to the outside of the Ye Household's formation to seek help, but feared that the moment he turned his back, Yuan Jin would break his spine with a punch.

His skills had never amounted to much. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been sent to deal with the Ye Household's mortals alongside this greenhorn who had just joined the Ghost Horse Owls. Now his horsetail whisk danced wildly in his hand. He had formed the wrong hand seals several times, but had no time to care. All he wanted was to survive Yuan Jin's fists.

With the help of some armored soldiers who were his blood relatives and utterly loyal to him, he managed to hold Yuan Jin back for a short while. As soon as he caught his breath, he wanted to run again.

But then he thought better of it. If he left, by the time he returned with reinforcements, Yuan Jin might have killed or scattered most of these Black Tiger Battalion men. Many of them were clansmen of the stronghold master and the other leaders. Even if he didn't die for it, he would lose a layer of skin!

With that thought, he waved at forty or fifty armored soldiers on the outer edge. "Ride out and deliver the message! Ask the stronghold master to send help at once!"

How could Yuan Jin let him have his way? Black light burst from the dark gauntlets on his hands, and a swath of nearby soldiers fell.

No sooner had he swatted aside the flies before him than he rushed toward the outer ranks, intent on killing every messenger the middle-aged cultivator had singled out.

The middle-aged cultivator instinctively raised his horsetail whisk to block him, only for Yuan Jin to grab it and yank with both hands. The hundreds of silver threads that had just strangled two Martial Ancestors and countless elite soldiers with ease snapped just as easily and fell to the ground.

"All of you, go! Go deliver the message!" The middle-aged cultivator had no time to mourn his precious Law Artifact, much less care whether the messengers lived or died.

Frightened, he retreated again and again. His hair came loose from its knot and stuck to the sweat pouring down his forehead, leaving him without a trace of an expert's bearing.

Yuan Jin charged into the soldiers and slaughtered them, but a few fish still slipped through the net and raced off on horseback into the distance. Yuan Jin grew even more furious and threw several punches at the middle-aged cultivator, each one aimed to kill.

They had not fought for long when the Evil Cultivators at the Ye Household's formation on Heng Mountain, which was not far from the walled settlement, heard of the fight between the middle-aged cultivator and Yuan Jin and rode their Law Artifacts over to help.

The middle-aged cultivator rejoiced. Fighting for one's life was a delicate business, and before the desperate outlaws had come, they had carefully collected and studied information on the cultivators of Cold Crow Mountain's four households.

The middle-aged cultivator thought to himself that the leaders must have greatly exaggerated Yuan Jin's abilities. Otherwise, with his legendary reputation for having a body like an ape fiend, how could a Qi Refinement Fourth Layer cultivator like himself have lasted until now?

As he gradually recovered from the shock of the ambush, he even felt that he was beginning to handle the fight with some ease.

Had his cultivation improved again recently? Sure enough, devoting himself to cultivation was the right path. He should visit the Mandarin Duck Hall less often. At this rate, Foundation Establishment might even be in sight.

The reinforcements drew closer and closer, until the middle-aged cultivator could make out the man in the lead: the master of his own Fire Saber Stronghold. At the thought, a trace of pleasure crept into his expression as he looked at Yuan Jin.

"Just you wait and see how your granddaddy plays with you!"

The next moment, however, he saw Yuan Jin glance over his shoulder. When Yuan Jin turned back, the corners of his mouth had risen slightly.

Why is that bastard smiling? This is bad. The middle-aged cultivator had no time to think further before a flash of black light filled his vision.

"Whew! Putting on an act for that stupid thief was really hard!" Yuan Jin shook the blood and flesh from his gauntlets and grinned, baring a mouthful of white teeth at the Evil Cultivators rushing to the rescue.

"You're courting death!" the master of the Fire Saber Stronghold roared. How could he not be furious, seeing his subordinate's head smashed by Yuan Jin's fist when he was so close?

A ghost-headed saber whipped up a black wind and carried sharp metal Qi as it chopped toward Yuan Jin. Before its blade arrived, several deep marks had already appeared in the ground soaked with dark blood.

The seven or eight underlings behind the stronghold master were considerably slower, but followed close behind. Yuan Jin had no intention of meeting the attack head-on and turned to run.

The stronghold master pursued him relentlessly. Suddenly, a large, stout man sprang out before him to support Yuan Jin. The stronghold master glanced at the newcomer and recognized him.

"The Chongming Sect leader, at the Qi Refinement Fourth Layer. Good at bullying women, holds a grudge over the slightest offense, and has mediocre skills."

Without another thought, he kept the ghost-headed saber spinning toward Yuan Jin to take his life, then produced a low-grade flying sword, intending to hold the newcomer off before turning back to deal with him.

He paid no mind when Kang Dabao knocked the flying sword aside with the Army-Breaking Hammer. Casually bringing out a low-grade shield-shaped Law Artifact to protect himself, the stronghold master sent his ghost-headed saber hurtling down at Yuan Jin's head.

Yuan Jin stopped and turned to fight, thrusting out both fists. He knocked the ghost-headed saber away, sending it reeling back into the air with a heavy blow. Before the stronghold master could change his hand seal, a flash of golden light struck from his side. Unruffled, he pointed a finger, and the shield-shaped Law Artifact swelled in the wind.

"Crack." The shield-shaped Law Artifact shattered in an instant. Before the stronghold master could cry out, a flash of golden light pierced his mouth full of rotten teeth and tore a head-sized hole in the back of his skull.

"Heh." Yuan Jin gave a quiet chuckle. Without standing on ceremony with Kang Dabao, he happily picked up the stronghold master's Storage Bag and hung it from his waist.

Then he turned to the underlings who had followed, his expression like that of an old farmer seeing his rice ripen.

There were only nine cultivators in the relief party, and they did not all belong to the Fire Saber Stronghold. Seeing its master, who had led them, fall on the spot so easily, they lost well over half their will to fight.

"Kill!" Pei Yi and Lu Zhen charged out from hiding with two Lu Household cultivators. The Bright Light Spike shot from the shadows and pierced two people in succession. The Evil Cultivators were instantly terrified and scattered in an uproar, more than half of them fleeing!

But how could they escape? Pei Yi and Yuan Jin each took on a Qi Refining Fifth Layer cultivator who still dared resist, and both gained the upper hand.

Kang Dabao and Lu Zhen each paired up with one of the two Lu Household cultivators and attacked the remaining Early Qi Refining Stage cultivators, who were each fighting on their own. In mere moments, they killed four.

The Evil Cultivators who were still alive and fleeing for their lives were so frightened that they bawled, tears and snot streaming down their faces.

The situation had reversed just that quickly. One moment they had been swaggering about, shouting for Yuan Jin's death; the next, they had been reduced to this.

"Wonderful, wonderful!" With a punch, Yuan Jin smashed the heart of the curly-bearded man before him through his inner armor. The outcome of the battle was now clear.

Though a ghost-faced female cultivator was still struggling to hold out against several of Pei Yi's Wood Element Law Techniques at great mastery, a rather crafty Lu Household cultivator nearby had already begun secretly picking up Storage Bags.

"Bang." Kang Dabao found an opening and struck the ghost-faced female cultivator from behind with his hammer, smashing her to pulp. She mingled with the mortal flesh and blood covering the ground, and there was no telling which was more noble.

He casually tossed the female cultivator's Storage Bag to Pei Yi, then turned to the somewhat embarrassed second master of the Lu Household and asked, "Are there still thirty people outside the Ye Household's formation?"

I just got home. Today I helped revise materials for some committee at the company, and it was even more tiring than working on an assembly line. The second chapter will be a little late; sorry, brothers.

I hope readers who have the time can keep following the story, vote, comment, or even throw some coins my way. Brothers who are busier, please stay on the last page of each day's update for twenty seconds. Thank you, everyone.