Chapter 65

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She was surprised and delighted, like a toddler experiencing the thrill of flying for the first time, and felt surprisingly excited. Turning her head, she spotted other Shadow Warriors swarming around her; knowing that a great battle was imminent, she did not panic and patted the dirt off her clothes, quickly cutting a piece of her sash to cover her face, muttering, “Fine, go ahead and bring your horses over!”

It was expected to be a fierce battle later on, and if her invisibility spell would be broken in the middle of the melee fight, wouldn’t that get the Red King’s House into big trouble? It would be safer to cover her face first – although she was usually brash, she was not a mindless person when it came to critical situations.

However, before she could finish fasten her cloth scarf, the attack was already unleashed.

The Shadow Warriors spurred their horses up and surrounded her, each with their hands intertwined across their chests, and began to restrict the enclosure. She felt the sky above her turning blood-red by the minute, and countless tiny lightning streaks crossed through her like swarms of snakes – she acknowledged that this was the Blood Pond Formation that her Master mentioned before.

The power of a hundred magicians formed an unparalleled solid barrier that trapped all living beings of both flesh and blood underneath, none of whom could escape.

However, as a senior member of the Jiuyi Temple, how could she be so easily trapped by this?

As the blood-red net descended upon her, Zhu Yan tilted her head and released a clear whistle from her lips as her ten fingers fluttered and interlaced in front of her chest, conjuring up complex hand gestures. With each variation, the tips of her fingers blossomed with light. Her lips opened and closed soundlessly as she exhaled a prolonged incantation.

This was the “Heavenly Thunder”, summoning the power of thunder and lightning from the Heaven and Earth.

When the last incantation was successfully completed, she pointed her index fingers towards each other, quickly joining together and parting again – in that instant, an intense light blossomed from her index fingers, as if summoning a lightning bolt to descend from the sky and strike the falling blood-red roving net!

With a snap, the dense net got cut in half by the invisible lightning in a flash. Seizing the fleeting opportunity, Zhu Yan emerged from the blood-red net and flew into the sky riding on the lightning, like a nimble and agile swallow.

She had gotten it done in one hit! What her Master taught her was really formidable!

However, the moment she excitedly thought of this and broke out of the net, a huge force suddenly rose up and struck her chest like a huge hammer! Zhu Yan was in mid-air and could not avoid it, so she only let out a yelp and fell down from the sky, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

The moment she fell to the ground, she caught sight of the hundred Shadow Warriors falling from their horses in the same instant. Every one of them, just like herself, was holding their chests, blood pouring from the corners of their mouths.

With a jolt of shock, she caught a deep breath and instantly understood: yes… how could she have forgotten that casting a spell as severe as Heavenly Thunder was bound to have a backlash? She had really gotten carried away, thinking that she could dispatch all her enemies away simply by using her most powerful spells, but she had completely forgotten that all wood spells had a price to pay!

She inhaled a quick breath and struggled to pull herself together, trying to get up off the ground.

However, in the same instant, she saw Xuan Can also stagger up from the ground, holding a verdant, arrow-like object in his hand, chanting a few words and waving his hand towards her direction! Damn! This… is a Green Rhino Thorn? An extremely powerful magic weapon, in case you get hit by it…

Zhu Yan ran forward in shock, throwing her body to one side and trying her best to dodge the whistling green light. However, the pain in her limbs and bones was still crushing, slowing down her movements by a half beat; she could only hear a cracking sound and a sharp pain invaded her body, as if something had been ripped open inside her heart.

“Over there!” Suddenly, a roaring shout of alarm echoed across the battlefield as countless pairs of eyes looked over, staring straight at her, and whispered, “The intruder… is actually a woman?”

What’s going on? Has the invisibility spell been broken?

Zhu Yan was taken aback and silently used her Spiritual Consciousness to take a look around and found that the spell protecting her body had indeed been broken by the Green Rhino Thorn, so she couldn’t help but shudder and subconsciously touched her face – luckily, the cloth scarf covering her face was still there and hadn’t fallen off.

That was close, she really had the foresight… However, before she could finish her complacent thought, she could hear a stern shout in the background, “Everyone, step forward and take her down! Dead or alive!”

When General Qing Gang from the tent of the Imperial Army saw the woman who dared to enter the battlefield alone, his tiger eyes blazed with lightning as he gave the fierce order. All the Shadow Warriors trembled in unison and stood up from the ground, forcing themselves towards her!

Zhu Yan was standing in place with bare hands, feeling that the blood in her chest had not yet smoothed out, and looking at the countless warriors running in unison towards her; she couldn’t help but feel a lot of tension in her heart – at that moment, the first spell that crossed her mind was actually the magic of flying and disappearing into the sky.

Judging from this situation, a fight would definitely be out of question, so she might as well try to run away! But… running away like this, wouldn’t it be like abandoning Yuan here all alone? With a huge army overwhelming the city right now, he and the remaining Soldiers of the Restoration Army will never survive…

However, just as the thought occurred to her, the Shadow Warriors were already rushing forward. It was too late to run away; never mind, let’s fight it out hard!

Zhu Yan took a breath and put all her heart into it, rolled up her sleeves and formed seals with each of her hands, instantly getting ready to strike the incoming enemy with a spell – but just as she was about to do so, she unintentionally glanced over her shoulder and saw a black shadow moving within the sea of fire, with the flames parting soundlessly as something swept past them.

In that moment, all the attention of the crowd was drawn to her and no one noticed the subtle movement. The flag hanging beneath the Imperial Army’s tent moved a little, as if a wind had blown through it.

“Huh?” Zhu Yan, watching closely from that side, could not help but shout out loud – yes, there was someone! There was actually someone over there, taking advantage of the moment to break through what had become a weak protection, and approach the Imperial Army Tent alone! She had just let out that exclamation when the Shadow Warriors closed in on her, forcing her to retreat and deal with their fierce attacks.

Zhu Yan focused her mind and slowly pushed her hands outwards like a curved bow shooting into the sun, the middle fingers of her both hands instantly snapped up and bounced straight again – with her left hand she was using the Hidden Sword Spell, while with her right hand she was using the Blinding Wind Slash, each of which had the power to strike with great force. While teaching them to her, her Master had once said that if these two spells were cast together, no one would survive within a ten-foot radius, and they must be used with caution.

But now there’s no way out of it, isn’t it? You made me do it! Before the attacks of the Shadow Warriors could even reach her, the spells were already released from her hands. A thousand sharp swords suddenly appeared in mid-air, while a gust of wind swept out of thin air – those swords were carried by the wind, whistling and piercing into the thousands of enemies, sending forth a wave of tragic shrieks of misery.

Zhu Yan stood in place, her hands joined together and positioned on her chest. Power was summoned from within all Six Harmonies and surged into her body. With her at the center, a horrific rain of swords erupted on the flat ground. Within a short radius, some warhorse fell to its knees, another warrior shouted and collapsed, a scene as gruesome as a living hell was unfolding on sight.

Because she was so young after all, Zhu Yan had never witnessed the cruelty and bloodshed of a war so closely, and her heart was suddenly shocked with an unbearable sense of terror – yes, these were all Kongsang people… many of them belonging to her clan! Was she really going to kill them by herself?

There was no room for hesitation when using the Wooden Magic, and as soon as her thoughts strayed away, she stumbled back a step, unconsciously releasing the seal she was casting with her hands. The wind died down and the swords vanished instantly.

However, in such a critical moment, General Qing Gang fell off his horse!

“General!” The guards on both sides exclaimed, attempting to run forward to help, but suddenly a bolt of lightning and a sharp blade swept past them, causing those guards to be decapitated!

“Stop right there!” A voice shouted sternly, “Nobody move!”

The Primus troops all turned their heads in surprise, only to see that out of the ocean of fire a man had somehow emerged unharmed, and had already restrained General Qing Gang on his horse, holding his silvery sword to the Commander’s neck!

“Yuan!” She couldn’t help but exclaim out loud in that moment – Yes! That was Yuan! The one who had rushed out of the sea of fire and held General Qing Gang hostage in the nick of time was actually Yuan!

Yuan emerged from the flames and took advantage of the moment of distraction to seize his enemy and quickly subdue the Commander of the Primus Troops, striking with a swiftness and precision that was beyond belief. With a single blow, he leapt onto his horse, lifted his captive high in the air and shouted at the Kongsang army, “All of you, stop!”

However, General Qing Gang was also exceptionally tough, and although he fell into the hands of the enemy, he was not intimidated at all, and even struggled to utter few words, “Don’t mind me! Kill… them!”

Without waiting for him to finish his sentence, Yuan clasped Qing Gang’s throat with one hand and flipped the hilt of his sword upside down with the other, hitting his silencing acupoints so heavily that he could no longer utter a sound, then raised the Primus Commander high in the air with one hand and shouted sternly, “Everyone back off! Or else, I will behead your Lord Commander!”

For a moment, there was a brief moment of hesitation as the Primus Army was left without a leader.

As Zhu Yan watched the scene from nearby, she could not help but catch a deep breath in astonishment – it was the first time in all those years that she had seen this side of Yuan: like a sword hardened in blood and fire, without the slightest hint of gentleness.

Her heart fluttered and uncontrollably she ran towards him.

However, during the brief moment when the two were facing each other with their swords drawn, no one noticed that the cannons, which were almost set ablaze, suddenly and silently changed their direction – as if held by an invisible thread – and redirected their muzzles suddenly, aiming at the leader of the Restoration Army.

That was Xuan Can silently casting a spell from the side, soundlessly dispatching the artillery’s position and aiming at the enemy – as a battle-hardened soldier, he only obeyed the orders of one person, and that was the Commander of the Primus Army! Since Lord Qing Gang had personally ordered that they must wipe out the enemies approaching regardless of his own safety, then him, as the leader of the Shadow Warriors, must obey that order!

He was going to secretly take control of the artillery and crush both the traitors and the General together!

“Stand back!” Yuan snapped as he held the hostage.

The Primus troops took a short step back under his glare, but refused to withdraw, and everyone looked towards the White banner on the other side – there was standing the other leader of the campaign, the Lord of Yecheng City, Bai Fenglin. Nevertheless, at the moment, Bai Fenglin’s face was gloomy and unsettled, and he remained silent for a long time.

If they were to lose all their efforts, he would have been unable to explain the situation to the Emperor; but Qing Gang was the eldest son of the Green King, and if he were to die at the hands of the sharks, not only him, but also the entire White Clan would not be able to bear the burden – not to mention the fact that his father had secretly requested him to allow his son to take part in the battle. He had been told in confidence by his father that he was expected to undermine the power of the Green Clan in the midst of this turmoil without revealing himself.

The circumstances were intricate and complex, but things had suddenly exploded in such a way that it was difficult to weigh up the priorities in the midst of the situation; Even the deep-witted governor of Yecheng was uncertain of what to do.

“Back off!” Yuan held Qing Gang with one hand while the blade on his other hand was already slicing into the side of his neck, blood gushing out as he shouted sternly, “Back off all at once! Otherwise, I’ll kill him!”

The war zone went silent as everyone was waiting with baited breath.

Yuan spurred his horse forward, forcing his eyes on the hostile army, one step at a time. Whenever he stepped forward, the Primus troops retreated without a sound, as if the ring of soldiers had been torn apart by a sword. When the path was cleared, behind him, in the burning gatehouse, more than a hundred warriors of the Restoration Army emerged, all of them exhausted, like beasts at the end of their rope.

Together they followed Yuan step by step as he walked out of the premises.

If the attack had continued for another quarter of an hour, these sharks might not have been able to survive, right? Although Bai Fenglin was pondering silently in his mind, his eyes did not leave Qing Gang’s sight for a second, and he grew increasingly anxious. Qing Gang was glaring at him with a deadly stare, his eyes full of blood, like flames burning. Bai Fenglin knew what the General meant, he knew that he was urging him to order a siege, to give up on rescuing him and to hunt down and kill all the sharks – Qing Gang was a soldier after all, and was not afraid of death. But… Bai Fenglin grinned bitterly, shook his head quietly and diverted his gaze away from the scene. Yes, when I received the King’s orders, I wanted to let you die like this, to honor your family and to fulfill my own achievements. But if you were to die in front of everyone because of me, would your ambitious father let me go? I can’t afford to take the blame for it in plain sight.

“Release them.” Bai Fenglin sighed and swung his finger around, issuing a command. Upon hearing the Commander’s order, the Primus troops retreated from side to side to give a pathway for them to proceed.

Raging furiously, Qing Gang’s glare was burning with anger, aware that Bai Fenglin could not be counted on; he turned fiercely towards Xuan Can, the leader of the Shadow Warriors, who was standing aside, angrily rebuking him with a furious stare. As if understanding the General’s orders, Xuan Can nodded in silence.

However, Zhu Yan had no idea of the undercurrents that were raging over there, and could not help but sigh with relief when she saw the Kongsang army retreating. Standing on the blazing battlefield, she watched Yuan steer his horse towards her step by step, and surprisingly, she felt somewhat lost in a trance – the Yuan of this moment was completely different from the gentle companion she remembered in her heart, it was simply a different person that she had never witnessed in more than ten years growing up next to him.

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