Chapter 98: Becoming an Outlaw (Part 2) [Requesting Monthly Tickets]
“…This is very wrong,” the leader said.
The subordinate then asked, "Boss, is something wrong?"
Upon hearing this, the leader glared at his unprogressive subordinate and said irritably, "Is that thing around your neck just for show? You fought them during the day and took a lot of their flesh. They're trapped in the mountains at night and can't get down. Not to mention we'll come back to kill them, even if we don't, the wild beasts and birds of prey will give them a run for their money. Do you think it's normal for you to be sleeping so soundly?"
The subordinates agreed with this reasoning.
The leader glanced in the direction of Chen Tang's camp and guessed, "There should be an ambush nearby, waiting for us to take the bait and die."
The subordinate hesitated: "Should we still take action?"
The leader let out a snort of laughter.
He said disdainfully, "We've come all this way, how can we leave empty-handed? An ambush that catches the enemy off guard is a joke. You, take six brothers and go through here. You and I, take ten brothers and go up from there... Old Nine and Old Ma, take your men... the rest of you follow behind!"
Instead of having everyone rush in, he chose to disperse and surround the caravan. According to the messages relayed by his men, the caravan's guards numbered only forty or fifty men, all of whom were wounded.
Under such disadvantages, they could only choose to band together and concentrate their limited strength, using the terrain to determine the direction of the ambush, that is, to concentrate their forces to set up an ambush on the mountain road on the side of the camp.
A small number of people pretend to be asleep, snoring loudly to lower the enemy's guard and make them relax their guard, while the rest lie in ambush, waiting for the target to appear so they can catch the enemy off guard.
To be on the safe side, the leader chose to disperse his forces, sending out multiple teams to attack separately—as long as one team found the ambush location, they could join forces to surround and kill the enemy, effectively trapping the camp's guards.
Normally, the leader's method would be effective, but the reality was too different from what he expected. The snoring in the camp was real snoring; the thugs had been fighting for over an hour, one after another, but the only ambush—
Shen Tang and Zhai Le squatted on the tree feeding mosquitoes.
Oh, no, only Shen Tang feeds the mosquitoes.
The enemy who ambushed them consisted of only two people from beginning to end.
Of course, the leader's strategy of attacking in a dispersed manner still caused them some trouble. Zhai Le, who was trying to pinpoint the location of the attacks by sound, frowned slightly and whispered to Shen Tang, "They've chosen to disperse, that's not good. We need to be quick..."
If the bandits could concentrate in one place, even if their arrows weren't accurate, they wouldn't miss. Brother Shen wouldn't have to run back and forth to kill people with his sword.
Now that they're scattered, it's much more difficult for just the two of them to take down all the bandits in a short time.
Shen Tang tilted her head back and took a sip of Dukang wine.
"Don't panic." He wiped the remaining wine from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve and laughed, "I can kill a man in ten steps!"
He drew his sword, leaping down from the treetop, gathering his spiritual energy into the blade. His aura instantly surged to its peak, and he swung it forcefully. An invisible, transparent sword aura, accompanied by a piercing sonic boom, crashed down towards the ground.
boom!
The ground cracked open, and a sword mark several feet long lay at the bandits' feet.
Their path was blocked, dust billowing several meters high, like dark clouds obscuring the moon and blocking its light. A white figure, like a shooting star, broke through the dust and mist, its almost tangible killing intent rushing towards them.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye.
The leader was terrified.
"Who is it!"
He activated his martial spirit, and a cross-shaped halberd materialized in his hand.
The tip of the nearly ten-foot-long halberd slashed through the air, aiming straight for his face, but was easily blocked by the seemingly thin sword.
The spear tip collided with the sword, the immense force causing the leader's hand to go numb. This force also brought him a strange sense of familiarity, but he couldn't quite place it for the moment. It wasn't until Shen Tang, in the midst of dealing with him, slit the throats of several bandit henchmen, and the sword reflected the cold moonlight, that he suddenly remembered, his pupils trembling.
"It was you!"
"It's me." Shen Tang was initially surprised, but upon recognizing the halberd, memories flooded back. It was truly a case of enemies meeting on a narrow road. She sneered, "Since you're a guest, you might as well leave your life behind!"
The leader, enraged, laughed coldly: "Today is your death day!"
"Really? Why don't you open your eyes and see who's at a disadvantage now!" This guy is useless yet loves to spout nonsense and make threats. Shen Tang has only one attitude towards this kind of person—
Fight them to the death!
Upon hearing this, the leader felt a chill run down his spine.
Only then did he notice that someone was shooting arrows from above.
At least four at a time!
Every arrow struck its target with precision; the darkness did not hinder the archers' performance. Some arrows pierced the forehead with deadly accuracy. Others, though missing vital organs, possessed astonishing force, easily piercing through the body and embedding themselves in the mud.
If that person fights again, the next arrow will be aimed at his head.
Almost every breath someone fell to a stray arrow.
The leader was both shocked and horrified.
The hidden problems are troublesome, and the overt ones are also problematic.
He clearly remembered that this man had barely managed to survive under his command just a few months ago, but this time, he couldn't do anything to him. The latter clearly didn't take him seriously, and while dealing with his attacks, he still had the energy to take the lives of other bandits.
Even though he wielded his nearly ten-foot-long halberd with such precision and skill, employing every technique imaginable—horizontal strikes, vertical thrusts—Shen Tang remained unfazed, the tip of his spear never even touching the hem of Shen Tang's clothes… Calm and unhurried, as if strolling leisurely in a garden.
Where is the trace of their previous desperate and disheveled escape?
With just one man and one sword, plus archers hidden in the shadows, they managed to hold off more than a hundred men, preventing them from making any progress.
Shen Tang seemed to see through his doubts.
Suddenly, he lunged forward. The leader's halberd was too long, and there was no time to return to help, so he decisively abandoned the halberd and transformed it into a short blade.
In a mere instant, he squeezed the martial energy within his dantian to its limit, gathering it into the blade, and unleashed a close-range slash. At such close range, there was no time to dodge—based on his past experience, this blade energy could easily cleave a person in two!
But the leader never expected—
The blade energy collided with the suddenly appearing, intertwined black and white literary energy, like waves crashing against rocks, shattering completely. The resulting shockwave blew people several meters away. Shen Tang was unharmed, while he was sent flying and tumbling, spinning several times before coming to a stop.
His chest was churning with blood and qi, and another mouthful of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
Shen Tang: "Surprised?"
Although her sword-wielding style resembled that of a valiant warrior, the monogram on her waist silently revealed her true nature to everyone—
She was a scholar!
How could a scholar not know how to "protect himself wisely"?
Zhai Le squatted on the tree, not missing the brief moment of Wen Qi's brilliance, and pouted in grievance—he hadn't forgotten what a certain Brother Shen had said about "not playing the support role," so Brother Shen knew the power of Wen Xin's words.
Shen Tang looked at the leader who couldn't even stand up, and was about to draw his sword to finish him off when the leader suddenly raised his hand, opened his mouth, and shouted.
"Stop! I've lost!"
He brought over a hundred men, of whom more than thirty died and over thirty were wounded. The remaining few dozen, responsible for support, were routed by this scene and fled in the opposite direction for their lives.
The outcome is a foregone conclusion.
Shen Tang scoffed inwardly.
He can just stop like that? Doesn't he have any pride?
Shen Tang tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword.
At this moment—
One after another, a series of rapid screams came from not far away.
Both she and the leader were startled.
Which direction?
Could the screams that were heard during the accident have come from those dozens of deserters?
|ω｀)
Sorry, this chapter was really difficult to write, I revised it several times but I'm still not satisfied.
I'll revise the next chapter.
P.S.: There's a surprise in the comments section! A fan has drawn a picture of Lin Feng's little sister.
So cute! (*▽*)
(End of this chapter)
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