At this, Ling Xiao sheathed his steel sword and looked coolly at the woman in black. "It’s not poison, but if you want to recover, you’ll have to take an elixir from me. However, I think you’re better off this way. At least you won’t be able to hurt anyone when you go berserk!"

"You’re shameless!" the woman in black raged at Ling Xiao, her voice choked with sobs. But Ling Xiao didn’t spare her another glance, instead turning to the two remaining men. "Take your people and go."

At this point, the thought of launching a surprise attack on Ling Xiao never even crossed the Demon Sword Master’s mind. ’This young man is far too shrewd,’ he thought. ’Our loss was well-deserved.’ He glanced at Ling’Er and said apologetically, "Ling’Er, don’t worry. I’ll come back for you as soon as I can!" With that, he and the Fifth Rank Mad Swordsman picked up the bodies of their two comrades from the ground. Just as they were about to leave, they suddenly heard a wave of heavy footsteps approaching from a distance. And they were coming from both ends of the long street!

Both parties froze, exchanging looks. Uncle Fu’s expression suddenly changed. "The coachman!" he exclaimed.

Ling Xiao glanced around and, sure enough, the coachman was gone. ’He must have slipped away during the fight,’ he realized. The Demon Sword Master shouted, "Quick! Hide behind the trees!" 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

With that, he and the Fifth Rank Mad Swordsman scurried behind the towering trees that lined the road. He yelled urgently at Ling Xiao, "What are you waiting for? It’s you they’re after!"

Ling Xiao replied coldly, "Then I’ll give them the chance to kill me."

But his eyes blazed with fury. ’He had been struggling with how to handle the nobles and wealthy merchants of Penzes City. Ye Zi, Uncle Fu, and even Chunlan and Qiuyue had all advised him to win over some while suppressing others. The goal was to divide and conquer, to keep them from banding together against him.’

’He never thought they’d be this ruthless. Sure enough, the farther one is from the Imperial Capital, the more brazen people become! They’ll stop at nothing. First, they hired assassins. When that failed, they sent out their private armies. They were absolutely determined to see him dead right here!’

Ling Xiao laughed in fury. In his mind, he had already condemned this overreaching scum to death.

A force of four to five hundred men approached from both ends of the street, with more than two hundred on each side! They were all archers, wielding powerful crossbows with incredible penetrating force. A few men even shouldered heavy crossbows, loaded with bolts as thick as a baby’s arm!

These heavy crossbows were weapons typically used in siege warfare by both attackers and defenders, and today they had brought two of them. ’Looks like there’s no reason for the City Guard Army to exist anymore,’ Ling Xiao thought.

Ling Xiao’s eyes flickered. He couldn’t help but look up through the gaps in the tree canopy at the star-filled sky. He wondered if Ling Wu and the others, who were out training the thousand-man cavalry, could hear such a loud commotion and arrive in time.

Just then, the two groups of archers stopped twenty meters away. They immediately fell into formation, aiming their powerful crossbows at Ling Xiao, Uncle Fu, and the woman in black, who was still standing in the middle of the street, unable to flee.

"How dare you!"

Uncle Fu suddenly roared at the archers on one side, "Are you all blind?! Before you stands the Viscount, the Lord of Penzes City! Who sent you here? What do you think you’re doing?"

Not one of the hundreds of men on either side spoke a word. An eerie silence descended upon the street, and the atmosphere grew oppressive, suffocating. It became hard to breathe. The quiet was so profound that one could hear their own heart pounding and their heavy, ragged breaths...

Just then, a cold voice rang out from behind the archers. "Word is, fugitives wanted by the Empire have been spotted here. We’re a volunteer militia, here to apprehend them! We’ve always helped maintain the peace in Penzes City. You say you’re the Viscount’s men? Ha! Don’t make me laugh! The Viscount has clearly gone to a banquet. You’re impostors! Fire! Shoot them to death!!"

SWOOSH... SWISH SWISH... SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH SWISH!

The piercing shriek of crossbow bolts tearing through the air erupted. Ling Xiao grabbed the woman in black and dove for the cover of the nearby trees, simultaneously brandishing his steel sword to bat away several stray bolts.

The Demon Sword Master, now without his Crimson Treasure Sword, started to rush forward to protect the woman in black, but a single cold glance from Ling Xiao froze him in his tracks. Ling Xiao was too close to Ling’Er; he could kill her with a single slash long before the Demon Sword Master could reach them.

"Damn it!" The Demon Sword Master slammed his fist into the enormous tree beside him. The massive trunk, thicker than a man could wrap his arms around, shuddered violently, showering down a cascade of dead branches and leaves with a loud RUSTLE.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

The sound of crossbow bolts sinking into the massive tree trunk echoed continuously. Seeing the bolts buried almost to their fletching, a deep hatred flared within Ling Xiao, and his understanding of the nobles and wealthy merchants of Penzes City deepened.

’For the sake of profit, there was nothing they wouldn’t do!’

’Very well. We’ll be meeting again soon, and when we do, we will settle this score.’

The volley of bolts was no threat to Uncle Fu. With a furious roar, he swung his black greatsword, creating an impenetrable curtain of steel. Then, like a whirlwind, he charged into one of the groups of archers. A cacophony of panicked screams and wails immediately erupted. In a single instant, Uncle Fu had slaughtered more than a hundred of the two-hundred-man archery unit!

The ground was littered with severed limbs. Blood stained the stone path crimson, and the wounded who were not yet dead lay on the ground, wailing in agony.