Chapter 158: Chapter 144: The Lurking Oriole’s Ambush

Ling Xiao sheathed his steel sword and looked impassively at the woman in black. "It’s not poison, but if you want to recover, you’ll have to take the Elixir I give you. However, I think you’re better off like this. At least you won’t hurt anyone when you go crazy!"

"You’re shameless!" the woman in black rebuked Ling Xiao, her voice tinged with tears. But Ling Xiao didn’t spare her another glance. Instead, he turned to the remaining two men and said, "Take your people and leave."

At this point, the Demon Sword Master had lost all thought of launching a surprise attack on Ling Xiao. ’This young man is far too cunning. My loss wasn’t unjust!’ He glanced at Ling’Er, a hint of apology in his voice. "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 fallen comrades. Just as they were about to leave, they suddenly heard the urgent sound of many footsteps approaching from a distance—and from both ends of the long street.

Both sides froze for a moment, exchanging glances. Uncle Fu’s expression suddenly changed. "The carriage driver!" he said.

Ling Xiao’s eyes swept the area. Sure enough, the carriage driver was gone. ’He must have snuck away during the fight.’ The Demon Sword Master said, "Quick, hide behind the trees!"

As he spoke, he and the Fifth Rank Mad Swordsman scurried behind the towering ancient trees lining the road. He shouted urgently to Ling Xiao, "What are you waiting for? You’re the one they’re after!"

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

But his eyes betrayed a boundless fury. ’I had been racking my brain over how to handle the nobles and wealthy merchants of Penzes City. Ye Zi, Uncle Fu, and even Chunlan and Qiuyue had all advised me to win over some while suppressing others—to divide and conquer, preventing them from uniting against me.’

’I never expected them to be so vicious. It’s true what they say: the farther people are from the Imperial Capital, the more unscrupulously they act! They’ll stop at nothing. First, they hired assassins. When the assassins failed, they sent a large private army. Their goal is clear: to make sure I never leave this place alive!’

Ling Xiao laughed in fury. In his heart, he had already sentenced these overreaching fools to death.

From both sides came four to five hundred men, with over two hundred on each side! They were all archers, uniformly armed with powerful crossbows known for their high penetration. A few men were even shouldering heavy siege crossbows, loaded with bolts as thick as a baby’s arm!

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

Ling Xiao’s eyes flickered. He couldn’t help but look up through the occasional gaps in the tree canopy at the star-filled sky, wondering if Ling Wu and the others training the thousand cavalrymen would hear the commotion and arrive in time.

Just then, the two squads of archers halted twenty meters away. They immediately formed ranks, aiming their powerful crossbows at Ling Xiao, Uncle Fu, and the woman in black, who was still standing there, unable to flee.

"How dare you!"

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

Among the hundreds of men on both sides, not one spoke. A strange silence suddenly fell over the area, thick with a suffocating pressure that made it hard to breathe. Amidst a crowd of hundreds, one could actually hear their own heartbeat and ragged breaths...

Just then, an indifferent voice called out from behind the archers. "I heard that fugitives wanted by the Empire have appeared here. We are a private militia, spontaneously gathered to capture them! We’ve always assisted with keeping 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 to kill!"

SWISH... 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 dashed for the cover of the nearby trees, simultaneously swinging his steel sword to bat away a few stray bolts.

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

"Damn it!" The Demon Sword Master slammed his fist into a massive tree beside him. The trunk, so thick one person couldn’t wrap their arms around it, trembled violently, and a shower of dead branches and leaves rained down with a loud RUSTLE.

THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!

The sound of crossbow bolts sinking into the massive tree beside him was incessant. Seeing the bolts buried almost completely in the wood filled Ling Xiao’s heart with a burning hatred. His understanding of the nobles and wealthy merchants of Penzes City deepened.

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

’Very well. We’ll be meeting soon, and then we’ll settle this score!’

The bolts were no match for Uncle Fu. With a furious roar, he spun his black heavy sword into an impenetrable curtain of black steel, then charged into one of the groups like a whirlwind. A frenzy of agonized screams immediately erupted. In a single instant, Uncle Fu had slaughtered more than a hundred of the two-hundred-plus archers!

The ground was littered with severed limbs. Blood stained the stone road red, and those who were wounded but not dead lay on the ground, wailing in agony.

For a moment, the scene was like a hell on earth.

And there stood Uncle Fu, his thin body as steady as a mountain, like a veritable God of Slaughter on the battlefield!

The steward-like man on this side, the one who had just spoken, still had a frozen smile on his face. In the span of a single breath, the squad of archers here had been nearly wiped out!

A foul smell emanated from him, followed by the incessant chattering of his teeth. The man was so terrified he couldn’t even speak, his eyes fixed on Uncle Fu in utter horror.

Uncle Fu shot him a single glance. The killing intent in that gaze was so tangible it made the man spray a mouthful of blood before collapsing limply to the ground, scared to death—literally.

The squad of archers at the rear had long been scared witless!

Even the Demon Sword Master, who had been hiding behind a tree ready to watch the show, was shocked beyond words. ’Now I finally understand why that old man, whose strength is clearly not as great as my own, could fight me to a standstill for so long and make me so uncomfortable.’

’It’s killing intent! The kind of overwhelming, pervasive killing intent that only comes from slaughtering thousands upon thousands of people!’

’It’s completely different from a disciple of a major sect like me. How many people have I killed? Maybe not even fifty in my entire life. But that man... he’s a God of Slaughter!’

’Originally, I’d planned to just watch the show. It would’ve been even better if the old man had been killed by a stray bolt! The chances were low, of course. To kill a Demon Sword Master with crossbows, you’d need a thousand archers on open terrain, firing in volleys. That might work. Otherwise, trying to shoot down a High-tier Martial Artist capable of short-term flight is just a fool’s dream!’

’But I still didn’t want to help him. I knew the old man was injured from our fight. It would be best if he got hurt even more badly!’

’Anyway, this has nothing to do with me. As long as I can protect my junior sister, nothing else matters.’

Just then, the other squad of archers finally remembered to flee. Suddenly, the sound of another volley of arrows cut through the air.

"AHH! AHH!"

Screams of pain rang out again. In the distance, five hundred elite, armored soldiers were charging toward them like madmen, their approach accompanied by the shrill cries of the clown!

The remaining two hundred-plus archers were all shot down by a volley fired from the five hundred soldiers while they were still charging at full speed!

"Young Master, Ling Wu has arrived late! I am willing to accept punishment!"

Over on the side, Uncle Fu could finally no longer hold back. He spat out a mouthful of blood and his body went limp, caught immediately by two members of the Tiger Roar Assault Team.

Covered in sweat and with a look of shame, Ling Wu dropped to his knees before Ling Xiao with a THUD.

"Have someone take Uncle Fu back!"

Ling Xiao pulled Ling Wu to his feet. A savage look crept onto his handsome face, and a furious inferno blazed in his eyes. In a low voice, he said, "Let’s go. Time for revenge."

Then he turned to the Demon Sword Master and ordered, "You’re coming with us. You can be my hired muscle."