Free Web NovelChapter 165: Chapter 165: A New Force
"Zhao, there’s actually another way. As long as we help you..."
One of the three men said slowly, a sinister smile on his face.
"Help me? How can you help me?" frёeωebɳovel.com
"Your men are all dead, but our men are all outside the city, hidden in the Mist Forest. Besides, in order to hunt the Vermilion Bird, our subordinates are all powerful Martial Artists. If we have them wipe out those Great Xia Dragon Guards and Examiners, won’t it amount to the same thing?" the man continued with a smile.
Hearing this, a dark look flashed in the Zhao Family Ancestor’s eyes.
’The same?’
’The same, my ass!’
’According to his plan, this huge haul of merits was his to claim alone.’
’But if he went along with their plan, the lion’s share of the merits would go to the three of them. And with all his own men dead, the best he could hope for was to break even, his achievements canceling out his failures.’
’It would be like losing all his men for absolutely no benefit!’
But if he refused, it wouldn’t just be a matter of no merits—it would be a grave offense. He had essentially sent his own men to their deaths at the hands of the Great Xia Dragon Guards. Recalling the strictness of the Martial Soul Hall, the Zhao Family Ancestor couldn’t help but shudder.
"Let’s... let’s wait and see."
The Zhao Family Ancestor said, his voice hoarse as he waved his hand.
They waited for over a day. The Zhao Family Ancestor and the other three men didn’t close their eyes all night, as messengers constantly reported the situation on the light screen.
However, by the next morning, the Military Merit rankings on the light screen hadn’t changed in the slightest. Chu Qingyun still held nearly all the Military Merits, sitting firmly at the top of the list.
At this point, the Zhao Family Ancestor finally couldn’t take it anymore.
He knew that lasting this long wasn’t a coincidence. This person named Chu Qingyun was genuinely capable.
’Chu Qingyun... Chu Qingyun...’
Muttering the name to himself, the Zhao Family Ancestor’s expression was grim. He felt he’d heard it somewhere before but couldn’t place it at the moment.
"Zhao Guang, there’s only one morning left before the examination ends. You’d better decide quickly if you want our help. It’ll be too late if you keep waiting," one of the men urged with a smile, his expression showing he knew he had Zhao Guang right where he wanted him.
The Zhao Family Ancestor let out a long sigh, cupped his fists, and said, "Then I must trouble the three of you."
The Zhao Family Ancestor’s heart was filled with resentment, bitterness, and indignation, but he had no other choice. He could only bow his head for the time being.
But in his heart, he burned the name Chu Qingyun into his memory—the man who had single-handedly destroyed his perfect plan!
"Haha, good! I’ll go give the order myself!" frёewebnoѵēl.com
One of the men laughed heartily and stood up.
"Hmph, don’t forget to go out the east gate, and don’t let Liu Canghai notice!"
The Zhao Family Ancestor reminded him, his face grim. When it came down to it, he was the one who was most terrified of this final gamble failing.
「Half an hour later.」
A large force of Martial Artists from the Martial Soul Hall quietly gathered outside the examination valley, gradually encircling it completely.
This force of Martial Soul Hall Martial Artists numbered over a thousand. Most of them were high-level Martial Artists, Rank Seven or higher, and even the number of Rank Nine Martial Artists was remarkably high.
Using the same method as the Great Xia Dragon Guards, they surrounded the entire valley and then began to advance inward.
Their objective was singular: to wipe them all out in one fell swoop!
After changing his appearance and retrieving his Puppet, Chu Qingyun enjoyed a peaceful night’s rest.
Although the sounds of people moving and arguing could be heard from time to time during the night, everyone was busy looking for Chu Qingyun, so no one paid any attention to him.
By the next day, some people had already given up and resigned themselves to their fate, while others were still searching. The valley gradually grew quiet as everyone waited for the examination time to end.
However, the arrival of this fresh force from the Martial Soul Hall shattered the valley’s fragile peace.
Near the outer edge of the valley, two Rank Eight Martial Artists from the Great Xia Dragon Guards walked with dejected expressions. They had given up and were heading to the valley’s border to wait out the remaining time.
"Sigh... I thought the two of us teaming up would let us rake in a good haul of Military Merits. I never expected two monsters to pop up among the Examiners—one Xia He, and one Chu Qingyun. What rotten luck."
"Xia He is manageable, he’s just ridiculously fast. But that Chu Qingyun... his ability to hide is just insane..."
"Careful, people ahead!"
As they were talking, they suddenly saw numerous shadowy figures moving within the thick fog ahead, seemingly walking right toward them.
’Passersby?’
’Reinforcements?’
The two Great Xia Dragon Guards were confused. This place usually had no visitors, and they hadn’t heard of any reinforcements.
"Hey! Who are you people? This area has been requisitioned by us Great Xia Dragon Guards!" one of them shouted at the crowd ahead at the top of his lungs.
However, while the echo of his shout was still reverberating, dozens of multi-colored Soul Techniques shot out from the thick fog ahead.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Dozens of Soul Techniques of various shapes and colors shrieked as they rained down.
The two Great Xia Dragon Guards hastily threw up their defenses, but they were struck again and again before they could block more than a few blows, perishing almost instantly.
Soon, dozens of Martial Artists from the Martial Soul Hall swarmed over. After taking the two Great Xia Dragon Guards’ Tokens and anything of value, they reformed their long, horizontal line and continued their advance into the valley.
Similar incidents were happening in many places throughout the valley.
The Great Xia Dragon Guards and the Examiners were formidable, but facing an enemy that outnumbered them by several, or even ten, times their number, they had no power to resist and were swiftly eliminated.
Furthermore, because the Martial Soul Hall’s forces included a considerable number of Rank Nine Martial Artists, not even the Captain Level Great Xia Dragon Guards could break through the encirclement quickly.
Any significant commotion would immediately draw swarms of nearby Martial Soul Hall Martial Artists to surround and annihilate them.
Under this impenetrable advance, even the two Great Xia Dragon Guard teams led by Captains fell one after another at the hands of the Martial Soul Hall.
As they advanced deeper, the distance between the Martial Soul Hall Martial Artists also continued to shrink, which meant it was becoming increasingly difficult for the people inside to break out.
What was even more terrifying was that the Great Xia Dragon Guards and Examiners inside had no idea that someone had turned the tables and was now surrounding and hunting them!
「After half the morning had passed.」
Chu Qingyun figured it was about time. He leaped down from the large tree where he’d been resting and started walking toward the valley exit.
He hadn’t gone far when the Devouring Martial Soul within his Qi Sea began to throb wildly.
’People from the Martial Soul Hall!’
By now, Chu Qingyun was very familiar with this warning from his Devouring Martial Soul. He quickly sidestepped, hid behind a tree, and carefully peeked out to look ahead.
Soon, a large number of figures appeared in the thick fog ahead.
A shiver ran through Chu Qingyun. ’How is this possible! I thought all the Martial Soul Hall members were wiped out. How can there be so many of them?’
Chu Qingyun didn’t dwell on it, though. ’So what if there are more of them? They’re just here to deliver a fresh batch of Military Merits. I’ll just have to kill them all.’
’With my current strength, that much I’m confident about.’
