At first, it was just a rumble that seemed to come from the horizon.
Soon, however, a continuous roar approached from afar, surging toward Wang Ping with an indescribable, terrifying momentum like a towering tidal wave.
Rumble!
The air vibrated and the ground trembled. Blazing blood qi turned the entire Longxing County into a furnace, and the oncoming waves of air radiated scalding heat.
Looking out, a dense, dark mass filled the view.
Over a hundred county yamen constables turned out in full force. They abandoned their usual light gear and sabers for an outfit that made one’s scalp tingle.
“Beast-faced armor, crescent blades, my god…”
“How is this possible? There’s no rebel army attacking the city, and the prefectural office hasn’t issued a decree… The Magistrate actually dared to privately open the 【Armory】. Is he rebelling?”
“Crazy! Everyone’s gone crazy!”
For a time, the city’s respectable citizens and wealthy families were so frightened they tightly shut their doors, casting cautious and even fearful glances.
For martial artists of Great Shun, fist and kick techniques were not the foundation.
Ultimately, weapons held the key to victory. Even an external martial artist wielding a 【Divine Relic】 could slaughter Internal Force Masters like dogs.
This was the case right now. Out of the hundred-plus constables from the county yamen, one could count on one hand the martial artists who had broken all six barriers and reached external perfection.
The vast majority had only broken two or three barriers. Yet, once they donned full heavy armor and wielded horse-chopping great blades, the situation changed completely.
Not to mention, they could form military formations.
The constables already practiced the Imperial Court’s standard martial arts and wielded its standard weapons. Forming an array pushed the amplifying effects to the absolute pinnacle.
Wang Ping felt this most deeply.
In the vision of his spiritual sense, what appeared before him was not a hundred-man squad, but a breathing, moving mountain!
All the constables synchronized their breathing, heartbeats, and pulses. The weapons in their hands resonated. In a daze, Wang Ping even saw an armored giant standing above this military formation, looking down at him just as coldly as the Golden-Winged Great Roc huddled inside the county yamen.
“Safety in numbers…”
Wang Ping narrowed his eyes. He instantly realized why Shouchong didn’t press the attack and storm the county yamen after ambushing and severely injuring Xu Bingzheng that day.
Because the Imperial Court’s rule never hinged on a single person.
The Head Constable died? The Magistrate suffered heavy injuries? This would certainly shake the Court’s control over Longxing County, but only to a limited extent. The chaos was ultimately temporary.
The Court’s true foundation was the hundred-plus constables supported by the entire county’s grain. As long as they remained, Longxing County wouldn’t fall into chaos.
“A group of external martial artists, equipped with the Court’s superior weapons, mounts, and military formation tactics, can display a Divine Intent similar to a Titled Martial Master. And this is with Chen Haoyan dead, lacking a Head Constable to lead the array. Otherwise, the power would be even stronger…”
Wang Ping slowly exhaled.
Spiritual sense intimidation… it won’t work. It might be fine one-on-one, but it can’t shake this kind of military formation. I have to face them head-on.
Charging the formation alone to break the army?
“He’s courting death!”
Watching the imminent battle converging in the center of the county town, an old man delivered his judgment without hesitation:
“It’s impossible for him to survive.”
“Even if he is a Titled Martial Master, he won’t fare any differently than an ordinary Internal Force Master against such a formation. His internal force will soon run out.”
“If he can kill more than ten men, he’s skilled.”
In this golden age of martial arts, only martial artists granted the title of “Grandmaster” possessed the true privilege and power to rival an army single-handedly.
In other words, unless one became a Martial Grandmaster, facing a true army of martial artists—even a small-scale, hundred-man squad in a county town—would result in a bitter struggle. If the army’s size exceeded ten thousand, even a Martial Grandmaster risked death!
“By the order of the Magistrate!”
At the front of the formation, all the constables linked their breaths and spoke simultaneously, their voices booming like thunder: “The rebel Wang Ping, aligned with demonic cults, gathered mobs and plotted rebellion…”
“He must be executed!”
Whoosh!
The uniform shout kicked up visible waves of displacing air. Almost simultaneously, the military formation moved, and all the constables charged toward Wang Ping in unison.
The movement resembled a landslide.
Over a hundred great blades rose high, their cold gleam resembling a forest, before slashing down in waves. In an instant, bright blade edges entirely consumed Wang Ping’s vision!
This was merely the first round. Although the attackers gathered the power of the entire formation, only a dozen or so men actually struck, with dozens more waiting behind them. Even if Wang Ping unleashed his full strength and blocked this wave of slashes, the next wave would immediately follow, denying him a moment to catch his breath.
This would continue for about ten rounds.
Once ten rounds passed, the attackers from the first round would recover their stamina and strike again, creating an endless cycle.
The first strike is enough to determine life or death.
A stinging sensation triggered by the crisis spread across his entire body. Yet, Wang Ping’s mood grew increasingly calm, and his breathing turned steady and long.
The longer I drag this out against this wave-slashing formation, the worse my disadvantage.
Because of their numbers and continuous rotation, the power of their strikes won’t drop in the slightest. Meanwhile, I am alone; my stamina and internal force will eventually run out.
Therefore, the only way to break the array is to unleash a power the formation cannot withstand in the very first strike, breaking their rotation.
At this thought, Wang Ping immediately raised his foot and stomped heavily on the ground.
Instantly, the earth shook and the mountains swayed!
Dirt flew up in massive chunks with Wang Ping at the center. As his foot rose and fell, the ground violently surged like ocean waves!
The constables surrounding him clearly hadn’t anticipated the sudden earthquake. Their footing instantly faltered, and the once-unified formation wavered. The forest of blade lights scattered. Although they quickly regrouped, they exposed a momentary flaw.
“【Great Law of Heavenly Demon Disintegration】!”
Wang Ping strode forward. As the long saber in his hand left its sheath, a layer of blood-red tinged his brows. The cultivation body he had just recently forged explosively shattered!
Then, blade light flashed.
Signature technique, 【Yama’s Summons】!
The demonic blade, reaching peak speed, completely broke the limits of visual perception. The blade light manifested as a blindingly dazzling streak of fire.
Amidst the spreading fire, earth-shattering blade hums echoed endlessly. It churned the clouds and mist, manifesting the phantoms of Yin soldiers and ghost generals.
It brazenly smashed into the exposed flaw of the county yamen’s military formation. The entire process flowed like water, effortlessly slicing open the once mountain-thick array!
This scene instantly silenced all the onlookers.
Because the sight before them did not look like a single martial artist charging an array. Instead, it resembled two evenly matched armies clashing on a narrow path!
Heaven and earth fell silent.
A moment later, the onlookers realized this silence was not normal. It was a case of the loudest sound being imperceptible; the blade’s hum was so immense it caused this anomaly!
After another moment, the sounds of falling bodies, screams, and clashing metal… a dense cacophony gradually emerged from that bizarre silence. The once-unified military formation violently collapsed, its mountain-like Divine Intent disintegrating with it. Only a single figure darted through the chaos with abandon.
“Im… impossible…”
The old man who had just concluded Wang Ping was courting death now nearly held his breath. He unconsciously clenched his fists and stared blankly at that figure.
What was this person’s background to be so fierce?
“Could he be a Martial Grandmaster… No, impossible. If he truly were a Martial Grandmaster, he could easily suppress a mere hundred-man squad without shedding a drop of blood.”
“What a fierce and valiant warrior!”
For a time, many onlookers revealed expressions of excitement. After all, standing against a thousand, charging the formation and breaking the army—which martial artist hadn’t fantasized about such a feat?
Soon, however, they calmed down.
Because Wang Ping, amidst the battlefield, was not unharmed.
In fact, quite the opposite. With every step forward, he left a large pool of blood in his wake, and one or two more bone-deep blade gashes appeared on his body.
Battlefield combat differed from martial arts duels.
In the latter, one could dodge and evade. In the former, there was no room to hide. One could only endure the blows forcefully until they couldn’t anymore and died. It was that simple.
Pfft!
A constable braved Wang Ping’s blade light. At the cost of half his heavy armor shattering and flying back while spitting blood, he used his crescent blade to rip a gash across Wang Ping’s chest.
Trading injury for injury.
This was the advantage of equipment. Clad in heavy armor, a mere external martial artist dared to trade blows with him, and might not even die in the process.
Because he simply had no chance to follow up with a finishing strike. Just as that constable flew back spitting blood, more men surged forward like ravenous wolves and tigers. Relying on their sturdy armor and sheer numbers, they continuously chipped away at his internal force and stamina. Meanwhile, four veteran constables who had achieved external perfection watched from afar.
Waiting for my internal force to dry up before coming out to clean up the mess?
He had to admit, this tactic was sound. After all, he could use 【Qi Ward】 to heal his injuries, but the depletion of internal force was absolute.
Wang Ping’s gaze darted around rapidly. He could almost see the eaves of the county yamen, yet he was completely blocked at the final intersection, unable to advance further.
Even if he luckily broke through, he would have to face the siege of the several veteran constables at external perfection, not to mention Magistrate Xu Bingzheng glaring covetously from behind them.
Danger at every turn.
Wang Ping remained calm. Ultimately, he even stopped actively using 【Qi Ward】 to heal his injuries. He realized these heavy injuries were exactly where his chance of victory lay.
That’s right, not a chance of survival.
Since he came here, he never planned to walk out alive. From the very beginning, he came seeking victory, and now he saw a glimmer of hope to achieve it.
Because he was about to die.
At this point, the disparity in strength no longer mattered. What mattered was that he was dying, while others still had long lives ahead of them. Who would dare risk their life against him now?
Why did those veteran constables hold back? If they disregarded their safety and charged at the front of the formation, he might have died long ago. But they didn’t. They preferred to sit back and watch their colleagues suffer heavy injuries and die, hiding at the very back to strike only when his internal force and stamina were exhausted.
“Hehe.”
Wang Ping sneered, looking down on the battlefield. The military formation he had previously punched through had already regrouped, encircling him ring after ring, trapping him in the center.
“The outcome is set!”
Inside the county yamen, Xu Bingzheng, lying on his side on a bed surrounded by the scent of medicine, suddenly sat up. His gaze turned icy, and a faint smirk lifted the corner of his mouth:
“A brute’s courage ends here.”
“I was racking my brain over how to capture you, but you threw yourself into the net. This saves me quite a bit of effort and prevents wasted time.”
With that said, Xu Bingzheng’s voice abruptly grew booming:
“Slice him to pieces!”
Upon this order, the formation moved again. However, unlike the beginning, the once mountain-thick array now appeared sparse and much more hesitant.
First, Wang Ping’s strength naturally far exceeded expectations. Having executed the 【Great Law of Heavenly Demon Disintegration】, his internal force multiplied crazily.
His subsequent rampage after breaking the array reduced the hundred-plus constables by nearly thirty men, many suffering severe injuries. Their wails still echoed outside the formation.
This in itself served as a massive deterrent.
Second, as Wang Ping anticipated, he currently had not a patch of intact flesh on his body. Blood poured out like rain. He clearly wouldn’t live much longer, so why risk fighting him?
Just wait patiently. Once he dies, they can safely claim the reward.
But even a wrecked ship has three pounds of nails. If they charged in now, they might be dragged down with him right before he dies. Dying like that would be far too unjust.
After all, with such a meager monthly salary, why lay one’s life on the line?
For a moment, even though Wang Ping stood on death’s door, no one pressed the attack. Instead, they surrounded him without striking, allowing him to successfully catch a crucial breath.
The next second, Wang Ping finally dropped his saber. He unslung the Black Hornless Dragon Bow from his back, grasped it in one hand, and used the other to draw a long arrow and nock it on the string.
“Huu…”
Exhaling completely, the last remnants of Wang Ping’s cultivation body entirely collapsed. In exchange, he gained his peak—and even surpassed his peak—internal force!
He drew the bow and nocked the arrow.
The internal force squeezed out by the 【Great Law of Heavenly Demon Disintegration】 astonishingly took on the color of blood. He imbued all of it into the arrowhead.
Needless to say, the final bottleneck of the 【Heaven-Shaking Cloud-Piercing Bow】 that he had studied intensively with Madam Su for days broke in response. It finally made Wang Ping understand the true essence of this archery technique. As the saying goes, an arrow on the string must be fired. What this archery pursued was the resolute state of mind of an arrow leaving the string.
An arrow leaving the string ought never to return!
【Heaven-Shaking Cloud-Piercing Bow】, perfection!
Instantly, a hot current surged through Wang Ping’s arms as he held the drawn bow. The internal force on the arrowhead thus grew increasingly bright and radiant.
Signature Technique, 【Freezing Frost Arrow】.
Signature Technique, 【Heavenly Dipper Formation Breaker】.
Wang Ping calmly drew the bowstring until the Black Hornless Dragon Bow itself let out an overwhelmed dragon’s roar. Only then did he aim it from afar toward the county yamen.
During this entire process, not a single person stepped forward to stop him.
Because everyone could see this was his final strike. No matter who it was, anyone who dared to stand in the way of this arrow would become a scapegoat for death.
Therefore, following Wang Ping’s actions, the military formation trapping him not only showed no intention of stopping him, but actually actively cleared a path.
This sight completely stunned the onlookers and caused the originally confident Xu Bingzheng’s expression to change drastically as he suddenly sat up straight!