It wasn’t until the 【Black Armor Battalion】’s rain of arrows tore through the county office, violently smashing open the main doors, that Xu Bingzheng belatedly realized what was happening.
His first reaction was—bewilderment.
How did these stinking grunts dare do this?
Who gave them the courage?
An army under the imperial court’s jurisdiction openly attacking a county office still under the imperial court’s jurisdiction—for a moment, Xu Bingzheng even suspected that the 【Black Armor Battalion】 had actually rebelled.
In contrast, Li Yiran reacted extremely quickly. Just as the rain of arrows descended, he stomped heavily on the ground, sinking his qi into his dantian. He then parted his lips and teeth. Instantly, a massive inhalation sound, like a whale inhaling water, erupted from his throat, causing the rolling air currents around him to collapse inward.
When he finished drawing this breath…
Li Yiran clamped his mouth shut. His chest visibly expanded, and his neck flushed with surging vitality, looking as if it had been splashed with red ink.
“Zha!”
In the next second, a muffled grunt echoing like a bronze bell or a large chime exploded from his nasal cavity. His lips parted like a bursting dam, and the air rushed out like a flash flood.
With him at the center, a three-foot radius echoed as if struck by a thunderbolt. Rolling air currents exploded outward in successive rings. Formless qi transformed into tangible, murky waves. The sonic wave vibrated like a Vajra, causing the entire county office to hum in resonance—and the rain of arrows falling upon the county office was no exception.
Clatter, clatter!
Under this bizarre vibrating sound, the originally perfectly uniform rain of arrows was shattered to pieces. Finally, washed over by the murky waves of air, they scattered completely.
It was a nearly miraculous scene.
With just a single cold grunt, Li Yiran seemed to don an invisible suit of armor within a three-foot radius of his body. Not a single drop of water could penetrate it, and the sky full of arrows couldn’t harm him in the slightest!
Furthermore, he seemed to use some secret technique to focus this roaring thunderous sound into a single direction. Like an invisible sonic cannonball, it slammed directly into a corner of the 【Black Armor Battalion】’s formation outside the county office. Wherever it passed, the soldiers suffered excruciating eardrum pain, seeing stars as they teetered on the verge of collapse.
The originally tight military formation instantly revealed an opening.
“…Go!”
Seizing this opportunity, Li Yiran grabbed Xu Bingzheng beside him, flashed out of the county office, and sprinted frantically toward the opening in the military formation.
Li Yiran saw things very clearly.
By forcefully attacking the county office, they had undoubtedly torn all face. At a time like this, imperial laws were meaningless; strength was the fundamental deciding factor.
Xu Bingzheng was panicking because his strength was insufficient. But Li Yiran was different. As a Human List martial master, he alone was enough to rival the 【Black Armor Battalion】. This was why he had been able to sit securely on his fishing boat all along. Even now that all pretenses had been dropped, he was confident the situation was still under his control.
A mere 【Black Armor Battalion】 cannot take me down.
As long as I keep moving and skirmishing within the city to delay until the 【Scout Battalion】 arrives, the situation will instantly reverse… I might as well take this opportunity to kill all these stinking grunts!
At this thought, a flash of venomous malice flickered in Li Yiran’s eyes.
Calmness aside, the 【Black Armor Battalion】’s forceful attack on the county office still infuriated him. It was the anger of a superior being offended by inferiors.
How many years had it been?
Since the founding of Great Shun, where the Emperor ruled alongside the scholar-officials, how many years had it been since a civil official hailing from the dignified Imperial Academy had been pushed to such a state by military brutes?
It was simply deceiving the heavens!
If this twisted, evil trend wasn’t stopped in time, uprooted, and made an example of, these stinking grunts who dared attack a city today would dare murder officials tomorrow!
In a flash, Li Yiran made up his mind. This 【Black Armor Battalion】 could not be allowed to exist. Not only would he use this opportunity to bury all these soldiers in Longxing County, but he would also report to his Master afterward and order the Changle Commandery Prefecture to disband this battalion’s designation, exiling all the soldiers’ families to the Northern Plains…
“Kill!”
An angry shout interrupted Li Yiran’s thoughts. Within his sight, overwhelming numbers of black-armored soldiers were swarming toward his position.
Military formation strangulation!
The soldiers’ movements were practiced, clearly rehearsed thousands of times. As they charged, it felt like a massive winch was locking the two of them in the center.
Not only that, as the soldiers within the formation roared in unison, an invisible, majestic, and awe-inspiring armored giant seemingly stood up from the 【Black Armor Battalion】’s formation. An aura forged from a hundred battles pierced straight into the clouds, even temporarily tearing open the rain-laden dark clouds above to reveal a clear blue sky.
Almost simultaneously, Li Yiran felt his body grow heavy.
Under the blockade of the military formation, even the air seemed to gain substance, transforming into impenetrable steel that pressed down on him like heavy shackles and chains.
This was a true army!
The Great Shun Dynasty governed the myriad lands of the Divine Continent not by relying on a few martial grandmasters, but on tens of thousands of military formations like the 【Black Armor Battalion】!
Immediately after, a single person moved.
The Commander of the 【Black Armor Battalion】, Wu Xintai. At this very moment, he represented the entire military formation, inheriting the title of 【Black Armor】 bestowed by the imperial court.
Bolstered by the military formation, he, originally just an Internal Force Master, forcefully broke through the mental threshold. His mind merged with that invisible armored giant, manifesting divine intent that even rivaled Li Yiran’s. He then stepped forward, his movements seamless—
Drawing his blade!
Clang!
The edge of the blade condensed into a single thread of sky, yet its momentum was compressed to the absolute limit. There were no shockwaves, no roaring explosions—only a soft chime and an incredibly fast flash of blade light.
Seeing this, Li Yiran’s pupils shrank drastically!
Wu Xintai’s strike mirrored his style—he didn’t move unless necessary, but when he did, it was a blockbuster. Right now, brimming with killing intent, this blade was drawn to draw blood!
The timing was impeccable, striking right at the moment Li Yiran was heavily besieged by the military formation and his divine intent and aura were suppressed to their lowest point. Furthermore, he wasn’t aiming for a vital spot, but the legs—clearly intending to cripple Li Yiran’s mobility first before slicing him to pieces with a dull blade.
“Stinking grunt!” Li Yiran gritted his teeth.
Not only did he hide within the military formation for a sneak attack, but he also aimed for the legs first.
This was not the way two armies clashed; it was a tactic used to encircle and kill martial arts experts. Deployed at this moment, it instantly filled Li Yiran with a profound sense of crisis.
In a split second, Li Yiran’s large sleeves fluttered.
At some point, a Xuan brush with a golden shaft and silver hairs had appeared in his hand. The tip of the brush was as sharp as a blade. Channeling internal force into it, he spun it rapidly.
He then thrust the brush forward. It looked like a straight line, but in reality, it vibrated continuously, tearing through the air and producing a hissing sound akin to a spirit snake exhaling. Bolstered by internal force, the tip of the brush even grew hot, carrying a wave of scorching heat as it struck out like a true dragon breathing fire.
A brush moving like dragons and snakes—this was exactly it!
Clang!
The brush tip and the blade edge collided. The divine intent contained within both clashed in the unseen realm, making it feel as if time had stopped.
For Wu Xintai, he felt as if the armored giant he embodied had stumbled into a boundless landscape painting. No matter how hard he ran, chasing the sun and crossing the seas, he could never escape. This was a sign that his divine intent was being suppressed. He had lost to Li Yiran by half a move in their mental clash.
“What a 【Landscape Brush】…”
The next second, time resumed its flow. Wu Xintai sighed as he watched ink splatter before his eyes. His full-strength slash had been casually deflected by Li Yiran.
Simultaneously, the ground around them plummeted as dirt and sand sprayed outward.
The previously formed military formation was instantly smashed, forcing the soldiers to retreat in panic, discarding armor and weapons. Within a ten-meter radius of Li Yiran, there wasn’t a single soul.
This was a battle between Titled Martial Masters.
At this realm, competing purely in techniques, physical strength, and physique had become secondary. Whoever could gain the upper hand mentally would emerge superior.
At the end of the day, Wu Xintai simply wasn’t strong enough.
If he himself were a Titled Martial Master, or if the 【Black Armor Battalion】’s numbers expanded to a thousand, then that exchange just now would have shattered the landscape with the might of an armored cavalry.
That being said, Wu Xintai’s reaction wasn’t slow. The moment his strike failed, he retreated immediately. Regardless, as long as the other party was still trapped within the military formation, he would eventually find another opportunity.
After all, a person’s mental state couldn’t stay at its peak forever. With the decline in stamina, the passage of time, and the influence of various external factors, one’s mental state would inevitably deteriorate, consequently weakening their divine intent. A prolonged battle favored him; Li Yiran was the one who needed to rush.
However—Wu Xintai still miscalculated.
The pressure brought by Li Yiran, a Human List martial master, caused him to overlook the other Titled Martial Master present: Xu Bingzheng, who was fleeing alongside Li Yiran.
Right as Li Yiran’s brush broke the military formation’s strangulation…
Whoosh!
Amidst the sky full of dust and smoke, a streak of golden light shot up from the ground. Like a grappling hook, it latched onto the empty canopy of the sky, dragging two figures upward.
【Immortal Thread】!
Xu Bingzheng’s signature Renowned Treasure-grade weapon, an ultimate escape tool capable of traversing the sky, had finally carved out a path of survival through the 【Black Armor Battalion】’s siege.
In an instant, Li Yiran and Xu Bingzheng soared straight up, quietly vanishing into the depths of the rain-laden dark clouds.
“T-this…”
Wu Xintai was dumbfounded. He hurriedly ordered his men to loose arrows, but it was too late. The two had already escaped the range of the military formation, landing in a distant district of the county town.
“…After them!”
Wu Xintai bellowed, though his heart felt somewhat cold. Every soldier of the 【Black Armor Battalion】 wore heavy armor, making them inherently lacking in mobility.
Therefore, although he issued the order, he already had his judgment:
We probably… won’t catch them.
What do we do?
Thinking of this, he subconsciously turned around, wanting to ask the young Gilded Cavalry Guard who had ordered the siege, only to be surprised to find that the man was gone.
Where did he go? When?
One must know, with the military momentum bolstering him right now, he was no weaker than a Human List martial master. Yet the other party had left his military formation without him noticing at all.
How did he do it?