Chapter 437: No Way Back

The space inside the hall was limited. Forced forward with nowhere else to go, the soldiers gripped their weapons and advanced in fear. Even as they watched men continuously fall ahead of them, they still had to step over the bodies and keep charging.

The rank-and-file soldiers had no idea what the larger situation was. They knew only that refusing orders would mean an even worse death, so they began shouting themselves hoarse and surged forward.

Shang Chaozong and the others instantly came under tremendous pressure. They swung sabers and spears desperately, fighting for their lives as the enemy compressed them farther and farther toward the corner. Soon they would not even have room to wield their weapons.

Bang!

Several figures flew in from outside and crashed into the men packed within the hall, knocking down an entire cluster. Amid the screams, Yuan Gang charged inside with saber in hand, covered from head to toe in blood.

He had hacked his way through the mass of soldiers outside. Even he had no idea how many men he had killed along the way. He had simply killed whoever stood in his path. Anyone who blocked him had died beneath his blade.

More than a dozen arrows protruded from his back. He had been struck in front as well, though those arrows had already fallen free. Cuts and punctures from sabers and spears covered his body.

At present, his hard qigong could only truly withstand blows from blunt weapons. When he first saw how many archers there were, he had been worried, which was why he tore down a door panel to use as a shield.

Only after being struck by arrows did he discover that although his body could not stop edged or pointed weapons from breaking the skin, much of their force was spent once they pierced the surface. The muscles beneath could clamp around the shafts and prevent them from penetrating too deeply. After realizing that, he had finally let himself fight without restraint. Getting shot was unavoidable. One man facing so many enemies, with so many archers among them, could not possibly defend every direction at once.

He stormed into the hall like a killing god, saber flashing as he cut down several more men. The instant he saw Shang Chaozong and the others in desperate straits, compressed into the corner, Yuan Gang did not dare delay. The Three-Roars Saber swept out again. He carved a bloody road through the crowd as though cleaving waves apart, leaving screams all along his path. His strength was overwhelming. No one could stop him.

Whenever an attacker's saber or spear struck his blade, the weapon was knocked flying from the man's hands. Though he was covered in blood, his build made him easy to recognize. Shang Chaozong and the others needed only one glance before delight surged through them. Yuan Gang. Niu Youdao's people really had come. The defenders who had been fighting desperately were instantly reinvigorated. Seeing such a terrifying figure suddenly charge in to relieve the trapped group, the Feng brothers naturally could not let Yuan Gang succeed.

Things had already gone this far. The Feng family had no path of retreat left and could not afford failure. Feng Ruojie suddenly sprang into the air, planted one foot against a load-bearing pillar, and launched himself across the heads below. His spear shook once, then stabbed viciously at Yuan Gang's head. Yuan Gang was still cutting his way forward. As he turned and brought his saber down in another savage stroke, his free arm shot upward and seized the incoming spear shaft.

He dragged it down in passing, then rammed the butt of the spear violently upward.

Bang!

The spear butt smashed into Feng Ruojie's abdomen. His eyes bulged. It was as though a thousand-jin hammer had struck him, and he vomited a mouthful of blood in midair. He had never imagined Yuan Gang's strength could be this terrifying. Had his battle armor not absorbed part of the impact, the spear butt might well have punched straight through him. Feng Ruojie released the shaft. His whole body was hurled upward, smashed into a roof beam, then dropped back down and knocked several soldiers sprawling.

"Second Brother!"

Feng Ruoyi cried out in alarm. He sprang up as well, stepped on the shoulders of the soldiers below, and charged toward Yuan Gang with spear in hand. Yuan Gang now had Feng Ruojie's spear too. He swept it in a full circle.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Men surrounding him were sent flying in every direction. Anyone struck either vomited blood or suffered broken bones. Passing beside Feng Ruojie, who had only just staggered upright while coughing blood, Yuan Gang's saber flashed upward.

"Aah!"

Feng Ruojie, who had turned to flee, screamed horribly and collapsed again. His body had been severed diagonally from the shoulder down, man and armor alike split into two pieces. One saber stroke had broken straight through the armor.

"Die!"

Feng Ruoyi roared, his eyes stretched wide. Without even turning fully, Yuan Gang whipped the captured spear backward.

Crack!

The two spear shafts smashed together. Feng Ruoyi's weapon flew from his hands. The tremendous force tore open the webs between his thumbs and forefingers, spraying blood. His own spear shaft slammed sideways into him and knocked him down into the crowd. Yuan Gang had no time to concern himself with Feng Ruoyi for the moment. His only priority was relieving Shang Chaozong and the others. The hall was too cramped and packed with too many people for bows to be used freely.

That removed one of Yuan Gang's greatest concerns. Saber in one hand and spear in the other, he chopped with the blade and swept wildly with the shaft. Wherever he passed, men toppled amid screams. Before long, he had completely cleared the attackers pressing Shang Chaozong's group. The real problem for the soldiers was that Yuan Gang was simply too terrifying. A brush against him meant crippling injury or death. He still fought as though nothing had happened despite all those arrows lodged in his body.

Even Feng Ruojie had died beneath his saber. The attacking troops finally lost their nerve and retreated in panic. Bodies covered the floor of the hall. Blood flowed everywhere. Stepping over the corpses, Yuan Gang finally reached Shang Chaozong and the others. Every one of them was panting heavily.

Shang Shuqing asked urgently, "Where is Master Dao?"

Yuan Gang did not answer. Seeing that they were still alive, he turned and charged back toward the enemy with his saber raised. No one inside the hall dared fight him anymore. Arrows could not bring him down. Spears could not topple him. Sabers could not kill him. How were they supposed to fight something like this? He was even more frightening than a cultivator. In a certain sense, that was true.

Ordinary cultivators possessed spiritual power, but they did not possess flesh this formidable. They were difficult to injure, yes, but if any cultivator suffered wounds like Yuan Gang's, he would never be able to endure them. He would probably already have been hacked into minced flesh by the surrounding blades. And Yuan Gang's strength seemed inexhaustible besides. Seeing him charge again, the soldiers fled the hall in panic. Nong Changguang also dragged away the roaring Feng Ruoyi, choosing to retreat temporarily rather than meet Yuan Gang's edge.

Yuan Gang himself had never known he could fight like this. This was the first time in his life he had ever clashed at close quarters with so many opponents at once. Once the hall had been cleared and was temporarily secure, his objective was achieved. He did not chase the fleeing soldiers.

Instead, he returned to the corner, stood atop the piled corpses, and asked, "Your Highness, is everyone all right?"

They were all still alive. If anything, Yuan Gang looked like the one in trouble. So many wounds covered him, with more than a dozen arrows still protruding from his back. The sight made everyone's scalp prickle.

Shang Chaozong asked instead, "Master Yuan, are you all right? I'm fine."

Only now did Yuan Gang have a hand free. He reached behind himself, seized the arrows lodged in his back, and pulled them out one by one. Meng Shanming sat in a pool of blood, leaning on his spear and gasping for breath. He nodded toward Yuan Gang.

"Brother Yuan truly possesses valor unrivaled beneath Heaven. Even the courage to take an enemy supreme commander's head amid an army of a million could hardly surpass this!"

That violent struggle had exhausted his old bones badly. The breath of desperate battle he had forced himself to sustain finally dispersed, and weakness flooded him at once. He could scarcely endure it anymore.

Shang Shuqing asked again, "Has Master Dao come?"

Yuan Gang would never say anything that diminished Niu Youdao's standing.

He answered, "Master Dao still has to deal with Tianyu Sect and cannot reveal himself for the moment. He ordered us to come here and relieve the crisis!"

Outside the hall, Yuan Feng and the others had fallen into dire straits as well. There were simply too many enemy troops. Under volleys of arrows, more than ten men had already failed to dodge in time and fallen.

They could only use walls, pavilions, rockeries, and other obstacles as cover, taking turns protecting one another and shooting back to prevent the enemy from closing in. But the bolts and arrows they had brought were limited. They could not keep this up much longer. Niu Lin had fled with a group of men to the upper level of a pavilion. Once their arrows were exhausted, they seized long weapons and held the stairway. Facing an endless stream of soldiers charging upward, they were suffering bitterly.

Fortunately, Yuan Gang did not abandon them. After saying a few quick words to Shang Chaozong and the others, he charged back outside. Several times he fought through the enemy to reach his men and lead groups of them back into the main hall. After all that, of the ninety-odd men who had joined the rescue, only a little over sixty made it back. More than thirty had died. Niu Shan had to be carried inside, two arrows protruding from his back. It was not that these men were incompetent.

They simply had never been intended to fight a great army head-on, much less to do so after deliberately throwing themselves into an encirclement. Had circumstances not become this desperate, Yuan Gang would never have risked his brothers this way. Once everyone withdrew into the main hall, they immediately dragged the corpses inside over to block the breaches. They seized bows and crossbows abandoned by the dead and took defensive positions, trading fire with the attackers outside.

With Yuan Gang's terrifying martial strength anchoring the defense, the enemy was temporarily unable to approach again.

Meng Shanming sat in the corner and said, "Remaining trapped like this is not a solution. Once they bring up heavy crossbows, we won't be able to withstand them at all. We have to find a way out. Did Master Dao make any arrangements?"

Yuan Gang glanced toward the smoke and flames rising from the neighboring residence outside the window.

"There are too many enemy troops. They should all have been alerted by now. Under a heavy encirclement, we have no possibility of fighting our way out."

"We can only hope Tianyu Sect sees the fire and gets here quickly enough to suppress the disorder."

Lan Ruoting was drenched in sweat.

"Tianyu Sect is still inside the city?"

Yuan Gang knew they lacked information.

"It probably isn't Tianyu Sect trying to kill you."

"I don't know what method Feng Lingbo used, but it looks as though he managed to transfer all the Tianyu Sect people to guard the city walls."

Lan Ruoting immediately asked, "Will Tianyu Sect's people come?"

Yuan Gang stood with his saber in hand.

"Some things can't be explained clearly in a few words, and now isn't the time to explain them in detail."

"Master Dao has already put enormous pressure on Tianyu Sect. They won't dare refuse to come."

Lan Ruoting pressed, "And if Tianyu Sect doesn't come?"

"Then at most I can take one person and try to fight our way out."

Yuan Gang's eyes swept across the group and came to rest on Shang Chaozong.

"Even whether we could get out of the city would still be uncertain."

The words were unpleasant, but they were the truth. Yuan Gang might be formidable in combat, but with a great army attacking from every direction, there was no way he could protect so many people at once. He could not shrink them and place them in his pockets. Every one of them was a living person who would have to follow beside him. If he could protect even one person and force a way out, he would already have done everything humanly possible. Everyone instantly understood.

If Yuan Gang truly had to take only one person with him, that person could only be Shang Chaozong... At the yamen, Feng Lingbo rushed into the courtyard after receiving the latest report. He ran up the pavilion stairs and looked toward the smoke and flames rising near the target residence. His face instantly went deathly pale. There was still no report that the assassination had succeeded. Instead, this kind of disturbance had appeared. Would this not draw Tianyu Sect straight back? Feng Lingbo's expression slowly twisted.

He turned and roared at his subordinates, "Pass my military order! All nearby troops are to rush over immediately and reinforce the two young masters in exterminating the rebels!"

"Tell the two young masters to take those rebels down at any cost!"

"Quickly!"

His state was almost hysterical.

"Yes!"

The messenger accepted the order and ran.

"What's happening?"

Among the Tianyu Sect cultivators whom Peng Yulan had taken out on the pretext of inspection, someone suddenly pointed toward the sky. Several people immediately flew from the street onto a rooftop. Peng Yulan landed among them and looked into the distance. The moment she saw the direction of the rising smoke, her face hardened. She had no idea what those fools over there were doing. How could they let smoke and flame rise like that? Were they afraid Tianyu Sect would not notice?

Nor did she know whether the assassination had already succeeded.

"Senior Sister, something seems to have happened. Should we go take a look?"

A Tianyu Sect disciple had barely finished speaking when Peng Yulan flipped her hand and displayed the elder token.

She shouted sternly, "Everyone remains where they are! Anyone who disobeys will be severely punished according to sect rules!"

After throwing down those words, however, she herself shot away at high speed. She could no longer remain there suppressing her fellow disciples. She had to see what was happening.

If the assassination still had not succeeded, then she, the man's own mother-in-law, would have no choice but to kill her son-in-law personally in full view of everyone. She could no longer care about what people might call her. Things had reached this point. There was no way back. She understood that perfectly. They had deceived and mobilized Tianyu Sect disciples without authorization. If Tianyu Sect gained any other choice now, not even Peng Youzai would be able to protect them.

If Peng Youzai refused to punish them, he would have no way to answer to the entire Tianyu Sect.

[End of Chapter 437]