I Can Strengthen Infinitely

Chapter 549: Chapter 316: Slaughtering the Eunuch Faction at Yunchuan River

The section of the Yunchuan River wasn’t particularly turbulent, but beneath the surface, undercurrents were surging. If someone fell in, they might be swept away in just a few blinks of an eye.

With cliffs on both sides of the river bank rising like high walls, boats entering it seemed to be navigating through a narrow alley, seeing only a sliver of the sky when looking up.

Occasionally, loose stones would fall from the cliffs above, crashing into the river, causing splashes and ripples to spread outward like rings.

For some reason, the atmosphere suddenly turned quiet. An Dianlian said nothing, so naturally, no one dared bring any discomfort before him. Consequently, everyone stood quietly at their posts, watching vigilantly in all directions.

As more and more disguised men and women were seen traversing the narrow paths above the cliffs on both sides, carrying bamboo baskets on their backs or long items wrapped in cloth, a careful observation would hint at an unusual aura about them.

An Dianlian slightly curled his lips into a smile, remaining silent. Even though he hadn’t left Chang’an for a long time, being a master of the Tenth Layer of the Internal Power Realm, none of them hadn’t weathered great storms, and surely wouldn’t show panic over such a surprise.

"Leaving the palace, all the people in this world are clearly unsettled inside, unwilling to let things rest," An Dianlian thought to himself.

With his insight and status, how could he not know that there were many who wanted him dead, but only a few who truly posed a threat.

Upon entering deep within the gorge, a thunderous roar suddenly echoed, causing everyone to look up. They saw, ten zhang away, a massive stone wall shattering like a collapsing pillar of heaven, plummeting into the river. Waves soared several zhang high, churning the water, making the boat pitch and roll, and chaos ensued.

With an explosion as the prelude, the deafening sound of blasting continued, and with successive crashes, huge rocks smashed down from the two mountains along the riverbanks. It was evident that someone had prepared Black Gunpowder earlier, igniting it as An Dianlian and his group arrived, intending to block the way.

Sure enough, as numerous giant rocks plunged into the Yunchuan River, the bow of the first boat was instantly smashed by a glancing blow from a giant rock, causing water to flood the cabin at once.

"It’s an ambush!"

"It’s an ambush!"

A large number of soldiers immediately rushed out from the ship’s cabins, and a multitude of martial artists appeared almost instantly on the cliffs on both sides of the gorge, eyeing the dragon-headed ship fleet below like predators.

"An Dianlian, with your eunuch status, have caused chaos in the court, bringing ruin to the nation and making the people resentful, causing hunger and homelessness among the populace. Such a villain deserves to be executed!"

"Die, An Eunuch Dog!"

"Die, An Eunuch Dog!"

Roars of fury echoed from the two mountains, and ropes were thrown down. Immediately, many people grabbed swords, clutching the ropes as they slid down from the mountain.

In an instant, formidable enemies descended from the sky, boarding each ship and engaging in battle with the court soldiers.

The fight had barely begun when it already turned fiercely intense. From his perch on the highest point of the dragon-headed ship, An Dianlian watched all this with a smile, saying nothing.

The journey to Jiangnan being this troublesome, with such fearless people coming to add some excitement, it was, in fact, a delightful affair.

In front of these numerous skilled martial artists, the soldiers that An Dianlian brought with him this time inevitably seemed somewhat lackluster, inevitably suffering slaughter, blood flowing everywhere.

Eight eunuchs dressed in cyan robes guarded An Dianlian. They were his direct disciples, also members of the Rootless Sect, raised by An Dianlian from childhood, taught in martial arts and culture, seeing him as both father and teacher, extremely loyal.

Seeing that his subordinates were suffering quite a bit of casualties and injuries, An Dianlian naturally wasn’t pleased by this, so he said, "You guys, go give them a hand."

"Yes, Master." The eight cyan-robed eunuchs immediately leaped lightly like swallows,

and it was evident that their weapons were not common, being iron chains wrapped around their wrists.

On one end of these chains was a sharp trident tip, also barbed; if someone were pierced, the wound would undoubtedly be severe.

As the eight cyan-robed eunuchs skated across the water like dragonflies, reaching the surrounding escort ships, the battle situation immediately reversed.

With the swinging of the chains by the eight, one after another, cries of pain erupted from the martial artists, as additional wounds appeared on their bodies. The small wounds couldn’t kill, so these cyan-robed eunuchs struck with extremely ruthless and vicious precision, aiming the trident tips at vital deadly points like eyes and throats.

The trident tips were sharp, easily piercing into the target’s body, and with the barbs ripping out, they could tear out chunks of flesh, muscle, and blood vessels, causing instant death.

Even external martial artists could gain no advantage against these trident tips; being disciples of the Rootless Sect, with ample resources, their weapons naturally crafted from excellent materials, damaging an external martial artist’s physique was effortlessly done.

These eight, upon entering the fray, left the martial artists with no chance to counterattack, naturally drawing the attention of those other martial experts.

A cyan energy slashed down from the sky, ferociously attacking one of the cyan-robed eunuchs.

The cyan-robed eunuch looked up to find a Cyan Eagle Dharma Aspect enveloping him, as an old bald man wielding a staff struck in fury.

"Li’s Mountain Eagle’s Claw!" The targeted cyan-robed eunuch exclaimed and hurriedly swung out a chain, incorporating Whip Skill.

The Dharma Aspect manifested, black snake battling the cyan eagle.

"You damn eunuch party, not only dark-hearted, but so devious in methods, today I shall surely end your life here."

The bald old man was Wudang Sheng, Sect Leader of the Central Plains Martial Fist Sect, a righteous man since young, intolerant of all injustices in the world. Whenever powerful oppressors bullied the common folk, or landlords and thugs acted with impunity, he would proactively seek justice, restoring peace and tranquility to the area.

But chivalrous deeds could only solve small matters in the world; seeing how the Ten Attendants controlled the royal court, making the people incapable of sustaining themselves, robbery and banditry everywhere, forcing refugees into homelessness, his heart ached with anger and frustration, but there was nothing he could do, even being a master of Inner Strength.

You can save one person or a group temporarily, a stop-gap rather than a cure. To save the nation, one must govern the nation.

And these Ten Attendants, the eunuchs, and the heartless officials controlled by them were the grave illnesses, the tumors within the nation.

Therefore, killing the Ten Attendants became Wudang Sheng’s lifelong pursuit, but the Rootless Sect had deep-rooted influence, filled with numerous experts, and even if experts of Inner Power infiltrated the Chang’an Imperial City, they could barely gain any benefit and risked losing their lives.

Hence, this wish of Wudang Sheng had been postponed until now.

But today, the opportunity has finally come!

The ten eunuchs who have always been hiding like cowardly turtles in Chang’an have finally ventured out.

In fact, the ten eunuchs have left Chang’an City in the past, but because they kept a low profile, they didn’t attract attention.

However, this time, when heading to Jiangnan, An Dianlian used the Longtou boat, which inevitably caught the attention of court officials, and they thoroughly investigated An Dianlian’s route.

Wudang Sheng caught the chain in the green-robed eunuch’s hand with one claw, and with a powerful pull, the chain was instantly seized by Wudang Sheng.

His strength was astonishing, not at all like someone who appeared to be over fifty years old. The green-robed eunuch’s expression changed, immediately channeling the Nine Yin Internal Power in his body, sending chills along the chain towards Wudang Sheng.

The Nine Yin Internal Power was extremely yin and cold, freezing the entire chain as if it had just been pulled out of an ice cave, making Wudang Sheng’s hand turn red and blue from the cold.

As the Nine Yin Internal Power seeped into his body, even with his Inner Power Realm Eighth Layer strength, Wudang Sheng felt intense pain in his arm and quickly used his own inner strength to counteract it.

The entire iron chain was frozen by the Nine Yin Internal Power, as hard as a spear. The green-robed eunuch spun his palm and launched the chain, which whistled through the air straight for Wudang Sheng’s chest.

Snap!

Wudang Sheng clapped his palms, precisely clamping the chain and forcefully swung it into the nearby river.

Splash!

The chain disappeared without a trace as it hit the water.

The two of them exchanged glances, each sensing caution and apprehension in the other’s eyes, then rushed forward to engage in combat once again.

Not only Wudang Sheng, but other experts like Hong Tianyun also leaped down from the mountain gorge to fight against the green-robed eunuchs.

Although the green-robed eunuchs were strong, they were ultimately no match for these experts ranked on the top of the martial world, and two of them died at the hands of the arriving martial artists, causing An Dianlian to furrow his brows.

Clearly, this was an organized and premeditated ambush, otherwise even experts like Hong Tianyun in the Ninth Layer of the Internal Power Realm wouldn’t be here. At this point, An Dianlian couldn’t just sit back and watch like a mountain, or he would soon become a lone commander. Even if he killed everyone, this trip south would still be a failure.

Bam!

An Dianlian leaped up from his chair, terrifyingly soaring into the sky.

His robe fluttered slightly in the wind, and a bird that was initially flying forward was startled and veered aside as soon as it saw An Dianlian, but An Dianlian reacted faster, tapping the bird’s back with his toe, sending a powerful force into its body.

Using the recoil, An Dianlian continued to fly higher into the sky, while the bird couldn’t withstand the force and exploded, shattering into pieces.

"What is he trying to do?" Everyone on the river was puzzled.

Even Hong Yun Tian couldn’t figure it out, but he could vaguely sense something amiss.

"Be careful, everyone! An the eunuch dog is treacherous and cunning, there’s definitely a plot!" Wudang Sheng shouted immediately.

An Dianlian hovered high in the air, overlooking the Yunchuan River below.

He suddenly stopped in midair, as if frozen.

With a flip of his head, he dropped like a meteor straight toward the river surface below.

Compared to his ascent, his descent was much faster.

He extended his hand, unleashing a surge of powerful Palm Force.

An Dianlian was engulfed in fire, the flames rising into the sky, finally condensing into a giant Buddha image.

The Buddha image was enormous like a mountain, eyes tightly shut, its entire form blazing like an inferno, turning the sky red as it appeared.

An Dianlian moved his arm, and the Buddha opened its eyes wide in fury, an awe-inspiring sight.

At the same time, the giant Buddha struck down with a palm, straight towards the Yunchuan River’s surface.

It was an overwhelmingly shocking scene, a flaming giant palm descending upon everyone on the river.

Everyone’s bodies trembled involuntarily.

"Such power!" Wudang Sheng’s expression changed instantly, even with his strength, he couldn’t help but feel fear.

An Dianlian’s strength far exceeded their estimations.

Heaven-Burning Buddha Palm!!!

A hint of red light appeared in An Dianlian’s eyes, adding to his formidable presence.

Those who knew An Dianlian knew he cultivated the Nine Yin Extreme Dao Scripture, practicing the Yin Meridian, so he should only have Nine Yin Internal Power. How could he use such a fiery palm technique?

Buzz buzz buzz!

Hong Tianyun’s expression was grim, knowing he couldn’t back down now, or the alliance army’s fate would be complete destruction.

So, he picked up his weapon and charged into action.