Chapter 911: Chapter 910: Bloody Breakout_1
September 10th.
The sky is overcast, a sign of ill omen; travel and marriage are advised against.
The sky was shrouded in grey as if it would pour down rain at any moment, adding a sense of oppression and desolation to Sky City.
For countless commoners, this was also a day to remember. Today, the sixth son of His Majesty, the Zuo King, along with his subordinates and party members, was to be collectively executed.
The time reached noon.
A group of prisoners was dragged outside the Noon Gate, lined up in order, each with a red-clothed, expressionless executioner wielding a guillotine blade standing behind them.
The chill wind howled, piercing to the bone.
"Sister, don’t look at me."
A man with disheveled hair and a blood-stained face whispered, stopping the woman who was about to turn around.
Although the woman was in prisoner’s garb and her expression was haggard, her inherent ravishing beauty could not be concealed, and even in her distress, she possessed an air of pitiable charm. She was Gui Fuling, who ranked among the top three beauties in the world.
Gui Fuling smiled wistfully, "Brother, then you shouldn’t look at your sister either. I hope that our memories of each other can preserve our past appearances."
She looked up at the deserted and deathly quiet street, her expression one of despair, "Brother, you have friends all over, willing to walk through fire and water for them, yet today none have come to your aid. Do you regret it?"
"No regrets! I acted according to my will, fulfilling my own desires. Why expect others to do the same? Besides, given today’s circumstances, if they had come, they would be marching to their deaths."
Gui Zhihang remembered Shi Xiaole, Mu Ling, and Duanmu Keren, with a smile on his lips.
The five great prodigies, it turned out, were soon to be just four; it won’t be long before the Martial World forgets me!
As the third quarter of the noon hour approached, the official in charge of the execution was about to give the order.
Suddenly.
A blade’s gleam streaked from afar like a piece of floating silk, ruthlessly striking toward the official.
"Protect the officer!"
Immediately, experts rushed to the front, clearly on high alert. Amidst the clangor of weapons clashing, five experts stumbled backward, knocking into people behind them.
In the chaos, a group of red-clothed executioners swung their blades, not decapitating anyone, but rather cutting the shackles off the prisoners.
With the sound of cleaving air, a group of people burst from nearby courtyards, taverns, and inns, quickly joining the rescued prisoners and escorting them toward the perimeter.
Of course, there were some executioners who sensed something amiss and raised their slaughter blades, and instantly, heads fell to the ground, with blood drenching both their clothes and the ground.
The overseeing officer shouted for kills, and from within Noon Gate, a troop of experts burst forth. From the distant streets, the sound of footfalls as steady as a drumbeat rose, pounding like thunder toward the rescue squad.
"A bunch of Martial World scoundrels dare to defy their superiors and create chaos, attempting a prison break at the execution ground, your time to die has come."
At the end of the long street, a group of menacing people in golden armor appeared, the leader of whom was missing his right arm and had replaced his left hand with an iron palm, his face wearing the fierce smile of a hunter awaiting its prey.
"It’s Sima Wu. Everyone be careful."
The protected, emaciated young man warned loudly, none other than the Zuo King himself.
There was no need for the Zuo King to say it; the experts around were already on high alert.
The Golden Armor Guard were well-known in the Martial World, with some of the 360 Pacifying Envoys reportedly having the strength of the top hundred Earth Immortals. And above the Pacifying Envoys were twelve Monitoring Envoys, three Vice Commanders, and one Commander.
Sima Wu, as one of the three Vice Commanders, had not made a move in nearly a century, and no one knew the extent of his power.
"I’ll go meet him."
A man with broken eyebrows charged forward.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh.
Just then, arrows poured down like a plague of locusts, densely filling the sky, as if piercing through the dark clouds above, bringing a presence of lethal silence that engulfed everyone.
Under normal circumstances, any peak Earth Immortal could demolish such an offensive, but within Sky City, not even a Void Origin Realm Martial Emperor could confront it head-on and had no choice but to evade.
Countless spheres of Vigorous Air appeared, like inflating balloons or bubbles, moving slowly through the black rain of arrows.
But the rain of arrows was too swift and too dense, almost filling the void, and their tips were poisoned. Continuous volleys following, after several hundred meters of charging by the breakout group, finally someone gasped for breath, unable to maintain the Vigorous Air any longer, and was immediately turned into a porcupine by the iron arrows.
At a distance of five hundred meters, nearly a fifth of the people were killed, and others were injured by the force of the arrow barrage, blood leaking from the corners of their mouths, teetering on the brink of collapse.
The fight had only just begun, and the Martial World experts had already suffered heavy losses.
"Follow me and let’s fight through!"
An old man with drooping eyebrows had fire in his eyes, black Qi energy surging around him as he rocketed more than three hundred meters and struck a punch towards Sima Wu.
"Well met. Iron Palm to sever life!"
Sima Wu laughed boisterously, his left palm meeting the attack.
With a thud!
A circle of invisible Sword Qi spread out, shattering the iron arrows behind the old man and creating a vacuum area of several dozen meters with wide cracks splitting open the ground.
"Who do I think it is? It turns out to be the Heaven-Shaking Fist King from the six paths of the Demon Door’s Langyao Sect. Since when did Prince Zuo align with you?"
Sima Wu, missing his right hand, used his left hand like a blade, rapidly drawing streaks of light and trapping the Heaven-Shaking Fist King within. The Heaven-Shaking Fist King did not speak a word, attacking ferociously, hoping to quickly break through and escape to the skies.
At this moment, two terrifying bursts of Sword Qi exploded. It turned out that two other deputy commanders from the Golden Armor Guard were also exchanging blows with the fighters of the Devil Path.
More martial artists from the Martial World also rushed to the scene, clashing with the six supervising envoys, one hundred and twenty Pacifying Envoys, and six hundred Golden Armor Guards.
The rain of arrows finally stopped, but the combat was far more ferocious and tragic than before. As the two groups collided, the interwoven torrents of Vigorous Air exploded first, with severed limbs and blood mist staining the air red.
"Exterminate these imperial dogs!"
"Kill!"
Blades gleamed and swords flashed, fists and palms wind stirred through the long street.
Some were vying for supremacy, some were hacked to death by random blades, some were caught in the blast of nearby Sword Qi, limbs severed, entrails spilling out. Each combatant was of the highest caliber, but in such a chaotic battle, even the strongest could not watch all sides, and bad luck could mean being accidentally wounded or killed.
For the warriors of the Martial World, the convicts were the worst off.
Perhaps to successfully lure them into a trap, the court did not disable the convicts’ dantian, but made them take a drug that left them as weak as ordinary people. Having to fight while protecting the convicts, the martial artists of the Martial World quickly fell into disadvantage, cut down en masse like wheat.
Prince Zuo’s face was deathly pale as a blade, like a venomous snake, suddenly aimed for his chest. This was not a stray hit but a targeted killing strike.
Ding!
In the critical moment, a powerful finger force flicked the knife away. Prince Zuo’s eyes blurred, and a figure of an exceptionally beautiful woman appeared before him.
She was dressed in black gauze, her chest proudly towering, her slender waist and voluptuous hips drew an astonishing curve that could captivate any man in the world. Although her face was covered with a veil, Prince Zuo instinctively knew she must be a peerless beauty.
"My lord, follow me."
The voice of the woman in black veil was exceptionally sweet, steadying Prince Zuo’s chaotic heart. He quickly trod in her footsteps.
The blade light flickered incessantly; the woman’s martial skills were terrifyingly high. With only the eighth level of Divine Border Realm, she could kill her peers with just a few slashes, using the momentum of the blade to cut through the crowd.
However, her performance soon drew the attention of some, and not long after, she was entangled by two supervising envoys of the Golden Armor Guard, both with the cultivation of peak Earth Immortals.
"Miss..."
Prince Zuo’s shout was cut short as the woman in the black veil leaned forward, her blade emerging like thunder. With a booming sound, one supervising envoy was cleaved in two, the other vomited blood and flew back with a look of horror on his face.
The nearby Golden Armor Guards and high-level martial artists from the Martial World who were affected by the residual blade Qi could maintain composure if they were strong enough, but the weaker ones turned pale and stumbled to the side, being immediately slashed into a pulp.
"So strong!"
Many secretly gasped, shocked by the woman’s strength.
Though the gap in martial power among warriors was greatly reduced within Sky City, defeating two peak Earth Immortals with a single blade was indeed terrifying.
"Brother, you shouldn’t have come."
On another side, Gui Zhihang and Gui Fuling followed behind a burly young man. The former swung his sword continuously; blood was oozing from his chest, abdomen, right hand, and shoulder, especially from his left knee where even bone fragments were visible. Yet, he laughed heartily, "Brother said he would protect us for a lifetime, and that means a lifetime!"
Gui Zhihang’s eyes brimmed red.
That was when he was nine years old, when he and his sister took the blame for their older brother and suffered a ruthless beating from their father. Afterwards, his brother caressed their wounds with a face full of guilt, saying, "Brother will protect you for a lifetime!"
Memories of many years ago surged in his mind, finally fixing on the tall and burly figure in front of him, seeming like it would never fall.
Swoosh!
A streak of Sword Qi broke through Gui Zhihang’s trance, piercing straight into Gui Nanyan’s chest. The latter roared, clutched the long sword, and cleaved his attacker in two.
But that wasn’t the end. Seven blades aimed at them, one at Gui Zhihang, two at Gui Fuling. Gui Nanyan couldn’t evade, so he blocked the three sharp weapons with his body, blood spraying all over Gui Zhihang’s face, and with a swing of his sword, he struck down two more.
"Brother..."
Gui Fuling cried out, screaming in her heart, faster, just a little faster!
Gui Zhihang, holding up the staggering Gui Nanyan, knew it wouldn’t be long before his brother died in the chaotic battle, and he erupted in furious anger. He hated his own helplessness. What demon, what so-called genius, when it mattered most, it was his brother who stood in front of him.
Bang, bang, bang.
Poisonous clouds appeared from time to time around them, a masterpiece of the Tang Sect experts, but to poison an Earth Immortal, at least a fifth-grade rare poison was needed, and even with the Tang Sect’s resources, there would not be many.
Just as many Golden Armor Guards had fallen, more soldiers from the Imperial Guard Camp rushed in, in greater numbers and with more momentum. Most of these men were from the Jixia Martial Academy and were even more outstanding than the Golden Armor Guards.
"Hehe, you must be Gui Nanyan in disguise. Wei Langyi didn’t kill you, but I will kill you in his place."
A man suddenly charged over, his Sword Qi nearly slicing Gui Nanyan in half from several meters away.
"One of the three great swordsmen of Sky City, the Heartless Sword King."
Gui Nanyan’s face went white, feeling waves of weakness.
The Heartless Sword King sneered silently and struck with another sword, the cold Sword Qi magnifying in the eyes of the Gui family members.
