Chapter 232: Chapter 232: Unstoppable
Ye Xuan couldn’t help but shake his head. Although the Hundred Linked Array was powerful, these Imperial Guards had only been practicing with it for a short time and weren’t proficient enough. It would be difficult for them to stop an expert like Fang Tianhong once he put his speed to use.
"Ouyang Xiaoshan, you’re up," Ye Xuan said calmly.
"Yes!" Ouyang Xiaoshan had been itching for a fight. Hearing Ye Xuan’s command, he rushed out without a second thought.
By now, Fang Tianhong had reached Wei Guang. The gagged Wei Guang muffledly cried out, his expression ecstatic. Just as Fang Tianhong was about to free him, an attack suddenly blasted in from the side. Fang Tianhong had no choice but to halt the rescue and throw a backhanded palm strike to repel his assailant.
But the moment his palm touched the incoming attack, an intense sense of danger surged through him. He didn’t dare hesitate, unleashing his internal energy to its absolute limit and striking out with all his might.
BOOM! A tremendous impact, no weaker than his own, surged from the opposing strike. Caught off guard, Fang Tianhong suffered for his hasty response. With a muffled grunt, he was sent flying more than ten meters before he could steady himself, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
He turned and finally got a look at his attacker. It was the same unremarkable middle-aged man who had been standing beside the young man all along.
A Tier Five Martial Sect expert!
’That palm strike... only a Tier Five Martial Sect expert could unleash an attack like that.’ Fang Tianhong’s mind reeled.
"Who in the world are you?" Forgetting all about rescuing Wei Guang, Fang Tianhong demanded in shock.
The origins of this group were just too mysterious.
Not only did they have such a powerful force—an array formed by numerous Celestial and Earth Martial Artists capable of withstanding his attack—but they even had a Tier Five Martial Sect expert with them. This left him utterly shaken.
’In the Liuyun Kingdom, a Tier Five Martial Sect expert represents the absolute pinnacle of power,’ he thought. ’In any given province, they’d be considered the number one master. Even in the Royal City, they wouldn’t be some unknown, but a figure of high status.’
’Take me, for example. Even though I work for Governor Wei Hong, he doesn’t put on airs around me. Young Master Wei Guang even has to address me respectfully as Senior.’
’But this Tier Five Martial Sect expert... he follows that young man around like a servant, completely deferential. I doubt even a Prince of the Liuyun Kingdom commands such a retinue!’
Ouyang Xiaoshan sneered, completely ignoring the question. His battle saber flew from its sheath. He slashed out, the blade flashing like dawn tearing through darkness, and it reached Fang Tianhong in an instant. The blow sent Fang Tianhong flying back dozens of meters again, his feet carving deep gouges into the ground.
"You actually blocked one of my strikes. Not bad, not bad. Again!"
Ouyang Xiaoshan laughed, excitedly unleashing a continuous barrage of attacks. An unending series of ROARS echoed as the two fought with earth-shattering intensity, kicking up dust and sending stones flying. The entire street was showered with countless fragments of shattered rock.
In terms of cultivation, Fang Tianhong wasn’t much weaker than Ouyang Xiaoshan. However, Fang Tianhong was merely the top expert of a single province, while Ouyang Xiaoshan hailed from the Royal City’s Imperial Guard. In the Guard, he had encountered far more masters and possessed vastly superior combat experience. Fang Tianhong was forced back again and again, completely overwhelmed by Ouyang Xiaoshan’s assault.
The onlooking Martial Artists were all stunned. As the number one expert of Tianxu Province, Fang Tianhong was a leader in their eyes. But now, their leader was being thrashed, looking completely helpless and unable to fight back. The sight utterly shattered the heroic image they had of him.
CLANG!
After desperately blocking another of Ouyang Xiaoshan’s attacks, Fang Tianhong coughed up a mouthful of blood. "Stop!" he yelled, both shocked and furious. "Who are you? With your power, you can’t be an unknown figure in the Liuyun Kingdom! Why are you making an enemy of Tianxu Province? Do you not fear the law? You’ve harmed the Governor’s son—the kingdom will not spare you! Why don’t we sit down and negotiate?" Fang Tianhong was utterly terrified and desperate for a truce.
"You want to talk? Fine." Ouyang Xiaoshan snorted, lowering his weapon. A token suddenly appeared in his hand. "You ask who we are?" he said coldly. "I am the commander of the Royal City’s Imperial Guard, here in Tianxu Province on His Majesty’s order to deliver an imperial edict! The Ye family of Blue Moon City has been newly ennobled as the family of King Ye! From this day forward, Tianxu Province is the territory of the Ye family! When you see King Ye, you will kneel and await your sentence!"
"What? King Ye?"
"A newly ennobled king with a different surname?"
"From now on, Tianxu Province is the Ye family’s territory? What in the world is going on?"
"When did our Tianxu Province become the Ye family’s land? We’ve never heard of this."
For a moment, all the Martial Artists present were stunned. A murmur of discussion erupted as none of them could believe what they were hearing.
It wasn’t just the onlookers; even Ye Batian and the other members of the Ye family were completely bewildered. Meanwhile, the hearts of Fang Tianhong, Wei Guang, and their men sank like stones.
Unlike the uninformed Martial Artists, they had heard rumors that His Majesty had already granted Tianxu Province to a family as their fiefdom and that the new lord would be arriving soon.
That was why the Wei family, in their role as Governor, had been so brazenly plundering the province’s wealth. They just never expected the new King Ye to arrive so quickly, or in such a fashion.
What they expected even less was that the family His Majesty had ennobled was none other than the Ye family of Blue Moon City. Just moments before, the Wei family had been preparing to annihilate the entire Ye family, leaving no one alive. A cold sweat streamed down Wei Guang’s back.
"We are the Royal City’s Imperial Guard! By order of His Majesty, we are here in Tianxu Province to deliver an edict! All of you, cease your resistance at once and await your sentence!"
The Imperial Guards shouted in unison, their voices thundering so powerfully that the very ground trembled.
The soldiers Fang Tianhong had brought with him were all frozen, their faces a mixture of shock and suspicion as they turned to look at their commander.
"Fang Tianhong, are you not going to kneel?" Ouyang Xiaoshan barked coldly.
A look of conflicted hesitation appeared on Fang Tianhong’s face.
"Senior Fang Tianhong, these people dare to impersonate His Majesty’s special envoys and the Royal City’s Imperial Guard! It’s a heinous crime! It’s treason! I have never heard anything about a new territory! Take them all down! Kill them on the spot!"
After a long struggle, Wei Guang finally managed to spit out the foul sock along with a surge of bitter bile, and he began to scream himself hoarse.
At this point, he couldn’t afford to care about the consequences. ’If the new King Ye takes control of Tianxu Province, my Wei family is doomed!’ The only option was to be ruthless. ’I’ll kill every last one of the Ye family, and then I’ll figure out how to survive this disaster!’
"You worthless piece of trash, you still dare to talk?" Chen Xing strode forward and knocked Wei Guang out with a vicious kick.
Fang Tianhong hesitated for a moment before a look of grim resolve flashed across his face. "All soldiers, listen to my command!" he said in a cold voice. "The Ye family has colluded with rebels, impersonated His Majesty’s envoys, and intends to commit treason to seize control of Tianxu Province! As people of this province, we will not stand by and let this happen! By my order, execute these traitors and restore justice to our land!"
"Kill!"
Fang Tianhong roared furiously and charged forward to fight.
He had served the Wei family for many years and was complicit in many of their dealings. ’If the Wei family survives, I survive. If they fall, I fall.’ He had no choice but to cast his lot with them, no matter the cost.
He had already made a decision. ’Once today’s business is finished, I’ll leave the Liuyun Kingdom. With my power, I can find a place for myself anywhere in the Thirteen Nations Alliance.’
"KILL! KILL! KILL!"
At Fang Tianhong’s command, all the soldiers he had brought roared in unison and charged forward to attack.
Seeing this, Ye Xuan’s eyes turned cold. "Everyone, listen up. Since they refuse to see reason, kill them all. Today, I’ll bathe the provincial capital in blood."
"Yes, sir!"
The two forces clashed once more.
As the Hundred Linked Array spun madly, Fang Tianhong’s men fell one after another. Rivers of blood flowed, and corpses soon littered the streets.
Meanwhile, under Ouyang Xiaoshan’s relentless assault, Fang Tianhong was once again on the defensive. After taking another hit and spitting up more blood, he used the momentum of the blow to bolt towards the City Lord’s Mansion. He was running away.
"Trying to escape? Die!"
Ouyang Xiaoshan roared and unleashed a Thunder Slash. The blade’s light cut through the air and landed squarely on Fang Tianhong’s back. Blood sprayed as a gash several feet long opened up. Ignoring the pain, Fang Tianhong gritted his teeth and, despite his grave injury, disappeared down the street in a series of flickers.
Just as Ouyang Xiaoshan was about to give chase, Ye Xuan called out, "Ouyang Xiaoshan, let him go. Clean up the battlefield."
Without Fang Tianhong, his soldiers suffered devastating losses. In less than the time it takes to burn half an incense stick, nearly all one thousand of them had lost the will to fight, left to wail in agony on the ground.
When the battle ended, Ouyang Xiaoshan approached Ye Xuan and said with shame, "Young Master Xuan, I was incompetent. I failed to kill Fang Tianhong."
"It’s not your fault," Ye Xuan said coldly. "Clean up the battlefield and see to the wounded Imperial Guard. We’re heading to the City Lord’s Mansion immediately. We can’t let Wei Hong get wind of this and slip away."
Receiving Ye Xuan’s order, Ouyang Xiaoshan quickly organized his forces to tend to their wounds.
In this battle, thanks to the Hundred Linked Array, not a single one of the Imperial Guards under Ye Xuan’s command had died, though some were injured. In contrast, the dozen or so guards who had refused to join the Ye family were excluded from the array’s protection. Several of them were killed or wounded, and their faces were ashen.
This scene sent a chill through the hearts of all the onlooking Martial Artists in the distance.
Those soldiers were the elite troops of the City Lord’s Mansion, led by Tianxu Province’s number one expert, Fang Tianhong. Their combat prowess was a cut above that of the provincial capital’s regular City Guard.
And yet, this force of nearly one thousand men had been utterly defeated by the Ye family’s contingent of just over one hundred. On the other side, only a few had fallen, with a dozen more suffering injuries. Even the so-called number one expert, Lord Fang Tianhong, had been gravely wounded and forced to flee.
