A crescent moon hung high in the sky, casting a pale glow.
Lin Sheng, holding the corpses of Wang Luan and Zheng Tao, ran quickly across the ground. After running for more than ten miles, seeing pairs of crimson eyes hidden in the bushes, he finally threw down the two bodies, then turned around and ran towards Yangping Town.
Originally, after dealing with the two, he had the idea of returning to the convoy, but ultimately dismissed it. After all, although the strength of these two was good, it was far from the might of a Blood Transportation Warrior.
If he encountered that Blood Transportation Warrior after returning, it would be quite troublesome. This group of black-clothed people were all strong, and they were also equipped with high-killing military weapons like strong crossbows. Even he could not treat them lightly.
So it was better to leave as soon as possible. As for the situation of the convoy, the two masters from the black-clothed side had already been dealt with by him. If there were no Martial Artists at the Forging Tendons Late Stage on the black-clothed side besides the two, then with the strength of Wang Sanyang and the others, they might not have no chance to break out.
He had done what he could. The rest of the outcome would depend on the fortune of Wang Sanyang and the others.
As for the situation of the other teams, he was not clear. Even if he was, he could not, and did not plan to do anything.
In short, it was better to return to Yangping Town first.
While Lin Sheng was fighting with Wang Luan and Zheng Tao, on the other side.
"Kill!"
Wang Sanyang's eyes were red, and his hands kept waving, batting away the steel knives that were falling on him.
At this time, the battle situation in the field was extremely tragic. The transport team members, who were already outnumbered, had suffered more or less injuries after a wave of crossbow fire.
Facing the swarming black-clothed people, although they drew their knives in haste to meet the enemy, facing enemies several times their number, even though they each fought with bloodshot eyes, people kept falling.
"We can't go on like this anymore! The rest of you, follow me and charge out from the west!"
Wang Sanyang snatched a steel knife from a black-clothed man, slashed fiercely to the side, directly splitting a black-clothed man in half, and roared towards the surroundings.
The captain of the Eighth Squad, not far away, also responded immediately and moved towards this side.
Two masters at the Forging Tendons Realm gathered together, leading their respective elites to begin a Raid outwards.
Originally, they were already in despair, after all, Qian Kai, who was slightly stronger than them, was beaten half to death with one blow by the master among the enemies. The absolute strength of the opponent's master far exceeded theirs.
What surprised them was that the two powerful masters did not join the battlefield, but instead rushed towards the other side. Although they did not know what the other party was doing, the other party had not appeared since then. They naturally had to take this opportunity to break out, otherwise, if the other party returned, they would not have a single chance to escape.
The two used all their strength, fighting fiercely among the black-clothed people, even if it meant getting injured, they had to fight their way out.
Wang Sanyang and the Eighth Squad captain cooperated quite well, completely adopting a life-for-life fighting style. Even the two Martial Artists at the Forging Tendons Initial Stage from the black-clothed side were forced to retreat repeatedly by the two's frantic attacks. On the other side, about ten Zhenshan Tower guards formed a battle formation and guarded Qian Kai, blocking the attacks of the black-clothed bandits.
Many black-clothed bandits were attracted to this side, after all, several people were wearing the standard light armor of the Zhenshan Tower guards, obviously elites of Zhenshan Tower, especially Qian Kai, who was seriously injured inside, was even a guard captain level.
As long as his head was taken, they would definitely get a generous reward when they returned.
"Chain Striker!"
Wang Sanyang roared, swinging his fists like a madman, beating back a burly figure in front of him. The front was finally clear.
"Follow me!"
He roared without looking back, and had already leaped and rushed into the bushes.
Some members of the Eighth Squad and Ninth Squad behind him also followed closely.
The bushes were more than half a person tall. Once inside, it would not be so easy for the other side to catch up.
After leaving behind a few lives, Wang Sanyang, the Eighth Squad captain, and about eight or nine people finally shook off the black-clothed bandits behind them and rushed into the bushes.
Some black-clothed bandits still wanted to chase after them, but after a slight hesitation, they gave up the idea and turned to rush towards the other transport team members on the battlefield.
After a moment, the shouts of killing on the battlefield gradually subsided, until the last guard was hacked to death by random knives, and finally complete calm was restored.
The black-clothed bandits began to excitedly take stock of the spoils on the convoy.
Qian Kai's head was cut off and hung on the horse, and even the light armor he was wearing was stripped clean.
After a night, the sky gradually brightened, and only then did Lin Sheng return to Yangping Town.
In fact, with his speed, it would not take this long. If he ran at full speed, he could return in two hours. However, he did not want to be the first one back, so he delayed for a night, estimating that Xiao Shi and the others should have already returned before entering the town.
In the town, there were armored guards and some remaining hunters stationed at the gate, all fully armed and solemn-faced.
Seeing Lin Sheng's figure return, their gazes were immediately attracted, and soon someone recognized him.
"You are Lin Sheng of the Ninth Squad!?"
Several old hunters quickly stepped forward and supported Lin Sheng.
At this moment, Lin Sheng looked quite disheveled. The torn front of his clothes was soaked with blood, his face was pale from excessive blood loss, and he looked dusty and dirty all over.
Of course, this was all intentional on his part. In fact, his original injury was not as serious as it looked.
Although a bloody cut was made on his chest by Wang Luan, it was not deep. Moreover, after entering the Silver-patterned Black Crocodile form, with the bonus of four points of Physique increase, the original bloody cut had already stopped bleeding.
It was he who deliberately reopened the wound that was about to heal. After all, he was the one who stayed behind to cover the retreat. If he had no injuries at all, no one would believe it.
Several hunters sent Lin Sheng to the medical hall. Not long after, Xiao Shi, Lao Zhou, and others received the news and rushed over.
"Team Leader Lin, you are finally back! We thought you..."
Xiao Shi's eyes were a little red. When he saw Lin Sheng covering the retreat, he wanted to go back to support several times, but Lao Zhou held him back.
After hearing the news of Lin Sheng's return, they were both surprised and happy and immediately ran over.
Lin Sheng also noticed that both of them had more or less injuries. Xiao Shi's waist and abdomen were wrapped in white cloth, and traces of bright red blood could be seen.
Lao Zhou had a wooden board tied to one arm, and the lower part hung limply.
"It's okay. What about the others?"
Lin Sheng patted Xiao Shi's shoulder, showed a hint of a 'weak' smile, and asked.
"Qian Le and Liu Shunjie both failed to return. They were hit by crossbow arrows from the pursuing soldiers and died on the spot. Only the two of us were lucky enough to come back."
Xiao Shi replied with red eyes.
Lao Zhou added.
"Besides our side, Team Leader Wang and a few others also returned, all with injuries. Other than that, only you, Team Leader Lin, returned."
"Team Leader Wang also returned?"
Hearing this, Lin Sheng was not too surprised.
He had long anticipated this situation. It seemed that no Blood Transportation Warrior had appeared. Those two masters were the main force leading this attack on them.
As for the identity of the black-clothed people who attacked this time, he was basically sure they were the Black Wind Bandits.
No, there should be more than just the Black Wind Bandits.
This time there were a total of five convoys, but the number of enemies that appeared on their side was nearly 200. So, the number of enemies encountered by the other four convoys should not be small either.
There must be Blood Transportation Warriors among them, but he did not know which team would encounter one.
Lin Sheng pondered in his heart, telling Xiao Shi and Lao Zhou to go rest.
After half an hour in the medical hall, several other guard captains came to inquire about some specific details, and then no one bothered him again.
He also inquired about the situation of Wang Sanyang and the others. Basically, except for Wang Sanyang and the Eighth Squad captain, the rest were also in the medical hall receiving treatment for their injuries.
As for how Zhenshan Tower would arrange things, he was too lazy to ask. After all, he, a mere squad leader, had no authority whatsoever.
After bandaging his wound, and taking some trauma medicine, Lin Sheng did not plan to stay in the medical hall for long and returned directly to his residence.
As soon as he returned to his residence, he first went to the adjacent courtyard to see Lin Hong and his Mother.
Seeing Lin Sheng return, both of them breathed a long sigh of relief. However, upon seeing the bandaged wound on Lin Sheng, they were filled with heartache.
Lin Sheng comforted them for a long time before they finally felt relieved.
"Father, Mother, the situation around here has been very chaotic recently. I will arrange for you to leave here tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and go to Tongzhi County for now."
"Tongzhi County? Then what about A Sheng? Are you coming with us? Recently, when I walk on the street, I occasionally hear people say that Zhenshan Tower seems to have encountered trouble and many people have died. A Sheng, come with us."
Hearing Lin Sheng's words, Lin Hong immediately spoke.
Even if Lin Sheng did not say anything, he had plans to move away from here. Although he was just an ordinary person, he had a steady temperament and his own thoughts. If his background was slightly better and his legs were not disabled, even if he could not access martial arts, it was not impossible for him to build up some family property.
So he also realized that Zhenshan Tower might currently be in a vortex, a vortex that could cause people like them to die without an intact corpse if they were slightly careless.
"You leave first. I still have things here that I haven't finished dealing with. Zhenshan Tower is a top power in Lin'an. It's just facing some difficulties now. Nothing will happen. Don't worry, Father."
Lin Sheng smiled and comforted the two elders.
"Moreover, even if something really happens, I will be the first one to run."
After a few more words of persuasion, seeing Lin Sheng's firm attitude, Lin Hong and his Mother could only reluctantly agree.
Returning to his residence, Lin Sheng gently exhaled.
Without delay, he immediately began to cultivate.
In the room, it was filled with an extremely rich herbal smell. Lin Sheng was in a large wooden tub.
At this time, the knife wound on his chest had healed a lot. His injury seemed exaggerated, but it was actually just a superficial wound and not serious. After treatment with wound medicine, it was basically fine.
His eyes were tightly closed, and his breathing was extremely slow. Each inhale and exhale took more than a minute. If one looked closely, they would find that all the pores on his body were expanded, like countless tiny mouths, greedily devouring the medicinal liquid in the wooden tub and converting it into the nutrients he needed.
The medicinal liquid in the wooden tub also formed swirls around him. After an unknown amount of time, the originally brown medicinal liquid had become extremely diluted, until finally it completely turned into clear water.
Lin Sheng opened his eyes, slowly exhaled, and without hesitation, directly took out a large bag of medicinal powder from the wooden table beside the tub and put it into the tub.
He then poured boiling hot water from the stove outside into the tub. Soon, the clear water in the wooden tub showed a somewhat viscous brown color again.
Feeling that it was still not enough, Lin Sheng simply poured in the other two bags of medicinal powder placed on the wooden table.
After some stirring, the medicinal liquid in the wooden tub had become quite viscous.
Only then did Lin Sheng close his eyes again and begin to absorb it eagerly.
This cultivation continued directly until evening.
After such a long time, the medicinal liquid in the wooden tub had also become diluted, yet it still emitted rolling heat.
It was also accompanied by bursts of explosive sounds like surging waves.
The source of the sound was not the medicinal liquid in the wooden tub, but Lin Sheng who was sitting cross-legged in it.
At this moment, the Qi and blood in his body surged and boiled. His entire skin showed a morbid crimson color, radiating terrifying high temperature outwards.
Finally, with an explosive sound like thunder coming from his body, the medicinal liquid in the wooden tub immediately boiled.
Crack...
With a crisp sound, cracks appeared on the wooden tub, and then it shattered with a crash, turning into countless fragments.
Whoosh...
Lin Sheng exhaled a mouthful of nearly materialized white air from his mouth. The crimson color displayed all over his body had reached its peak.
"Break for me!!"
With a low shout, Lin Sheng's eyes were bloodshot, and the muscles all over his body pulsed rapidly, getting faster and faster, finally seemingly breaking some kind of Bottleneck.
The pulsing stopped, and the crimson color all over his body slowly dissipated.
"Ape Embryo Skill, the third layer is complete!!"
Lin Sheng grinned, revealing a mouth full of white teeth.
In order to break through as quickly as possible, he used several times the amount of medicinal liquid he usually used at once.
Although the absorption process was extremely painful, the effect was also extremely significant. After all, he successfully entered the third layer of the Ape Embryo Skill in one go.
The Ape Embryo Skill at the Forging Tendons Initial Stage brought effects far exceeding the Body Tempering Realm.
Ignoring the mess on the ground, his figure flashed and he was already in the courtyard.
His figure was unspeakably agile as he moved and turned.
Much more natural and effortless than before.
"Agility has increased by nearly 10%, and strength has increased by about 20%... This kind of increase is quite good."
Feeling the changes in his body, Lin Sheng had a general understanding of the increase after this Breakthrough.
Don't look at the agility increase being only 10%, but this is after he entered the Black Tiger Ape form.
After entering the Black Tiger Ape form, his agility and speed were greatly increased. Being able to increase agility by another 10% on top of this increase is already considered a very good improvement.
If it were without entering the form, the increase in agility and speed would probably be close to 30%.
Of course, the most important thing is that since the Ape Embryo Skill has entered the third layer, he can now learn the explosive secret technique included in the Ape Embryo Skill.
This is also why he was in a hurry to break through to the third layer of the Ape Embryo Skill.
"I wonder what the explosive secret technique of the Ape Embryo Skill is like. I guess it shouldn't be too bad."
Muttering to himself, he ate two pieces of Silver-patterned Black Crocodile jerky and then fell back into cultivation.