Fifty Grandmasters, twenty-five each from Spirit Sword Valley and Heavenly Saber City.
The mission was to intercept King Yong Nian’s supplies.
King Yong Nian, besieged in Shuzhou, had always had a problem with supplies, which both powers continually targeted.
This time, King Yong Nian had compromised, and negotiations were still underway.
Supplies were definitely a focal point of the negotiations, and it was foreseeable that before long, both powers might no longer restrict King Yong Nian from obtaining supplies, or at least not so brazenly.
According to the information they had, King Yong Nian’s supplies had long been insufficient; otherwise, he wouldn’t have compromised so easily. Now, transporting a batch of supplies could alleviate the immediate crisis.
If this batch of supplies were destroyed, they could gain considerable advantage in the negotiations.
Every Grandmaster present knew that King Yong Nian would place great importance on this transport but that no Great Grandmaster would be involved.
Sword Master Jiang Dao and Sword Master Wu Qingfeng had been eyeing them covetously.
It wasn’t the case that once negotiations started, one could rest easy.
Zhou Hu wouldn’t leave King Yong Nian’s side so easily at such times.
Of course, even without a Great Grandmaster involved, this mission would be extremely dangerous.
King Yong Nian would undoubtedly attach great importance to it, and even if it was a secret operation, the defense would be very strong.
The most difficult part of the mission was the process of destroying the supplies.
As for the issue of escape, it wasn’t a big deal.
If a Grandmaster was determined to escape, another Grandmaster, unless there was a particularly large gap in strength, could hardly stop them.
Moreover, they would be escaping in groups of ten.
So, as long as the supplies were destroyed, the rest would be easy.
After learning the details of the mission, all the Grandmasters agreed to this rationale, and some even believed that without a Great Grandmaster, King Yong Nian’s side wouldn’t bother to pursue them.
…
Grandmaster-level warriors, advancing through the forests and hills as if on flat ground, were swift.
On their way, they encountered many martial artists gathering Spiritual Medicine in the mountains, and they killed nearly anyone they came across.
They needed about three days to reach their destination; if anyone leaked the encounter, problems might arise—even though the chance was slim, they couldn’t take that risk.
Three days later—
The fifty Grandmasters arrived at Xindu Prefecture, two thousand li from Jiangyuan City.
Here, they lay in ambush.
The leaders of the fifty saw the contact person, a Grandmaster from Heavenly Saber City, one of the first to enter Shuzhou in search of Spiritual Medicine.
The plan for this operation was drawn up by the group that had entered Shuzhou in advance to gather the medicine.
Both powers were involved, to ensure trustworthiness.
“Wu Ke!”
“Jiang Luoye!”
Both were core members of their factions; without being core members, they couldn’t participate in this plan, as it was quite important.
Jiang Luoye pulled out a map, which already had a location circled.
“According to insider information, in one day, King Yong Nian’s supply troop will pass through here. Since it’s likely to be an army transporting the supplies, to increase the success rate of the mission, we chose to set the ambush here!”
He pointed to a gorge.
“The terrain here is not open, making it difficult for a military formation to deploy.”
Wu Ke glanced at it, then nodded.
Indeed, this location was an excellent ambush spot, where they could negate the military formation factor. In such a narrow place, a military formation certainly wouldn’t be able to unfold.
“Let’s settle on this place!”
After making the decision, the two started to discuss the details. Jiang Luoye was not only the contact but also a participant in the ambush.
Time flew by, and a day passed.
A massive troop entered the region of Xindu Prefecture, belonging to the Heavenly Star Army which had already withdrawn from Jiangyuan City.
Everyone knew of the Heavenly Star Army’s retreat, so at first, no one took notice.
But according to insider information, besides King Yong Nian’s true compromise, an important reason for the retreat of the Heavenly Star Army was to transport this large supply of provisions.
“They’re here!”
The Grandmasters sent to scout reported the latest news. Upon hearing these two words, all fifty-one Grandmasters tensed up.
Soon, a vast troop appeared before their eyes.
It was the Heavenly Star Army!
As half the army entered, the fifty-one Grandmasters began their operation. At this point, it was too late for retreat.
“Charge!”
All being Grandmasters, they were quick to act.
In an instant, they were face-to-face with the army.
Such an overt attack was naturally spotted by the Heavenly Star Army men, but they remained calm, just watching quietly.
Team leader Grandmaster Wu Ke suddenly realized something.
“Retreat! Withdraw!”
The Heavenly Star Army had just been through a war and wouldn’t remain unmoved by such an assault.
But his realization came too late—
A man stepped forward.
Wu Ke instantly recognized him.
“Zhou Hu!”
Shouldn’t you be at the negotiation?
The Sword Masters couldn’t have misjudged the situation!
Unfortunately, he didn’t get a chance to voice his thoughts, and he was killed in an instant, without any power to resist.
The other Grandmasters also recognized Zhou Hu and tried to escape by any means possible.
The power of a Great Grandmaster was not something they could contend with.
Now it was every man for himself!
Had it been King Yong Nian, they still had a chance to escape.
But even so, over a dozen more of them were killed.
“You continue transporting food and grain, I’ll go chase and kill some!”
After leaving those words behind, Zhou Hu chose a direction and pursued directly.
This time his visit was a risky plan to begin with; he needed to kill as many people as possible to serve his interests.
Three days was the limit; when the time came, he had to rush back, otherwise, he was very likely to be discovered.
He had killed more than a dozen people at their first encounter, and subsequently killed another dozen or so.
The rest were the ones who truly needed to be hunted down, and Zhou Hu chose the direction with the most people and immediately gave chase.
…
Human psychology is strange, faced with mortal danger, one reaches for anything nearby that might save their life.
The grandmasters lying in ambush, after being pursued, many unconsciously headed for the escape route they had planned beforehand.
They would have never imagined that the escape route set beforehand would actually come into play.
Two days later, Jiang Luoye was still on the run in the mountains; he dared not stop, knowing full well that Great Grandmaster Zhou Hu was still behind him.
Those chased at first were the ones in groups; once they realized this and dispersed, Zhou Hu started pursuing the strongest among them.
Sadly, as one of the team leaders, Jiang Luoye was a direct descendant of the Jiang Family and one of the strongest.
Hence, Zhou Hu was closely following right behind him.
But he just needed to escape for a while longer.
Because this time, it wasn’t just him who had survived, and as long as he managed to escape for a while longer, until the news might have already spread out, Zhou Hu would have concerns, and he could be completely free.
He followed the route.
He was involved in planning the route and naturally knew it like the back of his hand, understanding that this route was much better than moving randomly.
The next place should be an abandoned stronghold.
Once there, just a few hundred miles away was Jiangyuan City, and just a bit further, Zhou Hu would definitely not dare to track him.
Zhou Hu behind him was aware of this as well, so he accelerated his pace.
About half a day later, Jiang Luoye arrived at the location of Qingshan Village.
“Is someone there?”
Before even entering the village, he saw people moving inside from afar.
This place was supposed to be an abandoned stronghold, wasn’t it?
These are the people of great powers.
They have no idea what kind of consequences their actions have caused.
Many places, wherever remote, there were people, just to avoid the chaos of war.
After seeing people, Jiang Luoye bit his teeth and immediately wanted to leave.
He had to bypass Qingshan Village to avoid exposing his tracks.
However, before he could leave, he felt a powerful attack coming from behind.
Boom!
Jiang Luoye made an all-out effort to dodge.
Where he had been standing, a huge pit had now appeared.
“What a find, you actually ran here!”
Zhou Hu was not low on fire either.
Though this person was a grandmaster, he was extremely slippery.
Even as a Great Grandmaster, he had missed his target several times, but no matter, he had caught up now.
Jiang Luoye’s face was grim.
Knowing that he had been chased here, he almost had no chance to escape.
But giving in was out of the question.
He would fight with all his might; he was, after all, a peak grandmaster among martial artists, considered one of the most likely in Heavenly Saber City to break through to the Great Grandmaster level.
He didn’t believe he had no chance of resistance at all.
Boom!
The two began to fight near Qingshan Village.
The commotion was huge, drawing out everyone in Qingshan Village.
Having been peaceful for too long, they didn’t realize what had happened right away and were somewhat dazed.
Until two voices were heard.
“Zhou Hu, there’s a village below with hundreds of lives; if you continue to fight like this, they will all die. King Yong Nian, after all, is the official ruler of Shuzhou, and they are his subjects. Don’t you plan on stopping?”
Jiang Luoye certainly didn’t think he could threaten Zhou Hu with this, but at this point, he had to use any possible method.
The people of Qingshan Village also gradually understood the situation.
Strong fighters were battling, and it seemed likely to reach them soon; many were extremely worried and began to run outside the stronghold.
Some martial artists remained relatively calm but were also organizing people to leave.
At the same time, they wanted to know what the person from King Yong Nian’s court was thinking.
But the reality was cruel—
“What does that have to do with me? Just a few hundred people!”
Killing Jiang Luoye, this talent, was definitely worth the death of hundreds of people.
Zhou Hu didn’t stop at all; instead, his attacks became fiercer.
Upon hearing these words, the people of Qingshan Village felt a chill in their hearts.
The speed at which they fled increased further; a few even went to Wang Sheng’s home, hoping to notify him—they didn’t know Wang Sheng’s true strength.
But seeing the intensity of the battle, they knew they were facing extremely powerful fighters who didn’t care for their lives at all.
They didn’t want Wang Sheng to take the risk, so they were planning to inform Wang Sheng to leave.
Meanwhile, whether intentionally or not,
The aftermath of the battle between Jiang Luoye and Zhou Hu grew ever closer to Qingshan Village.
Although heartbroken about some things in the village, compared to their lives, it didn’t count for much.
And before those notifying reached Wang Sheng’s doorstep—
In Qingshan Village, a sword light tore through the sky!
(Today I have something on, so I’ll publish one chapter first, then stay up late to write another chapter. Tomorrow, four chapters, each 3000 words, rounding off this damned year of 2022 with ten thousand words. I’ll do as I say, or else I’m cross-dressing!!!)