“Why… did you come here?” River Monster from a slouched position on her black bear king’s back. While her bear was roaring, waiting for an order to go feast, River Monster didn’t join the battle. With her head down, she asked, “Didn’t you leave it all to me?”
Abels, eyes on the distance, picked up his iron bow: “Am I obligated to answer to you?”
River Monster’s fists turned white. Before she rode off, she raged, “Fine! I don’t need your concern!”
River Monster didn’t expect around a mere dozen of people at the pavilion to fend off a team of a hundred men for so long because, even though she respected Green Princes’ people’s abilities, she timed her ambush so that she could catch them when they were tired from fighting.
River Monster signalled for a team to turn back to join her in an interceptive strike. By the time she started to advance on Green Prince, the latter’s forces had formed a formation that empowered them to take out three of her men in a counterattack whenever the opportunity presented itself. She never envisioned men as proud as Elder Shou and Yi Wangyou to be team players. Only when she came even closer did she hear Shen Yiren, who stood her ground as though the edge of a cliff was behind her, commanding, “Three, one, four. Hero Lie defends five and six. Young Master Luo take one and three. Elder Shou, please use Big Dipper Hilt Primordial Palm Technique! Patriarch Yi, please retreat three steps!”
As soon as Yi Wangyou pulled back, Elder Shou caught the foremen with a flurry of heavy palm strikes while Luo Siming and Lie Shang held down the fort from two ends. Elder Shou then retreated, while Yi Wangyou took over to mount a counter along with a group.
River Monster paused in her tracks for a brief moment, feeling the voice of the swordswoman in black was familiar.
It can’t be her. She can’t be her…
“Don’t panic! Abels is hurt. He’s a paper tiger right now! Stay alert, and follow my instructions!” Shen Yiren shouted.
“We can win!”
H-how come she is here?! How does she know Master is hurt? Only Poison King and… She was feigning the entire time! I sent my hostage right back to Luo Siming! I’ll kill her! I’ll kill her! I’ll kill her and Luo Siming! I must silence them!
River Monster called back her divided forces, even the forces chasing Emperor Yuansheng since she was confident Poison King could handle it on his own. After all, she had to expedite her victory at the pavilion, or she would lose her chance.
“Kill them all!” River Monster ordered.
Shen Yiren dished out orders faster and faster until even the elites under her found it a daunting task to keep up, but it was necessary in order to keep up with the mounting pressure of two hundred enemies at once. Of course, the numbers disadvantage saw them cut down only twenty-odd after all that fighting.
Noticing their defence line edging closer to him, Green Prince yelled, “It’s now or never. If we keep standing our ground, we’ll be mincemeat.”
Shen Yiren kept a straight face: “We’re not retreating. If we retreat now, it’ll be impossible to bring them in later on.”
Whilst backing down, Green Prince argued, “How are we going to win with Abels here? Let’s leg it!”
“Hey, Chubby, bring up running again, and I’ll maul you!” Notwithstanding that, Shen Yiren started to see a formation as pointless since pressure from the enemy was all it took to crumble their formation. Her arm started to feel heavier, while their injured personnel started to increase.
“River Monster, you ugly wench, come here if you’re so tough!” Shen Yiren jumped into the horde of enemies, using their heads as platforms to bounce off and pause to evade attacks, escaping the arrows hot on her trail. Upon landing, she swung her sword to create some space then bound away, spending as little time in contact with the ground as possible for maximum distance and velocity.
Watching Shen Yiren repeat the method over and over to encroach, River Monster commanded, “Kill that woman!” However, Shen Yiren had finished bridging the gap, startling River Monster. River Monster, therefore, bluffed, “Thanks for coming, wench. I’ll show you what happens to people who lie to me.”
Unlike River Monster, Shen Yiren didn’t bother with verbal threats, trying to shear off River Monster’s face without wasting a moment. River Monster recoiled at how ferocious Shen Yiren was even after losing her left hand.
Shen Yiren initiated her flurry of slashes with a high to low vertical slash from above, forcing River Monster to her disabled left side. Shen Yiren then drove her left elbow across into River Monster’s nose, dismounting the latter from her bear. Shen Yiren propelled herself off the bear’s head to get behind River Monster before the latter could land and then slammed her left foot into River Monster’s face, dropping River Monster into the ground.
Shen Yiren held River Monster at blade point and declared, “Your leader is in my hands. Lay down your weapons this instant!”