Of course, it was natural that these guards would be angry at their boss, since he had chosen the most dangerous path to simply shave off some time, without caring about their lives in the slightest. However, only half the guards were furious, as the other half had followed Zou Qiang and Ying Gui for a long time and already knew about this.
Ying Gui simply shook his head when he saw the angry looks on the guards' faces while they started to whisper among themselves, as he then continued with a helpless tone
''With the things that we have to transport this time, I would have taken the safer path around the 'Flame Lion's' canyon if I could, since I cannot afford anything unexpected to happen.
Unfortunately, I was told that I had to reach Yanzhu city within 10 days, and if we take the long way around we will never make it in time.''
Just as Ying Gui finished his explanation, Zou Qiang's angry voice sounded from the front as he roared to those guards
''You idiots knew the risks of the mission before you joined so you better shut your mouths! Stop complaining and pay attention to your surroundings, or you will only have yourselves to blame if you end inside the stomach of a magic beast!''
Although Zou Qiang was also indignant about this mission since there seemed to be hidden dangers in every corner, he wasn't going to risk his own safety by having the guards complain to their boss when they were in the most dangerous period of their mission.
If they were suddenly ambushed, as the strongest person here, he would end up taking the brunt of it.
At that moment, before the guards could react upon hearing Zou Qiang's angry voice, Shun Long's pupils instantly narrowed as he suddenly took a step forward and appeared next to Ying Gui who was still sitting on the first carriage.
With his right hand clenched, he quickly punched the air in front of him without holding back his strength, before a loud booming sound was heard in everyone's ears.
BOOOM
Zou Qiang, the 14 guards, and the startled Ying Gui, all turned their heads to stare at Shun Long at the same time, only to see that his punch seemed to have actually stopped a small metal arrow mid-air.
It was obvious that the arrow was heading directly towards Ying Gui's neck, causing the fat merchant to stand up in fear while his eyes had widened in disbelief.
At the same time, the force of the arrow had ended up forcing Shun Long to take 2 steps back in order to stabilize himself, as he almost fell down from the carriage.
Zou Qiang was the first one to come back to his senses and realize what was going on, as he immediately recollected himself and shouted in a voice that was mixed with both shock and anger
''Enemy attack! All of you, protect the boss!''
Naturally, the shock that Zou Qiang felt was from Shun Long being able to react and block the arrow that even he hadn't noticed, while his anger was actually directed towards himself as he failed to react in time and save his boss.
He knew that if Shun Long hadn't stepped in this time, Ying Gui would have definitely turned into a corpse with an arrow on his neck by now.
As the head of the guards, this was a mistake that Zou Qiang wasn't allowed to make.
''Ohh?''
Shun Long and the rest all heard a surprised voice coming from their right, but before they could all take their positions to protect Ying Gui, 3 consecutive sounds could be heard piercing through the air, one after the other.
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
3 metal arrows instantly emerged from the same location as the first one that Shun Long had blocked, but unlike what everyone expected, the arrows didn't all head towards Ying Gui.
Instead, only the first arrow was directed towards him, while the second one was actually flying towards Zou Qiang!
As for the third arrow? It was flying towards the guard closest to Ying Gui below the first carriage.
Without any hesitation, Shun Long immediately circulated his 'Monarch's Hourglass', while his eyes instantly turned golden at the same time.
''Monarch's Domain!''
Shun Long's voice was cold as he activated his first 'Monarch's Domain' without holding back, before he punched the second arrow that was once again trying to take Ying Gui's life.
The moment that it entered inside the 'Monarch's Domain' the arrow's speed dropped dramatically but it didn't completely stop as it kept heading towards Ying Gui.
However, the closer it approached towards Shun Long, the more the arrow's speed was reduced, before Shun Long clenched his right hand and sent another punch forward.
The second arrow was blocked effortlessly not causing Shun Long to even take a single step back this time, as his eyes stared towards the origin of the arrow.
At the same time that Shun Long blocked the metal arrow, Zou Qiang removed the silver axe that was strapped on his back and slashed the incoming arrow that was flying towards his head.
At that moment however, a scene that neither Ying Gui, the 14 guards, or even Zou Qiang himself expected actually happened.
The silver axe did indeed manage to block the metal arrow, stopping it from piercing his head, but Zou Qiang was actually sent flying backwards from the overpowering force behind it, as he stumbled for more than 10 meters until he managed to regain his balance.
His arms started to tremble as pain coursed all over them, causing the peak rank 5 Nascent Soul head of the guards to look at the origin of the arrows with a gaze filled with disbelief as well as fear.
This wasn't the end however as Zou Qiang suddenly remembered that there was a third arrow that was fired off this time.
However, as soon as he turned his head to the side to look at his subordinate and order him to dodge out of the way, the sound of blood splattering was suddenly heard, as the guard's head exploded into a mist of blood.