With the rise of my family, I can summon the Daoist Soldiers' Nest.

The crowd turned around to face the bandit, who was also dressed in black and wearing a hat, and for a moment they didn't make a move.

Although theoretically, the presence of one second-rate martial artist and twenty third-rate martial artists could temporarily hold off a first-rate martial artist.

However, there were still more than a dozen warriors outside the city gate, and for the first time, everyone had a question in their minds: "Can the fortified village still be defended?"

Before anyone could react, two more men in black jumped down from the three-zhang-high city wall, landing steadily without any injury.

Judging from his skills, he's only a second-rate martial artist.

This meant that everyone was facing one first-rate martial artist and two third-rate martial artists.

"Retreat! Everyone, retreat quickly! Get away from the city walls!" Just as everyone was stunned, Lin Ye suddenly shouted, and at the same time quickly ran towards the houses inside the fortified village.

The others watched the young master of the Lin family's actions, and for a moment they didn't understand what was going on, but when they saw the young master of the Lin family run away, they subconsciously followed him and ran towards the house.

"Open the city gates first, remove the barricades, and let the cavalry charge in," the leading first-rate martial artist said to the other two, watching the crowd run away without giving chase.

The two quickly opened the city gate, and a dozen or so people from outside the city rushed in and together removed the barricades at the city gate.

The thunderous sound of horses' hooves echoed outside the fortified village.

The bandits were riding into the fortified village. The barricades at the city gate had been removed, and the gate was undefended. They rode straight in.

Lin Ye and the others watched as the bandits stormed in from inside the room.

However, after entering the fortified village, because there were many houses and the roads were winding, the horses gradually slowed down. Most of the bandits dismounted and began to search the various houses.

"Young Master Lin, why did you abandon the city gate? We were still able to fight back just now, but now that the bandits have entered, it's even more difficult to fight them." Sun Qian, the leader of the Black Tiger Gang in the county, was the first to question.

Everyone looked at Lin Ye with suspicion.

Lin Ye didn't answer directly, but looked into the darkness and said, "Uncle Liu, come out."

Liu Zhenghua emerged from the darkness.

He was wearing a white shirt, the most eye-catching feature being a lifelike praying mantis embroidered in silver thread on his chest.

The mantis assumed a poised-to-pounce stance, its sharp claws and piercing eyes suggesting it was about to burst through its clothes and pounce on its enemy.

He was accompanied by two praying mantises that were half his height.

They are bluish-gray all over, with smooth shells that gleam with a cold, hard luster, like polished iron sheets.

What is most striking are their forelimbs, which are shaped like two curved short swords with edges so sharp they can reflect a person's image. The muscles at the joints are strong and powerful.

Their wings are not the thin, transparent membrane wings of ordinary mantises, but sword wings, with a texture more like thin, hard steel armor that has been quenched.

When unfolded, it is more than two feet wide, with raised wing veins like the spine of a sword, and fine patterns on its surface.

Its two wings were folded together, like two curved blades joined together, their sharpness concealed yet all the more intimidating.

Their heads are triangular, with protruding compound eyes that look like obsidian embedded in their shells. When they turn, their gaze is as sharp as needles, as if they can see through people.

It has six thick, powerful legs with sharp claws that make a "click" sound when they step on the ground, making it very stable.

Two sword-winged mantises emerged one after the other, their carapaces gleaming coldly in the light, their blade-like arms slightly raised, exuding a fierce aura.

Everyone was startled by Liu Zhenghua and the two ferocious mantises that suddenly appeared in the darkness, and immediately pointed their swords at them.

"An elder of the Qingyuan Sword Sect?" Magistrate Cao stared at the mantis embroidery on Liu Zhenghua's white shirt, then looked at the two sword-winged mantises, and exclaimed in surprise.

"It really is an elder from the Qingyuan Sword Sect," the others whispered.

After all, in the Northern Han Dynasty, only the Qingyuan Sword Sect embroiders this shape of mantis on their clothes, and they even have two top-tier combat Daoist warriors with sword-winged mantises under contract.

According to the rule that Dao weapons cannot exceed the master's realm, those who can form contracts with them must be at least first-rate martial artists.

But he shouldn't be a martial artist who has acquired skills, since there aren't many martial artists with acquired skills in the Qingyuan Sword Sect, so it's impossible for him to appear here casually.

Therefore, everyone immediately understood Liu Zhenghua's identity.

"The situation is urgent, so I'll get straight to the point," Liu Zhenghua said before anyone else could speak.

"Our Qingyuan Sword Sect has four second-rate true disciples, eight second-rate combat Dao soldiers, Qingfeng cavalry, and ten third-rate inner disciples, who are already lying in ambush outside the fortress."

The bandits have now dismounted, and the horses in the fortified village can't charge directly. We can now coordinate an attack from within and without, taking this opportunity to wipe them all out and completely eliminate these bandits who have been plaguing Gongchang Prefecture and Xiang County.

Upon hearing this, everyone was surprised to find that there were so many experts from the Qingyuan Sword Sect outside the fortified village.

The martial artists of the Qingyuan Sword Sect are much stronger than those of the same level from the family and the bandits, because they all learn advanced martial arts and can even fight two opponents at once.

Not to mention the four second-rate disciples, one first-rate elder, and the two first-rate combat Dao soldiers, sword-winged mantises, standing right in front of them.

Everyone immediately shook off their previous dejection and showed joy, while their eyes unconsciously turned to the young master of the Lin family.

Lin Ye noticed the strange looks people were giving him, but he just touched his nose and didn't say anything.

Ignoring everyone's thoughts, Liu Zhenghua, without waiting for a response, flashed outside and sent a signal, causing a firework to explode in the sky.

The bandits looked up and saw fireworks. Just as they were wondering what was going on, a rumbling sound came from outside the fortified village again.

At the same time, the people hiding inside the house immediately rushed out and attacked the bandits.

Using his lightness skill, Liu Zhenghua leaped several meters away and quickly pounced on the bandit leader, a top-notch martial artist dressed in black and wearing a hat.

The leader had just noticed the commotion when Liu Zhenghua rapidly approached. He immediately shouted, "Oh no! An ambush! Everyone, kill them all!"

After shouting, he engaged in combat with Liu Zhenghua.

The two sword-winged mantises following behind were extremely fast and engaged the two second-rate bandits almost simultaneously.

Sun, a second-rate martial artist, followed closely behind and entangled Lone Wolf, the leader of Lone Wolf Village. They had fought many times in the past six years, and this time they met again in Linjiawu.

The remaining third-rate bandits, upon hearing their leader shout that there was an ambush and seeing that their first-rate and second-rate warriors were entangled, hurriedly jumped onto their horses and tried to turn around and escape towards the city gate.

But the bandits were huddled together, and the horse couldn't turn around quickly, so it couldn't run for a while.

Just then, Lin Qiang arrived with nearly twenty uninjured third-rate martial artists, and other second-rate martial artists followed. The two sides immediately engaged in a fierce battle.

Lin Ye and Magistrate Cao did not participate in the battle but observed the battlefield from the sidelines, where it was clear that their side had the advantage.

On the side of third-rate martial artists, there were nearly twenty of them, while the other side only had ten. Moreover, the other side had a very low fighting spirit and only thought about escaping. Two of them died as soon as they started fighting, while only one third-rate constable on our side was injured.

Among second-rate martial artists, Guard Sun and Lone Wolf were evenly matched.

Although the two first-rate Dao soldiers, the sword-winged mantises, are roughly equivalent to second-rate martial artists in combat strength, their fearlessness as Dao soldiers has allowed them to fight to a standstill against the two second-rate martial artists on the other side.

On the other hand, among the top-tier martial artists, Liu Zhenghua, who came from the sword sect, faced that top-tier bandit. Logically speaking, a master from the sword sect should have exquisite moves and agile movements when facing a bandit from the greenwood, and should have been able to completely suppress the opponent.

At this moment, however, the two were locked in a fierce battle, evenly matched.