All Heavens: A Role-Playing System Starting from Tianlong

Chapter 167 Tracking and Ambush

In a cowshed not far from the center of the village, all the men, women, and children of Shigou Village were huddled together silently, their eyes unfocused, as if in a dream.

Standing beside the villagers were a young swordsman carrying a sword and a noblewoman in white; they were Zhang Cheng and Fu Junzhuo.

Despite repeated searches by Kan Leng's elite Jianghuai troops, who were veterans of countless battles, under the interference of Zhang Cheng's divine sense, they failed to discover that the nearby cowshed was full of people.

The two of them had been following behind the twin dragons, watching them run into a village at random, and then "single-handedly" uncovering the whole story of Li Jing.

After the two dragons and their companions left, they stayed behind to make sure the villagers were safe before departing.

Unexpectedly, what awaited them was not a bandit army with poor discipline like Qi Laoda's, but a well-armored and disciplined strong army.

Watching the young general ride away, Zhang Cheng thought to himself: This must be Du Fuwei's "Upper Army".

The.

I wonder who is leading this group? Is it Wang Xiongdan or Kan Leng?

"Shouldn't we give chase?" Fu Junchan asked, noticing that he was still standing there lost in thought. "Everyone in that group was skilled in martial arts, and the leader was a body-cultivating martial artist like Xiong Kuohai. Those two young men probably wouldn't stand a chance."

Yes, the man leading the charge was also a martial artist. Judging from his demeanor, Zhang Cheng believed he was comparable to a top-tier martial artist, roughly on par with Fu Junchan and Shi Long before their martial arts skills greatly improved.

However, his appearance answered Zhang Cheng's question. Divine sense is not entirely ineffective against physical martial artists; it's just that the previous encounters with Yuwen Chengdu and Xiong Kuohai were so powerful that it had little effect.

Now that it was confirmed that the Jianghuai Army was not going to take further action against the villagers of Shigou Village, Zhang Cheng did not delay any longer and said to Fu Junchan, "Now that the trouble in the village has been resolved, let's go and take a look."

The two figures flickered and disappeared from the spot.

Before long, the Jianghuai soldiers left behind in Shigou Village finally discovered the villagers lying haphazardly in the cowshed. The group exchanged glances, their faces filled with disbelief.

They had clearly turned the village upside down just now, how could they have missed such an obvious place?

The crowd was full of suspicion, but had no time to investigate further. They quickly went forward to wake up the villagers one by one, ready to ask them what was going on.

On the other side, Kan Leng's cavalry, led by a soldier skilled in tracking, followed the hoofprints to pursue Kou Zhong and his men.

They walked for a while and then stopped in front of a dense forest.

The leading soldier dismounted, lay down on the ground, and examined the tracks carefully for a while. He then turned to Kan Leng and reported, "General, the hoofprints ahead are becoming irregular, sometimes spaced out and sometimes close together. The enemy must have abandoned their horses here and fled into the forest on foot."

Kan Leng nodded upon hearing this: "In that case, let's abandon our horses as well." He said this, but he himself remained on his horse without making a move.

The accompanying men dismounted and tied their reins to tree trunks. Since the area was within the Jianghuai Army's territory, they had no need to worry about losing their horses.

The entire force of the recruits consisted of elite soldiers from the Jianghuai Army. Kan Leng's elite cavalry was even more exceptional, with all members except Kan Leng being internal energy martial artists.

The soldier who had been in charge of tracking took the lead and leaped out using his lightness skill, with Kan Leng's giant horse following closely behind.

This horse was dark yellow all over, nearly ten feet tall at the shoulder, with four hooves as thick as pillars, and was a whole size larger than an ordinary warhorse.

Despite its enormous and bulky size, it moved with remarkable agility through the mountains and forests, its movements causing a cloud of earth and rocks to obscure the sky as it roamed through the woods.

Seeing this, Kan Leng patted the horse's neck, signaling it to behave. The giant horse snorted and slowed its pace, reducing the dust in the forest.

Upon seeing this, the adjutant beside him whispered, "General, this Sunset Yellow Wind Beast is good in every way, except it likes to dig..."

"His earthy nature and penchant for making strange noises make him unsuitable for missions requiring stealth."

The giant horse beneath Kan Leng was extremely intelligent; before its master could even respond, it cursed back at its adjutant, who was cricketing nearby.

It was clearly a horse, but its voice was a deep tiger's roar, and it made a huge noise that startled a flock of birds in the forest into flight.

Seeing this, Kan Leng could only pat the horse's back again and whisper a few words of reassurance. The giant horse finally calmed down, but it was still breathing heavily from its nostrils, and its eyes were glaring at the adjutant, clearly holding a grudge.

The group chased each other for a while longer in the mountains, where the dense canopy of trees blocked out the sun, making the light dim.

The soldier leading the way suddenly shouted, "Watch out! The trail has gone cold!" The instant he spoke, three figures leaped out from the treetops above him.

Kou Zhong laughed loudly: "You only realized it now? Too late!" He looked down and unleashed a powerful "Flying Dragon in the Sky" move.

A blue, dragon-shaped palm strike descended from the sky.

Xu Ziling and Li Jing, standing to the side, also unleashed their deadly moves, filling the forest with a flurry of finger strikes and sword energy.

The soldier in charge of tracking, though he used his lightness skill to dart to the side the moment he sensed something was wrong, was blocked by the combined attack of Kou Zhong and the other two.

He could only watch helplessly as the ice dragon, finger force, and blade energy attacked him, with no way to avoid it.

"It's not too late." In a flash, Kan Leng leaped high from his horse.

The saddle beneath his feet caved deeply under the force of his push, but the giant horse remained unmoved, clearly accustomed to its master's sudden exertion.

Kan Leng wielded his Mo Dao (a type of long-handled sword) and swept it horizontally. The immense force stirred the air in front of him, transforming it into a giant, curved blade that slashed out from the side, dispersing the internal energy emitted by the three men.

The transparent giant blade, undeterred by its momentum, continued its advance, crushing dozens of trees in its path.

The soldiers, who were still in the air, were slammed back to the ground by the wind pressure generated by the swing, but they narrowly escaped death.

The two dragons clinging to the tree above watched the young man fall back onto his horse and realized something was wrong.

However, not wanting to lose face, Kou Zhong shouted down, "Kid, your kung fu is pretty good. Tell me your name."

The soldiers behind Kan Leng were immediately displeased upon hearing this, and they shouted, "You brat, how dare you speak to the general like that?" "You ignorant fool!"

"Kan Leng." Kan Leng looked at the two people of similar age hanging on the tree, raised his sword and pointed it at them, "You two are the Twin Dragons of Yangzhou."

"To possess such martial arts skills at such a young age, you are truly promising. If you surrender now, I can beg the boss to spare your lives."

After saying that, he turned to look at Li Jing and said, "It's the same for you, Li Jing. I've already found out what happened from those defeated soldiers. If you surrender now, I can save your life."

Upon hearing this, Xu Ziling pondered for a moment and asked, "General Kan, if we were to surrender without resistance, what fate awaits us?"

Kan Leng truthfully said, "Although you had your reasons, Li Jing was, after all, an insubordination and murder of his colleague."

"You two have also dared to kill my Jianghuai soldiers and offend the military's authority. Even if I plead for you, you will not escape punishment from the boss. I suspect you might have one of your arms cut off."

Seeing that the leader of the pursuers was actually able to communicate normally, unlike the unreasonable and domineering Qi Laoda, Kou Zhong immediately said, "General Kan, look, the three of us were just doing a good deed to save people. You want to cut off our hands and feet? If word gets out in the martial arts world, people will just say that Chief Steward Du can't tell right from wrong."

Xu Ziling chimed in, "Yes, keeping Boss Qi and his gang around will only tarnish your army's reputation. If the three of us kill them, we'll be ridding the Jianghuai Army of a menace."

Kan Leng shook his head and did not respond to the topic.

"I will count to three more. If the three of you do not surrender, I will have no choice but to eliminate you." He said this with a bitter voice, as if killing the three of them was something that made him sad and distressed.

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling had never seen anyone like this before. They exchanged a glance, feeling both surprised and impressed by the young man.

Not bad.

"Three." Seeing that no one responded, Kan Leng below began to count.

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling exchanged a glance, their minds clearly in sync, and then Kou Zhong turned to give Li Jing a meaningful look.

"Two!" The three of them sprang up simultaneously, determined to strike first!

Kou Zhong swung his palm straight at Kan Leng. "General Kan, let Kou Zhong experience your superior skills."

Xu Ziling and Li Jing then charged at the accompanying soldiers, one on the left and one on the right, forming a pincer movement.

With hundreds of soldiers standing ready, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the forest was completely devoured by these warriors, making it impossible to draw upon the power of heaven and earth as extensively as during a surprise attack.

Therefore, Kou Zhong stopped using his internal energy to project it outwards and instead engaged in close combat with his palms. He clapped his hands together, each palm covered with an ice-blue dragon head, which opened its mouth to bite Kan Leng.

Kan Leng nimbly retreated a few steps, then swung his knife diagonally upwards with a backhand motion.

Kou Zhong reacted swiftly, using the Lingbo Weibu technique to dodge the blade, but the wind pressure struck his protective qi, causing him to feel his internal energy rapidly draining away.

Kan Leng's slash missed its mark, and before the momentum of the slash was fully released, he was already rammed forward.

Kou Zhong couldn't keep up with Kan Leng's speed. In his haste, he barely managed to raise his arms before being solidly bumped by the armored shoulder.

A heart full of joy.

The protective aura collided violently with the armor, and Kan Leng's shoulder armor shattered instantly, turning into a shower of flying iron fragments.

At the same moment, Kou Zhong's protective aura was also shattered by the impact, and he flew backward dozens of feet like a kite with a broken string.

"So you know I'm a physical martial artist. Unlike you, being in a military formation has no effect on me." Kan Leng did not pursue.

In his view, once the protective aura of an internal energy martial artist dissipates, their physical body is not much stronger than that of an ordinary person, and after taking this blow, they would already be dead.

"Young Master Zhong!" "Little Zhong!" Xu Ziling and Li Jing exclaimed at the same time, but they were unable to get away to save him.

The soldiers surrounding them were not only far more skilled in martial arts than Qi Laoda's men, but they also cooperated perfectly, advancing and retreating as one. They were like a monster with a dozen heads and dozens of arms, with eyes in all directions and ears in all directions, covering each other and trapping the two firmly in the formation.

With the spiritual energy in the forest limited, the gap between the two sides was further narrowed. The two fought for a long time, but only managed to injure a few people and failed to kill any of them.

Kan Leng was completely freed. He dragged his ten-foot-long broadsword and slowly walked to the edge of the battle, silently observing the situation.

Suddenly, with a gesture from Kan Leng, the soldiers of Shangmu who were besieging the two men suddenly crossed paths.

Xu Ziling and Li Jing, who were surrounded, only felt a blur before their eyes, and then they were horrified to find that Kan Leng's figure had disappeared from the spot.

The two men sensed something was wrong. The next instant, Kan Leng, who had silently slipped into the formation without anyone noticing, swung his sword down.

He clearly fought alongside these soldiers frequently; his long-handled sword slashed down through gaps in their attack without the slightest hesitation.

Li Jing reacted swiftly, using his sword to block the attack for Xu Ziling. Kan Leng, mindful of his comrades in the formation, dared not exert his full strength, but the immense force from the longsword still forced Li Jing to kneel on one knee.

Xu Ziling reacted immediately, swiftly pointing his sword at Kan Leng's face. Kan Leng dodged to the side, raised his sword with one hand, and punched Xu Ziling's elbow with the other.

At the same time, the soldiers of the Shangmu Army cooperated with their commander in the attack, slashing several times, which dimmed the protective aura on Xu Ziling and Li Jing.

Just as Kan Leng's heavy punch was about to hit, Xu Ziling, unable to dodge in time, suddenly had a flash of inspiration and proactively withdrew the protective energy from the upper part of his arm.

The next instant, a heavy punch landed solidly, shattering the protective energy in his hand. Xu Ziling felt excruciating pain in his arm bone, but the miraculous effect of the "Divine Foot Scripture" in converting injury into internal energy also activated.

His inner energy suddenly surged, forcing the soldiers who had approached him to retreat.

His internal energy suddenly surged? Was it a desperate gamble? And the force of that punch shouldn't have shattered his protective aura. Something's not right.

Kan Leng's mind raced, but his hands didn't slow down at all.

But this was a wrong decision.

Because that ominous premonition did not come from the two people in the formation.

"You fool, take this 'Regretful Dragon Ascends' move!"

Kan Leng suddenly turned around. Kou Zhong, whom he had assumed was dead, had somehow gotten up from the ground and unleashed a huge ice dragon with both palms.

He was knocked away and moved away from the battle circle, which allowed him to break free from the suppression of the military formation and fully mobilize the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the surrounding area.

Meanwhile, the soldiers of Shangmu in the battle formation were still under pressure and could not avoid this wide-ranging attack.

If Kan Leng were still outside the formation, he could have cut the ice dragon in two with a single strike, but he just chose to rush into the formation. If he were to attack with all his might now, the soldiers nearby would be the first to suffer.

Oh no! Kan Leng turned around and charged towards the direction from which the ice dragon was attacking.

His sudden change of tactics sent his men shoving through the air, but he couldn't care less about that now. He had to rush out and block the attack before the ice dragon touched the army formation.

Seeing this, the soldiers on the outer edge of the formation released their inner energy in an attempt to slow down the ice dragon's momentum. However, under the suppression of the military formation, these attacks were futile against the ice dragon, which had gathered a large amount of spiritual energy from heaven and earth.

It was too late. Before Kan Leng could rush out of the formation, the ice dragon had already reached him.

"Explode!" Kou Zhong, outside the battle circle, clenched his fist, and the ice dragon that had flown to the edge of the formation exploded with a roar, and the chilling cold swept across the entire battlefield like a raging tide.

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