Chapter 577.1: Twists and Turns
When the arrows flew over, Li Hong Yuan leaned towards one side with Jing Wan, while the rest, including Gong mama, already instantly pulled apart their outer garment, swinging a circle around their body. In a second, they just caught more than half the arrows, while the rest also got nimbly avoided. In addition to the soldiers’ timing in releasing the arrows just having a gap, the first round of arrows actually weren’t that many. However, those arrows that were avoided instead continued flying, heading towards their own comrades on the other side.
They weren’t far from the soldiers in the surrounding. The soldiers probably never thought that it would be like this. The ones that couldn’t react in time just got swiftly taken down by them, the scene instantly becoming a mess. And the bows and arrows naturally just lost its purpose. By the time the soldiers used the swords on them to strike back, several of their comrades have already gotten killed.
And their counterattack also wasn’t that effective.
In reality, it was just as Li Hong Yuan had expected. Because there were basically no conflict with the Kingdom of Zhang, the troops stationed here perhaps still appeared pretty proper and orderly, but in actuality, they were just flower vases. When actually facing a life and death situation, never mind attacking effectively, facing those ruthless shadow guards, there weren’t even many that had the guts to voluntarily attack.
Right now, Jing Wan didn’t fear any poison, and Li Hong Yuan was also together with her at all times, so Gong Jiu didn’t have that many misgivings either, freely scattering the poison on him. Of course, because the Baiyi clan’s holy treasure had an effective radius of three meters, for the sake of ensuring the effect, he separated from the group, staying three meters away from Jing Wan and them, while the others all tried to stay within three meters as much as possible. However, to avoid accidentally harming one’s own, the soldiers within three meters of Jing Wan also got ‘sheltered’, so can only rely on the other shadow guards to take care of them.
(T/N: I don’t even want to say anything about this deus ex machina bead.)
At the same time, Li Hong Yuan who previously didn’t make any moves, at this moment, also began killing.
However, because he needed to protect Jing Wan at all times, his movements naturally were greatly restricted, the destructive power also reducing. If Jing Wan wasn’t pregnant, he could’ve had her tied to his back, but now it wasn’t possible. However, for Li Hong Yuan, it wasn’t that big of a problem either, nothing more than not using big movements. Holding the stolen blade in hand, with every strike, fresh blood splattered in all four directions.
Jing Wan took it all in, her heart beating very quickly, but she wasn’t flustered. What was originally assumed to be a dead end, once again took a turn. If able to nicely live, then naturally it can’t better. She tightly stuck to Li Hong Yuan, even coordinating with his movements from time to time. And that dagger was also tightly held in her hand. When necessary, she will also make a move.
Even though the other side had a lot more people, and even as the battle continues, they still don’t have much odds of success, no one will give up, and they weren’t thinking that much either.
As the blood on her increased more and more, even her dress all changed in color. Her face and hands also had quite a bit. The scent of the blood was exceptionally distinct, yet Jing Wan was increasingly calm. During this time, she’d attacked twice from behind Li Hong Yuan, immediately withdrawing after striking, and as long as she let the other party draw blood, it was more than enough, because the dagger got coated with poison two days ago by Gong Jiu. Directly causing a cut was more effective than what Gong Jiu scattered out.
The second, the third human life faded away under Jing Wan’s hand, yet it was no longer able to make her heart produce waves again.
Li Hong Yuan took it in, and after discovering that Jing Wan was very cautious, absolutely not rashly advancing, he also just let her do as she pleased. And in his eyes, Jing Wan was also rapidly changing, overlapping more and more with that one from his past life. Sure enough, even if their circumstances and environment were different, in her bones, she was always the same.
The battlefield became a mess, but even if the other side had more people, there were also disadvantages to this, because those people can’t all swarm up at once.
And unknown as to when, Sun Yi Lin had already retreated to the outside. In reality, this kind of scene was also beyond is expectations. Some things, he ultimately never came in contact with before, not knowing that these soldiers would be this useless. Three hundred some people dealing with just ten some people, yet still getting slaughtered by them like this, if Qi Yuan’s armies were all like this, then don’t even need to do anything anymore, and can just directly open the doors, welcoming the enemy in, having the mountain and rivers offered up.
Clearly a guaranteed victory, but there weren’t any ripples in his heart. Perhaps because of his growing understanding towards Li Hong Yuan, in his eyes, any dangerous situation being able to be turned around by Li Hong Yuan all wasn’t anything strange.
However, he still wasn’t that worried. The advantage of having thirty times the number of people, even if just piling on people, they can still have the other party buried.
TN: All
Li Hong Yuan’s side appeared formidable, but they’ve already began getting injured. People, when facing death, would also erupt with endless potential. Additionally, “Go, all go up, they just have that bit of people. Killing them, each and every one will be rewarded, but if they don’t die, then the one to die will be you all.” General Sun’s incitement clearly had quite the effect.
Sun Yi Lin’s gaze was on Jing Wan the whole time. That was an appearance he’d never seen before. Even if her body was inconvenient, she was still resolute and firm, her movements keen, perfectly coordinating with Li Hong Yuan, to the extent that even Li Hong Yuan’s movements were becoming increasingly smooth. They very much had a tacit understanding, really not having any leeway for others to insert a foot.
Sun Yi Lin was seemingly in a daze watching, but then suddenly retracted his gaze, lowering his head. His body was somewhat shaking. However, one was completely unable to see the expression on his face, not knowing the reason.
Suddenly, he lifted his head again, the shaking also disappearing. Turning his head, he looked towards the direction they previously came in. There seemingly were movements. Sun Yi Lin glanced at the still chaotic battlefield, preparing to go through the forest for a look. Right now, it wasn’t suitable for a mishap to appear.
But, less than halfway, Sun Yi Lin just stopped in his tracks. There was no need to look. Such obvious sounds of horse hooves, the amount also not in the minority, to be able to spur the horse in this kind of place, even at such a speed, never mind if it was just one or two, but this many people, it would be strange for it to be ordinary people.
The safest way was to just immediately leave now. Regardless who was coming, it all had nothing to do with him. However, Sun Yi Lin didn’t decide like this. If he has to live the rest of his life in hiding, that absolutely wasn’t the days he wanted. In reality, how it will be in the future, he simply has never thought of before. For someone like him, there probably wasn’t the so called future.
Using the puppet gu to control General Sun, letting him cooperate with him, sometimes, there was just the need for such means.
Sun Yi Lin picked up a bow from the ground, pulling an arrow from the closest person nearby. As a young master from a noble family, the six arts[1] of a nobleman were things that can’t be lacked. And in reality, Sun Yi Lin’s archery skill has always been pretty good. However, he didn’t need to show off this bit. As such, he has only ever practiced in private, thus not many people knew.
Taking an aiming, the target was precisely Jing Wan and Li Hong Yuan. However, there wasn’t a specific target. In any case, it was just in their direction, and whether or not it hit also didn’t matter. In any case, his goal wasn’t to injure.
‘Shiu—‘ Li Hong Yuan and Jing Wan practically discovered at the same time. Jing Wan saw it, while Li Hong Yuan detected through his hearing. Without even thinking, Jing Wan just blocked in front of Li Hong Yuan. However, Jing Wan this time had nevertheless done a ‘bad thing’, because this arrow, for Li Hong Yuan, simply didn’t have any threat. To want to block it wasn’t anything difficult. Jing Wan blocking like this instead hindered his movements.
It was already too late to do anything. Li Hong Yuan hastily had Jing Wan pushed away, and afterwards, turned his body, perfectly avoiding it.
However, things weren’t over with. Jing Wan getting pushed out was also a bit sudden, staggering forward two steps, and because of worrying about Li Hong Yuan’s situation, she just hurriedly turned back, simply not paying attention to the situation in front. In that moment, a hand grabbed her by the neck, and at the same time, a short blade propped against her neck.
Leaning against the person that seized her, she was able to steady her footing. Pursing her lips, she looked to Li Hong Yuan who’d already stopped moving completely, not saying anything.
“Stop.” Li Hong Yuan didn’t go forward, coldly issuing the order.
And his people also stopped according to his order. In reality, because they were all relatively close by, what exactly happened, even if not noticing first thing, at this time, they’d also seen clearly. In fact, one of them was just a foot away from Jing Wan. However, when General Sun had snuck his way over, he’d already studied clearly, swiftly backing away with Jing Wan. And the blood droplets on Jing Wan’s neck fully showed that if there’s anything off in the slightest, he will absolutely kill her immediately.
Jing Wan’s eyes were on Li Hong Yuan from beginning to end. ‘Forget about me’, these kind of words, she won’t say, because even if said, he also won’t listen. Jing Wan suddenly turned towards Sun Yi Lin, her eyes dyed with deep hatred. Really, she has never hated someone this much before, even when Ruan Fang Fei had once schemed against her and the entire Luo family.
Sun Yi Lin’s heart got ruthlessly stabbed. Letting Jing Wan have some sort of emotion towards him, compared to being completely indifferent, perhaps was worth being happy over. However, deep-rooted hatred would still make one heartache.
Because of the chaos, because Li Hong Yuan’s people were already red in the eyes from killing, just knowing to ruthlessly kill the enemy nearby, their attention towards the outside was naturally weaker. The only one that was still able to divide out a bit of attention was probably just Li Hong Yuan, because he had people protecting him, and also because he needed to protect Jing Wan. The former created for him the conditions to multitask, while the latter forced him to divide his attention. Whether or not they can succeed, it really was hard to say.
However, they still succeeded.
“What are you all standing around for? Quickly kill them!” General Sun, in this moment, was very excited, extremely excited. As long as Jin Qinwang dies, as long as he dies…….
However, before they made any moves, the outer surrounding just sounded with painful cries.
[1] The Confucian six arts refer to etiquette, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics.