Chapter 1188: The Army of the Imperial Guards

The struggle for the desert palace, the fierce battles among the eight supreme martial artists, and the ominous signs of the return of the Tiger Soul—all took place hundreds of meters beneath the desert. Aside from Happy, no player knew about these events, nor was anyone aware of what was happening underground.

However, in the outer areas ravaged by the black storm, a group of ragged martial artists were hurrying through the desert, escorting two children.

Clomp, clomp, clomp…

A group of over a hundred men and women, each with strong martial skills, left only faint footprints as they rushed across the soft dunes at high speed. Even the most formidable bandit gangs in the desert wouldn’t dare to provoke them!

Yet this group acted like desperate dogs, fleeing frantically through the desert, constantly looking back with expressions of anxiety and worry. Among them were the Silver Fox group. Also present were Mei Ying, the leader of the Xifeng Tower, and Niu Dali, the leader of the Zanyi Sect.

Various martial artists surrounded a dozen people dressed in black, along with Jin Xiangyu, the owner of the Longmen Inn. All of them had similar expressions of exhaustion and distress.

Since the plot mission at the Longmen Inn began, they hadn’t had a moment’s rest. They had been hunted and ambushed repeatedly by the Imperial Guards. More and more people died, and they dared not relax even for a second, fearing that the two children under protection, or Zhou Huai’an and Mo Yan, might be killed.

Although Zhou Huai’an and Mo Yan were also at the Mythical Realm level, their strength had been severely depleted due to the relentless assassinations and pursuits by the Imperial Guards. Now, the two of them, each holding a child, were running at the front.

“They’re coming…”
“They’ve caught up!”
“What should we do? Should we just fight to the death against those imperial enforcers!!” A few rough and bold voices suddenly rose from the crowd, filled with a rough, martial atmosphere.

Zhou Huai’an frowned and turned back:
“Don’t stop!”
“Just a few more dunes, and we’ll see the town. There’s our base there, where we can avoid the imperial enforcers!”
“Damn it!”

Hearing Zhou Huai’an’s calm orders, the martial artists in the group smacked their own heads and continued to run.

Before long…

Faint horsehoof sounds came from behind.

Boom… Boom!!!!

The hoofbeats grew louder and more frequent!

The expressions of the martial artists changed slightly, but Zhou Huai’an and Mo Yan, unusually, said nothing more. The group kept running at full speed across the dunes.

But players like Mei Ying couldn’t stay quiet…

The sound of horse hooves from behind grew increasingly intense and deafening, as if the entire desert was trembling.
“Let’s go see what’s going on.”
Shadow could no longer hold back.
Since being driven out of Longmen Inn by the Black Storm and fighting their way a hundred miles through underground passages, the group had never had a moment’s peace. Along the way, many were killed in various ambushes, and even Xifeng Tower lost several of its elite fighters.
“I’ll go.”
One of Wu Kuo’s men, upon receiving a signal, quickly left the group and rushed toward a higher vantage point.
At the same time, Niu Dali also sensed that the number of pursuers behind them might have increased significantly. Unable to stay calm, he sent one of his subordinates to check the situation from above.
It was better not to look, but once they did, they were shocked.
Boom!!!!!!
A dense swarm of iron hooves, carrying swirling sand, rushed toward them like a giant black dragon with no end in sight.
The two roughly estimated that the pursuers numbered at least several thousand!
And they were all fully armed elite Jinyiwei soldiers!
The two gasped in shock, scanning the surroundings. Those right behind them were less than 300 meters away—once they crossed the dunes, the pursuers would be right on their heels. Jinyiwei soldiers also appeared on both sides, stretching their formation into a pocket-like shape, clearly aiming to encircle the group.
The situation was critical!
Seeing this, the two didn’t dare hesitate any longer. They turned around and ran back to the group to deliver the terrible news to Shadow and Niu Dali.
Shadow’s face paled…
The course of events had clearly gone beyond what they had expected!
In the desert, everyone’s mobility and strength were somewhat restricted, and they also had to divide their attention to protect the two descendants of Zhou Huai’an and Yu Qian, adding more concerns. They couldn’t avoid the Jinyiwei arrows at all…
Previously, they had been able to hold their own and break through because there weren’t many Jinyiwei soldiers.
But now…
Thousands of Jinyiwei soldiers!!
If the Jinyiwei managed to encircle them, it would mean total annihilation—among their pursuers was a super-skilled warrior.
“Lord!”
“Why don’t you take the others and leave? We’ll stay here to hold them off and buy you time,” said the people of Xifeng Tower, led by Wu Kuo, ready to sacrifice themselves to help Zhou Huai’an and the others escape.
Shadow’s expression darkened:
“It’s too late to talk about this now. With the children, we can never outrun the Jinyiwei soldiers. It’s only a matter of time before they catch up…”
“What should we do then?”

“Abandon the mission?” Hearing the increasingly loud thundering of hooves behind them, many people grew anxious and voiced their opinions: “I think we should just give up on this mission. It’s too impossible to complete.”
“Abandoning the mission means breaking our promises, losing all our chivalry points and reputation. All the missions we’ve completed and the reputation we’ve built will be erased.”
Shadow silenced everyone with just one sentence.
This mission at Longmen Inn was quite special, as it involved joining forces with a group of martial artists to protect the descendants of Yu Qian. Their appearances had already been seen by the Jinyiwei. Even if they abandoned the mission, word of their actions would spread throughout the land. The cost of breaking promises and straying from the right path would be severe.
The group was now torn with indecision!
With the Jinyiwei army surrounding them from three sides and no place to hide in the desert, they were trapped with no way out. Should they just watch helplessly as the Jinyiwei forces closed in?
Boom!!
With the passage of time, the Jinyiwei soldiers finally emerged from behind the sand dunes and came into view.
The thundering of hooves shook the desert, stirring up clouds of yellow sand that rushed toward the group like dark clouds!
At the same time,
hooves were also coming from both sides, like a huge, stretched-out pocket closing in on the group of desperate fugitives!
It seemed the group was about to be swallowed by the army.
“Those damned imperial hounds!”
Zhou Huai’an frowned tightly. Along with Mo Yan, he handed the children in their arms to those nearby and shouted, “Brother He, take them ahead! I’ll hold them off! Those who aren’t afraid, follow me!”
“Brother Silver Fox?”
“At a time like this, is there any choice?” Facing the questioning looks of the three, Silver Fox frowned slightly. “Follow them, form a formation. We just need to protect ourselves at that time…”
“Okay!”
All four of them were tough individuals who hadn’t flinched even in the face of real gunfire, let alone just a game scenario.
They were the first to respond to Zhou Huai’an’s call, turning around and following him and Mo Yan toward the Jinyiwei army.
Seeing this, Shadow, Wu Kuo, and Niu Dali also made their decisions:
“Follow them!”
“Fight to the death with them!!”
At a time like this, showing weakness meant losing not only one’s own face but also the reputation of the gang.
Driven by Silver Fox and the others, hundreds of martial artists turned around. Aside from a dozen players who continued to escort Yu Qian’s child to safety, most chose to fight to the death to buy time for Yu Qian’s child.
Whoosh!
Whoosh whoosh!!

Under the recoil, the speeding Jinyiwei quickly understood the intentions of the group and swiftly drew powerful bows from their saddles…
In an instant, the sound of arrows slicing through the air filled the air, with arrows flying everywhere!
Countless black dots descended from above, striking the crowd.
“Be careful of the dog-tooth barbed arrows!” someone in the crowd shouted in alarm!
The four Silver Foxes grew tense and covered each other as they deflected the arrows.
In fact, Jinyiwei with the Wuwei realm’s cultivation level were not difficult to deal with…
What was tough was that these Jinyiwei, having left their bases, were fully armed and also equipped with various specially crafted magical arrows by the imperial court—wild bee arrows that could shoot out clusters of poisonous needles mid-air, dog-tooth barbed arrows that could penetrate the body and destroy internal organs, and phoenix-tail arrows that were elusive and hard to defend against.
The former ones were still manageable.
Although wild bee arrows had a wide range, their lethality wasn’t too great; as long as one had antidotes, it wasn’t a big problem.
But the dog-tooth barbed arrows were extremely vicious—they not only had a destructive effect but also contained a mechanism that, once the arrow pierced the body, would latch tightly inside, leaving the victim either dead or severely injured and unable to fight.
As for the phoenix-tail arrows, only a few elite warriors were qualified to use them—they were arrows that could be directed at will, making it even difficult for top mythological masters to defend against.
It was with these magical arrows that these Jinyiwei swept through nearly a hundred strong martial artists along the way, chasing them all the way here.
Clang! Clang!!
“Ah!”
“Damn it! Those poisonous arrows again!”
Arrows rained down on the crowd, with screams echoing incessantly.
The various magical arrows mixed among the ordinary ones knocked down many people on the spot; over a dozen people collapsed in the yellow sand, their bodies pierced by arrows and dead beyond saving.
A few unlucky ones had their mechanisms triggered, with dog-tooth barbed arrows extending from their bodies. They screamed in pain covered in blood, tried to defend themselves for a while, and eventually collapsed in the desert, covered in arrows…
In the blink of an eye, more than half of the martial artists were killed!
Except for strong warriors like Shadow and Silver Foxes who followed Zhou Huai’an, Mo Yan, and Jin Xiangyu and rushed to the front of the Jinyiwei army, the rest all knelt down after just a few rounds of arrow attacks! The scene was extremely brutal!
Uuuuuuu!!!
Just as dozens of martial artists forced their way into the Jinyiwei army, a deep and loud horn sound came from the high slope on the left.
As if receiving some command, the front of the Jinyiwei army, which had rushed to within ten meters of Zhou Huai’an and the others, suddenly split strangely to the left and right!
Boom… boom… boom…

Amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, horses galloped wildly and sand flew in the air; the group was quickly completely submerged at the center by the sand splashing up from all around. As if in the eye of a storm, they gathered together in confusion.