Chapter 009: On the Brink of Life and Death

Joshua stepped forward a few paces, grabbed Du Fan, and tried to rush outside. But by now, Du Fan had calmed down somewhat. He shook off Joshua’s hand and said, “There’s no need to rush. Let’s first see who it is!”
With that, he pulled out the Phantom Wand from his storage ring and stuffed a dozen or so magic scrolls into his sleeve before slowly using the wand to lift the veil from the corpse on the ground.
Although the corpse had been split in two by Joshua’s sword, its features could still be faintly recognized after the veil was lifted.
Joshua took one look and couldn’t help but frown. “It’s him!”
Du Fan also recognized the corpse—it was none other than the seemingly enthusiastic innkeeper!
The two exchanged glances, both seeing the shock in each other’s eyes. If the assassin was someone they didn’t know, it would still be explainable. But if it was the innkeeper, it meant whoever wanted to deal with them had been thoroughly prepared, even anticipating that they would come to this town’s inn!
Both of them hesitated for a moment.
Du Fan looked around and asked, “What do we do now?”
Joshua replied gravely, “Whoever they are, since they’ve prepared so well, they must have a backup plan. I’m sure our brothers who went to the barracks have arrived by now! Our only option is to leave quickly. Only by joining those brothers can we have a chance!”
With that, Joshua drew his sword and tried to head out first, but Du Fan grabbed him and said, “We can’t leave. If they’re prepared, leaving will only give them an opportunity. If the two of us get separated and encounter a group of them, things will get troublesome…”
As they spoke, screams could be heard outside—either from the Temple Knights or the Northern Legion cavalry. Someone shouted before dying, “Everyone, retreat quickly! These people have crossbows!”
Then, a series of “swish” sounds came through the night. It was unclear how many assassins pulled their crossbows at the same time. Soon, “crack” sounds came from the walls and wooden planks outside—the windows had been shattered by arrows, and countless crossbows fired in from those openings.
Joshua snorted, swung his hand, and used his combat energy to scatter the crossbows ahead. Then he pulled Du Fan along, and the two rolled across the ground to take cover in a corner of the room.

They saw countless arrows pouring in as if at no cost. The two exchanged a glance and could only force a bitter smile.
Du Fan sighed and said in a low voice, “It’s good it’s raining now. Otherwise, if the enemy set another fire, we really wouldn’t have any way to escape!”
Joshua also smiled bitterly. Just as he was about to respond, suddenly both of them smelled a pungent odor.
Du Fan vaguely remembered what it was, but before he could react, Joshua already shouted loudly, “Black fire! Damn it! It’s black fire!”
Before he could finish speaking, a rocket was fired into the room, instantly turning it into a sea of flames.
Joshua roared and swung his long sword, cutting a path through the flames. He shouted, “Du Fan, this black fire can’t be extinguished—even water magic won’t work. Let’s retreat quickly!”
With that, he gave a signal and rushed toward the door first.
By now, Du Fan had realized what was happening and couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
Black fire? What nonsense! It’s just oil!
But even knowing it was oil was of no use at this moment. Du Fan could only mutter a few spells and shoot out a few water balls to create a path through the flames, then hurriedly followed Joshua out.
By now, the entire inn was engulfed in flames. Although these flames posed no immediate threat to Du Fan and Joshua, it was only temporary. If they didn’t leave soon, even the most skilled fighters would be burned to death.
The two jumped out of the room. Since there were no windows in the hallway, the enemy’s rockets couldn’t get in for now, reducing the intense heat.
But as soon as they reached the hallway, they saw more than a dozen assassins surrounding them from all sides. Whether they were cavalry from the Northern Legion or knights from the Temple Knights, most were resting downstairs in the inn. Although a few were on night duty, they had already been silently killed by these assassins. Now, these assassins were guarding the stairs. Seeing people jump out of the rooms, they didn’t hesitate and fired their crossbows at them.

Joshua took the lead. Seeing arrows shooting at him from all sides, he let out a groan. Swinging his Holy Cross Sword back and forth, he unleashed two crescent-shaped bursts of combat energy, which instantly shattered the arrows mid-air. Several assassins standing closer were cut in half by the combat energy, their internal organs and blood gushing out like fountains.

The other assassins recognized his strength. One of them shouted loudly, “It’s a Templar Knight! Show us what you’ve got! We’re so many—we’re not afraid of just one of them!”

As he spoke, the assassins in the corridor began to emit bursts of combat energy one after another. The fact that they could cultivate combat energy meant they were by no means ordinary warriors. Seeing them charge forward recklessly with gleaming combat energy on their swords, Joshua let out another groan. He lifted his Holy Cross Sword left and right, creating a huge Holy Cross symbol in the air. As the assassins rushed forward, their combat energy was crushed like glass.

With just that one move, Joshua took the lives of seven or eight people. These guys’ combat energy dissipated instantly, and blood flowed from all their orifices—there was no way they could survive.

Half of the assassins upstairs were dead or injured. The remaining forces could no longer hold off the knights rushing up the stairs. One of the leaders, realizing the situation was hopeless, didn’t hesitate and shouted, “Retreat!”

The remaining assassins immediately retreated toward one side of the corridor. At the end was a wall. The leader pushed it casually, and the wall collapsed with a loud noise—clearly, they had prepared for this.

The assassins jumped down through that opening one after another, about to leave.

By then, the knights below had rushed up. Joshua glanced over and managed to make a gesture to protect Du Fan before flashing toward the gap. Swinging his sword, he sneered, “Since you’re here, don’t rush to leave!”

Before he finished speaking, he swung his sword again, causing the gleaming combat energy on the blade to surge several feet high. Several assassins who hadn’t yet jumped down let out screams as they were cut in two.

But the ones at the front had already jumped down.

Just as Joshua was about to follow, he suddenly heard several “swish” sounds—another wave of flaming arrows was coming!

Clearly, the enemy had reinforcements outside!

Faced with this surprise attack, Joshua didn’t dare to delay. He swiftly spun his long sword, deflecting the first few arrows, but with such a dense barrage, it was impossible to block them all at once. Several Temple Knights saw this and rushed forward to assist. The one at the front reached the gap and tried to leap down, but before he could move, an arrow shot at him like lightning. Before he could even scream, he fainted dead. The arrow was incredibly powerful—the three leading Temple Knights were pierced in succession and all fainted on the spot. Clearly, there were elite fighters lurking outside! Joshua’s expression changed, and he shouted, “All of you, retreat! No one is allowed to chase after them!” The Temple Knights didn’t dare to pursue further and instead returned to protect Du Fan closely. After a while, the arrow rain finally stopped, and at the same time, the inn was engulfed in flames! Yet Joshua still didn’t dare to delay. After listening for a moment, he waved his hand and said, “Retreat first!” Immediately, the group quickly retreated from the second floor to the hall, only to find that the first floor was also in flames. In a panic, they fled outside the inn, only to discover corpses everywhere. Of the Temple Knights and Northern Legion cavalry left to defend, fewer than twenty remained alive. Faint sounds of fighting could still be heard in the surroundings. Frustrated, Joshua picked up a crossbow from the ground and shot, eliminating the remaining killers who were still fighting to the death. It was still raining heavily, but the ground was covered in blood, and the inn behind them was burning fiercely. Joshua and Du Fan exchanged a glance, both speechless for a moment. Wiping the rain from his face, Joshua gave a signal and said, “You guys go and bring everyone back. We need to stay together tonight. I don’t believe they’ll dare to attack again! Take more people with you… just in case there are more ambushes!” A few Temple Knights obeyed and left, quickly mounting their horses before disappearing into the rain. The remaining Temple Knights and cavalry also didn’t dare to be reckless and stayed by Du Fan’s side. Du Fan took a deep breath but suddenly remembered something. He ran to a carriage by the side of the inn and glanced over, only to see a few blood-covered Northern Legion cavalry still holding their ground. Seeing Du Fan approach, they nodded weakly.

Du Fan had originally been afraid that at this critical moment, Chenchen or Ringtone might use some trick to let Joshua notice something wrong. Only now, seeing this situation, did he feel relieved. He had intended to ask them if they had discovered anything, but this wasn’t the right time for that, so he had to give up.