Chapter 263: Again Meeting an Old Rival

The opponent swore obscenely, and He Lingchuan simply gave him the middle finger. He knew his successful strike was partly due to Maotao's arrow distracting the foe. But in a group fight, who cares about sneak attacks or duels? Everyone who can should join in, and no opportunity should be missed.

He felt no shame in his victory.

Shan Youjun, who followed closely behind, had his view blocked by He Lingchuan and couldn't clearly see how his master had chopped off the enemy's hand. He attributed it to the exceptional sharpness of the Transient Blade.

Of course, he was sixty percent correct.

Only He Lingchuan knew that the Transient Blade's "Breaker" attribute had been triggered!

This attribute allowed it to ignore the opponent's elemental power and divine protection, dealing true damage without reduction. However, its activation rate was pitifully low.

"Pitifully low" meant He Lingchuan might not trigger the Breaker effect even after hundreds of swings.

This time, he had truly stumbled upon great luck, triggering the attribute with just one strike.

Lord Baili was truly unlucky; the intense elemental power emanating from his body became useless. He Lingchuan knew from the faint glow around him that this person held a high military rank.

The Transient Blade's first appearance on the battlefield after being reforged would be consecrated with the blood of a hostile general!

He Lingchuan strongly suspected this was a trial run for the attribute.

At this moment, He Chunhua's military orders finally arrived in waves. Shouts of "Only a hundred cavalry from Xunzhou!" echoed everywhere.

The supply convoy greatly outnumbered them; why should they be afraid?

The commanders from Xiazhou finally gathered their subordinates and began to counterattack.

After all, the supply convoy had a numerical advantage. In contrast, the Xunzhou army had penetrated deep into enemy lines, lacking sufficient depth for their charge. Their initial, most powerful assault had not met expectations, and they would soon face the consequences of diminishing momentum and eventual exhaustion.

At this point, the elemental power glowing around the Xiazhou army gradually deepened from light green to dark green.

This was also a sign that morale was continually consolidating and rising.

He Lingchuan's own guards had also gathered, led by Shan Youjun and Jiao Tai, charging behind their master. Having hunted demons with He Lingchuan from dawn till dusk, they surpassed the Xiazhou army in ambushes and combined attacks, proving their worth in this moment.

Once the tables turned, this elite Xunzhou force might find themselves encircled.

Both sides were well aware of this. Thus, the general who had lost his right arm, despite blood gushing from his shoulder and his face turning pale, still commanded his subordinates to attack He Chunhua with full force.

He had been helped off his horse but was still fighting against unconsciousness, while his personal guards worked to staunch the bleeding.

"To catch a thief, first catch his leader," Lord Baili understood clearly: the failure of today's raid was due to the supreme commander of the supply convoy still being alive!

The Xunzhou forces hadn't expected the convoy's officer to skip the banquet. They had failed to decapitate the snake, merely lopping off a tip of its tail.

He Chunhua himself hadn't anticipated that his desire to travel incognito and observe the people's lives would allow him to escape certain death.

Otherwise, he would have been the one to die in the tavern.

Both sides were engaged in a fierce struggle.

The enemy wanted him dead, but He Chunhua desired their lives just as much. With a grand sweep of his hand, he immediately declared a bounty: "Slay the enemy general, and receive a hundred taels of gold!"

To cope with the northern front, Xiazhou had reissued conscription orders, significantly raising soldiers' pay. However, an ordinary soldier risking their life might earn a maximum of twenty silver taels per year, which was already an undeniably high-paying profession locally. A hundred taels of gold was equivalent to fifty years of income for these soldiers!

Such a generous reward was sure to attract warriors, especially now that their side's disadvantage had been reversed. In the eyes of the Xiazhou soldiers, the severely wounded enemy general suddenly transformed into a gleaming gold bar.

He Lingchuan hissed softly as the Xiazhou army's deep green aura instantly shifted to dark blue, even tinged with yellow.

In comparison, Lord Baili, whose financial resources were not as substantial, seemed to be at a disadvantage.

Fortunately, at that moment, a monkey chewing on an apple appeared on a carriage at the rear of the Xiazhou army.

This brown-furred monkey wore a thorny collar and was fatter and stronger than average, appearing unremarkable. However, the Rock Wolf beside He Lingchuan seemed to catch its scent, suddenly turned its head, and began barking furiously at it.

Lu Xin's unusual behavior immediately put He Lingchuan on alert, and he looked over. To him, most monkeys looked similar; this one certainly wasn't as plump and goofy as his own medicinal ape, Lingguang. Yet, the thorny collar around its neck looked remarkably familiar.

Where had he seen it before?

It was quite far away. If he could zoom in twice...

Hmm? Zoom in?

He Lingchuan's pupils contracted sharply. He suddenly roared, his voice like spring thunder, at He Chunhua: "Beware the Ghoul Ape, it's behind you!"

Before his words had fully faded, the monkey rapidly expanded, transforming from a half-human-sized macaque into a giant ape over ten feet tall with bulging muscles!

A horse let out a sorrowful whinny as the ape's weight, over two thousand catties, instantly crushed the carriage beneath it.

This creature was the familiar face—no, familiar monkey—that the He father and son hadn't seen in two months: the Ghoul Ape, an enemy so formidable that even General Ke Jihai, blessed by fate, found it difficult to defeat. It was the top enforcer under the demonic puppeteer, Dong Rui.

Last time, He Lingchuan and Ke Jihai had only managed to injure it by working together—though "working together" meant He Lingchuan used the Walnut Boat to suppress the monster—after which the demonic puppeteer had escaped with it, vanishing without a trace despite all official searches.

As soon as the Ghoul Ape transformed, it instinctively grabbed heavy objects nearby—carriages, horses, supplies, or even tearing up wooden fences—and hurled them directly at He Chunhua!

This was its innate divine skill; every thrown object was incredibly powerful and swift, and disturbingly accurate, requiring no practice.

He Chunhua was protected in the center, surrounded like the moon by stars, with shimmering lights around him, likely from a protective formation activated to shield him from stray arrows. The Ghoul Ape was about seven zhang (twenty meters) away. Most of the thrown objects followed a parabolic trajectory, gaining potential energy from their height, landing with continuous thuds that shook the ground several zhang away.

It also tossed in several fully loaded grain carts. The sacks burst open in mid-air, scattering dust like a half-fallen snowstorm.

Dozens of people gathered around He Chunhua were not spared, instantly crushed under a heap of debris. He Lingchuan glanced over and saw someone knocked down by a thrown horse, only their legs still twitching outside.

The scene devolved into chaos. The Xiazhou soldiers, terrified, instinctively scattered, unwilling to provoke the malevolent ape that enjoyed throwing heavy objects. As a result, their formation collapsed. The opposing Xunzhou army was overjoyed, and Lord Baili rallied his forces, ordering them to charge the supply convoy.

Opportunities are fleeting; who doesn't know that?

He Lingchuan's scalp tingled, but this was no time for panic. He instructed the Rock Wolf, "Go find Dong Rui and tear him apart!" Then he spurred his horse toward He Chunhua's position.

At that moment, a volley of arrows from the Xiazhou army rained down on the Ghoul Ape. No one dared to approach, but a few ranged attacks were still viable.

The Ghoul Ape was completely unfazed. Its body was covered in natural bone armor, causing ordinary arrows to break upon impact. It only needed to protect its eyes.

What puzzled and alarmed the Xiazhou soldiers was that their arrows, imbued with elemental power, usually had an extra armor-piercing bonus against monsters. Why were they ineffective against this giant ape?

While everyone was intimidated by its power, the Ghoul Ape skipped its characteristic chest-beating. With two consecutive leaps, it landed in the center of the clearing, raising its iron fists high, ready to savagely pummel the pile of debris.

Whether He Chunhua was alive or dead, it intended to deliver a finishing blow first.

Given its bulging muscles, no one doubted the power of its fists.

Even if those under the debris hadn't died initially, a few more blows would surely flatten them into pulp.

Just then, a carriage in the debris moved, suddenly flying up and slamming violently into the giant ape's face, instantly shattering into splinters.

Clearly, something beneath had sent the carriage flying, momentarily stunning the giant ape.

After the carriage was flung away, He Lingchuan looked closely and saw a thin light barrier underneath, covering the few people in the very center.

There was He Chunhua, two of his closest personal guards, and several disciples from the Cloud-Piercing Pavilion.

Oh, and Elder Liang of the Cloud-Piercing Pavilion!

Taking advantage of the giant ape's momentary daze, he leaped high and struck the Ghoul Ape squarely on its brow with his palm!

Even though there were minor disagreements between them, He Lingchuan couldn't help but cheer. Elder Liang's strike was truly a stroke of genius, potentially the key to turning the tide!

But then his face fell. The Ghoul Ape shook its head, seemingly recovering, and let out a furious roar at Elder Liang and He Chunhua, bringing its palm down once more!

So, Elder Liang had just brushed some dust off its face?

Why hadn't he used a weapon then?

Elder Liang also looked somewhat surprised, as if he had underestimated the Ghoul Ape's thick skin. However, He Lingchuan noticed that where he had struck—the very center of the Ghoul Ape's forehead—a red character had lit up.

Compared to the giant ape's size, the character was tiny.

Fortunately, with He Lingchuan's 5.2 vision, which allowed him to shoot arrows and throw knives with precision, he could just make out the character: "滞" (Lag)!

It was written in ancient celestial script, and the red light it emitted flowed like mercury.

After this character illuminated, the Ghoul Ape's movements slowed by two beats. The fierce downward strike of its palm now appeared to be in slow motion.

It roared repeatedly, its muscles bulging even more, but it still couldn't speed up.

The red character on its forehead suddenly emitted a stronger light, clearly working hard to restrain it.

He Lingchuan immediately recalled the "celestial being" possessing Nian Songyu in the Coiled Dragon Illusion, who had used a word-spirit spell.

These two techniques shared a similar efficacy, both capable of affecting enemies through verbal incantations.

However, Elder Liang's word-spirit spell didn't seem to place a significant burden on him; at least, he swiftly led He Chunhua away from the giant ape's attack range.

He Chunhua appeared unharmed. Evidently, He Lingchuan's timely warning had allowed Elder Liang to activate a protective barrier for him. He straightened his askew hat and, with a grim face, bellowed, "What are you panicking for?! The rest of you, go for the bounty! Elder Liang, you and your people hold down the Ghoul Ape and kill it!"