Chapter 460: Dragon Language Spirit

A group of people hastily retreated from the battlefield. Only after they reached a forest did the sounds of their pursuers finally fade away.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Zu An, feeling puzzled, asked Sang Hong, who was beside him, "Can't the Embroidered Uniform Guards act on behalf of the Emperor? If they just bring out an Imperial Decree, wouldn't all manner of evil spirits and demons be suppressed? Why would we need to flee so frantically?"

The scene in Moonlit City last time, when the other party invoked an Imperial Decree, was still fresh in his mind. The three thousand elite Red Robe Army soldiers were no weaker than, and arguably stronger than, these rebels in terms of combat power.

Sang Hong replied, "After all, few people have seen the Embroidered Uniform Guards take action before, let alone act repeatedly. In my opinion, they can't just invoke an Imperial Decree whenever they want; it must come at a great cost."

"Furthermore," he continued, "the Embroidered Uniform Guards are meant to alleviate the Emperor's burdens. If they had to ask the Emperor to act in every situation, wouldn't it make them appear incompetent? Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, they likely won't invoke an Imperial Decree."

Hearing his analysis, Zu An generally understood the situation. The Imperial Decree was like a nuclear weapon; it was primarily for deterrence and couldn't be used in conventional warfare.

Huang Huihong snorted, "Master Sang, please don't make wild guesses..."

Just then, several long swords suddenly emerged from the ground, directly piercing the bellies of the horses and then thrusting towards the Embroidered Uniform Guards on horseback.

These people chose their timing perfectly; it was just as the Embroidered Uniform Guards had relaxed their guard and their attention was drawn by Sang Hong's words.

This sudden attack caught them off guard. Although the Embroidered Uniform Guards were well-trained and quickly jumped off their horses to dodge, two of them were a step too slow and were impaled by the sharp swords, stuck together with their horses.

Zu An gasped, subconsciously clutching his buttocks. "How painful that must be!"

However, those Embroidered Uniform Guards who jumped into the air to dodge were also in trouble, because several dark streaks of light suddenly shot through the air.

Zu An's eyes narrowed. He was all too familiar with these dark streaks of light; it was this type of dark light that had nearly killed him with an arrow last time in Jibei City.

"Could it be that the rebels are trying to kill me?" he wondered.

The Embroidered Uniform Guards in mid-air quickly swung their Soul-Snatching Chains, attempting to bat away the incoming arrows. Unfortunately, the Dark Elves, once they made a move, always drew blood.

Their arrows had been aimed for a long time, and they were fired only after everyone had jumped into the air to dodge the underground assassination.

This meant the Embroidered Uniform Guards were in a vulnerable state, having expended their old strength with no new strength yet generated. How could they possibly dodge?

Screams rang out. Immediately, two more Embroidered Uniform Guards had blood blossoming on their chests, shot dead on the spot by the ambush arrows.

Although the remaining few managed to dodge awkwardly, every one of them was wounded.

Huang Huihong quickly called his companions to his side, huddling closely by the prison cart. His face was extremely grim.

It should be known that there were only ten Embroidered Uniform Guards in total on this mission. Two companions had died mysteriously in the town inn previously, and this recent surprise assassination had killed four more in quick succession. Now, including him, only four Embroidered Uniform Guards remained.

At this moment, the enemies slowly revealed themselves. Several Dark Elves emerged from the ground, while others leaped down from distant trees, all converging on the prison cart.

Zu An quickly counted: there were eight Dark Elves in total, five males and three females. They were all dressed in black, with black veils covering even their faces. Their eyes were somewhat different from human eyes, with red pupils.

Sang Hong, standing nearby, sighed, "The Dark Elves are indeed as skilled in assassination as the legends say. That ambush just now wiped out nearly half of the Embroidered Uniform Guards in an instant. Today might be quite difficult for us."

Although Huang Huihong's face was grim, he showed no fear. Instead, he coldly stared at the approaching figures, "Who sent you? Do you know that abducting an imperial criminal leads to the execution of nine generations of your family!"

"Nine generations?" one of the Dark Elves scoffed. "Our homeland was long ago destroyed by you humans. What 'nine generations' do we have left?"

Seeing the hatred in their eyes, Huang Huihong knew that today's encounter would not end well. He quickly weighed the combat strength of both sides; the enemy clearly had the upper hand, both in numbers and average cultivation level.

He said in a deep voice, "You should be aware that we can act on behalf of the Emperor. Once an Imperial Decree is invoked, you will all be annihilated."

He truly did not want to invoke the Imperial Decree unless absolutely necessary, for reasons similar to Sang Hong's earlier analysis.

"Imperial Decree?" The Dark Elves all scoffed, seemingly unconcerned.

Huang Huihong's heart skipped a beat. He felt that something was fundamentally wrong today. Without hesitation, he knelt down facing east, holding his hands respectfully before him: "Your humble servants encountered enemy obstruction ahead. I respectfully request His Majesty's Imperial De..."

Zu An, standing nearby, felt a thrill of excitement. He would finally get to see the Imperial Decree suppress their enemies again. It couldn't always be his side getting beaten; it was time to see this 'ultimate weapon' bully someone else.

Who knew that at this moment, an ancient voice suddenly came from nearby: "Rise!"

Hearing this voice, Huang Huihong, who was kneeling to invoke the Decree, involuntarily stood up. The invocation ceremony was naturally interrupted.

The other Embroidered Uniform Guards, standing beside him, stared at him in confusion, not understanding why he had suddenly stood up.

Huang Huihong was also baffled, subconsciously turning his head to look in another direction.

At this moment, an old man slowly emerged from the depths of the forest. He leaned on a dragon-headed staff, and his figure swayed as if he might fall at any moment.

However, ever since Old Man Mi and Wei Dan, Zu An no longer dared to underestimate these old men who looked as if they could be blown over by a gust of wind. Each of them was more cunning than the last, likely deliberately feigning a harmless appearance to lull their enemies into a false sense of security.

At the same time, he curiously glanced at the old man's head again. On both sides of his head, above his ears, were a pair of horn-like protrusions. Unlike the horns of typical herbivores, these were not large, appearing more like a pair of ornaments. Yet, they exuded an inexplicable sense of power.

At this moment, Huang Huihong's face changed dramatically. He immediately knelt down again, restarting the Imperial Decree invocation ceremony. However, this time, both his movements and his speech were much faster than before.

If there had been a hint of showing off just now, now there was an urgent panic.

At this, the old man pointed his dragon-headed staff at Huang Huihong, "Silence!"

Huang Huihong's voice instantly vanished. He could only be seen opening and closing his mouth repeatedly, but not a single sound came out.

"What the heck? What's going on?" Zu An watched, utterly shocked.

Sang Hong, beside him, explained, "This old man should be a high-ranking Dragon."

"Dragon?" Zu An glanced at the old man's slender figure. He didn't look like one at all. "Have I not seen a Dragon before?" he thought.

The red dragon from Dragon Hidden Mountain was still fresh in his memory.

As if seeing his confusion, Sang Hong replied, "Ordinary Dragons need to cultivate to an extremely high realm before they can transform into human form, and even then, there's considerable risk. But high-ranking Dragons don't need to; they can almost take human form from birth."

Zu An had a sudden realization. He finally understood why the pair of horns on the old man's head looked so familiar.

At this moment, Zheng Dan, who was nearby, also asked curiously, "Why did Commander Huang suddenly lose his voice?"

Sang Hong looked at the elderly Dragon in the distance. "This is another innate ability of high-ranking Dragons: Dragon Speech Incantation."

"Dragon Speech Incantation?" Zu An suddenly recalled that Shang Liuyu had mentioned it to him previously in school: the Dragon race possessed a secret 'Speech Incantation' technique that other races envied immensely.

By merely uttering a few simple words, they could make things a reality. In a sense, it was 'what is said becomes law.'

Zu An was filled with envy. "Shouldn't 'what is said becomes law' be the exclusive right of keyboard warriors?" he thought. "When will I ever have this ability?"

"I didn't expect the Dragon race to be involved too," Sang Hong said, looking at Zu An with a complicated expression. "You truly have quite the reputation."

Zu An also felt a little uneasy. "Didn't they say the Emperor was the strongest in the world?" he mused. "How come now his subordinates are getting utterly defeated by various other factions?"