Chapter 278: Arrow of the God of War

In Suǒyuán City, the great fire raged, still spreading continuously towards the north.

In the black night, the wind carried the scorched smell of the city far away. Smoke permeated street after street, spicy and pungent.

On Kùlè Street, more than ten Tiān Cè Army iron cavalry, holding long spears, completely surrounded Li Xuán and six ordinary people.

Li Xuán held his sword only in his right hand, his left hand clamped the little girl under his armpit, constantly changing direction to protect the common people behind him.

One Tiān Cè Army iron cavalry lifted a long spear and thrust it towards an old man behind Li Xuán. With quick eyes and nimble hands, Li Xuán pointed his sword at the spear tip, emitting an ear-piercing metallic clash!

The long spear trembled, shaken by this sword point. The Tiān Cè Army iron cavalry's hand was numb, and he immediately retracted the long spear, warning in a low voice: "Be careful, he's very troublesome!"

One Tiān Cè Army iron cavalry grasped the reins, looking down at Li Xuán from his high position, laughing mockingly: "Already having trouble protecting himself, still deluding about being a hero or good man."

Li Xuán breathed heavily, saying: "Suǒyuán City is already yours, why still drive to exterminate these common people who will be your subjects later? Why not leave them a way to live?"

That Tiān Cè Army soldier laughed coldly: "How do I know there aren't your southern spies hidden among them? Suǒyuán is one of the nine borders, extremely important. How can we be like those foolish border army soldiers and leave hidden dangers? Naturally, we will purge the whole city and replace them with our northern people."

Li Xuán's heart was filled with mixed feelings. Even the Jǐng Army and Cháo people knew principles, so why didn't the Níng Dynasty border army? How could the border army be so short-sighted? For tax silver, they actually let so many northern people enter and destroy the city themselves.

But he still retorted: "General Hú also did it for the border army's livelihood!"

The Tiān Cè Army iron cavalry looked at each other, then suddenly burst into laughter, as if they had heard the biggest joke: "Letting northern people enter the city for business was that Wén Tāo, the dog thief. What does that have to do with Hú Jùnxián? Your mouthy General Hú exchanged letters with our great commander several years ago. Even the mountain path into your Níng Dynasty inland this time was all guided by his confidants."

Another person on horseback said wildly: "Turns out you are the real fool, sold and don't even know it. The so-called 'preserve Suǒyuán's people and open the city gate to surrender' was all a pretext. That was only to fool his border army soldiers below him. That Hú Jùnxián wanted to offer Suǒyuán to our dynasty long ago."

Li Xuán was stunned in place: "How can it be so? How can it be so?"

Seeing him lost in thought, four Tiān Cè Army iron cavalry raised their spears and stabbed in an instant.

*Ding ding ding ding.*

Li Xuán's long sword in his hand shook out splendid sword flowers, actually blocking all four stabbing long spears one by one!

One long spear was broken by a single sword chop. As the long spear tip fell down, Li Xuán kicked it out with one foot!

And saw the spear tip, carrying the momentum of wind and thunder, stab into the hindquarters of one person's war horse. The war horse, in pain, startled up, almost throwing the Tiān Cè Army iron cavalry off its back!

No one expected Li Xuán to be so troublesome, even when he was lost in thought!

Just as Li Xuán wanted to take advantage and kill the Tiān Cè Army iron cavalry who was about to fall off his horse, a sharp whistling sound came from a distance. A fierce whistling arrow arrived in a flash!

This arrow came extremely cunningly, forcing Li Xuán to involuntarily retract his sword to defend, blocking the whistling arrow away!

Among the Tiān Cè Army, someone said in a deep voice: "He's not the border army, possibly a high-ranking official of the Seeking Dao Realm. Wait for the whistling arrow to call people here, then surround and kill him together."

At the same time, Li Xuán's heart suddenly alerted: "This is only an ordinary Jǐng Dynasty cavalry squad, yet someone is attacking the heart, someone is responding from a distance. Both offense and defense are so dense it's alarming, there's fundamentally no flaw to be found!"

Watching the sound of the whistling arrow, soon more Tiān Cè Army soldiers would come to surround and kill!

Li Xuán silently looked around, and asked in a deep voice: "Everything you said about Hú Jùnméi just now was only to disturb my mind, right? You are just ordinary troops, how can you know military secrets?"

One Tiān Cè Army soldier urged his horse to circle around Li Yún and the refugees, saying leisurely: "This matter is no secret within the Tiān Cè Army. You are not the border army, could you be from the Feather Forest Army? I'm somewhat curious, there's only you here, where are your colleagues? Could it be that they all abandoned you and ran? It's better to surrender to the Tiān Cè Army, you'll naturally have wealth and honor!"

Li Xuán suddenly recalled Chén Jǐ's indifferent and distant eyes, but quickly suppressed the thought!

He knew the Tiān Cè Army armored soldiers were delaying time waiting for reinforcements, yet there was nothing he could do!

No, he couldn't delay any longer.

He took a step forward, wanting to forcefully break the formation, but as he moved, the Tiān Cè Army armored soldiers immediately thrust their long spears towards the refugees, startling him into having to defend and retreat!

From the distant darkness, another whistling arrow shot out, almost brushing past his scalp!

Some Tiān Cè Army armored soldiers mocked loudly: "Indeed a dandy army, soft-hearted. A Hall Seeking Dao Realm official yet for several grass-like common people, being surrounded and killed by us few people!"

These people grasped Li Xuán's weakness. As long as he made a move, they would immediately attack the refugees and entangle with him!

These people were extremely cautious, and would absolutely not launch a strong attack before reinforcements arrived.

Li Xuán had a mind to abandon the refugees, but he turned back and saw the refugees with tears streaming down their faces, and he couldn't bear it!

Yet he heard one Tiān Cè Army iron cavalry laugh coldly: "Since you have a Bodhisattva's heart, why come to the battlefield? Remember to reincarnate as a rich man in your next life, no longer seeking death!"

Li Xuán shook the long sword in his hand, and the long sword emitted a booming sword sound: "If we cannot protect the common people behind us, what do we cultivate for?"

The Tiān Cè Army soldiers laughed mockingly: "Dandy army young masters, you only say such good words, heh."

Before the words were finished, a handful of fresh blood suddenly splashed on Li Xuán's face!

Li Xuán suddenly lifted his head, and saw the Tiān Cè Army armored soldier who had just spoken staring with wide eyes. An iron bow arrow had pierced through his mouth, and blood flowed down from his open mouth!

Everyone was surprised and turned their heads, looking towards the direction the iron bow arrow came from.

"It's impossible for a god archer to miss a shot?"

Tiān Cè Army god archers all had the ability to pierce a willow at a hundred paces. Even if the arrow's trajectory was blown by the wind, it wouldn't be so biased as to hit their own comrade's body.

Among the Tiān Cè Army, a group of people roared: "Dodge, the god archer's bow has been seized!"

With a *bang*, an iron bow arrow pierced through this person's chest and abdomen. This iron bow arrow was powerful and heavy, actually surpassing the Tiān Cè Army god archer's not by a little.

Li Xuán was surprised and uncertain: "What exactly happened? Who is extending a helping hand?"

He had no time to think more. Seeing a flaw appear in the Tiān Cè Army formation, he immediately swung his sword to break through!

He only saw one Tiān Cè Army armored soldier hanging sideways on his horse, using his war horse to block the direction the iron bow arrow came from. But Li Xuán's hand rose and fell with the sword. The sword blade fell along the gap between the helmet and shoulder armor, chopping off the opponent's head.

For a time, Li Xuán and the hidden shooter person in the black night attacked from the south and north, sandwiching the enemy!

Li Xuán's vajra-like angry eyes, flying up and down in the crowd, caused the Tiān Cè Army formation to fall into great chaos in just a few breaths!

"Go, go find the Hundred Commander!" One Tiān Cè Army iron cavalry hung sideways on his horse and fled, deluding himself that he could rendezvous with the coming reinforcements!

But an iron bow arrow shot from the night sky, lightly hitting the reins!

The reins broke, and the Tiān Cè Army soldier lost his leverage, his upper body falling down uncontrollably!

The moment his head poked out from under the horse's belly, an iron bow arrow responded and shot, piercing his head!

The Tiān Cè Army soldier's left foot was still hanging in the stirrup, and his body was dragged further by the war horse. Li Xuán's pupils suddenly contracted!

Today he had fought with many Tiān Cè Army god archers, yet he had never seen such fierce arrow technique, making it hard to guard against!

After Li Xuán chopped down the last Tiān Cè Army soldier, he couldn't help but turn his head to look towards the place where the iron bow arrow came from, but there was only black night, and he couldn't see who was drawing the bow!

Was it a Níng Dynasty secret spy planted in the Jǐng Dynasty? Or an expert among the border army officials?

Vaguely, Li Xuán saw a black shadow crossing from the roof, getting closer and closer!

Li Xuán didn't know if it was friend or foe, so he could only block the refugees behind him, hold his sword, and hold his breath, waiting!

The next moment, he suddenly exclaimed: "Chén Jǐ!"

In the black night, on the roof, Chén Jǐ had changed into a set of Tiān Cè Army god archer's black armor at some point. On his head, he wore a pheasant tail helmet, with a black pheasant tail raised high, pointing straight to the string moon above!

And he saw Chén Jǐ holding the bow in one hand, setting the arrow in the other. He also wore two arrow quivers at his waist, suggesting he had silently killed two god archers.

"How is it you?"

Li Xuán was surprised in his heart. That shot just now, which pierced through the reins of the running horse, probably even a Tiān Cè Army god archer wouldn't necessarily be able to do!

The key was, he never thought it would be Chén Jǐ who came to save him!

When they passed the alley mouth earlier, Chén Jǐ had clearly warned him with his eyes. Why would he turn back now?

Li Xuán murmured: "You..."

Chén Jǐ's gaze slowly swept over Li Xuán and the refugees, and he said calmly: "Hurry up and go."

Li Xuán hurriedly lifted the little girl onto his back again, turned around, and ran towards the north!

But after running just a few steps, he heard the sound of horse hooves coming from the front, likely the Tiān Cè Army iron cavalry guided by the whistling arrow.

He turned back with the little girl again and ran towards the west. Horse hooves also transmitted sound from the west side!

Li Xuán stood still, listening intently, and suddenly discovered that Tiān Cè Army iron cavalry were galloping from all four directions, there was fundamentally no road to escape!

He turned back bitterly to look at Chén Jǐ: "Sorry for dragging you down, why don't you escape yourself? With your skill, they shouldn't be able to stop you! Can you at least take this little girl away? She's still young..."

Chén Jǐ looked at him strangely, then reached out and pointed towards the northwest direction: "Go from there, pass through a small alley, then head north!"

Li Xuán shook his head: "People are coming from that side too, we can't escape! These Tiān Cè Army soldiers are difficult to deal with. If we get stuck by them, no one will live!"

Chén Jǐ didn't answer, casually took out three whistling arrows from his arrow quiver, set them on the bowstring together, and shot towards the east!

A miserable sharp whistling sound went far, rushing into the black night!

Li Xuán was startled. He heard the iron hoof sounds that were originally rushing towards them suddenly become chaotic, and in a flash, they changed direction towards where the whistling arrow went!

The whistling arrow was the signal in this black night, guiding all the Tiān Cè Army to kill.

Li Xuán's eyes widened. Only then did he understand Chén Jǐ's intention in assassinating the two god archers!

With the whistling arrow in hand, even without deliberately avoiding the Tiān Cè Army, he could make the Tiān Cè Army clear a path for them to live.

This boy's courage was too great to do such a risky act, yet it actually worked.

Li Xuán hurriedly said to the refugees: "Quick, follow me."

He carried the little girl on his back and ran towards the small alley in the northwest. Before entering the small alley, he couldn't help but turn back to look, but there was no sign of Chén Jǐ on the roof!