Chapter 568: Chapter 244: Hunted Down, Strength, and Rescue (Part 3)
The moment they saw Xia Hong’s true face, it was filled with disbelief.
"How can he be so young?"
"Just in his early twenties?"
"Seems about the same age as Li Xuanling."
......
The mask Xia Hong had worn before depicted a face of someone almost thirty.
Age is not the issue; the key is Xia Hong’s strength.
The younger the age, the stronger the power, the greater the potential.
It’s a very simple principle.
The first time Xia Hong appeared, saving Hou Hu on the east side of Long Mountain, it already raised the mountain’s caution, including Hou Hu, who didn’t say anything then, but felt it inside.
Cold Resistance Level, forty is the norm, and being thirty years old is already considered a genius, like Li Xuanling, who is unique in Longyou in the last hundred years.
Recalling Xia Hong’s display of power three days ago on the right side of Long Mountain, forcing back Li Tiancheng and saving Hou Hu, and now seeing his barely twenty-year-old face, the shock in everyone’s hearts is imaginable.
Shock was secondary, and more so, of course, was apprehension.
"Hong Xia, that’s not your real name either; Great Xia Leader Xia Hong is your real identity, isn’t it?"
Among the crowd, only Li Xuanling remained calm.
She looked at Xia Hong, not only full of fighting spirit but even revealing Xia Hong’s true identity in one sentence.
Xia Hong looked up at Li Xuanling, a smile on his face, lightly sighing, "I still underestimated you all!"
Then he looked curious and asked, "I shouldn’t have shown any flaws from beginning to end, how did you see through it?"
"Why don’t you surrender now, and I’ll tell you, how about that?"
Seeing the confident face of Li Xuanling, Xia Hong’s smile deepened, glancing at Wu Xiong behind him, then laughed, "Just with the few people on Long Mountain, you want to keep me? If Hou Tong and the others joined, there might be a chance!"
Li Xuanling, hearing this, turned to glance inside the valley, her face sinking.
Hou Tong had already retreated inside the valley, clearly not planning to join the fight, and now her people were besieging Xia Hong, the biggest beneficiary would be Zhaoyang.
Xia Hong was hinting, and how could she not understand?
Li Xuanling’s expression cooled a bit, looking at Xia Hong, saying coldly, "Compared to Zhaoyang’s Hou Hu, I think you’re the real trouble on Long Mountain, so today, you must die!"
As soon as she finished, Li Xuanling charged forward again, with Li Xuanyan and Li Xuandu following closely, quickly entangling with Xia Hong once more.
Xia Hong’s Yi Blade danced, not only fighting against three Cold Resistance Levels but also dodging the spears from Longyou’s soldiers, more importantly, his attention was partially on the hidden Divine Archer atop the cliff.
Li Xuanling’s plan was clear.
The three of them, plus Longyou’s soldiers, were using a war of attrition to wear down his strength and will, while the hidden Divine Archer awaited the perfect opportunity for a fatal strike.
From the iron arrow that pierced through the mask, it was evident that Li Xuanling’s strategy was quite effective.
"If I let this drag on, I might really meet my end in this misfortune!"
Xia Hong sneered, looking at the hundred Longyou soldiers by the iron gate, his eyes growing colder, and while fighting with Li Xuanling and the others, he slowly edged closer to them.
Facing fellow humans, Xia Hong still had some reservations about a full-on massacre, but if his life was truly threatened, he wouldn’t hesitate any longer.
Kill!
This thought flashed in Xia Hong’s mind, his left eye flashing as his body surged forward, swinging his Yi Blade at the Longyou soldiers by the iron gate.
Squish......
The brute force of his charge, combined with the rapidly swinging Thousand-forged Yi Blade, crushed more than ten of Longyou’s front-line soldiers into pulp or beheaded them with the blade.
"Retreat, maneuver and engage, surround him only!"
Xia Hong, now fully unleashed, erupted with even greater strength than before, yet Li Xuanling refused to give up, loudly commanding Longyou’s soldiers.
Seeing that the Longyou soldiers had not cleared the iron gate, Xia Hong’s left eye abruptly widened, a brilliant light suddenly condensed.
Squish......
However, at that moment, an iron arrow suddenly shot in from outside the valley.
"Big Brother, we’re here!"
"Hurt the leader, and I’ll take your lives!"
"Clear a path for us."
"Leader, we’ve come to save you!"
.......
The iron arrow was just the beginning.
As a dozen familiar voices rang out, over ten iron arrows cloaked in mighty force pierced through twenty to thirty Longyou soldiers.
Whoosh......
A Black Blade suddenly slashed down from outside the iron gate, followed by more than a dozen figures, wielding knives, swords, guns, or hammers, each unleashing terrifying power, clearing a gap in less than five or six breaths by scattering over a hundred Longyou soldiers defending the gate.
Xia Hong’s left eye had long returned to normal, turning toward the gap.
Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, Qiu Peng, Lu Yang, Lin Kai, Zhao Long, Zhao Hu, Zhao Bao, Zhu Yuan, Huang Yong, Hong Gang...... a wave of familiar faces came into view, and Xia Hong didn’t even bother to consider why Chen Yingyuan, Chen Yingba, Wu Tianxing, and Peng Bo were among them.
"Hahaha, you’re quite timely!"
Though it had been only four months, seeing the group from Great Xia filled Xia Hong with a joyful smile, quickly dissipating the rising intent to kill inside him.
"Haha, looks like the young master’s perfect plan is going to fall through!"
In high spirits, Xia Hong turned back to find Li Xuanling’s very unpleasant face, unable to resist a tease.
"Hurt Big Brother, I’ll take your lives!"
"Did the arrow hurt the leader’s face? Slaughter these dogs..."
"Hurt the leader, kill!"
.......
Though Xia Hong’s mood improved, Xia Chuan and the others felt differently.
Seeing Xia Hong’s left face stained with blood enraged Xia Chuan, and wielding a Black Blade, he charged at the Longyou soldiers inside the iron gate;
The rest, reminded by him, noticed Xia Hong’s facial injury, their anger immediately flaring up, killing intent boiling as they followed Xia Chuan toward the Longyou soldiers.
For them, Xia Hong, this leader, held a status akin to a deity, having become a sacred symbol long ago; even at Cold Resistance Level, seeing him at the Great Xia Station was difficult, and close encounters were even harder to imagine.
But now, they saw their god, so to speak, wounded like this.
This was simply unacceptable for the people of Great Xia.
Peng Bo, Chen Yingyuan, Chen Yingba, and Wu Tianxing couldn’t comprehend why Xia Chuan and the others were so furious, but seeing Xia Chuan charging ahead with his men, they had no choice but to follow.
Fifteen Cold Resistance Levels, each wielding different weapons, charged toward the iron gate simultaneously.
The destruction caused by this charge was far more terrifying than Xia Hong alone before.
"Big brother, Divine Arm Bow, catch!"
Xia Chuan, charging through the gate and having slain five or six Longyou soldiers, immediately retrieved the pale gold Strong Bow from his back along with a quiver of iron arrows, tossing them to Xia Hong.
Xia Hong caught the bow and arrows, eyeing the Thousand-forged silver pattern on the bow body, testing the bowstring, immediately becoming invigorated, his gaze casually flicking upward to the cliff, a fleeting chill in his eyes.
"No need to kill, let’s go!"
Xia Hong charged directly toward the gap, calling off the rampaging Xia Chuan and the others, signaling for everyone to retreat.
Truth be told, even with so many at the Cold Resistance Level, they couldn’t realistically defeat Longyou’s army; Xia Chuan’s group had merely taken advantage of the fact that the gate was lightly defended.
"Form ranks and encircle, don’t let them break through!"
Li Xuanling’s side had already begun mobilizing Longyou’s soldiers.
They had no choice but to retreat!