Chapter 698: Chapter 289: Crushing, Stalling for Time, Ning Yuan Hill’s Decisive Victory
"Arrogant!"
Seeing the army had already marched a mile away, even if he turned back now, it posed no threat to him, Hou Hu finally couldn’t hold back.
Before the roar had completely dissipated, his silver Coiled Dragon Pattern Long Stick pierced through dozens of meters, aiming straight at Xia Hong’s face.
Unlike knives, spears, swords, or halberds, the long stick has no edge. Such a straightforward attack should have extremely limited lethality, yet the reality was completely the opposite.
With Hou Hu’s immense strength added, the long stick stirred the airflow along its path, first forming a silver air column, with intense pressure driving the surrounding cold air to crazily rush towards the column in a short time.
The rapid gathering of cold air unexpectedly formed a fan-shaped cold air shock wave centered around the stick tip, with a radius of more than ten meters.
Ssst...
Who says a long stick has no edge?
Under Hou Hu’s terrifying strength, the sharpness revealed at the stick tip instantly stunned all the surrounding spectators.
Hou Hu gripped the stick with both hands, his eyes filled with coldness, and the unwavering stick tip reached Xia Hong’s vicinity in an instant, just an inch from his chest.
"Even Li Tiancheng wouldn’t dare act so arrogantly, and you dare? Courting death!"
Hou Hu is domineering and unruly by nature, respecting only Li Tianhua in his life. Even when Li Tiancheng’s strength surpassed his, he remained unafraid. So, being underestimated by an unknown Xia Hong ignited the fire of anger in his heart, as expected.
Yet, despite all this, he wasn’t overcome by rage.
Xia Hong had once saved him from Li Tianhua’s hands; the fact that Li Xuanling with the Longyou Army and so many at Cold Resistance Level in Gourd Valley couldn’t kill him, indicated Xia Hong’s strength was highly likely above his own.
Therefore, from the start, he used his full power.
His grip on the stick alone showed this blow nearly concentrated all his strength, with speed and power overextending beyond limits, resulting in such momentum and impact.
From the moment Xia Hong chose not to make a move initially, Hou Hu understood there was no chance Xia Hong could dodge this strike.
Bang...
Everything unfolded as he anticipated, the stick tip reached Xia Hong’s chest.
But it stopped there!
The subsequent development was nothing like he imagined.
He clearly felt his stick tip pierced at most through Xia Hong’s skin, not even reaching the flesh, before coming to a halt.
As though hitting an indestructible wall, his long stick couldn’t advance an inch, and he remained in a horizontal airborne state.
Crack...
The moment his palm cracked, Hou Hu’s expression drastically changed, a swift trace of fear surfaced in his pupils, and he immediately tried to retract his stick to retreat.
Unfortunately, he could no longer pull back his long stick.
"Twenty-three manes, less than three months, and increased by seven manes..."
Xia Hong grabbed the stick with his left hand, a hint of surprise appeared on his face, then his left hand exerted force, pulling Hou Hu along with the stick in front of him.
Then, his right hand wielding the Dragon Sparrow Saber suddenly flashed.
Whish...
An arcing cold glow cut through the night sky, rushing towards Hou Hu’s neck.
Too fast!
Xia Hong’s saber stroke was incredibly swift.
Not only Hou Hu, but even the onlookers around couldn’t see it clearly.
It seemed like a mere lift of his hand, a blink of lightning, and the slender Dragon Sparrow Saber had already drawn a line on Hou Hu’s neck.
"Leader!"
At a critical juncture, Hou Hu immediately let go, dropping his long stick, and fiercely kicked the ground, retreating rapidly.
His strength couldn’t compare to Xia Hong at all.
Not only Hou Hu, but Hou Tong and the others reacted at this moment too. Yet, instead of cowering, they drew their weapons and charged forward, blocking between Xia Hong and Hou Hu.
Hou Hu, retreating to the safety zone behind, still appeared unsettled as he touched the fine knife mark on his neck, filled with fear in his heart.
Had he not let go earlier, he might’ve already been decapitated.
"How is it possible? I attacked with full strength, yet couldn’t even pierce through his skin completely. What strength does this Xia Hong truly have..."
Hou Hu’s exclamation wasn’t even finished when danger struck again.
Xia Hong, originally besieged by Hou Tong’s group, suddenly wielded the Dragon Sparrow Saber horizontally, breaking through the encirclement and rushing towards him.
Clang... Clang...
Xia Hong didn’t even intentionally use the saber to attack Hou Tong and the others; the saber glint generated during his forward rush already severed three of their weapons. The other four retreated just in time, avoiding the severing, but were affected by his forward momentum, causing their bodies to scatter to the sides, hands trembling uncontrollably.
"I told you, all eight of you should’ve come at once, yet you didn’t believe. Now you’re out of luck!"
Xia Hong was already standing in front of Hou Hu, and after a subtle smile, he raised the Dragon Sparrow Saber in his right hand, slashing diagonally towards Hou Hu’s right shoulder.
Earlier, when Hou Hu let go, he had already flicked the silver Coiled Dragon Pattern Long Stick towards Xia Chuan and the other three behind him, so at this moment, Hou Hu was weaponless.
"Leader Xia, don’t..."
Hou Hu seemed to have sensed the scent of death, his eyes filled with panic. Initially retreating in haste to avoid, but as Xia Hong continued extending the saber’s edge, realizing he couldn’t evade the strike, he immediately opened his mouth to plead.
Upon hearing Hou Hu’s plea, Xia Hong wasn’t surprised.
In April during the Long Mountain alliance, when Hou Hu infiltrated Long Mountain to gauge the situation but was later pushed to the brink by Li Tiancheng, almost dying, he also shouted "Master Tiancheng" to plead for mercy from Long Mountain.