The Empress's No.1 Lackey
Chapter 584 - 584: 424, Breaking the Formation_2

Zhao Douan listened and roughly understood that the swords in the hands of these Taoists before him were not genuine flying swords but ordinary valuable swords controlled by magic.

Aha, that makes sense. If this hundred or so were all formidable with flying swords, Lu Zhengchun would've founded a sect and rivaled Martial Emperor City's Qingshan... Zhao Douan watched with a theatrical expression.

At this moment, seeing the advancing infantry formations pressing relentlessly forward, the leading Taoist hardened his expression and said, "Fellow disciples, let's join forces to repel the enemy!"

"Yes!"

The Taoists shouted in unison, their momentum impressive, as the swords above their heads suddenly surged forward like a swarm of locusts.

They poured down like a storm, with the mountain path swept by fierce winds, the pines swaying on both sides, and each longsword gathering like a whirlwind of swords, crashing fiercely into the shield wall of the Great Yu infantry.

"Clang clang clang!"

In an instant, sparks flew at the point of weapon contact, with the clear sound of iron clashing as the sword tips collided with the shields.

Accompanied by sparks, each longsword was deflected like a siege arrow by the shields, not falling, but instead tracing a trajectory in the air under the control of the Taoists at the back, returning to the sword array to launch a second charge.

"Advance!"

The infantry soldiers growled, enduring the storm-like attacks as they pushed the steel wall forward relentlessly.

Alas, attacking uphill on this mountain path, which was ultimately not wide enough, the elite infantry could not mount horses for their strongest cavalry charge.

In this poor terrain, they could only transform into infantry to push forward with their bodies, their combat power significantly reduced by seventy or eighty percent, making Zhang Han, who also came from a military background, frown as he quietly said to Zhao Douan:

"This place is too disadvantageous for the soldiers. If it were flat ground, a single fearless charge would be enough to smash this so-called sword array, but now they can barely exert two-tenths of their strength."

Zhao Douan, however, remained calm and said, "But it's enough, isn't it?"

Indeed, even though the army array was hard-pressed to exert its power, with just their excellent shields, they had managed to hold firm against the locust-like sword array.

"Fierce soldiers on the battlefield differ from Cultivators and Martial Artists, the latter having more skills, and thus often reducing armor for the sake of agility, while this sword array was set up against Cultivators, but when it met a wall of iron, its power was equally greatly reduced," said Deputy General Yuan Ji, calm as ever.

In the front, the Taoists quickly realized this as well, their expressions changing slightly as their previously unstoppable longswords were repeatedly repelled by the iron wall, and they watched as if witnessing the inexorable advance of dark ocean water.

The leading Senior Brother snorted coldly and said, "Mere iron shields, watch as I, a humble Taoist, break them."

As he spoke, his horsetail whisk suddenly swept forward, and in a flash, Zhao Douan heard a sharp shrill cry.

He was very familiar with this sound because the Golden Crow Flying Dagger sliced through the air with such vigor.

At this moment, as the leading Taoist swept the horsetail whisk, a section of sword blade without a hilt emerged from nowhere, splitting into three in midair, turning into gray afterimages that instantly hammered down on the shield array.

The previously unbreakable shield wall was ripped apart in an instant, and a soldier groaned as he was blasted backward, crashing into the rear as his shield shattered and splintered.

As the shield wall began to show signs of collapse from the breach, the remaining swords in the sky swarmed into the gap, avoiding the soldiers' necks, and specifically stabbing their shoulders and underarms. In the blink of an eye, blood spurted, and a row of infantrymen fell like stalks of wheat.

"Not good..." Yuan Ji's eyelid twitched. Once the array was broken, the infantry, unable to maneuver, would face defeat.

Of course, if they were to go all out and fill the gap with lives, they could also break the formation, but the casualties would be too great.

"Lang Shiba, Ji Yue, go and break the formation."

Zhao Douan calmly spoke.

In an instant, the Alcoholic Blade Man and the female sorcerer, like a red-clad ghost, emerged from the formation.

Lang Shiba tore through the air like a meteor, crashing heavily into the gap in the shield wall, the curved sword in his hand tracing a bright arc in the evening light.

"Clang!" With a single sound, the flying sword was knocked aside, and the face of the Zixiao Palace Senior Brother, linked in soul to the sword, turned ashen, his pupils narrowing: "Western Region Warrior?"

He tried to deduce Lang Shiba's identity from that curved blade.

Meanwhile, clad entirely in red, with her hair flowing and revealing a pair of pupil-less white eyes, Ji Yue spread her arms, flying up gracefully above the mountain path, bathed in the gradually darkening sky and the dying twilight, pressing her pale finger.

"Crack crack..."

The moisture in the air was frenziedly drawn out to coat the dozens of longswords in the air.

In an instant, the longswords enveloped in suddenly appearing layers of water membrane seemed to gain a will of their own, halting in midair, impervious to the Taoists' manipulations.

With her own force, Ji Yue forcibly restrained over a hundred longswords: "Do... it..."

"Break the formation!" General Yuan Ji shouted loudly, gripping two war hammers, bending his waist and knees, and leaping up. Like a meteor crashing into the sword array, his heavy hammers swept across, causing several stunned Taoists to spit blood and fly backward.

The rest of the fierce soldiers, seeing this, also discarded their shields and charged into the sword array like wolves and tigers, breaking through the group of Taoists.

"Attacking imperial officers is tantamount to treason. Yuan Ji, you know how to handle this, right?" A light voice came from behind.

Within the sword array, Yuan Ji, weighing several hundred pounds and full of ferocity, felt a chill in his heart, suddenly sweeping horizontally with a hammer, instantly knocking down several corpses around him.

The other soldiers, seeing their general like this, no longer held back, and in an instant, sword light flashed, blooming into splashes of blood under the setting sun's glow.

They killed them...

The leading Taoist's pupils contracted suddenly. Seeing the situation was dire, his face turned pale, he flicked his horsetail whisk to recall the flying sword back to his sleeve and twisted his body to leave. Just as he turned around, a curved blade rested on his neck:

"Don't move."

The Senior Brother of Zixiao Palace, even though he was in the Divine Chapter Realm, dared not move when faced with the blade of Lang Shiba.

Especially when Ji Yue appeared in front of him like a ghost, he finally gave up any hope.

Behind.

Haitang and others looked on expressionlessly at the scene.

If it was merely normal arrogance, when faced with official troops forcing their way, they would naturally retreat a step, but these Taoists chose to strike at the soldiers.

This action in itself showed that Lu Zhengchun indeed had huge issues, just that no one suspected it before.

Zhao Douan lightly jolted the horse reins, leading the way over the ground filled with corpses, continuing to walk higher, and coldly said:

"Yuan Ji, you stay here with the troops to handle the follow-up. The rest, follow me up the mountain to meet Lu Zhengchun, there's no need to waste soldiers here where it's hard to maneuver."

...

...

The Zixiao Palace Taoist temple occupies a considerable area, and is extraordinarily impressive.

In front of the temple, there is a towering and majestic arch.

Inside, there are many palatial buildings and pavilions.

At this moment, atop one of the highest pavilions, Lu Zhengchun, wearing a luxurious deep purple Taoist robe and with a jade hairpin binding his hair, looking like a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, sat expressionlessly in an unusually wide armchair, overlooking the slaughter on the mountainside platform.

From this vantage point, the entire slaughter of both sides was perfectly visible.

At this moment, Lu Zhengchun was holding a disheveled Kun Dao female Taoist in his embrace. The young and beautiful female Taoist had a delicate figure, with her belt undone and her clothes sliding down, exposing fair scenery beneath.

However, witnessing the killing scene below, this flower-like dainty Kun Dao's face was pale as gold paper, trembling with cold hands and feet, with no reaction to Lu Zhengchun's big hand movements.

Beside her, attending Lu Zhengchun and feeding grapes from a golden cup filled with vibrant green grapes to the Palace Master, even the plump female Taoist was frozen like a wooden chicken.

Not only them but also a large group of beautiful Kun Daos aged from teens to over thirty, behind them, trembled like quails, too scared to continue their singing and dancing.

"A bunch of trash." Lu Zhengchun expressionlessly uttered these four words, unclear if he was referring to the disciples below or the surrounding Kun Daos.

Only the female Taoist in his arms suddenly cried out in pain, as Lu Zhengchun's hand inside her robe abruptly squeezed, leaving a mass of bruised flesh.

Lu Zhengchun turned his head, looked at the beloved concubine trembling, biting her lip, trying hard to stifle her cries, and with tears welling up in her eyes. Gently stroking her hair, he said, "Does it hurt? It won't hurt after a while."

Originally a virtuous woman here to offer incense, the pitiful Kun Dao, whom Lu Zhengchun targeted and used some means to bring into the palace as a Lu Ding, slightly nodded, her eyes showing fear and dependence.

However, in the next second, Lu Zhengchun casually twisted and broke her fair, slender neck.

"Zhao Douan... what a Zhao Douan..."

Lu Zhengchun mumbled, fury roaring in his eyes, his figure blurred, and when clear again, he was already standing under the ancient and imposing arch in front of the Taoist temple.

Looking in the direction of Zhao Douan leading a group of subordinates, climbing up the stairs.

Their gazes met.

Zhao Douan's lips curled slightly: "Lu Zhengchun? I suspect the Zixiao Palace of colluding with rebels. Come with me for an investigation."

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