A Sudden Attack

The journey continued quietly, and very soon ten days had passed. They were already halfway to Spirit City.

An escort of five hundred imperial household knights was enough to compare to the emperor's relatives. Wherever they went, every town would receive them with its best appearance, and they didn't meet any troubles on the road.

Today was the eleventh day of travel. Tang Feng was chatting merrily with Dugu Yan when a cold aura suddenly arrived from not far away.

The cold aura came from the hills on either side of the small road. Tang Feng of course wasn't the only one to feel it. The imperial household knights leading captain shouted loudly,"Everyone be on your guard, there's trouble!"

The imperial household knights guarding by the Spirit Masters immediately raised the lances in their hands. Those Spirit Master academy competing team members had relaxed expressions. With so many talented Spirit Masters here, what would they need to worry about? Even though these students were a lot fewer than the imperial household knights, in a fight, their strength wouldn't be proportional to their numbers. Even more when the academy coaching teachers included powers of at least ten Spirit Masters of the sixtieth or seventieth rank. This kind of procession was enough to confront a large army of more than ten thousand troops.

Just at this moment, countless falling stones came tumbling down from the hills like rain. These stones didn't only appear extremely suddenly, but also extremely orderly. Swiftly falling towards the ground.

The terrain before them was extremely unfavorable to the entire procession. That imperial household knight captain immediately passed down the order to speed up their advance, and also leaving those falling stones to the five hundred imperial household knights.

This moment demonstrated the intrinsic quality of the imperial household knights. Even though they weren't Spirit Masters, their physical strength was extremely powerful.

The hills on either side weren't too high, and this also made the impact of the stones something that really wasn't impossible to deal with. The imperial household knights retreated a few steps, leaving a passage in the center, raising their lances high and meeting the falling stones.

Lances met stones, and they made use of their lances to constantly send rock after rock sideways. Five hundred knights' lances formed a steel wall, and in such unfavorable terrain, for the moment unexpectedly not letting a single rock past them.

The fifteen Spirit Master academies' coaching teachers swiftly led the way outside the hills. In order to move even faster, they abandoned the carriages, all students hurrying along on foot. As long as they could leave this terrain, there wasn't anything to fear.

Right now everyone wanted to know just what kind of person dared attack the imperial household knights regiment. This was Heaven Dou Empire's domain. Could there really be bandits? Were they blind?

"It isn't that simple. Don't tell me you don't feel it's strange? Even if Heaven Dou Empire has some large gangs of robbers, they're also very effective at gathering information. Someone dares attack a procession like ours, what would they rely on? Look at the stones, they were clearly prepared long ago. It really isn't random." Yu Tianheng looked at the emperor team and stated.

The imperial household knights were gradually becoming unable to endure, some especially enormous rocks smashing into their ranks.

This kind of moment displayed the strength of Spirit Masters. These Heaven Dou Empire advanced Spirit Master academy elites basically didn't show any confusion, each releasing their spirits. Auxiliary system Spirit Masters guarded inside, power attack system and defensive system pushed outside. The rocks that flew over were immediately smashed to pieces, to the extent that it didn't even influence their pace forward.

Soon, this stretch of road between the two hills was about to end. Behind the imperial household knights were also already starting to break off and retreat.

At this moment, a whistle sounded from somewhere. On the hills on either side suddenly appeared thousands of black clothes people, charging down with astonishing speed. Right now the imperial household knights were still in the process of retreating, and the Spirit Masters of the fifteen academies could only rely on their own strength for their protection.

All kinds of dazzlingly beautiful light began to appear over the Spirit Masters, spirits releasing, spirit rings shining. They were already prepared for battle.

Even though there couldn't be said to be any cooperation between the academies, each academy formed a small group, the appearance of enemies on the contrary stimulating their bloodlust. Not retreating but on the contrary advancing didn't require anyone's coordination. They swiftly faced the enemies and charged.

However, circumstances that the young Spirit Masters hadn't expected appeared. When they thought they could easily smash the opponents, the opponents struck the first blow.

The teachers and students of the fifteen academies altogether numbered more than two hundred, and the number of bandits coming down the hills numbered approximately one thousand five hundred or so. The moment both sides clashed, these bandits unexpectedly displayed astonishing teamwork. Often there were three or four people besieging one, their attacks accurate and powerful, immediately catching the Spirit Masters unprepared. After all, their combat experience was still based on small scale fights, it was the first time for this kind of large scale battle.

Dazzlingly beautiful spirit ring abilities began to appear, but those black clothed people were extremely crafty, relying on fairly good speed and teamwork, it was unexpectedly very difficult for first or second rank spirit abilities to do anything to them. Moreover, there was unexpectedly also Spirit Masters among these black clothed people, at least thirty formidable Spirit Masters over fiftieth rank. As soon as spirit abilities appeared, they would immediately go up to push back. There were on average two Spirit Masters to deal with each academy. Like this, the bandits' wolf pack tactics displayed a fairly large effect, and the scene completely sunk into a stalemate.