23 Looming Darkness

The enemies who had been laughing maniacally as they attacked now wore severe expressions on their faces as the situation on the battlefield abruptly flipped on its head.

From the central tent surrounded by many tents, arrows flew shot out like meteors as Li Yan and the elite household guards wreaked havoc with their superior archery skills.

While on the ground level, Yao Wuhan and Old Huo were going berserk in the ranks of the enemy as they reaped lives like berries with each swing of their swords.

As the enemy forces began breaking down due to the relentless onslaught of the most elite Li Family's forces, their confidence began waning and it was clearly visible for everyone to see.

As Li Yan continued to shoot arrows nonstop, she was also keeping an eye on her surroundings. Li Yan could clearly see the chaos that was unfolding in the enemy ranks. In the first place, the enemy was all over the place, there was no strategy or formation and every individual was charging like a savage. So when things began going downhill, the chaos stirred even more.

Taking this opportunity, Li Yan ordered, "Forward! Kill them all!"

Hearing her confident command, the Li Family's soldiers yelled out loud as the battlefield echoed with the reverberating sounds of war cries.

One soldier swung his sword, cutting off the enemy's head and splattering blood like a waterfall. Another soldier jabbed at the enemy's gut, meeting with his sword creating yellow sparks as a metallic clank rang.

Throughout the battlefield, screams and cries filled the air. The Li Family's forces pushed onward, reaping lives upon lives as they did, while the savage foes tried their best to counterattack. Despite trying, the situation only grew worse as some of the ambushers began feeling afraid, which led to further chaos and confusion.

At this moment, around a hundred Li Family's elite knights began using their inner Qi as they used superior sword and martial arts techniques to gain further advantage.

"Ahh!!! Fuck!!!! How? How the hell?! They have Qi cultivators! So many of them!"

As the Li Family's knights who were the household guards jumped into the flurry with their superior and powerful Qi cultivation, someone shrieked in fear.

This created a domino effect that weakened the enemies even more as the knights began rampaging through the enemy ranks.

With each of their swings, multiple heads rolled. It was total mayhem that terrified little Shijie to no end. This night would be unforgettable for him no matter what. Such was the impact of the event on his childish heart.

While Shijie continued to watch the grotesque scene of the blood splattering all over the forest and flesh being cut every second, suddenly, he heard the sound of heavy breathing of his mother.

Turning his head, Shijie saw that there were no arrows left in her quiver, Li Yan was breathing heavily and her face was covered in sweat. But the knights beside her seemed perfectly fine.

This clearly indicated how weak Li Yan had become after childbirth. Without her inner Qi, she was only above average than an elite soldier but with insane skills. But even that wasn't enough to keep up with those who could use inner Qi.

Just as Shijie was about to ask Li Yan if she was okay—the situation on the battlefield changed as a clamor began stirring in the direction of the forest.

Old Huo who was on a slaughter feat with the Li forces suddenly halted as he sensed multiple people approaching who seemed to be able to use Inner Qi as well.

Suddenly, the bodies of some of the Li soldiers were thrown all over the place as around five men in black robes appeared on the battlefield.

The five assailant's eyes widened in shock as they finally saw the state of the battlefield closely.

The sight was terrifying. The soldiers in light armor looked like demons from hell who were covered in the blood and flesh of their enemies while half of the men in black were lying dead on the ground, their bodies in horrendous condition.

On top of that, there were about a hundred inner Qi cultivator martial artists who seemed to be of low level. But that was merely the cream of the crop as there were two asuras incarnates who had superior martial arts fighting with the soldiers. One was an old man and one was a young man.

As the five Qi cultivates saw this scene, their jaws dropped as all they could feel was regret at this point.

One of the men in black was particularly pissed, he was gnashing his teeth so hard that his entire body seem to shake, his eyes were red with anger and fear and his expression could not get more uglier.

Judging by how the others looked at him with expectations and doubt, it seemed like he was the leader of the entire pack.

"T-they cannot be ordinary… W-who are they? I-i thought they were a large merchant caravan… Just… Who are they?" The man muttered in horror.

Seeing the new, more challenging enemies emerging—Old Huo and Yao Wuhan shot each other a glance from across the battlefield as they smirked and shot forward to tackle the new enemies.

"Go, they will need more assistance." Li Yan, who had been observing everything keenly, commanded some of the knights around her.

About five knights bowed and obeyed as they immediately rushed to follow the order.

"Fan Weijin, what do you think?" Li Yan suddenly asked.

Fan Weijin blinked as he took pause to answer and replied, "Miss, they are certainly not trained well, which suggests that they are not the forces of any rival family."

"Correct, why would they attack us?"

Fan Weijin looked at the chaotic mess that was the savages desperately fighting for their lives and said, "It is my assessment that they are a large bandit group. Since we are traveling under a merchant banner to not draw the attention of the rival families to us, it seems we met bad luck and perhaps drew the attention of these scums instead."

Li Yan smiled and answered, "It seems so. I'm surprised there is even such a large bandit group like this."

"That is indeed baffling," Fan Weijin said stoically.

Gradually, two more hours passed and almost 70% bandits were either dead or had fled. Four of the five Qi cultivators who were presumably the leaders of the bandit groups were cruelly slaughtered by Yao Wuhan and Old Huo as well as other knights and now only the leader was left who was desperately clinging to his dear life.

While Li Yan watched the demise of the bandits with a ruthless smile and just about everyone else was also relieved that it was just a mediocre bandit group and not an elite army who had ambushed them in the dead of night—Shijie, who felt like puking suddenly heard a sound much similar to the one Li Yan's bowstring had made.

The sound was very minute and faint. It was impossible to take note of without superior senses or conscious perception of the surroundings. So much so that even Fan Weijin who had great perception couldn't sense the looming threat in the shadows.

Nonetheless, Li Shuyi, who seemed to be gifted with godly sensory perception, could faintly hear the stretching of the rubber string.

Shijie suddenly felt a sense of dread wash over him as his heart palpated with fear. Instinctively, he could sense that something was very wrong. The feeling of dread had stunned him and Shijie couldn't even move his lips to warn his mother of what he was feeling. It was as if his entire body had been petrified. But even in such a state, little Shijie recalled Li Yan's teachings.

"The more disastrous the situation may be, the calmer you shall be!"

Shijie continuously recited these words in his heart as he strived to calm his mind—at this moment, a mysterious figure in lavish black robes smirked cruelly holding a fancy longbow and looking at Li Yan while aiming an arrow at Li Yan's heart.

A/N - spicy, what might happen next? :D