Jiaohua

Chapter 1660 The mantis stalks the cicada and the oriole follows behind
Master Banjiu took a total of fifteen people with him.

The blood-written words on the clothes said that the other disciples who went out were in their hands, and if they arrived late, these disciples would also die.

Master Banjiu was extremely anxious. Led by one of his returning disciples, he rushed to the riverbank where the incident had occurred.

However, Master Banjiu was not stupid. He would not rashly show himself if he did not know who the other party was or how many people were there.

The terrain here is good, so Master Banjiu left the others in a secluded spot and took one of his disciples to go up to a high place to look around.

In the distance, the river channel is fan-shaped, opening up to the south and becoming wider as it flows downstream.

Some of this river water flows from the underground river in Yunwan Village. Master Banjiu and Master Bailu were worried that the rotting corpses of the villagers would seep into the ground and pollute the underground water, so they sent their disciples to check.

Looking down from here, the downstream area is clearly visible. The mudflats along the river are mostly flat and free of messy footprints, which suggests that the number of thugs who killed the two disciples was not large.

After looking around for a while, Master Banjiu turned around to speak to his disciple.

Just as he turned around, a sharp arrow whizzed past his ear.

If he hadn't turned around at that exact moment, the arrow would have pierced his skull.

Master Banjiu stared wide-eyed, then slumped against the rock and collapsed to the ground, his disciples nearby equally terrified.

The two remained motionless, pressed tightly against the large boulder behind them.

Not far away, Fang Yin lowered his hand and said unhappily, "That old man was lucky; he managed to avoid it."

The deputy general standing to the side said, "These tomb guardians are really brainless. The person has been dead for hundreds of years. What's the use of guarding this dilapidated tomb? If it were me, I would dig the tomb open myself."

After Qian Fengrong's death, Xie Zhong quickly set his sights on Fang Yinai as his next target.

Fang Yin did not disappoint him; he was very easy to control.

Now that he's with Xie Zhong, Fang Yin's originally honest and resolute eyes have become increasingly fierce, revealing a deep greed. He stared at the large boulder, put away his crossbow, and drew his sword: "There are three villages guarding this tomb alone. You can imagine how many burial goods are in this tomb. We've hit the jackpot this time!"

The lieutenant nodded: "Let's kill that old man first, and then immediately go back to find Military Advisor Xie."

"go!"

Master Banjiu was still in shock, and his disciple beside him was also terrified. After recovering, the master and disciple knew that they should not stay there for long, so they immediately picked up their weapons and left.

Fang Yinai and his deputy saw them coming down from afar on their way and immediately nocked their arrows.

The angle was bad, and the arrow missed again, but it scared Master Banjiu and his apprentice so much that they slid down the hillside.

The lieutenant, who had a sharp tongue, said, "These two old geezers, their legs are so weak, they should take care of themselves first, instead of guarding the tomb."

During this time, Zhili followed Fang Yinai and Xie Zhong all the way to Zhuzhou. Zhao Ning and Liu Jia and He San, who were sent to him by Madam Qu, also followed Zhili.

Upon hearing that Fang Yin had captured several villagers by the river and killed two of them, Zhi Li immediately sent Liu Jia with men to investigate.

Now, Liu Jia and his two subordinates had only been there a short time. Seeing that Fang Yi was about to kill an old man, Liu Jia immediately said to one of his subordinates, "Go back quickly and report this to Young Master Zhili!"

"Yes!" The subordinate quickly left.

Another subordinate said, "Brother Liu, what should we do? Should we go and rescue those two old farmers? Fang Yi is extremely skilled; we might not be able to defeat him."

Liu Jia didn't hesitate for a moment: "Even if we can't beat them, we have to save them!"

If he were still under Zhao Ning's command, he would definitely turn a blind eye to this matter for the sake of the overall situation.

However, after Zhao Ning assigned him to Zhili and asked him to wholeheartedly assist Zhili, his style of doing things changed.

Zhili values ​​human life above all else, so failing to help someone in distress is a grave taboo.

Just then, Fang Yin nocked another crossbow bolt, but before he could fire it, a stone came hurtling from behind.

Liu Jia and his men charged forward, swords drawn.

Fang Yinai and his deputy immediately went to meet them. The half-nine immortal master and his disciple, who were far away, had fallen badly and had not yet gotten up when they heard the sounds of fighting behind them.

The two couldn't figure out what was going on, but they didn't care and ran away first.

As soon as they got up, Master Banjiu cried out in pain, and his disciple immediately squatted down and carried him on his back.

But the situation got even worse at this point.

Liu Jia and his men were no match for Fang Yinai and his deputy. The two were struggling more and more and were unable to hold their own.

Just then, Fang Yinai's followers arrived.

A group of about twenty soldiers rode up from afar, raising their spears and shouting to Fang Yin, "General!"

Seeing that things were going badly, Liu Jia immediately ordered his men, "Retreat!"

There was no other way to run; they were on the same path as the Half-Nine Immortals.

But two legs can't outrun a horse.

Fang Yin chased after him for a few steps, then turned back and called to a soldier. He mounted the soldier's horse and chased after him, raising his bow and arrow as he did so.

However, this arrow still missed its target.

The arrow was shot down in mid-air by another short but powerful crossbow bolt.

Fang Yin thought he was seeing things and widened his eyes. The next moment, he realized something was wrong and immediately leaned down and pressed himself against the horse's back.

The crossbow bolt, which was meant to pierce his neck, instead pierced the chest of a soldier behind him.

The soldier who was running at full speed fell off his horse, and the soldiers behind him didn't have time to react. In an instant, several of them fell to the ground.

Ignoring the chaos, Fang Yin immediately jumped off and hid behind his mount.

However, the opponent only fired those two arrows and did not continue.

It wasn't that Danxianzhou didn't want to finish off the enemy, but rather that he found it cumbersome, so he only used two arrows in total.

"The crossbow made by Lao Liling is quite useful!" Dan Xianzhou pulled down his sleeve and quickly chased after Ban Jiuxianshi and Liu Jia.

Master Banjiu recognized him at a glance: "Master Dan, what are you doing here!"

"Don't say anything yet, let's go!"

"No, no!" Master Banjiu cried out, "Don't go that way! Those are all Taoist disciples; they'll lead those bandits there. Change course! Change course!"

There were three roads ahead. One was a dirt road leading south. The disciple carried Master Banjiu on his back and immediately headed that way.

Liu Jia and his men decided to play the good Samaritan and escorted them along.

The dirt road was narrow, making it difficult for the mounted soldiers to catch up. Finally, one of them caught up, and just as he pointed his spear at the enemy, Danxianzhou turned around and grabbed the handle of the spear.

Before the soldiers could even see Tan Xianzhou's movements, he leaped onto the spear, charged onto the horse's back, and kicked the soldier in the head. After being kicked off the horse, the soldier watched helplessly as his spear spun in the old farmer's hand before being thrust down.

The soldiers' screams abruptly ceased.

Liu Jia and his men were dumbfounded, then took a closer look at the thin, upright old farmer.

Danxianzhou simply said, "It's just a small operation, don't be surprised."

The soldiers behind them were blocked by the stray horse and the corpses of the soldiers, making it even more difficult for them to catch up.

Danxianzhou led them along the dirt road for about fifteen minutes, finally stopping outside a row of farmhouses that had long been deserted.

"Let me see your feet!" Danxianzhou said to Banjiuxianshi.