Nine-layer armor-breaking

Chapter 332 Reversal
That night, it was still that quiet forest, and that dilapidated courtyard.

However, without the sounds of fighting, the courtyard was eerily quiet, especially with the four people in the background.

"Young...Master, you..."

In that life-or-death moment, the word "Miss" almost slipped out of Li's mouth, but he still managed to retain a sliver of reason.

His physical condition and energy levels are now at their lowest point.

Walking on the edge of life and death, he naturally couldn't care less about such things. Therefore, it was perfectly reasonable for him to subconsciously address Jiang Xian in this way.

This time, however, he not only remembered to address Jiang Xian as his master, but he also showed Jiang Xian great respect.

Clearly, he believed that it was Jiang Xian's timely intervention that saved his life.

The chivalrous heroes he had imagined did not appear, nor did Guard Liu arrive; only Jiang Xian remained behind him.

If it was the savior he had imagined before, then now, his savior was truly only Jiang Xian.

Jiang Xiancai was his savior.

His purpose in leaving Yingzhou was to accompany and protect Jiang Xian and ensure his safety. Unexpectedly, in the end, he himself was the one being protected by Jiang Xian, which made him feel quite ashamed.

He realized once again that the girl in front of him was no different from the delicate rich girls he had met before; in fact, she was unlike any other woman he knew.

He stared intently at the girl before him, the girl who had once again brought him surprise, the Miss Jiang who had lived under the same roof for many years, yet only today did he begin to have a clearer understanding of her.

He was stunned for a moment, forgetting his weakness and the dangerous figure behind him who could attack at any time.

Yes, the effects of the drug on the steward had not completely dissipated, and for Guard Li, the steward, whose effects had not yet worn off, still posed a considerable threat.

At this moment, in order to conceal her identity, Jiang Xian could not speak directly. She could not directly remind Li Huwei to make good use of her medicine powder packet, but could only remind him by making gestures.

Jiang Xian pointed to his clothes, and upon seeing this, Guard Li immediately came to his senses.

Li, the guard, knew that the same spot on his body where Jiang Xian had pointed was where he had carefully hidden the packet of medicine Jiang Xian had given him earlier.

He immediately realized that he was still in danger.

Although he was somewhat puzzled, he still pointed to the same spot on his body that Jiang Xian had pointed to earlier, as if he were confirming with Jiang Xian.

However, Jiang Xian nodded in agreement with his actions, indicating that he should use the packet of powder.

At this point, although Guard Li had some doubts about the use of that packet of powder and felt somewhat uneasy, for some reason, he did not want to question Jiang Xian's intentions at all. It seemed to be because of their previous experience, or because Jiang Xian had saved him at the moment of life and death.

He couldn't quite explain why, but to him, Jiang Xian now seemed to be someone he could trust without needing any reason.

His trust in Jiang Xian was somewhat unexpected.

Having "communicated" everything, the two naturally had nothing to fear.

A rustling sound came from behind him, and Li immediately realized that the steward was about to attack him again.

He turned around, and sure enough, the scene unfolded as he had expected.

The steward did indeed charge at him again with his short sword, but this time he was not as fierce as before; instead, he seemed somewhat powerless.

Upon closer inspection, even the manager's face had changed from that of the puppet.

The steward's face was deathly pale, and there was a hint of worry between his brows. This was unlike his original cold demeanor, and it was also quite different from the puppet-like appearance he had taken the pills for.

His movements toward Guard Li were even somewhat slow, and the hand holding the short sword seemed weak and trembling.

However, even so, the steward's current condition is still much better than that of Guard Li.

As a high-level Heaven-rank martial artist, he is not comparable to ordinary martial artists. Even in his current state, his core strength is definitely no match for him.

Otherwise, the core leader would not continue to wait.

Given the leader's personality, if the steward were to weaken to a certain extent, and after careful consideration, if there were any chance of victory, he would definitely take decisive action to eliminate the immediate threat threatening him.

In Jiang Xian's view, even though the effects of the medicine were beginning to wear off, it would still take time. At least it would be enough to sustain the effects for a few more attacks on Li Huwei.

Therefore, Guard Li had to take the initiative to block the steward's attack, rather than simply waiting for the steward's medicine to wear off.

So, just as the steward approached Guard Li, Guard Li had already reached into his clothes and found the packet of medicine powder that was waiting patiently. He was ready to use it at any time.

Guard Li glanced up, determined a suitable distance, and prepared for the arrival of the steward.

"Wow!"

A packet of powder suddenly appeared in Li Huwei's hand, and he threw it hard at the manager's face. Although he was a little weak, he threw the powder very quickly, as if he had been prepared for it.

The powder almost entirely landed on the manager's face, leaving him nowhere to avoid it.

Only a small amount of powder drifted and scattered in front of Li Huwei. Li Huwei controlled his breathing and covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve, trying his best to get rid of the powder that filled the air and avoid inhaling it.

Even so, Li, the guard, still felt that he had inhaled some. He was immediately worried, but after thinking of Jiang Xian, he even felt that even if he and the steward were restricted in their ability to move at the same time, Jiang Xian's very reliable way of doing things would do his best to save his life.

Thinking about this, he felt much more at ease.

He was even somewhat relieved that he had ingested far less drug powder than the steward, so even with his mobility restricted, he should wake up much earlier than the steward.

"Snapped!"

"Bang!" As the powder was inhaled, the man who had been holding the short sword in his hand lost his grip, and the short sword fell to the ground before him without hesitation.

Then, shortly after the short sword hit the ground, the steward also lay stiffly not far from it.

One man and one sword met on the ground in the blink of an eye.

Seeing this scene, Guard Li felt no joy or pleasure; instead, his face was filled with sorrow.

However, the worry on his face was not without reason; he was concerned about Jiang Xian's safety.

He had completely forgotten this point. The moment the steward fell to the ground, he realized that he himself would soon lie on the ground like the steward, but he forgot that the leader was also a martial artist.

Thinking about all this, he suddenly became a little worried.

Jiang Xian dared not even imagine the dangers he might encounter next.

For some reason, he suddenly felt a surge of strength. He forced himself to stay alert, not wanting to fall for the drug's trick, in order to prevent himself from sinking deeper into despair and to get out of that weak state as soon as possible.

He tried his best to pull himself together and move his hands and feet with all his might. He wanted to get rid of his weak and powerless state as soon as possible and pull himself out of a helpless situation.

It was as if a raging fire was burning in his heart, fueling his energy ever stronger.

The leader never expected the scene to turn out this way.

He hadn't expected the steward to fall so quickly, nor had he anticipated that it would be Guard Li who would end the battle, the fight between life and death.

He was planning to wait for the steward and Guard Li to fight for a while longer, and then take advantage of the steward's weakest moment to kill him with a single blow.

But he never expected that the battle would be turned around with Jiang Xian's help, nor did he expect that Guard Li would have a trump card, which was that packet of powder.

He didn't know when the powder appeared in his hand; it seemed to have fallen from the sky and he held it tightly in his hand.

He seized the opportunity and sprinkled a generous amount of powder on the steward, who immediately fell to the ground with his weapon.

All of this happened so fast that he was caught off guard.

Thus, the current situation has undergone an absolute change.

He still underestimated Jiang Xian and Li Huwei.

Although this was the result he wanted, he had originally intended for Jiang Xian and Guard Li to suffer heavy losses in the battle with the steward, so that he could benefit from it and get rid of the three people in front of him. However, he did not expect that the current situation would be that Jiang Xian and Guard Li's side had the upper hand.

Although this result was not the most satisfactory for him, it was still a relatively good one.

Even though both Guard Li and the steward fell to the ground, he still dared not make a move against Jiang Xian rashly.

Firstly, he was unaware of Jiang Xian's true strength before Jiang Xian made his move.

If he were a peak martial artist himself, he wouldn't care about so many things.

However, he was only a low-level martial artist, so he did not dare to easily attack Jiang Xian.

Secondly, he always felt that Jiang Xian was very mysterious, so he didn't know how many cards Jiang Xian held in his hand. Because of this consideration, he would not easily take action against Jiang Xian.

However, one thing that still puzzles him is the packet of medicine powder in the hands of Guard Li.

Since Guard Li was able to knock the steward to the ground with that powder, and the way the steward fell to the ground was exactly the same as the situation of the four teammates in his team that he had seen before, he judged that the powder used by Guard Li was the same as the powder used by Jiang Xian before.

But he was very puzzled as to why Guard Li, who had also inevitably inhaled some of the powder, had not collapsed to the ground like the manager and the four teammates before him, but was now sitting on the ground unharmed.
Was it because the dosage was small? Or had Guard Li already taken the antidote? Or perhaps the powder had little effect on someone in a weakened state?

However, if it truly has no effect on weak people, then the pill that the steward took should also have some interaction with it.

So, it was because they weren't sure if the powder would work after taking the pills, and they decided to take a gamble when it came to life and death.
However, the main believer is more inclined to think that Guard Li may have already taken the antidote.

Based on this, what puzzled him was that if Guard Li had indeed taken the antidote beforehand, why didn't he take out that packet of powder at the beginning and end the battle with one strike without any effort?
Or perhaps there was an opportunity to take down the steward before the battle even began, but Guard Li did not do so.

Was it because Guard Li was confident or wanted to try fighting the steward? Or was the powder too valuable to be used lightly?

He had no concrete ideas about these things, and he didn't really understand them.

In this situation, it was Jiang Xian who felt somewhat relaxed.

He hadn't expected Jiang Xian to make a direct move, nor had he anticipated that Jiang Xian's martial arts skills would be so formidable.

He thought that Jiang Xian was likely the one with the highest martial arts skills among the three of them, or at least not much different from the other two, and definitely above him.

But he never expected that through Jiang Xian's attack just now, he would be able to clearly know Jiang Xian's true strength. He guessed that Jiang Xian was probably just an ordinary person who usually trained a lot, or at most a beginner martial artist.

Otherwise, the accuracy of its arrows would not have been so low, nor would the force have been so weak.

Therefore, in the eyes of the core leader, Jiang Xian's helpless move actually exposed his martial arts skills.

Furthermore, considering that she had previously used drugs to take down his four teammates, he became even more convinced that Jiang Xian probably didn't have much real skill, which was why she relied on drugs to control her opponents.

The fact that his mentor had this thought immediately put him at ease.

He was unaware that Jiang Xian's actions were a deliberate act to create a false impression for all of them.

He naturally wouldn't have expected Jiang Xian to deliberately hide his strength in such a place. Even if he were cautious, he wouldn't have thought so much. He just felt that this was a helpless move by Jiang Xian to save Li Huwei, so he had no choice but to reveal his martial arts foundation and expose his weaknesses to others.

No one wants to be underestimated by the enemy, and no one wants to underestimate the enemy, but at this moment, the leader was underestimating Jiang Xian without any scruples.

(End of this chapter)