Isolated town in northern border region

The next morning, the mist over Cangshan Mountain had not yet dissipated.

Three soldiers from the elite vanguard emerged from their makeshift tents, inspected the armor, swords, shields, and crossbows, and then proceeded along the designated route to the mountaintop.

The one walking at the front of the three was an old soldier surnamed Sun, a veteran of the Battle of Youzhou, who had once fought alongside Xiao Lie against the charge of the Northern Barbarian cavalry under the walls of Youzhou.

Behind him were two new recruits, one named Zhao Xiaohu and the other named Ma Sanzhu, both young soldiers newly recruited after the liberation of the northern frontier.

The mountain path was slippery, and dew soaked the tops of my boots.

Old Sun walked ahead, his steps steady, his eyes scanning the woods on both sides warily.

Zhao Xiaohu followed behind and couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

"Brother Sun, I heard that you fought alongside the Prince against 20,000 Northern Barbarian cavalrymen at the gates of Youzhou back then?"

Old Sun didn't even turn his head.

"Oh, it's nothing."

"What kind of scene would that be? A sea of ​​people?"

Old Sun puffed out his chest.

"Hmph! What a scene!"

"The sound of horses' hooves was louder than thunder, and the arrows were denser than raindrops!"

"The prince led our two thousand seven hundred brothers to fight the northern barbarians to the death on the plains!"

"You know the current Khan of the Northern Barbarians, the one named Tug, right?"

Ma Sanzhu nodded vigorously.

"I know!"

"I saw that Northern Barbarian Khan at the trade market with my father. He was surrounded by a bunch of guards; he had quite the grand entourage!"

Old Sun raised his chin and patted the scabbard of his waist knife.

"What a load of rubbish!"

"He's just a coward!"

"Back on the plains of Youzhou, the prince chopped off his ear with a single stroke!"

Zhao Xiaohu listened with great interest and was about to ask another question when Old Sun suddenly squatted down.

He raised one hand, while the other hand had already removed the shield from his back.

The two new recruits also instinctively crouched down and raised their shields to stand guard.

"Brother Sun, what's wrong?"

Ma Sanzhu asked in a low voice.

Old Sun did not answer.

His ears twitched slightly, and his gaze swept across the woods ahead like that of an eagle.

The mountain forest should be filled with birdsong and insect chirps in the early morning, but at this moment, the surroundings are deathly quiet.

"It's too quiet."

Old Sun's voice was very low.

Something's not right!

"Something's not right! We'd better take a detour. Little Tiger, get the whistles ready!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than an arrow silently shot out from the dense forest to the side.

Old Sun almost instinctively turned sideways and raised his shield!

The arrow struck the shield with a dull thud, its fletching still trembling slightly.

"Enemy attack!"

Old Sun roared.

"Form ranks!"

The three men stood back to back, shields raised and swords drawn, forming a triangular defensive formation.

Zhao Xiaohu's hands were trembling, but he did not back down.

Ma Sanzhu gritted his teeth, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the knife.

Just then, more than a dozen figures suddenly emerged from the woods.

They wore leather armor and carried knives, axes, and maces.

A dark green tattoo was visible on his neck, a coiled dragon pattern!

They didn't shout for battle, they didn't speak, they just silently and quickly surrounded them, like a group of hunters encircling their prey.

A voice came from the treetop.

The voice was clear, youthful, and tinged with a touch of languor.

"Not bad! Whose men are you?"

The three looked up and saw a slender girl in leather armor standing on a horizontal branch. She had long hair tied in a high ponytail and held a bow in her hand, with the arrow tip steadily aimed at them.

Her gaze was indifferent, as if she were looking at three rabbits that had wandered into a hunting ground.

Old Sun did not answer.

He subtly nudged Zhao Xiaohu with his elbow. Zhao Xiaohu was startled for a moment, then reacted, inserting his Taiping sword into the shield handle and reaching for the crossbow at his lower back.

But at that moment, Ma Sanzhu suddenly got carried away and stuck his head out of the shield, shouting loudly.

"We are soldiers of the Northern Frontier King's Trapped Camp!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the girl in the tree turned cold and loosened the bowstring in her hand.

The arrow was aimed straight at Ma Sanzhu's face!

"roll!"

Old Sun roared!

Zhao Xiaohu and Ma Sanzhu instinctively rolled to the sides, and the arrow grazed Ma Sanzhu's ear and embedded itself in the tree trunk behind him.

However, this also created gaps in the three's defensive formation!

Those silent, leather-armored men immediately charged forward like wild beasts!

Old Sun reacted the fastest.

Relying on his steel armor, he withstood a blow to the back of his shoulder, quickly moved towards Zhao Xiaohu, raised his shield to block the incoming blade, and roared at the same time.

"Fire the sentry arrow!"

A sharp whistle pierced the mountain forest, echoing among the mountains.

A moment later, whistles sounded from both the east and west sides simultaneously!

Then comes an even more distant direction!

That's a signal that our comrades are coming together!

Taking advantage of the situation, Lao Sun grabbed Zhao Xiaohu and moved towards Ma Sanzhu.

Ma Sanzhu was struck in the chest with a mace by a man in leather armor. He groaned and fell to the ground, unable to get up.

Old Sun pulled him up, and the three of them finally formed a defensive formation back to back, raising their shields high to guard against the arrows from the trees.

The girl on the treetop did not rush to shoot a second arrow.

She changed her position and silently slid down from the tree, landing behind a large tree to the side of the three of them.

Old Sun couldn't see her, but he always felt a chill run down his spine, like being pricked by needles.

Then, the arrows came.

With a soft thud, the arrow pierced through the gap in the shield and precisely embedded itself in the gap between the armor plates on Zhao Xiaohu's lower leg.

Zhao Xiaohu groaned, his legs went weak, and he knelt down.

Then the second arrow!

It hit Ma Sanzhu's calf.

The third arrow!

An arrow pierced precisely through the gap in the armor on Old Sun's hind leg!

It's important to know that the armor plates in the Strike Armor are so well-made that they overlap each other, and can only be penetrated at specific angles!

Shooting through one is a fluke, but shooting through three in a row is a divine skill!

The three men knelt on the ground, their shields askew, their formation on the verge of crumbling.

Old Sun was in pain, and large beads of cold sweat dripped down his forehead.

He gritted his teeth, chopped off the arrow shaft from his leg with a single stroke, stood up abruptly, and raised his shield.

"With the will to charge into battle, there is no chance of survival!"

Zhao Xiaohu and Ma Sanzhu were enraged by the roar, their eyes turning red. They struggled to their feet, raised their shields and gripped their swords, roaring in unison.

"kill!"

The girl stood not far away, looking at the three people covered in blood who still refused to fall, and for the first time, a look of surprise appeared in her eyes.

"I never imagined that besides my adoptive father's Panlong Guard, there were such valiant soldiers in this world!"

"This King of the Northern Frontier probably has some tricks up his sleeve!"

Old Sun and his two companions stood back to back in a circle, enduring the fierce blows of more than a dozen men with their swords and axes, and occasionally managing to stab out a blade through the gaps in the shields!

He's practically a thorny old turtle!

"spread!"

The young woman dismissed her men and prepared to use her superb archery skills once again to break through the defenses of Old Sun and his companions.

But at that moment, Old Sun suddenly raised his shield forward and roared.

"Shield Shot!"

Old Sun suddenly charged forward, knocking down two burly men in leather armor in succession. With a sweeping motion of his Taiping sword, he forced several more burly men back.

"call out!"

The girl remained completely calm and fired an arrow that struck Old Sun squarely in the gap of his shoulder armor, sending him sprawling to the ground!

But just as Lao Sun fell to the ground, Ma Sanzhu and Zhao Xiaohu fired their crossbows simultaneously, and two arrows shot straight at the girl with the bow from behind Lao Sun!

This is the [Shield Shot], one of the five individual soldier formations of the Trapped Camp, which specializes in shooting directly at the enemy leader amidst the chaos of battle!

The girl's pupils contracted sharply, and she immediately collapsed to the ground!

But the arrows came from behind Old Sun, and were extremely sudden. Although the girl dodged very quickly, she was still cut on her left shoulder and neck by two arrows!

"sharp!"

"What a formidable trap!"

"You almost caused my aunt to capsize in the gutter!"

The girl sprang to her feet with a swift movement, touched the bloodstains on her neck, and exclaimed in sincere admiration.

Old Sun slowly stood up, leaning on his knife. Ma Sanzhu and Zhao Xiaohu quickly followed, forming a formation back to back once again.

"Damn it! How did you two pass the test?"

"The prince said, shoot straight at the torso!"

"Why are you two pointing at their heads and shooting?"

Ma Sanzhu and Zhao Xiaohu exchanged a glance, shook their heads, and smiled bitterly.

This is the shortcoming of new recruits. They've shot countless times on the training field, and even if they're told to aim for the left eye, they can't hit the right eye. But the targets on the training field are inanimate.

But people on the battlefield are alive!

Zhao Xiaohu patted the Taiping sword on the shield.

"Brother Sun, you can give us a good workout once we get to the underworld."

"Now, calm down, old man, and think carefully about how to kill a few more!"

Ma Sanzhu nodded.

"Yes, yes!"

"We're soldiers of the Vanguard Camp; we eat the best food in the entire northern frontier!"

"At the very least, we should drag a few more people down with us."

Old Sun was so angry at the two rascals that he couldn't help but laugh.

"Alright! You two are still soldiers in my elite unit after all!"

"Form ranks!"

"Kill the enemy!"