I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

His eyes bulged out, his head jerked forward, and the color drained from his face at an alarming speed.

With a clang, he lost his grip on the knife and it fell to the ground. His free hands reached down towards the spot where he had been hit.

With white foam already oozing from the corners of his mouth, he kept making meaningless "hoarse" groans, his throat making gurgling sounds, and he was gagging.

In an attempt to alleviate his pain as much as possible, he knelt down, half-conscious, and tried to lie on his side on the ground to make himself feel better.

"The 5th one..."

The senses, heightened to an unprecedented level by focusing their attention, once again perceived danger.

Qing Deng was certain that danger was imminent. He quickly took half a step back and used his back to reach the wall of the alley. A sharp blade pierced straight through his abdomen, tearing the fabric of Qing Deng's kimono. Qing Deng could feel the coldness of the blade in his stomach.

Qing Deng's eyes narrowed, and his counterattack followed immediately after his dodge—

clang!

Qing Deng struck the sword, whose blade was almost touching his lower abdomen, with a vertical slash.

The enemy whose sword was knocked away by Qing Deng still had a strong fighting spirit.

Despite being unarmed, he still yelled and lunged forward recklessly, grabbing Qingdeng's waist.

Qingdeng let him hug her, then lowered her waist, tucked her arms under his armpits, and threw him away with a burst of strength.

This guy is very thin and light, which is the main reason why Qingdeng dared to let him carry him.

He was thrown more than two meters away, his head hitting the ground, and he lay there stiffly for a long time without getting up.

"The 6th one..."

Qing Deng, who held the principle of "killing enemies" as his guiding principle, felt neither ashamed nor cruel about the fact that he was "constantly taking other people's lives".

As long as they are enemies, no matter how many there are or how old they are, they can all be killed!

With a swift stroke of his blade, Qing Deng killed his opponent, leaving him covered in blood.

His knife, his face, and his clothes were all stained with blood.

The blood flowing from the enemy's corpses mixed with the soil on the ground, turning the ground beneath Qingdeng's feet into an eerie purplish-black color.

The two "peace faction" members who hadn't attacked Qingdeng and were still standing there hesitantly were now staring in horror at Qingdeng, who seemed to be a god of death incarnate, slaughtering everyone.

The two glanced at the corpses on the ground and their surviving companions, then, as if having made up their minds, gritted their teeth, whispered something to each other, and ran out of the alley...

The gaps created by Qingdeng taking down the enemies were quickly filled by new enemies.

A new attack is coming.

This time, three swords were simultaneously slashed from three directions, striking Qingdeng in three different locations.

On the left, a middle-aged man of considerable age raised his sword high, and with a starting stance from the upper right, swung out a kasaya-zaki (a type of sword strike).

The young man in the middle thrust his sword forward, aiming for Qing Deng's chest.

The short man on the right then took a lower stance, aiming his blade at Qing Deng's lower body.

Qing Deng quickly scanned the area, discerning the paths of the three sword attacks, and in the next instant, he devised a strategy to defeat the enemy.

The feeling of unprecedented mental agility under such intense concentration is truly irresistible.

Qing Deng stepped to the right, dodging the stab from the young man in the middle, while simultaneously deflecting the kasaya slash from the middle-aged man on his left.

Immediately afterwards, he leaned his body and hands to the right, bumping into the short man on his right, causing the short man's upward thrust to miss.

Someone groaned:

"No! No!"

It turned out that as Qingdeng bumped into the dwarf, he freed his left hand to pull out the wakizashi that was still hanging on his left waist, stuffed the wakizashi into the dwarf's stomach, and stirred it a few times.

The dwarf, vomiting a large amount of blood, staggered forward and fell to the ground.

With a flash of light, after stabbing the dwarf, Qing Deng left the wakizashi inside his body, spun around with his left foot and the Ding Guishen in his hand, and the Ding Guishen blade swung back with a "hum" towards the face of the young man in the middle.

The young man, whose brains had been slashed out, collapsed to the ground before he could even scream. His body was piled on top of the short man who had just fallen.

Qingdeng's offensive had not stopped. In the blink of an eye, he lunged at the middle-aged man on his left. The middle-aged man hurriedly raised his knife to defend himself. But as soon as he raised his knife, only half of his waist was still connected by skin and flesh. After vomiting several mouthfuls of blood, his head and hands drooped limply. His legs supported his rapidly dissipating life force, and he staggered forward for two steps before slowly collapsing to the ground.

"The 7th, the 8th, the 9th..."

With his body covered in blood, Qing Deng opened his mouth slightly, exhaled a breath of turbid air, and then quietly repositioned the Ghost-Stabilizing God in front of him.

His wolf-like sharp eyes swept across the faces of the remaining enemies along the blade.

Nobody dared to go up anymore...

The remaining seven enemies, who were still able to stand, surrounded Qingdeng in a semi-circular formation.

Despite surrounding Qingdeng and still maintaining a numerical advantage, no one dared to advance.

You look at me, I look at you... We neither attack nor retreat.

There were only 18 of them in total, and now half of their companions had fallen at Qingdeng's hands... Such a huge loss of life cast a shadow of fear over their faces.

Those who were shouting "Kill Qingdeng now and avenge him!" have now become much calmer and are no longer so agitated.

The situation on the battlefield suddenly became unpredictable.

The remaining enemies were clearly intimidated by Qingdeng's formidable strength and dared not approach him rashly.

But the wishful thinking of "what if I could kill Qingdeng?" and their pride in not wanting to desert their posts prevented them from retreating so easily...

In this eerie and hesitant atmosphere... someone finally arrived.

"Mr. Tachibana!"

A loud shout, like a thunderclap from a clear sky, erupted from the east entrance of the alley.

Upon hearing this shout, Qing Deng, who had been expressionless, showed a faint smile.

Yongcang, who had finally caught up, could smell an extremely strong stench of blood even before he entered the alley.

Without a word or a second thought—Nagakura's face darkened, he drew his sword, and charged into the alley!

After finding Qingdeng in the alley, he rushed towards the enemies who were still surrounding Qingdeng without any hesitation.

Nagakura's first target was a short, ugly man who was very thin and small.

Raising his sword, emitting a sharp, resonant sound, and bringing it down—Nagakura's movements were swift, powerful, and full of momentum.

The short, ugly man instinctively raised his knife in defense.

At this moment, one of his sharp-eyed companions recognized which school of swordsmanship Nagakura was using.

"Shinto Munen-ryu...! Don't take his sword!"

This person's reminder was still a step too late...

After Nagakura's blade clashed with the short man's blade in mid-air, the short man lasted less than a second before his blade was knocked away by Nagakura's immense strength.

After knocking down the short man's knife, Yongcang's blade, still sharp, embedded itself deeply in the short man's forehead.

Schools like Shigenryu and Shinto Munenryu, which max out the "power" attribute, should be avoided as much as possible from taking their swords head-on... This is considered common sense in the world of swordsmanship.

Qingdeng always felt that heavy weapons like axes and clubs might be more suitable for Yongcang.

Nagakura's sudden arrival completely shattered the enemy's last psychological defenses.

Qing Deng alone routed them, and now another swordsman has arrived who looks incredibly skilled...

Those who no longer dared to fight Qingdeng and Yongcang began to retreat hastily towards the west entrance of the alley!

Seeing that these people were trying to escape, Qingdeng quickly shouted to Yongcang, "Stop them! Don't let them get away! Try to capture a few alive!"

If they escape and we fail to capture any prisoners to extract information, then Qingdeng's battle just now will have been for nothing.

No matter what, we must capture at least one person alive to extract information—Qing Deng was determined to do so.

Nagakura nodded silently and, together with Aoto, chased after the fleeing enemy.

But at that moment—

Whoosh!Whoosh!

Two sharp whooshing sounds sent a chill down Qing Deng's spine.

"Get out of the way!" Qingdeng shoved Yongcang aside, pushing him along as they leaped together behind a pile of garbage.

The instant the two dodged, two arrows shot through the air, tracing straight across the direction where Qing Deng and Yong Cang had just been standing.

*******

*******

My sword-and-halberd novel really does need plenty of blood and brains... (Leopard dead.jpg)

The action scenes in this chapter are quite satisfying, in my opinion. For the sake of this chapter's quality, please vote for this book with a monthly pass! (Like a leopard crying.jpg)

Chapter 173 Single Blade Breaks Bow! Copying Talent [Bow Master] [6300]

--arrow!

Watching the arrow streak through the air, Qing Deng frowned sharply. He pressed his back against the alley wall next to him, raised his head slightly, and peered out from the garbage heap where he and Yong Cang were hiding.

At the alley entrance on the west side, three warriors appeared out of nowhere, each with two swords at their waist and a large bow in their hand.

Beside the three archers, two samurai shouted urgently to the still-living people in the alley, "Quickly take those who are still breathing and leave!"—These two samurai were the "peace faction" who had just retreated.

It turns out that their retreat just now wasn't an escape, but rather a search for reinforcements.

After witnessing their companions being slaughtered by Qing Deng like chopping vegetables, the two of them knew that if things continued like this, they would be wiped out sooner or later.

We can't fight anymore! We have to retreat! We need to retreat as many as we can—with this thought in mind, the two hurriedly ran back to a nearby stronghold to get reinforcements.

The reason why the bearded man "led" Qingdeng to this place was because they had a small outpost here... which is why they were able to send 18 people to intercept Qingdeng.

Because it was just a small outpost, they couldn't find many helpers.

These three archers, each wielding a large bow, were all the reinforcements the two men could muster after hastily running back to their stronghold.

"Ju Qingdeng's swordsmanship is too strong. Fighting him in close combat is suicidal. We must use bows and arrows to suppress him." Under the strong insistence of the two people who came to fetch reinforcements, the three reinforcements they found took the only three bows and arrows stored in their stronghold.

After all the arrows they had just shot missed their mark, the three archers quickly reached behind their waists with their right hands, took out a new arrow from the quiver hanging there, and nocked it.

Anyone with a keen eye can tell from the arrow-changing movements of these three archers that their archery skills vary greatly.