Now that he himself was in a similar position, he realized that this kind of "peace of mind" was all deceptive.
After making the arrangements, he still had no idea how the situation in the distance would develop.
There is no means of long-distance communication in this world that would allow him to quickly know the results of battles far away.
Shi Hao arrived at the gate of Shennong Village, only to see flames and noise everywhere in the village.
Obviously...something went wrong in there!
Chapter 157 Burning Night
Shi Hao stepped forward and raised his head, saying in a clear voice: "Master Chongyun from Wudang Temple comes to ask to see the second young master of your village!"
Someone poked his head out from above the village gate, followed by the sound of footsteps descending the stairs on the other side of the village wall, which was more than ten feet high.
Not long after, the village gate opened, and a farmhand came out and invited Shi Hao in.
When Shi Hao entered, he saw a warrior standing in front of him. The man was wearing a tight-fitting outfit with arrow sleeves. He had bright eyes and a furrowed brow, and looked like he was worried about something.
Shi Hao stepped forward and asked, "May I ask your name?"
The warrior said, "I am Jing Shilong! Why are you here in the middle of the night?"
Shi Hao said, "The Hanyang Gang attacked the Gong family at night. If Nangong Mountain falls into the hands of the Hanyang Gang, the barrier towards Danyang and Nanhe will completely fall into the hands of the Hanyang Gang, and Jiuzhai will lose its gateway. I came here to ask the second young master of your village to send people to support the Gong family no matter what."
Jing Shilong said, "Come with me!" He turned and walked into the village.
Shi Hao followed closely behind him.
Jing Shilong walked forward in a hurry. Shi Hao looked ahead and asked with emotion, "What happened?"
Jing Shilong said: "The second young master was killed by an assassin!"
Shi Hao lost his voice and said, "What? Who did it?"
Jing Shilong whispered, "It's not clear yet. We are all looking for the murderer. The murderer may still be in the village, but he may have escaped using magic weapons or supernatural powers!"
After entering, Shi Hao saw a dead body lying on the ground. It was Jing Zhenliang.
At this moment, Jing Zhenliang was lying on his back with blood oozing from his back. His face was black and the blood had a faint foul smell.
The other people around watched from two or three feet away, not daring to get close.
Shi Hao stepped forward and carefully squatted beside Jing Zhenliang. He frowned, observed carefully, and stood up and said, "Your second young master was poisoned just like your village leader. Although your village leader was hit by a palm strike, the palm strike contained poison, and the poison attacked his heart, causing him to die on the spot."
"Your second young master was also stabbed in the back, but the sword energy carried the same poison. Judging from the characteristics of the poison, it is exactly the same as the poison your village leader was stabbed with."
During the day, everyone watched helplessly as the old village chief was killed by Zhao Xuanding's poisonous palm. At this moment, the second young master's face turned black, and it was obvious that the poison had also attacked his heart. They couldn't help but speculate.
Hearing the confirmation from Master Chongyun from Wudang Temple, everyone immediately started making a commotion. Some were furious, while others started cursing.
Some even shouted: "The young master was suddenly bitten by a poisonous snake and died of poisoning. It must be the work of the Hanyang Gang." "I have heard that the Hanyang Gang is extremely rampant and has secretly killed entire families many times." "We are irreconcilable with the Hanyang Gang."
Shi Hao said loudly: "At this moment, the Nangongshan Gong family is being attacked by the Hanyang Gang. The Hanyang Gang sent assassins to assassinate your second young master in order to muddy the waters and prevent Shennong Village from supporting Nangongshan. If Nangongshan is destroyed, the next to be destroyed will be Shennong Village. Please support Nangongshan immediately, otherwise you will regret it."
Suddenly, someone shouted, "Wait! We still don't know whether the Second Young Master was killed by the Hanyang Gang. Now that the Second Young Master's body is still warm, everyone should take care of the Second Young Master's funeral first, and leave other matters for tomorrow."
Shi Hao looked over and saw that the person who spoke was a tall and thin man.
He immediately remembered that the man was next to Jing Zhenliang during the day.
Shi Hao walked towards him: "Your Excellency is..."
The man said: "I am Li Haolin, and I am a person close to the Second Young Master. The Second Young Master's original intention is that he does not want my Shennong Village to..."
Shi Hao's eyes widened: "How much money did you receive from the Hanyang Gang?"
Li Haolin only felt that his figure seemed to become as tall as a mountain in an instant, and an astonishing momentum seemed to rush from between the other's eyes to his own eyebrows, instantly tearing his soul apart.
Everyone saw that Li Haolin's face changed drastically after being questioned by Shi Chongyun. His legs went weak and he turned around to escape.
Shi Chongyun rushed forward, kicked him over, stepped on his chest, lowered his head and asked, "Tell me, how much benefit did you receive from the Hanyang Gang?"
Li Haolin shouted: "I didn't..."
Swish! Shi Zhongyun actually drew out his sword and slashed down, directly cutting off his left arm: "Speak!"
Li Haolin screamed, "Two hundred taels... Two hundred taels of silver."
Shi Chongyun asked again: "Is your eldest young master's death related to you?"
Under his overwhelming momentum and ruthlessness, how could Li Haolin bear the pressure? He shouted, "They forced me to do it."
Shi Zhongyun was furious: "As a member of Shennong Village, you sold out your master for fame and fortune. Just for the sake of two hundred taels, you killed your eldest and second young masters?"
Li Haolin wanted to defend himself, saying that the second young master's death really had nothing to do with him. Shi Chongyun was so angry that he kicked him away in front of everyone and shouted, "Scum!"
Bang! Li Haolin hit the wall, and with his bones broken, he rolled to the ground, bleeding and twitching.
Shi Hao turned around and looked around at everyone, and said loudly: "The Hanyang Gang is treacherous and cunning. In order to prevent the Nine Villages from uniting to fight against the Hanyang Gang, they killed your old village chief and his family of three. Tonight, the war has begun at Nangong Mountain. If Nangong Mountain is destroyed, Shennong Village will also be destroyed."
Jing Shilong stepped forward and shouted, "What are we waiting for?" He raised his knife and roared, "Avenge the old village chief, the eldest young master, and the second young master!"
The warriors were extremely angry and shouted in unison.
The night was ignited by anger, rolling in like a tsunami—
—
Gong Muhong stood on a high place and looked out.
A large number of women, children, the elderly and the young are rushing to evacuate to the back mountains.
It is not known whether the fire was caused by magical power or magic weapon, but it was burning at the gate of the mountain city.
The Gong family built a "city wall" similar to a mountain city, but the imperial court had restrictions on such city walls. If they were built too high, it would be considered a rebellion.
Although the city wall, which is more than ten feet high, can block ordinary people, it is not a difficult height to climb for warriors.
Arrows whistled from the arrow tower, and the sound of them breaking through the air was sharp and piercing in the night. But soon, this sharp sound was buried in the rolling shouts of killing.
The smell of blood began to permeate the night wind.
"It's really like a mantis trying to stop a chariot!" Following a sneer, several people's bodies were thrown into the air with a bang, accompanied by screams.
—A short and fat man, carrying a mace, broke through the darkness and stepped out. It was Jin Ba, one of the "Three Evils of Hannan".
Each of his steps was steady and powerful, and the ground seemed to vibrate as he moved forward.
More people rushed towards him with murderous intent, arrows were shot and hidden weapons were flying.
The man swung the mace, and the mace was like a violent whirlwind, shaking away all the arrows, hidden weapons, and human figures around him.
Seeing that the first wall had disappeared, Gong Muhong whispered an order: "Retreat to the ground!"
The Gong family is divided into three lines of defense: human, earth, and sky.
The "people" who relied on the city walls were almost easily conquered by the opposite side.
The crowd began to retreat, and some houses suddenly exploded, with raging fire spreading.
The fire set by the enemy side intertwined with the fire set by our side.
The members of the Gong family retreated to the second line of defense and used hidden weapons to block the enemy in the building behind the fire wall.
Locusts, arrows, caltrops, sleeve arrows, gold coin darts and other hidden weapons were shot at the enemies who tried to pass through the fire wall through the narrow path.
"You're quite capable!" Jin Ba laughed loudly, grabbed the golden axe that the person next to him was carrying with his right hand, shouted loudly, and swung it away.
The five-foot-long golden axe flew vertically into the fire and flipped parallel to the ground under the strange force.
The golden axe broke into a building with a buzzing and sharp sound. With a loud bang, the wall shattered and blood burst out from behind the wall.
The golden axe continued to move forward, breaking through the back wall and flying out in the night, shocking everyone so much that they all changed color.
Bang! The golden axe broke two stone pillars of a stone pavilion. The stone pillars could not withstand the remaining force and collapsed.
"Don't panic!" someone shouted in the darkness, "Everyone, don't retreat. Stay here and stop him from coming."
Someone in the air laughed and said, "You have to be able to block it!" A man jumped down from a high place in the night, over the wall of fire like a bird.
"Yu He?!" the man said in panic.
"It's me!" Amid the swirling sword light, waves of blood bloomed in shocking colors in the night.
Even the night was stained with blood.
"Retreat!" Gong Muhong said coldly.
Yu He, one of the Three Evils of Hannan, has also arrived. He possesses magical powers granted by the "Earth Flying Star" and his unique martial arts "Eight Techniques of Phantom Eagle". The second line of defense cannot stop him at all.
Behind him, the messenger hurriedly shot a flare arrow, which exploded in the air.
Retreat across the board.
"You can't escape!" Yu He's figure flew in the air from time to time, turning into phantoms, and struck down like an eagle, and each move would inevitably bring out a pool of blood.
Ming, Jin Ba's mace swept away the obstacles in front of him.
The flames rolled to the side under his strong energy, gravel rolled, and smoke and dust filled the air.
"Your Gong family is only capable of this!" Jin Ba staggered, carrying a mace, and laughed as he walked. "With your ability, you dare to go against our Hanyang Gang? Tonight, I will wipe out your Gong family and leave no one alive."
Gong Muhong's face was as cold as water. All the members of the Gong family retreated to his side and formed a formation relying on the rising and falling buildings and terrain.
The Gong family’s last line of defense!
In a big family like the Gong family, the patriarch is the king!
When the clan leader personally went into battle and faced a powerful enemy, representing their entire clan, there was no point in retreating.
Either drive out the powerful enemy or die here.
The moment the patriarch dies in battle, the news will spread to the rear at the fastest speed, and the women, children, the elderly and the young in the back mountains will begin to abandon their homes and flee.
Although most people would find it difficult to survive the enemy's pursuit, the few who can escape are the best.
The cold wind was blowing, and the arrows were shining on the drawn iron bows.
In front of them, the Hanyang Gang's numerous figures were pressing forward like a gathering tide.
The night had already been set on fire, burning beams, bricks, curtains, corpses, past peace, and the hope of survival...
Chapter 158 The Three Evils of Hannan
First, a volley of arrows was fired, and then a group of Gong family warriors holding shields and wielding sharp blades rushed towards the Hanyang Gang.
There were good fighters on both sides, each leading more than 20 men to attack the flanks of the Hanyang gang.
Then, Gong Muhong, holding a sword, personally led a group of elite soldiers to rush towards the powerful enemy, trying to split the enemy into two and break up the enemy's formation.
The people around him were holding different weapons, including spears, shields and swords, wolf smiles that were rarely seen in the fighting in the martial arts world, and some people specialized in using hidden weapons.
The ancestor of the Gong family was a famous general during the prosperous dynasty, and the Gong family is a family of military men.
His ancestors protected the emperor who was at the end of his rope and fled to Bashan and Chushui, but finally fought to the death under the siege of the barbarian army.
The Gong family was forced to flee and leave their hometown. After going through many hardships, only a small number of people drifted to Bashan and survived among the mountains. Then, they slowly developed into a large clan.
The Gong family has an inherited military formation, which is the foundation of their last line of defense, "Sky".
Relying on this formation, they killed the Hanyang gang members by surprise.
However, there are two sixth-rank masters in the Hanyang Gang... Jin Ba and Yu He.
There are also more manpower than the Gong family.
The powerful advantage created by the two sixth-grade warriors alone cannot be offset by the Gong family's military formation.
Among them, Yu He is a person with supernatural powers!
Among the Earthly Demon-level divine crystals, many of the magical powers granted are indeed of little use.
But the magical power brought by "Earth Flying Star" is definitely one of the most practical ones.
Yu He flew out and performed his "Eight Techniques of Phantom Eagle" at a high altitude. As a sixth-rank master, he was able to release his energy externally.
His strength was like that of a predatory eagle, breaking through the air and striking down directly. This made him invincible and enabled him to attack the weak points of the Gong family's military formation by surprise.
Jin Ba held the mace and used force to defeat clever tactics. Each of his blows was filled with the ferocious power of a wolf or a tiger.
Amid the loud bangs, a row of warriors holding iron shields were swept away by his domineering energy.
"Is this the last thing you can do?" Jin Ba laughed loudly, his laughter full of ridicule and sarcasm.