Chapter 43: The Deadly Trap

Within the hidden passage at the seventh corridor’s turning hall, three guardians of the sect stood armed, guarding the passage.

“He’s coming,” suddenly one tall guardian whispered.

RUMBLE~~~~

A thunderous noise came from outside, shaking the ground.

The thin guardian stepped forward and peered through an observation hole. Two colossal ice serpents had already arrived, their massive bodies lashing against the walls of the turning hall. The ground caved in, and the walls cracked…

“Two ice serpents. They’re really ruthless. So many traps and formations were destroyed. Fortunately, the seventh corridor’s mechanisms sustained minimal damage,” the thin guardian muttered. Traps and mechanisms varied greatly; not all could be destroyed by the ice serpents.

“Prepare yourselves. Wait until the intruders enter the hall, then activate the mechanisms,” the tall guardian commanded.

“They’re starting to come in. Listen to my signal,” the thin guardian said while observing through the hole.

…

Dongbo Xueying and his four companions followed the two ice serpents as they advanced into the inner fortress, searching for Lu Huaru! Since the inner fortress was octagonal, there were eight turning halls in total.

At this moment, they had entered one of the turning halls.

Si Borong, holding a greatsword, and the black-haired elder Liang Yong walked at the front, while Yu Jingqiu, wielding a staff, walked in the center. She had already cast an ice spell on herself, and a layer of icy armor had formed on her body.

Dongbo Xueying and Tang Xiong followed at the rear, flanking Yu Jingqiu on either side.

“This inner fortress is quite large. Where could Lu Huaru possibly be hiding?” Si Borong said impatiently.

“Not to worry.”

Yu Jingqiu replied, “We’ve thoroughly searched each area we passed. Since the inner fortress is octagonal, we’ve already checked six areas. This will be the seventh. After we check all eight areas, if he’s still not found… then he must be underground. We’ll go underground and search every spot carefully. The skyship from Longshan Pavilion is monitoring outside—he won’t escape!”

“Right,” Si Borong nodded.

“BOOM—” Suddenly, the ground of the turning hall began to shift. The surface moved, revealing large pits beneath, each filled with sharp spear tips gleaming with a deep green hue—clearly coated with potent toxins. Dongbo Xueying and the others quickly dodged. Fortunately, the ground had been previously damaged by the ice serpents, so only parts of the shifting floor moved while most areas jammed.

Thus, Dongbo Xueying and the others easily evaded to safe spots.

“BOOM—” In an instant, the four cracked and twisted walls collapsed entirely, revealing numerous mechanical crossbows behind them.

Massive mechanical crossbows connected by gears.

Innumerable arrows, densely packed, lined every wall behind them. Each arrow was as thick as a human thigh! Seeing the arrows, Si Borong, Tang Xiong, Yu Jingqiu, and the others felt their hearts sink. Arrows this thick, powered by mechanical gears, would undoubtedly unleash tremendous force—far surpassing star-piercing crossbows!

“Not good!” Yu Jingqiu’s expression changed drastically.

“Form a perimeter! Each of us covers one side!” The experienced Tang Xiong and Liang Yong shouted almost simultaneously, knowing they faced a life-or-death moment.

TWANG! TWANG! TWANG! TWANG! TWANG! TWANG!!!!!!!!

The vibrations from each arrow’s release were so intense. Front, back, left, and right—all directions rained arrows. Dongbo Xueying and the others were all inside the hall, and the arrows were no more than dozens of meters away at most, some merely ten meters distant. Far too close!

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH…

The air tore apart!

Hundreds of thick arrows nearly simultaneously filled the entire turning hall in a crisscrossing barrage!

Fortunately, it was merely an automated mechanism. These arrows targeted nearly every spot in the hall, so only dozens of them actually aimed at Dongbo Xueying and his companions.

“Block!”

“Everyone, block!”

Tang Xiong and Liang Yong shouted.

“Crash!” Elder Liang Yong, with black hair, wielded a shield and a blade. Instantly, his shield deflected one arrow. As he blocked, the shield tilted slightly, dissipating nearly ninety percent of the force. The arrow bounced off—but even so, the impact still shook him. If hit directly, even with armor protection, he would surely suffer severe injuries and spit blood. Two or three arrows would likely kill him.

“CLANG CLANG CLANG.” Elder Tang Xiong, already over one hundred and sixty years old, held a short sword in each hand. CLANG, he perfectly blocked all the arrows attacking his side. These old veterans were simply too experienced.

“Curses, curses.” In contrast, Si Borong, also a Silver Moon Knight, was far more flustered. He desperately wielded his greatsword to block.

CLANG CLANG CLANG!!!

Each high-speed arrow struck head-on. As a Silver Moon Knight, his reflexes and movements were fast—but his swordsmanship wasn’t sufficiently advanced, making it extremely difficult to block.

A knight’s rank does not necessarily correlate directly with combat skill.

Becoming a Silver Moon Knight merely meant his battle aura had reached the Silver Moon level. As for his greatsword techniques? He practiced daily and sparred with Master in his clan, but hadn’t even reached “Sword and Self as One,” merely possessing a relatively solid foundation sufficient for general combat. But in this life-or-death moment, facing ultra-high-speed arrows, there was no time to think about how to block each one—pure conditioned reflex was all he could rely on!

“No!” Sweat poured from Si Borong’s forehead as he suddenly cried out, finally making a mistake in defense.

“WHOOSH.” At a critical moment, a shield suddenly extended sideways, barely managing to knock the thick arrow off course. The arrow veered away, failing to strike Si Borong.

The one who intervened at the critical moment was none other than Si Borong’s guard, Liang Yong.

Elder Liang Yong had nearly half his attention fixed on Si Borong, as his mission was to protect him. However, the arrows were too fast. He barely managed to act, his balance and technique compromised under pressure. In an instant, he staggered. Facing the frontal assault arrows, he became momentarily disoriented. BOOM BOOM BOOM… He desperately blocked two arrows with his single blade, but the third came too fast for him to react.

“Ahhh.” Liang Yong let out a low cry, desperately dodging.

One arrow flew past, completely tearing off his right arm—the arm holding the blade. The severed limb flew away, blood spraying.

WHOOSH.

Soon, the arrows ceased firing.

All the arrows had only attacked for a few seconds.

“Sigh, facing such terrifying mechanical arrows at such close range, Liang Yong didn’t fully focus on defense but still dared to help that young master Bai Rong. He’s lucky not to have died,” Tang Xiong silently sighed.

“Old Liang, old Liang.” Saved from certain death, Si Borong quickly supported the black-haired elder Liang Yong. Blood gushed from Liang Yong’s severed right arm, but he quickly pulled out a silk bandage with his remaining hand, biting down hard to tie off the wound. The muscles and blood vessels at the stump began to contract, slowing the blood flow.

“I’m fine, just lost an arm,” Liang Yong said. He wasn’t truly loyal by nature; he was raised by the Si Clan, and his family relied on the Si Clan. If Si Borong died this time… he and his family would be finished. Thus, he had to protect Si Borong. If Si Borong truly died, he would have to die first in battle to prove himself!

“This Dongbo Xueying is truly impressive. I had to give my all to block those arrows, yet this young man seemed to handle them all effortlessly,” Elder Tang Xiong glanced at Dongbo Xueying. He had been fully focused earlier and hadn’t noticed Dongbo Xueying’s blocking actions. However, seeing Dongbo Xueying’s calm and composed demeanor now, he realized the young man had handled the situation with ease.

“What a pity.”

Standing at the rear, Dongbo Xueying shook his head, watching the scene. He bore a slight grudge against Si Borong, but he held no ill will toward the black-haired elder guard. If he could, he would have helped. Unfortunately, he was at the back of the formation while the guard was at the front—Dongbo Xueying simply couldn’t reach him in time to save him. If he had rushed at maximum speed to rescue the guard… he would have left Yu Jingqiu vulnerable to a deadly situation.

Yu Jingqiu stood at the very center of the formation, a mage, and could only passively endure such an arrow barrage.

“Be careful!” Yu Jingqiu suddenly cried out, her calm observation never faltering.

SWOOSH SWOOSH SWOOSH!

Three figures suddenly darted from behind a mechanical crossbow rack, mere dozens of meters from the group. These three figures now possessed Silver Moon Knight-level combat power, their speed terrifyingly fast. The dozen-meter distance vanished in the blink of an eye.

“Be careful!”

“Liang Yong!” Tang Xiong shouted.

“Master!” Liang Yong roared, raising his shield to block. Two guardians charged toward them. Obviously, they had already determined that among these Silver Moon Knights, Si Borong was the weakest, while the black-haired elder had just lost an arm—these two were the easiest targets. Naturally, they prioritized eliminating these two first before dealing with the others.

The third guardian charged toward Yu Jingqiu, the mage! A powerful mage must be eliminated first!

“Stop!” Tang Xiong, each hand wielding a short sword, intercepted the guardian mid-air.

Dongbo Xueying, at the rear of the formation, now brandished his long spear and charged forward.

…

“Master, let’s fight together,” Guard Liang Yong shouted, wielding his shield with one arm.

Si Borong, however, was terrified, hastily raising his greatsword to block. CLANG CLANG CLANG. The attacking guardian wielded dual curved blades, lightning-fast, closing in rapidly! Clearly, the guardian’s technique was far superior, driving Si Borong into an immediate retreat! At this moment, he had no concern for the guard’s life or death, not even time to worry about Yu Jingqiu.

He retreated, moving to the very back of the formation, letting others block for him!

Actually, if Si Borong had remained calm and fought side by side with Liang Yong, they might have held out for a while until Dongbo Xueying and the others could come to their aid.

But Si Borong valued his own life above all else. His choice was to retreat! Instantly, the guardian decisively shifted his attack, slashing toward Liang Yong.

With only one arm, Liang Yong struggled to block the guardian’s attacks. Now under dual assault, he was utterly defenseless.

“PUH!” A curved blade flashed behind him, slicing across Liang Yong’s throat. Eyes wide with disbelief and a glimmer of hope in his gaze, he fell sideways.

Guard Liang Yong, perished!

The first to die in the group!

Silver Moon-level experts fought at incredible speeds.

Their blade strikes could reach hundreds per second! Thus, when the three guardians attacked, Si Borong immediately retreated in panic! Liang Yong blocked twice before dying!

“WHOOSH.” “WHOOSH.”

Two spear shadows cut through the air, snowflakes swirling.

“PUH!” “PUH!”

The two guardians who had just killed Liang Yong hadn’t even recovered when they felt two spear shadows rushing toward them. Their throats pierced, blood gushed as they clutched their necks, eyes wide with disbelief.

“You… you…” They couldn’t believe it—too fast! The spear technique was too fast!

In an instant, both fell dead.

Everyone else turned pale!

In fact, Dongbo Xueying had learned the “Dark Ice Spearplay” from Master Guyuan Han, famous precisely for its speed. Even at the Meteor level, his spear speed could kill a fifth-stage Shadow Panther Warcraft! Now, even casually displaying it with merely Silver Moon-level force, his spear mastery and the extraordinary knight’s techniques made him terrifyingly fast, easily slaughtering the two.

Dongbo Xueying had yet to meet anyone else who had reached the Master level. Achieving perfect unity of force was extremely difficult.

Few trained as diligently as Dongbo Xueying. Not even his father or Zong Ling could match him! That kind of relentless training sounds simple in words, but how many could truly do it? And besides diligence, one needed intelligence. Dongbo Xueying had guidance from an extraordinary master’s spear techniques, and his own sharp mind allowed him to constantly analyze, refine, and perfect his spearplay. Through this solid foundation and continuous improvement, he achieved unity of man and spear, eventually attaining the realm of a spearplay master.

Daily medicinal baths, relentless training, guidance from extraordinary spear techniques, countless knights in the castle for sparring, and a brilliant mind—all these elements combined to forge the Dongbo Xueying of today!