225: Chapter 226 This humble general...is incompetent

"Ah..."

Strategist Zhu Ge heard this, closed his eyes, and sighed up at the sky: "Minister, oh Minister... you are so foolish!!"

Yet even so, he forcibly suppressed his inner emotions.

The more critical the moment, the less he could afford to be flustered.

With the utmost speed, he issued seven successive military orders, assigning the defense of the Hongdao Array nodes, the allocation of provisions, the order within the Medical Tent, the batch evacuation of the populace, and the custody of prisoners to several deputy generals and scribes, while ordering the rear guard battalion to retract three miles and strictly guard the outer perimeter of the nodes.

After doing this, a flash of helplessness and self-reproach crossed his eyes, which then transformed into lightning-like decisiveness.

"Summon General Zhang Tie's main force! Mobilize the most elite Assault Battalion! Follow me, let's move out!!"

The cold wind was like a knife, scraping past his ears.

Lei Lie drove his "ascending moon shadow" with all his might, relying on the mid-air stepping ability contained within the longsword, transforming into a fragmented silver streak of light as he sped across the pitch-black night sky.

He dared not pause for even a second, much less look back.

Although he considered himself reckless, he was not entirely foolish.

Under the heavy encirclement of one hundred thousand elite troops, Wang Shuai had been beheaded by his sword, and the dignity and Face of the entire Wang Group had been crushed to pieces in an instant; those guards and City Lord Xu Zhen would definitely pursue him like madmen.

If he wanted to survive, he had to escape as far away as possible at the fastest speed!

However, his physical condition was rapidly deteriorating under the influence of the foreign Spiritual Qi.

"Hiss..."

Lei Lie gritted his teeth and gasped, feeling as if his entire body had fallen into an eternal ice cellar.

The foreign Spiritual Qi contained in those three palms was ten times more ferocious and overbearing than he had imagined!

They were like greedy ice beasts from the underworld, currently gnawing frantically at the Meridians within his body.

He attempted to mobilize his battle Qi to establish a defensive line to block them, but it collapsed almost at the first touch.

The defensive line was retreating steadily!

The black toxin followed his bloodstream, having already begun to spread up his neck, and half of his body was even starting to become numb and stiff.

"No... if this continues, I definitely won't make it back to the camp..."

Thinking this, his empty left hand flashed with light, and a spirit fruit emitting a crystalline luster suddenly appeared in his palm.

A Platinum Rank spirit fruit, the purple jade glazed fruit!

The Spiritual Qi within his body was currently being rapidly consumed by the foreign Spiritual Qi, and he had to replenish it to hold on.

And the purple jade glazed fruit happened to contain a massive amount of Spiritual Qi!

"Crunch!"

Lei Lie did not hesitate; he opened his mouth and wolfed down the entire purple jade glazed fruit.

The fruit flesh melted upon entering his mouth, transforming into a surging, violent, and pure stream of heat like a volcanic eruption, instantly flooding into his limbs and bones.

"Boom!!"

The addition of this massive Spiritual Qi allowed the nearly exhausted battle Qi defensive line within Lei Lie's body to receive an extremely strong replenishment instantly.

The heat flow churned, crashing violently against the cold Dark Nether cold toxin within his Meridians, emitting faint, muffled explosions.

His Meridians felt the sharp pain of tearing, but Lei Lie's speed surged as a result, and the numbness in his body briefly subsided.

However, this was still only temporary.

Because the purple jade glazed fruit was, after all, a spirit fruit for nourishing the Foundation and replenishing Spiritual Qi, not a medicine specifically for extracting toxins and breaking curses.

Thus, he soon discovered a fact he had to accept.

That was, the foreign Spiritual Qi that had invaded his body, although it had temporarily retracted its claws under the impact of the massive heat flow, had not dissipated; instead, it had begun to frantically devour and assimilate the pure Spiritual Qi emitted by the purple jade glazed fruit!

It was using the external Spiritual Qi as firewood!

The purer the replenished Spiritual Qi, the more fiercely it burned!

Under its devouring, after only a quarter of an hour, the Spiritual Qi provided by a whole Platinum Rank purple jade glazed fruit was completely consumed!

At the same time, that cold, chilling tide came back in a more violent manner than before!

"What an insidious Spiritual Qi, what an overbearing skill!"

Lei Lie was shocked.

He knew very well that the reason he had been able to hold on for so long was, on one hand, because of the support of the purple jade glazed fruit, and on the other hand, because the Jianmu Heaven-Connecting Canon he Cultivated was no ordinary Cultivation Technique!

The Spiritual Qi Cultivated by the Jianmu Heaven-Connecting Canon had remarkable resilience, which allowed him to hold on until now.

If the Cultivation Technique he Cultivated had been even slightly inferior, he probably would have fallen long ago!

Although he knew this, he had no other choice.

In order to survive and escape further, he could only grit his teeth and take out another purple jade glazed fruit to stuff into his mouth!

The violent heat flow was injected again, but this time, the duration of endurance was even shorter!

After less than half a quarter of an hour, the Spiritual Qi was eaten clean again!

The appetite of the cold toxin seemed to have been fed, and the speed of erosion directly doubled!

Lei Lie's heart was filled with misery.

He understood that his current actions were no different from drinking poison to quench thirst or carrying firewood to put out a fire!

The more Spiritual Qi he gave, the faster the cold toxin grew.

But if he didn't give it, he would immediately be completely frozen by the cold toxin due to the exhaustion of Spiritual Qi, fall from the sky, and be smashed into pulp!

"Again!!"

Lei Lie growled, and amidst the violent trembling of his chattering teeth, he swallowed the third and last purple jade glazed fruit he had on him.

However, the effect this time was far from as good as before.

The cold toxin composed of foreign Spiritual Qi within his body advanced rapidly.

His body rapidly turned cold.

A layer of eerie black frost had already condensed on his eyebrows and eyelashes, and the intense pain of ice knives scraping against his bones tortured him so much that he almost shattered his steel teeth.

Not long after, the Spiritual Qi of this last purple jade glazed fruit was completely exhausted.

There was no longer any excess Spiritual Qi in Lei Lie's body.

Without the support of Spiritual Qi, the light of the ascending moon shadow flickered twice in the dark night and then completely dimmed.

"Whoosh—!!"

Lei Lie lost his balance, and like a kite with a broken string, he fell obliquely from a hundred-zhang height, smashing heavily into a deep and desolate valley below.

"Bang! Rumble!!"

His body broke several thick tree branches in succession, finally smashing heavily into the roots of a large tree, stirring up a sky full of dead leaves and soil.

His body, which was already weak to the extreme, had to endure such a fall and impact, making him suffer unspeakably.

He lay in the cold, wet mud, covered in blood, with every bone and muscle in his body groaning in pain.

Large mouthfuls of black blood kept gushing from his mouth.

But at this moment, he was still a full one hundred and twenty miles away from the Hongdao Array transfer node where Strategist Zhu Ge was located!

"City Lord... sir..."

He used the last bit of strength in his entire body to force his heavy head to lift, leaning against the cracked tree roots, struggling to Face the direction of Flower City.

He tried to open his eyes, but his eye sockets were already tightly glued shut by sticky blood.

He could only look at the pitch-black, deep night sky through a veil of blood, and the corners of his mouth barely pulled into an extremely ugly, yet incredibly relieved smile:

"This subordinate... is incompetent... I fear I cannot... fight for you... again..."

Before the murmuring sound had faded, his head slowly tilted to one side, and he closed his eyes.

The wind blew through the deep valley, and the leaves rustled.

Not long after, a harsh clamor suddenly came from the night sky.

"Caw—caw—!!"

Dozens of huge Demonic Beasts, carrion crows, with bodies as black as ink and emitting a pungent, putrid smell, smelled the extremely thick scent of blood in the air and flew out from the depths of the forest, flapping their wings.

They circled above Lei Lie's head, staring at the warm food on the ground with scarlet eyes, emitting unpleasant and harsh cries.

Over a hundred miles away...

Under the cover of night, a troop of about a thousand elite Flower City heavy cavalry was marching rapidly through the wilderness.

What was eerie was that these thousands of cavalry were galloping wildly, yet not a single sound of horse hooves hitting the ground or armor rubbing could be heard.

Even while speeding through the wilderness, even the yellow sand stirred up was forcibly suppressed by an invisible force.

Because at this moment, two of Strategist Zhu Ge's skills were in effect.

Full Army Speed March!

Full Army Concealment!

Under these two military aura halos, the entire troop was like ghosts walking in the shadows, traveling through the night at an astonishing speed.

"Strategist, where exactly are we going?" Deputy General Zhang Tie asked Strategist Zhu Ge.

He knew they were now going to find Lei Lie.

But in the vast wilderness, with the night heavy and deep, and in a situation with a severe lack of clues, there was absolutely no direction for the search!

Upon hearing General Zhang Tie's question, Strategist Zhu Ge remained silent.

It wasn't that he didn't want to answer, but that his mind was currently performing rapid deduction and calculation!

"Minister... you must not have anything happen... please don't have anything happen."

"Wait for me!"

Strategist Zhu Ge was extremely anxious in his heart, his feather fan gripped tightly in his hand, motionless.

This expedition to attack the Ten Cities had been a complete victory.

The citizens of the eleven cities were also being relocated in an orderly manner.

The mission seemed to be about to be perfectly accomplished.

But!

If something happened to Lei Lie, the City Lord... would absolutely be unable to bear this blow!

Even if the other gains in this operation were huge, as long as Lei Lie had any mishap, then it would be equivalent to failure!

"Wait for me... you must wait for me!!" Strategist Zhu Ge kept shouting in his heart.

It was unknown how much time had passed.

On the other side of the ridge not far from the valley where Lei Lie had fallen.

"Clatter, clatter, clatter..."

A chaotic and heavy sound of horse hooves broke the silence of the night.

A Silver Rank general of the Wang Group, wearing silver half-body armor, pulled on his horse's reins and surveyed the dark and precipitous terrain around him.

Behind him, hundreds of elite Wang Group cavalry were searching in all directions.

Arriving at the entrance of this valley, the army gradually lingered and stopped moving forward.

"General!"

An archer rode to the general's side, pointed to the deep valley entrance ahead, and said in a low voice: "According to that assassin's falling trajectory, his landing point should be in this vicinity!"

The Silver Rank general's eyes turned sharp; he immediately drew his longsword and ordered in a cold voice: "Surround the valley entrance! With this place as the center, search for me!"

"Yes!!"

Hundreds of Wang Group soldiers quickly dispersed and began to act.

Not long after.

"Caw caw—!!"

In the depths of the silent valley, a burst of extremely noisy and unpleasant cries suddenly came, and immediately after, a large flock of startled, pitch-black "carrion crows" flew up in a flurry from above a certain forest, creating a mess in the night sky.

Seeing this, the Silver Rank general's eyes flashed, and a cruel smile appeared on his Face: "Carrion crows love to eat carrion, and that assassin took three of the master's Dark Nether Wind-Driving Palms; even if he hasn't breathed his last, at this moment he should only have a thread of life left!"

"Follow me! He must be over there!!"

The general spurred his horse and led his subordinate cavalry to gallop towards the direction where the carrion crows had been startled!

In just a few minutes, the large group of people rushed to the base of a large tree.

"Search for me! If my expectations are correct, that assassin should be around this tree!!"

The soldiers quickly dismounted and held torches to search under the tree, in the bushes, and in the thick piles of dead leaves.

However, everyone searched left and right, even overturning the turf within a dozen meters, but they didn't see even a shadow of a living person!

"General! There is blood here!!"

A sharp-eyed captain suddenly shouted.

The general quickly dismounted and strode over, looking along the light of the captain's torch.

He saw a large pool of pitch-black blood on the cracked roots of the large tree!

The general extended his finger to wipe the blood, looked at it first, then brought it to his nose to sniff, and then a look of joy appeared on his Face: "This putrid smell... and the color of the blood, it matches perfectly! He was absolutely here not long ago!!"

He turned around abruptly and roared: "Search thoroughly for me! Even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, dig him out for me!!"

"Yes!!"

Dozens of soldiers once again frantically expanded the search range, but as time ticked away, everyone had turned over every inch of the surrounding land three times, yet they still couldn't find even a single hair.

"It's evil... how could he disappear into thin air?"

A soldier rubbed his eyes, came to the general's side, and guessed: "General, do you think... could it be that the assassin is already dead, and just before we arrived, he was completely eaten by that flock of carrion crows...?"

"Slap!!"

Veins instantly bulged on the general's forehead, and he angrily slapped the soldier on the back of the head, cursing: "Is your brain just for decoration?! It's true that carrion crows love to eat carrion, but can they gnaw a Silver Rank expert's bones, armor, and personal heavy sword into nothing in such a short time?!"

"Idiot! Keep searching for me!!"

"Whoosh—!!"

The strong wind whistled in the night.

Inside the Full Army Concealment formation, the entire elite Assault Battalion was speeding through the precipitous ravines of the wilderness in a form barely discernible to the naked eye.

Just ten breaths ago, the vanguard of the pursuers under City Lord Xu Zhen had already rushed to the valley entrance.

And Strategist Zhu Ge, by relying on Full Army Concealment, had taken Lei Lie away from under the tree roots right under their noses, ten breaths in advance, without leaving even a trace of marching.

At this moment, in the Assault Battalion, on a wide, speeding chariot, Lei Lie slowly opened his eyes.

The sticky blood that had previously glued his eyes shut was now being gently wiped away with water by a priest beside him.

Lei Lie moved his gaze somewhat blankly and discovered he was lying on a speeding chariot.