Although everyone fought desperately, three hundred elite guards were simply too few against such a massive army. Before long, the elite guards surrounding Wei Tiandu fell one after another.
They died bravely, heroically—each one taking down at least ten times his number in enemies. But the tide of soldiers continued to surge forward relentlessly.
Still, Wei Tiandu's tremendous destructive power finally carved open a gap.
His long spear swept through the air, drawing several rings of True Qi that cleared out all enemies within a thirty-meter radius.
"Princess, go!"
The one and only opportunity had finally appeared!
Blade after blade, sword after sword struck Wei Tiandu's body. Blood sprayed continuously from wounds large and small, until he was drenched in his own blood from head to toe.
Yet at this moment, a tragic yet satisfied smile hung on Wei Tiandu's face.
"Come! Come kill me!" Wei Tiandu roared like a madman. "I'll make every last one of you die with me!"
The desperate charge of an Eleven-Meridian True Qi grandmaster was truly terrifying, and the gap widened further.
Princess Gouyu seized one person in each hand, channeled her True Qi to its fullest, and shouted in a low voice: "Move!"
Her feet left the ground as she launched herself into the air, carrying Dongfang Lin and Dongfang Zhiruo out of the battlefield and dashing toward the far end of the street.
Wei Tiandu stood alone with his spear, planted squarely across the street. He swung left and right, skewering a dozen elite guards from Marquis Longteng's estate as they pursued.
At that very instant, a teal figure flickered through the void, drifting in like a gentle breeze.
A faint fragrance wafted through the air, green robes fluttered, and a sword—sinuous as a venomous serpent—sank sideways into the right side of Wei Tiandu's ribcage.
The attacker was none other than Long Juxue, who had arrived under orders.
"Wei Tiandu, die!" Long Juxue's gaze was cold and indifferent. She raised her slender arm, and the blade's light surged upward, carving a long gash from Wei Tiandu's chest that spilled his innards.
Wei Tiandu coughed up a mouthful of blood, his bulging eyes fixed on Long Juxue. He managed a ghastly laugh: "So you're that curse? That so-called Innate Azure Phoenix Body? I'll drag you down to hell with me!"
Even with his organs hanging outside his body, Wei Tiandu was still savage enough to hurl his long spear aside and reach for Long Juxue with both hands, trying to lock her in a death embrace.
"Hmph, a dying struggle!" Long Juxue's body swayed. Two swift sword strokes and both of Wei Tiandu's arms were severed.
Wei Tiandu let out a roar like a tiger. Even without his arms, he refused to give in—he lunged forward with a ferocious leap, his gaping maw clamping toward Long Juxue!
But in his grievously wounded state, how could he possibly pose a threat to a prodigy like Long Juxue?
Shing!
Sword qi, cold as frost, flashed past Wei Tiandu's neck. A head soared into the air.
Long Juxue issued a frigid command: "Take the head. It will be displayed for all to see tomorrow!"
Meanwhile, Dragon Two led several True Qi grandmasters in pursuit of Princess Gouyu's fleeing figure.
Had Princess Gouyu not been carrying two people, with her cultivation as an Eleven-Meridian True Qi grandmaster, she would have had every chance of escaping once she broke free of the encirclement. Neither Dragon Two, nor Long Juxue, nor any other True Qi grandmaster would have been able to stop her.
But with two additional people weighing over two hundred jin combined, her speed was drastically reduced. Before she had even covered a single block, Dragon Two and his group had caught up, the distance between them shrinking to less than two hundred meters.
"Gouyu, I respect you as someone of substance. Stop, and I'll leave your corpse intact," Dragon Two barked.
"Insolent!" Long Juxue caught up from behind and snapped sharply. "Dragon Two, who gave you the authority to make promises? This woman—my father the Marquis has personally demanded her. How can we let her die so painlessly?"
"Princess Gouyu, when you presided over the Hidden Dragon Examination, you were untouchable. Did you ever imagine today?" Long Juxue sneered one after another. "I'm going to capture you and your nephew both, strip you two bare, and let every man in the kingdom feast his eyes on your precious little bodies! Then I'll find the hundred filthiest men in the kingdom to take turns servicing you aunt and nephew!"
Long Juxue's voice carried a vicious, sinister cruelty far beyond her years.
"Aunt, put us down and run! Avenge us later!" Dongfang Lin shouted.
"Aunt, run! Go find Jiang Chen!" Dongfang Zhiruo, even now, could not forget Jiang Chen. She believed that in this whole world, only Jiang Chen could save her—and save her aunt.
"Run? Where do you think you're running?"
Long Juxue made a hand signal, and Dragon Two along with six or seven True Qi grandmasters surged forward at full speed.
A hundred meters. Fifty meters. Thirty meters.
They were closing into striking range!
Just then, piercing through the night sky, that shrill yet familiar cry rang out once more across the dark canopy.
Yow!
Yow!
One cry, then two...
Before long, it was as if countless cries had merged together into an ocean of sound.
Golden light broke through the darkness, sweeping in with a presence that sent chills down the spine.
Shoom!
Shoom, shoom!
Arrows that tore through the air like harrowing talismans of death, raining down upon the pursuing crowd.
Bang! Bang!
Two True Qi grandmasters, caught completely off guard, were blasted from their feet by those overwhelming arrows.
Princess Gouyu had already closed her eyes, bracing for death, her heart consumed by despair.
But the moment she heard that familiar cry, warmth flooded through her chest—as though a drowning person had seized a floating straw. She knew she was safe!
Their savior had arrived!
"Hurl them up!" Jiang Chen dove toward her and shouted at Gouyu.
Princess Gouyu, one in each hand, quickly tossed Dongfang Lin and Dongfang Zhiruo high into the air. With a single gesture from Jiang Chen, two Golden-Winged Sword Birds swept in from the sides, catching them securely.
Another bird dove toward Princess Gouyu. She lifted both feet and climbed aboard.