He snorted as his dharmic power flared, cloaking his body to withstand the Dao arts head-on. Human cultivators were frail, but centurions possessed dense dharmic power and heavy armor. Spells from an ordinary Dao Foundation cultivator would merely leave minor scratches on his skin.
To the centurion's left and right, two tornadoes rose up, swirling fist-sized stones at high speed to batter him from head to toe. A burst of water blades detonated before his warhorse, pelting its head with countless razor-sharp edges. Startled, the steed reared up on its hind legs, shielding against the ensuing volley with the barding across its chest and belly. Above them, a meteor the size of a water vat materialized in midair, crashing down toward the centurion's crown.
Though the centurion's vision was still blurred, he drew his bow, nocking an arrow and blasting the falling boulder to bits with a single shot. Of the four Dao arts, only the airborne meteor posed any real threat; the other three were merely annoying. He threw his head back and laughed, roaring, "Merely an itch!"
By then, Wei Yuan was less than fifty zhang away!
Leaping down from his horse, Wei Yuan fixed his lightning-sharp gaze upon the two hundred merits ahead! Sprinting forward a few strides, he threw his entire weight into a heave, hurling his twelve-foot spear with all his might!
He put everything into this throw—a force no warhorse could have withstood, forcing him to dismount.
The spear shot forth like a dragon, piercing clean through one side of the centurion's torso and emerging from the other, its speed barely diminished!
The centurion's body burst open, the gruesome wound gouging out nearly half his torso! Struggling to look down, he barely caught sight of the horrific cavity before slumping forward and toppling to the ground.
Wei Yuan had not used an ounce of Dao power in that throw, relying purely on raw physical might. The centurion's eyesight had not yet recovered, and his divine sense had been scrambled by the flurry of Dao arts. By the time he sensed danger, the spear was already upon him.
This was Wei Yuan and Li Zhi's first coordinated strike. When Li Zhi noticed Wei Yuan closing in on the centurion, he did not evade, choosing instead to brace against the incoming arrows while using his Blinding Sun Technique to rob his opponent of sight. Wei Yuan had then loosed several Dao arts using the power of an ordinary Dao Foundation cultivator. Spells of such caliber posed no threat to the centurion, but they convinced him that the two other human Dao Foundation cultivators had struck, lulling him into lowering his guard and utterly overlooking Wei Yuan, who had not even achieved a Dao Foundation.
The truly fatal blow had been the spear Wei Yuan hurled with all his physical strength!
"Qimur!!"
Farther away, the other centurion was circling around when he saw this. His eyes nearly split with fury, and he wheeled his mount around and charged. As soon as he moved, the flanking cavalry charged alongside him.
Wei Yuan moved to turn back and mount his horse, but an arrow flew from an unknown direction, punching clean through the steed's neck. A barrage of heavy arrows whistled through the air, converging upon him on the ground.
Making a split-second decision, Wei Yuan leaped into the air and landed upon the fallen centurion's mount.
Fierce and wild, the Liao horse let out an immediate roar, swinging its head around to ram into the rider on its back. As a centurion's mount, it stood two chi taller than common Liao horses. A head-whip of such colossal force would have made an ordinary Dao Foundation cultivator cough up blood. But Wei Yuan possessed an extraordinarily tough physique. He smashed a fist into the back of the horse's skull, hitting it so hard its four legs buckled, nearly collapsing. A wisp of black qi, barely perceptible to the naked eye, then drifted out from Wei Yuan and sank into the Liao horse's body.
The horse suddenly quieted, freezing in place.
Within Wei Yuan's divine sense, the Liao horse's soul-form fought back violently, refusing to submit to control. With a thought, Wei Yuan drew another strand from the thousands of black wisps within his sea of consciousness and sent it plunging into the steed. The horse's soul-form was instantly stained a grayish-black, linking seamlessly with Wei Yuan's consciousness. Already a massive animal, the Liao horse grew another chi taller on the spot, snorting plumes of white steam from its nostrils.
Wei Yuan urged the Liao horse forward, galloping toward Li Zhi and shouting, "Get on!"
Astonished as he was, Li Zhi knew now was not the time for questions. He leapt onto the horse's back, riding double with Wei Yuan. The centurion's mount was already a peerless beast, and empowered by the Providence of the Outlaw of Heaven and Earth, its strength grew boundless. Carrying two men in heavy armor was as effortless as bearing nothing at all.
Another heavy arrow glowing with yellow light tore through the air toward them. Caught empty-handed, Wei Yuan snatched the incoming arrow out of the air in desperation! The heavy shaft skidded over a chi through his palm before grinding to a halt, staining the wood with blood.
Shot by the other centurion from eight hundred zhang away, the arrow remained terrifyingly potent; tough as Wei Yuan's body was, catching it bare-handed still drew blood.
"Take this!" Li Zhi thrust the beast-head gold shield and the lightning halberd to Wei Yuan. He drew his own bow, sending an aqua-blue artifact arrow streaking off the string like lightning toward the centurion eight hundred zhang away. The arrow gathered speed as it flew, arriving in the blink of an eye.
The centurion drew his scimitar and cleaved mid-air, striking the arrow head-on!
The moment the curved blade struck, the arrow detonated, spraying countless icicles over the centurion and enveloping him in an icy-blue chill.
With an earth-shattering roar, the centurion shattered the ice encasing him. Though he shook off the frost, countless cuts sprayed fine streams of blood across his body. Yet he remained undaunted, continuing his mad charge. If anything, the minor wounds had only stoked his fury.
Seeing that even the Mystic Ice Arrow failed to cripple the enemy, Li Zhi made a swift decision: "Retreat! Call for help!"
Of the sixty personal guards he had brought, eight or nine were already dead or wounded. Every one of them was a battle-hardened veteran; losing even a single man was agonizing. Li Zhi naturally had no wish to wage a battle of attrition against the Liao barbarians from a disadvantaged position.
Reaching for a red arrow, Li Zhi fired it into the sky. A hundred zhang above, the arrow burst into a firework that pulsed several times before slowly dispersing. This was a signal arrow specifically used by immortal sect disciples to call for help, recognized across all the sects. As the fireworks flashed, Dao power broadcast the identity of the caller and the strength of the enemy. Any immortal sect disciple within a hundred li who possessed a specialized magical artifact would detect it, while those with high cultivation and powerful divine senses could perceive it even without one.
Aside from his identity, Li Zhi's arrow conveyed a clear message: *Encountered powerful enemy; fighting while retreating; send reinforcements swiftly.*
Wei Yuan carried corresponding signal arrows as well and had even given one to Fang Hetong. But between the two of them, Li Zhi could clearly rally far more reinforcements.
Just then, the yellow qi in the distance began to surge once more, churning with increasing violence. Wei Yuan's expression tightened. Recalling the local terrain, he shouted, "Fall back toward Quyang County!"
Li Zhi had initially intended to retreat toward the military redoubt, but Wei Yuan's words made it instantly clear. Heading toward Quyang County offered the shortest path out of the Liao domain. Once within human territory, the combat strength of the Northern Liao cavalry would drop by thirty percent. Li Zhi had also noticed the anomaly in the distance and knew an untold number of Northern Liao riders were approaching.
The Southern Qi personal guards were elite after all. Though retreating, they maintained strict discipline, forming a circular formation and galloping back and forth to return fire at the surrounding Liao cavalry with artifact arrows. Like a giant, bristling ball of thorns, they slowly rolled southward.
The Northern Liao cavalry circled the perimeter, raining arrows down upon the Southern Qi guards. That surviving centurion clashed with Wei Yuan and Li Zhi several times. Wei Yuan took two more arrows, but in return, he impaled the centurion's mount with his spear, killing it. Seizing the opportunity, Li Zhi fired back with an arrow that pierced through the centurion's thigh. Yet the centurion was brutally ferocious; dragging his wounded leg, he commandeered a horse from one of his men and rode back into the fray.
Wei Yuan and Li Zhi fought as they retreated. In a matter of moments, another hundred riders charged out from the yellow qi in the distance! Fortunately, Wei Yuan suddenly felt a lightness wash over him, as though years of accumulated dust had been swept clean from his body—an indescribable relief.
They had finally returned to the human domain!
The Southern Qi elite were down to only forty riders. Having crossed back into the human domain, they finally steadied their footing. The Liao riders grew noticeably sluggish, their loosed arrows far weaker than before. Yet there were simply too many Liao cavalrymen, and guards still fell from their saddles from time to time.
"Young Lord! Why haven't the reinforcements arrived yet?" a guard captain shouted at Li Zhi, unable to hold back his anxiety.
Li Zhi's face was dark, the veins at his temples bulging. He did not answer.
Chapter 78