Sure enough, two hours later.
Several young men closely resembling Ba Liangjin rushed into the Martial Assembly, clutching their wounds.
One of them gasped, "This is bad! The imperial army has surrounded Dun Mountain—they intend to wipe out the martial world!"
"What?!" Zhang Zhitian exclaimed in shock.
The others were instantly thrown into a panic. Some found it hard to believe, some began weighing the pros and cons, while others contemplated surrendering to the court.
Just then, Guan Jinhai drew his saber and slammed it fiercely into the ground with a deafening crash. Once everyone turned to look at him, he immediately called out, "Everyone, the imperial court has long sought our martial world's destruction! Now that Dun Mountain is besieged, we must work together in earnest and break out together to fight for a sliver of hope!"
Faced with a matter of life and death, all the conflicts and disputes among the crowd vanished at once.
After all, if they died, that would be the end of everything. Only the living had the luxury to fret over the country and the people.
After a brief discussion, the crowd decided to break out toward the south side of Dun Mountain. The southern face connected directly to the Wanzu Mountain Range; as long as they escaped deep into the mountains and dispersed into small groups, even an imperial army of thousands upon thousands of troops would be powerless against them.
With the plan settled, everyone sprang into action, fleeing toward the south under the leadership of Zhang Zhitian, Shi Daxin, and Guan Jinhai.
Yu Xian blended into the crowd, his eyes darting now and then toward a man not far away.
That man was a spy dispatched by the imperial court. As he ran, he kept carving marks into the surrounding trees, clearly relaying information to his comrades.
If this went on, the martial artists would undoubtedly be rounded up in one swoop.
Yu Xian, however, had no intention of intervening. In truth, he felt neither sympathy nor empathy for the living beings of this world, never once viewing them as his kin.
After all, he was an Earthling, not a native of this planet.
Although everyone looked somewhat human, in reality, they were not truly human—they merely looked the part.
The meridians inside the humans of this world were completely different from those of Earthlings. Yu Xian had already realized this the moment he swept his mental power over the world upon his arrival.
As for himself, even if one gathered every cell in his body, not a single normal strand of DNA could be found, so naturally, he could not be counted as human either—even though he still considered himself one.
*Who would have thought things would develop to this point?*
Yu Xian had originally only intended to cause some mischief in the jianghu. Who could have guessed that spreading the Hands of Total Disfigurement would end up benefiting this world's imperial court the most?
The trouble was, if the court made all its soldiers cultivate the Hands of Total Disfigurement, wouldn't the entire population turn into hideous freaks?
Once hundreds of thousands of soldiers were discharged and returned to civil life, they would certainly spread the manual far and wide. Even if the court intervened, it would never halt the rolling torrent of momentum.
This world was truly about to be steered down a bizarre detour by him.
*Swoosh!*
Suddenly, an arrow whistled through the air. One grotesque martial artist failed to dodge in time, and the arrow instantly pierced his heart; he collapsed in disbelief.
In the next instant, a barrage of arrows rained down relentlessly.
Having cultivated the Hands of Total Disfigurement, the imperial soldiers possessed vastly increased strength. They wielded reinforced bows capable of firing arrows with greater speed and far more lethality.
All things considered, the martial world was at a severe disadvantage—they possessed no such weapons of war.
Yu Xian sprinted among the crowd. People were constantly struck by arrows and collapsing around him. Suddenly, a playful urge struck him, and he deliberately let arrows hit him. Every now and then, he let out an exaggerated "Ouch!" and allowed an arrow to lodge into his flesh.
Within mere minutes, his back was bristling with arrows, yet he continued to run as lively and vigorous as ever. The martial artists around him stared with wide eyes, their thoughts remarkably unified: *How is he still not dead?!*
Just as Yu Xian was having fun, another arrow struck him in the buttocks. Now he resembled a porcupine; even the straw effigies from the story of borrowing arrows with thatched boats carried fewer arrows than he did.
Yet just as he was wondering where else on his body he could stick an arrow, a man whose face bore an uncanny resemblance to a bull terrier suddenly hoisted him onto his back and sprinted madly ahead.
"Old sir, you're injured! Best not move around, or your wounds will only worsen! I'll carry you!" the man called out as he ran.
Yu Xian was utterly dumbfounded. *What is going through this guy's head?*
If the man harbored ill intent and wanted to use him as a human shield against the arrows from behind, Yu Xian would have cleaved him dead with a single palm the moment he laid hands on him.
The issue was, this Bull Terrier truly harbored no malice. He had simply seen Yu Xian's back bristling with arrows, mistakenly assumed the old man was critically wounded, and genuinely wanted to save a life.
Precisely because the man's intentions were so pure, Yu Xian had not even reacted in time.
Then, Yu Xian's expression turned rather peculiar. This Bull Terrier had not even cultivated the Hands of Total Disfigurement, yet his face blended in with the crowd with astonishing harmony.
What did that mean?
It meant this fellow was born naturally hideous!
Just then, an arrow struck the lower back of a woman running nearby. Without hesitation, Bull Terrier hooked an arm around her, hauling her along as he ran.
"Miss, don't give up! We'll definitely make it out!" Bull Terrier encouraged her.
Moments later, Bull Terrier spotted another man collapsing nearby after taking an arrow. He simply pulled out a length of rope to secure Yu Xian to his back, used his newly freed hand to hoist up the wounded man, and continued fleeing while carrying them all.
Yu Xian grew curious: if another wounded person appeared right now, what would Bull Terrier do?
The answer was revealed soon enough.
Upon encountering a fourth wounded person, Bull Terrier scooped up the woman, letting her sit on his forearm, and then used that hand to steady the newly wounded man, soldiering onward with all of them.
In truth, one of them had already passed out from blood loss along the way, essentially being dragged through the dirt by Bull Terrier.
Yet the number of soldiers pursuing them from behind kept multiplying, closing in from various directions, and the barrage of incoming arrows grew denser by the second. Bull Terrier's good luck inevitably reached its limit.
Now that the Heavenly Dao had been reduced to a dog, miracles naturally no longer existed.
An arrow struck Bull Terrier's calf in a flash, sending him tumbling to the ground. Gritting his teeth, he crawled forward until he reached the cover of a massive boulder, where he finally gasped violently for air.
"Everyone, I'm afraid I can't carry you any farther. If you can still walk, go on your own," Bull Terrier said through gritted teeth, snapping the arrow in his calf. He tried to stand, only to find he lacked the strength, so he could only speak to the group.
One of the men cupped his fists toward Bull Terrier, clutched his wound, and immediately dashed onward.
Bull Terrier thought for a moment, then abruptly turned around and began digging into the dirt. "I have an idea! We'll bury ourselves here! If we can hide from the imperial troops, that would be for the best. If not..."
Before he could finish, a man clad in bright, polished armor drifted down from a tree in the distance, landing squarely atop the boulder. He looked down at Bull Terrier, but when his eyes fell upon Yu Xian—whose back was bristling with arrows—his expression grew distinctly strange.
That was simply too many arrows.
Just what kind of luck would it take to get hit by that many arrows?
Chapter 659