Chapter 764 Awakening

Third Master was a man who had seen his fair share of big events. At this moment, he didn't mind waiting here to watch the show.

In any case, the Hou mansion's goal this time was to deal with that existence involved in the prophecy, not to snatch some treasure. There was no need to rush. He was happy to see another group willing to go up ahead and take the hit.

The fried noodles weren’t very good, a bit dry. He took a mouthful of snow to moisten it, then slightly shifted his lower body. Third Master didn't like this kind of lurking environment in the snow. It seemed like a convenient disguise, but it always froze him stiff.

Right now, the two sides were fighting fiercely. Xue San silently estimated the strength comparison between the two sides, while also keeping a part of his mind focused on the ice block.

Had the thing inside the ice block awakened completely, or was it only half-awake?

Because they were relatively far away, the details of the battle weren't very clear, but this was like watching fireworks; seeing the general picture was enough. The key was to check the number of experts on both sides, and then weigh the strength of his own men.

In the end, Xue San concluded that the power of both sides was much stronger than that of his subordinates, both in quantity and quality.

But there was nothing to panic about. He wasn't leading his men to a martial arts brawl. His men were truly good at ambushes and assassinations.

Finally, the attacking side gradually began to falter. After suffering a lot of casualties, they chose to retreat.

The team on the other side, perhaps out of concern for the large ice block on the sled, did not pursue. Instead, they began to treat the wounded and adjust their formation on the spot.

"Tell the brothers to move the outposts further away. Since someone is willing to help us, why don't we take advantage of this free labor?"

Since the other side's first attack hadn't succeeded, they would definitely not be willing to give up. They would definitely come again. In this situation, Xue San had no reason to let his men get involved. The team pulling the ice block was their common goal. It didn't matter who did it. Watching from the sidelines was great; waiting to clean up was even better.

As night fell, the team began to move forward again.

This counterintuitive approach made Xue San narrow his eyes. He immediately signaled Dai Li to come over: "Take the brothers and follow from a distance. Pay attention to the marks I leave or the signal fires. At a critical moment, you can make the decision.

It's easier for me to move alone. I'll go get a closer look."

"Yes, Third Master."

Xue San nodded, and then separated from his men.

Without the constraints of his subordinates, Third Master's stealth skills could be used more freely. By the time it was completely dark, he had narrowed the distance with the team.

The team was moving forward with torches. Earlier, there were about five hundred people, but now there were only about four hundred. The assassination during the day had indeed brought considerable damage to the team.

Xue San wasn't in a hurry to get closer. Instead, he chose to follow at close range.

After a night of marching, the team stopped when the sun was just rising and began to set up camp to rest.

At this moment,

Xue San clearly felt other small sounds appearing near his hiding place.

Third Master hurriedly concealed himself more thoroughly, camouflaged himself, and turned his head into a stone protruding under the snow. This would also make it easier to continue observing.

A good assassin must be a good concealment expert.

Right now, unless those "rustling" guys coming closer stepped directly on him... Well, if he was really that unlucky, there was nothing he could do. Otherwise, neither of the two groups would be able to discover the existence of this "observer."

Xue San was also curious about which force was so persistent in pursuing this team transporting the large ice block. One attack yesterday wasn't enough; they were coming again today.

But Xue San knew even better that the team's nighttime march would inevitably lead to fatigue now. But wouldn't the leader of the team be aware of this?

"Buzz buzz buzz!"

A head emerged from Xue San's side, a savage's face.

Xue San suddenly found it very funny. If this guy leaned half a zhang (1.67 meters) to the right, he would have discovered him. Fortunately, he was lucky and didn't have the bad luck of his lord.

The person clearly didn't notice Xue San, who was lurking nearby, but was vigilantly observing the front.

Then,

a slight tremor came from his body.

Although it wasn't snowing now, the cold wind was howling, but this tremor seemed to have some magic power, which could be transmitted very far.

And from a distance, this tremor began to respond.

Xue San was bored lying here anyway. He listened with his ears, and analyzed in his mind. Combining the current atmosphere, he used some information that the attacking side would transmit, and played a code-breaking game.

This thing wasn't difficult. To be precise, it was really simple for experts. And in this situation, it was impossible to make it too complicated, which would affect the information transmission between their own people.

Listening and stopping, Xue San figured out a rough idea. He couldn't say he understood everything, but he could try it out.

Of course, the premise was that there had to be a "transmitter," which should be a small drumhead made of animal skin.

Gradually, as time passed, and from the information he intercepted after deciphering the other party's transmission pattern, Xue San knew that more and more people were gathering in other directions, and a new round of attacks was about to begin.

"Swish!"

"Swish!"

"Swish!"

In an instant, in the position closest to the team, a group of people jumped out of the snow and charged towards the team.

The man next to Xue San also stuck his body out, but just as he was about to rush down, he felt a chill on his neck. A dagger had already cut his throat.

To allow an assassin to lurk beside you for so long, unless you are a Third-Rank martial artist with a strong physique, there is really no reason why you wouldn't be killed with one blow.

After this brother was killed, Xue San retracted the dagger with his right hand, and instantly wrapped a bandage around his neck with his left hand to prevent blood from overflowing and contaminating the nearby snow. Then, he dragged the corpse into the snow. Under the snow, he also poured powder that Xue San had developed that had an unpleasant smell to animals with sensitive noses onto the corpse.

Finally, he untied the leather drum he had been beating earlier and wrapped it around himself, and then quickly restored the camouflage on his head covered in snow, turning himself into a protruding stone again.

And over there, the killing began again.

The team's nighttime march was very strange. It was understandable that the attacking side attacked in the early morning when the other side was most tired, but the latter had failed before. Why were they still thinking about attacking again?

In Xue San's opinion, both sides should have trump cards; they shouldn't be so stupid.

It was a pity that his lord's army wasn't here now. If the army was here at this time, any problem could be solved.

Sure enough, in this attack, the team suddenly had many more military crossbows. A barrage of arrows shot out with a "buzzing" sound, directly stunning the attacking side.

These crossbows hadn't appeared in yesterday's battle.

Xue San listened carefully to the sound of the crossbow arrows.

They were well maintained,

with average range.

They couldn't be the Hou mansion's crossbows. He, Xue San, was responsible for the military equipment manufacturing under the Pingxi Hou mansion. The range and accuracy were much better than ordinary military crossbows.

The military crossbows used by the team should be the ones that flowed into the snowfield when the savages entered the pass in earlier years.

The Great Cheng Kingdom and its predecessor, the Situ family, had always had an iron ban on the snowfield. Later, when the Pingxi Hou mansion did business with the various tribes of the snowfield, they also controlled armor, weapons, and military equipment very strictly.

It was between these two periods that the Savage King attacked Xuehai Pass, causing a large amount of wealth, population, and resources to flow into the snowfield, making some tribes suddenly rich.

The Naiman tribe dared to defy Zheng Hou, the master of Xuehai Pass, because they ate a wave of dividends and felt they were capable.

Xue San was a little puzzled.

Logically speaking, the team pulling the ice block should have been hiding in the far north all along. Why would they have this kind of equipment?

This likely meant that a snowfield tribe of considerable size had already been in contact with them.

Things were getting more and more complicated.

At the same time, the battlefield suddenly changed again. The sound of chanting suddenly sounded, and then, clumps of snow were rolled up and instantly condensed into ice blades, which howled towards the team. The team suffered more casualties at once.

In Xue San's sight, a group of people holding canes appeared on the outer perimeter of the attack. Their clothes were black and uniformly made.

They weren't in the style of military armor, so they were probably clergy.

Although the Pingxi Hou mansion had been trying to use religious methods to control the snowfield in recent years, and had achieved very good results, the snowfield was too vast, and the main body of the savages still believed in the stars. These people should be Star Messengers.

Xue San remembered that when the Savage King rose, although he often liked to shout "In the name of the stars" to mobilize his savage warriors, Gou Moli was actually a complete atheist. He completely disdained the stars. Otherwise, he wouldn't have allowed Sanghu, who had a feud with the Star Messengers and had specifically hunted them down, to be "ordained" as the Great Reception Messenger of the Snowfield Star Messengers.

Of course, this also caused a serious division in this group to a certain extent.

When they used to drink together, the Savage King also liked to engage in "reminiscing about the glorious years." He said that what he was thinking at the time was that after he returned from entering the pass, and his reputation reached its peak, he would integrate all the factions of the Star Receptors on the snowfield and make himself the supreme leader recognized by both secular and religious authorities.

Unfortunately, the Savage King entered the pass but failed to get out. A lot of things that he had originally left to deal with when he returned to the snowfield were completely shelved there.

Later, because of the Pingxi Hou mansion's strength in the snowfield, and the Hou mansion's continuous religious output, the activities of the Star Receptors rarely involved the southern part of the snowfield.

But here, there was an organized force, and what they were using looked like... magic?

Of course, it might not be accurate enough to describe it as magic. The qi refiners, warlocks, and alchemists of the East could also create such a scene. His lord even personally experienced "spiritual travel" a while ago and ran to the back mountain of the Qian Kingdom to have a cup of tea.

However, using "magic" to describe it was more in line with Xue San's perception of this situation.

However, things were getting more and more interesting.

You guys fight, quickly show all your trump cards, fight until your brains splatter and you are both seriously injured.

Xue San was just watching the excitement and didn't think it was a big deal. Forcing out each other's trump cards would allow him, the mantis, to have a better chance to play his role.

In fact, there were also many surrendered Star Receptors in the Savage King's army back then. They also contributed greatly on the battlefield. When breaking through Xuehai Pass, it wasn't just the internal support of the Situ Jiong and Situ Yi brothers, but they also had their share of credit.

It was just that later, in the Battle of Wangjiang, in the face of the charge of the Great Yan Northern Army and Jingnan Army's top-notch iron cavalry, in the collision of hundreds of thousands of troops on both sides, there was really not much room to play. They could only be swept away and collapse along with the retreating Savage army.

But in local small-scale conflicts and specific environments, their actions could indeed have a very good effect.

After overcoming their fear of the military crossbows, the attacking side once again charged into the team.

And in the east and west directions of the team, there were two cavalry troops, which were obviously from the attackers' side, began to launch a charge in this direction.

The team's defense obviously began to be strained, and after the opponent's cavalry rammed into them, the so-called defensive formation quickly collapsed.

In fact, Xue San, as the vanguard scout of the army, had also seen those people who had been "dismissed" and were mentally confused long ago. At first, he thought that the other side had learned that the army was coming here, so they were scared and started to run away. Now it seemed that this was obviously not the case. Another family had begun to attack them.

The team's casualties inevitably began to appear, especially after the Star Receptors approached the battle and cast another wave of spells, completely defeating the team's newly built defensive circle, allowing the attacking side to successfully complete the cutting of the battlefield.

Xue San had also followed his lord on expeditions to the north and south for many years and had a wealth of experience. Generally, after this kind of situation, one side would start massacring the other.

However, at this moment, a long-haired woman suddenly jumped onto the ice block pulled by the sled and screamed something. It was too far away, and Third Master didn't hear clearly, but it was certain that she was yelling.

After shouting, she pierced her palm with a dagger and then stuck it on the ice block.

The remaining members of the team began to buy time for her as much as possible, protecting her.

And the attackers, as long as they weren't stupid, would know that the other side must be brewing a big move, and immediately charged up even more frantically, trying to stop the woman.

At this moment, Xue San couldn't help but destroy some of his camouflage and raise his head slightly. He wanted to see, to see if the thing in the ice block had awakened!

"Woo woo woo woo woo woo..............."

Suddenly, the wind rose. A strange yin wind began to blow, and a cloud appeared above.

"Fuck."

Xue San cursed in his heart. This way of appearing was really intimidating.

Then,

the ice block exploded, and the woman on top was also blown away.

Inside the remaining ice on the sled, a person sat up. He was wearing black armor and had long hair.

The man clenched his knife,

and the next moment,

a terrifying power condensed.

The man's figure directly left the sled and rushed to the place of slaughter.

Wherever he went, blood splattered and corpses flew up. It seemed that other people's knives had no effect on him, but his knife had an incredibly terrifying power. Under his knife, not a single complete corpse remained.

"Roar!"

He let out a roar and rushed up again.

A group of Star Receptors launched an offensive against him. Powerful ice blades struck him. From Xue San's perspective, he saw the man being struck so hard that he knelt on one knee on the ground.

At this time, many people rushed up, trying to take advantage of the situation to kill the man.

But the man suddenly raised his head.

His previously long hair was completely disheveled at this time, like a hedgehog, but it was cut by the ice blades in an instant, and his hair fell randomly.

And the man's pupils turned blood red.

Logically speaking, Xue San was so far away that it was impossible for him to see the other person's eyes clearly, but the strange thing was here. When the man raised his head again, Xue San only felt a chill down his back, as if the other person had noticed him.

This is... mental power!

His lord was an ordinary person, who rose from the grassroots, but the Demon Kings were truly versatile.

Xue San remembered that Blind One liked to use this trick, attacking your sea of consciousness with mental power in an instant. That feeling made you want to live and die.

Xue San, who was so far away, reacted, not to mention the group of Star Receptors up close. For a time, half of them painfully covered their heads and knelt down.

The black-armored man suddenly got up and charged into the center of the opponent's forces, holding his knife.

"Oops."

Third Master silently lowered his head again, re-camouflaged himself. The mage was approached by the warrior. It was over.

Sure enough, a large number of Star Receptors were cut down.

In this local battlefield, and not a clash between organized and well-trained troops, the strength of individual combat effectiveness could be magnified as much as possible.

The black-armored man's attack caused heavy losses to the attacking side. Then, the team, which had been almost forced into a desperate situation, began to counterattack.

The attacking side inevitably began to collapse.

This time,

the team still didn't choose to pursue.

Because their backbone, the black-armored man, suddenly "plop" fell to the snow after repelling the attackers.

The woman who had summoned him to wake up ran over with her injured arm, shouting something, looking very anxious.

"Tsk tsk."

Xue San secretly said in his heart:

"He's awake, but not fully recovered yet. Okay, there's something to work with.

Third Master, I'm going to make a first-class contribution this time...呸呸呸! (pei pei pei - spitting to ward off bad luck)

Third Master, I'm bound to fail miserably this time!"

After reverse-milking himself,

Xue San's figure began to retreat silently from the snow, but soon, he was stunned again.

Because he saw that under the command of the woman, his subordinates pulled the corpses over and began to cut the corpses to bleed them, pouring the blood on the black-armored man lying on the ground.

Xue San immediately cursed in his heart:

"Damn, it even comes with charging!"