Chapter 662 - 496: The Deadly Game

The wind howled.

The warhorses raised their hooves, and a team of dozens galloped madly along the mountain path.

Giddyup!

The sky grew darker, storm clouds roiled, and a heavy rain seemed to be brewing, just waiting to fall from the heavens.

Boom!

A clap of spring thunder exploded.

The rain had not arrived yet, but the thunder came first.

It seemed the heavy rain was imminent, but they were still about twenty miles away from Jishi Posthouse.

Crack!

Purple arcs of electricity danced among the storm clouds, and it seemed the spring rain was about to pour down.

"Your Highness, the rain is coming soon; I’m afraid we won’t make it to Jishi Posthouse to take shelter!" the guard commander shouted.

"Put on raincoats and keep moving!"

"Yes!"

The riders quickly retrieved their prepared raincoats and bamboo hats from under their saddles, donned them, and continued their gallop forward.

Raindrops the size of soybeans pounded down from the sky, and in an instant, the world was filled with a curtain of rain, the light dimming tenfold.

In these desolate mountains, there was no place to take shelter from the rain, they could only keep moving, though their speed was considerably reduced.

Clatter...clatter...

Dark rain, strong wind, a night for killing!

Whizz! Whizz!

Two iron arrows, a meter long, pierced through the heavy rain directly toward the two guards leading the procession.

Thud! Thud!

Two sounds of piercing flesh echoed.

Caught off guard, the two guards were shot through by the momentum, flying backward off their mounts.

"Your Highness, it’s an ambush!"

Though not highly skilled, these guards were in the Blood Fusion Realm, yet they were killed outright by just two arrows.

The power of these two arrows was immense.

"Jiang, Wei!"

The commander of the guards called out the names of the two fallen subordinates, his eyes wide in panic, staring into the rain ahead, as the dull thud of approaching hooves drummed like a fast-paced beat.

The warhorses were startled, constantly neighing.

If they weren’t specially trained warhorses, they wouldn’t withstand the immense pressure transmitted forward.

At least a hundred cavalry coming.

Crack!

A bolt of lightning slashed across the sky, illuminating the official road ahead.

The Crown Prince’s guards and the Royal Court experts quickly formed a defensive formation, shielding Zhao Yuanze in the middle. With eyes wide open, they saw, a hundred meters away, an advancing mass in dark red armor.

They were all clad in dark red armor, wielding long halberds, and their faces were masked, revealing only a pair of eyes.

Their warhorses were half a head taller than normal and also armored in dark red armor.

The oppressive force rushing toward them was enough to make one’s scalp tingle.

It’s the Blood Massacre!

The Royal Family’s Honored Guest Hall expert Sheng Xiuyuan recognized them, shock evident as the Blood Massacre was an artifact of the prior dynasty, thought long lost.

How could they suddenly appear here?

The Blood Massacre was even more fearsome than the Profound Armor Army. One hundred Blood Massacres could defeat a thousand Grand Generals, needing only a hundred Blood Massacres.

To know, a full hundred Blood Massacre could directly confront expert-level warriors.

During the dynasty’s peak, they only managed to gather three hundred Blood Massacre, not for lack of desire but economic constraints.

Individually, a Blood Massacre could contend with the Lower Grade Meridian Passage Realm, and three together could challenge the Middle Grade Meridian Passage Realm.

However, every Blood Massacre’s minimum cultivation had to be Peak of Blood Fusion Realm, and their weapons and armor granted them great enhancement.

Unlike the Profound Armor Army, Blood Massacre had to be cultivated from infancy. First, selecting high-quality children, then from them choosing those suited to practice the Blood Massacre, out of a hundred normal children, only one might be chosen.

Harshly forging bones from a young age in a standardized, formatted training, with no life or thought of their own, only slaughter and obedience.

Far more inhumane than the training of the Profound Armor Army.

Thus, even with the methods of creating and training Blood Massacre passed down, such inhumane practices were outlawed worldwide.

Could someone have reformed the Blood Massacre, even forming an army?

Only when Blood Massacre reached a hundred could they form an army, otherwise their power was not as great, especially in charges and skirmishes, where Blood Massacre was once a nightmare for Beihu.

The prior dynasty relied on three hundred Blood Massacre to tear through ten thousand Beihu iron cavalry, although Blood Massacre’s own losses exceeded two-thirds, their infamy was known worldwide since.

No, this is not the true Blood Massacre.

The real Blood Massacre’s might should be a thousand times greater than this.

But even so.

The sudden appearance of Blood Massacre imposed immense psychological pressure on Crown Prince Zhao Yuanze’s party, their formidable reputation preceding them.

"Round Shield Array, protect His Highness!" the guard commander shouted.

Everyone knew that if anything happened to the Crown Prince, they were all in trouble, as were their wives and families.

So, they could only fight to the death.

The enemy began to accelerate.

They were going to charge.

Hoofbeats drummed like increasingly dense beats, pounding at their mental defenses, knowing even if they wanted to retreat now, they couldn’t.

Retreating would mean a sure loss of morale.

Both the guard commander and Crown Prince Zhao Yuanze understood this, he regretted not heeding his subordinates’ advice.

However, even if they pitched camp for the night, since the enemy was prepared with Blood Massacre, they’d encounter them anyway.

Good luck is not misfortune, misfortune is unavoidable.

"Draw swords!"

Clang!

The guards unsheathed their blades. Though their sabers were at a disadvantage against the opponent’s long halberds in attack and defense, the men brought here were all skilled; anyone below Blood Fusion Realm had no place here.