This middle-aged man could actually directly block Lin Xi’s Falling Moon Archery, moreover keeping his body unharmed. This was at least a great cultivator whose soul force cultivation exceeded Lin Xi’s by a large amount.[1]

This powerful individual’s death would naturally leave a bit more of an impact.

This was especially the case when everyone felt like they held the advantage, the other party seemingly without anywhere to go, already forced to jump off the cliff.

Everyone in this Great Mang light armored cavalry thought that this Yunqin assassin who tangled about Great Mang’s army for a few weeks would meet his end here for sure, this troop of theirs, because they took down this type of Yunqin cultivator, would receive great glory back home in Great Mang, full of brilliance. However, none of them expected that at this type of time, the back of this middle-aged man’s neck who was incomparably powerful would actually explode.

In that instant, all of the Great Mang soldiers behind this middle-aged man couldn’t help but pull on their reigns, subconsciously unwilling to get closer to that cliff.

In those few breaths of time these Great Mang soldiers were frozen for, they only saw the corpse of the middle-aged man up ahead crash down. At the same time, a thunderous noise sounded beneath the cliff, something heavy smashing downwards.

In that brief instant, after shooting down that powerful shield holding Great Mang cultivator, Lin Xi quickly fired continuously, shooting out grappling hooks one after another.

These small hooks were all connected to extremely fine steel wires that were connected to the thick leather armor at his waist.

Hooks continuously grabbed onto the cliff. Under his rapid fall, even these high-grade well-tempered steel wires couldn’t endure the weight, snapping one after another, but this also slowed down his fall speed. The instant his back made contact with a large tree, he let go of the giant bow in his hands, and then turned around. He continuously grabbed several branches. Even though some branches continuously snapped between the dense leaves, when he made contact with the ground, his feet landed steadily on the ground.

The instant he stood on the ground, Lin Xi already clenched his teeth. He directly pulled out the arrow that shot into his right chest, extremely proficiently fishing out a medicine bottle, and then applied some medicine.

Then he picked up the longbow he dropped, starting to quickly run.

As a Windstalker, the most important thing wasn’t if he could take down the enemy officer each time, but rather ensuring his own safety.

This kind of cavalry troop would forever be what cultivators feared the most. That was why this retreat was completely against the cavalry army.

There was no way the cavalry army would directly make their horses jump from the top of the mountain. If they wanted to catch him, they had to first get down, and then go halfway around the mountain to chase after him. At that time, he had enough time to set up some traps to deal with them and then disappear from this cavalry army’s line of sight.

Because of the events in Jadefall City that were etched into his bones, he understood clearly that his ten halts rewind ability he obtained when he came to this world wasn’t omnipotent. This was especially the case when he understood that even Principal Zhang, despite having the same talent and having that type of powerful cultivation, he still had things he was helpless against, so he even more so carefully restrained himself from using his ability if he could. It was because in this world that had countless powerful individuals, the most powerful thing was still his own true strength.

If it was Purgatory Mountain’s patriarch, this type of powerful existence, just a single finger flick might burn him to ashes. When facing this type of expert, even if he could go back countless times, he still had no chance of victory, he would still be obliterated.

That was why just now, he didn’t evade that arrow. That arrow also dug a bit too deeply into his flesh, injuring his lungs a bit, but he still didn’t use his unique ability.

Since he had to rely more on himself, that instant just now was even more horrifying. Meanwhile, this type of cultivation would also bring Lin Xi many benefits. Together with the fact that his soul force cultivation was carried out more bitterly than others’ to begin with, to the extent where not even Nangong Weiyang could understand, unable to mimic it, that was why in the past spring, his archery skills, sword control and soul force cultivation were all rapidly advancing.

After running crazily for hundreds of steps at full speed, Lin Xi’s figure suddenly stopped slightly.

He understood extremely clearly that this wasn’t the time to stop or slow down, because he should at the very least continue until he reached a place where Brass Hawkeyes couldn’t reach. This way, that Great Mang troop wouldn’t be able to deduce his whereabouts through the movements in the grass where he was moving through.

However, he still couldn’t help but stop.

It was because he felt that there began to be a bit of changes in his body. The soul force that permeated his entire body, through an extremely slow manner… as slow as when spring grass geminated, began to pull back, began to condense. A wave of new, even more vigorous power seemed to be produced. The world before his eyes also seemed to gradually become more full of life.

This wasn’t an illusion produced because of blood loss or excessive pain from his chest, but rather that his soul force cultivation already reached the State Knight mid stage breakthrough point.[2]

It was just like when an ordinary seed began to germinate, it wouldn’t take many days before it broke through the surface.

Meanwhile, right now, there was another reason that made Lin Xi stop slightly and lower his head.

That pure golden egg he always carried in his bosom also seemed to have possessed a mysterious change. At this time, a small opening was made. With a bo noise, a small rice grain-sized pure golden egg shell fell off.

Lin Xi took out this golden egg, placing it in his hands, and then continued to run with all of his strength.

He was curious and happy, wishing to personally watch a new life be born, see this true Yunqin phoenix.

Only a week passed from when he obtained this egg until now. Seven days ago, Great Mang’s troop that launched an attack on Meteor City still hadn’t reached shore, indicating that seizing control of Meteor City, loading provisions, military equipment, and choosing a path that avoided Yunqin’s army still used up a lot of time. However, it was only seven days, yet a completely new little life was already about to be born. This was much faster than what Lin Xi imagined.

An extremely soft cracking sound quickly sounded again from the pure gold egg in Lin Xi’s hands.

Cracks began to spread around the eggshell.

Lin Xi didn’t have to wait too long. The little life inside seemed to already be impatient to see this world. Several pieces of fingernail-sized eggshells fell off.

The eyes inside saw Lin Xi and Lin Xi could already see most of this Yunqin phoenix inside.

“...”

Lin Xi immediately didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

If he had to use a word he was familiar with to describe his current emotions, then it should be ‘waterfall sweat’.[3]

It was because when he looked at it, in what part did it look like a phoenix? …This Meteor Sky Phoenix that just emerged in this world, apart from its size being a bit bigger and the yellow feathers looking a bit more golden, it was no different from a yellow feathered chick .

While Lin Xi was sizing up this ‘little chicken’, the ‘little chicken’ inside was also sizing up Lin Xi.

Rui… Rui…

It looked at Lin Xi, suddenly releasing light but clear sounds.

“...”

Lin Xi was momentarily speechless, and then he sighed with amazement, unable to help but say quietly to himself in pity, “You are a Yunqin phoenix after all… this type of chirping is indeed not something those little chicks you look so similar to can make. Only, you and Lucky are the same, another pitiful little fella.”

Rui… Rui… Rui…

The ‘little chicken’ inside heard Lin Xi’s voice again. Then, it was a bit curious, a bit excited. It began to peck at its eggshell, making even more of it fall off. Then, it finally made its way out, landing at the center of Lin Xi’s palms.

Rui… Rui… It now seemed a bit satisfied. After chirping a few more times, it began to watch how Lin Xi ran at a crazy speed, at the rapidly changing world around it.

Lin Xi felt like its chirping noises were extremely interesting.

He began to miss Lucky again. As such, he lowered his head to look at this little fella. When he couldn’t help but smile, he said while gasping for breath, “I have a little fella just like you named Lucky. Since your chirping sounds like that, I’ll just call you Ruirui.”

Rui… Rui… The little golden thing cried out two more times, unknown if it was resigning itself to this fate or if it was extremely happy at this name.

…

Lin Xi didn’t know that right now, Hu Piyi, the Commander-In-Chief of all of Yunqin’s military in Thousand Sunset Mountain was actually not far from him.

At this time, a troop Hu Piyi commanded already secretly arrived at a pond a hundred li from where he was. Moreover, during this daytime, the central military carefully hid within an expanse of reeds. There were more than ten scouting troops consisting of hundreds of soldiers already continuously searching about to prevent Great Mang troops from discovering his central army.

It was because this central army was a four hundred thousand manned great army!

It was because in Hu Piyi’s opinion, whether or not they could take down this Great Mang army who returned with provisions and Yunqin equipment from Meteor City was critical in deciding the fate of South Tomb Province and even this entire summer season battle. If he couldn’t wipe out this troop, it was unknown just how many tens of thousands of Yunqin soldiers would die because of this.

Moreover, it wasn’t just because of these vital provisions and equipment… After Moon Seizing City, Yunqin’s army had already suffered defeat after defeat for an extremely long time. Moreover, after this, Thousand Sunset Border Pass would be left completely unguarded. Wiping out this Great Mang army, for all of Yunqin soldiers’ morale and the sentiment of Yunqin’s common people, was extremely important.

The scouting troops he sent out before already brought back some news of Great Mang troops landing, roughly the same as what they anticipated.

That was why the military he transferred over was waiting, waiting for further more precise news, and then he would attack.

Only… today, he was already no longer the Commander-In-Chief of this army.

It was because the emperor’s orders had already been passed down from the military. Those losses from before, as well as the many losses afterwards would all be his responsibility to bear.

Right now, he was already a Yunqin criminal.

His status as Commander-In-Chief already became that of a temporary officer, waiting for Gu Yunjing to replace him.[4]

Replacing generals on the spot was a huge matter. However, the defeat of Thousand Sunset Border Pass’s great battle was already set in stone.

Not many people felt that him shouldering all of the guilt and infamy alone was unfair, because in the eyes of most lower level officers and soldiers, the responsibility of defeats should be placed on his shoulders to begin with. As for the trusted aides who were loyal to him, most of them had already died while he was fleeing back to Thousand Sunset Border Army from Great Mang’s borders.

Not many people would care if he was willing to give up his life for Yunqin, not many people cared that he was doing everything he could to face Wenren Cangyue. No one cared that in this short amount of time, there weren’t any other officers who could do things better than he did.

He was already destined to be nailed to the pillar of disgrace.

However, this wasn’t the honor and disgrace of him alone. As such, he looked at the people whose statuses were originally much lower than his, bowing and pleading, “Please let me lead the army one last time.”

1. Falling Moon Archery is a Windstalker method taught in Green Luan Academy

2. State Knight level is the fourth stage of cultivation and also the stage where one can use a soul merging cultivation method, having a chance to bond with a powerful fiend beast and add its power to their own.

3. Online slang for astonishment or ashamed

4. Gu Yunjing is Black Dragon Snake Army's Commander-In-Chief. One of the three great generals of Yunqin Empire B11C13