Chapter 67: One Sword to Cut Through the Thirteen Riders!

Elder Chu was one of the White Demons, part of the White Lotus Cult. Recently, he had been constantly instigating the Thirteen Riders of the Great Desert to raise a banner of rebellion. With several hundred fierce bandits in the stronghold, a single call from high ground would gather at least several thousand followers. Once they marched on Nanyang City, whether they managed to breach it or not, they would certainly cause a great uproar.

Elder Chu's mission would be complete once the Thirteen Riders raised their banner in revolt.

What a remarkable man. He has not yet reached the Divine Strength Realm, yet he possesses such frightening power. If someone like him ever stepped into the Divine Strength Realm, who could possibly withstand him? But now that he's run into those thirteen freaks, he is doomed all the same. What a pity...

Elder Chu shook his head, keeping those thoughts to himself.

Previously, several martial artists had come one after another to assassinate the Thirteen Riders and complete the Call of Heroes. There had even been a peak Organ Refinement martial artist among them, though he had died just like the others.

Rumors outside claimed the White Lotus Cult had helped the Thirteen Riders kill those martial artists. In truth, Elder Chu knew very well that he was merely a messenger, good for errands and smooth talking. Within the White Lotus Cult, he was indispensable. When he came to the Thirteen Riders, he simply moved his lips. Aside from his extraordinarily swift footwork, which always allowed him to get out of situations, everything else about him was rather average.

The White Lotus Cult had nothing to do with the defeat of those martial artists and imperial troops. It was simply that the Thirteen Riders themselves were extremely strong. They were at the Organ Refinement Stage, but what made them terrifying was their battle formation, which allowed them to pierce through thousands of troops. Once they charged, clad in armor, they became an unstoppable, monstrous force.

"Armor up," one of the Thirteen Riders called out coldly.

At once, the bandits rushed forward and helped the Thirteen Riders equip their armor.

By this time, Lu Changsheng had already torn the towering tree from the earth. Although he couldn't wrap his arms around the trunk, he managed to hoist the tree onto his shoulder with the help of the crimson silken threads. After taking a deep breath, he hurled the tree at the stronghold gate as hard as he could.

Woosh!

In the next moment, he stamped off the ground, leaving a deep pit in his wake, and shot into the air. He planned to use the flying tree as cover.

Whizz, whizz, whizz, whizz, whizz.

Arrows flew out one after another toward Lu Changsheng, but they all ended up striking the tree instead.

BOOM!

At last, the tree crashed into the gate with a deafening sound. The wooden stakes shattered at once, and several archers were crushed.

Lu Changsheng landed a second later. Blood qi surged from him, and the silken threads rapidly covered the tree. He wrapped his arms around the trunk, lifted it, and swept it in a wide arc.

Woosh!

With the massive weight of the tree and Lu Changsheng's explosive power, the sweep was thunderous, as though a mountain collapsed and a sea surged forward simultaneously—utterly unstoppable.

The gate of the stronghold was like paper against such tremendous force. Countless archers screamed and fled in panic, but most of them ended up crushed.

There was nothing left of the stronghold gate. Corpses and torn limbs littered the ground, while those who had survived the impact wailed in agony. With one strike, Lu Changsheng had managed to instill fear into the heart of every bandit present. None of them would have imagined that someone below the Divine Strength Realm would be capable of this.

Lu Changsheng saw that the archers had been utterly shattered, and he set the tree down.

THUD!

The tree left a deep pit in the ground. The dense web of blood qi threads that had wrapped around the trunk withdrew back into Lu Changsheng's body. Although his blood qi recovered very quickly, lifting a tree like this still required a considerable amount. Thus, he wouldn't use the tree more than he needed to. He simply leaped onto the trunk and walked along it into the stronghold.

Elder Chu took in the situation. Although he had great confidence in the Thirteen Riders, he nevertheless retreated quietly and hid himself in an inconspicuous corner of the stronghold. The moment anything seemed off, he would slip away. He didn't excel at fighting, but when it came to escape, he was unmatched.

At that moment, the Thirteen Riders, all equipped with armor, mounted their tall and imposing horses. Their formation radiated a terrifying presence.

"Who goes there? The sabers in our hands do not strike down nameless men," one of the Thirteen Riders called out.

"Zhuang Shisan of Nanyang," Lu Changsheng replied steadily, his voice carrying through the entire stronghold.

He had already made up his mind. As a martial artist, he could not remove himself from the jianghu. In this world, everything hinged on fame and fortune; he wished to protect his true identity, but he could not do without fame and fortune, so he might as well let his alias spread through jianghu.

Eliminating the Thirteen Riders was the first step in that.

"Zhuang Shisan of Nanyang?" Elder Chu's heart stirred slightly. He had lain low in Nanyang Prefecture for a period of time and knew the place well, yet he had never heard of anyone by that name. He realized that name had to be an alias.

Whoosh!

Lu Changsheng made his move. His footwork wasn't anything too complex, but it was very fast. In a split second, he had crossed the ten zhang gap, like a tiger pouncing on its prey.

Clang!

A streak of white light flared as Lu Changsheng drew his shortsword, its edge reaching the nearest rider almost instantly. He had resorted to the Deathflash right away. Once his sword left its sheath, blood was certain to follow.

Although his opponents wore armor, theirs wasn't the fully enclosing armor like Zhao Xing's. There were still gaps, and however small they were, Lu Changsheng could thrust his blade through them.

The Thirteen Riders moved at once, blood qi erupting from their bodies.

Voosh!

The surging tide of blood qi merged into one, without the slightest gap between the Thirteen Riders. The vast crimson cloud shrouded half the stronghold.

"Cut!"

With a loud shout from the riders, the terrifying torrent of blood qi converged upon Lu Changsheng.

The rider targeted by Lu Changsheng responded with his own saber, his swing seemingly as fast as Lu Changsheng's.

At that moment, a massive arc of crimson saber-light collided brutally with a dazzling streak of white sword-light.

Clang!

𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

The two blades collided with a crisp metallic sound, and just like that, Lu Changsheng's Deathflash failed for the first time. Back at Xu Manor, Lu Changsheng failed to pierce Zhao Xing's armor with his Deathflash, but at least he executed his attack fully. Now, his Deathflash had been countered outright.

Lu Changsheng always prided himself on his speed, and his opponent had just matched it. The rider displayed terrifying strength, likely the effect of the combined wave of blood qi. Lu Changsheng could feel a surge of force from his saber.

Whizz whizz whizz whizz whizz!

Lu Changsheng thrust his sword in a relentless blur. One could not even follow the blade with their eyes; only its deadly sharpness could be felt. At the same time, the sabers of the Thirteen Riders also turned into streaks of blood light, clashing head-on with Lu Changsheng's flurry.

Clang, clang, clang!

Crisp metallic clangs reverberated across the stronghold. Lu Changsheng did not even know how many times he had struck so far, and yet the crimson sabers of the Thirteen Riders kept up with him.

This was the first time his opponents matched him in combat. Even Fiery Saber Zhao Qilei had been nowhere near this level.

Bang!

With a final clash of blades, Lu Changsheng retreated. For the first time ever, he had been forced back a step, even though he had used Deathflash with full force. The Thirteen Riders truly lived up to their name.

However, the Thirteen Riders were even more shocked. Ever since riding south from the desert, they had run rampant without restraint, and no one below the Divine Strength Realm could stand up to them.

What they had executed just now was their battle formation. On an actual battlefield, it was unstoppable. Even in the jianghu, their combined assault remained invincible. But today, one man had stopped them in their tracks. One man had matched the strength of thirteen.

A prodigy! Truly a prodigy! To think someone below the Divine Strength Realm could withstand the battle formation of the Thirteen Riders! Not even the experts of our cult reach this level of power before reaching the Divine Strength Realm, and yet this man... Has he undergone marrow transformation and blood replacement?

Elder Chu was just as astonished as the rest, but after a moment's thought, he shook his head. It was an unimaginably difficult feat to undergo marrow transformation and blood replacement before reaching the Divine Strength Realm. Such prodigies had indeed emerged in the history of the White Lotus, but only once a century or so. How could some nameless fellow from a small prefecture like Nanyang possibly be this talented?

The Thirteen Riders of the Great Desert were now truly enraged; it had been a long time since they had gone all out. The thirteen began shifting into formation. It was a battle array, and not just any formation, but a cavalry charge formation. Once such a formation gathered momentum, it became an unstoppable force.

"Charge!" one of them shouted.

The blood qi of the thirteen remained merged as one. Their warhorses reared up ferociously, and they charged at Lu Changsheng simultaneously—a testament to their flawless coordination. From a distance, their charge looked like a massive crimson mountain rolling forward with incredible speed and unstoppable force.

Even Lu Changsheng felt a trace of unease.

"Impressive, but you're not the only ones with blood qi!"

With that, blood qi erupted from him. He wouldn't hold back.

Boom!

A rumbling surged through his body. His blood qi had already been tremendously powerful even before undergoing marrow transformation and blood replacement. Now, he couldn't even estimate its magnitude. He only faintly sensed how vast his blood qi was, and that he had never once reached its limits.

Now, Lu Changsheng went all out. A column of blood qi surged above his head, painting the skies crimson. At the same time, his eyes seemed to turn blood red. He felt as if endless strength were gathering within him.

Lu Changsheng sheathed his shortsword and clenched his fist instead. The Thirteen Riders had already closed to within arm's reach and were about to crash into him. Before they struck, he drove his fist into the ground.

Rumble!

A tremendous impact shook the earth, as though a dragon had just turned over. The violent tremor rippled through the entire stronghold, but given that Lu Changsheng stood at the entrance, the overall structure remained intact. The Thirteen Riders, however, felt the shockwave head-on, especially the warhorses beneath them.

Those horses had all been handpicked; they were extremely robust and sturdy. But when Lu Changsheng drove his fist into the ground and shook the earth, their hooves shattered almost instantly.

The crippled horses cried out and toppled immediately. With this, the formation of the Thirteen Riders had been shattered completely.

At the same time, Lu Changsheng reached for his shortsword once more, and his figure blurred like a phantom. The next instant, he passed through the Thirteen Riders.

Whizz!

Following a flash of light, Lu Changsheng stood behind them. He didn't bother to turn around. He simply stood there, letting the fresh blood drip from his sword's edge.

The stronghold was plunged into utter silence, to the point where you could have heard a pin drop. The final clash had left everyone stunned. The Thirteen Riders lay motionless on the ground, utterly devoid of life.

Just like that, the assassin had slain the Thirteen Riders!

The latter had clearly held the advantage, their momentum soaring and their charge seemingly unstoppable. Until the last second, it seemed like they would obliterate Lu Changsheng, but then the exact opposite happened. They didn't even have time to scream.

Out of the many martial artists in the stronghold, only Elder Chu had seen what had happened. His expression darkened, his gaze wary. He realized that Lu Changsheng hadn't shaken the earth with brute force; rather, he had unleashed a complex shockwave.

After breaking the formation of the Thirteen Riders, Lu Changsheng instantly pulled his blade and struck like lightning—nothing flashy, just pure speed, precision, and lethality. In one breath, he had struck each rider's vital point.

Indeed, it was a sword technique meant purely for killing.