Chapter 160 Success Secured

The carriage was drawing nearer, bearing a striking emblem that none of Tang Tian and his companions recognized. Judging by its specifications, it was exceedingly lavish and high-end, and its appearance at this precise juncture aligned perfectly with their objective.

Without the slightest hesitation, the moment the carriage came into view, Ling Xu was the first to spring into action.

Facing the low-flying carriage, Ling Xu's battle intent surged to its absolute peak. His orange eyes transformed into blazing flames, and his blue hair whipped wildly in the wind.

Stamping hard against the ground, he vaulted into mid-air, his fingers twisting deftly as his spear suddenly shot forward. This was his signature technique, designed entirely to compensate for his physical frailties.

The spear pierced the air like an arrow loosed from a bowstring, while his body followed like a feather weighing nothing at all, drifting along with the momentum of the weapon.

His body moved in tandem with the spear, as graceful as the wind.

Within his field of vision, the target carriage expanded rapidly. The blazing battle intent rolled like molten lava, yet his airborne, ethereal form suddenly let out a thunderous shout.

"Die!"

Before the echo of his voice had even faded, stars rained down across the sky, completely enveloping the carriage.

A shrill, tidal scream tore through the air, terrifyingly fierce in its momentum!

"How audacious!" a sudden roar echoed from within the carriage, and a majestic figure abruptly materialized out of thin air in front of it. Facing the rain of freezing, blooming radiance, his expression remained entirely unchanged.

Bringing his palms together into a fist, flames gathered and swirled around his hands at an astonishing speed, swelling to the size of a wine jar in the blink of an eye.

The burly man let out a ferocious roar and threw a punch!

The wine-jar-sized red fist-aura blasted away from his fist, swelling to the size of a bushel in mid-air as it hurtled toward Ling Xu with a terrifying whistle.

Ling Xu recognized the danger; this opponent was truly formidable...

However...

The light in Ling Xu's eyes flared sharply. The enemy's strength only served to further provoke his battle intent, causing his entire body to feel as though it were burning, save for his ten fingers, which remained as cold as iron.

He had not forgotten his mission.

A trace of an imperceptible smile tugged at the corner of his lips. The five fingers of his right hand, resting on the end of the spear shaft, gave a twist, causing the iron spear to blur into a wheel of motion, and the all-encompassing icy radiance instantly vanished.

The piercing cold light at the tip of the spear grew brighter than the most dazzling star in the night sky.

With a single thrust, he drove straight toward the bushel-sized fist-aura!

The burly man's pupils constricted sharply, a flash of astonishment crossing his face. Yet he felt no fear; though his opponent's spear technique was miraculous, his own fist arts were no slouch either.

Hiss!

The tip of the spear vanished abruptly, and vanishing right along with it was Ling Xu's figure.

Oh no!

The burly man's expression shifted drastically.

Ling Xu seemed to materialize out of the empty air beside the carriage, wreathed in a fierce, dazzling spear-aura, charging toward the carriage like an ancient knight.

While Ling Xu's earlier airborne flight had been filled with a sense of ethereal grace, he now resembled a blazing flame whipped violently by a gale. His eyes burned, every part of his body burned, and his cold, dark iron spear now radiated staggering heat as if it had been heated red-hot.

Pressing ever onward, with no thought of retreat!

For reasons unknown, that exact phrase popped unbidden into the burly man's mind. This fellow wearing a ridiculous, comical panda mask had actually managed to evoke such a feeling in him...

Boom!

Like a falling meteor crashing down, the spear struck the carriage dead center.

The carriage instantly fractured into pieces, and the powerful kinetic energy carved a path of destruction as the thick carriage body shattered into flying fragments. Screams and curses echoed from within as chaos erupted, and the out-of-control carriage stalled suspended in mid-air.

"Wretched villain! You're dead!"

Seething with fury, the burly man let out a long howl and whirled around to pounce on Ling Xu.

Ling Xu didn't even bother to check the results of his attack. True to the prior plan, he acted without a shred of hesitation, giving the spear shaft a sharp twist so that it pierced through the air toward the mouth of the valley, his body adhering to the weapon as lightly as a feather.

In the blink of an eye, he had soared dozens of yards away!

The burly man had not anticipated that Ling Xu would be so resolute in his escape. By the time he reacted, his rage was compounded tenfold. Damned panda, today you are a dead man!

With a sharp whistle, the burly man expanded his frame like a giant eagle spreading its wings and hurtled after Ling Xu.

The two figures rapidly distanced themselves.

The wreckage of the carriage plummeted downward in freefall.

One after another, flustered figures tumbled out from the crippled carriage.

"Attack!"

Tang Tian and the other two made their moves simultaneously.

Several individuals among the crowd rushed forward, attempting to intercept them.

Tang Tian could now be considered quite experienced. The moment he saw the panic in the eyes of the man blocking his path, he understood that the opponent's strength was unlikely to be very high.

Suspending himself in mid-air, Tang Tian deliberately misjudged the distance, seeming to lunge a bit too far.

A look of wild elation suddenly appeared in the opponent's eyes. A prime opportunity! Without a second thought, the man struck first, his steel saber flashing with several bolts of cold light as he aimed straight for Tang Tian's opening. A miscalculation of distance often resulted in a brief moment of rigidity, making this an optimal opening!

The blade light was as smooth as a polished stream of silk, resembling a white snake darting out its tongue.

Yet at that exact moment, Tang Tian's body shifted abruptly, dodging the blade by a hair's breadth!

His hand seized the back of the enemy's saber, and with a sudden release of Crane Body Energy—

Thud!

The man was struck as if by lightning, his head thrown back as he spat a dense cloud of blood mist. Tang Tian's palm slammed against his body, using the recoil to drift gracefully past his defenses.

Tang Tian's luck was decent; both Bing and Ghost Claw were currently bogged down in bitter combat.

Shifting his focus to the arena below, Tang Tian quickly spotted a high-value target. A female guard was carrying a young girl who had been securely bound hand and foot with her mouth gagged.

Almost instantly, Tang Tian grasped the significance of this target. Although he had no idea who the little girl was, he understood the maxim that the enemy of an enemy was a friend.

Judging by the anxious expression the female guard wore regarding the child, this was clearly a person of immense importance. If he could manage to abduct her, they would have no need to worry about whether these thugs would pursue them.

Once his mind was made up, Tang Tian flicked his figure and appeared directly beside the female guard.

This female guard was tall with golden hair tied in a ponytail, wielding a chilling, sharp-bladed sword, cutting a rather dashing and heroic figure.

She had noticed the gorilla-masked Tang Tian from the very beginning, so when he materialized beside her, she showed not a shred of astonishment. Her long sword shivered, blooming with three plum-blossom sword flashes aimed straight at Tang Tian.

The pink sword-blossoms appeared quite lovely, but right now, they brimmed with bone-chilling murderous intent.

It was evident that the female guard's swordsmanship was rigorous and possessed a certain degree of mastery, but relying on such textbook-standard attacks to deal with Tang Tian was plainly insufficient.

Having endured the relentless tortures of the Eighteen Bronze Dummy Chamber, Tang Tian fought with an absolute lack of restraint, utilizing whatever method proved effective.

Tang Tian shook both hands.

White Crane Whirlwind!

The sharp white vortex spun like a high-velocity blade, resembling a flock of startled white cranes that instantly filled her field of vision.

A flash of panic crossed the female guard's eyes, but she quickly steadied herself, her sword tip continuously parrying and deflecting at a furious frequency.

Tang Tian felt a mild flicker of surprise; the female guard's swordsmanship was remarkably solid and her attainments were impressive, but she clearly lacked combat experience. He noted another critical detail—her protection of the little girl far outweighed her protection of herself!

Tang Tian in combat is terrifying!

Bing's remark was by no means an exaggeration. Tang Tian in the heat of battle consistently displayed an extraordinary fighting intelligence. Once his intuition sharpened, this trait became especially lethal, allowing him to invariably exploit those imperceptible details.

Tang Tian realized immediately that the little girl was vital to Yan Xia and his faction!

Almost instantly, he resolved to snatch the child away.

Following his intent, Tang Tian's figure vanished, concealing himself directly behind the White Crane Whirlwind!

By the time the female guard suddenly sensed that the force transmitting through her sword tip felt wrong, it was already too late. The sudden eruption of power knocked her blade askew, leaving her center completely unguarded as Tang Tian plunged into her embrace like a lightning bolt.

Panic surged within the female guard. Relinquishing her sword abruptly, she slammed her elbow toward Tang Tian.

Tang Tian was genuinely startled this time; such a standard elbow strike was definitely not something executed on a whim. This woman had studied close-quarters combat! However, Tang Tian's body moved faster than his thoughts. Almost instinctively, his palm blocked the strike while his right fist struck like lightning against her soft abdomen.

Though protected by armor, Tang Tian's strength was so immense that her body stiffened in pain.

Seizing the opportunity, Tang Tian snatched the little girl from the female guard's arms. Panic flickered in the woman's eyes, but Tang Tian afforded her no chance to entangle him further, dropping downward without a moment's hesitation.

The instant his feet hit the ground, he roared at the top of his lungs, "Run!"

Swish!

Bing and Ghost Claw instantly broke away from engagement, scattering left and right as they fled in opposite directions.

With the little girl strapped to his back, Tang Tian sprinted wildly through the dense forest, the roars and footsteps behind him never ceasing. Tang Tian was expending every ounce of strength he possessed; the intricate terrain of the dense forest offered him tremendous aid, and his eighteen-fold intuition enabled him to anticipate obstacles and hazards well in advance.

He moved through the thickets with the effortless ease of a genuine gorilla. Strapped to his back, the tightly bound little girl widened her obsidian-like eyes, staring with curiosity at the creature in the gorilla mask carrying her.

Yet the pursuers behind them showed no signs of giving up, chasing after them with the frenzy of madmen.

The plan was a resounding success!

Tang Tian swelled with inward triumph. As long as he led these people deep into the forest, even if they wanted to leave later, they wouldn't manage it without a good few days of effort.

Before long, Tang Tian realized the enemy could no longer keep pace with him.

To prevent the pursuers from losing his trail, Tang Tian occasionally halted on purpose to rest for a moment.

After running wildly like this for an entire day, night fell, and the dense forest grew dark and eerie. The pursuers behind him still refused to give up, but their speed slowed noticeably, forcing Tang Tian to pause for longer intervals.

Darkness posed virtually no obstacle to Tang Tian; he did not rely on his eyes to avoid terrain and hazards in the first place. For the others, however, the darkness turned the already complicated terrain into something far more perilous and troublesome, deterring them entirely from increasing their speed.

If he kept running until dawn, he would practically reach the designated location according to the plan. Given the current circumstances, he might not even require Ghost Claw's assistance to shake off the pursuers.

A wave of intense triumph washed over Tang Tian. Success was right before his eyes!

Suddenly, the little girl on his back began violently twisting her body. (To be continued)