Seven days later, more than thirty carriages and hundreds of people set out. The town sent out a hundred people, and the patrol led the team personally. Shitou Town is nearly a thousand miles away from Boshan County, and it takes nearly a month to get there, including the mountain roads. Occasionally there were bandits along the way, but seeing this huge team and military flags, they did not dare to act rashly, so it was relatively stable.

Half a month later, the team came to Yegouling, where the forest was densest. In the evening, they set up camp on the open space beside the road. The carriages were used as protection and blocked the side close to the mountain. Only one carriage was parked in the camp.

"Sir, everyone is walking on foot, but someone actually took a carriage. What is the origin of this? So awesome?" Beside the campfire, the centurion named Liu Sanyang was chewing dry food and asked curiously.

"Keep your voice down, that's the soul master, he has sharp ears!" Yuan Shouzhen glared at him and said in a deep voice.

"Soul Master?!" The people gathered in a circle were all surprised and speechless. In the small Shitou Town, where had they seen this legendary figure?

Xia Ming's heart also moved, and he pricked up his ears.

"Sir, we have little experience, tell us, how come the soul master is so powerful!" Liu Sanyang seemed to be quite familiar with Yuan Shouzhen, and stuck out his tongue and asked curiously.

Turning his head to look at the carriage, seeing that there was no movement, Yuan Shouzhen turned his head and lowered his voice and said: "Want to listen?"

"I want to listen!" Several centurions nodded like chickens pecking at rice.

"Then I'll tell you!" Straightening his waist, Yuan Shouzhen cleared his throat and began to tell.

Soul cultivators cultivate mental power, which requires extremely high talent and has very few people. They rely on mental induction to control the elements between heaven and earth and exert powerful attacks. They are especially good at long-range attacks and range attacks. The classification is similar to that of fighting spirit cultivation, and is divided into: soul apprentice, soul master, great soul master, soul mentor, holy soul master and the legendary divine soul master. Among them, soul apprentices are mainly assistants to soul masters, focusing on learning. They do not have strong attack methods. They can only practice various soul techniques when they reach the soul master stage. Their attack methods are strange and terrifying, and they are great killers in war.

"What is so magical about it?" After talking for a long time without a specific metaphor, Liu Sanyang had no idea at all.

"Let's put it this way. Soul masters of the same level can deal with dozens of fighting masters of the same level under suitable conditions. Do you understand?" Yuan Shouzhen said in a deep voice with a solemn face.

"Hiss...", taking a breath, many centurions understood it now, looking towards the direction of the carriage, with a lot more awe in their eyes.

"Sir, what are the suitable conditions?" Xia Ming grasped the key to the words and asked.

"Haha, you are so smart!" Yuan Shouzhen praised with a smile, and then said: "Although the soul master is powerful, his body is no different from that of an ordinary person, and his close combat ability is extremely poor. Once he is approached by a fighting master, he is almost doomed to fail. Therefore, every soul master will have a close guard team beside him, just like the eight fighting masters standing next to the carriage, who are responsible for protecting him!"

The eyes lit up, and everyone noticed the eight fighting masters in black armor. They were dressed like officials, but they were not equipped with bows and arrows. They were all equipped with long swords, short knives and shields. The shields were four large and four small, and looked quite sturdy.

Yuan Shouzhen didn't know much, and couldn't say much. After discussing for a while, everyone lost their novelty, hurriedly finished dinner, and went into the tent to rest. After all, it was quite hard to travel dozens of miles a day.

After about an incense stick of time, Xia Ming got out of the tent and prepared for routine practice, but found that the sky was a little dim, and the stars were blocked by the smoky clouds. He looked around and found that the hill on one side was relatively open, and perhaps the effect would be better, so he quietly sneaked away.

The hill was more than 30 feet high, and soon reached the top. Finding a gap between a few rocks, Xia Ming sat down cross-legged with satisfaction. The night starlight was indeed dim. In less than an incense stick of time, he hastily finished his practice, and the effect was less than half of the usual, which made him miss the comfort of practicing in the star stone more and more. He stretched lazily in frustration and was about to walk down the mountain when he suddenly saw a figure in the opposite forest.

Thinking that he was blinded, he hurriedly activated the Purple Qi Jue, and looked again, and found that there was really someone, wearing black clothes and a mask, with a long sword and a bow and arrow on his back. He was startled and was about to give a warning, but he heard a short wail in the camp first.

"Ah!"

"There's an assassin!"

The night patrol officer immediately found his companion who had been shot by an arrow and fell to the ground. His angry roar broke the silence of the night.

"Wow..."

There was a commotion in the camp, and hundreds of people rushed out of the tents. Many of them were still shirtless, but they had long swords and scimitars in their hands.

From Xia Ming's perspective, there were two situations in the camp. The county's officers had already formed a formation, and the leather and wood mixed shield soldiers had already been at the front. The town was in chaos, and no one had brought all the weapons. Some people had to go back to the tent to get shields and bows.

Taking a deep breath, Xia Ming knew that he had met a desperado. He dared to rob the official's goods, so he must have bad intentions! He held the long sword in his backhand and was about to unsheathe it, but he heard the sound of "rustling" footsteps in his ears, and it seemed that someone was touching up from the hills on this side.

The absence of horse hoof sounds made Xia Ming feel a little relieved. There were no barricades in the camp. If a knight attacked, it would probably take only a few people to destroy the camp. But at this moment, he did not dare to move rashly. He held his breath, shrank into the shadows, pricked up his ears, and listened carefully.

"Bang!"

The low sound was accompanied by the vibration of the ground. Xia Ming found that a heavy object had fallen on the hill. Right next to him, a lot of small stones could be seen rolling down.

"Kill!"

At this moment, a deafening shout of killing came from the hillside. More than a dozen fighters of the county guard team, with nearly a hundred material officers, passed through the gap in the carriage and rushed into the dense forest with shields.

There were mostly birch trees on the mountain, and the weeds on the ground were short. The dead leaves of many years had already laid a thick layer. The depth of the leaves varied when they stepped on them, so the speed of the crowd could not be fast. The enemy took advantage of this opportunity to shoot from the branches and knocked down more than a dozen people in an instant.

"Raise the shield and drag!" The leading fighter was experienced, and everyone responded in unison at the command.

"Duh, duh, duh..."

The sound of arrows hitting the shields suddenly became dense, but no one fell down.

"Gugu, gugu!"

A low signal sounded from the enemy, followed by a bowstring flick, but no arrows were shot, and there was a faint sound of breaking wind from behind the officers.

"Turn around, shield!" The leading fighter's voice was urgent and instantly spread throughout the mountains and forests.

The officers staggered back and fiercely inserted their shields into the ground, crouching to hold them.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

The cone tip on the huge wooden board hit the shield fiercely, but it was barely pierced, and no serious casualties were caused.

"Remove the shield, roll!" The voice of the leader of the fighter sounded again.

Eighty or ninety officers gave up their shields, rolled forward on the spot, avoided the rain of arrows that followed, and once again approached the opponent.

"Click, click, click..."

Another mechanical sound rang out, and the material officer who rolled forward suddenly fell down.

"Pit!" The shocked voice was short and panicked. The leading fighter kicked the ground hard and barely got out of the pit.

Most people did not react so quickly, and sixty or seventy of them fell into the pit one after another.

There were sharpened wooden pegs at the bottom of the pit, which instantly pierced everyone's body, blood flowed, and screams came one after another.

"Impossible!" Xia Ming's eyes were full of surprise. During the day, the guard team specially checked the woods. The wooden planks could be installed on the spot, but the pit could not have been dug just now! Unless it means that the other party had already set up an ambush, and it was not just one or two days ago! But the route of the team is confidential. Only the leaders know the daily journey. Among the people in the town, only Yuan Shouzhen knows it. How could the other party predict it in advance?

"Retreat!" Not daring to continue to charge forward, the leading fighter gave a decisive order and quickly retreated with the remaining twenty or so subordinates.

It was not a real iron army, and the casualty rate reached 20%. The camp was immediately in panic, and many officers became stiff and unable to exert their true combat effectiveness.

"Master, the enemy is cunning, please help!" The leader of the guard team, the seventh-level fighter Lin Xiang, walked to the front of the carriage and saluted respectfully.

"Alas, this team should be reorganized!" This was a criticism. When the old voice sounded, Lin Xiang looked ashamed.

Slowly walking out of the carriage, the white-haired old man was about seventy years old, but his face was ruddy, and his eyes were as bright as the stars in the sky.

"Swish, swish, swish..."

As soon as the old man came out, eight black-armored guards immediately guarded him, four huge shields were inserted diagonally into the ground, and four shieldmen wandered in the inner circle.

"Birch forest, let's attack with fire!" Looking at the forest, the old man's eyes flashed with coldness, and his fingers began to carve in the void.

"The void forms a formation!!" His pupils shrank. Xia Ming didn't expect that the soul master could actually carve formations in the void like the formation master in his previous life. This was far beyond his imagination.

"Click, click, click..."

Just as he was distracted, the sound of the mechanism turning rang in his ears. His pupils shrank, and he looked sideways. A half-foot-long three-edged bronze arrow tip appeared in his field of vision, and it was faintly glowing under the dim starlight.

"Small bed crossbow!" Xia Ming was shocked. He didn't expect that the other party even had this kind of controlled military equipment. For a moment, sweat broke out on his forehead. He wanted to warn loudly, but he was worried about his own safety. After all, judging from the footsteps just now, there were at least dozens of enemies behind him. He believed that once he made a sound, he would die before his companions rushed over.

The crossbow arrows have been installed and are being adjusted. Xia Ming's breathing is getting faster and faster, and his hands holding the long sword are full of sweat. Suddenly, a brilliant light flashed in his mind, and he picked up a stone and shot it with a flick of his finger, hitting the shield of the black armor guard with a clanging sound.

"There is someone on the hill!" The leader of the guard team reacted very quickly, instantly detecting the source of the attack, turning his head to look at the top of the hill, and shouted a warning.

"Bang"

The bowstring sounded, and the crossbow arrow shot out, passing a hundred feet like lightning, and appeared in front of the black armor guard.

"Dang!"

After receiving the leader's warning, the black armor guards of the infantry shield were already prepared, and they resisted the shield with a shoulder. The huge crossbow arrow nailed hard on the shield, sparking a string of sparks, but it didn't knock it down after all!

The old man in the center was not affected at all, his arms were still moving calmly, and sparks appeared faintly in the void, and countless fist-sized fireballs were gradually forming.

"Asshole, full string, quick!" The enemy behind the stone cursed and urged loudly.

The mechanism sounded continuously, and the second crossbow arrow was ready. Without adjusting the direction, it burst out again.

"Dang!"

Sparks reappeared, and the infantry shield made of fine iron trembled slightly. It was actually pierced with a small hole. The crossbow arrow was stuck on it, and the tail of the arrow was trembling.

"Kill!" Immediately reacting, the guard leader could not allow the opponent to attack again. With a long sword, he rushed to the hill first.

Dozens of material officers followed closely behind, with one-handed shields in front.

"Shoot!" The enemy behind the stone immediately showed up, each bow and arrow, aiming at the newcomers and shooting randomly.

"Duh, duh, duh..."

Looking down from a high position, the arrows became more and more powerful. After only rushing fifty or sixty feet, the material officers were stopped. Many shields made of wood skin were shot through, and some were injured.

"Shoot!" The enemy leader's voice was cold and murderous.

"Swish, swish, swish..."

The second wave of arrows fell, and several officers who had just approached a few feet were shot in the calf and fell down.

"Hmph, come again!" The enemy leader snorted coldly and waved his arm again.

"Bang!" The third crossbow arrow shot out and hit the new step shield that had just changed position.

"Dang!" Sparks flew, and the black armor guard was not standing firmly. He was shot back several steps by this arrow and almost hit the old man who was casting a spell.

"Ka, ka, ka..."

The mechanism sounded for the fourth time, and the crossbow arrow was being strung.

"Swish! Swish! Swish!..." The third wave of arrows fell, forcing the charging officers out fifty feet away.

The enemy leader showed excitement. As long as there was another crossbow arrow, the rhythm of the soul-disrupting master would be disrupted, and the battle situation would be in his hands!

The guard leader also saw the situation clearly. He was very anxious and rushed forward under the rain of arrows, but was almost shot like a hedgehog. He retreated in frustration.

"Let's fight!" The situation was critical. Xia Ming made up his mind, drew his sword, and slashed down angrily.