From the moment the Chinese youth was knocked down by the Shatu rider’s whip to the point where Yan Liqiang rushed to snatch the whip and lash that Shatu man in retaliation, the entire process happened in the space of merely two breaths.
Regardless of the commoners who were queueing up to enter the town in the surroundings or the Shatu people that were at the side, by the time they managed to process what had just taken place, Yan Liqiang had already whipped that Shatu man down.
However, at this time, the difference between those with group and without group was evident.
The commoners lining up at the entrance gate were getting a kick out of the whole incident. Before they could even cheer, the countenance of the two riders in front and behind Yan Liqiang on their rhinodrake steeds became contorted. With an odd yell, they immediately unsheathed their scimitars. One of them rushed forward while the other turned his steed around. Both of them charged towards Yan Liqiang.
The sounds of the iron hoofs thundered from within the tunnel of Pingxi Town’s entrance gate, abruptly causing panic among many of the commoners. They were shrieking, and the soldiers standing guard at the town gate were also alarmed.
At that moment, Yan Liqiang didn’t know that fighting with the Shatu people at the town entrance would imply anything at all. He was only trying to defend the weak at the sight of injustice. As for those Shatu people who had unsheathed their scimitars and were charging towards Yan Liqiang, they were so used to being arrogant every day that they didn’t expect that drawing their weapons and causing chaos would lead to serious consequences either.
As fate would have it, a seemingly inadvertent conflict like this would more often than not silently have a great impact in the future.
Swooosh! The Shatu man’s scimitar narrowly brushed past the top of Yan Liqiang’s head.
In this short and narrow tunnel that was not enough for a rhinodrake steed to run in, Yan Liqiang easily evaded the first strike that the Shatu man attempted although the man had borrowed the advantage of his rhinodrake steed’s speed and momentum. Without waiting for that man and his steed to turn around, Yan Liqiang had already flung the whip in his hand.
The shadow of the whip broke past the air. Before it lashed the body of that Shatu man, a noise that was akin to fabric being ripped could be heard in the air. Yan Liqiang had never practiced any whip techniques. He had only used a whip to spin a spinning top when he was little. However, the force he had unleashed with this lash was already beyond imagination. Yan Liqiang had only exerted sixty percent of his strength in the previous two lashes. When the Shatu man lunged for his throat with his scimitar just now, Yan Liqiang didn’t hold anything back at all. Hence, he went all out in this lash.
Pa…! When the cracking noise rang out, that Shatu man howled in pain as if he had just been hacked by someone by a saber. He immediately fell head first off his steed and collapsed in a heap on the ground. From behind, a terrifying lash mark about one foot long immediately emerged from on the back of that Shatu man’s ear, running all the way to his back. His ear was instantly mangled by the whip, leaving only a little skin and flesh still intact on his head.
The third Shatu man charged towards Yan Liqiang on his rhinodrake steed with a sinister expression. Yan Liqiang ran five steps up the wall of the town gate’s tunnel, raising himself up in the air before he did a backflip and lashed out with his whip. That Shatu man screamed miserably when Yan Liqiang whipped him one more time on his face, and then the man fell off his horse. Before this Shatu man could get up again, Yan Liqiang had already taken a big stride forward. He stopped before him and connected his foot with the Shatu man’s jaw. That Shatu man was sent flying high up in the air by Yan Liqiang’s kick, accompanied by the sound of broken bone, before he heavily landed back on the ground.
Now, more Shatu people from the front and the rear of this group were in an uproar. Yan Liqiang also heard the sharp noise from the metal whistle from one of the guards at the entrance gate.
The first Shatu man who had just been whipped twice by Yan Liqiang had already drawn his scimitar. He charged towards Yan Liqiang with his bloodstained face. He raised his arms high up, as he was aiming for Yan Liqiang’s throat.
These Shatu people were ruthless in their attacks. They didn’t show any mercy at all. Each one of their strikes was directed at the vital parts of a human body. Anger flashed across Yan Liqiang’s eyes when he saw how ungrateful these Shatu people were, for not retreating but advancing instead. When this Shatu man raised the scimitar in his hand, before he hacked down, Yan Liqiang had already rushed in front of him and he grabbed his wrist. Next, he unleashed one of the attacks from Tiger Roaring Consecutive Fist technique, Vicious Tiger Crossing Mountains. He turned his body around, twisting that man’s arm by ninety degrees and then beautifully threw that Shatu man over his shoulder. When the man landed heavily on the ground, Yan Liqiang held his arm up and placed his foot on his elbow. With an audible snap, the Shatu man’s elbow was instantly broken, leaving his bone exposed in the air.
In just a split moment, all three Shatu people had already knocked down by Yan Liqiang. Two of them had already been knocked out cold and the other one didn’t get up for a very long time.
All of a sudden, Yan Liqiang felt goosebumps on his back. He sensed a piercing chill and a wave of killing intent from afar. Without a second thought, he did a somersault and hid behind a group of rhinodrake steeds before he gazed into the distance.
A Shatu man outside the town gate had taken out his bow, nocked an arrow, and was targeting him. The bow was already half drawn...
Swoooosh… An arrow flew out of nowhere and directly pierced the Shatu man who had his bow and arrow out knocking him off from his horse with just a single arrow, causing that arrow of the Shatu man to miss...
"MOTHERF*CKERS!" A loud curse erupted from above the town gate. "All of you listen up, regardless of who you are, get off your damn steeds within the count of ten and drop all your weapons. Brothers, execute anyone who still has weapon after the countdown. I have your back if anything happens!"
As soon as the voice died down, synchronous footsteps and the clanking of armors rang out at the same time from the front and back of the town gate. A few hundred fully armed soldiers with spears charged down from the gate tower, fully surrounding all the Shatu people that were trapped within the town gate, including Yan Liqiang and the group of people who were waiting to get into town.
Some among the group of Shatu people let out a few yells. Soon after that, all the Shatu people dismounted from their steeds and camels. Every single one of them had a furious look on their faces and were grumbling. Even so, they still laid the weapons they carried on them like their scimitars, swords, and bows on the ground.
Seeing the large group of soldiers that had rushed to the town gate, Yan Liqiang naturally tossed the whip he was holding onto the ground. He then hurriedly retreated to a side with an innocent look on his face.
A black-faced commandant with a powerful body, a pair of thick eyebrows, fully dressed in armor and a helmet descended from the gate tower with a battle bow while swearing. "Xu Changshou, who blew the whistle just now? What is going on here?"
One the soldiers guarding the gate hurriedly went over and reported with a loud voice. "Reporting to Commandant Su. These Shatu people had a conflict with someone and started fighting just now. The Shatu people brandished their weapons within the town gate and caused a chaos, causing traffic at the town gate. I only acted according to the rules of guarding the town and blew the whistle..."
The soldier named Xu Changshou was speaking while pointing towards Yan Liqiang. That commandant with a darkened face also glanced in the direction he was pointing at...