Chapter 34: Could this reputation for peerless loyalty have been carved out through slaughter?

Feng Cheng and the other new recruits standing behind Zhang Yuan all felt their facial muscles twitch.

They had never seen such decisive and ruthless methods of killing.

They only knew that Brother Yuan held a reputation for being "loyal and righteous to the heavens," but the scene they were witnessing now had absolutely nothing to do with such a title.

"Could this reputation for righteousness... have been carved out through killing?" Feng Cheng muttered to himself, gripping his saber tightly.

By the riverbank, Xu Xianzhong, holding a waist saber, showed a look of astonishment.

Zhang Yuan appeared young, but the ruthlessness and decisiveness of his strikes were the most extreme he had ever seen.

"Good heavens, what is the background of this Commandant Zhang..." Gao Tong, the constable beside Xu Xianzhong, lowered his voice and clicked his tongue repeatedly in disbelief.

Killing without blinking wasn't something one could achieve just by talking.

When the moment of combat truly arrived, whether one could swing the blade, whether one could maintain their composure amidst the surge of blood and adrenaline...

Without the tempering of military combat, it would be impossible to possess such decisive killing intent.

"Lin—"

Zhang Yuan's voice rang out.

"Military tactics!" Xu Xianzhong cried out in surprise.

Although the Zao Yi Guards were martial guards, they were different from true garrisoned military units.

The typical missions of the Zao Yi Guards involved apprehension, patrolling, and escorting; they rarely needed to form battle arrays.

Let alone military formations.

A typical martial guard office only had a few dozen guards; they didn't practice military formations, at most only small-scale arrays like the "Azure Wolf Array."

At this moment, Zhang Yuan's command was clearly a tactic used in military formation combat.

Wind, Forest, Mountain, Fire.

Swift as the Wind.

Steady as the Forest.

Immovable as the Mountain.

Aggressive as the Fire.

On the riverbank, Zhang Yuan's squad of soldiers rapidly shifted formations. Shield-bearing soldiers moved to the front, spearmen took the center, and crossbowmen stood at the rear.

The fastest and most synchronized movements came from the soldiers in the front row led by Chen Wu.

Feng Cheng and the others in the rear were somewhat flustered, but they managed to keep pace with the other soldiers.

"It's alright, it's alright. They've just practiced military formations; they aren't fully proficient yet..." Xu Xianzhong breathed a sigh of relief, whispering softly.

If the Zao Yi martial guards were all that elite, things would be out of hand.

His gaze shifted back to Zhang Yuan, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

Setting the other soldiers aside, Zhang Yuan, the commander, was definitely intimately familiar with military formations.

Under his gaze, Zhang Yuan raised his hand and waved.

"Wind—"

The crossbows at the rear fired in unison, arrows raining down like a storm.

Though there were only about a dozen Zao Yi guards, most of their crossbows were repeating types; each quiver held ten arrows. Once fired, they prevented the bandits on the bow of the boat from even daring to lift their heads.

After three rounds of continuous fire, Zhang Yuan waved his hand again.

The soldiers in the rear carrying short spears stepped forward, drawing them from their backs, their hands gripping the fine chains attached to the spear shafts.

*Thud—* *Thud—* *Thud—*

The short spears were thrown, embedding themselves into the wooden boat, and the fine chains at the rear snapped taut.

With the twelve chains pulled tight, the soldiers exerted their strength.

The wooden boat, which had been obstructing the river channel, shuddered and began to be slowly dragged toward the shore.

"They're pulling the boat to the shore!"

"They're wearing armor! Once the boat hits the shore, it's over!"

The two wooden boats behind them collided, and the bandits upon them screamed in terror.

The bandits on the first wooden boat were now deathly pale, and even the leaders looked terrified.

One bandit held up a wooden plank, attempting to rush to the bow to pull out the embedded short spears, but as soon as he looked up, arrows came flying from the shore.

At a distance of only a few yards, the Zao Yi guards' arrows were incredibly precise.

After the arrows pierced the heads of several bandits, no one dared to show their face again.

"Kill—!"

On the riverbank, three bandits who had been swimming toward them roared, swinging their blades at the taut iron chains.

Zhang Yuan, standing at the front, showed a flash of sharp light in his eyes. He took a step forward, his hand tightening around the hilt of his saber.

*Clang—!*

The long saber left its scabbard, its edge carrying a chilling frost as it swept across the waists of the three bandits.

Bright red droplets fell, followed by blood erupting like a fountain.

One strike, three kills!

"At least a Great Success level saber technique!" The constable beside Xu Xianzhong gripped his saber and whispered in shock.

This strike was clean and swift, representing that both power and speed had reached a level of maturity.

It was a strike forged through a thousand refinements.

Zhang Yuan pointed his saber tip diagonally downward, as drops of blood fell into the river and dissipated.

*Thud—*

The wooden boat, pulled two yards away, slammed into the rocks on the riverbank and ran aground.

The impact caused the bandits on board to lose their footing; some fell onto the deck, while others tumbled into the river.

"Qi Tou, I'm leaving this to you!"

Zhang Yuan shouted loudly.

On the other side, Qi Junliang, holding a long spear, led the black-armored soldiers behind him as they leaped forward.

"Thanks!"

Qi Junliang gave a low shout and stepped onto the rocks. Two soldiers behind him thrust their long spears against his lower back, lifting him upward with force. Qi Junliang's body soared over a yard high, landing directly onto the deck.

The boat had been pulled to the shore, yet Zhang Yuan had let his squad take the lead; clearly, Zhang Yuan was yielding the credit.

Upon reaching the deck, Qi Junliang immediately performed a horizontal sweep with his long spear.

*Thud—*

Two bandits holding wooden planks to cover the portholes were sent flying by the spear, falling into the water.

He took another step forward and thrust his spear.

*Thud—*

A bandit holding a wooden shield was pierced through, shield and all.

The spear struck the mast, piercing through the two-foot-wide wooden pillar.

The force of this thrust was not far from a thousand catties.

With a tremor in Qi Junliang's arm, the wooden pillar collapsed with a crash, hitting the bow of the boat and sending one bandit tumbling into the water.

This single strike caused the bandits attempting to surround him to retreat in panic.

No one wanted to be pierced by that spear.

From behind, a soldier stepped up the fallen pillar. He dropped his round shield, rolled forward, and arrived at Qi Junliang's side. The round shield protected Qi Junliang while his other hand held a saber in a diagonal grip.

Huang Sanliang.

"Go kill them yourself! Do I need you to protect me too?"

Qi Junliang snorted, though his expression held a hint of gratification.

He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Huang Sanliang, their blades, shields, and spears pressing forward, preventing the bandits on the boat from approaching.

The armored soldiers had already stepped onto the boat via the broken mast, while others climbed directly up the chains.

Seven or eight soldiers stood at the bow, their black armor forming a continuous line, instantly forcing the bandits who intended to charge out to retreat.

A continuous stream of black-armored Zao Yi Guards surged upward. The battle for this wooden boat was no longer in doubt; the armored soldiers only needed to suppress the remaining bandits. Whether to kill or capture, it would be effortless.

On the riverbank, Zhang Yuan's gaze moved past the first wooden boat toward the two boats behind it.

The bandits on those boats were already hacking at the river-blocking cables, and some were jumping overboard, desperately swimming toward the opposite bank.

At this rate, of the bandits on the three wooden boats, only those on the first one could be captured; most on the other two would escape.

Zhang Yuan's figure moved toward the water's edge.

Before reaching the rocks, he suddenly swung his long saber in a horizontal arc.

*Thud—*

The ox-sin river-blocking cable, as thick as an arm, was severed in one blow. The snapping rope slammed into the wooden boat, entangling seven or eight bandits who were peeking out and dragging them into the water.

With the cable severed, the two obstructed wooden boats instantly surged downstream.

However, because the cable had snapped from the shore side, the two boats were now being pulled diagonally toward the lower riverbank by the combination of the current and the tension of the remaining cable.

On the decks, the bandits frantically paddled or pulled at the sails, trying their best to prevent the boats from crashing into the riverbank.

Zhang Yuan gripped his saber and stepped onto the rocks ahead, exerting a force of a thousand catties.

*Boom—!*

Using the momentum of that step, his body leaped across the two-yard-wide river channel, flying directly onto the deck of the wooden boat.