A critical moment

Marquis Ying almost lost his breath; Long Tianxiao was actually pretending not to recognize him. This was simply the greatest insult to him.

He had challenged Long Tianxiao several times, only to end in failure each time. Eventually, Long Tianxiao even severed one of his fingers, which was the greatest humiliation of his life.

Although Marquis Ying had obtained a Muscle Regeneration Bone Pill, which restored his finger and allowed his meridians to reach Perfection, he had advanced from the Sixth Heaven of the Tendon Transformation Realm to the Seventh Heaven, entering the Late Stage of the Tendon Transformation Realm.

Although it was only a one-heaven difference, it was the barrier between the Middle Stage and the Late Stage. Having advanced to the Late Stage, his combat power surged, and he had been full of confidence, preparing to challenge Long Tianxiao.

However, before he could challenge Long Tianxiao, he received orders to hunt down Long Chen. As a result, he suffered consecutive setbacks at Long Chen's hands and almost lost his life in the end, which dealt a massive blow to his confidence.

Today, one sentence from Long Tianxiao caused his blood to boil and anger to surge in his heart. Unable to hold back any longer, he let out a roar and charged toward Long Tianxiao.

Originally, the two were nearly a hundred feet apart, but with just three steps, Marquis Ying arrived right before Long Tianxiao.

When he took the first step, the veins on Marquis Ying's body bulged, and terrifying Qi energy erupted. With the second step, he raised his longsword high, infusing it with Qi as the wind howled.

When he took the third step, he suddenly accelerated. His essence, Qi, and spirit merged into one, and as his longsword slashed down, it was perfectly timed to unleash the accumulated power at its Peak.

It must be said that although Marquis Ying was furious, he was undeniably a powerhouse, a fact that even the several Tendon Transformation Realm experts from the Great Xia Empire had to acknowledge.

Seeing Marquis Ying charge over, Long Tianxiao shook his head. "It has been over a decade, and you still haven't made the slightest progress. With just that, you want to defeat me, Long Tianxiao?"

"Clang."

Long Tianxiao had produced a long saber from somewhere, and suddenly, the blade emerged from its sheath, its cold light shining in all directions.

But just when everyone thought Long Tianxiao would strike with his saber, he unexpectedly took a step back, a step that spanned more than a zhang.

Marquis Ying almost vomited blood. He had calculated his landing perfectly, and his sword strike, concentrated with all his strength, suddenly had nowhere to land. It was like a person using all their strength to smash a rock, only for that rock to turn into tofu. That feeling of misdirected force was extremely uncomfortable.

Realizing his sword had missed, Marquis Ying knew something was wrong. Just as he was preparing to change moves, Long Tianxiao had already stepped forward, his long saber slashing down, creating a sky full of blade shadows with an earth-shattering Aura.

"Boom."

Marquis Ying was worthy of being a Tendon Transformation Realm expert. In such an extremely disadvantageous situation, he still managed to force his Qi up and block Long Tianxiao's saber strike head-on.

After the explosion, Marquis Ying was sent flying like a thrown rock, rolling and tumbling for over a dozen zhang before finally coming to a stop.

"Pfft."

As soon as Marquis Ying steadied himself, he spat out a mouthful of blood. Defending against Long Tianxiao's blade in such a rush had shaken his internal organs and caused him injury.

Everyone present was shocked. As one of the Empire's three top powerhouses, Marquis Ying couldn't even block a single strike from Long Tianxiao.

Although Xia Youyu and the others were surprised, they weren't overly shocked. There was a lot of skill behind Long Tianxiao's strike.

The timing was controlled with extreme precision. It was precisely at the moment when Marquis Ying's old strength had faded and his new strength had yet to form that he launched his strike, causing Marquis Ying to suffer a huge loss.

It wasn't that Marquis Ying's combat power was far behind Long Tianxiao's, but rather that his combat experience was far inferior to Long Tianxiao's.

In recent years, Marquis Ying had been in seclusion, and when he occasionally made a move, he relied on overwhelming force, usually locking onto his enemy before launching a fierce attack.

But today, in his rage, he had forgotten that Long Tianxiao was also a Late Stage Tendon Transformation expert, whose Realm was even higher than his own. How could he possibly lock onto him? That was why he had suffered such a humiliating loss.

"Ying Zhao, is this the strength you use to challenge me?" Long Tianxiao shook his head, his face indifferent.

Marquis Ying's face turned livid with anger. His start today had been unfavorable, and he had been caught off guard due to carelessness. Although the injury was nothing serious, it had sapped his spirit, and he gnashed his teeth in fury.

"Marquis Zhenyuan Long Tianxiao has rebelled. All troops, hear my order: capture the traitor!" the Fourth Prince shouted coldly.

Following the Fourth Prince's cold shout, dozens of generals immediately rushed out. It was clear that these people were the Fourth Prince's confidants, and they executed the order without the slightest hesitation.

Seeing others rush out, the remaining generals no longer hesitated and followed behind, charging toward Long Tianxiao and his group.

"Brothers of Phoenix, we all grew up on this land. I do not want to see the blood of my own brothers; do not force me!" Long Tianxiao shouted aloud.

Long Tianxiao used Spiritual Qi to project his voice, which shook the sky and echoed for a hundred miles, causing many people to hesitate for a moment.

They were also soldiers, and Long Tianxiao was their idol. How many had hoped that one day they could be like him and become a God of War?

But today, they had to point their weapons at the idol in their hearts, leaving many of them feeling lost.

"Do not listen to his deceptive words. Whoever kills the traitor, regardless of their status, shall receive one million gold coins and be promoted three ranks!" the Fourth Prince shouted coldly.

Hearing the Fourth Prince's words, some soldiers who had still been hesitating immediately abandoned their inner struggle and charged forward, brandishing their weapons.

From the day they joined the army, their instructors had told them that soldiers do not need to think; they only need to obey orders.

Especially when faced with a great temptation, orders became even more instinctive. They did not harbor delusions of killing Long Tianxiao; that was an impossible task.

However, besides Long Tianxiao, there were over twenty family members and servants there. Killing them would be too easy. If they were lucky and killed one, they would receive a million gold coins and be promoted three ranks. Few could resist such a temptation.

Seeing the army surging in like a tidal wave, Long Tianxiao sighed. "Let go and kill them all."

The people who came with Long Tianxiao nodded and protected Madam Long and the others in the center. Seeing the army charge in, they slashed out with their longswords.

"Pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft…" For a moment, sword light flashed, severed limbs flew everywhere, and blood filled the sky, as if it were raining blood.

"What?"

"They are actually Tendon Transformation Realm experts!"

The Fourth Prince's expression changed. He hadn't expected the two people Long Tianxiao brought to be Tendon Transformation Realm experts; this was completely beyond his expectations.

The Fourth Prince had long since investigated the strength under Long Tianxiao's command clearly; how could there suddenly be two more Tendon Transformation Realm experts?

What the Fourth Prince didn't know was that this was all thanks to Long Chen. The Breakthrough Pills he had Chen Fei bring to his father had been taken by seven people, and as a result, three had successfully broken through to the Tendon Transformation Realm.

Although the others hadn't broken through to the Tendon Transformation Realm, they had already touched the barrier, and he believed that it wouldn't be long before they could also advance to the Tendon Transformation Realm.

This made Long Tianxiao ecstatic. At the same time, Long Chen mentioned in his letter that there were undercurrents in the Imperial Capital and that major events could happen at any time, urging Long Tianxiao to be prepared.

Long Tianxiao pondered for a moment, and that very day, he gathered all his forces and secretly approached the Barbarian tribe. Unexpectedly, the Barbarian tribe was in the middle of gathering, clearly preparing to launch a major war.

As a result, they were caught red-handed by Long Tianxiao. He led three Tendon Transformation Realm experts and wiped out the entire nest of the hundred-thousand-strong Barbarian army. With four Tendon Transformation Realm experts present and the advantage of a surprise attack, the Barbarians suffered heavy casualties. More than half of the hundred-thousand-strong army was killed, and the rest fled into the deep mountains. While they couldn't pursue them, they were no longer a threat.

This was the greatest victory since the war with the Barbarian army began. Killing nearly one hundred thousand Barbarians in one go made everyone's blood boil.

Just as Long Tianxiao's side had finished slaughtering the Barbarian army and achieved a great victory, news came from the Imperial Capital—the Long family was to be collectively executed.

Long Tianxiao pondered and decided to leave one Tendon Transformation Realm expert behind to hold the fort, while he took two others and rushed back to the Imperial Capital to rescue them.

If he took all the experts away, in the event that the Barbarians regrouped, there would be no experts to hold the fort, and the border citizens would likely suffer a catastrophe.

Therefore, Long Tianxiao only brought two people with him. Although both had just entered the Tendon Transformation Realm, they had followed Long Tianxiao in battle for many years, were rich in experience, and possessed formidable combat power. To them, the so-called elite soldiers of the Imperial Capital were just a bunch of moving radishes that they could slash with their eyes closed.

The two Tendon Transformation Realm experts protected the outer perimeter, charging back and forth, while Chu Yao and Shi Feng guarded the rear, killing any stragglers that slipped through.

Fat Yu, Monkey, and the others held weapons, protecting Madam Long and the others, and basically had no opportunity to take action.

Long Tianxiao, meanwhile, was surrounded and attacked by three Tendon Transformation Realm experts: Marquis Ying, Marquis Wu, and another Tendon Transformation Realm expert from the Great Xia Empire.

The Tendon Transformation Realm expert who had almost had his head blown off by Long Tianxiao's arrow had returned to his own camp to heal.

Because his nose was gone, his entire face had become a flat plate, which greatly affected his senses. On the battlefield, it would be easy for Long Tianxiao to kill him with a single saber strike. Tendon Transformation Realm experts were extremely precious combat assets; no one was willing to sacrifice them easily.

Yet, no one could have imagined Long Tianxiao's bravery. Fighting one against three, he remained peerlessly valiant. The Great Xia expert, due to one moment of negligence, was almost sliced in two by a single strike; he only escaped disaster thanks to Marquis Wu's warning.

Three against one, yet they still had to be trembling with fear, constantly worrying about their lives. This allowed everyone to see that the Marquis of Zhenyuan was the undisputed number one person in Phoenix.

The battle between Great Master Yun Qi and Wei Cang and Wang Luyang had also entered a white-hot stage. The more they fought, the more intense and dangerous it became, but they were far from this battle circle and did not affect this side.

The most dangerous situation was still on Madam Long's side. The Imperial Capital soldiers were like madmen, charging forward without fear of death for the sake of the reward, hoping for a chance to kill a Long family servant and rise to prominence from then on.

Even with two Tendon Transformation Realm experts fighting with all their might, and corpses piling up like mountains on the ground, they still couldn't stop the army that was like locusts. Fat Yu and the others were now also fighting for their lives, yet they were still in constant danger and were gradually unable to hold on.

Marquis Ying and the other two, no matter how hard they fought, could not do anything to Long Tianxiao. His heart stirred, and suddenly, a long spear appeared in his hand.

"Hum."

The long spear shot out like a meteor, heading straight for Madam Long in the crowd, unstoppable.

"Long Tianxiao, I will kill your wife first and let you taste the feeling of resentment!" After throwing the spear, a look of malice appeared on Marquis Ying's face.

Long Tianxiao's expression changed. He hadn't expected Marquis Ying to suddenly use a dirty trick. At that moment, the two Tendon Transformation experts were desperately holding off the dense army, and the others were surrounded, so they hadn't noticed the spear at all.

Even if they had noticed, it would have been useless. Facing a throw from a Tendon Transformation Realm expert, those below the Blood Condensation Realm were completely unable to block it.

Chu Yao discovered the spear at the first moment. Her jade-like face changed. It was too late to push Madam Long away, so she threw herself directly in front of Madam Long, intending to use her own body to block the spear.

"No!"

Long Tianxiao let out a roar like a tiger. The spear carried the power of a Tendon Transformation Realm expert; it was simply not something a mortal body could block. Seeing that both of them were about to be killed by the spear, he couldn't help but feel his eyes split in rage.

"Bang."

A flash of black light appeared, and the spear was smashed into powder by a terrifying force. As the dust settled, a pitch-black broadsword appeared before everyone.

The pitch-black broadsword was tightly gripped in the hand of a youth, whose robes fluttered and long hair danced in the wind.

"I finally made it in time."