His figure swiftly darted, hiding behind a huge rock.

Watching the arrows whizzing past overhead, his expression changed.

Deng Qian also noticed that the arrows were drenched in black dog's blood and had a black talisman tied to them, exuding a strong sense of spiritual mechanism, evidently extraordinary.

"Since when is the Fengxi County Government so well-off!"

"Not only do they have cinnabar armor-piercing arrows, but also talismans for enhancement. Could it be the State Preceptor from Dong Shen Temple passing by?"

Deng Qian was somewhat shocked.

It's no wonder he thought this way.

He had been to many places and was on the wanted list due to his misdeeds, yet he always managed to escape, even when pursued by body forging martial artists from public offices, thanks to his magic. However, he had never encountered a situation like today's.

At this moment, as he glanced at the several paths down the mountain, Deng Qian couldn't help but feel secretly worried at heart.

All of the paths had been completely blocked.

This time, escaping would be very difficult.

Seeing that the first wave had already suppressed that middle-aged Daoist, Zhang Jian waved his hands, and immediately dozens of county soldiers with iron fang shields moved forward, slowly surrounding him with swords and sabers in hand.

Meanwhile, several divine archers changed their positions in secret; these were Zhang Family's manor guests, experts of the Jianghu, now transformed into divine archers. Their hands held talismans, greatly enhancing their lethality.

Deng Qian squinted his eyes, a wooden stick appeared in his hand. Relying on the sensing with his lifebound spirit ghost within the wooden stick, he was aware of the movements around him as if they were in plain view. However, knowing was one thing, having no way to break the situation was another.

"Rush over, rescue our senior brother!"

At this moment, several shouting voices came from the rear.

Deng Qian's expression changed as he was about to shout a warning, when suddenly a bitter wind arose from the mountain, causing the earth to shake. A fearsome corpse ghost emerged as the bitter wind and black fog covered the glaring sun, charging towards the soldiers surrounding Deng Qian.

The stench mixed in the bitter wind made the soldiers' faces change, and their expressions turn involuntarily to panic.

Several soldiers, caught off guard, were swept away by a giant palm of the corpse ghost, knocked to the ground.

Luckily, protected by the iron fang shields, though they suffered injuries, they were not killed outright.

"Hear my command, first squad, first volley!"

Zhang Lu quickly got into position, shouting commands while on horseback. The soldiers behind him, their minds steadying, instinctively bent their bows, shooting in unison. A dozen red streaks of light immediately pierced the massive corpse ghost.

Crack! Crack!

It was like a dozen firecrackers going off at once.

With the sound of a shrill horn, green blood dripped from the wounds on the corpse ghost, and a series of continuous explosions erupted from under its skin, shattering into pieces in an instant.

That was the power of the Soul Purification Spell!

As the corpse ghost was slain, one Daoist in the rear who was rushing forward suddenly fell silently to the ground.

"Sixth Junior Brother!"

Seeing this scene, the expressions of the other Daoists changed drastically.

"Wood Ghost Soul Capturing, kill!"

The slender second senior brother was the fiercest, waving a long green pennant with a grotesque ghost head on it, vivid and lifelike, flying out with a gust of bitter wind as if seeking to devour souls.

As it flew out, it entered the underbrush below, from which seven or eight wrist-thick vine tendrils emerged like pythons, sweeping towards everyone present.

In an instant, several soldiers nearby were ensnared by the serpentine vines, hurled into the air.

Zhang Jian watched, snorting softly, and with a flick of his finger, the Wind Walking Technique transformed into a talisman, streaking in a stream of light to land on the soldiers flung into the air, reducing gravity to prevent fatal crashes.

These elite troops were indeed the seeds of the Zhang Family Army!

They couldn't be lost easily!

His vast divine thought swept out, instantly locking onto a faint trace of Jia Wood Armor Ghost Qi on a vine nearby!

He gestured at Zhang Lu beside him with his gaze, pointing to where the Wood Ghost was hiding.

"Second squad, Wind and Thunder Squad forward!"

As he finished speaking, five well-trained soldiers in red armor stepped forward.

Zhang Lu motioned slightly, commanding sternly.

"Shoot!"

In an instant, several archers bent their bows and nocked their arrows.

Upon hearing the command, the five archers locked on their targets, releasing their arrows.

Five arrows shot through the roadside tree like streaks of light.

Rumble!!

It was as if thunder from the heavens descended; five faint red lightning bolts streaked across the sky, crashing onto the tree, accompanied by a faint scream inside. In an instant, the Daoist, who had been preparing to support Deng Qian, opened his eyes wide and fell straight to the ground.

"Ghost Cultivation Technique!"

Immediately, Zhang Jian gazed at this scene, his expression slightly shifting.

The Ghost Cultivation Technique typically involved nurturing a lifebound spirit ghost by heterodox sorcerers, mutually sharing in glory and harm, making them susceptible to backlash.

His armor-piercing team really was the nemesis of these people.

These talismans differed from others, relying on passive activation.

Only those infused with Yin Qi, or supernatural entities, could activate them passively.

For ordinary flesh and blood bodies, these talismans were useless, relying solely on the sharpness of the cinnabar armor-piercing arrows, which had limited effectiveness against warlocks.

"Second Senior Brother!"

On the other side, seeing that after just two volleys, two of their members were down, the remaining four Daoists were both enraged and frightened, quickly finding places to avoid the rain of arrows and dared not confront the soldiers' arrows directly.

Deng Qian's eyes reddened, abandoning any thoughts of surrender.

With two of his senior brother dead, hatred welled up in his heart.

He shouted to his Brothers behind the mountain wall in the dialect of Shanyang County, "Third Junior Brother, cover us, Fourth Junior Brother, control the Great Strength Demon to move the boulders, let's carve a bloody path out!"

"..."

Upon hearing the middle-aged Daoist's loud cry, Zhang Jian's eyes turned strange, thinking using a hometown dialect would confuse him.

He extended his divine thought, signaling the divine archers to change positions once more.

Obeying the command, the divine archers moved position, and moments later, with a few screams, the figures that had just leaped out became heroic targets in an instant.

Arrows pierced their bodies, each one dying with regret in the mountains.

Zhang Jian watched this scene with a calm gaze, yet deep underneath, he had some thoughts.

This operation to suppress bandits revealed some issues to him, particularly that the military's method of transmitting orders was too primitive, relying completely on feet and shouting, easily exposing their intentions and positions.

Zhang Jian felt somewhat helpless, knowing that it was time to establish corresponding hand signals and flag signals, effectively preventing such issues.

But he rued his unlearned past life, only knowing novel things.

Now he realized those tactics were treasures, yet he couldn't employ them, requiring a lot of effort to practice and create.

Zhang Jian sighed, realizing that the Zhang Family would need to spend large amounts of silver to raise a battle-tested elite force.

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