Chapter 356: Boxing in the bandits!

"Brother Zhang, we have successfully wiped out 16 bandit hideouts from our end, but a few managed to escape early before we could raid the bastards and we are now in the midst of pursuing them. How goes on your side?" Lu Bu said through the communication jade slip on his hand.

"I've also eliminated 14 of their bandit hideouts as well but similar like on your side, some of them appeared to have a little intellect left in their rotting brain and ran away before we could deal with them. We are using the net formation to corner those bandits right now and they are heading towards this direction.." Zhang Liao replied as they updated their position and current situation with each other.

After parting ways with Duan Li, they each returned to their camp along with their personal bodyguards. While they have entered the Battle Royale tournament under the identity of a student from their respective academy, in reality, their main identity was something even more astonishing!

Lu Bu, or also known as the third Prince of the Qin Royal family, Qin Lu Bu from the Qin Empire, was actually roaming the Tian continent for experience as part of the training to temper his state of mind. This was in preparation to decide on who will be the next crown prince of the Qin Empire after the original first prince was killed in battle against the vicious Song Empire!

It was only because he was near to the Jiu Empire at the time the invitation came from the latter that he was commanded to attend it out of formality. This does not mean that his position of influence within the Qin Empire was negligible however, but because the command came directly from his father, the current Emperor of the Qin Empire!

As for Zhang Liao, he was originally en route to settle the matters between his empire, the Wei Empire and the Xian and Yuan Empire. As neighbors, the two empires requested an audience with the Wei Empire in order to strike a deal so that the three of them could form and become allies against the Song Empire which was constantly harassing them!

This was because Zhang Liao was known for his intelligence and advance skills in warfare tactics, being the direct student of the infamous and legendary war strategist of the old era, Grand Preceptor Cheng Siyu of the sovereign and independent state of Langkasuka, or otherwise known as the Kingdom of Langkasuka!

After suddenly receiving such an extraordinary invitation where the content was the crowning of the first ever Imperial Overseer in the entire history of the Tian continent, he decided to do a detour and analyze how legitimate the person in question was in receiving that grand title. Additionally, he was also the seventh prince with an official title in charge of supervising military activities in the Wei Empire!

The both of them initially had no high expectations inside an empire as weak as the Jiu Empire and thought that the crowning of an Imperial Overseer that sits on top of the Emperor in hierarchy status was nothing more but a mockery and a joke to the millennium traditions of the Tian continent, but now..

They realized how wrong they were!

Granted that both of their empire were significantly more advanced and has many experts that the likes of the Jiu Empire could not possibly compare to, but the level of civilization was not entirely backwards either! In fact, the capital city of the Jiu Empire, Nine Lotuses city was pretty much similar to what they had back home!

This meant that the people of the Jiu Empire were definitely not fools!

Confused on how did an empire with a capital city on par with theirs to even think of crowning an Imperial Overseer, they decided to investigate the level of battle prowess the general populace has, just in case that everyone was extremely weak and would therefore answer their question - that if the battle prowess of the public was weak, perhaps the emperor was of lower quality as well and was thus easily beaten by someone stronger!

Their following actions then led them into joining the tournament of Battle Royale in the battle stadium of the Nine Lotuses city and coincidentally, Zhang Liao and Lu Bu, best friends since young, met with each other!

What they found out was that the battle prowess of the Jiu Empire was only so-so, not too weak but not of high quality either! That was their belief at least, until they met Duan Li, the person who shattered their conception of what was logic and sent their mind through a clusterf*ck turn of events before turning out to be the Imperial Overseer himself!

Against such a person, whom could even manhandle an immortal despite being still in the Core Formation realm, it would be foolish to measure Duan Li's battle prowess with their usual standards!

What Core Formation realm? What Golden Core realm? What Nascent Soul realm experts?

These kinds of standard realms for measuring power will never apply to Duan Li who was cultivating all three of his dantian!

Ever since then, they viewed Duan Li with extremely high regard and would do everything to earn his favor. This was why they decided to go for a bandit hunting spree! After all, through their investigation, they found out that the Jiu Empire was sorely lacking in security enforcement of its territory!

Practically most uninhabited lands turns out to be infested with bandits around here!

"There is one problem though, since we are boxing them into the same direction, from the map that I got here, they would probably team up and barricade themselves inside this village... Spring Blossom Village!" Zhang Liao said with a solemn tone.

"Hmm... if that is indeed the case, then the people inside that village are probably all dead by now or are taken hostage.. what should we do?" Lu Bu similarly had a troubled expression as well and sighed helplessly.

Hais!

Had they brought in their private army, it would be a child's play to surround all the bandits without even letting a single one of them escape but alas, they only brought a few personnel with them when they entered the Jiu Empire. Otherwise, people might misunderstood them as trying to invade if they brought their army in!

Zhang Liao closed his eyes for a moment before replying, "The only thing we can do is to stop them from escaping any further, or they might rally with the other bandits and bulk their numbers. It would be real trouble by then. As for the villagers... we will avenge them and have their bodies buried!"

"En!" Lu Bu nodded before they ended their communication channel and hastened their flying speed!

...

BOOMM!!

BAMM!! BAMM!!

Two figures crashed against the tunnel walls heavily after their attack was deflected and countered at the same time!

"Puhe!" Shen Murong and Wang Dong both threw up some blood and small bits of flesh from their mouth after receiving damage from the princess's counter attack!

Strong!

This was the only word that came out in their mind after trading several blows with the princess of the Doulou empire. Her martial arts was top notch and they could hardly land any real blows on her! In addition, even when they did, it was a calculated damage where she would immediately redirect the force to the ground in order to nullify it!

On the other hand, both Wang Dong and Shen Murong, despite their augmentation of physical strength via their transformation, still received the bulk of the damage in their fight against her because of the unique martial arts she was practicing! They discovered that the impact from her attack, especially the palm attacks could not be negated at all through force redirection!

It was a first time experience for them and they felt it to be bizarre!

"Is this all that you two got? How disappointing!" Princess Meixiu harrumphed before continuing, "It's futile to go against me. Hand over the sword right now!"

"You are not yet my wife! You need to marry me first before you can play with my 'sword'!" Shen Murong playfully replied while raising his brows.

Hearing this, the princess's face turned red.

"You imbecile! Am I in the mood for jokes now? I'll kill you!" she dashed forward and sent a flurry of attacks!

BAM!! BAM!! BAM!!

Meanwhile, Wei Wang was dealing with both Ruo Hen and Ling Shin and was not faring any better either. His opponent, especially Ling Shin, has atrocious instinctual reaction to read most of his moves leaving Wei Wang with little options to continue his assault. After all, Wei Wang's main method of attack was mainly composed of assassination techniques and ambushes. With the advantage gone, his superior speed compared to the two of them was still unable to truly injure them!

Pant! Pant! Pant!

"At this rate, we are going to be defeated..." Wei Wang thought in his mind as sweat trickled down his head and exhaustion began to crept in.

Must we really use our weapon?

That would meant that we have to kill them...

"Hahahaha! You dirty scum! You can never beat us! Surrender already!" Ruo Hen laughed and spit on the ground in disdain!

BOOMMM!!

However, at this moment, the tunnel they were in began to tremble!

"What? Earthquake?" regardless of who they were, their faces turned equally solemn at this point.

Since they were fighting underground, any earthquake could potentially bury them alive. Thus, knowing this, they immediately halted their actions and regrouped back to their respective side while they watched the ceiling warily.

"Run!" a familiar voice from the other side of the tunnel shouted.

Turning her head around, the princess's lips curled into a happy smile when she saw who it was.

"Elder Cheng Chao!" Princess Meixiu was elated to see her because that would meant that this personal maid of her was able to defeat the Desert Centipede King! However, she soon realized that something was wrong as the latter's face was pale!

"Quickly run! There is not just one Desert Centipede King.. but dozens of them! RUN!!"

...