The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 344 The Encounter

Like Chen Jizhen and Huang Jingyuan, Li Ye also realized the importance of the crossbow, and now basically everyone had one.

However, there were differences between crossbows too. There were huge gaps between quality, power and range. In order to maximize the power of various crossbows and enhance the overall combat effectiveness of the team you must choose and match accordingly. Therefore, the first important thing for everyone after entering the ruins, in addition to searching and defending the enemy, was to find crossbows.

Of course, there were other weapons in the ruins too. There was no shortage of knives, spears, swords and halberds, which was also reasonable. The county-level cities should have these things themselves and there were more in the secret ruins.

At present, everyone’s strength was suppressed a great deal, so the magic tools and Treasures they had carried could no longer be activated. But after all, the quality was there, and the mortal iron was not comparable with it in close combat, so apart from the crossbows, few people went to search for knives and swords.

There were many houses in this large-scale ruins before them. After Li Ye and others entered, Yang Tingge, who was holding a long-range Fuyuan crossbow, went up to the high wall. Zuo Che’er was there to help him. They were responsible for controlling the high point. The others went into nearby houses to search for crossbows.

After about an hour, the crowd came together again.

Li Ye uniformly distributed the crossbows, and divided the people in accordance with the Military Formation. “Elder Yang and Zuo Che’er use the Fuyuan crossbow. The long range and strong power of Fuyuan crossbow is the most important part of controlling the battlefield. He Shuwen, four of you use angular crossbows, quick-firing crossbows and other middle distance crossbows as assaulters, Xiao Hei has perceptual acuity and agile movement technique, as a scout, you are responsible for observing the four directions.”

After all, Li Ye was from earth, and he had some understanding of the elites. According to his arrangements, Yang Tingge and Zuo Che’er provided fire suppression and long-range sniper killing; He Shuwen and others were responsible for attacking and occupying the stronghold, and they would launch close combat after getting close. As for himself, he assumed the commanding role and was also a reserve player who could support all parties at any time.

Because enough crossbows were found, after the division of labor was completed, Li Ye planned to let everyone drill. After all, there would be more and more companions later, and they needed to be more familiar with this fighting method. In the environment of ruins and wilderness, this method of warfare was a necessary choice for victory.

However, at this moment, Xiao Hei’s face suddenly changed. After prostrated on the ground and listening for a moment, he looked solemn and added, “Someone is here, and there are a lot of people, about a dozen or so.”

There were eight people on Li Ye’s side, and there were more than a dozen on the opponent’s side. They might lack in numbers, but it only a little. If they monitored the movement of the opponent first, and the opponent didn’t notice them, then Li Ye and others who occupied the land and the opportunity had a considerable advantage.

Li Ye had planned to train the troops first. But since the opponent had already arrived and actual combat was the best form of troop training, he didn’t hesitate. “Since they’re here, then let’s fight before talk. Fuyuan crossbows defend the high point and wait for my signal to strike. Others follow me!”

The crowd obeyed his order, Yang Tingge and Zuo Che’er would go first, and in accordance with the direction given by Xiao Hei, Li Ye took He Shuwen and others and coyly griped towards the opponent position.

On a high wall, Li Ye saw a group of people entering the ruins. The opponent stood scatteredly, moved quickly and ran fast, who were good at covering themselves with the shelters of surrounding houses, walls. They were completely elites.

“Huang Jingyuan.” Li Ye narrowed his eyes slightly, he could see at a glance the one who was tangibly and invisibly guarded in the middle, was Huang Jingyuan, the military counsellor of the seventy-two Earth Devils. Li Ye still attached great importance to Huang Jingyuan. According to Su Emei’s introduction, the opponent was extremely talented, and he was definitely a hard role to deal with.

Otherwise, this team of a dozen people would not be elite in a short time.

The opponent was powerful, but Li Ye wasn’t afraid of fighting. First he asked Xiao Hei to pay attention to the movements in other places and ensure that there were no other teams of cultivators of the Immortal Court but only the crowd of Huang Jingyuan nearby. He was determined to fight this war.

In any case, Huang Jingyuan was a hard man to handle, not only did he have high strength in cultivation, but he was also superior in wisdom. Joining hands with Chen Jizhen, he could better launch the secret method of suppressing the demon clan. As long as the opponents were alive, there was no chance to win for Li Ye in the battle of Hedong.

At present, there was a chance to defeat Huang Jingyuan, Li Ye naturally did not want to let go.

Li Ye made several gestures, asking He Shuwen and the other four to occupy favorable positions in the action. He stopped himself in the center of the opponent’s movement.

The patient waiting didn’t last long. The cultivators of Huang Jingyuan’s team quickly entered the range of Fuyuan Crossbows. Yang Tingge and Zuo Che’er cast their inquiring looks at Li Ye. Li Ye looked calm and remained still.

After Li Ye’s crew covered themselves using walls and houses beside them, He Shuwen and other cultivators of demon clan were holding crossbows, nervously and excitedly aiming at the cultivators of the Immortal Court. They were moving fast, watching around and looking vigilant.

As Great Cultivators of demon clan, they experienced a lot of killings, but those were all as cultivators. The elite army arrangements were a first for the demon clan. And each of them had a different mood. Some of them were sweating from their foreheads.

Li Ye’s eyes intentionally avoided Huang Jingyuan, afraid that Huang would sense something. Seeing Huang approach the arching range, Li Ye’s lips twitched slightly.

He took out his own angular crossbow, which had been loaded and ready, and he aimed straight at Huang Jingyuan.

There’s an old saying, in order to take down the man, the archer must first take down the horse. Likewise, in order to take down an enemy group, one must first take down the leader. But just as his loaded crossbow aimed at Huang Jingyuan’s head and was about to fire, he saw Huang’s expression change.

Between the rays of light energy and sparks, Li Ye did not hesitate. He pulled the trigger on his crossbow but at the same time, the crossbow fired towards the cultivator beside Huang instead.

As expected, when Li Ye was about to pull the trigger, Huang sensed the danger and had already made a defensive move. Had Li Ye shot the crossbow at him, he would have missed.

However, since Li Ye changed targets at the last second, the Immortal Court cultivator next to Huang Jingyuan was not as quick to react. So the arrow shot right through the cultivator’s throat. And like he had been hit by a huge hammer, his body flew backwards like a kite with a broken string. The cultivator’s body smashed heavily onto a wall from behind.

Almost at the same time, Yang Tingge, He Shuwen and others also fired their crossbows. Unlike the fatigued opposition, they were well-rested and had the position advantage, plus they had a long time to load and aim, the opposition had no chance to escape at all. Even Li Ye almost lost his life previously when he was ambushed unexpectedly.

In an instant, the Immortal Court cultivators lost half their numbers. Some of them were shot dead on the spot, some were seriously wounded and some were unscathed. It all depended the demon clan cultivators’ arching skills, and it wasn’t something that could be forced really.

When the Immortal Court cultivators realized they were being ambushed, they were quick to react. They searched for things to block the arrows from the opposite side. At the same time, they were communicating with each other about the situation and assembling an attack of their own.

Of course Li Ye did not give them any breathing room. As soon as the opponents started their assault, he led He Shuwen and others away from their positions. As they were charging, they used walls and houses as shields. Before long, they were stealthily gaining on Huang Jingyuan and others.

While they were charging towards the opposition, everyone began loading their crossbows at the same time, which was not hard to do for cultivators of the Warrior Mentor Realm.

Huang Jingyuan was hiding behind a wall and he caught Li Ye’s shadow from a gap. His expression was pale and he couldn’t hide the fury in his eyes, he then yelled, “North-east position!”

Two of his men heard Huang and reacted quickly. When they saw one of Li Ye’s cultivators, they aimed their cross-bows at Li Ye and were ready to pull the trigger. But just at that moment, two arrows came flying at them from afar. One arrow hit one of the cultivators and one barely missed the other. It gave him such a fright that he quickly hid.

The two men that shielded their attacks just happened to be Yang Tingge and Zuo Che’er.

Taking advantage of the time gap, Li Ye, He Shuwen and others have gained quite a distance on them. But just as Yang Tingge and Zuo Che’er were loading up, Huang Jingyuan ordered his men to counter. Li Ye and his crew did not panic however, as the opposition popped their heads out, they pulled the trigger of their crossbows.

Arrows flew out, but their hit rate halved this time. The only effective archers were only Li Ye and He Shuwen. But that was already enough because the Immortal Court cultivators were forced to get cover again. The oppressing effect of the running burst of arrows of quick-firing crossbows was especially effective.

By this time, Li Ye and his men gained further distance and they were now merely meters away from the immortal court cultivators.

Their actions were quick and neat. As they retracted their crossbows, short combat weapons, like swords, blades, hatchets and battle axes were already in their hands. Using the eaves and walls as shields, coupled with Yang Tingge and Zuo Che’er’s last round of arrows, they charged towards Huang Jingyuan and his men and began a ferocious close combat battle!