Chapter 47: Martial Arts Sovereign!

Li Changan did not fail the high expectations of the rebel army.

With a single blade in hand, he hacked a bloody path out of the dense forest and charged headlong into the imperial army that was executing the encirclement, his long blade flashing as he slaughtered dozens of men in the blink of an eye.

One had to realize that those deployed here were the armored and sword-wielding elites of the demonic Qing court, yet at this very moment before Li Changan, these soldiers seemed to be made of mere paper, utterly incapable of withstanding a single blow.

At the foot of the mountain, Haerchi was orchestrating the troops from all directions in an orderly manner, tightening the noose around the rebel army.

When he saw Li Changan suddenly burst from the thicket entirely alone, the expression on his face could not have been more pleasantly surprised.

To capture this supreme heretic Li Changan, Haerchi had spent recent years unable to eat or sleep well, losing over ten pounds in the process.

If he failed to achieve anything after mobilizing such a vast multitude of men and horses, he would surely suffer a humiliating disgrace in the imperial court, even if he was the maternal uncle of the reigning emperor.

Now, he had finally flushed this rebel chief out of the shadows.

Haerchi was naturally ecstatic.

Yet flanking him on either side, the two banner captains of the Prison Suppression Bureau wore rather grim countenances.

For Li Changan had not only charged out of the forest, but he was driving directly toward the two of them—or rather, toward the imperial royal standard where they stood.

This was the very center of the imperial army of hundreds of thousands, the location of the royal tent.

With Li Changan advancing so undisguisedly, could he possibly intend to charge beneath the royal tent by his strength alone?

Confronted by this possibility, both men were filled with utter consternation.

Had this fellow lost his mind? He showed far too little respect for an army of hundreds of thousands and the martial masters of the court.

Even as a Martial King, one should not be so arrogant.

In the distance, Li Changan showed no intention of staying his hand, swinging his blade once more as the surging internal energy within his body transformed into a monstrous wave of blade-aura dozens of meters long; with one slash, it carved a triangular vacuum through the military formation dozens of meters ahead.

Having cleared the soldiers obstructing his path, Li Changan ignored everyone around him and continued stepping forward, hacking his way toward the absolute center of the army formation.

Initially, Haerchi, situated within the military tent, could not fathom what Li Changan was attempting to do.

It was only after a long while that it suddenly dawned on him, his face instantly turning ashen as he turned to a eunuch beside him who was enshrouded in ghostly energy, saying in a deep voice, "Have the masters sent by the royal court arrived yet? The rebel chief has appeared, why have they not executed him immediately?!"

Li Changan’s act of daring to assault the commander's tent with a single blade was undoubtedly a colossal humiliation to him as the commander-in-chief.

The eunuch stared at Li Changan in the distance and said in a sinister tone, "No need to rush, let him kill a few more. Once his hands are drenched in enough blood, this day next year will be the anniversary of his death."

Hearing this, Haerchi suppressed his fury with great effort, letting out a cold snort and saying no more.

He was certainly dissatisfied in his heart.

But he could not afford to offend the eunuch before him.

He could only turn away and begin mobilizing the troops originally scattered around to encircle Li Changan; he refused to believe the internal energy in Li Changan's body was infinite—even if it meant a war of attrition, he would use human lives to exhaust Li Changan to death today.

Listening to the sounds of slaughter and the screams outside the military tent.

A strategist standing nearby could not help but say with a face full of anxiety, "My Lord, that Peace Immortal Master is exceptionally fierce. Just to be safe, should the military tent and the royal standard be moved back..."

Yet before he could finish his words, Haerchi roared, "No retreat, no retreat! This official refuses to believe what a mere commoner can do to me, what he can do to the centuries-old foundation of our demonic Qing dynasty?!"

"Pass down the order: anyone who hesitates to advance shall be executed without mercy!"

"He who slays that commoner rebel chief shall be rewarded with a thousand pieces of gold and enfeoffed as a Marquis of Ten Thousand Households!"

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Li Changan slaughtered untiringly, yet the number of soldiers on his left and right never seemed to diminish.

Behind him, broken weapons and bleeding corpses had already paved a road hundreds of meters long, forging his iron-blooded form like that of a god of war.

Seeing the blood rolling off the long blade in his hand like a flowing stream.

The tens of thousands of soldiers blocking the front fell into complete silence, their eyes tracking Li Changan as if they were looking at a walking monster.

If there truly were a deity in this world who governed slaughter, perhaps this young man before them was his mortal incarnation walking the earth.

How on earth were they supposed to fight this? Were they really to use their own heads to exhaust him to death? But if they wore him down like this, when would it ever end?

Such a question involuntarily surfaced in everyone's mind.

When Li Changan took a deep breath and raised his eyes once more, nearly all the surrounding besieging soldiers subconsciously averted their gaze from his eyes.

What magnificent awe.

What divine wonder.

The imperial court had assembled hundreds of thousands of troops, yet