Magical Water Margin: They all call me brother

Page 81

Hua Rong was no pushover either. Even though he was at a disadvantage in the first move due to his weapon not being handy, he suddenly threw his spiked club at Liu Hong's head as he was hit. The blow was fast and fierce, forcing Liu Hong to suddenly collapse his Shadow Scale Spear, which dissipated into a huge wave of shadows. This wave transformed into a black tornado that enveloped his entire body, forming a black gold armor covered with three thousand dragon scales. Only then did he manage to prevent his head from being blown apart.

Even so, Liu Hong's helmet was hit by the flying hammer, causing him to stagger backward, lose his balance, and feel his entire brain tremble.

After falling off the saddle, Hua Rong didn't make a sound. Clutching his dislocated right arm, he suddenly cast an invisibility spell, becoming one with the world like a chameleon, and instantly disappeared from Liu Hong's sight.

This kid can use psionic powers?!

Liu Hong remained wary, swinging his dragon-patterned staff with a whooshing sound. In no time, he scattered the surrounding soldiers and searched for Hua Rong's location. The remaining eerie blue flames outlined Hua Rong's attribute panel for him.

Hua Rong (Demon)

Level 12 (Level 6 Warrior + Level 5 Confucian Scholar + Level 1 Confucian Archer)

Life 180, Psychic 30

Strength 16, Agility 30, Constitution 16

Intelligence 16, Perception 10, Charisma 12

【Demon Messenger - ? ? ?】

Just then, a shrill sound of air being torn apart rang out behind Liu Hong. The moment the mithril arrowhead pierced the night wind, thirteen spiraling sonic boom clouds bloomed one after another around the arrow shaft! The meteorite iron scales tempered on the surface of the arrow feathers rubbed against the air, igniting a cold flame that was silvery-white with a hint of indigo. The intensity of its brilliance was comparable to the desolate moonlight that soared through the sky!

With lightning speed, Liu Hong wielded his staff with incredible agility, deflecting the arrow. But before he could even catch his breath, the mithril arrow suddenly spun 180 degrees in mid-air, shooting back from Liu Hong's blind spot, striking his helmet with a clang!

Liu Hong took two steps back. Although his black-gold scale armor wasn't destroyed, the impact of the arrow still gave him a headache. Moreover, the arrow exploded after hitting his helmet, releasing countless black, viscous, asphalt-like substances that flowed wildly from the arrowhead, covering his entire body. This black, viscous substance clung to every single dragon scale.

Didn't I deflect the arrow? How come I was still hit?

Liu Hong looked in surprise and doubt toward where the arrow had come from. At that moment, another arrow shot into the sky. Hua Rong was actually hiding behind a house and shooting an arrow at him! The arrow flew into the sky like a bird with outstretched wings, leaving a trail of brilliant silver flames, before swooping down and shooting toward his forehead!

This time, Liu Hong stopped parrying. Just as the arrow was about to hit him, he used a [Phase Swap] and suddenly switched positions with a bandit ten meters away. The arrow that Hua Rong shot directly pierced through the man's chest, creating a transparent hole the size of a finger in his heart.

However, the arrow, soaked in blood and fragments of internal organs, did not stop halfway. Instead, it made a second 180-degree turn in the air and shot towards Liu Hong once more! Liu Hong's expression turned grave. Hua Rong's marksmanship was indeed formidable. Deflecting it was impossible, dodging it was impossible; it was as if it were automatically locked on. What should I do?!

After a moment's thought, Liu Hong suddenly unleashed a Chaos Tentacle. Dark, sinister fleshy tentacles shot skyward, their sheer number effectively intercepting and slowing the arrow. However, in the blink of an eye, Hua Rong fired another arrow. The third arrow struck the fleshy part of the Chaos Tentacle, instantly triggering a [Disintegration of Spiritual Energy] debunking Liu Hong's spiritual energy spell. This allowed the second arrow to strike Liu Hong's brow once more without hindrance!

"boom!!!"

This time, although the arrow still failed to pierce the dragon scale armor, it exploded with a terrifying burst of fire. In an instant, the flames soared into the sky, and the high-temperature flames ignited all the previously black and sticky asphalt. The terrifying arcane fire clung to Liu Hong's armor like a leech, burning his limbs and bones, turning Liu Hong into a human torch!

Chapter 203: Liu Xianzhong's Shadow Transformation

Despite the excruciating pain of being burned by the flames, Liu Hong quickly assessed the current situation.

Hua Rong's demonic abilities are indeed very tricky, probably the type that hits the mark every time.

But that doesn't make sense. This is the second time I've fought her. Last time, although her archery was outrageous, even able to draw her bow and release an arrow from a distance of thousands of meters, it definitely didn't have this kind of precise targeting effect!

This time, however, these arrows seemed to have eyes, constantly shooting at me!

Helpless, Liu Hong howled and screamed, struggling to find water to put out the fire, but the entire village was ablaze by the bandits. After a moment of desperate struggle, he collapsed to the ground, never to live again.

Now it was Hua Rong's turn to be surprised. I killed him with two arrows?

Although both arrows hit the head, and both were enchanted arrows.

However, defeating the Great Sage Evil in this way was far too easy.

Hua Rong pondered for a moment, then drew his bow again. This time, he didn't use his ability, but instead fired twelve arrows in quick succession into the sky. The twelve arrows whistled as they shot straight into the clouds, then fell like a torrential rain, piercing Liu Hong's back! Each time an arrow fell, it made Liu Hong's body tremble in the flames, like a piece of dead flesh that had been struck.

"Oh no! Go rescue them!"

Seeing that her master and husband was in trouble, Lü Fang immediately wanted to come to their aid, but more bandits rushed up and attacked Qin Ming's family members from all sides, leaving her unable to spare any attention.

Just as Lü Fang and Guo Sheng had killed the mountain bandits from the north and south, people from the east and west rushed up again, frightening Qin Ming's family into trembling.

With no other option, the two women fought and retreated, eventually finding themselves in a narrow alley. One defended the front, the other the rear, protecting their family in the center so they wouldn't be overwhelmed and unable to support Liu Hong.

At this moment, Hua Rong was still not at ease, so he continued to draw his bow and shoot arrows, firing a barrage of arrows until Liu Hong was riddled with arrows. Only then did he cautiously step forward.

"Om-"

Hua Rong abandoned the overly heavy giant spiked club, pulled out his Snowflake Mithril Spear again, and walked cautiously to Liu Hong to check whether Liu Hong was dead. After gently prying open the burning helmet with the tip of the spear, he found that it was empty.

This was an empty black dragon scale armor! At that moment, the burning armor suddenly disappeared, and in its place was Liu Hong's real body, which was severely burned but was rapidly healing under the starlight!

[Second Ring Psionic - Phase Swap]

Hua Rong was shocked. Liu Hong had actually pulled off a feint, being burned by the flames and pierced by his own arrow. It was his armor from the beginning; his real body had already teleported away using this spiritual energy! And the flames that distorted space and vision prevented him from seeing clearly at first glance!

Hua Rong wanted to retreat, but it was too late. The three thousand dragon scale armors that exploded into flames transformed into reverse scales once again, broke free from the sea of ​​mathematical fire, and returned to Liu Hong's hands.

Liu Hong himself swung his dragon-patterned staff and suddenly thrust it upwards. The short staff, carved with four giant dragons, swung upwards and, carrying the Seven Killing Heavenly Gang Slash, struck Hua Rong's chin hard!

The advantage of Shadowscale weapons is their unpredictability and elusive nature.

The advantage of the Panlong Staff lies in its pure violence and extreme damage! The elemental explosion of the four dragons combined, accompanied by a deafening roar, instantly blasted a horrific wound into the obsidian armor! The shockwave of the explosion, carrying flames, ice shards, lightning, acid, and obsidian fragments, shattered in all directions. Hua Rong herself was also blasted off the ground by the impact of the explosion, her beautiful eyes rolling back.

In the next instant, the main body of the Panlong Staff, after the elemental dragon shattered the obsidian armor, slammed into Hua Rong's jaw! The subsequent Heavenly Gang Slash brought down a shower of falling stars, which also shot into the sky and smashed into Hua Rong's limbs and bones, sending her flying like a kite with a broken string!

Hua Rong was struck by this sudden attack and almost fainted, but regained consciousness in mid-air. Her elegant and slender body moved nimbly in mid-air where she had no leverage. With a twist of her waist and a sway of her beautiful legs, she landed as lightly as a cat, clutching her dislocated jawbone. Then she disappeared again.

Dragging his burned body, Liu Hong hurried after him, but he was still a second too late. Hua Rong disappeared again, creating distance once more. Outside a few houses, arrows shot into the sky like fireworks! They were once again heading towards Liu Hong!

Liu Hong clicked his tongue and quickly dodged away, attempting to rush into the enclosed room next door. He was still grazed by the first arrow, but this time, the arrow didn't target his forehead. Instead, it pierced his right hand, drawing blood and embedding itself in the Reverse Scale on his palm. Then, the mithril arrowhead rapidly expanded like an inflating balloon and exploded. The terrifying shockwave, carrying intensely hot flames capable of melting steel, scattered in all directions! First, it exploded into a dazzling and beautiful fiery cloud on the spot, then it blasted out a towering black demonic mist!

"Cough! Cough!"

As Liu Hong used Star Healing to heal his blast wounds, he sensed something was wrong—why was it that this time, the arrow pierced his right hand instead of his forehead?

When he broke out of Hua Rong's raging inferno and looked at the reverse scale on his palm, he was surprised to find that it was covered with small dragon patterns.

In an instant, Liu Hong understood what Hua Rong's ability was. When the reverse scale transformed into the black gold dragon armor, Hua Rong threw a meteor hammer and hit him on the forehead, leaving a mark at that moment!

Therefore, all her arrows were able to keep turning in the air and keep trying to hit her forehead!

And when his battle armor was retracted into the Reverse Scale, the mark shrank and became able to hit him!

Meanwhile, Hua Rong confidently hid in the shadows, continuing to draw his bow and nock an arrow. It seemed that the dragon scales that appeared at will and transformed into weapons and armor were Liu Hong's dragon blood ability. Although he had only placed the mark on the dragon scales and not on Liu Hong's body, it didn't matter. As long as he infused the arrows with a super-large-scale explosive spell and then kept sniping from a distance, he would eventually blow Liu Hong to death!

Chapter 204: A Battle of Wits Between Two Heroes

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!!"

Before the afterimage of Hua Rong's two fingers drawing the bowstring had faded, the first magic-infused arrow had already struck Liu Hong's black dragon-scale armor helmet. Instantly, it exploded into a dazzling and beautiful cloud of flames! Rolling waves of flame rushed over, burning the entire ground into a charred wasteland. The black scales with lightning patterns scorched and turned red under the high temperature, and terrifying waves of flame burned through the flesh along the helmet's patterns. The smell of burnt metal mingled with the smell of sulfur, and black smoke rose into the sky.

Immediately afterwards, the second, third, and fourth arrows whistled through the night sky, like silver meteors falling from the heavens, exploding one by one on Liu Hong's body! The blasts forced Liu Hong to retreat step by step, forcing him to use his golden scale armor to stand still and endure the devastating damage, disappearing from the spot once again.

Hua Rong snorted coldly. It was just a phase swap. The teleportation distance of this kind of spatial psionic energy was very short. Liu Hong was nearby! She snapped her fingers with her left hand. Instantly, an arcane pulse spread rapidly outward from her finger. This pulse shockwave could penetrate all inanimate objects and all walls, and outline the contours of all living things, allowing Hua Rong to easily determine Liu Hong's location once again.

Hua Rong took a deep breath and drew his bow once more.

This time, she took out an extremely thick and huge spiral arrow. When the bow in her hand emitted a deafening twang, the spiral arrow whistled and tore through the sky, instantly blasting through the two houses and four wooden walls that separated Hua Rong and Liu Hong. Along with the flying wood debris, the wooden house collapsed with a crash after the load-bearing wall was pierced through, and instantly pierced through Liu Hong's left leg!

His skin and flesh exploded instantly, like the peel of a ripe persimmon. The barbed arrowhead embedded in his leg bone shattered a second time within his flesh, and the flying bone fragments pierced through the cowhide war drum three zhang away. Liu Hong staggered, using his dragon-patterned staff to support himself, and discovered that the wound on his left leg, pierced by the spiral arrow, was also branded with the dragon pattern of death.

"caught you."

Hua Rong's cold and beautiful face revealed a ferocious sneer. She once again unleashed a deadly rapid-fire attack. After marking the target, without even needing to aim, Hua Rong could even unleash a terrifying barrage of deadly arrows at Liu Hong at a rate of two arrows per second!

With no other option, Liu Hong could only fight desperately. As he let out his final roar mixed with blood and foam, twelve arrows shot into the sky, like twelve silver meteors, or twelve moonlit eagles, hunting for Liu Hong's life.

The Great Sage Equaling Heaven had only injured one leg, which was of no concern to him. The piercing shriek of his golden wings tearing through the air hadn't even faded when his colossal shadow, accompanied by a sonic boom, surged forward dozens of meters! When the supporting pillar of the second wooden house collided with Liu Hong's shoulder armor and golden wings, the simultaneous snapping of the eight oak beams merged into a deafening roar. Roof tiles collapsed and exploded radially, like a rain of stone, each falling tile kicking up a cloud of dust.

The most horrifying part was the process of the wall collapsing: the rammed earth wall on the south side first showed spider web-like cracks, and then it scattered into dust like a sandcastle collapsing; the wooden frame on the north side was shaken into thousands of sharp arrows by the shock wave, splashing burning tung oil in all directions. Before the broken wood and tiles fell, Liu Hongjin's figure had already broken through the wall on the other side of the house, with half of a spinning and flying wooden window still stuck to his back.

The entire destruction lasted only two heartbeats—when Hua Rong's heartbeat was first, he saw the roof ridge break and the walls collapse before his eyes.

As the second heartbeat ended, only two furrows, each over a foot deep, remained on the spot, along with the phantom of a house made of shattered wood fragments suspended in the air. Liu Hong had already charged in front of her, grabbing Hua Rong's body and arms in one swift motion. Using his superior strength, he pulled the female general into his embrace, causing Hua Rong's pupils to shrink to pinpoints. She watched as the twelve consecutive fireballs of magic arrows she had fired were about to explode simultaneously in front of them!

Liu Hong remained calm. He still had plenty of spiritual energy to spare; at worst, he could convert it all into starlight to heal his wounds and survive the explosion.

Hua Rong was truly terrified. He suddenly exerted force with his waist, raised his legs, and kicked in mid-air, falling backward and knocking Liu Hong, who was holding him from behind, to the ground. Liu Hong also fell backward.

Just then, Hua Rong, whose arms were restrained, suddenly threw out her bow and arrow. Her left beautiful leg straightened to support the bow, and her right beautiful leg kicked off her boot. She used her two crystal-clear toes to catch the falling arrow, rested it on the bow, and shot at the twelve whistling, exploding arrows!

"boom!!!"

A deafening roar filled the air as flames erupted. The arrows Hua Rong had fired suddenly exploded, and the terrifying shockwave instantly ignited all the explosive flames on the twelve arrows, turning them into a series of fiery explosions in the sky. The blazing arcane flames even ignited the entire dark sky, turning it into a scarlet dome.

At that moment, Hua Rong suddenly flipped over, throwing all the arrows out of his quiver. He then tried to catch a second arrow with his foot, switched to a non-ranged arrow, and shot Liu Hong again.

Liu Hong was also shocked. He really didn't expect that this person could draw a bow and shoot arrows with his feet. Fortunately, Hua Rong only had hands and feet, while Liu Hong had a pair of wings in addition to his hands and feet. The golden-winged roc suddenly spread out its wings, like a huge golden cocoon, wrapping the two of them together. The feathers brushed against the soles of Hua Rong's feet, making her body tremble and itch. Her toes failed to hold the arrow and it fell to the ground.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Liu Hong flipped over and pinned Hua Rong down, preventing her from turning over.

Hua Rong was pinned down, feeling utterly humiliated, but even now, she did not yield. She extended her left arm, and Liu Hong noticed that over her armor, she wore a robe with both civil and military sleeves; the right sleeve was tightly tucked inside the arm armor, while the left sleeve was a wide robe that concealed the arm armor within the sleeve.

What Hua Rong had hidden in her sleeve was not just arm armor, but also an ingeniously crafted crossbow. With just a raise of her hand, she could fire a specially made steel crossbow bolt! Even more deadly was that during the ground fight, the mark on her left leg had disappeared, and a new mark had been placed on her chest at some point. The ferocious and terrifying dragon pattern was shining with a sinister silver light in front of her heart.

Liu Hong gasped. Just as Hua Rong was about to trigger the hidden arrow, the coiled dragon staff, carved with four giant dragons, also hovered above Hua Rong's head.

"Shoot! Even if I shoot that hidden dart, I can still smash your head in!"

"Then go ahead and smash it! Even if you strike first, this hidden dart will definitely pierce your heart!"

The two men were hesitant to act, but they continued to hurl insults at each other. For a moment, Hua Rong lay on the ground, too afraid to move, and Liu Hong, straddling her, dared not strike her. Neither dared to risk their lives, and they were frozen in place.

Chapter 205: A Mistake in the Mighty Plan - Song Jiang Loses His Mind

Meanwhile, the unrest outside Qingzhou City had been going on for far too long, long enough for Governor Murong to mobilize troops, break out of Qingzhou City, and begin to quell the rebellion.

"Wait a minute, Great Sage, why are we fighting? Sister Song Jiang is no longer a minor official, and I've become an outlaw on Qingfeng Mountain. We're all bandits, so why are you killing my people for no reason? Shouldn't we join forces to fight against the government troops?!"

Seeing that the government troops were being mobilized, Hua Rong lost interest in fighting Liu Hong again and began negotiations.

"You started this trouble first. I was living peacefully outside Qingzhou City when your troops suddenly broke into my room, intending to commit atrocities. I was just disciplining them for you, and you came here to kill me."

Seeing that the government troops had come out to fight and things were getting out of hand, Liu Hong was also anxious, but he wanted to clear his name first.

"It was indeed my fault for not disciplining them properly, but the moment we met, it was you, Great Sage, who charged at us first! We can talk about our business later; let's take down these government troops first!"

Hua Rong retorted without backing down, but seeing that the government troops were already charging over, Liu Hong also chose to compromise. He got up from Hua Rong, and the two looked at each other nervously. One put away his hidden arrow, and the other put away his dragon-patterned staff. At this moment, the government troops had already rushed over. Those mountain bandits were skilled at burning, killing, and looting. Seeing the horde of Xiang Army soldiers rushing out of Qingzhou City, they panicked and began to retreat, dragging their looted property and women. In an instant, chaos ensued.

"What's the panic! You're capable of plundering civilians, but not of fighting the local militia? Everyone! Prepare for battle! They only have a few hundred men, follow me and charge back!!!"

Hua Rong snorted coldly, equally disdainful of these bandits. He first picked up his boots and bow and arrows, turned his back to Liu Hong as a sign of trust, then nocked an arrow and fired three arrows at the charging Xiang Army!

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!!"

Looking at the first arrow alone, Hua Rong used a large spiral arrow that was powerful enough to pierce through a house. The arrow directly shattered the flagpole of the Xiang Army's banner, breaking the more than five-meter-tall banner in two. It fell to the ground amidst flying wood chips, leaving hundreds of Xiang Army soldiers stunned—banners were extremely important in ancient times, and a force of several thousand men could stretch as far as the eye could see.

In ancient times, before the advent of telephones, the deployment of various armies relied entirely on military flags and war drums. This was not only a matter of honor and faith, but also a crucial link in the chain of command. The four great military achievements in ancient times were being the first to scale the enemy's walls, slaying a general, capturing the flag, and breaking through enemy lines. One of these was capturing the enemy's command flag.

Hua Rong shot down the commander's flag with a single arrow!

At that moment, the second arrow also whistled down from the sky, hitting the commander of the Xiang Army squarely in the face, which was not protected by his helmet. The sharp arrowhead broke the bridge of his nose and then entered his brain at a very tricky angle, killing the commander of the Xiang Army on the spot and causing him to fall off his horse.

When the others rushed over in a panic, they found that the commander had already died, killed instantly by Hua Rong's arrow!

The third arrow, Hua Rong's, was a magic-infused arrow. It landed randomly on a soldier of the local militia, triggering a terrifying explosion of flames! Some captains' black iron breastplates melted into molten iron, seeping into their flesh along the patterns on their breastplates. Ordinary soldiers screamed and tumbled in the heat, their right ears slamming against the red-hot bronze quiver, half their earlobes sizzling and sticking to the metal.

"boom!!!"

Amidst the deafening explosion, two soldiers were thrown into the ruins by the shockwave. One man's lower back shattered against the bluestone slabs, the cracking sound of his dislocated lumbar vertebrae mingling with the exploding brick dust. Rolling flames raged everywhere, and fire suddenly seeped into the gaps in everyone's clothes. Their flesh and skin were carbonized and cracked in the high temperature, and their fingers were burned into charred, withered branches.

"Waaaaah!!!"

A captain's helmet, melted into liquid gold by the flames, sealed his mouth and nose, scalding his entire face. In suffocation and excruciating pain, the man tore at his throat, ripping out half of his charred vocal cords. Flesh and armor fused together into an alloy, and the back armor sank into his spine like a hot knife cutting into butter, forming a melting, exploding, blood-red abyss on his back.

With one arrow, he beheaded a general; with another, he severed a flag; with yet another, he broke through the enemy formation. The charging guerrillas were all stunned by Hua Rong's three arrows.

At this moment, Liu Hong also cut into the battlefield from above like a nightmare, falling directly into the gap of flesh and blood blasted out by Hua Rong's arrow. He wielded the Panlong Staff, charging left and right, specifically targeting captains and lieutenants who were dressed differently from ordinary soldiers! No ordinary person could withstand more than three of his moves, and some couldn't even withstand one move, their heads smashed and spines broken by the Panlong Staff.

At this moment, the bandits also realized what was happening. "Our leader is amazing! Following her means we can win battles. We can't afford to offend her! Men, charge!"

In an instant, the situation reversed dramatically. The bandits, their morale soaring after being struck by Hua Rong's three arrows, launched a counterattack. Meanwhile, the local militia, still reeling from the shock of Hua Rong's arrows, scattered like monkeys falling from a tree. They were utterly routed by the bandits' charge, running in all directions, screaming and howling in agony! In the end, they all abandoned their armor and weapons and fled in defeat, earning Hua Rong a reputation among these unruly bandits.

"General Hua is truly a divine archer!"

Liu Hong also clasped his hands in a fist salute to Hua Rong, expressing his own interest in talent and his desire to recruit him.

"Since you, General, have also become an outlaw, why do you stay in the small Qingfeng Mountain? Wouldn't it be better to come to my Liangshan Marsh?"

"Thank you for your help, Great Sage, but I will follow Sister Song's lead. Wherever Sister Song goes, I will go."

Hua Rong also bowed and thanked Liu Hong. The two sides ceased fighting and led their troops back. Hua Rong returned to Qingfeng Mountain to report. The next day, Qin Ming, wearing the armor and weapons that Hua Rong had touched, returned to Qingzhou. Instead of receiving a courteous welcome, she was scolded by Prefect Murong, who accused her of daring to become a bandit and leading troops to attack Qingzhou the previous night. Qin Ming was dumbfounded. What the hell? Before she could react, she was driven back by a hail of arrows.

At this moment, Qin Ming panicked completely and immediately returned to Qingfeng Mountain to confront Song Jiang. Only then did he learn the reason, and he immediately flew into a rage.

"No, Song Jiang, I know you want to recruit me, but can you do this? My wife and family are all in Qingzhou City! What will happen to them if you do this?!"