Chapter 697: The Storm of Pear Blossoms Needle
The sudden appearance of the short musket startled not only the bandits but also the women and children in the village. Several women nearly leaped up, but thankfully, the miniature Heavenly Lord had repeatedly cautioned them not to move recklessly without explicit orders, to ensure their own safety.
Only then did the women force themselves to suppress their impulse to rise, remaining on the ground, conserving their strength.
They had all believed themselves doomed, but the arrival of the strange, palm-sized figure had given them hope. Now, seeing another enlarged version of that figure appear, and then blast a ferocious bandit dead with his musket, they felt like people clutching a piece of driftwood in a vast, turbulent ocean.
Finally, they sensed a chance for survival!
"Damn it, that bastard has a strange short musket!" a bandit roared.
"Kill him!" Ge Goufei bellowed. "Muskets are slow to reload!"
A dozen or so bandits charged at Li Daoxuan simultaneously.
This was the advantage of arriving alone. If Li Daoxuan had brought a large army, these marauders certainly wouldn't have charged headlong; instead, they'd have held knives to the throats of the women and children. But with only Li Daoxuan, they would disregard their hostages, focused solely on taking him down.
Li Daoxuan didn't engage; he bolted, running toward one of the village houses.
Soon, Li Daoxuan reached the doorway, kicking the wooden door panel open with a loud thud.
The dozen or so bandits inside the house raised their blades in unison, waiting for Li Daoxuan to rush in so they could hack at him.
To their surprise, Li Daoxuan merely kicked open the door but didn't enter himself. With a flick of his left hand, he tossed a Hand Grenade into the room, a fuse sizzling as it burned.
The bandits exchanged baffled glances.
"BOOM!"
The hand grenade exploded, and the dozen or so bandits inside the house fell simultaneously.
Li Daoxuan had already bolted towards the next house.
This unexpected gambit left the bandits utterly bewildered.
Ge Goufei flew into a rage. "That bastard is throwing explosives into houses!"
"What in the devil's name is this man?"
"Catch him! Hack him to death!"
A dozen or so bandits were still chasing him from behind.
Li Daoxuan sprinted, running in circles around the village.
*The magic of love, spinning round and round...*
Wherever he circled, the bandits ambushing in the houses would leap out; they certainly didn't want to be blown to bits by explosives in a dark room.
In the blink of an eye, Li Daoxuan had run several circles through the small Houjia Village, leaving the bandits within in utter chaos and disarray.
One bandit nocked an arrow to his bow and shot.
"Thunk!"
The arrow struck Li Daoxuan squarely in the back, embedding itself there, the fletching still quivering.
The bandits cheered, "He's hit! He's wounded!"
But then something outrageous happened: Li Daoxuan, with an arrow in his back, still ran incredibly fast, seemingly unaffected by it in the slightest.
The bandits muttered, "What the hell? What's going on with this guy? Is he just powering through the pain? I don't believe he can keep running like that for long."
"I've caught him!"
A swift bandit finally caught up to Li Daoxuan, swinging his blade down violently at a vital spot on his back.
"Thunk!"
He felt his blade connect, the distinct sensation of steel cutting into soft flesh. Yet, Li Daoxuan didn't cry out or fall. Instead, the musket in his hand, reloaded even as he ran, was fired with a swift backhand motion.
"BANG!"
The bandit fell backward.
Nearby, another bandit released an arrow, which landed with a *thunk*, striking Li Daoxuan's back again.
"He's hit, he's hit, he's hit again!"
"What the hell? How is he still running so fast?"
"Doesn't this guy get hurt?"
"What in hell is going on?" Ge Goufei was furious. "A few of you, circle around from the front! Others, flank him! With so many of us, we can't take down one man?"
The bandits who had been standing guard by the women also began to join the chaotic pursuit to corner Li Daoxuan. Over a hundred men chased a single person, tearing through the entire village.
One moment, there was the clatter and clash of blades behind one house; the next, they'd circled behind another, blades clanging and banging.
The entire village was a scene of frenzied commotion.
Logically speaking, one man shouldn't be able to throw over a hundred people into such disarray. No matter how nimble, it would be impossible to avoid being hit by an arrow, a shot, or a blade eventually.
But the bandits discovered that this fellow before them was simply too strange; he took hits as if they never landed, still running and leaping like a gazelle.
With so many attackers, the short musket in Li Daoxuan's hand was now too slow to reload.
Casually tucking the short musket into his back waistband, he freed his hand and drew his longsword.
A bandit charged him head-on, his blade *thunked* into Li Daoxuan's chest.
Li Daoxuan simultaneously thrust his sword into the bandit's gut, then kicked him away.
The bandit, clutching his belly, screamed in agony, yet Li Daoxuan acted as if nothing had happened, continuing his furious sprint forward.
However, sharp-eyed bandits had already noticed: through his slashed clothing, what looked like "flesh" was visible. There was a clear blade mark on this "flesh," but no blood seeped out. It felt strangely off.
"He's hurt, but he's not bleeding."
"Does this guy not bleed?"
"Damn it, he's tough as nails!"
Ge Goufei saw that his subordinates couldn't deal with Li Daoxuan even after a long time, and he was screaming in frustration. He decided to intervene personally, grabbing a blade and intercepting Li Daoxuan's circular path.
His nickname, "Ge Goufei," meant "Flying Across Ravines," a testament to his mastery of lightness-skill martial arts and his incredibly fast footwork. With a few swift strides, he intercepted Li Daoxuan, swinging his blade at him with a fierce whistle.
Li Daoxuan could take hits to his body, but not to his face; otherwise, he would lose his co-sensing ability.
He quickly dodged, tilting his head, and Ge Goufei's blade slammed into Li Daoxuan's shoulder.
"Thunk!"
The sensation of the blade entering flesh felt strange, and Ge Goufei paused, slightly stunned.
Just then, Li Daoxuan's sword came back with a reverse thrust.
An ordinary bandit would have been finished by a single reverse thrust from him, but Ge Goufei's martial arts were formidable. Yet, even in the thick of the fight, he managed to twist his body to the side, dodging Li Daoxuan's reverse sword thrust.
"Ha! Trying to use a life-for-a-life tactic to trick me?" Ge Goufei boasted triumphantly. "Do you think I'm so easily..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Li Daoxuan's left hand slid out from his sleeve, holding a small, cylindrical device: the Storm of Pear Blossoms Needle!
"Click!"
With a soft snap of a spring mechanism, a burst of fine needles sprayed directly into Ge Goufei's face.
There was no dodging this for Ge Goufei.
"Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!"
His face was struck by several needles, leaving it riddled with punctures, like pockmarks. His eyes were not spared either.
With a horrific shriek, he collapsed to the ground with a thump, clutching his face with both hands. "My eyes, my eyes... my eyes... Damn it! Kill... quickly kill him... Everyone charge him now!"
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