A Pawn's Passage

Feng Bo spoke on the platform. “Unity is strength! If everyone joins forces against the Green Phoenix Guard, we will surely succeed!”

The crowd cheered. “We will succeed!”

Feng Bo continued, “But we can’t just act rashly in dealing with the Green Phoenix Guard. We must be agile and strategic. Instead of advancing separately, we should come up with a foolproof plan to avoid needless sacrifice.”

Everyone agreed. “Feng Bo is right!”

Feng Bo glanced at the crowd. “Everyone gathered here today has their own strengths, but our power is too scattered. It’s impossible for everyone to join a certain gang or association. Even if everyone joins one association, we will just become a large target for the Daoist Order and the Imperial Court. Does anyone have any strategies?”

Everyone was silent.

At this moment, a middle-aged man who arrived with Feng Bo asked, “Feng Bo, what is your suggestion?”

When Qi Xuansu heard this, he already knew that this was a one-man show by the Heavenly Court.

As expected, Feng Bo said, “Why don’t we form a secret alliance to help each other fight against the Green Phoenix Guard?”

Feng Bo had already thought of a plan before coming. Although everyone there hated the Green Phoenix Guard, these people had various origins. It was extremely difficult to get everyone to join the Heavenly Court, especially because many of them also had other affiliations. If he forcefully recruited them, it would cause more conflict.

Instead of provoking other associations, which would be detrimental to the fight against the Green Phoenix Guard, Feng Bo thought of another way. It was best if they could form an alliance, which would not cause resentment or chaos, just as the Buddhists and Daoists became allies to fight against the Confucians.

Although the Daoist Order was the main force fighting against the Confucians, the Buddhists could accept it. As time went by, many Buddhists began to consider themselves Daoists. Sage Cihang’s lineage was originally Buddhist, but they converted to become Daoists. Thus, it was easier to gradually absorb the members after an alliance was formed.

Generally speaking, alliances were loose and not restraining. It did not involve converting or switching allegiances. Therefore, everyone was pleased with Feng Bo’s idea.

Someone followed up. “What about the leader?”

Feng Bo declared, “This is just an alliance to fight against the Green Phoenix Guards. We’re not trying to establish a new association. The leader of this alliance only acts as a liaison to facilitate communication between the associations, with no right to interfere in the affairs of the other associations.

There were many people among the crowd who were worried that they would be restrained by this new leader. But their doubts were cleared after hearing the Feng Bo’s explanation.

The next step was to nominate the leader of this alliance. Qi Xuansu could see that this position would most likely fall upon Feng Bo.

Qi Xuansu did not want to participate in this alliance. He thought of retreating since he had seen enough.

At this moment, a voice interjected, “How insolent of you to form an alliance among the cults!”

Although the voice was not very loud, everyone could hear it clearly.

Everyone turned toward the voice and saw a man in a green uniform standing on top of a big tree. That was the official uniform of the Green Phoenix Guard.

Suddenly, everyone stood up and held their weapons. Some even raised their crossbows or guns to aim at the guard.

The Green Phoenix Guard was completely unafraid by the hostile crowd of over a thousand people.

Feng Bo narrowed his eyes and demanded. “You’re bold for coming here alone. Care to state your name?”

The man answered, “I am the Lieutenant Colonel of Liangzhou, Yan Jiuwei. Your reputation precedes you, Feng Bo.”

Suddenly, there was discussion among the crowd. No one had expected a Lieutenant Colonel to show up at this gathering.

Feng Bo warned. “Since you came here today, I’m afraid you won’t be able to leave.”

“Why should I leave?” Yan Jiuwei guffawed, his body shaking and causing the leaves of the tree he stood on to fall like snowflakes. “You’ve really saved me a lot of time by gathering all the rogues here. I can just catch you all in one fell swoop!”

Feng Bo’s face darkened. “How arrogant!”

Yan Jiuwei stopped talking. His palm that was touching the tree trunk turned fiery red. Then the fire quickly spread along the tree. In the blink of an eye, the big tree that he stood on turned into a blazing torch, its flames reaching into the sky.

After a while, a sharp whistling sound approached.

Everyone subconsciously looked up and saw a fiery red meteor falling on them.

“That’s…” Qi Xuansu was stunned.

Feng Bo’s expression changed drastically. He no longer looked as elegant as before. Instead, he cursed at the Green Phoenix Guard and shouted, “That’s the Phoenix Eye Bomb!”

Immediately after, Feng Bo turned into a breeze and disappeared from the scene.

Yan Jiuwei also disappeared at the same time.

Qi Xuansu did not expect that the fiery meteor falling from the sky would be the Phoenix Eye Bomb. He knew the power of the Phoenix Eye Bomb because he had used it to kill Desmond. Thus, he immediately ran for his life before the others could react.

Fortunately, Qi Xuansu was just on the periphery of the crowd, so he could escape first without hindrance.

He was about 30 meters away when the Phoenix Eye Bomb fell from the sky and exploded. If viewed from above, it would look like a huge, fiery red lotus blooming, quickly engulfing the entire sky. The group of people at the center of the hilltop was incinerated in an instant. Wherever the flames passed, only black and scorched earth remained.

The huge shockwave from the explosion spread the raging flames farther. For a moment, Qi Xuansu felt an unbearable heat behind him, threatening to swallow him. Fortunately, he was going downhill on the slope, so he dropped and rolled down the hill without hesitation, relying on gravity to outrun the fire.

The raging flames engulfed Jiuwa Hill, with flames reaching into the sky and violent screams from people being burned alive. At least hundreds of people died on the spot, either turning into ashes or charred corpses. Those who were not dead were left in purgatory, scorched by the fire. They were all in a miserable state.

The survivors fled one after another, calling for help. Some people shouted, “We have fallen into a trap!”

“That’s not the Green Phoenix Guard! They’re the Black Robes!”

“Fuck! Where is Feng Bo?!”

The Green Phoenix Guard was aware that they could not suppress such a large crowd on their own, so they asked the Black Robes for assistance. The Black Robes were good at frontal combat. They were not good at discreet attacks because their cavalry and artillery could easily alarm the enemy. So they would not be able to get close to Jiuwa Hill. That was why they decided to launch an attack from a distance by using Tianji Hall’s Phoenix Eye Bomb after getting the signal from Yan Jiuwei.

If this assembly was held in a town, it would be harder to use such high-power artillery. But this time, everyone who was up to no good was gathered on this hill in the middle of nowhere, making it a perfect opportunity for launching a bomb. This blow instantly turned more than a hundred people into ashes and hundreds more into charred corpses.

After the bomb was launched, a powerful march could be heard from a distance. One would be able to see thousands of black-armored soldiers advancing.

Those were the Black Robes who had dismounted from their horses. Each of them held a black shield with a ferocious tiger painted on it, forming a protective wall. Countless black spears protruded from behind the shield wall.

In terms of cultivation, these Black Robes were Houtian Beings. But in such a battle formation, they could easily defeat any survivors. Those who survived were already frightened by the bomb. No one dared to confront the Black Robes and quickly fled in other directions.

On the other side, the Green Phoenix Guards finally appeared. They did not wear heavy armor, nor did they carry large shields and spears. Instead, they had their regular guns and crossbows. They were also not in a battle formation, as the Green Phoenix Guards were better at fighting individually and killing mercilessly.

This group of rogues could not stand a chance against these well-trained military personnel. Seeing this, Qi Xuansu could not help but sigh. This Eagle and Dog Slaughtering Assembly was clearly a failure. Instead, these pathetic people were like chickens and cattle waiting to be slaughtered.

Fortunately, the Black Robes and the Green Phoenix Guards did not completely enclose the area, so Qi Xuansu managed to flee through a gap.