Lu Yuanxin saw the situation was dire and turned back to his support, saying: "Break out through the back door."
He quickly devised a tactic, leading the support in a fierce battle at the back door, first helping Lu Chunying and Xiao Yeci to break through, then helping Li Qi to hold off the enemy.
Lu Chunying said: "Brother, how will you escape?"
Lu Yuanxin looked at Lu Chunying: "Sister, back then the whole family looked down on me, only you saw my worth. You were willing to call me brother, and that suffices for my life. The future of the Lu Family depends on you!"
After saying this, Lu Yuanxin led a swarm of bugs, charging towards the back door first.
Outside the back door, the Defense Agency had already set up steam machine guns.
Lu Yuanxin planned to use bugs to take out the two gunners first, have his men block the other enemies, and then let Lu Chunying escape.
Just as the battle began, unexpectedly, one of the steam machine gun’s furnaces exploded.
High-temperature steam spread everywhere, the gunner died instantly, and those around the boiler were boiled by the steam, a dozen people were cooked, and even the bugs sent by Lu Yuanxin weren’t spared.
Several of Lu Yuanxin’s men suffered minor injuries and immediately retreated, unsure of what had happened, thinking the Defense Agency had implemented a new tactic.
Another steam machine gunner was about to fire when the furnace exploded again, causing further casualties around.
One boiler explosion might be an accident, but what is it when two boilers explode?
Just as the steam dissipated, there was no time to analyze the cause, Wen Hongyan charged up with hundreds of people, dispersing the Defense Agency’s encirclement.
In the midst of the melee, Wen Hongyan came to Lu Yuanxin and asked: "Where is the Seventh Master?"
Lu Yuanxin pointed to the front yard, Wen Hongyan attempted to lead her people towards the front yard, but the dispersed formation of the Defense Agency quickly regrouped, and the two sides began a fierce battle in the backyard.
In the front yard, Li Qi, besieged by many, was completely exhausted, every step causing his body to tremble.
Now he had two choices: one was to use Thousand Mile In A Step to escape, regardless of where he ended up, as long as he left the residence.
But he was too exhausted to perform the technique.
The other choice was to directly return to Portable Residence, which was the safest move, but he had no opportunity to hide the key.
At this dilemma, suddenly he heard someone shouting outside the wall: "Commander Xia, whatever the matter is, we can negotiate. There’s no need for such a massive conflict!"
Chu Er had arrived.
Behind Chu Er were about two hundred people.
How did she come at such a perfect time?
Actually, it was not coincidental; Chu Er had arrived at Bridge Yesong two days ago, hiding near Xiao Yeci’s residence without appearing, waiting for her people to arrive in batches.
She gathered more than seven hundred people, but they couldn’t all come at once, or Xia Shumin would surely notice.
She instructed people to arrive in batches and groups, borrowing passage from Bitter Vegetable Manor, whose location was unique; all towns in Puluo State had roads leading to Bitter Vegetable Manor, but passage required Bitter Granny’s permission.
Chu Er pleaded desperately, accepting five hundred canings from Bitter Granny, promising to return for punishment after the matter was settled.
After two days, three hundred or more people gradually arrived. Chu Er was patient, and if she hadn’t seen Xiao Yeci’s residence suddenly surrounded, she wouldn’t have acted easily.
Now, with numbers lacking advantage, and Li Qi trapped in the courtyard, Chu Er did not act recklessly and initiated negotiations with Xia Shumin.
Xia Shumin refused to negotiate.
He was injured, furious, and not even interested in capturing Li Qi alive: "There’s no need to say another word to these savages. Kill them all to restore peace and tranquility to Puluo State."
Kill them all!
That was Xia Shumin’s order.
Assistant Ding Zhichuan ordered an attack, three hundred people charged forward, killing indiscriminately.
To Chu Er, managing to negotiate with Xia Shumin was already considered restrained.
With negotiations failing, Chu Er lowered her head, rolled her eyes upward, and led the group directly toward Xia Shumin.
The battle between the two sides was fierce, and Xia Shumin ordered: "Deploy the steam machine gun and annihilate the enemy troops!"
Deputy Envoy General Tang Huanjie was stunned: "Commander Xia, what about our people?"
The steam machine gun doesn’t differentiate between friend and foe; if it swept across, our people wouldn’t be spared either.
Xia Shumin shouted angrily: "Execute the order!"
As people were setting up the machine gun, Xiang Fenglan suddenly grabbed a carved bow from behind, strung an arrow, and shot it toward Xia Shumin.
How could it possibly hit him?
A Martial Cultivator guard easily stretched out a hand and caught the feather arrow.
Xiang Fenglan shouted: "Split!"
The arrowhead abruptly separated from the shaft and continued flying toward Xia Shumin.
Several guards raised their shields, protecting Xia Shumin tightly.
Xiang Fenglan shouted: "Drill!"
The arrowhead seemed to hear Xiang Fenglan’s command and drilled through the cracks in the shield.
Next, Xiang Fenglan was unable to direct it.
With the arrowhead inside the shield formation, Xiang Fenglan couldn’t see.
She shouted: "Explode!"
The arrowhead exploded in place, shattering into fragments that hit everyone.
If the fragments were large, they could be blocked or evaded; but when an arrowhead shattered, the pieces scattered were all iron scraps. The guards within the shield formation were all injured, and Xia Shumin’s clothes had no time to shield him; half his face was struck, leaving flesh and blood exposed.
People were still pondering what kind of magical treasure this arrowhead was when Xiang Fenglan drew her bow and shot another arrow, the arrowhead drilling into the shield formation again and then exploding, tearing a piece off Xia Shumin’s scalp.
It seemed this arrowhead wasn’t a magical treasure.
A guard in his fifties, whispered: "This looks like an Arrow Cultivator."
The others hadn’t heard of such a sect, and in the chaos of battle, there was no time to think deeply.
Xiang Fenglan continued to shoot arrow after arrow, and the severely wounded Xia Shumin could no longer endure the pain, stepping out from the shield formation, seeking another place to hide.