116: rescue

Just as the vanguard team began to spread out to flank them, the team led by the Li Family Head immediately fanned out in an arc to both sides.

The two teams, like two clam shells, immediately encircled the Lin family members, and the encirclement rapidly tightened.

“It's over! This is truly the end!”

At this moment, all the Lin family members stopped, their faces etched with despair.

All directions were blocked; they had nowhere left to run.

“Has... have the people from the Forbidden City not arrived yet?”

Lin Kun looked at Lin Qinglian, his voice slightly trembling.

“Grandpa, the fastest Tie Shengnan will still take about ten minutes.” Lin Qinglian looked grave. She had already called for help again the moment they were encircled.

Xie Chunyan simply replied with the single word: “Stall.”

By this time, she had already gathered about 10,000 people in Area 886 who were rushing toward the battlefield, which would take at least ten minutes.

Lin Kun sighed, his expression serious: “Then we can only stall... I hope the Li family weighs the consequences, otherwise the Lin family will meet its end here today.”

In just a short while, the Li family's two divisions, totaling 20,000 troops, formed a circle with a 50-meter radius around the twenty Lin family members, tightly surrounding them.

Among the formations of these 20,000 troops.

The innermost circle consisted of high-HP warriors, followed by Mages and Healers.

The entire formation was uniform and orderly, appearing far more disciplined than Civilian Forces, and even more so than the Forbidden City Legion.

At this point, all scouts had been dispatched to patrol several dozen kilometers outside the perimeter to guard against sudden developments.

After the two divisions completed the encirclement, the Li Family Head led the Li family's direct descendants out from the crowd.

Li Father looked at Lin Kun and shouted, “Old man Lin Kun! My son kindly took your granddaughters to level up, yet you conspired with outsiders to plot and murder my son.”

“Today, I will make your Lin family pay a blood debt with blood.”

“You had better tell me who is behind you, and I might allow you a quick death.”

Lin Qingmei heard his words and retorted angrily, “Nonsense! Li Jiadong tried to use the Green Dragon Aphrodisiac to defile my sister and me; his death was well-deserved!”

“Bullshit!”

The moment Lin Qingmei finished speaking, the sharp voice of Li Mother rang out: “What kind of women does my son lack? Why would he need to poison two sluts like you?”

Lin Kun glanced at Li Mother, pulled back Lin Qingmei who was about to speak, turned to the Li Family Head, and said, “Li Guowei, I regret what happened to your grandson.”

“Yesterday, Qinglian and Qingmei told us the entire sequence of events.”

“This matter truly has nothing to do with our Lin family...”

Before Lin Kun could finish, Li Guowei shouted loudly, “Hmph! Enough nonsense. Name the person behind you. I might grant you a decent death out of consideration for our years of association!”

“The person behind us?” Lin Kun frowned and asked, “Didn't your third brother tell you that your grandson was killed by Huang Chen?”

“Which Huang Chen?” Li Guowei asked.

“The Lord of the Forbidden City, Huang Chen!”

Hearing Lin Kun's words, Li Guowei's expression shifted several times. He frowned and turned to look at the Third Brother.

The Li Family Third Brother shook his head and said, “The distance was too great at the time; I didn't see clearly. But that person was only Level 25, definitely not the Forbidden City's Guild Leader.”

Li Guowei didn't know how much truth there was in Lin Kun's words.

But regardless of the truth, his Li family would absolutely not compromise because of it.

When have the Huaxia Troops ever been afraid?

At worst, they would all perish together.

Huang Chen was indeed powerful, but they had only heard rumors.

He didn't believe that one person could be strong enough to oppose thousands of soldiers.

Just then, Li Guowei received a report from a scout:

[Nearly a thousand people are approaching rapidly, expected to arrive within 6 minutes. Leader: Tie Shengnan.]

Li Guowei read the message, his expression turning cold.

Tie Shengnan?

So it was you... Iron! Guard! Nation!

After the Guild Establishment Incident, Tie Weiguo used Huang Chen's deterrent power to begin integrating the Official Faction's military forces.

Currently, aside from a few major families, many unaffiliated small military groups have been reorganized by Tie Weiguo.

It seems that Old Man Tie is starting to target military families like ours.

The more Li Guowei thought about it, the more he felt his suspicion was correct.

Since you are unjust, don't blame me for being ruthless.

The blood of my grandson will be repaid by your granddaughters.

After this matter concludes, his Li family will immediately break away from the Official Faction and establish itself as sovereign.

Since the facts are now clear, it's time to collect some interest for his grandson first.

Thinking this, Li Guowei looked at the Li Family Third Brother.

The Li Family Third Brother understood, a ruthless look appearing on his face.

Immediately, dozens of soldiers charged directly toward the Lin family members.

Before setting out, Li Jiadong's Mother had demanded that the Lin family members be tortured slowly until death.

Even if they were beaten to critical HP, they must be healed back up.

The Li Family Third Brother readily agreed!

The Lin family members looked horrified. Does the Li family not fear the Forbidden City at all?

Seeing this, Lin Kun roared, “Li Guowei, if you dare touch us, aren't you afraid of retaliation from the Forbidden City?

The Forbidden City people will be here soon!”

Li Guowei sneered coldly,

“The Forbidden City?”

“You want to use the Forbidden City to pressure me?”

“My Li family! We are not afraid!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Among the dozens of soldiers, the Mages launched the first attack. A wave of skills immediately caused a small chunk of HP to drop from everyone's health bars, except for Lin Qinglian and Lin Qingmei.

“Kill!”

Lin Xiao roared in anger.

Since the enemy had decided not to reason with them, he would not sit around waiting for death.

Simultaneously, Lin Qingmei's figure vanished, while Lin Qinglian immediately waved her hand, and a burst of blue light enveloped everyone.

[Pure Sound Chanting Level 1 (Water Element Level 50 Active Support Skill), Internal Energy Consumption 100 points.

Massively restores HP for teammates within a certain range.

Restores 3,000 HP/second, lasting 5 seconds.

Proficiency Level 1, Skill Effect 1x.]

The Lin family members were mostly around Level 30, with about 3,600 Potential Points. Generally, those who prioritize gaining experience tend to focus on adding Physique.

Therefore, their HP was generally around 30,000 points.

One Pure Sound Chanting restores about 10% per second.

Stacking five times over 5 seconds results in a recovery rate of 15,000 HP/second.

However, their own HP pool was not large, and under the dense barrage of attacks.

Their health bars fluctuated wildly like a spectrum analyzer display, indicating extreme danger.

In contrast, the damage they inflicted on the enemy was virtually negligible.

After all, the opponents were Regular Troops forged in blood and iron. As for them, it wasn't that they lacked combat experience entirely.

But their combat techniques were, at best, on par with Commoners.

Moreover, the number of attackers was double their own count.

Just then, a Guard next to Li Guowei suddenly let out a miserable scream and disappeared, turning into a flash of white light.

Lin Qingmei reappeared, stabbing Li Guowei directly with a single move: Poison Heart Stab.

Li Guowei cried out in pain. His HP immediately dropped by 70% and continued to decrease at a rate of 5% per second.

“Stop everything!” Lin Qingmei shouted.

The entire scene instantly quieted down, and both sides ceased fighting simultaneously.

The Water Element users next to Li Guowei reacted first, immediately casting Universal Salvation on him, pulling his HP back up.

The rest of the Li Family Army looked at each other in dismay upon seeing Li Guowei held hostage.

It was only then that someone in the army exclaimed in surprise:

“She's Level 50!!”

“How is that possible? Yesterday, when they were with Young Master Li, they were only Level 28. How are they Level 50 today?”

“And her equipment, it's all Level 45... Diamond!!!”

... “Release my father/grandfather/Commander!”

The Li family members shouted loudly one after another.

“I said, stop everything!”

Lin Qingmei held her dagger against Li Guowei's neck and shouted, “If you want him dead, go ahead and attack!”

Lin Qingmei hadn't focused much on skill proficiency, so her skill attack power bonus wasn't high.

But after receiving over 10,000 Potential Points from Huang Chen, even using the Level 10 Poison Heart Stab, she could instantly take away nearly 70% of Li Guowei's HP.

Li Guowei definitely could not withstand two attacks from her.

Lin Qingmei, holding Li Guowei hostage, slowly walked toward the Lin family members.

Seeing this, the Li Family Third Brother roared, leaped in front of Lin Qingmei, pointed his Spear at her, and shouted, “Release my father! Otherwise, I swear your Lin family will have no burial ground today!”

Just as the Li Family Third Brother's voice fell, a scout immediately reported that Tie Shengnan's thousand troops had reached 10 kilometers outside the encirclement. Furthermore, nearly 10,000 Forbidden City Legion members led by Xie Chunyan had left the city gate a few minutes ago and were expected to arrive on the battlefield in ten minutes.

Hearing that the Forbidden City was about to arrive, the Regular Soldiers showed little reaction.

After all, Huang Chen's exploits were mostly circulated among the high-ranking officials. Aside from knowing that Huang Chen had dominated the rankings several times, the Regular Soldiers knew nothing about the true strength of Huang Chen or the Forbidden City.

However, when the Li family High-Ranking Officials heard this news, they were all moved. Except for the Li Family Eldest Brother and Wife, everyone else showed signs of wanting to retreat.

Could it be... that the one who killed Li Jiadong really was Huang Chen of the Forbidden City?

The Li family's strength might not fear the Forbidden City, but they feared Huang Chen.

That man acts without any scruples, even within the city limits.

They weren't afraid of a frontal battle, but if the opponent resorted to assassination against them, who could stop him?

The Li Family Third Brother had commanded the army for many years and knew that the current formation was only suitable for containment, not for a true group battle.

He glared fiercely at Lin Qingmei, then ordered the formation to be changed.

The entire Li Family Army then moved like a precise instrument. The encirclement split open directly in front of the Lin family, reorganized behind them, and transformed into a diamond-shaped formation.

The two points of the diamond were aimed, one at the direction Tie Shengnan was arriving from, and the other facing the city gate.

Soon, Tie Shengnan's thousand troops arrived on the battlefield.

The Lin family members finally breathed a sigh of relief, having survived the ordeal.

Their faces were bruised. While HP recovery was instantaneous, external injuries took a little longer to heal.

“Sister Nan!”

Lin Qinglian rushed straight to Tie Shengnan's side, her eyes slightly red.

“I'm here!” Tie Shengnan patted her shoulder and comforted her, “It's alright now.”

After speaking, Tie Shengnan looked up toward the Li Family Army's direction.

Just then, Lin Qingmei escorted Li Guowei to the front of the Forbidden City troops.

“Commander!”

Upon seeing Li Guowei, Tie Shengnan raised her hand in a Military Salute.

The style and discipline of the Huaxia Military had long been ingrained in her.

“Tie Shengnan!”

Li Guowei gritted his teeth and said, “Your Tie family!”

“Very well!”

“Old Man Tie is quite the schemer!”

Hearing this, Tie Shengnan frowned and asked, “What do you mean, Commander Li? This matter has absolutely nothing to do with my grandfather!”

“Heh heh!” Li Guowei sneered contemptuously, “A dignified Huaxia Chief Minister, yet he can't take responsibility for his actions?”

“I don't understand what the Commander is talking about.”

Tie Shengnan replied coolly, “If the Commander is referring to Li Jiadong's matter... he was killed by Huang Chen!

Of course, in my opinion, his death was well-deserved!”

“Hahaha!”

Li Guowei suddenly burst into laughter, saying with a sharp expression, “Do you think I'll be afraid if you try to pin the blame on the Forbidden City?”

Knowing that further words were useless, Tie Shengnan stopped talking, stepped forward, and gazed toward the city gate.

Xie Chunyan should arrive in about ten minutes!

Although Li Guowei was currently in their hands, making the Li family hesitant to act.

It was clear, however, that the Li family wouldn't easily let them leave.

Moreover, the troops she led were all New Recruits. Forget facing twenty times their own numbers; even with equal numbers, they might not be able to defeat the well-trained Regular Troops.

Only once Xie Chunyan arrived and the forces were balanced would they have the leverage to negotiate.

Seeing Tie Shengnan step forward, the Li Family Third Brother immediately roared, “Tie Shengnan! Release him!”

As the Li Family Third Brother's voice faded, the entire Li Family Army followed with a unified roar:

“Release him!”

“Release him!”

... “I told you, this has nothing to do with the Tie family.”

Tie Shengnan said calmly, “This is between you and the Forbidden City. Guild Leader Xie will be here soon.”

“If you have the courage, you can personally demand an explanation from her later.”

“Hmph!”

The Li Family Third Brother gave a heavy snort through his nose, but his expression carried a hint of sorrow.

Tie Shengnan was waiting, and so was he.

His other division and Xie Chunyan were estimated to arrive simultaneously in two minutes.

Li Guowei had just sent him a private message.

Having reached this point, their Li family was now directly confronting the Tie family and the Forbidden City.

Therefore, Li Guowei instructed the Li Family Third Brother to be ready to act at any moment.

The Forbidden City had always been run by Huang Chen's women, and now Huang Chen was absent.

As long as they killed his women, the Forbidden City would naturally fall into chaos.

They could then take the Li Family Army and find a place to hide.

Huaxia Main City was so vast that it would be difficult for the disorganized Forbidden City to track them down.

They could even wage guerrilla warfare against the Forbidden City, slowly weakening its power.

At the same time, they could secretly build up their strength, waiting until they were strong enough to counter the enemy before catching the Forbidden City off guard.

He always believed that the reason Huang Chen gained such immense power must be due to some treasure he acquired.

And the gap created by external item enhancements would surely be slowly eliminated as levels increased.

The Li Family Third Brother knew that his father possessed a one-time Short-Distance Teleportation Scroll, capable of teleporting him to any location within ten kilometers.

He had obtained it by defeating a Black Iron Boss.

If his father managed to escape, could he not rely on his 30,000 troops to eliminate the Forbidden City's 10,000 New Recruit Eggs?

They didn't have to wait long before the Forbidden City Legion led by Xie Chunyan arrived on the battlefield.

They bypassed the Li Family Army's diamond formation and immediately converged with Tie Shengnan.

“Guild Leader!”

As soon as Xie Chunyan arrived, the people on Tie Shengnan's side greeted her one after another.

Xie Chunyan nodded, then turned to look at Li Guowei, her gaze icy.

When she led the team out, Huang Chen's instruction was “Kill them directly”!

However, she had initially thought the enemy only had 10,000 troops, but now they had a full 30,000 people.

Her side, counting everyone, only had a little over 11,000 people, nearly 10,000 of whom were New Recruit Eggs around Level 30.

However, the Forbidden City side had Bai Zhaoning's Life Link, which could distribute 50% of the damage, essentially providing 50% damage reduction.

Furthermore, under the effect of Pure Sound Chanting cast by over a dozen Level 50 Water Element users, as long as they weren't instantly killed, it would be extremely difficult for them to die.

Coupled with Chen Yichun's Frost Domain suppressing the enemy.

Taking everything into account, if a war broke out, while the Forbidden City wouldn't necessarily lose, these people might suffer heavy casualties.

Uncertain, Xie Chunyan sent a message to Huang Chen again to ask for confirmation.

[Huang Chen: Kill!]

Huang Chen didn't care about the casualties among the new recruits; growth required tempering in blood and fire.

These new recruits were currently facing opponents of similar levels, and they had two Group Battle Holy Artifacts assisting them.

If they were afraid to fight even under these conditions, how would they face the even stronger Intermediate Martial World and High Martial World in the future?

As for the safety of Xie Chunyan and his other wives?

With nine pieces of Level 45 Diamond equipment, each adding 20,000 HP, they gained nearly 180,000 HP in total, plus 19,943 Potential Points.

Even the Assassin Lin Qingmei, who had the lowest HP, reached 300,000 HP.

More importantly, with their inherent resistance combined with the resistance provided by their equipment, plus the level suppression.

Huang Chen even doubted whether the Li Family Army could break their defense.

Xie Chunyan received Huang Chen's message, her expression instantly chilling. She looked at Lin Qingmei and commanded, “Kill him!”

Hearing the command, Lin Qingmei didn't hesitate for a moment, plunging her dagger straight toward Li Guowei's chest.

However, just as Xie Chunyan gave the order, Li Guowei activated a teleportation. A flash of white light enveloped him, and he vanished from Lin Qingmei's grasp.

Teleportation?

Does the enemy also possess a Divine Artifact?

Before anyone could react to the shock, earth-shattering battle cries erupted from the opposing formation... [Tomorrow is the weekend, and I might sleep in, so I've updated all of tomorrow's content tonight. Normally, there will be no updates during the day tomorrow.]