"It seems the scouts are in trouble."
"We have an assassin!"
For a moment, various voices filled the mountain stronghold.
One by one, archers immediately took cover behind the fences and aimed their bows and crossbows at Lu Changsheng.
Lu Changsheng narrowed his eyes slightly. There were hundreds of bandits in the stronghold, and it seemed they were well-trained archers as well.
Clearly, the Thirteen Riders of the Great Desert were not only skilled in martial arts but also possibly well-versed in battle formations.
Or perhaps, it was the work of the White Lotus Cult.
With these archers in place, Lu Changsheng couldn’t simply barge into the stronghold while the bandits were in chaos. Even though he was a "Half-Step Divine Power Realm" martial artist after the Bone Marrow Exchange, he was still a flesh-and-blood human.
If he forced his way in, he would likely get injured or even shot by arrows.
"If I had Zhao Xing’s suit of armor, I could break through the archer formation of the bandits!"
In Lu Changsheng’s mind, the image of Zhao Xing’s armor came to mind.
However, he didn’t have the armor now.
From a distance, Lu Changsheng could already see several sharp eyes fixed on him from the stronghold. They should be the Thirteen Riders of the Great Desert or skilled individuals from the White Lotus Cult.
They seemed cautious and didn’t send anyone out recklessly.
Lu Changsheng looked around at the forest. Aside from the densely packed tall trees, there was nothing else.
A spark of inspiration flashed in Lu Changsheng’s mind.
Seeing the lush and towering trees around him, he had a way to deal with the archers and even break through the stronghold’s gate.
Lu Changsheng went straight to a massive tree that required three people to encircle its trunk.
He immediately embraced the trunk with both hands, but he could only hold a portion of it.
Then, he exerted all his strength to pull upwards.
"Rustle, rustle, rustle."
The branches of the large tree swayed, but the tree itself remained quite stable.
The bandits in the stronghold stared at Lu Changsheng with wide eyes, one by one. The source of this content ɪs ɴoᴠel Fɪre.nᴇt
"Does he want to uproot that enormous tree?"
"That’s a tree that requires three people to encircle! Even if he possesses divine strength, it’s impossible to pull out such a massive tree, right?"
"Besides a Divine Power Realm martial artist, who could uproot such a towering tree?"
"Although this person has an imposing aura and vigorous blood, he certainly isn’t a Divine Power Realm martial artist."
The bandits began to laugh, finding the assassin quite foolish.
They had encountered several assassins during this period, but this was the first time they had seen someone this "stupid."
Lu Changsheng paid no attention to what the bandits thought. Since his own strength alone couldn’t uproot the tree, he took a deep breath, and his blood and qi instantly permeated his body.
There was a thunderous noise within Lu Changsheng’s body as his blood and qi surged. A blood cloud formed above his head.
Following that, the blood cloud began to disperse, transforming into threads of blood and qi.
However, these weren’t blood silk swords, merely blood and qi threads.
The other ends of these blood and qi threads remained within Lu Changsheng’s body. These threads seemed like tentacles and quickly covered the entire enormous tree.
They enveloped the entire trunk of the tree.
At that moment, Lu Changsheng exerted force with his hands, and it seemed that the blood and qi threads covering the tree also erupted with a terrifying power.
An inconceivable scene occurred. The entire forest seemed to shake.
As the forest quaked, the enormous tree began to sway violently, and eventually, Lu Changsheng succeeded in forcibly uprooting it!
In the stronghold, thirteen martial artists who were dressed strangely, had pale skin, and whose appearance clearly stood out from the others stared at Lu Changsheng in the distance.
"How is this possible?"
"Such a massive tree, and he actually managed to uproot it?"
"They say the Southern Dynasty’s martial arts are vast and profound, with numerous powerful individuals. Besides those foolish assassins from earlier, we’ve finally encountered an interesting martial artist."
These thirteen individuals were none other than the Thirteen Riders of the Great Desert!
They referred to the Great Fish Dynasty as the "Southern Dynasty."
After all, the Great Fish Dynasty was situated to the south of the Northern Barbarians and the Great Desert geographically.
"With the strength of ten thousand catties, uprooting a towering tree!"
"However, the martial arts of the Thirteen Leaders are extraordinary, and unless someone has reached the Divine Power Realm, they’ll likely be no match for them."
"While this person does possess some brute strength, it’s hardly worth mentioning."
Speaking was an elder in a white robe known as "Elder Chu" within the stronghold.