CHAPTER 496: CHAPTER 496. RESERVE BATTALION

Amon closed his eyes when he noticed the small balls. He knew what they were at a single glance. They were the Flashbang Grenades. He was alarmed to learn someone other than his force had these tools. This proved someone had managed to produce them.

He wasn’t too shocked by the fact. The materials required to produce the tools were rare but not that rare. What concerned him more was the fact that another party meddled in their affair of eradicating the rebels. He didn’t believe the people who saved Pan Lohuan were members of the rebels. They wouldn’t wear a getup that hid their identities if so.

He looked at the barrier below him. Lao Zen and the others had disposed of the black-colored battle puppets that disrupted them. They were now hitting at the barrier to destroy it. It didn’t look like they would break it in a short time. The barrier was formed by many talismans arranged in a circle around the holes. Whoever made this talisman was an exceptional talisman-maker and formation sage.

Amon managed to leave the great hall before this barrier was erected thanks to his fast reaction. He suspected what was going on the instant he saw the flashbang grenades. He commandeered the Sun Hawk to fly up even when the Sun Hawk lost vision.

After reviewing the situation, Amon decided to chase the fleeing party. He couldn’t let Pan Lohuan flee. Pan Lohuan was the main leader of the rebels. Even if they took out most of the rebels, if Pan Lohuan was alive, the rebellion was still alive. All the hard work of these past four years would be for naught.

As Amon gave chase, he noticed the eighth member of the mysterious party. The person was climbing on a Swift Spirit Swallow. The Sun Hawk dove toward this person and fired a few fireballs. At the same time, his Alpha Flying Knives flew forward.

He could sense that the person riding the Swift Spirit Swallow was only a Transformation Stage cultivator. Thus, it didn’t take long for him to deal with the person. The Swift Spirit Swallow was hit by the fireballs before it could take flight. It wriggled around as it was burned.

The rider was thrown when the fireballs hit. Before he touched the ground, Amon’s Alpha Flying Knives cut his four limbs. He fell to the ground and couldn’t get up. The knives continued flying and stabbed into the swallow’s head, killing it.

Amon left the maimed person. He would let the kingdom soldiers apprehend that person and learn his identity once they managed to break out of the barrier. The Sun Hawk flew forward in pursuit of Pan Lohuan and the rest of the mysterious people.

*

"Master Pan Lohuan, climb on my swallow. We can move faster that way," One of the black-suited people offered.

"No," Pan Lohuan refused. These people might have saved him, but they refused to take off the black cloths covering their faces when he asked them to. This made them not trustable. He preferred to put a distance. He instead used a movement art that created a surfboard made of light. This surfboard increased his speed in the air.

From his Spirit Senses, he could tell that five out of the seven were Peak Transformation Stage cultivators. One was at the Beginning Mystic Stage, and the last one, who had been the one who talked to him and appeared to be the leader of this group, was an Intermediate Mystic Stage cultivator.

None of them could threaten him if he was in his top condition. Sadly, he was currently weak and wounded. If this lot had bad intentions for him, he could still be in danger.

The leader who offered Pan Lohuan the ride looked back. He said, "If you insist on flying on your own, he will catch up."

Pan Lohuan looked back. He saw a bright bird flying toward them in the distance.

"Let him," Pan Lohuan replied. "With us fighting him together, we can easily finish him, no?"

"... Suit yourself," the leader said.

Pan Lohuan couldn’t see the leader’s expression, but he could hear the displeasure in the leader’s tone. Pan Lohuan gave it no care. They were the ones who insisted on hiding their identities.

*

The leader looked back again after flying for twenty minutes. Amon was catching up. In another ten minutes, he should be upon them.

The leader looked to the front and surveyed the terrain. He told Pan Lohuan, "If we are to fight him, we better make it an ambush. We can’t afford a long battle. He might leave something that points the others in our direction. We must finish him fast."

He pointed at the valley below and continued, "The woods down there seemed like an ideal place. Let’s land there and wait for him."

"Very well," Pan Lohuan replied. He welcomed the chance to slay Amon. The colonel was the reason for his downfall, after all. He just didn’t want to do it at the expense of his survival, and certainly when he was still unsure about these saviors. He would stay in the back seat while letting them make a move on Amon.

*

Amon saw them descend to the wooded valley. He knew their intention. He sent a mental message to Lin Li, telling her where to go.

Lin Li was the reason how he could inform the others about where he was held. The mental link between him and Lin Li had grown to a point where the two knew the exact positions of one another at any given time. For someone who had just tamed a beast, the beast tamer could know the general direction of the tamed beast but not its exact position. With the increase of their mental link, this positional awareness became more precise.

She was the one who wrote on the message talisman informing Huang San of Amon’s location. She was also the one Amon entrusted his black space ring. Inside the black space ring, Amon kept a reserve battalion of battle puppets.

When the assault against the rebel hideouts began, Lin Li remained hidden outside the hideout. She commanded one battle puppet to exit the black space ring before giving it the ring. The battle puppet then joined the other puppets infiltrating the hideout to pass the black space ring back to Amon.

When Pan Lohuan was rescued, Amon commanded Lin Li to pursue from the land while he pursued from the sky. Lin Li’s speed on land didn’t lose to the Swift Spirit Swallow, hence she could keep up.

Their mental link had also grown to a level where they could share a partial sense for a limited amount of time. If both focused on their mental link, Amon could see or hear what Lin Li saw or heard.

Amon sent her to the woods ahead of him. Inside a wooded area, her stealth ability was not to be scoffed at. Very few could sense her concealment. The enemies would not know she was there.

When Amon arrived above the valley, Pan Lohuan and the seven people in black had already disappeared inside. He circled the place from above.

’Eight targets,’ Amon thought. If Pan Lohuan wished to flee, this was his golden opportunity. That’s why Amon sent Lin Li here first. He was now closing his eyes, focusing on Lin Li’s sight. He could see from a distance Pan Lohuan and the seven people under the trees. They were discussing something. Six split in different directions while one stayed with Pan Lohuan.

Amon told Lin Li to stay with Pan Lohuan and maintain distance. Though wounded, Pan Lohuan was a Peak Spirit Stage cultivator. He might sense her if she got too close. The important thing was they knew Pan Lohuan’s position at all times.

From Lin Li’s eyes, Amon saw Pan Lohuan eat something, probably a recovery pill or a regrowth pill. He needed to hurry then. He couldn’t let Pan Lohuan heal too much.

Amon himself had eaten these pills when he was rescued earlier, but he would require even longer time to heal than Pan Lohuan. He could move now only because he was riding the Sun Hawk. Under normal situations, he stood no chance against these eight with his condition, but he still had a trump card. The reserve battalion that was kept in his black space ring was still inside.

He brought this battalion out now. In an instant, the sky was filled with almost a thousand battle puppets. The eight, who were peeking from the woods below, were flabbergasted by the sight.

These battle puppets were high-tier engraved grades and weren’t equipped with flight units, so they fell to the ground once they were brought out. The sounds of them landing were like thunder. A small earthquake was produced due to their simultaneous landing.

Because there were a thousand of them, they covered a wide area. The eight who prepared to ambush were immediately in sight. They were still stunned by the sudden turn of events and stayed still even when the battle puppets were around them.

"Exterminate," Amon commanded from the sky. The battle puppets moved in on their prey.