I changed the world.

Page 137

At this moment, the tremors grew louder and louder, and soon a large group of armored knights came rushing in from afar, numbering at least several hundred.

These knights all wore conical, domed helmets resembling conical hats, topped with feathers and decorated with fur around the edges. Their necks were protected by cotton armor studded with copper. Some knights' armor was adorned with gray wolf pelts, giving them all a fierce and imposing appearance.

It is obvious at a glance that these knights are not dressed like traditional Central Plains warriors.

A loud whistle rang out, and the knights reined in their horses and came to a halt. One of the knights dismounted, ran quickly to the front, knelt down to examine the footprints on the ground, and then turned to a rider general, knelt on one knee, and said with his hands clasped, "Commander, the footprints on the ground are fresh. Those sorcerers who tried to assassinate Lord Zong Pola should be not far ahead."

The knight was speaking in an unfamiliar dialect, yet for some reason, Li Jingxin could understand him.

"Chase them down! Leave no one alive!"

Just as the general uttered these words, the tall grass not far away suddenly shook violently, and a figure pounced out with lightning speed, knocking a knight at the edge of the column off his horse. Then, with a series of swift movements, the figure spun left and right, causing the mounts of two other knights nearby to cry out in alarm. One of the riders reared up and then tumbled to the ground; the skilled horseman had managed to dismount at the last second. The other rider, however, was not so fortunate, tumbling over and crushing the knight on top of him beneath him.

Only then did the surrounding knights realize that the legs of both warhorses had been cut off.

The figure didn't linger; it made a quick contact and then disappeared back into the tall grass.

"There is an enemy attack!!"

"dismount!!"

"alert!!"

In the wilderness, the north wind swayed the surrounding tall grasses gently, and everything seemed to have returned to calm. The figure from a moment ago had completely vanished without a trace.

"It's that sorcerer!" a knight beside the general shouted in obvious panic, only to be lashed across the face by the general's whip.

"Bow and arrow!" the cavalry general shouted, taking the carved bow hanging beside his saddle.

"put!"

These knights were clearly prepared beforehand. As the general fired a whistling arrow, the surrounding knights simultaneously fired arrows in the direction of the whistling arrow.

Hundreds of powerful arrows instantly enveloped an area within dozens of steps around that spot, precisely the direction from which the figure had disappeared into the tall grass.

The whistling arrows kept shooting out, and the powerful arrows that followed followed without stopping, quickly covering the entire surrounding area.

Finally, as the sixth whistling arrow was fired, hundreds of long arrows whistled out, and suddenly the tall grass exploded open. A figure quickly swung his long sword to deflect several arrows, leaped up, tapped the grass twice with his feet, and pounced on the cavalry like a falcon.

However, the knights were on high alert and had clearly prepared for all sorts of scenarios. As soon as the figure lunged out, a dozen or so warriors who had been holding their bows at the sidelines opened fire on the approaching figure.

With a dozen or so powerful bows firing rapidly, the figure twisted and paused in the sky like a fish, and the arrows missed their mark.

At this moment, the figure accelerated again, instantly closing in on the knights' ranks.

However, because of that earlier obstruction, the knights had already reacted. One by one, long lances, three to four meters long, were laid flat, their sharp iron tips, each over half a meter long, gleaming coldly, blocking the figure's path. (In the era of cold weapons, many lances used by nomadic soldiers in the border regions had tips exceeding 60 centimeters in length; this was to prevent the lance tip from being severed by a saber during mounted combat.)

Behind the spears, round shields had already covered the sides of the formation, and the entire formation had quickly changed its formation, turning into a steel porcupine with bared quills, with the direction of the figure's charge as the front.

This figure was also incredibly skilled. With a wave of his hand, he deflected two spear tips that were thrusting towards him. Then, he swung his sword and cut off another one. However, at this moment, his longsword, perhaps because its blade was not strong enough, broke in two when it collided with the spear tips.

The figure, holding half a broken sword, rushed in front of the shields and kicked one of them.

A knight carrying a round shield was kicked and fell into the formation, as if he had been hit by a galloping horse. He knocked down a companion behind him, and blood gushed from his face as he fell to the ground, unable to get up.

However, the other knights around them also fearlessly surrounded them, their long swords flashing down...

After felling another knight, the figure, seeing no way to break through, abandoned the fight and quickly retreated, disappearing more than ten meters away in an instant. Just then, from behind the shield-bearing knights, many white paper packages suddenly flew out. The figure instinctively swung his sword at one of the incoming packages, but unexpectedly, upon impact, the package exploded, scattering a large amount of white dust. The other packages, upon landing, also burst open, creating a cloud of dust that instantly enveloped the figure.

This unexpected move had a remarkable effect. The figure clearly hadn't anticipated the knights' tactic and was immediately hit in the eyes with dust. He instinctively reached out to wipe it, but unexpectedly, there was dust on his hands as well, and the more he wiped, the more dust appeared.

He couldn't help but let out a muffled groan of pain...

"That sorcerer's eyes are blinded by lime! Shoot!"

By this time, the knights had finally seen the figure clearly. It was an old man dressed in a linen robe and wearing a bamboo crown. He had his eyes closed, his face covered in grime, and he was swinging his broken sword rapidly and wildly, though he was clearly somewhat out of his mind.

Li Jingxin could see clearly at this moment that this was the old man who had stayed behind to cover the retreat.

"shoot!"

"Cum again!"

The old man was blind. Although he managed to deflect several arrows during the three volleys of arrows, he couldn't hit every angle. He was struck in the shoulder and left leg by an arrow.

The arrow in his left leg, in particular, noticeably slowed him down.

At this critical moment, a thick fog suddenly rose up around them. The fog came strangely and enveloped the surrounding area in just a few breaths.

Immediately afterward, the warhorses neighed as if startled, and several broke free of their reins, struggling to gallop away. Others that tried to flee were pulled back by their riders, rearing up...

The entire army formation immediately fell into chaos. Just then, a colossal creature suddenly burst out from the thick fog and plunged into the formation. It snatched a knight in its mouth, chewed him a couple of times, then, as if it didn't like the taste, tossed him far away.

Chapter 223 So there's someone behind my Cloud Sky Temple after all...

This is a colossal creature that is at least twenty meters long. Its body resembles a legendary dragon, with a dorsal fin extending from its neck to its tailbone along its spine. Every so often, the dorsal fin has a sharp, spear-like bone spur.

Its head resembles a tiger's, but it has two long whiskers, sharp fangs, exposed canines, and a thick mane around its neck, making it look extremely majestic. Its upper body appears muscular and aesthetically pleasing, giving it a powerful and explosive appearance.

The monster was covered in scales, with colorful patterns on its scales, mane, dorsal fin, and tail fin. In particular, its forehead had a black "king" pattern similar to that of a tiger.

The moment the monster charged in, the surrounding horses collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted and unable to move. Not only the horses, but even the warriors were terrified, as if they had encountered some immense horror, and scattered in all directions.

Any brave warriors who dared to resist were often struck by the behemoth in a single encounter, sent flying or slammed onto the head, leaving them lifeless like a crushed insect.

Li Jingxin, watching from the side, subconsciously held his breath. He saw that the leading centurion had also lost his composure and was retreating in a fluster, as if trying to avoid the monster.

But the monster clearly targeted him, turning its head and roaring at him before leaping in front of him. Several guards who tried to block its way were sent flying like straw men. Then, the monster slapped out with its claw, knocking the centurion down by half...

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Less than a quarter of an hour later, apart from dozens of corpses of men and horses, there were no other knights left at the scene. After being attacked by an irresistible force, the remaining soldiers eventually chose to flee, and by then they had all scattered.

The giant beast did not choose to give chase, but instead lay down leisurely, seemingly bored.

The old man, whose eyes had been clouded by lime, was finally able to open them with difficulty. The enormous creature not far away clearly frightened him, and he stood stiffly, unsure of what to do.

Just then, a middle-aged man dressed in feathered robes, exuding an extraordinary aura, stepped out of the mist and approached the colossal beast. Strangely enough, upon seeing this man, the enormous beast lowered its massive head as if a kitten had met its master, allowing the man to stroke its cheek before obediently lying down beside it.

"Greetings, Senior Uncle!" The old man was clearly relieved when he saw the middle-aged man. He limped forward, cupped his hands in greeting, and his voice trembled, revealing his excitement.

"It's been tough for you all. I rushed here after receiving the news, but I was already too late." The middle-aged man sighed when he saw the old man's miserable state. He reached out and pressed his hand on the old man's body, and at the same time, the long arrows stuck in the old man's shoulder and thigh shot out.

Then he casually touched the area near the wound twice, and the bleeding stopped...

Then, he took out a jade bottle, poured out a pill, thought for a moment, put the pill back in, and simply handed over the whole jade bottle: "Take one pill, half for internal use and half for external application, that's enough. You can save the rest for later use."

"Thank you for your help, Uncle Master." The old man looked grateful, clasped his hands together, and bowed deeply to the ground.

"In the blink of an eye, decades have passed. My senior master is as handsome as ever... but I never imagined that we would meet again in such a situation."

"Why stand on ceremony? The Yunxiao lineage is a branch of Kunlun, and the sect cannot stand idly by and watch you perish. Besides, I myself am from Yunxiao..."

The old man sighed upon hearing this, then felt a pang of sadness: "It's just a pity about those disciples in the temple..."

The middle-aged man sighed upon hearing this, and after a moment, asked the old man, "Did you encounter any other difficulties on this trip south?"

“Over the years, the temple has acquired some properties in the south, so settling down shouldn’t be a problem.” The old man wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes, thought for a moment, and said, “Afterwards, we will naturally seek another place to establish our temple.”

"However, this time, in order to protect the sect, I had no choice but to take action and kill a high-ranking Hu official. I imagine those Hu soldiers will not let us go easily... I also imagine that there will be pursuers along the way."

"Now that I am here, I will naturally protect you all."

"In that case, we must rely on the divine power of our master..."

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The scene shifted several times, and in Li Jingxin's eyes, these scenes were almost all the most difficult or crisis-ridden moments in the history of Yunxiao Temple...

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Finally, as the last scene slowly faded away, Li Jingxin found himself still standing on the top floor of Chengzong Tower, before the statue of the Celestial Venerable, still holding the jade tablet. The jade tablet, however, no longer showed any unusual reaction in his hand.

It was as if everything that had just happened was a dream.

Feeling completely dazed, Li Jingxin felt that his entire outlook on life, and even his worldview, had been reconstructed.

He stared blankly at the jade pendant in his hand, maintaining that posture for a long time.

Before this, although he had learned about the history of Yunxiao Temple, due to a kind of survivorship bias, he had not thought carefully about how incredible it was for a sect to have been established 2000 years ago and continue to this day...

Not only him, but even his fellow disciples rarely noticed this point, as if everything was taken for granted.

It wasn't until now, until he saw those key scenes hidden in history, that he suddenly realized that all of this... didn't seem to be a matter of course.

The reason for everything was already determined two thousand years ago!

The Great Teacher Zhang Taiping...

Celestial Master Lu Shouyan...

Even the patriarchs of Yunxiao Temple in the unseen realm...

These figures, once seemingly stereotypical and separated by a thick layer of history, are now reborn in his mind with an unparalleled realism and vividness.