Chapter 141: I Have Come to Seize the Bride!

"Who goes there? And for what purpose?"

Xiachuan chuckled softly, a laugh full of contempt, mockery, and utter dismissiveness. They had already encountered several groups of people daring enough to try their luck, all lured by the immense wealth of the convoy. Yet, this was the first time anyone had come to brazenly snatch the bride. However, whether past or present, anyone daring to provoke the Great Xia nation would inevitably become a soul beneath the blades of this army.

"A rogue cultivator, Baili Mo." Baili Mo lowered his gaze, falling silent for a long moment before uttering those words, a whirlpool of complex emotions churning in his heart.

"I am here... to snatch the bride!" Baili Mo drew a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the turbulence within, and shouted forward with all his might.

What he received in return, however, was a burst of raucous laughter, mocking this wet-behind-the-ears kid for not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth.

"Just by yourself?" Xiachuan sat upon his warhorse, sneering.

"Just by myself!" Baili Mo replied in a deep voice, ignoring their laughter.

The laughter grew louder, accompanied by a barrage of foul language and insulting jeers, yet Baili Mo remained completely unfazed.

"Baili Mo? Never heard of that name. Should I call you fearless, or utterly stupid?" Xiachuan looked at someone far younger than himself. To have reached the Golden Core realm at such an age could be considered prodigious, even in his eyes.

Yet so what? Within this hundred-man troop, there were at least a few dozen in the Golden Core realm. What could a single person do against them? He would be reduced to a ghost in a matter of moments, without even needing Xiachuan to lift a finger.

"Xiachuan, I have heard of your name."

"Oh? Has even a wet-behind-the-ears brat like you heard of my humble name?" Xiachuan enunciated each word with exaggerated care, dripping with mockery.

"I have. A dog of the Xia Emperor—no, rather, a dog of Xia Wenhao, a dog bestowed with a lowly name." Baili Mo also smiled faintly, turning a blind eye to the perilous situation before him.

Xia Wenhao, the name of the current Xia Emperor, the very person who had pushed Xia Qinglian into the abyss.

"Audacious! Is the name of the Xia Emperor something a lowly wretch like you is permitted to utter? Forget the Xia Emperor! A Golden Core cultivator like you isn't even worthy of carrying my shoes!" Hearing Baili Mo's grave offense against the emperor, Xiachuan flew into a rage and roared at him.

At the commander's furious bellow, a chorus of blades being drawn rang out from behind him. All hundred men glared daggers at him, eager to instantly hack him to pieces.

"To live with joy, and die without regret!"

"I owe her far too much, so much that I need a lifetime to repay it."

"My master said she would be my tribulation. My master said she would push me into a place of eternal damnation."

"Yet I have no regrets, nor do I wish to regret. I love her so deeply it pierces my soul."

"So I have come, just as she came that day. This time, I will never let go—absolutely never!"

Baili Mo's voice remained low and steady. He slowly raised his head, his eyes filled with profound gravity and an indomitable, relentless determination.

"Listen up, you motley crew! Today, I am taking her away! Let me see which bastard dares to stop me!"

"What Xia Emperor! What Guyue Tribe! It's all absolute bullshit! Scum!"

"Those who block me—show no mercy!"

"Those who stop me—die!"

Baili Mo bellowed and roared. Stripped of his usual elegance and gentle demeanor, he spat curse after curse, fiercely venting the resentment and suppression pent up in his heart.

His voice reverberated through the canyon, echoing endlessly, over and over again.

The biting cold wind picked up again, howling in fierce gusts through the canyon, creating a sound like whistling wind—like the horn of war, like a song of life and death for a lone warrior.

If this journey meant no return,

Then let there be no return!

"A wet-behind-the-ears brat, and yet so arrogant!" Xiachuan slowly removed the battle helmet from his head. Beneath it was a rugged, deeply weathered face, but one entirely covered in jagged scars, making it look terrifyingly fierce.

"Acting willfully is the privilege of the strong!" Baili Mo raised the long sword in his hand, pointing it directly at the hundred cultivators without the slightest bit of retreat.

"Hah." Xiachuan chuckled mockingly from his horse. He slowly raised his right hand and gave a slight wave forward.

"Kill!" A single simple word. Dozens of figures leaped out from the hundred-man ranks, wielding magical artifacts and long sabers. Though merely Foundation Establishment cultivators, they had the advantage of numbers, charging forward with a menacing, overwhelming momentum.

"In this world, strength is the only absolute truth. Don't make this too boring for me." Xiachuan lightly stroked the terrifying scar on his face, murmuring as he watched the high-spirited Baili Mo.

"Kill." Baili Mo uttered the single word quietly, his gaze entirely calm. Gripping his sword, he charged forward, the spiritual energy surging around him unstoppable.

Other than battle, there was no other choice!

Within the canyon, sand and stones flew through the air.

For just one person, facing one person, what did life and death matter?

With love in one's life, why fear the flying wind and sand!

"Proctor, soldier, fighter, all arrayed before, march! Rise, soldiers!" Baili Mo leaped into the air, his left hand forming hand seals while his right hand held his sword upright, the surging spiritual energy of a Golden Core cultivator bursting forth uninhibited.

"Ten swords! Rise!" Baili Mo shouted fiercely. The sword held upright in his hand shot straight into the heavens, trembling rapidly until it split into ten. Each long sword seemed to possess a life and soul of its own, turning back to slice forward through the air with deafening sonic booms.

"Kill!" The dozens of Great Xia soldiers roared in unison, instantly drowning out the howling wind in the canyon.

Ten of them stepped forward to meet the ten long swords head-on. The clashing of blades rang out, and the ten peak Foundation Establishment cultivators were actually suppressed entirely by the ten swords, unable to break away.

"A bit familiar." Xiachuan narrowed his eyes on horseback, watching the ongoing clash. He found Baili Mo's technique rather familiar, though he couldn't quite place it for the moment.

Then, he glanced over at the red-adorned carriage beside him, a sudden wave of anxiety rising in his heart, as if a bad omen were about to unfold.

Yet he immediately shook his head, convincing himself he was simply being too high-strung. There was no way a wet-behind-the-ears brat could pose any real threat to him.

"Proctor, soldier, fighter, all arrayed before, march! Form the array!" Left without his swords, Baili Mo formed hand seals with both hands, stepping out the Big Dipper constellation. Starlight flashed as a circular magic array hundreds of feet in diameter activated.

A curtain of blood rose, directly enveloping the dozen remaining Foundation Establishment cultivators who had charged forward. A dragon's roar echoed from within the array, and behind Baili Mo—who was continuously forming hand seals—a faint, ethereal blood-red dragon materialized.

A faint scent of blood drifted over.

The massive blood dragon coiled tighter and tighter around Baili Mo, its twin claws covered in crimson scales pointing straight ahead. Upon its ferocious dragon head, a pair of previously closed eyes began to slowly open.

The wind and sand grew even fiercer.

Resolute and decisive.

Better not to strike at all, but when striking, to give it everything!