Everyone’s expression changed when they heard this.

’Go back? What for?’

’It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what that means!’

Li Lu immediately said to Li Xian, "You, take some men to the County Town and spread the word at once! Once the rest of their forces arrive, we’ll be completely powerless to resist. It doesn’t matter if it works or not; we have to try and incite them to fight back."

"Yes, Gang Leader!" Li Xian affirmed, quickly leading a few men and running toward the County Town.

Li Lu turned to Zhao the Seventh, his expression grave. "Arrange for our men to hide in the farmlands with unlit torches. The moment these Outsiders make a move on us, watch for the signal from the village and burn it all! No one is going to benefit from this!"

Hearing this order, Zhao the Seventh froze. He stammered, "But this is Lord Cheng’s life’s work! If we burn it, when he gets back, won’t he... won’t he..."

Zhao the Seventh trailed off, confident Li Lu would understand his meaning. And Li Lu did.

"If it’s taken by the Outsiders, it’s as good as funding them. By then, we might not even be alive. It’s better to burn it all! That way, they get nothing!"

Li Lu had a point, but Zhao the Seventh was still hesitant.

Li Lu frowned. "What? Is there a problem?"

Zhao the Seventh opened his mouth to speak, but in the end, he just shook his head. "N-no."

’The harvest was only about a month away, and now they had to burn it all?!’

’It would be a lie to say it didn’t break his heart.’

’But he was also terrified of how furious Cheng Zongyang would be. It might seem like the fields had something to do with them, but in reality, they belonged to Cheng Zongyang and him alone!’

’If they left the fields, maybe they could take them back later. But if they burned them, they’d be gone for good!’ 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

After giving the orders, Li Lu’s face was also etched with sorrow.

’How did the situation escalate to a crisis point so suddenly?’

’Had years of competition turned these Outsiders into such an aggressive force?’

’He wasn’t too worried about his family in the city; they were just common people. Surely the invaders wouldn’t go so far as to slaughter entire families, right?’

「A quarter of an hour later.」

Li Xian and his men, having sprinted the whole way, arrived on the official road outside the West City gate.

However, when they reached the gate under the cover of darkness, they discovered it had been shut!

Li Xian’s face was a mask of anxiety, but before he could call out to the Gang members on the wall, he heard one of his men cry out in panic from behind him.

"H-Hall Master, our men are dead!"

Li Xian’s head snapped around at the words. By the faint glow of the moon, he could see the bodies of their Gang members lying motionless on the ground.

"Check the other city gates!" Li Xian snarled, heading toward South City.

’It was obvious what had happened. The moment those people entered the city, they must have killed his men, taken control of the defenses, and shut the gates!’

「Half an hour later.」

Despair was etched on Li Xian’s face.

Two of the County Town’s four gates were shut, with Outsiders standing guard on the walls, preventing anyone from entering. There was no point in checking the other two; he knew what the outcome would be.

’Unless they attacked the County Town itself!’

"We’re going back!" Li Xian glared at the faint silhouettes on the wall before turning to lead his men back to the village.

But at that moment, an even greater crisis was descending upon Tiantuan Village.

A massive, sprawling column of people arrived at the entrance of the village.

At a signal from a Martial Artist named Iron Bull, the leaders of the six large detachments each had ten men step forward from their own ranks.

At once, led by Iron Bull, a total of sixty Eighth Grade Martial Artists holding torches marched into the village.

The others continued their advance toward the County Town, as there was no need for everyone to remain.

They didn’t need to waste much manpower dealing with a group of Martial Artists whose Cultivation was Ninth Grade, or Eighth Grade at the very most.

Li Lu was well aware of the Outsiders’ arrival.

He had no intention of meeting them head-on, instead ordering his men to prepare an ambush under the cover of darkness.

Although he knew it would likely have minimal effect, it was their only means of fighting back.

If they confronted the enemy head-on, there would be only one outcome: a swifter death.

However, while Li Lu sent his men to set the ambush, he stood alone at the southern entrance of Tiantuan Village.

Li Xian had yet to return, Zhao the Seventh was leading his men in hiding among the farmlands, and Xiao Bing and Chen Eryun were lying in ambush in the woods.

This was precisely the direction the Outsiders would be coming from, through an old entrance on the south side of the village.

As the sixty men charged forward, they soon saw Li Lu standing at the village entrance, holding a torch aloft.

Their leader, Iron Bull, stared at Li Lu, his killing intent palpable. With no threat from the County Town, he had no intention of wasting words this time. He bellowed to the men behind him:

"Kill them all! Leave no one alive!"

At Iron Bull’s great roar, the men from the six family detachments charged toward Tiantuan Village.

Seeing the enemy once again refuse to play by any sort of rules, Li Lu, at the entrance to the village, made a snap decision and roared, "Loose!"

Instantly, a volley of arrows shot out from the woods on both sides, their feathered shafts making WHOOSHING sounds as they tore through the dark.

Some of the mounted Outsiders couldn’t dodge in time and were struck, tumbling from their horses in a panic.

Most, however, relied on their own senses and quick reflexes to evade the shafts, while others blocked them with their weapons!

The next moment, thirty of the men split off, charging into the woods on either flank. The remaining thirty pressed forward without slowing.

A moment later, a cacophony of shouts and the clang of weapons erupted from the woods.

Li Lu quickly fell back into the village from the entrance, using his torch to light a tall pyre stacked in the Central Region, sending up a thick column of signal smoke.

This signal fire had been Cheng Zongyang’s idea, its purpose to be seen by people in the County Town or the surrounding areas in the future.