One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

Chapter 268 The Mine

"Wow, that's a rather unique way to greet someone," Wang Ye clicked his tongue, but his hands moved with lightning speed! He suddenly turned the steering wheel, simultaneously pressing the accelerator (though the accelerator response of this beat-up car was pitifully slow) and the brake in a strange rhythm! The beat-up pickup truck let out a piercing scream, as if its parts were about to fall apart, and the vehicle swung violently to the left, the tires leaving several charred marks on the dusty road, narrowly missing the edge of a tumbleweed, like a drunkard squeezing through a dangerous area covered by rocks at an extremely tricky angle! The rear of the truck was even grazed by a small stone, making a muffled "clang," but it didn't affect the overall situation.

However, the attack was far from over! This rolling stone was clearly just an appetizer!

Just as the beat-up pickup truck had rushed through the boulder field, before the vehicle had even fully straightened—

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Several sharp, piercing sounds rang out without warning from the bushes on the left hillside! Immediately following was an even denser barrage of gunfire, like popping beans! Bullets rained down from at least three or four different firing positions, relentlessly targeting the battered pickup truck that had just escaped a close call, its speed suddenly reduced, and its position clearly visible! Bullets struck the vehicle with a series of clanging sounds, sending countless sparks flying! Several holes were instantly pierced through the windshield, cracks spreading like a spiderweb! The tires were also hit, making a hissing sound as they deflated!

It was an ambush! And not the low-level dark creatures of last night, but well-trained, coordinated armed personnel equipped with automatic weapons! They were the regular armed forces under "Blood Buddha"! They had clearly received intelligence long ago, or had been lying in ambush on this inevitable route, waiting specifically for them!

"Get down!" Nie Lingfeng shouted sharply, instantly tackling Chen Duo to the ground beneath her seat and shielding her with his body. At the same time, his inner power erupted, and a layer of condensed dark golden light shield instantly enveloped the back seat area, blocking and deflecting all the stray bullets and shards of glass that pierced through the vehicle! However, the light shield also flickered violently under such intense firepower, consuming a great deal of energy.

In the driver's seat, Wang Ye's reaction was even more bizarre. Faced with a hail of bullets, he not only did not panic and dodge, but at the moment before the bullets hit his body, his body, as if boneless, leaned back at an extremely strange angle that seemed to violate human biomechanics, while his right hand seemingly casually tapped and flicked the steering wheel.

"Buzz—!"

An invisible and intangible strange fluctuation, which instantly disrupted the space and force field in the surrounding small area, quietly spread out from the center of his palm!

In the blink of an eye! The bullets aimed at the driver's seat, which should have riddled him with holes, inexplicably deviated from their trajectories as they entered within three feet of him! As if gently brushed aside by an unseen, soft yet irresistible force, they grazed his body, hair, and even his cheek, before embedding themselves in the adjacent seat, the roof, or even passing through the other door! Not a single one actually touched his body! Not even the languid, sleepy expression on his face changed slightly!

"Tsk, terrible marksmanship, what a waste of such a good guy." Wang Ye even had time to mutter a complaint, while simultaneously slamming his foot on the gas pedal to the floor! The nearly destroyed engine of the pickup truck roared even louder in its death throes, billowing black smoke, and like a wounded beast, it recklessly accelerated towards the pass! He knew that staying still would make him a sitting duck; he had to get through this deadly section!

Nie Lingfeng instantly understood Wang Ye's intention. He stopped maintaining the large-scale defensive light shield and instead concentrated his power to prepare for a possible, more powerful interception.

Braving a hail of bullets, the beat-up pickup truck, its body riddled with holes and both tires completely flat, still stubbornly and at an astonishing speed, made a screeching noise and sparks as it rubbed against the ground, passing through the narrowest and most heavily armed section of the pass!

However, just as they were about to break through the narrow pass and the road ahead became relatively open—

"boom!"

An even deeper, more muffled roar, as if the earth itself trembled, came from beneath the road in front of them!

Immediately afterwards, about twenty meters directly in front of the broken pickup truck, the road suddenly collapsed! A huge pit, more than five meters in diameter and several meters deep, with irregular edges and covered with sharp wooden spikes and barbed wire, appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the road, like a gaping, ferocious maw! The pit had clearly been dug in advance and carefully disguised, just waiting for them to walk right into its trap!

At this moment, the pickup truck was traveling at extremely high speed, its tires were worn out, and its brakes were basically unusable. It was about to plunge headlong into this deadly pit! Once it fell in, not only would the vehicle be destroyed and the driver die, but they would also be completely trapped by the traps in the pit, becoming a sitting duck!

At the critical moment!

"The character '巽' (xùn) – a wind rope!"

Wang Ye's lazy yet strangely rhythmic voice rang out again! His left hand was still on the steering wheel (although the steering wheel was no longer of any use at this moment), and his right hand, with its five fingers spread out, faced the void in front of him. He seemingly casually lifted and pulled upwards!

"call--!!!"

Inside the pass, the mountain wind, which was not strong to begin with, suddenly became violent! A condensed, swift, yet bounding and pulling blue air current, like an invisible rope that appeared out of nowhere, instantly wrapped around the front of the wrecked pickup truck that was about to plunge into the pit! The air current did not pull hard, but rather lifted and pulled upwards and to the side with a mysterious force!

At the same time, Wang Ye once again coordinated the broken brake and accelerator pedals under his feet with some kind of superb footwork! The car body suddenly jolted, and the already out-of-control forward momentum was forcibly reversed and changed direction by the sudden pulling force from the "wind rope"!

"Creak—!!!"

An ear-piercing, metallic noise erupted as the wrecked pickup truck, riddled with holes, traced a breathtaking, sparking arc along the edge of the ditch. With one wheel dangling in the air and the truck nearly overturned, it swerved past the edge of the pit, then landed heavily on all four wheels (two of which were flat), continuing its erratic descent for dozens of meters before finally losing power, billowing smoke, and coming to a complete breakdown on the roadside.

But they finally broke through! They broke out of the deadly ambush at the pass!

As soon as the car stopped, Nie Lingfeng kicked open the already deformed car door, shielded Chen Duo, and quickly jumped out, hiding behind a huge rock by the roadside. Wang Ye also staggered out of the car from the other side, patted off non-existent dust, and even tidied his slightly messy hair, as if the thrilling life-or-death race just now was nothing more than a few accidental bumps while driving.

"What did I say?" Wang Ye shrugged at Nie Lingfeng, looking completely innocent. "I told you this road was difficult to travel, didn't I? Look, there are rolling stones, gunfire, and digging pits. They have no hospitality at all. The enthusiasm of the people in northern Myanmar is really a bit overwhelming."

Nie Lingfeng ignored his banter, his cold gaze sweeping towards the pass behind him. The gunfire had stopped, but the intense killing intent and sense of being watched hadn't disappeared; instead, it had locked onto them even more clearly. The enemy clearly hadn't expected them to break through the encirclement in this way, and were now regrouping, or… preparing for a second wave of attack.

Chen Duo followed closely beside Nie Lingfeng, her face tense, her emerald eyes warily fixed on the pass. Her small hands had already formed the Phoenix Seal, with golden-red flames flickering at her fingertips. Although the recent danger had made her heart race, it hadn't instilled much fear in her. Instead, she felt a sense of knowing, "As expected, there are bad guys again," and a hint of excitement before the battle.

"They haven't left, they're still over there," Nie Lingfeng said in a deep voice. His senses extended outwards, and he could "see" at least a dozen figures with considerable auras, rapidly moving from the hillsides on both sides of the pass, fanning out towards the location of their disabled vehicle. These people moved swiftly and coordinated perfectly, clearly elite troops.

"I know, we're waiting for them." Wang Ye yawned, walked over to the wrecked pickup truck, leaned against the scorching hood, hands in his pockets, looking nonchalantly like he was saying, "I'll be waiting for you here." "You think you can just hit someone and run? Not so easy. You'll have to leave some 'toll,' or... 'human money,' right?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a dozen or so armed men, dressed in jungle camouflage, their faces smeared with paint, wielding various automatic weapons, their eyes fierce, exuding a fierce and bloodthirsty aura, appeared indistinctly from behind the bushes and rocks in front of them. They quickly spread out, taking up advantageous positions, their gun barrels all pointed at Nie Lingfeng, Chen Duo, and... that "weirdo" Wang Ye, who was casually leaning against the wrecked car as if sunbathing.

The leader was an exceptionally tall and burly man, as imposing as an iron tower. He was bald, and a grotesque scar ran diagonally from his forehead to his chin, making his already fierce face even more terrifying. He carried a light machine gun, and his one eye (the other appearing to be a prosthetic) stared intently at Wang Ye like a venomous snake. In broken Mandarin, with a heavy northern Burmese accent, he hoarsely roared:

"Who are you?! How dare you trespass on General 'Blood Buddha's' territory! You were lucky to survive just now! Now, kneel down! Surrender! Hand over the women! Otherwise, we'll kill you all!"

His men behind him also let out beast-like growls, pulled the bolts of their guns, and exuded murderous intent.

Facing the dozen or so dark gun barrels and this blatant threat, Wang Ye seemed oblivious. He picked at his ear, flicked his nails, and then slowly raised his head to look at the one-eyed burly man, asking in his signature, lazy Beijing accent:

"Who are you? Your voice is so loud, it's hurting my ears. And what did you just say... kneel down? Hand over the person?"

He tilted his head, as if pondering an extremely difficult problem, and then a cold, mocking smile slowly curved his lips:

"I've lived for over twenty years, and I've knelt before heaven, earth, and my master, but I've never knelt before... someone like you."

"As for handing over the person?"

He turned his head to look at Nie Lingfeng, who was waiting in ambush behind the rock, and Chen Duo, who was poised to attack, and smiled lazily:

"Old Nie, Little Chen Duo, did you hear that? Someone told me to hand you over."

"Tell me, should I break all his teeth first, or dismantle all his bones so he can't be so...arrogant anymore?"

As he uttered his last word, an indescribable, terrifying "field," seemingly capable of freezing space and reversing cause and effect, silently enveloped the entire area, centered on him.

The one-eyed burly man and his men instantly felt as if they had been doused with invisible ice water from head to toe, their hair standing on end! An incomprehensible terror from the depths of their souls suddenly gripped their hearts! The seemingly lazy and harmless young man before them seemed to have instantly transformed into a demon god from the deepest hell, in charge of life and death!

Battle is imminent.

This time, however, the initiative does not seem to lie with the "Blood Buddha" militants, who have the advantage in numbers and weapons.

Nie Lingfeng slowly emerged from behind the rock, standing shoulder to shoulder with Wang Ye. He calmly looked at the enemy opposite him, who seemed to be facing a formidable foe, and the power within his body began to surge and roar.

Chen Duo also came out and stood next to Nie Lingfeng, her emerald eyes gleaming with a quiet, golden-red flame.

The "welcoming ceremony" at the Hpakant mine seems to have only just begun.

And they will respond in the most direct way.