The Beauty CEO's Personal Expert

Under the continuous battering, the heavy front gate crashed to the ground. At the same time, several smoke grenades were tossed in from outside, instantly forming a thick cloud of smoke that blocked everyone’s line of sight. Not good! Seeing this, Ling Chen cursed inwardly and shouted urgently, "Seventh Brother, it’s your turn."

"Don’t panic, they haven’t come in yet. Everyone follow my command." Hearing this, everyone focused all their attention on the doorway, not daring to even breathe loudly, all keeping utterly silent for fear of affecting Yang Chen’s hearing.

Time ticked by second after second; there was still no movement outside. The smoke screening the front had gradually dissipated. Ling Chen was a bit puzzled—those guys were clearly gearing up for an assault, yet still hadn’t shown themselves. What the hell were they up to? Just as he was thinking that, Yang Chen suddenly spoke, "Someone’s coming, but it’s only one set of footsteps."

Hearing this, Ling Chen raised his eyes, and saw a man poke his head in from outside. The man took a look at the situation inside and shouted, "Mr. Ling, I’m here to deliver a message. Can you let me come over?"

"Then come in."

The man answered, then slowly moved out from behind cover. At the instant his whole body was exposed, there was a sharp whoosh, and an arrow tore through the air, directly piercing through the man’s body. With a spray of blood, the man’s eyes bulged wide, and he toppled backward onto the ground.

Ling Chen was slightly taken aback. He glanced at the shooter, Zhang Zhongfeng, who said calmly, "There was something off about him." Hearing that, Ling Chen immediately locked his gaze on the fallen man. After a careful look, he found the man’s clothing bulging unnaturally, as if something was hidden underneath.

"I’ll go check." Wei Jiahao, beside him, said, then immediately vaulted over the cover and ran straight toward the man. Once he got close, he flipped open the man’s outer garment and took a look; his expression changed drastically, and he didn’t dare linger for even a second, hastily retreating back.

"Eighth Brother, what is it?"

Wei Jiahao’s face was full of lingering fear. "Scared me to death. That guy had explosives strapped to him. Luckily Fourth Brother took him out in time—if he’d gotten close and detonated them, we would’ve taken heavy losses."

"Those bastards are vicious, they don’t even care about the lives of their own men." Yuan Yun said darkly.

"That might actually work in our favor." Ling Chen gave a small grin. "Let’s see how they plan to get in later."

Over ten minutes passed, and the footsteps outside gradually grew more chaotic—quite a few had arrived—but still no one came in. Ling Chen was happy enough not to engage them; he’d been wracking his brains over how to buy time. Just then, there was a loud bang, and the corpse lying at the doorway suddenly exploded, flesh and blood flying everywhere.

Immediately after, a rush of footsteps came charging in from outside. "Everyone, heads up!" As Ling Chen’s shout fell, more than ten men burst straight through the main entrance. The already waiting Divine Arrow Team spoke no nonsense; over a dozen arrows instantly screamed through the air, blanketing that group’s heads and suppressing their offensive.

In no time, that group outside launched another assault inward. This time, they had several blast shields in their hands, held up in front to block the arrows. Seeing this, Ling Chen narrowed his eyes, reached out and drew the Wave-cutting Sword, then quickly vaulted over the first defensive line and charged toward the crowd opposite.

Once he got close, Ling Chen sprang up, body shooting forward in an instant. He raised the Wave-cutting Sword high with both hands and hacked down with full force. In a flash, there was a crisp clang; the blast shield used for defense split right down the middle, a powerful shockwave bursting outward and directly crushing the five men in the front row to the ground.

Seeing Ling Chen break into the enemy formation, Zhang Zhongfeng immediately shifted his arrows to cover the main entrance, suppressing the men coming in behind. After Ling Chen finished off that group of more than ten men, Zhang Zhongfeng quickly pulled back his fire, let another batch rush into the main entrance, then once again led the Divine Arrow Team in a barrage, forcing all the ones behind to retreat.

With their coordination, in the blink of an eye over twenty people had already lost combat capability.

"Sixth Brother, watch out!" At that moment, Zhang Zhongfeng, who was providing suppressive fire, shouted. Ling Chen, locked in fierce combat, reacted at once and turned to look behind him. Instantly, he saw a figure charging toward him, closing the distance in the blink of an eye. Feeling the pressure radiating from that figure, Ling Chen made a snap decision; the Nine Yang Qiankun Step flared to life, and he rapidly retreated several steps.

When that person’s form finally came into view, Ling Chen saw clearly who it was—it was Chen Qinghua of the Netherworld Snake. Ling Chen had crossed hands with Chen Qinghua before and knew full well how formidable he was. Seeing the man rushing straight at him, he didn’t dare be careless. Relying on the subtle footwork of the Nine Yang Qiankun Step, plus arrow support from Zhang Zhongfeng, he quickly pulled back.

"Ling Chen, I lost to your Cloud Clearing Palm last time. This time I want to test it again. Do you dare fight me?"

Hearing Chen Qinghua’s voice, Ling Chen didn’t even look back as he replied, "This isn’t a one-on-one duel today. Why should I waste time fighting you?" With that, he kicked his speed up another notch and retreated directly behind the first defensive line.

By then, with Chen Qinghua’s appearance, another squad pushed in through the main entrance. Leading them was Chen Derong, along with two middle-aged men. Seeing those two, Ling Chen immediately recognized who they were. Not long ago, when they went to Qiu Nanshan’s place, these two had been at He Honggang’s side the whole time. He didn’t know their names, but the two were definitely Dark Pavilion experts on the Heavenly List.

Judging by the heavy casualties just now, He Honggang and the others were almost out of patience and had simply dispatched their strongest lineup. Their presence instantly robbed the Divine Arrow Team of its deterrent effect; only Zhang Zhongfeng could still put some pressure on them.

This time, not many came in, only about a dozen, but every single one was a top-tier master, not to be underestimated. Ling Chen scanned their formation, his expression darkening slightly. He knew clearly that this was the most critical moment of the battle. If they could withstand this wave, there might still be a sliver of hope. Otherwise, once the defensive line completely collapsed, they wouldn’t even have a chance to run.

He checked the time—over an hour had already passed. Reinforcements from the Zhu Family should be arriving soon; as for Du Yunzhi and the others, they’d probably need a bit more time.

"Big Brother, you take the others back to the second defensive line first." With that, Ling Chen flicked his wrist, gripped the Wave-cutting Sword, and charged forward once more. At the same time, Yu Beifeng, Tong Zhentian, Ji Gang, and Chen Junfeng all rushed out beyond the line, joining the fray. Since the enemy had deployed Heavenly List experts, only Heavenly List experts could block their assault.

Right now, Ling Chen relied on the Nine Yang Qiankun Step to rapidly shift to the center of the field, intercepting Chen Derong’s frontal charge.