Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo' Chapter 1169 582: Ocean Rickshaw Formation_4

Li Banfeng slipped out from the flank of the Ring Formation, and the group of Coachmen immediately changed formation, shifting from a ring into a Yan Formation, using the buildings on both sides of the street to get ready to surround Li Banfeng again.

During the formation change, everyone moved at the same speed, took their positions swiftly, covered each other perfectly, still without a single flaw.

Li Banfeng darted back and forth inside the car formation, the Coachmen responding with ease; the formation shifted more than a dozen times, yet the Formation stayed tight and orderly, eventually forming a complete encirclement.

Li Banfeng's tactics failed to work.

When it came to reading the battlefield, his wife had always been uncannily accurate; this was the first time she'd misjudged.

Hemmed in on all sides, Li Banfeng was in a bad spot. Over a dozen Coachmen in the front row controlled their rickshaws and spewed fire toward him.

Li Banfeng leaped into the air, dodging the flames, and was about to break out of the encirclement when more than a dozen Coachmen in the rear row simultaneously threw out ropes; the ropes wove together, converging midair into a net that trapped him in the sky.

Li Banfeng used the Unobstructed Technique to wriggle out through the net; outside the rope net, arrows fell like rain, forcing him to dodge frantically in all directions.

The Driver Leader seized the opening, locked onto Li Banfeng, and bolted.

Not good! Passing Glance!

Li Banfeng's most vicious tactic had just been used by the Driver Leader.

If the Driver Leader ran out of Li Banfeng's line of sight, Li Banfeng would inevitably be blown up by Passing Glance.

In this situation, he couldn't focus solely on dodging the arrows anymore.

Li Banfeng used the Benevolent and Righteous Technique, forcing himself to tank the arrows as he gave chase, keeping his gaze locked on the Driver Leader the entire time.

The other Coachmen rapidly shifted tactics, breaking their large formation of dozens into small formations of three to five, coordinating with the Driver Leader to continue hemming in Li Banfeng.

Forced down to the ground under the encirclement, Li Banfeng immediately used Unimpeded to slip into a factory by the roadside.

The Driver Leader led his Coachmen and simultaneously used the Unobstructed Technique to enter the workshop, maintaining their formation as they continued to clash with Li Banfeng.

How could they be this in sync?

How long had these people been training together?

In Li Banfeng's impression, the Coachmen of Medicine King Valley had always acted alone; when had he trained up such a ruthless squad?

Li Banfeng slipped through the workshop into a teahouse, then out of the teahouse into a restaurant; a group of Coachmen followed like a Shadow Following Form, sticking right behind him.

They chased him all the way to an abandoned inn; the Driver Leader charged up to the inn's second floor after Li Banfeng, when a black-clad figure suddenly rushed out from the corridor, snatched up a Sickle, and hacked down at the Driver Leader.

The Driver Leader dodged the Sickle and clashed with the black-clad man.

He hadn't expected Li Banfeng to have left an ambush here, nor that this black-clad man's strike would be so fast; judging by his speed, he had to be a high-level Traveling Cultivator.

This black-clad man was indeed not slow—he was Li Banfeng's Shadow.

Seizing the chance, Li Banfeng rushed out of the inn and used the Path-breaking Technique to split the Coachmen who had caught up into two groups.

This was Hong Ying's tactic—reckless on the surface, but at least it worked. The Coachmen couldn't cover both ends, and the Driver Leader was entangled by the Shadow, unable to give orders for a short time.

Timing his moment, Li Banfeng struck while their formation was loose, killing more than a dozen isolated Coachmen in succession.

This time the loss was heavy!

The Driver Leader kicked the Shadow flying, grabbed his cart, and charged into the street. He blew two sharp whistles, and the Coachmen, perfectly in sync, immediately retreated.

Li Banfeng tried to pursue, but the Driver Leader stepped in to block him. After trading more than a dozen bouts, the Driver Leader stopped fighting as well and, relying on the Path-breaking Technique, ran from North Bridge to Dongqiao, shaking off Li Banfeng.

By the time Li Banfeng got back to North Bridge, the other Coachmen had long since fled, taking both the corpses and the rickshaws with them.

Taking away the corpses was out of the camaraderie between Gangs—that much was understandable.

But why take the carts?

Those rickshaws were indeed fine things, but they were hard to haul; one man dragging two carts and trying to flee—that was extremely difficult.

Was there some hidden trick here?

As he mulled it over, Li Banfeng recalled his Shadow, and a sharp pain flared in his chest.

The Shadow had taken a kick from the Driver Leader, and the pain had passed through.

Just now, when the Driver Leader realized the situation was turning against him, he didn't immediately run. Instead he chose to stay behind and cover the retreat—this was very different from the Coachmen Li Banfeng was familiar with.

His wife's tactics weren't actually wrong; but dozens of Traveling Cultivators moving in complete unison—this was clearly unreasonable.

At the brink of life and death, when there's barely time to save your own skin, they still remembered to collect the corpses and the carts.

Who exactly were this group of people?

Li Banfeng entered the abandoned teahouse, wiped the dust off a chair, sat down at a table, and sank into thought.

After thinking for quite a while, he came up with a rough guess.

He returned to North Bridge, called over Ma Wu, and also called over Chuanzi and Root. "We're heading to Nanqiao in a while—go make some preparations."

...

At four in the morning, Li Banfeng silently arrived at Nanqiao.

They had just gone through a brutal fight, yet this group of Coachmen showed not the slightest slackness; over a dozen Coachmen were pulling their carts, patrolling the street.

They patrolled with the carts?

This made Li Banfeng even more confident in his guess.

He was just about to make a move when a tall figure appeared behind him.

Li Banfeng turned and saw an old friend. Lowering his voice, he greeted, "Brother Tang, it's been a while."

The Local Deity of Black Stone Slope, Tang Shijiang, had arrived.

Tang Shijiang lowered his head, an oddly complicated look on his face.

After a moment of silence, he looked at Li Banfeng and said, "Brother, I'm in a real bind here."

Li Banfeng knew exactly why he was torn.

Loess Bridge had once been Grandpa Train's territory. If the Coachmen had lacked the guts to grab it, that would've been one thing; now that they dared to seize it, Tang Shijiang, by rights, should lend them a hand.

But he didn't want to cross blades with Li Qi. They hadn't interacted much, but their bond wasn't shallow; they'd always looked out for each other—who wanted to tear that apart?

"Brother Tang, when did you get here?"

Tang Shijiang said, "I just arrived. Brother, tell me straight—how are we supposed to handle this?"

Li Banfeng wanted to storm into Nanqiao and turn the place into a bloodbath, but Tang Shijiang would definitely not agree, so he had to find a way to get his consent.

That wasn't actually hard.

"Brother Tang, stay here for a bit; let me show you something good."

Li Banfeng quietly slipped onto the street, picked out one patrolling Coachman, and suddenly rushed up close.

He kicked the Coachman over in one blow, didn't kill him, but grabbed the man's cart and bolted.

The Coachman was scared out of his wits and scrambled up to give chase, but there was no way he could catch Li Banfeng. After less than a hundred meters, the distance between them had already stretched.

Tang Shijiang couldn't figure out why Li Banfeng wanted to steal the other man's cart.

His junior brother's cart held the Contract Book for Loess Bridge, so it never left his side—that made sense.

But this wasn't his junior brother's cart; what good would stealing it do?

The next scene left Tang Shijiang stunned.

When the Coachman couldn't catch up to Li Banfeng and saw the cart getting farther and farther away, he simply stopped moving, his entire body going rigid on the spot.

Tang Shijiang was a Craftsman Cultivation Above the Clouds; this scene was nothing new to him. The state of this Coachman looked exactly like a machine that had lost its power source.

Li Banfeng tossed aside the rickshaw and walked back over to Tang Shijiang, ready to explain what was going on here.

Tang Shijiang shook his head. "No need, Brother—I know what kind they are."

As he spoke, Tang Shijiang took out an abacus.

This abacus had belonged to Huang Zenan—the Inner State person who had impersonated Zhang Gunli. It was his power core, and Sun Tiecheng had had Gui Jianchou hand this abacus over to Tang Shijiang.

This cart was the same as that abacus.

Every Coachman here was the same as Huang Zenan; they couldn't leave their carts. They were Inner State People.

Li Banfeng asked, "Brother Tang, are you still in a bind?"

Tang Shijiang rolled up his sleeves. "What's there to be torn about? Not a single one of them can be left alive!"