Chapter 121: Chapter 119: Slashing Cong Bo, an Arrow Through the Throat

As a fellow master archer, she knew her opponent’s strategy perfectly well.

This was clearly the "kiting" tactic most commonly used by archers on the battlefield.

When you pursue with all your might, the master archer uses their superior mobility to quickly pull away. Then, just as your momentum wanes and your focus slackens, they’ll fire another arrow out of nowhere.

This seemingly harmless method of attack would rapidly break your fighting spirit, leaving you exhausted and constantly on the run.

Only then would the real danger begin.

And this Cong Bo had clearly fallen for the trap.

But Chen Baimei didn’t warn him.

Even though they were both chieftains from Cyan Cloud Mountain, their relationship was far from friendly. Chen Baimei, in particular, had a cold personality and didn’t get along with the others, which was why she had come to serve in the Wuyang Guard.

"You all stay here and protect the Lord Inspector!"

After giving her subordinates their orders, Chen Baimei leaped away from the City Lord’s Manor, dashing rapidly across the city rooftops.

The biting cold wind whipped through her hair, and an indescribable excitement surged within Chen Baimei.

’It’s been too long. Far too long since I’ve met an opponent who could excite me like this.’

Especially since her opponent was also a master archer.

After all, on the battlefield, the only thing that can counter a master archer is another master archer.

And though Wuyang Guard was vast, there weren’t many places truly suitable for an archer’s ambush. So, Chen Baimei began to search various locations based on her experience.

Meanwhile, Cong Bo stood in the street, his face murderous, ordering his men to search for the enemy’s whereabouts.

The thought of Chen Baimei’s mocking words made Cong Bo’s face burn with shame. He ground his teeth so hard they audibly scraped together.

So, to lure his opponent out, he deliberately stood in the middle of the street in a completely unguarded posture.

But half an hour passed, and his men’s search still yielded nothing.

Cong Bo suddenly flew into a rage, shouting at the sky, "Brat, I’m the one who killed all your accomplices! I’m standing right here! If you’ve got the guts, come at me!"

"Let’s have a proper fight, you and I! What’s the point of all this hiding? Don’t you even have that much courage? You gutless piece of shit!"

His tone was full of derision, and his words were vile, all meant to provoke Wu Liangchen into showing himself.

But the only response was the howling wind.

Just as his eyelid began to twitch uncontrollably, a sudden scream echoed from a distance.

Cong Bo shot forward like a cannonball. Then he saw them—the bodies of three government soldiers, their heads smashed in.

A provocation!

A blatant provocation!

Cong Bo’s eyes turned red. At that very moment, several sharp, whistling sounds tore through the air toward him.

Instead of being alarmed, Cong Bo was delighted. With a flick of the longspear in his hand, its tip jabbed into the air with incredible speed.

BANG! BANG! BANG! Without exception, every one of the incoming stones was shattered mid-air by his spear tip.

But before he could even breathe a sigh of relief, several arrows silently closed in.

This time, Cong Bo was truly startled.

He hadn’t paid much mind when Chen Baimei said their opponent’s archery was formidable. After all, in his view, so what if the arrows were fast and accurate? With his level of strength, what was there to fear?

He never expected reality to slap him in the face so quickly.

But though startled, Cong Bo did not panic. His body shot backward as he whipped his spear around to smash the projectiles.

After a few dull thuds, all the arrows were knocked out of the air.

At the same time, Cong Bo finally saw the direction the arrows had come from. With a cold sneer, he tapped his toes to the ground and charged forward at extreme speed.

Just as he expected, a figure wearing a black headscarf stood behind the roof ridge. Cong Bo was overjoyed and thrust his spear forward.

The spear was so fast that all one could see was the cold glint of its tip.

A point of cold light arrived first, followed by the spear, striking like a dragon.

But just as Cong Bo was certain his target was a dead man, a cloud of ash suddenly burst open. Cong Bo instinctively narrowed his eyes.

In that instant, the flash of a blade slashed out from within the ash.

PFFT!

Blood sprayed. Cong Bo grunted in pain, clutching his left eye as he retreated hastily.

It turned out that in that split second, Cong Bo had relied on his extraordinary reflexes to twist his body and lower his head, barely avoiding a fatal blow to his neck.

But while he had protected his vital point, injury was unavoidable.

The blade had sliced down from his left eye, all the way to the corner of his mouth.

Blood gushed out and excruciating pain washed over him, but what terrified Cong Bo most was the darkness and numbness in his left eye.

’If this eye is ruined, what will I do?’

For a Martial Artist, losing an eye would inevitably cause a drop in strength.

When that happened, he probably wouldn’t be able to hold onto his position as the Seventh Village Chief.

Panic gave way to towering rage. Cong Bo brandished his spear like a madman, stabbing wildly.

But by the time the ash settled, there was no one in sight.

At that moment, Chen Baimei arrived.

She couldn’t help but be startled by the scene.

She hadn’t expected Cong Bo to be so grievously injured just a short while after he had left.

"What happened?" Chen Baimei asked, stepping forward and taking out some wound medicine.

Cong Bo gritted his teeth. "He’s not just an expert archer. His blade skills are impressive too. I was careless."

Hearing this, Chen Baimei’s heart skipped a beat. She blurted out, "Oh no, the Lord Inspector!"

Without another word, she ignored Cong Bo, turned, and raced back the way she came.

Cong Bo wasn’t stupid. The pain and rage had simply muddled his thoughts for a moment. Now, hearing Chen Baimei’s words, he too was struck with horror.

If their opponent wasn’t just a superb archer but also a deadly swordsman, wasn’t the Imperial Inspection Office in grave danger?

After all, both he and Chen Baimei had led a large contingent of men out, leaving only ordinary government soldiers and guards behind at the Imperial Inspection Office.

Those men might be able to defend against a simple master archer, but they would be in serious trouble against someone with powerful blade and Body Techniques.

So, Cong Bo ignored the wound on his left eye, grabbed his spear, and ran back as well.

But when he was just one street away from the Imperial Inspection Office, the distant screams and cries made his heart sink into an icy abyss.

’If Ren Chong dies, the Great Village Chief will never let me live it down...’

At this thought, Cong Bo’s scalp tingled with fear. He charged recklessly toward the Imperial Inspection Office.

Meanwhile, Wu Liangchen had already killed twenty to thirty guards. Before him was the most heavily fortified rear courtyard bedroom.

But the guards and soldiers kept coming, a ceaseless tide of men charging forward without fear of death.

Wu Liangchen knew his time was running out.

Although he had managed to grievously wound Cong Bo, Chen Baimei was no easy foe.

Once she returned with her men to reinforce the defenses, he would have no choice but to retreat, no matter how unwilling.

’That said, this trip has been fruitful. I’ve resupplied my arrows, acquired a new bow, and successfully blinded one of Cong Bo’s eyes.’

’But the bedroom is right in front of me, and Ren Chong is hiding inside. It would be a real shame to retreat now.’

So, Wu Liangchen’s blade strikes grew even sharper. With almost every slash, a man fell.

But as soon as one fell, another would immediately take his place.

And from behind him, he could faintly hear the sound of sharp commands being shouted.

Wu Liangchen’s heart tightened. He leaped into the air, but several guards immediately jumped up as well, blocking his path.

Wu Liangchen lopped off the head of the man in front of him and landed on top of a wall. He then took a deep breath, concentrating his mind and listening carefully to the sounds around him.

He blocked out all the coarse breathing, shouts, and clashing of blades from the soldiers and guards below the wall.

His entire focus was fixed on the small bedroom, no more than twenty paces away.

Just as he suspected, he heard three sets of breathing.

Two of them were long and steady—clearly martial arts experts.

Only one person’s breathing was ragged and tinged with fear.

With his powerful hearing, Wu Liangchen instantly pinpointed the location of that breath.

He first cut down a few more charging soldiers, then took out his bow, nocked an arrow, took a rough aim at the source of the breath he had just locked onto, and released his fingers.

The very instant the arrow left the bow, a furious roar came from the distance.

"How dare you, you cur!"

Immediately, another arrow shot over at extreme speed, attempting to intercept his own mid-flight.

But it was a step too late.

Chen Baimei’s arrow arrived almost at the same instant Wu Liangchen’s was loosed.

They missed colliding by a hair’s breadth, but in the end, Wu Liangchen’s arrow was a fraction of a second faster.

SWOOSH!

The feathered shaft tore through the air, crossing the twenty-pace distance in an instant with immense power. It pierced the bedroom wall and skewered the person hiding in the blind spot.

When he heard the ragged breathing suddenly choke off, Wu Liangchen knew he had hit his mark. Without hesitation, he turned and fled.

The government soldiers and guards were no match for him. He broke through their ranks in the blink of an eye.

Chen Baimei had no time to pursue Wu Liangchen now. Arriving in the courtyard, she darted into the bedroom, and her face instantly turned pale.

There, she saw an arrow embedded in the throat of Imperial Inspector Ren Chong. It was buried almost to the fletching, the arrowhead protruding from the back of his neck and pinning him to the wall in the corner.

Two personal bodyguards beside him were in a panic, trying to stanch the wound in his neck with their hands, but the blood was gushing out. How could they possibly stop it?

Ren Chong’s fat face was filled with disbelief, as if he couldn’t accept that he—a man of high station who held the power of life and death over countless others—was dying just like this.

But as the blood drained from him, his eyes gradually dimmed, and his struggling limbs fell limp.

Chen Baimei felt her limbs go cold, frozen to the spot as if stunned.

Just then, Cong Bo also arrived. When he saw the scene inside the room, he was so frightened he stumbled back several steps until he hit the wall.

At that same moment, Ren Chong finally breathed his last and died.

The room fell deathly silent.

Only the groans of the wounded from the courtyard outside could still be heard.

"Wh-what do we do?" Cong Bo asked, so scared he was at his wit’s end.

Because with Ren Chong dead, the Great Village Chief would never forgive him.

Chen Baimei said nothing, simply turning to leave.

"Bamei, where are you going? Help me think of something, please!"

Cong Bo had completely lost his composure. Seeing Chen Baimei leave, he shouted after her desperately.

But Chen Baimei paid him no mind at all. She leaped onto the roof and disappeared after a few bounds.