In the midst of the whistling sound, halfway up on the cliff, a hidden vine wall lifted up revealing what turns out to be a cave. Several men stood at the entrance of the cave, drew their bows, and shot. The arrows notched on those longbows were burning fiercely with fire. In the next instant, flames flashed like a shower of crimson meteors falling from the sky, and charging straight for the big pit where the guards and horses were trapped!
Things got worse for those on the ground. The burning arrows landed, instantly igniting the people and the horses on fire. The people screamed and ran away, and the guards scattered on all sides. The horses were frightened even more. They neighed and raised their hooves, jumped out of the not too high trap, and with their bodies on fire, crashed into the the crowd of people and horses that had been behind them. All animals are afraid of fire so all the horses of the more than a thousand guards were frightened and jumping around wildly. The valley entrance was narrow, and they were all crowded together at the moment. The fire on the horses was setting off sparks on everything, causing all of the horses to go into a frenzied state as they desperately ran wildly in all directions. Some knocked their owners off, and some trampled on each other. The guards shouted desperately but the horses could not be controlled and even trampled some fallen guards half to death. The air was filled with chaotic screaming of people shouting for help and frightened neighing of horses. The valley entrance soon turned into a pot of boiling bloody porridge.
Commander Qiu was so anxious that it looked like fire was about to burst out of his eyes. He jumped onto a rock and issued orders for the troops to reorganize themselves but how could anyone in such a frantic state even listen to his orders? He could shout until his throat was hoarse but it would just be drowned by the boiling chaotic noise.
Compared with his furious anger, his attackers seemed calm, collected, and well-trained. A group of bandits looked more like a well-trained troop than a real troop. Another chilling shout came from the cliffside, “Shoot!” The arrow of rain came again. It was not the fire arrows this time around but short crossbows with five arrows notched. The arrows shot out like a torrent of rain again as the person in the cave on the cliffside continued to command, “Left front! Right back! West!” With the unceasing commands, a continuous round of arrows rained down without hesitation towards the one thousand guards. The man who gave the order had extremely sharp vision paired with equally effective command. The direction of his order was either to the most chaotic area for the guards, or it would be the place the horses had just run to, or it would be the place where the guards were getting ready to retreat to, blocking them left and right. With the commanding of the arrows, the man managed to shoot to death a large number of the scattered guards, and even gradually forced the remaining guards and horses to crowd together.
Commander Qiu can also see that the situation is not good. Obviously, they are facing a formidable enemy who is trying to force the remaining guards to gather together and then shoot them all at once. If a thousand elite guards were wiped out by the bandits, there is no saying what would be waiting for him once he got back to court!
He finally felt regret at that moment— he knew that there were bandits in Tengshan and he also knew they were particularly fierce and ferocious, and that they were not small in numbers. They were Tiansheng deserters from the war years ago. It was said that they loved to rob the passing caravan of Xiliang government officials. Confidant in his elite one thousand guards and the belief that the well-trained soldiers from the Imperial Guards could easily defeat a group of straggler soldiers turned bandits, he had purposefully wanted to teach these bandits a harsh lesson. He had also wanted to show off Xiliang’s military mighty power in front of Tiansheng’s envoy team. It would be even better if the Tiansheng envoy team ended up fleeing in fear and was then rescued by him. Let’s see how that famous little girly-face boy can still be so arrogant then! But who would’ve expected that girly-faced boy would somehow be able to predict the danger and force him to be the one to suffer this disaster!
Thinking of the Prince Regent’s stern face and his instruction to himself before he left, Commander Qiu shuddered and finally felt that some people and things were not as simple as he had thought. He had long lived in the most inner powerful circle of the court and was highly favored due to his great martial arts skills, but is he really going to lose everything simply because of these lowly bandits?
As these thoughts raced through his mind, he suddenly felt the urge to fight to death. With a yell, he charged forward heading for the cliff top, intending to attack the bandit leader who was giving out all those commands.
Suddenly, there came a crisp and short order, “Kill the horses!”
This was yet another military order for immediate execution. As soon as the voice said those words, sharp arrows whizzed through the air, but this time, they came from behind him and he was in those arrows’ direct path. Horrified, Commander Qiu no longer cared about his image and promptly dropped and rolled, narrowly avoiding the arrows. He only felt the wind whizzing over his head and heading straight for his guards. He stared at the arrows with wide eyes and suddenly felt a chill on his scalp. When he touched his head, a few strands of hair with blood still on it, fell to the ground.
Guards who had been forced by the startled horses to squeeze together at the entrance of the valley suddenly felt the rain of arrows coming from behind, all were horrified thinking they were going to die for certain. They closed their eyes and froze, not daring to move a single muscle. The only thing they could feel was the whistling of the wind beside them and the cold air seeping into their bodies. What followed was a burst of horses neighing in pain. When they opened their eyes again, they discovered that all the horses had been shot dead.
All the frightened horses were shot dead, and the valley entrance, which had been crowded and chaotic just now, suddenly felt a little empty. The Xiliang guards stood there stunned, but then they suddenly heard a firm voice, “Get on the cliff!”
The guards were surprised but those who were quicker to react instantly came to the realization – their opponent’s arrows were shot down from the cliff, and the cliff itself was a blind spot. As long as they stuck close to the cliff, no one would be able to shoot them. They immediately cursed themselves for being so stupid and didn’t think of it before. While berating themselves, they immediately used the horse corpses as stepping points and rushed up the cliff. Everyone used the best martial arts they have ever used in their lives.
As soon as the guards began to scale up the cliff, those who had been shooting at them from halfway up the cliff stopped shooting. Their enemy seemed to have discovered that this new opponent was not an easy target and immediately issued a sharp whistle, probably calling for a retreat.
Before the whistle was over, the sound of horse hooves was heard, and a horse galloped over. The rider on the horse was dressed simply, his eyes were misty like autumn water. It was Feng Zhi Wei.
She seemed to be so concerned about the harm the Xiliang troop suffered that she even came out ahead alone. Seeing the chaos at the entrance of the valley, she stopped her horse and turned her seemingly smiling and seemingly not smiling eyes to Commander Qiu, causing the commander to immediately be filled with shame and anger.
He looked at Feng Zhi Wei and glanced behind her, there was astonishment in his eyes. It was Feng Zhi Wei who had ordered people to rescue him just now. The thought of her archers filled him with alarm– with all those people mixed in with the horses, those archers somehow managed to shoot all the horses without harming one single person.
Seeing Feng Zhi Wei riding alone to the entrance of the valley, he opened his mouth, and wanted to warn that that there might be a martial artist master among their enemy and that she should be careful…but seeing Feng Zhi Wei’s leisurely figure, he suddenly felt anger surging in his heart– this Wei Zhi, so despicable! He could have warned him but chose not to, and waited until he was defeated in embarrassment before she came over to act like a saint. With that being the case, then let him go face the danger himself!
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