After confirming there would be no immediate problems, Yu Qing cautiously stepped one foot out of the tree hollow and stood just outside it. Without any hesitation, he drew back the bowstring.
He had already used such an expensive bottle of Demon-Spotting Dew without holding back, so how could he possibly hesitate now?
The arrow tip aimed at the back of Black Cloud Howl. The bowstring was gradually pulled to full draw. Inside the tree hollow, Xu Fei watched with his heart pounding so hard he wanted to find a stick and knock this guy out.
Just as Black Cloud Howl struggled to prop himself up and slowly stood again, Yu Qing’s eyes flashed with sharp intent. His five fingers suddenly released the string.
Twang! The bowstring snapped like an explosion, sending out a rainbow shadow. Three arrows shot forth.
The faint silver glow on the arrowheads instantly stretched along the shafts into crisscrossing silver threads, forming a net-like canopy that revealed one of the special properties of the Demon-Spotting Dew.
Black Cloud Howl, who had just stood up, shuddered. Blood sprayed from both his chest and abdomen at the same time. One arrow flew right over the top of his head.
The other two arrows only passed through his body without lodging in it. Black Cloud Howl staggered forward and dropped to one knee. He violently twisted his head to look behind him, glaring furiously, desperate to see who had ambushed him.
He saw Yu Qing. He surged to his feet and turned around, clenching both fists as if ready to charge. But his expression changed dramatically. He suddenly clutched his own chest.
The spot where the arrow had hit on his chest was twisting violently, sprouting a patch of pitch-black fur. The same thing happened on his abdomen, and the area of change was spreading rapidly.
The sensation of his body completely out of control, forcibly twisting and revealing its true form, was agonising. Black Cloud Howl trembled all over, his face contorted in savagery. He stared at Yu Qing and rasped hoarsely, “Demon-Spotting Dew!”
Seeing that the Demon-Spotting Dew had worked, Yu Qing, who had been on edge, charged forward without a second thought. He sprinted at full speed. While running, he flipped his hand, drew another arrow, nocked it, and when he closed in on the heavily transforming Black Cloud Howl, he yanked the bowstring hard again. Another explosive twang rang out, and another arrow flew at point-blank range.
A spray of blood bloomed on the half-human, half-beast head of Black Cloud Howl.
Yu Qing, still charging forward, leapt high with an arrow step. Clang! He drew his sword in mid-air. The Ink Shadow Bow was tossed aside. Both hands gripped the sword. With lightning speed, he slashed down full force from above.
“Roar!”
Black Cloud Howl’s head had already turned into a leopard’s head, a black-furred leopard head. He opened his fanged maw wide. It seemed he understood his fate, filled with despair and unwillingness. He threw his head back and let out a hysterical, earth-shaking roar.
The mournful, furious roar echoed through the entire mountain forest, then abruptly cut off. A leopard head flew into the air, followed by a gush of blood.
Yu Qing landed with a swing of his sword, having cleanly beheaded Black Cloud Howl in his true form. Still worried he might have missed something, he stepped forward and hacked the still-standing body more than a dozen times.
Xu Fei, who had poked his head out from the tree hollow to peek, felt his heart truly trembling nonstop. He realised this Brother Shiheng was not just ordinarily bold. He was extraordinarily fierce and ruthless. A madman like this was actually going to the capital to take the imperial exam? What kind of nonsense was that?
Once he confirmed Black Cloud Howl was dead, Yu Qing suddenly turned back. He noticed someone collapsed under a nearby tree, gasping for breath and slowly moving his limbs. It was the subordinate Black Cloud Howl had knocked unconscious earlier by slamming him against a tree. Apparently the dying roar had jolted him awake.
No room for mistakes. Yu Qing dashed forward in a few steps, leapt into the air, landed, and delivered a clean, decisive sword strike, chopping off the man’s head.
Another kill? Xu Fei, face full of shock, felt his heart pounding even harder. This Brother Shiheng was not merely bold. He was someone who killed without blinking…
On the official road, the mist was gradually thinning. Bai Lan led her group of subordinates in a desperate fight against the people from Sinan Mansion. She was already in a situation where retreat was impossible.
The distant Eagle Slave had suddenly vanished. The countless rats at the scene abruptly scattered and withdrew. Bai Lan immediately sensed something was wrong. She knew the situation was beyond saving and wanted to pull out. But by the time she tried, the surrounding fog had mostly cleared.
When the fog had mostly cleared and visibility returned, what did that mean? It meant the surviving great archers had become their greatest threat.
The arrows of great archers had devastating killing power. If they held back, they could not effectively suppress the enemy. In a chaotic melee, they dared not use full force lightly, or they might hit their own people.
In other words, Bai Lan knew very well that during the melee the great archers had to hesitate for fear of friendly fire. But once her side tried to withdraw, those great archers would immediately strike without mercy.
She could only grit her teeth and hold on, waiting for her husband to find a way to reinforce her.
However, a faint, mournful roar suddenly came from deep in the mountain forest, instantly changing everything.
“Roar!”
The familiar roar carried infinite sorrow. Bai Lan’s heartstrings trembled. She whipped her head around towards the direction of the sound. Terror appeared in her eyes. She understood the meaning in that roar. It was despair!
Bang! In that moment of distraction, Bai Lan took a punch from Jin Huahai square in the chest. Blood spurted from her mouth and nose. She flipped backwards and landed, but immediately slammed a palm into the ground, kicking up an explosion of dust and smoke. Taking advantage of the cover, she lunged out of the battle circle. In an instant she transformed into a pure white snow leopard. Her slender body bounded into the forest, swift and agile like a phantom.
Twang! Jiang Yinian, who had been watching the fight, released his Coiled Dragon Bow. Relying on instinct and his prediction of Bai Lan’s final movement, he decisively shot an arrow into the rising cloud of dust.
The arrow pierced through the smoke, went straight through two large trees, and ran right through the abdomen of the snow leopard just as it flashed past behind one.
The snow leopard tumbled and crashed to the ground. It rolled urgently to dodge several arrows that thudded into the earth, then leapt up and fled again, using the terrain of small mounds for cover. It ignored the gaping through-and-through wound in its belly that poured blood.
Once Bai Lan fled, her subordinates immediately fell into chaos. Their last shred of fighting spirit collapsed. They scattered in all directions, only to fall one after another amid successive twangs of bowstrings. Few managed to escape.
Seeing that Jin Huahai still wanted to pursue, Jiang Yinian shouted loudly, “Do not chase a cornered enemy!”
Fu Zuoxuan, still shaken, hurriedly echoed again and again, “Do not chase! Do not chase! Do not pursue a cornered enemy!”
He was genuinely terrified, afraid that if the guards ran off there would be danger.
Jin Huahai quickly scanned the smoke-filled surroundings. He could not be sure whether this was a trick to lure the tiger from the mountain, so he had no choice but to give up.
Carrying his sword, Yu Qing leapt back to the three carriages. He quickly pulled out several pieces of luggage from one carriage, grabbed a bundled quilt and yanked it open. Inside was Chong’er, face flushed red and drenched in sweat. He had probably almost suffocated.
When Chong’er realised, amid the violent shaking, that even the carriage had been snatched away by a giant eagle, he was truly frightened out of his wits. Apart from wrapping himself in the quilt again, he did not know what else to do. He had not seen what happened afterwards because he dared not poke his head out. No matter what noises came, he stayed curled up and motionless.
Now the light hit his eyes. Seeing Yu Qing holding a sword, he immediately understood he had been saved by Yu Qing. Outsiders could not imagine how Chong’er felt at this moment. Overwhelmed with emotion, he stammered, “Y-Young Master…”
He had thought he was going to die. He never expected Young Master Shiheng would not abandon him. In such a perilous situation, he had still come running to rescue him.
Both terrified and激动 beyond words.
Yu Qing had no mood to share the excitement. He urged urgently, “No time. Hurry and find the luggage.”
“Oh, oh, yes, yes.” Chong’er nodded repeatedly, as obedient as could be, and quickly rummaged through the pile of luggage.
He soon found it and was about to sling the luggage onto his back.
Yu Qing snatched it over, quickly pulled out the contents of the back basket, located the twenty jin of spirit rice, and casually tossed the rest of the luggage aside.
Xu Fei ran over and saw this. He was speechless. He had suspected earlier that this guy risked his life and killed two demons just for the spirit rice. Now he saw it was indeed the case.
Yu Qing swiftly tied the sack of spirit rice tightly to his own body. This time he refused to entrust it to anyone else. He wanted to keep the spirit rice firmly in his own hands.
As for the quiver on his back, after taking it off he felt reluctant to discard it. It hurt a little.
No choice. When he overheard the conversation between Granny Rat and the others, he already knew he could not keep the Ink Shadow Bow he had picked up.
If this group of demon cultivators had won, he could have fled with the valuable Ink Shadow Bow. Now that the escort team had won, was he supposed to carry the Ink Shadow Bow back to the group and continue to the capital for the exam? Did he think the others were blind? Even if he claimed it was his, would they believe it?
Heartache or not, there was no way around it. The matter entrusted by A Shiheng could not be measured in money. He had no choice but to abandon the quiver on the spot.
But he walked over to the side, picked up the Ink Shadow Bow, pressed the bow body against the ground, bent it with full force to relax the string, then quickly untied one end.
Once one end was loosened and the bow body no longer under tension, the other end became easy to untie. In just a few moves, a bowstring twisted from rainbow silk was in his hands. He quickly rolled it up and stuffed it into his chest.
The market price for ‘rainbow silk’ was about a thousand taels of silver per strand. A bowstring like this probably required ten strands to make. In other words, if he sold this bowstring, it would fetch ten thousand taels of silver. Such a valuable item, already in his possession, how could he easily let it go?
The Ink Shadow Bow itself was too conspicuous and impossible to hide on his body. But the detached rainbow-silk string was different.
Of course, his conscience felt a slight pang, but he told himself inwardly that he was the head of Linglong Temple. After going to the capital and returning this time, he would have to honestly go back to the mountains and live in seclusion.
What poor state had Linglong Temple fallen into? Did he, the head, still need to keep fighting with his few senior brothers over a few hundred taels of silver?
Living in seclusion was not that simple. It required money. He was still young. He should at least live to a hundred, right? At the very least he could live another eighty years? Hiding away for so many years, how much money did he need to save? No amount would be too much.
In short, after dismantling the bowstring and securing the item, Yu Qing immediately headed towards the corpses he had killed, intending to search them for valuables.
A Xuan-level expert should have very valuable things on him, right?
This was also one of the major temptations that made him dare to take such risks, especially while the opponent was heavily injured!
But just as he took one step, he froze. He stared intently at the faint, drifting mist around him. He did not even need to use the Observation Technique to probe. He could already hear the sound approaching like a tidal wave.
The massive swarm of rats that had been besieging the examinee convoy was now fully withdrawing and returning.
Yu Qing could not be sure whether other demon cultivators were also retreating behind them. Logically there definitely were. Once the rat swarm spotted him, it would be hard not to alert the other demon cultivators. He did not dare take that risk, especially after killing two demons. He felt guilty like a thief.
With one sweep of the Observation Technique, he immediately realised that with the scale of the rat swarm, it was already too late to detour sideways. He immediately waved and shouted, “Run fast!”
He did not even need to call. As long as he ran, Xu Fei would definitely follow.
On the other hand, Chong’er, with his skinny little body, still hurriedly went to pick up the discarded luggage at this critical moment. To him, those bags were the daily necessities for the journey. They could not be lost, or he would not be able to take proper care of the young master on the road.