Chapter 580: [One Stone Two Birds] (Part 2)

Wen Boyuan ordered the archers to keep shooting into the sky, but they hardly hit anything. After shooting down more than a dozen vultures, the vultures apparently came up with Yingdui de ce: they climbed a distance upward, out of the archers' range, then dropped stones. This made the stones' impact greater; dozens of holes had already been smashed into the deck. These vultures were naturally strong—an adult vulture could even seize a calf—and the stones ranged from egg‑sized to as large as a washbasin.

Everyone on board panicked. Wen Boyuan shouted, "Turn the rudder! Quickly turn the rudder!" trying to escape the vultures' attack zone as fast as possible.

At that moment a sailor came up from below, yelling, "Bad! Bad! The hold is flooding!" In fact, the hull had been pierced by stones thrown by the vultures, and river water was rushing in wildly through the hole in the lower hold.

Just then, someone aboard cried out in terror, "Fire! Fire!"

Everyone looked around but saw no sign of fire; looking ahead, they saw that the ship on fire was precisely the one carrying Princess Anping.

Wen Boyuan was terrified out of his wits. According to his plan, Hu Xiaotian should have been on the same ship as Princess Anping; that vessel was supposed to sink in the middle of the river, wiping out Hu Xiaotian, the princess, and their entourage in one fell swoop. He never imagined they would encounter such an attack in mid‑river—and that the attack would even include him.

His trusted warriors rushed to his side, shouting, "General, get out of here at once!" A few guards escorted Wen Boyuan toward the lifeboat.

At this point the falling stones from above were tapering off, but the ship was taking on water quickly and slowly listing to starboard. Not every soldier was a good swimmer, especially the entourage Wen Boyuan had brought from the capital—many were landlubbers. Everyone pinned their hopes on the two lifeboats at the bow, rushing toward them, and already some warriors were fighting each other for a spot.

Hu Xiaotian saw the ship carrying Princess Anping suddenly burst into flames and gasped. He could almost tell that Ji Feihua had never considered his fate. Ji Feihua not only wanted to kill Wen Boyuan but also to do away with the princess; she had long ago set up this "one stone, two birds" scheme. It was laughable that he had thought she would care for his life—Ji Feihua is cold‑blooded, stops at nothing to achieve her goal, so why would she spare his own? Hu Xiaotian wished he could sprout wings and fly over to the other ship to rescue Long Xi Yue, but the vessels were still apart; the idea was unrealistic, and even if he reached her ship he might not find her in time. For now he could only pin all his hopes on Zhou Mo and Zhan Peng.

"Watch out!" Xiong Tianba lunged from the side and shoved Hu Xiaotian aside. Hu Xiaotian staggered, and a fist‑sized stone whizzed past his eyes. With a thud it struck the deck between his feet, blasting a bowl‑sized hole. Hu Xiaotian broke out in a cold sweat. Had Xiong Tianba not intervened, his skull would likely have been crushed. In this life‑or‑death moment, the only thing to think about was how to escape; there was no room for other distractions.

Xiong Tianba said, "Go!"

Hu Xiaotian nodded. He scanned the crowd for Wen Boyuan's position, only to see Wen Boyuan shoving through the crowd, desperately heading for the lifeboat.

At death's door, nobody cared about rank or status any longer. No matter how Wen Boyuan berated them, his retinue of warriors no longer obeyed; each thought only of scrambling onto the lifeboat first to survive. The scene descended into chaos, warriors clashing with swords, fighting to the death for a place on board. Wen Boyuan flew into a rage, drew his Tiger Soul sword, and a flash of blade severed the warrior in front of him; blood gushed from the severed neck like a spring, frightening the others into retreat. Wen Boyuan roared, "Anyone who blocks me dies!"

Under the protection of a few soldiers, Xiong Anmin also approached and said to Hu Xiaotian, "Sir Hu, the situation over there is beyond salvage; we can't go back—hurry and jump into the river to escape!"

Hu Xiaotian told Xiong Anmin, "Sir Xiong, take care—I still have one thing left to do!" With that he stepped forward, pursuing the direction Wen Boyuan had fled, his mind fixed on a single thought: no matter what, he must not let Wen Boyuan escape, or else endless trouble would follow.

Xiong Anmin called, "Sir…" Seeing Hu Xiaotian already running off, he could only shake his head and tell Xiong Tianba, "Son, go—go protect Sir Hu!"

The young Xiong nodded and said, "Father, you go first!"

With the help of his trusted warriors, Wen Boyuan finally fought his way out of the pressing crowd, blood‑soaked and disheveled, he clambered onto the lifeboat and ordered his men to lower it. But just then several more warriors, heedless of their lives, leapt from the deck into the boat—there was no way it could hold them all. Wen Boyuan thrust his blade into a warrior who had just entered, then kicked the corpse overboard, shouting, "Quick, lower the lifeboat!"

Although Hu Xiaotian saw Wen Boyuan, the panicked, tangled mass of warriors between them made it impossible to reach him. Gripping the Violent Rain Pear Blossom Needle, Hu Xiaotian was filled with extreme regret, blaming his momentary lapse for letting Wen Boyuan escape; if he got away, today's affair would surely become troublesome.

Wen Boyuan also saw Hu Xiaotian straining to push through the crowd toward him, his face showing a gleeful, schadenfreude expression. At this moment the lifeboat was less than a zhang above the water. The large ship continued to list to starboard as it took on water.

Wen Boyuan bellowed, "Cut the ropes! Cut the ropes!" He swung his sword at the stern's lines, while another warrior hacked at the bow's; the ropes snapped and the lifeboat dropped straight from about a zhang high onto the water, sending up a spray that tossed and rolled on the surface. Wen Boyuan turned pale with fright—he couldn't swim, and if the boat capsized he would have nothing to do but wait for death.

Hu Xiaotian and Xiong Tianba arrived at the rail one after another, seeing Wen Boyuan's lifeboat already safely on the water, a few warriors straining at the oars, trying to pull away from the big ship as fast as possible.

Hu Xiaotian shouted angrily, "Wen Boyuan, you traitor, you actually plotted to harm the princess!"

Wen Boyuan sat in the lifeboat, gazing at Hu Xiaotian's silhouette in the mist, slowly extended his hand, raised his thumb, then pointed it downward toward the deck, and roared from the depths of his heart, "Go die!"

At that moment a frightened cry came from the ship; Hu Xiaotian turned and saw the other large vessel's sails completely ablaze, flames burning in multiple places on its deck, speeding straight toward them—it was clear the two great ships were about to collide.

Everyone began jumping from the deck into the river. Hu Xiaotian and Xiong Tianba exchanged a glance; both realized their ship was bound to be severed amidships by the impact, and the only remaining chance was to leap into the water to survive.

Hu Xiaotian nodded and bellowed, "Jump!" He grabbed the rail, flipped over it, and plunged without hesitation into the rushing river; Xiong Tianba followed suit.

The two had just plunged into the Ordinary River when the burning ship slammed into the vessel they had just left; that ship had already been taking on water and listing, and the violent impact punched a hole through its bottom, causing the whole hull to stand upright on its side. Warriors who hadn't managed to jump in time were flung about like leaves in the wind, and the air filled with their mournful wails.

Wen Boyuan also joined the rowing, but they weren't moving fast enough; before they could reach safety, they saw the ship rise on its side and then loom overhead like a wall of water pressing down. They cried out in unison; Wen Boyuan instinctively lifted his arm to shield his head, but the great vessel did not trap them underneath—it capsized and fell flat about five zhang away. Before Wen Boyuan could even feel lucky to have escaped, a mighty wind swept the damp air, dragging a towering wave three zhang high that surged like a beast toward the lifeboat. The wave overturned the boat, and everyone was thrown into the water.

Hu Xiaotian hit the water like a fish in water, surfaced, and saw the ship they had been on already bottom‑up, slowly sinking into the river; the stern of the vessel carrying Long Xi Yue was also beginning to submerge, while the portion still above water continued to burn fiercely. Cries for help echoed all around; the thick fog showed no sign of lifting, and the smoke from the burning hull lowered visibility on the river even further. In such conditions finding Wen Boyuan was nearly impossible; Hu Xiaotian sighed inwardly, deciding first to locate Long Xi Yue and hope she was safe. He determined the direction of the burning ship and swam toward it at once.

After swimming a short distance, he heard cries for help; looking up, his heart leapt—truly, ill‑fated lovers meet on a narrow path—and there lay Wen Boyuan clinging to a piece of driftwood, his hair disheveled, no longer the pompous, swaggering figure of before. Two warriors also swam toward the driftwood, hoping to grab it, but the wood could clearly not support three people's weight. Wen Boyuan clung with one hand and, with the other, swung his Tiger Soul long blade, hacking down one warrior on the spot. The other warrior, seeing this, dared not approach; yet his swimming was poor, he flailed wildly and sank, letting out a few miserable shouts—his head broke the surface twice before he went still forever.

At the same moment Wen Boyuan also spotted Hu Xiaotian; enemies meeting, their eyes burned red. They locked gazes for a while. Hu Xiaotian nodded, then suddenly dove beneath the surface.

Wen Boyuan saw Hu Xiaotian's silhouette vanish before his eyes, inwardly thinking, "Uh‑oh," he clambered onto the driftwood, brandishing his Tiger Soul blade back and forth, continually slashing at the surrounding water to keep Hu Xiaotian from approaching. After a while he detected nothing amiss, and he began to wonder strangely whether Hu Xiaotian had also drowned. (To be continued~^~)