Chapter 53: Walking into a Trap, Transcendent Archery
At the hour of hai, deep in the night when all was quiet, the scarred middle-aged man led his subordinates approaching Dongxi Village.
"Old Two, Old Seven, Old Eight, take fifty-some people to the orchards. Focus on the green jade pears. I imagine that thorn wall won't be able to stop you."
"Old Three, Old Nine, Old Ten, take forty-some people to the medicinal fields. Don't worry about anything. Just grab handfuls and stuff them in sacks."
"Old Four, Old Eleven, Old Twelve, you also take forty-some people to the farmland. Seize whatever you see."
"The rest, follow me to hide a li outside the Xu residence and await the opportunity."
Under the scarred middle-aged man's command, they acted in an orderly fashion, immediately dividing forces and moving into action.
At the orchards, "Who goes there!"
Suddenly hearing rustling in the grass, a patrolling guard turned. The torch flame soared like a red flood dragon, its light splitting the darkness, illuminating the trembling weeds.
"Brothers, charge!"
Just as the blade wind was about to reach the body, from an oblique angle, someone suddenly arrived treading on wind. The horizontal saber in his hand blocked with a "clang" of metal clashing. Where the two blades met, sparks flew, illuminating all three men's eyebrows and hair in red.
"There really are bandits!"
Xu Mingyuan's heart violently shook, shocked by his father's divine calculation and wonderful planning.
He had no time to think more. Drawing the longsword at his waist, the cold sword edge pointed toward that gang of bandits.
"Kill them!"
Then he said to Xu Mingxian at his side, "Anu, don't go too far from me."
Xu Mingxian acted as if he hadn't heard, leaping out. Wind seemed to arise beneath his feet as he directly charged into the crowd. The blue treasure sword in his hands traced blue glows.
His temperament was cold and detached. He had always been one to do more than say.
"Damn, how is this kid..."
Xu Mingyuan only felt sword light flashing before his eyes. The skill Xu Mingxian displayed at this moment was actually evenly matched with his own.
The sword momentum surged like startled waves beating the shore. In move after move of aggressive attacks were the three words "fast, accurate, ruthless", between the sword tip's thrusting and withdrawing, compared to his own usual sword use, there was even more fierce killing intent.
Stunned for a moment, Xu Mingyuan hastily said, "Yunnu, wait for your second brother!"
At the medicinal fields, after Old Three discovered the patrol team, he also suddenly launched an attack with his brothers. The others also rushed over but they never imagined that there were quite a few people hiding in the dark.
They were ambushed in turn.
"Little White, beat them to death!"
Xu Mingshu rode the white tiger. With just one pounce, it slapped several people to death. With a tail swipe, another person flew back several meters, unknown how many ribs broken in his chest, barely breathing.
"How can there be an ambush? Could it be Old Six leaked information?"
"Retreat, everyone quickly retreat!"
Instructor Meng blocked Old Three's path.
Hearing the voice, Xu Mingshu knew the opponent was the leader of this group. She immediately patted the white tiger. "Little White, beat him to death. We'll go find Father to claim our reward. Tomorrow I'll give you extra portions."
The white tiger let out an excited long howl and immediately pounced.
That body over two meters tall with its fierce aura, even peak Postnatal martial artists would feel pressure.
"Get lost!"
Old Three sent Instructor Meng flying. By a hair's breadth, he avoided the white tiger's fierce claws, but a black shadow struck, directly whipping him fiercely to the ground.
Then the tiger claw pressed down.
Crack crack crack~
Five or six ribs shattered.
Old Three directly spurted a mouthful of blood. His eyes rolled back and his breathing immediately became faint.
Xu Mingshu leaped up, thrust a sword into his chest, then flipped back onto the tiger's back, directing the white tiger to charge.
Pointing wherever, attacking wherever. Wherever it passed, wails continued endlessly.
Seeing this scene, Instructor Meng sighed slightly in his heart, feeling like he was a superfluous person.
At the farmland, battle was also raging intensely, with shouts of killing shaking the heavens.
The opposing side only had one first-rate martial artist and two second-rate martial artists, while among Xu Mingxuan's group, there were two first-rate martial artists and three second-rate martial artists.
Although the total number of guards was less than the opposing side, every single guard was a martial artist, including seven or eight third-rate martial artists. How could those ordinary able-bodied common people be their match?
It was simply one-sided slaughter.
At the Xu residence main gate, atop the watchtower, the scarred middle-aged man, Xu Qian, and others carefully approached, using grass for cover, each one crouching.
They thought they were acting secretly and would definitely not be discovered. but when they were still three or four li away, Xu Mingwei had already discovered them.
His eyebrows were like blades, his brow furrowed, carving a shallow furrow on his forehead, like a sharp sword unsheathed.
"Father truly predicted it, someone is invading our Xu family."
"Send up the arrows."
He spoke softly, gathering sound into a line. The voice clearly transmitted to everyone below's ears but wouldn't spread too far.
What was sent up were all ordinary iron arrows. As for the Cloud-Piercing Arrows, they were strapped to his back together with the Frost-Cold Bow.
Bundle after bundle of iron arrows were sent up, placed to the side. In the blink of an eye, over a hundred had accumulated.
Suddenly, Xu Mingwei discovered sounds of killing coming from the directions of the farmland, mountain forests, and medicinal fields.
Immediately after, he clearly saw one person raise his hand, seemingly issuing commands.
And the next moment, those two hundred fifty-some people all stood up, holding wooden sticks, knives, iron implements, and various weapons, launching a charge.
Standardized weapons like swords and sabers weren't easy to obtain in large quantities.
So among these people, at most only a hundred-some had proper sword and blade weapons.
The person who had issued commands earlier was hiding at the very back, following the crowd's charge.
"Want to fish in troubled waters? Then I'll start with you!"
Xu Mingwei drew the black iron powerful bow. His sharp, cold eyes locked onto the scarred middle-aged man.
Drawing the bow and nocking an arrow, the dozens of servants in front of the Xu family gate, hearing the sounds, knew the violent criminals were numerous. Their hearts all rose to their throats.
Everyone felt that today was the time to repay the Xu family!
Children, Father is going to earn a future for you!
However, at this moment—
"Whoosh~"
A sound split the heavens.
All the servants stopped in their tracks, each one looking up at the sky.
Because they were black iron arrows, they weren't easy to see clearly in the night. Plus, the charging and killing sounds also covered this sound.
The servants looked on in confusion.
By the time the scarred middle-aged man became aware, he only had time for his pupils to dilate before his entire body was pierced through the throat, flying backward dozens of meters.
Those beside the scarred middle-aged man all failed to react in time. After a moment, they stopped, turning to look back with shock on their faces.
"Big brother!"
"Big brother is dead!"
"Run!"
Xu Qian was slightly stunned. Just like that, dead?
A peak Postnatal martial artist, before even approaching the Xu family, had died just like that.
He looked toward the Xu family estate's direction, his eyes both excited and envious.
An aristocratic family.
This was the aristocratic family foundation that our Xu family yearned for!
Suddenly, a long arrow flew over, passing before his eyes like lightning. Then he too flew backward, along with eight others.
It turned out Xu Mingwei had fired nine arrows simultaneously, a transcendent archery.
Each one accurately hit each person's throat, not differing by a fraction.
Immediately after, Xu Mingwei's eagle eyes were like lightning, taking in all the bandits.
Where his gaze swept, he had already calculated several killing formation paths in his mind.
Swish swish swish~
The sky was filled with arrow feathers.
Each one could take away several people's lives.
In the blink of an eye, he had already shot over a hundred fifty arrows.
At the beginning when people were densely packed, it saved him quite a bit of effort. Later, each arrow could only take away one person.
In less than a hundred breaths, all had died under arrows.
"You dozen or so go retrieve all the arrows."
"Yes, First Young Master."
"In this brief moment, the several hundred people across the way have all been executed?"
All the servants, seeing this, were shocked. They hastily bowed with cupped fists. In those pairs of eyes was reverence as if toward a deity. Even their breathing involuntarily lightened by a third.
End of Chapter