Chapter 248: The Brilliance of That Arrow

One arrow pierced through the entire battlefield, precisely sniping the old man on the head of the giant snail.

This was not an arrow of brilliant radiance that shone upon the universe; this was a cold, calculated arrow through and through.

Without radiance, without air waves, it was fired abruptly with lightning speed; by the time everyone reacted, this arrow was already embedded in the Town Guardian's head, sinking in from the crown.

The Town Guardian did not even let out a hum, dying instantly.

……

Both the enemy and our side were stunned, with the Land Inspection Bureau side being even more shocked.

Mai Shiyu's eyes bulged, the word "Town Guardian" stuck in his throat, unable to be uttered.

Jiang Shenyi was terrified to the point of death; he turned his head abruptly to see the girl in red, who should have been on the city tower, sitting on his wings, drawing a bow with both hands. The massive bow body was almost taller than her own frame, and the bowstring was still trembling slightly.

His mind went blank, his lips moved slightly, and he asked: "W... why?"

The girl in red said indifferently: "In the way, so I had to kill him. Killing him now, he died as he should." Not waiting for Jiang Shenyi to reply, she said: "Do you know how to use a bow and arrow?"

She had asked this question once on the city tower, to which Jiang Shenyi had replied "a little," but now his heart was in chaos, and with no other answer, he could only nod.

The girl handed the bow and arrow to him and said: "Then you shoot. To shoot a man, first shoot his horse; to capture the bandits, first capture their king. Shoot that Spirit Image, then kill all those Fierce Beasts." She pointed to the woman and the Fierce Beasts beside the Town Guardian.

Jiang Shenyi said blankly: "That woman... a Spirit Image?"

The girl said: "Naturally, it is a Spirit Image. It is just a Spirit Image that has lost its Spirit Official; it should have died long ago. Feng Zhilie is dead, shouldn't she be buried with him? Draw the bow and shoot her dead."

With the bow presented before him, Jiang Shenyi took it unconsciously and said: "I will kill them, but I am not used to shooting arrows."

Jiang Shenyi took the bow, but the girl did not let go; she grabbed the bow body with one hand and said: "Try this bow; it should be a weapon you have never seen before."

As she spoke, her figure gradually grew faint; at the same time, the bow body seemed to be shrouded in a layer of luster.

As she was about to disappear, she solemnly instructed: "Hurry and shoot—my time is running out."

Having finished, she disappeared completely.

Jiang Shenyi was stunned for a moment, and upon seeing the bow and arrow in his hand, he suddenly felt a palpitation:

What a terrifying bow!

Compared to the feeling of being shrouded in luster just a moment ago, the bow was now dim, full of friction in his hand, and no different from an ordinary long horn bow, but when Jiang Shenyi gripped it tightly, he felt that heart-stopping power.

It was just like the first time he held a Heavy Art Tool, shocked by the power of the artifact.

However, when holding a Heavy Art Tool, he could instantly feel himself filled with power—that was the feeling of man and tool becoming one—but the power of this bow was restrained, hidden entirely within the bow body; only by drawing the bow could this chilling power be detonated.

What kind of power was this? It was not a sword, nor was it a Rune Formula.

Was it a Spirit Official?

Jiang Shenyi recalled the books he had read and was suddenly startled:

Is this—an Artifact Charm?

Or perhaps, an Artifact Spirit Official?!

Jiang Shenyi thought, exerting force to draw the bow; there was no need to nock an arrow, as an invisible arrow appeared automatically on the bowstring, the arrowhead aimed at—the snail.

A bow and arrow, huh...

One of the Six Arts of a gentleman, something every child of a noble family should learn; given his background, how could he not know it?

As for archery, although he did not practice much, his hands were steady, his eyes sharp, and his heart calm; how could he not be strong?

Come, let me try this rare Artifact Spirit bow of the world!

During their brief conversation, the female Spirit Image also recovered from her shock, and then, she was both fearful and furious.

She first lunged over, only to find that the Town Guardian was already dead, and let out a sharp shriek, staring angrily at the sky as if wanting to rush up and drag the little thief with wings down to tear them apart, but she immediately calmed down.

As a Spirit Image, she did not fear ordinary physical attacks; the cold arrow that shot through the Town Guardian posed no threat to her. But in the current era, there were many things that could directly harm a Spirit Image, and she could not afford to take risks, nor did she have the capital to do so. Therefore, she made a prompt decision and flashed into the body of the giant snail.

Yes, she was a Beast Spirit Official; what she could control was not the thousands of troops before her, but the eight giant beasts holding the line—she was the support on the battlefield. The Spirit Official controlling the entire battle was in the back, the "High Minister" who was the one in charge here.

The eight giant beasts present were all her bonded beasts, and they were the main force for the siege in this battle. However, the command of the battlefield did not belong to her; she was merely a banner sitting in the front.

So she did not flee far, nor did she let the giant beasts act as meat shields for her, but instead entered the body of her bonded beast directly. Following the possession by the Spirit Official, the already massive snail expanded once more. Its back shell seemed even more like metal brushed with gold paint, shining brightly. But she did not counterattack; instead, she commanded the snail to curl its body and shrink into its shell, leaving only the shell that looked like tree rings.

Shrinking into the shell, would that be too conservative?

From the perspective of a Spirit Image, yes. But for her, it was not. She was a Spirit Image that had lost her Spirit Official; existing alone and remaining undestroyed was already rare. Without the support of a Spirit Official's Spirit, she was extremely fragile and unable to recover. Therefore, her survival strategy for so many years had been to prioritize self-preservation.

Moreover, she suddenly had an intuition of crisis. Her Inspiration was powerful, and her Mental Power was also strong; this intuition was very reliable, as if the sword of the Grim Reaper was hanging over her head, about to fall, so she did not hesitate at all and burrowed into the snail shell.

At this moment, the arrow arrived!

One arrow, hitting the three-zhang-high snail shell!

Bang!

It was an arrow of hard-on-hard, an arrow of stone striking an egg!

In an instant, the sharp arrow pierced through the shell, plunging from top to bottom, with air waves surging to the heavens!

The arrow that had just killed Feng Zhilie was a silent arrow, but this arrow was a glorious arrow!

One arrow pierced through the snail, its remaining momentum unchecked, sinking three zhang into the ground and leaving a giant crater. The massive power shockwave exploded, turning into surging white waves that swept in all directions. Under the impact of the white waves, the surrounding skeletons and corpses were all ground into powder.

And the giant snail beast at the center had long since been shattered into dust, with almost no remains left behind.

"Good fellow—good bow!"

Jiang Shenyi stroked the long bow with lingering fear, but looked down, wanting to see if that Spirit Image was dead.

A Spirit Image would not leave behind a corpse, but she should be dead; the evidence was that the few Fierce Beasts nearby that were not affected suddenly became restless, black smoke rolling off their bodies, their eyes turning blood-red again.

Previously, with the suppression of the Beast Spirit Official, these Fierce Beasts and bonded beasts could calm down, their eyes stably glowing green without extra red light, but now the eyes of these Fierce Beasts were completely crazed, having lost all suppression and returning to their Fierce Beast nature. It was clear their Beast Spirit Official was gone!

Jiang Shenyi was overjoyed, gripping the bow in his hand; that surging power was still churning within the bow.

Where should the next target be?

He was almost about to draw the bow and shoot at another closer Fierce Beast, but then he stopped.

In the midst of the battle formation, was shooting the Fierce Beasts the best choice?

The Beast Spirit Official was dead, and the Fierce Beasts had lost their restraint; they could not stay in the ranks for long and instead became a disaster that threw the group into chaos. Why shouldn't he use a little lightning to stimulate them, making them counter-charge the skeleton formation and disrupt the enemy's ranks?

Jiang Shenyi decided to himself and was just about to lower his bow and arrow when he suddenly heard a vibration.

It was the sound of bone joints rubbing together. A single bone colliding would not be this clear, but thousands of bones present colliding at the same time, emitting a "click-clack" sound, was actually as loud as thunder.

All the skeletons present moved at once; could it be that they were going to...

The next instant, the stationary skeleton battle formation moved, and all the white bones stepped forward silently, charging ahead!

"Stop, stop!"

On the last war chariot made of white bones in the battle formation, a young man in a white robe muttered incessantly.

Finally, he could not hold back, turned his head, and said, "Shangqing, since the expedition has not yet succeeded and we have instead lost a great general, and the eight Beast Spirits can no longer be used, why must we still launch a charge? This is completely meaningless."

Shangqing smiled and said, "Your Highness, please calm down. Now that the Beast Spirits have recovered their Fierce Beast nature, they cannot be commanded like an arm. However, their ferocity remains, and they instinctively want to charge toward living beings; they have no interest in the skeletons beside them. As long as the great army charges, the Fierce Beasts will instinctively follow the charge, and the situation will remain under control. If we do not charge now, leaving them to run amok in the army formation would truly become a disaster."

That Highness smiled bitterly and said, "That is not how it works. At the beginning, our goal was to enter the city, and the primary target was the city gate tower. Now the city gate tower is undamaged, and although the strength of the Inspection Bureau has been weakened, the surveillance remains. By sitting and defending the city, they can easily drag this out until experts like the Inspectors arrive. It is clear the timing is not right. We should have stopped the plan and discussed it at length. It would have been fine if you wanted to force the city while they were short-handed at the start, but now that an arm has been shot off and we have suffered a major setback, we should be retreating. Why are you still throwing our chips onto the table one handful at a time? Must we lose everything before you are satisfied?"

Shangqing looked at him inexplicably, thinking: Now that the arrow is on the string and the great army has already deployed, how can this be child's play, to be withdrawn just because one says so? Moreover, the situation on the battlefield changes in an instant; when encountering a setback, instead of thinking about how to use one's advantages to turn the situation around, one only thinks of running away and talks about discussing it at length—I fear that would only lead to an even greater defeat. If it weren't for your noble status as a member of the imperial clan, and if the Dead Army could understand human speech, I would have beheaded you for the crime of disrupting military morale.

But this person was, after all, of high status, and they did not command each other, so there was no need to waste words with him. He only smiled and said, "What is wrong with Your Highness? Now that we have surrounded the city, the advantage is with us; why worry?"

That Highness shook his head and said, "It is not that I am boosting others' morale and destroying my own prestige, but I thought of Kungang. Previously, the offensive at Kungang suffered a setback, and I failed to handle it in time; instead, like a gambler who has lost his mind, I continuously deployed my trump cards, wasting the lives of the Pillar of State and thousands of Black Armor Soldiers. I fear we will repeat the same mistake here."

That Shangqing laughed and said, "So that is it; Your Highness is overthinking. The Black Armor Soldiers are the elite of our dynasty and indeed must not be wasted, but these skeletons are worthless. Not to mention that we will not be defeated, even if we were truly defeated, throwing them away is fine; we can just replace them with new ones. It is no loss to us. Taking them back would be a burden instead. Your Highness, please sit back and watch as we break the enemy!"