Chapter 794

If this ambush enemy lingered to fight, Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu was confident he could make even Feng Huo Liancheng pay dearly.

Too bad this man had hidden so long—he clearly wasn't one to rely on brute force.

After landing his strike, before Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu's sword technique could reach him, he rolled back into the shrubbery and vanished outright.

Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu's sword strikes all pierced the shrubs behind him, stripping them bare, yet not a single scratch touched the ambush attacker.

598 Was it a woman?

"Hah! Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu, your day of death has come!"

He had just been battered and disarmed by Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu, losing his crossbow, but now seeing Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu wounded, he grew triumphant.

He had seen clearly the shadow that ambushed Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu.

It was none other than Shi Lang, one of the Twelve Gate Generals, most skilled in ambush!

He never expected Shi Lang, though already arrived, would deliberately let himself be crushed by Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu.

If not for stumbling upon Nalan Xiuji and securing this squad of Great Qing troops from him.

Without the Great Qing troops' arrows to restrain him, he would have died here today.

But now is not the time to discuss this!

The wanted fugitive, Wuji Sword Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu, has been struck by Shi Lang's ambush.

Two of Feng Huo Liancheng's Gate Generals joined forces, along with this squad of skilled archers from Great Qing.

Today, Shan Zhi is confident he'll leave him here!

He no longer bothered retrieving his crossbow; instead, Shan Zhi whipped his hooked chain, striking at Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu.

In truth, Shan Zhi's cultivation was also at early-stage Grandmaster.

Though slightly inferior to Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu, the gap was not enormous.

Yet all of Shan Zhi's skills were concentrated in this hooked chain.

In other words, if Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu were unharmed, he'd need over fifty moves to subdue Shan Zhi beyond ten paces.

Now Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu was wounded, and due to his chivalric code, he had been lured away from Shan Zhi's side by Shi Lang.

At this moment, the hooked chain lashed out like a venomous snake, layer upon layer, striking at Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu.

Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu's counterattacks failed, and he bore serious injuries.

Now he had to face not only Shan Zhi's hooked chain and the Great Qing troops' hidden arrows, but crucially, the lurking Shi Lang.

He knew he could no longer afford to linger in battle.

After barely parrying Shan Zhi's few assaults, deflecting Shi Lang's second ambush, and knocking away dozens of arrows.

His longsword suddenly stabbed downward, then whipped up sharply.

Sand and gravel, propelled by his Qi, shot toward Shan Zhi and the others.

Shan Zhi, halted by this obstruction, naturally paused his assault.

The Great Qing troops, fearing injury from flying debris, scrambled to dodge.

Seizing this chance, Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu leapt upward and fled deep into the woods.

By the time Shan Zhi deflected the sand and gravel, Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu had already vanished near the tree line with a few leaps.

"Shi Lang, why didn't you stop him?"

Shan Zhi vented his fury toward the depths of the shrubbery.

Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu's move had only delayed Shan Zhi and the Great Qing troops.

Had Shi Lang, hidden in the shadows, intervened, even if he couldn't stop him, he could have slowed Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu's escape.

Yet since his second ambush failed, Shi Lang had remained hidden in the shrubbery, never showing himself.

Now Shan Zhi complained, but Shi Lang still gave no reply.

"Hmph! Since you're so afraid of death, then I, Shan Zhi, shall claim this merit alone."

Yet after complaining, Shan Zhi had already figured out why Shi Lang didn't act.

Simply put, Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu's cultivation surpassed both Shan Zhi and Shi Lang.

Add to that Wuji Sword's immense reputation—he surely had countless ways to escape death.

A cornered beast still fights, let alone this renowned master of the Great Qing Wu Lin.

Shi Lang feared that if he intervened, Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu would fight to the death.

Not only would he fail to capture Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu, he might get wounded himself.

Then this merit would truly become Shan Zhi's alone.

Once he understood everything, Shan Zhi resumed his lightness technique and chased after Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu's fleeing path.

It was now within the woods, and dusk was nearly upon them.

Even if the Great Qing troops wished to pursue, the path was hard to trace, and they couldn't catch up.

After all, Shan Zhi's lightness technique was unmatched among the Twelve Gate Generals.

Even if this squad's captain had his horse, how could he catch up to these martial artists without Ma Pi?

For a moment, it seemed only Shan Zhi was racing after Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu.

At this moment, Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu was wounded, while Shan Zhi, though just beaten badly, had not been injured.

Aside from the crossbow, he had suffered no other losses.

In contrast, Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu had been wounded by Shi Lang's ambush, and along his escape route, bloodstains remained.

Following these blood trails, Shan Zhi chased for about half an hour.

Finally, as darkness fell, he spotted Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu collapsed beside a small river.

Beside Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu was another figure, dressed in coarse hemp, face blackened and indistinguishable as male or female.

He was now carefully cleaning Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu's back wound with a rag.

"Oh? Another bounty poster?"

Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu's fainting utterly exceeded Shan Zhi's expectations.

He looked at the man beside Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu—clearly without any Wu Gong—and felt immense excitement.

With Hearing Hearing Fu Qingzhu's head now in his grasp, and this man wiping his wounds,

though any keen observer knew he was merely a poor soul who had accidentally gotten caught up in this conflict,

to Shan Zhi, he was simply a bounty.

"Are you someone from the Wuji Sect? Or perhaps a remnant of the Tian Di Society?"

The Tian Di Society, a Wu Lin organization linked to the Qinglong Society, suffered devastating blows after the Great Qing's restoration.

Now, only in this northwestern corner did any remnants of the Tian Di Society remain.

No matter who this man truly was, in Shan Zhi's eyes, he was a bounty.

He immediately slapped on the label of Wuji Sect or Tian Di Society and prepared to torture and kill.

"Ah..."

The man let out a cry—but it was a woman's voice.

She seemed to just now notice Shan Zhi's arrival, trembling violently, crawling on the ground, and replied,

"Esteemed sir, I am neither from the Wuji Sect nor the Tian Di Society.

I'm just a woodcutter from nearby, came here to chop firewood, and happened to see this sir injured and unconscious.

I thought saving a life was a meritorious deed, so I helped him.

If I've offended you, please forgive me."

"So she's a woman?"

Her face was pitch-black, her clothes coarse hemp—she looked nothing like a woman.

Yet her voice was sweet and melodic; even a beast like Shan Zhi felt his bones melt at the sound.

Shan Zhi leapt instantly to the riverside.

He reached out, gripped the woman's chin, and lifted her face.

Under the dim starlight, though her face remained pitch-black, her eyes sparkled with extraordinary liveliness, like stars in the night sky.

"So beautiful!"

Shan Zhi meant her eyes.

He then regained a sliver of clarity,

"No! It's this late at night—where would there be any households nearby?

You're a young Miss pretending to be a woodcutter—you're definitely a spy! A rebel!"