Chapter 14: Chapter 14

Sho!

With the terrifying sound of tearing flesh, the second arrow followed the first one. It pierced into the chest of the middle-aged scholar, like chained lighting. The arrow hit the exact same place where the first arrow penetrated the robe and the armor.

The third arrow was right behind the second, sailing straight through the others. Since his wound was no longer protected by armor, the third arrow penetrated directly into his body!

Nobody knew how Ning Que did this. He used a regular boxwood bow to shoot three consecutive arrows in seconds. Furthermore, nobody could even imagine how this seemingly ordinary and young soldier obtained such terrifying mastery in archery, that he was able to shoot into the same tiny spot three times in a row!

The middle-aged scholar felt like a hard and heavy wooden pole crashed with such tremendous momentum into his chest that it pushed him back about two steps. He realized that there was something warm running down his chest, and seconds later that warmth became boiling hot.

He looked down instinctively and saw an arrow penetrating almost all the way through his body. Only a small portion of the fletching was seen outside of his robe. Blood gushed out of his body and a blood flower blossomed on his indigo robe.

Shocked, the middle-aged scholar looked down at the wet blood flower on his chest. An expression filled with absurdity and astonishment appeared on his blood-covered face.

He lost all his strength and gradually fell to the ground covered with fallen leaves and mud.

Even cultivators, who took advantage of Dark Methods to absorb the Qi of Heaven and Earth, could not control their minds after their hearts were pierced.

The invisible string connecting heaven and earth was torn apart the moment the middle-aged scholar fell down.

The bloody and broken finger, which had completely lost control, could not threaten a Psyche Master anymore, even if the Psyche Master was extremely weak.

Lyu Qingchen raised his eyebrows and shoved the broken finger out of his way.

The broken finger flew past his face and towards the carriage behind the elderly. Then half of the carriage was destroyed and broken into pieces with a little collapsing noise.

A tiny portion of the Qi of Heaven and Earth absorbed by the middle-aged scholar was charged into the broken finger. Although the broken finger had lost its control, it could still cause a lot of damage. It definitely could have hurt the elderly seriously without the help of the three arrows. And the ambush would have embraced in an entirely different end.

All the surviving guards and soldiers understood this, but the scholar was the one who knew this best. He stared at the arrows in his chest and painfully struggled to raise his head, looking towards the back of the carriage formation to see what the shooter looked like.

Using his superior mastery of archery, Ning Que had shot three arrows at the most important moment. These arrows pierced the armor and surprisingly was able to kill a Great Sword Master. He turned the tide of the situation and saved the Tang princess from absolute danger… Is it the time for him to accept the surprise, gratitude and even worship of all the people who were present?

Ning Que, however, did not think so. There was no relieved smile on his face. He still held his boxwood bow tightly and kept his arrows drawn. He aimed at the Great Sword Master sitting under the tree, with his ears focusing on the light rustling sounds of the forest.

He stayed cautious.

“Xia Hou.”

“Xia Hou!”

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“Xia Hou… ”

Ning Que had been repeating this name to himself in his mind after a maidservant told him that the Great Sword Master might be Xia Hou’s subordinate. Besides, the Great Sword Master had admitted that before.

Xia Hou was not called Xia Hou XX.

His last name is Xia, and his first name is Hou.

As one of the four most influential Great Generals in Tang, his Kungfu was among the highest level and he had achieved many military accomplishments. The man was extremely brave yet cold and ruthless, famous for being brutal and warlike. He was stationed at the Fierce Willow Battalion.

However, while his last name was Xia, he did not allow his children to use Xia as their last names. Instead, he changed his children’s last names to his full name. His oldest son was called Xiahou Jing and his second son was called Xiahou Wei, and so on. When the court’s intellectuals asked about it, Xia Hou answered arrogantly. “I want to create a last name for myself and I am the ancestor, which will be passed down for thousands of centuries.”

“Therefore, the family name from now is Xiahou.”

…

…

General Xia Hou was a celebrity. It was not, however, for this reason, Ning Que kept remembering his name in his mind, from shocking narrations to disappointment, and then to irony.

This name, seemingly engraved into blood and arrogance, had always been deeply buried in Ning Que’s mind since he was four.

He had never met Xia Hou before.

But he knew Xia Hou’s hobby, his favorite concubine, and why Xia Hou had boiled and killed that concubine. He also knew that Xia Hou would eat three kilograms of mutton at every meal, and even his daily toilet routine.

He believed that he was the person who understood the Tang’s famous general most, none in the world wanted to kill this man more than he did.

Under the rough and arrogant appearance of that general, there was a cold and cunning heart. He was harsh and ruthless, but he only trusted his own hands. Therefore, he would never rely solely on the middle-aged scholar, who obviously was not his descendant, to assassinate the princess.

The general would definitely send his most loyal assassins and subordinates to observe this ambush. He himself might jump out at a key moment to finish the task.

It was the best moment, in Ning Que’s perspective.

A crying little boy poked his head out of the half-collapsed carriage. A pretty maidservant raised her dress and ran towards him nervously.

Ning Que extended his right arm as quickly as a thunderstrike and knocked her down.

The tree branches over their heads snapped and broke into pieces, obscuring the sight of any onlookers. Two masked men dressed in black appeared in the debris. They quickly threw two metal balls at Ning Que and unsheathed their long swords from their backs. The scene was very cold and scary!

The two accelerating metal balls were painted with red dots. They were kerosene grenades equipped by the elite forces of Tang’s frontier armies and their burning effect was extremely horrifying.

Ning Que was familiar with these grenades as he had spent a lot of time in the frontier fortress. He threw the bow away as quickly as he could and reached out for the hilt on his back, and then he screamed, “Umbrella!?”