Free Web NovelChapter 189: Chapter 138: Archery, Kui Lang, Hunting Ground
Zheng Xiu, carrying a painting scroll on his back, traveled north in the company of Chu Susu and Ruchen.
Along the way, they were intercepted by several waves of the Night Guard.
Though they were merely Night Guards, no matter how many came, it felt as though they were just throwing their lives away.
But faced with an endless stream of bizarre and cunning Miracle Techniques, Zheng Xiu didn’t dare let his guard down.
The Ravens in the sky ahead grew more numerous. Sometimes, in the dead of night, Zheng Xiu thought he could hear rushed breathing and gasps right by his ear.
Chu Susu said that was the sound of the Raven People closing in on their target.
Their "flight" continued, and before they knew it, it was the second day of the second month.
「Daqian. Yizhou State.」
This was a treacherous place the locals called Ghost Wail Forest.
The forest’s terrain was rugged, with rolling hills, subterranean rivers, and a network of pits and bizarre caves.
Wolf packs and other fierce beasts made their lairs in the caves scattered throughout Ghost Wail Forest, emerging at nightfall to hunt.
Zheng Xiu and his companions had abandoned their horses to proceed north on foot, choosing to pass through Ghost Wail Forest precisely because it was so dangerous.
Ordinary people feared the Wolf Pack, but a Mighty Man had nothing to fear.
’It’s just a Wolf Pack, not some vicious ghost. What’s there to be afraid of?’
’If the wolves attack, we’ll have meat for dinner.’
The Mighty Man entered Ghost Wail Forest with this thought in mind, yet he encountered neither Wolf Pack nor fierce beast.
It was Ruchen who finally pointed out the truth. "Brother Zheng, I can smell the blood on you from a hundred paces away. The wolves aren’t idiots. Why would they pick you as prey?"
Pained by the loss of his prospective barbecue, Zheng Xiu could only resign himself to an empty stomach and prepare to cross Ghost Wail Forest into the heart of Yizhou State.
And yet, even on such a treacherous path, they were caught by Ye Weiyang.
SWISH!
A sharp whistle cut through the air. Zheng Xiu’s ears twitched, and he shot out a hand, forcing Chu Susu’s head down.
A few strands of her hair, severed by the arrow’s passage, drifted slowly to the ground.
A long arrow pierced through ten trees before embedding itself deep in the forest.
Not long after entering Yizhou State, the three of them were ambushed by an archer.
This archer’s skill was simply divine. By combining his Archery with a Miracle Technique, he wielded terrifying power.
His spiraling arrows were like sniper bullets. Even when Zheng Xiu and his companions hid behind trees, the projectiles could still pierce through the forest cover and take a life from a thousand paces away. He never missed.
The mysterious sniper hunted Zheng Xiu for a full day and night.
Ever since they entered Ghost Wail Forest, their elusive opponent had fired a total of eleven arrows.
It was only then that Zheng Xiu truly understood how terrifying long-range assassination Miracle Techniques could be.
Just when the three of them thought they had escaped the sniper’s range, another arrow would suddenly fly their way.
The archer’s targets were not the Mighty Man, but Chu Susu and Ruchen.
If Zheng Xiu hadn’t intervened to save them multiple times, both of them would have long since taken a sharp arrow between the eyes.
The cat-and-mouse game with Ye Weiyang had reached a new stage. The organization was well aware of how formidable the "Mighty Painter" was, and the person they now sent to seize the scroll was finally a hard target, not just more cannon fodder.
Patient, ruthless, precise, and skilled in stealth and concealment—the archer possessed all the qualities of a master hunter.
He was like an experienced hunter relentlessly pursuing a Fierce Tiger.
Hidden in the shadows, he fired arrow after arrow, wearing down his prey’s stamina and patience, searching for an opening to land the killing blow, take the Richest Person’s head, and hang it high upon the city gates.
The moment the first arrow was fired at Ruchen, Zheng Xiu had an inkling of his opponent’s strategy.
First, it was a test to see if Zheng Xiu would save his companions.
Second, in what was a one-versus-three situation, he intended to first weaken the overall strength of Zheng Xiu’s party.
If Zheng Xiu didn’t intervene, the archer could eliminate his two companions. If Zheng Xiu did intervene, he would be forced onto the defensive and worn down. Either way, the archer benefited. It was a classic jungle hunting tactic.
"Thank you, Brother Zheng!"
Gazing at the severed strands of her own hair, Chu Susu was still shaken. She quickly took cover.
The three of them scrambled through Ghost Wail Forest until a strong draft from a curtain of vines revealed a narrow, hidden cave. Without a word, Zheng Xiu tore the vines apart. Estimating the archer’s general position from the arrow’s trajectory, they ducked inside, taking temporary shelter behind the stone wall.
Hiding behind a rugged stone wall, temporarily out of the archer’s line of sight, Chu Susu finally caught her breath. "His Archery reminds me of someone," she said. "One of the Twenty-Eight Constellations, from the West Seven Stars: Kui Lang. Legend has it that he once lived in the Great Desert. His ancestors were taught by a great master, who passed down an Archery technique of unfathomable skill. After he gained insight into the Path, his Miracle Technique and Archery began to complement each other, making him even more terrifying." freewebnovёl.ƈom
"Just one of the Twenty-Eight Constellations?"
Although Zheng Xiu knew that the strength of the Constellations varied greatly, he was still surprised to hear that this man was merely one of them.
In his opinion, based on Archery, stealth, and hunting skills alone, the man was on par with Gu Qiutang, the "Immovable Saber." Zheng Xiu couldn’t understand why such a figure was merely one of the Twenty-Eight Constellations, on the same level as Dou Xie.
Chu Susu couldn’t hide the worry in her eyes. She shook her head slightly. "I don’t know. Perhaps it’s because Kui Lang is a loner with no backing or connections, making it hard for him to rise to the rank of the Twelfth Moon. I only know of him because a few years ago, he entered the Great Desert alone, searching for the Incompleteness Tower. The Tower Master dispatched fifteen ’Can People’ and a Tower Chief—Mountain Spirit, the one among the Ten Greats most skilled in defense—just to drive him out. And yet, from start to finish, Kui Lang and Mountain Spirit never even met. They fought all night, separated by miles of yellow sand."
Zheng Xiu listened quietly.
