Chapter 170: The Witch
Chapter 170: The Witch
Thump, thump, thump…
He did not know how much time had passed. It might have been thousands of years, or it might have been just a moment. Suddenly, a faint, muffled sound came from afar.
Slowly, the noise grew louder. The ground shook, and the table in the guest room trembled along with it. A porcelain bowl placed on it slid to the floor and shattered into pieces with a sharp “ding.” The sudden, muffled thumping drew nearer, rumbling like summer thunder.
Warhorses!
This was the sound of a large group of well-trained warhorses galloping together. A massive troop of riders was charging forward!
Mu Feng was startled and quickly sensed danger.
Though there was no neighing from the horses, by focusing on the increasingly loud thumping, he was absolutely certain it was the sound of many warhorses’ hooves striking the ground almost in unison. Judging by the heavy hoofbeats, at least a hundred riders were approaching rapidly at high speed.
Had their schemes failed, leading them to launch a direct frontal assault?
Remembering the persistent Immortal Sword Sect and the Blind Master, Mu Feng dared not delay. He reached for the hilt of his sword at his waist.
Before he could stand up, the window of the neighboring guest room creaked open. A sleepy, chubby merchant stuck half his head out. “Hey, innkeeper, what’s going on? What’s happening?”
Everything ahead was pitch-black, and he could see nothing. Rubbing his eyes, the anxious merchant loudly called out to the innkeeper sleeping downstairs.
Whoosh…
The response was not the innkeeper’s voice but a crossbow arrow that suddenly whistled through the darkness. With a thud, it pierced the merchant’s head and, with unspent force, nailed him to the wooden door behind him. The sheer power of the shot was terrifying!
In the adjacent room, a hunter who had also been awakened paled. He immediately slammed the window shut, which he had only cracked open—a wise move from experience. But before he could roll under the bed to hide, a sharp whistling sound filled the air. Countless crossbow arrows shot through the wooden window and embedded themselves deep into his body. In an instant, he was covered in blood, riddled like a porcupine.
“The Sky-Reaching Guard! It’s the Bleeding Arrows of the Sky-Reaching Guard!”
“Let’s go! Charge out together, hurry!”
…
After picking up a crossbow arrow from the floor and seeing the black cauldron emblem carved on its shaft, the other two hunters in the same room cried out in alarm. They exchanged a glance, then with a loud crash, burst through the door and fled in a desperate dash.
When the Bleeding Arrows strike, no mercy is shown!
This was the typical style of the Sky-Reaching Guard, who ran rampant across the Tongtian Dynasty.
As weapons directly controlled by the Tongtian Emperor, the Sky-Reaching Guard stood above all other authorities. Not only commoners but even local nobles and high officials in the Imperial Capital could be executed without trial. Those who dared to shelter or resist them met only one end: death!
The Tongtian Empire was vast, with countless sects and gangs, and many forces that dominated their regions. However fierce or tyrannical these groups might be, they were nothing compared to the Sky-Reaching Guard. In the few decades since the empire’s founding, the Sky-Reaching Guard had slaughtered and uprooted countless forces. Encountering them suddenly left only one slim chance of survival: to flee without hesitation!
Rumble, rumble…
The heavy hoofbeats grew closer, making everyone’s hearts pound with fear.
Through the hazy moonlight, a tall warhorse suddenly appeared on a hill over a hundred meters away. It was covered in black armor, its mouth bound with an iron bit, making no sound other than its hoofbeats. On its back sat a black-clad rider wearing a large bamboo hat and holding a cold, gleaming longbow. After charging up the hill, the rider tugged the reins, and the galloping horse abruptly reared up and halted. Behind, one by one, more equally cold, black-clad figures emerged from the darkness, their killing intent palpable.
“The Sky-Reaching Guard… it really is the Sky-Reaching Guard…”
“Run! Run for your lives!”
…
Through cracks in the windows, the sight of the black-clad figures on the hill caused an uproar in the previously silent inn, shrouded in deep night. People screamed in terror. In their panic, some flung open their doors and fled, while others leaped directly from second-story windows, landing on horses in the stables and galloping away, hoping to escape under cover of darkness.
Rumble…
On the high hill, the cold, silent black-clad figures urged their horses down the slope, raising their gleaming longbows in unison.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
A dense rain of arrows descended from the sky.
In an instant, all—whether swift swordsmen who had mounted their horses or travelers fleeing in all directions—were struck down by arrows. The fastest swordsman, who had leaped over the inn’s low wall on horseback, did not get far before a sharp crossbow arrow fell from above, nailing both him and his horse to the ground.
The cold Sky-Reaching Guard split into two groups, circling the simple inn as they shot. Sharp crossbow arrows rained down on the small inn like hail. They pierced the roof tiles, skewered into doors at an angle, penetrated quilts and bed boards to pin terrified travelers hiding under beds, and even shot through walls, turning those who thought themselves safe behind them into human pincushions!
The Sky-Reaching Guard, emerging suddenly from the darkness, attacked relentlessly without asking questions. They shot to kill every person in the inn, leaving no survivors.
Soon, the screams and cries within the inn grew fewer. The innkeeper, the servers, and others all fell in pools of blood. A swordsman at the Late Mortal Realm level dodged several waves of arrows and, relying on his skill, donned heavy armor to charge out, hoping to break through. Unfortunately, he had taken only a few steps when a stray arrow struck his heart. The powerful impact sent him flying, nailing him to the inn’s earthen wall.
Each ruthless, cold Sky-Reaching Guard had cultivated to at least the Mortal Realm Peak, with some even reaching the Elite Realm. Every arrow they shot struck fear into all who saw it—both the living and the dead!
“Switch to fire arrows! By the Marquis’s order, switch to fire arrows!”
“Burn this inn! Force that witch out, now!”
…
After several waves of arrows, the Sky-Reaching Guard circling the inn shouted in unison. Some quickly lit a blazing fire in a clearing. As they galloped past the flames, the riders leaned over, dipping their arrows into the burning black oil. Soon, as the fire arrows fell, the simple inn was quickly engulfed in a sea of flames.
“Witch?”
Mu Feng raised an eyebrow, using his sword to deflect an oncoming crossbow arrow. He carefully protected himself and Jing Wushuang’s vital spots, calmly waiting for an opportunity. Hearing the Sky-Reaching Guard’s words outside, he quickly recalled the mysterious Black-clad Woman.