âHoly shit!â
âThis is huge!â
Yang Feiyue stood at the bow. Watching the four escort ships in the distance sink into the river, he was so shocked that even someone who had seen plenty of storms felt his scalp go numb.
No way, right?
Hall Master Yin would not get held responsible for this, would he?
Is my backer finished?
Su Wangchuan also sucked in a sharp breath. The sight made him tense up.
But he did not let his thoughts run wild. His gaze locked onto the imperial envoy dragon boat.
Thanks to the benefits of his ăArcheryă realm, his eyesight was excellent. Very quickly, he realized the dragon boat did not seem to be in chaos at all, and everyone on deck was looking in their direction.
Su Wangchuan froze.
Then he noticed that a lot of people in the river were swimming like mad, heading straight toward them!
These people were incredible in the water, and with the current carrying them, it did not take long before he could hear someone shouting at them:
âAn assassin!â
âHe is fleeing toward your direction!â
âShoot!â
âStop him!â
Su Wangchuanâs arm tensed slightly. Then he felt Gang Leader Yang Feiyue gently tug his sleeve and press downâjust a subtle, calming signal.
Su Wangchuan stopped without changing his expression, pretending he had not heard a single word from the river.
The big fox and the little fox understood each other instantly.
Stop him?
Stop my ass.
Four ships in the imperial envoyâs fleet had just been wiped out.
Who knew what kind of monster this person was?
If they really dared to intervene, they would become the stones under the feet of these Caobang elitesânothing more than stepping-stones for someoneâs rise built on a mountain of corpses.
Neither of them moved.
The others truly had not heard clearly.
The Yulong Gangâs ordinary inner disciples were only Quasi-Martial Artists. Even if they had heard the shouting, they would not have been able to spot the target.
After a brief pause, both of them sensed something.
A dangerous presence was rapidly moving away.
Only someone who was intimately familiar with the water and possessed sharp perception could have felt it.
The enemy had already swept beneath the Yulong Gangâs boats, riding the current downstream.
âFuck!â
âYang Feiyue!â
âTurn around, now!â
Someone burst out of the water, moved with swift agility, and flipped into the cabin while shouting:
âDo not let the murderer get away!â
More and more Caobang elites climbed onto the Yulong Gangâs fast boats.
Over twenty people boarded cleanly, blades and swords in hand, their eyes sharp and ferocious, their faces filled with the hunger to earn merit and make a name for themselves.
Yang Feiyue and Su Wangchuan could clearly feel the surging heat of their bloodlust and fighting spirit.
Su Wangchuan thought to himself, These have to be NPCs. Players would never throw themselves in this hard.
âTurn around!â
âAll boats! Turn around at full speed!â
Yang Feiyue barked the orders, putting on a show.
Behind the Yulong Gang, more boats were already charging downstream, looking ready to chase their quarry for a thousand miles.
âBrother Wang?â
âWhat is going on?â
âHow did the imperial envoyâs fleet get attacked?â
âHow many enemies are there?â
Yang Feiyue seized the chance to gather intel.
A Second-Rank martial artist who had boarded did not care about Yang Feiyueâs earlier inaction. He waved his hand and said, âDo not ask. It is just one person! Ridiculously strong. He smashed three escort ships with his bare fists and killed at least dozens of our brothers. The key is that bastard is also great in the water. We are not his match in the river.â
ââŠâ
Yang Feiyue and Su Wangchuan exchanged a lookâan unspoken, fox-kind of relief.
Brother Wang continued, âLuckily, there are two Fifth-Rank martial artists guarding the imperial envoy. When that man tried to hit the dragon boat, they caught him off guard! He is injured, and it should not be light!â
âWe will keep chasing downstream. Do not give him any chance to get ashore.â
âFifth-Rank?â
Su Wangchuanâs bladder tightened. He wanted to run.
Yang Feiyueâs expression was just as ugly.
A Third-Rank martial artist had nearly killed him in a single exchange back then. An injured Fifth-Rank martial artist was still incomparably stronger than a Third-Rankâfar, far stronger.
Chase down a Fifth-Rank?
You people are truly fearless.
Unfortunately, everyone had already been shoved onto the cart like ducks. Joining was no longer optional.
The only thing Su Wangchuan found comforting was that his boatâs position, thanks to turning around, had dropped toward the rear of the formationâŠ
Yang Feiyue glanced back at the larger fleet behind them and warned Su Wangchuan in a low voice:
âIf it comes to it, jump into the water and save your life.â
Su Wangchuanâs eyes lit up, and he nodded.
As expected of an old fox.
He really did have tricks up his sleeve.
No matter how monstrous the enemyâs water skills were, he could not swim back upstream to slaughter them, could he?
Behind them were at least a crowd of Second-Rank and Third-Rank martial artists.
And besidesâŠ
If he really went into the river, who would know whether he had been cowardly or afraid of battle?
Su Wangchuan called out a quick warning to Captain Zhao Heiniu, then began to put on a show of searching the river for movement.
And surprisinglyâŠ
After searching for a while, he spotted thin threads of blood up ahead, rising as they drifted swiftly.
âThere!â
âHe really did not get far!â
âHe cannot even seal his acupoints to stop the bleeding. He should be about to surface!â
âPrepare the bows!â
The Yulong Gang inner disciplesâ bows were immediately snatched away by the Caobang elites, who lined up at the bow, aiming at the water.
SPLASH!!!
At that moment, a fast boat in the center of the formation suddenly shattered. People on board screamed as they fell into the river.
Everyone whipped around and aimed in unisonâonly for wood chips to explode outward. The splinters slammed into the surrounding people with enough force to injure many of them. Cries of pain rang out, and the arrows all lost their line.
Only Yang Feiyue and Su Wangchuan did not move.
Their ăIron Shirtă had already been silently protecting their bodies.
Yang Feiyue wore inner armor.
Su Wangchuan wore chainmail.
The flying splinters struck them without dealing any damage.
In the blink of an eyeâ
Su Wangchuan saw a figure appear amid the wrecked boatâs center, and he almost reflexively snapped his aim onto itâŠ
Four Armor-Piercing Arrows, coated in snake venom, screamed out. Cutting through the storm of debris, they struck their target with brutal precision.
Five-Finger Rapid Shot!
Yang Feiyue flicked out two Hundredfold Steel throwing knives, also poisoned.
Heart-Piercing Dart!
The target let out a muffled grunt, then erupted in furious rage.
âPoison!â
âDespicable scum!!â
âDie!â
That burly, mysterious Fifth-Rank martial artist truly had not been able to block the Armor-Piercing Arrows and throwing knives. The armor-piercing property tore into his flesh, and the instant the poison entered his body, he realized something was terribly wrong. His eyes turned razor-sharp, killing intent surging as he fixed on the last fast boat at the rear.
But the moment the two attackers confirmed their hits, they abandoned their weapons and jumped straight into the river.
âEveryone! Jump in and run for your lives!â
SPLASH!!
Over ten fast boatsâdozens of Yulong Gang inner disciplesâobeyed Yang Feiyue without hesitation, diving into the water one after another.
At that momentâŠ
Even a Fifth-Rank martial artistâs powerful ability to locate targets by sound was overwhelmed by the chaos of constant splashing. He lost his lock entirely and had no choice but to dive to the riverbed to search.
âDamn it!!â
The burly, mysterious Fifth-Rank martial artist saw something that made him even angrier.
The two poison-users, after jumping into the river, immediately swam backward, rapidly closing in on the Caobang fleet behind.
âQuick!â
âThere is black blood!â
âThe target is poisoned!â
The Caobang elitesâ excited shouting whipped their fleet into greater fervor as they surged closer.
More and more people moved to surround the burly, mysterious Fifth-Rank martial artist, whose body was growing weaker by the second.