Chapter 251: Storming the Branch Helm

Everyone in the Sanjiang Branch Helm was jolted awake!

Zhao Heiniu, Chen Ergou, Bai Yuhui, Wang Yuehui!

Along with Zhang Cha’er, Hong Biao, and the rest, they all poured out of their rooms, blades and swords in hand, searching in every direction for the enemy who had invaded the branch helm.

The rapid footfalls racing across the rooftops, and the screams of disciples constantly falling from above, let them lock onto the target at once.

Thud-thud!

Zhang Cha’er stepped off the wall and sprang onto the roof, arriving just in time to block Tian Chou’s path.

“The Five Poison Sect’s branch leader ‘Tian Chou.’”

“So you really are one ugly piece of work!”

Holding a saber in his hand, Zhang Cha’er pointed it straight at him, his words utterly unrestrained.

Even though he knew the man was a Third-Rank Martial Artist—far stronger than he was—this was still inside the city, inside the branch helm, on his own turf!

Tian Chou could not be bothered to waste words with him. His speed did not slow in the slightest as he charged straight in.

Zhang Cha’er cultivated the Caobang Third-Rank martial art 《Parting-Waters Saber》, but rubble kicked up by Tian Chou’s foot smashed into him and knocked his blade off line, leaving his center wide open.

“If I cannot kill the helm leader, then I will kill a deputy helm leader and collect a little interest.”

Tian Chou lunged in with eerie speed, clamped a hand around Zhang Cha’er’s throat, and grinned as he squeezed hard—then flung him away as if he were trash…

Four sharp arrows were aimed at Tian Chou, but they struck Zhang Cha’er’s body by accident.

Zhang Cha’er let out a muffled groan, tumbled off the roof, and went completely still.

Su Wangchuan swept up along the wall, his face cold as water!

Zhang Cha’er was dead!

There was only one Second-Rank Martial Artist in the branch helm…

This was humiliating beyond words!

“Everyone, loose arrows!”

At Su Wangchuan’s command, an arrowstorm burst forth.

Tian Chou’s footwork was bizarre. He sprang like a rabbit and darted like a magpie, slipping through wave after wave of arrows without suffering so much as a scratch.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

Su Wangchuan sprinted along the opposite rooftop, chasing Tian Chou’s shadow and drawing his bow again and again.

Tian Chou had already reached the branch helm’s high wall.

Just as he was about to vanish…

Su Wangchuan roared, “I killed the giant bear!”

Tian Chou’s figure faltered for a heartbeat, as though he had just heard something utterly unbelievable. He twisted his head, and a pair of icy, vicious eyes instantly locked onto Su Wangchuan’s face.

Su Wangchuan planted his feet and drew his bow…

Five-Finger Rapid Shot!

TWANG!!!

Four arrows flew at once, sealing every angle of Tian Chou’s evasive movement.

Tian Chou’s black robe—like a piece of ragged cloth—whipped violently. A surge of internal energy erupted from him, making the robe howl as it churned and twisted, dragging all four Armor-Piercing Arrows into its folds.

Then, instead of breaking out, he abandoned escape entirely. He stepped onto the high wall and lunged toward the rooftop opposite, crossing three to four zhang in a single stride.

“Heh-heh-heh-heh…”

“I searched high and low, wearing through iron shoes, and found nothing!”

“And now it falls into my lap without effort!”

“So you are the helm leader of the Sanjiang Branch Helm!”

“You killed my deputy helm leader!”

“You killed my Snake Elder!!”

“You butchered my Five Poison Sect disciples!!!!”

“You are the murderer who destroyed my mountain-guarding divine beast!!!!!!!”

“Hahahaha…”

“Die!!!!”

The shrill, grating voice was like a night-owl reaping souls.

“Protect the helm leader!”

The people of the Sanjiang Branch Helm tensed in panic.

Zhao Heiniu and Chen Ergou both raised their bows to intercept him.

Five-Finger Rapid Shot!

Hundred Paces Piercing the Poplar!

Tian Chou’s figure spun deftly in midair, dodging arrow after arrow as he closed on Su Wangchuan at terrifying speed.

Su Wangchuan kept drawing and firing, forcing out another brutal four-arrow volley, but without exception every shot was shaken aside by Tian Chou’s internal energy and some unknown body-protection technique.

When that ghostlike figure drew near, the crushing pressure made it hard to breathe…

But Su Wangchuan did not retreat. He threw aside the Iron-Reinforced Bow, snapped his left hand out to fling a Heart-Piercing Dart, and raised the Heart-Piercing Crossbow in his right!

Tian Chou knocked the Heart-Piercing Dart aside, only to see the crossbow lift and aim straight at him. He was already within one zhang of Su Wangchuan.

The crossbow’s powerful twin strings, the razor edge of the Armor-Piercing Crossbow Bolt, and the obvious sheen of deadly poison smeared along the shaft made a chill explode through Tian Chou’s whole body. His pupils shrank.

TWANG!

Su Wangchuan pulled the trigger.

Carrying the Armor-Piercing +2 attribute and 120 attack, the Armor-Piercing Crossbow Bolt punched straight through Tian Chou’s black robe and drove into his chest without the slightest courtesy.

At the very same moment, a streak of emerald-green light shot out from Tian Chou’s sleeve.

A small bamboo-leaf viper lunged with a savage gape and bit viciously into Su Wangchuan.

Tian Chou and Su Wangchuan both burst backward at the same time.

Tian Chou flipped in midair and hit the ground in a miserable sprawl. He slapped a palm to the ground and sprang toward the high wall like a hawk rolling over—only to be met by a sheet of arrows.

Thud-thud!

Every sound was an arrow sinking into flesh.

The Heart-Piercing Crossbow had pierced Tian Chou’s body-protection technique and broken his flesh. In his grievously wounded state, he no longer had the power to maintain that protection against the arrows.

Wounds piled upon wounds!

Tian Chou’s strength drained away. He slammed into the wall, crashed down with a heavy thump, coughed up a mouthful of blood, and could not get back up for a long while.

“Damn you—!”

Tian Chou propped himself up with one hand and saw the arrowhead that had burst out through his chest and abdomen. The ferocious cruelty in his eyes gave way to confusion and regret.

“You lunatics from the Caobang… handing out Armor-Piercing Arrows to your underlings?”

With armor-piercing in play, every arrow ignored defense and dealt full, solid damage. Even the health of a Third-Rank Martial Artist was being shaved down to nearly nothing.

“…”

“Bind him!”

Wang Yuehui ordered the Caobang disciples to go forward and tie him up, his face full of worry as he looked toward the other direction.

Su Wangchuan was walking in slowly, one hand pressed to his chest.

At the sight, Tian Chou threw back his head and laughed, coughing mouthfuls of blood.

“Hahahaha… cough… cough… I am finished, but you are finished too… cough-cough… you were poisoned by my mutated bamboo-leaf viper. Even an immortal cannot save you.”

“Hahahaha!”

The Caobang disciples all turned pale.

Bai Yuhui and Chen Ergou shouted at once, “Go get a doctor!”

“Now!!”

Everyone was terrified.

Su Wangchuan only sneered and said, “The bamboo-leaf viper you raised is too small. Its bite is weak… it could not even pierce me.”

As he spoke, he pulled a limp little green snake from his clothes—wilted and utterly lifeless.

Tian Chou froze, then stared, disbelieving, his eyes widening.

Su Wangchuan unfastened his leather armor and revealed the chainmail beneath.

Even if the mutated bamboo-leaf viper could bite through leather, there was no way it could bite through metal chainmail. It had snapped its fangs clean off.

“My fate was not to die.”

“And now you can die with your eyes open… if you can.”

Su Wangchuan’s words drove Tian Chou into a rage so violent it attacked his heart. He spat a huge mouthful of blood, sagged sideways, and went cold.

A dignified Five Poison Sect branch leader, ‘Tian Chou’—a Third-Rank Martial Artist with a name in Jianghu—died with hatred in his heart, unable to rest.

Su Wangchuan walked over and took his head with a single sword stroke.

Then he searched ‘Tian Chou’s’ body…

Two gold notes worth one hundred taels of gold each;

And a gray porcelain bottle.

The moment Su Wangchuan found the bottle, his eyes lit up.

Mutated Snake Venom (Consumable Item) Durability 100/100;

Venom from a mutated bamboo-leaf viper, violently toxic, reducing HP by 5 per second;

A young green bamboo’s mouth, a wasp’s tail with a needle—neither compares.

“Helm leader.”

“This man’s clothes are a bit strange.”

Chen Ergou felt around and warned him.

Only then did Su Wangchuan notice that the black ragged garment was unnaturally tough and flexible. He stripped it off and examined it closely.

Snakehide Fine Armor: Green Quality (Durability 53/100)

Defense +5, impervious to blades and spears;

Stitched from the toughest pieces of head hide taken from a fully grown python—truly blade- and spear-proof.

Su Wangchuan’s heart tightened.

If he had not ordered every night-patrol disciple to be fully equipped with Armor-Piercing Arrows, a Third-Rank Tian Chou could have rampaged through the branch helm, slaughtering everyone.