Unless Shen Yun’an completely abandoned Young Master Bu, he could withdraw now. But Xiao Changyan firmly believed Shen Yun’an wouldn’t abandon Young Master Bu!

Today he would first test Shen Yun’an’s strength.

Vaguely, Xiao Changyan felt some anticipation for this confrontation with Shen Yun’an!

Just then, the advisor, looking down, saw bubbles rising by the riverside edge of the ship. As he was about to look closer, a sharp, piercing sound of unknown origin cut through the air, instantly making everyone who heard it tense.

Before they could look around for the source, a piece of the pitch-black night sky seemed to suddenly collapse downward, an ominous feeling instantly enveloping them, leaving them completely unable to react.

That fallen piece of the night quickly dispersed, and as it passed through the light, they saw it was a flock of giant birds in flight.

“G-giant birds—”

Someone let out a short scream, followed immediately by splash after splash of bodies hitting the water.

The massive black eagles, away from the light, could completely blend with the night. They spread their wings, enormous in size, moving so fast that people had no time to react.

Swooping past, their wings struck like iron rods hitting bone, causing endless pain.

This unexpected turn caught Xiao Changyan completely off guard. He had no time to dodge, and even though guards immediately surrounded him for protection, the successive waves of black eagles swept past, knocking all the guards into the river before they could even raise their swords.

Near the dock, the water wasn’t deep, but several guards who fell in were instantly grabbed by people lurking below and had their necks twisted.

Shen Yun’an’s men stripped these guards’ clothes, quickly put them on, and forcefully pushed the dead bodies toward the river’s center.

The black eagles seemed attracted to something on the ship, circling it, sweeping across the people from one side, flying to the other side, and then swooping at people from there, repeating this pattern.

Xiao Changyan was forced to retreat into the cabin, but many men were lost ensuring his safe retreat.

Those hidden inside the ship had to emerge one by one, quickly nocking arrows, but these black eagles were too fast and flew too high—not even a single feather was shot down.

Guards who surfaced from the water had to dive back down as more eagles attacked. Those who managed to climb aboard were immediately knocked back into the water.

The disheveled Xiao Changyan retreated to the cabin, watching the situation through the window, his expression tense and grim. This wasn’t a warship; much of its construction wasn’t as advantageous as a battle vessel.

All those arrows fell uselessly into the river. Xiao Changyan raised his hand and coldly ordered: “Bring my bow!”

Immediately his servants ran to his room, two people struggling to carry Xiao Changyan’s extremely heavy bow, while others brought matching arrows. Xiao Changyan examined them briefly.

He found a window, nocked an arrow, and waited about half a cup of tea’s time before targeting one black eagle, predicting its flight path and speed. Releasing the fully drawn bow, an arrow whistled through the air, striking a black eagle dead center.

Perhaps intimidated by Xiao Changyan’s shot, the black eagles retreated, only flapping their wings high above, no longer attacking the ship’s crew as boldly as before.

Too far to shoot again, Xiao Changyan and the eagles faced off from a distance in the night.

After an unknown time, another sharp, piercing sound rang out. Just as the black eagles had appeared without warning, they swiftly flew into the night at this sound, melting into the darkness in the blink of an eye.

If not for the chaos everywhere and soaked guards climbing from the river, these eagles’ sudden arrival and departure would have seemed like a dream—a nerve-wracking dream!

Xiao Changyan, face dark, threw the bow to his attendant and strode toward a cabin. Earlier outside, when the first sound came, he hadn’t had time to determine its source like everyone else.

Then the eagles attacked, leaving him no time to think about such things, but just now in the cabin, he had determined where the second sound that made the eagles retreat had come from.

He walked grimly to Shen Twenty-seven’s prison room. Seeing Xiao Changyan’s hostile approach, Zha Pu quickly stepped forward to block him: “Prince Jing…”

But Zha Pu barely opened his mouth before Xiao Changyan pushed him aside. Zha Pu dared not resist his superior, and since Xiao Changyan meant him no harm, he could only stumble back several steps and watch helplessly as Xiao Changyan chopped the door open and strode in!

Inside, Shen Twenty-seven sat lazily on the windowsill, twirling a golden whistle as thick as a finger between his fingers. Seeing Xiao Changyan, he drawled: “Why does Your Highness come so aggressively?”

Xiao Changyan’s gaze fixed on the whistle in his fingers, and after a while, he said coldly: “Young Master Bu has quite a few tricks, but pity these beasts won’t save you!”

This was openly hostile, acknowledging his current predicament as a captive, showing how angry Xiao Changyan was.

The angrier the better. They had planned this strategy when he met with the Young Master. The golden whistle was given to him by the Young Master, telling him to act according to circumstances after receiving the signal.

He hadn’t blown the first whistle sound—only the second. The black eagles only responded to one command. They attacked the ship because Shen Yun’an had incorporated Shen Xihe’s fragrance into their training.

Shen Twenty-seven had only lit this incense, and the black eagles, receiving their orders, would keep attacking this direction until given the retreat command, or until they obtained the source of the fragrance.

Seeing Xiao Changyan shoot down an eagle, and receiving the signal from the hidden Shen family members at his window, he gave the retreat command, naturally to mislead Xiao Changyan.

Xiao Changyan mistakenly believed he was behind everything from start to finish, so wouldn’t immediately suspect others or have time to check the guards climbing from the water. His first reaction would be to rush over and demand answers.

Everything happened as the Young Master predicted. Thinking of their men who had already infiltrated and were probably being organized to change clothes, able to quickly disperse once out of their leaders’ sight, Shen Twenty-seven couldn’t help but smile: “In my idle time, I enjoy these unconventional methods. The ship was boring, so I called some black eagles for entertainment.

They came for me, but Your Highness’s men were too easily startled, intending to harm them first, which made them lose control…”