The teachers from the clan school and the shadows joined the battle, finally turning the tide for the Mei family against the massacre.
“Mr. Mo saved her,” Mei Jiu sighed in relief, watching the two figures and thinking Mei Ru Yan must be happy now.
Mo Si Gui approached Elder Qi’s area, uncorked the jade bottle, and rolled it into the battle circle along the ground.
The wisps of smoke seemed attracted to clothing, constantly clinging to people’s garments.
“You brat!” Elder Qi quickly swallowed a universal antidote pill.
Seeing this, the black-clad men realized the smoke was poisonous. One of them threw a hidden weapon, shattering the jade bottle. However, instead of dissipating, the smoke exploded into a dense white fog!
“Oh no!” Mo Si Gui exclaimed, returning to hand An Jiu a bottle of medicine. “Help me distribute the antidote!”
The smoke didn’t discriminate between friend and foe. An Jiu saw the black-clad men surrounding Elder Qi collapse in the mist, realizing the poison acted swiftly. Without hesitation, she quickly distributed the antidote pills to the Mei clan members nearby.
“Sister?” Mei Ru Yan recognized her as she received the antidote.
An Jiu nodded, glancing at Mr. Mo. His brows were like swords, his thin lips slightly pursed, his expression as cold and aloof as ever. His half-loose hair softened his facial features slightly, but he still seemed unapproachable.
After hearing about Mr. Mo’s background from Yao Ye, Mei Jiu now felt he indeed exuded a cold, murderous aura. How had she ever thought this man resembled an otherworldly immortal?
Perhaps it was the beautiful image of him playing the zither in white robes among bamboo that had been too enchanting. One truly can’t judge by appearances, Mei Jiu sighed inwardly.
Chancellor Zhao and Mr. Qing Ming came over to take the antidote.
“Pah! These bastards, today it’s either you die or I perish!” Chancellor Zhao hitched up his robe and rejoined the battle, wielding his sword.
Mei Jiu was astonished, and even An Jiu was somewhat surprised.
In their impression, Chancellor Zhao was a highly myopic teacher who couldn’t fight. When Yao Ye called him the “Jade-faced Fox,” An Jiu thought the image was far off. Even if true, he should have been a gentle, refined, and graceful handsome man. How could he be so rough and wild?
As she pondered this, a Mei clan shadow guard ran over. “Mr. Mo, please assist the Old Madam!”
An Jiu looked around and saw more than ten black-clad men surrounding the Old Madam.
As soon as the man finished speaking, Mr. Mo leaped into action. His speed was so fast it seemed man and sword had become one, like a sharp blade thrusting forward.
The force of his movement stirred up smoke and fire. His sword flashed like cascading snow, dense and overwhelming. Blood splattered wherever it touched.
In her peripheral vision, An Jiu saw Mei Ru Yan’s lips curve slightly upward, her phoenix eyes gleaming as they reflected the raging fire and the figure in white.
Her faint smile unsettled Mei Jiu. Each sword stroke meant a life! Suddenly, An Jiu’s earlier words echoed in her ears: Mei Ru Yan might have had ill intentions from the start…
Mei Jiu couldn’t determine the truth and didn’t want to know the answer. She just felt uneasy—even Mei Ru Yan had started to adapt to this life of killing, while she alone remained an outsider, seemingly unable to integrate.
This feeling filled her with despair.
As An Jiu observed the battle, she suddenly sensed a powerful spiritual force. Looking in that direction, she saw someone on the rooftop drawing a bow, the arrowhead gleaming with an eerie blue light.
“Old Madam, be careful!” An Jiu immediately called out a warning. “There’s a master archer to your right rear!”
Twang!
An Jiu heard the bow’s vibration. Immediately after, a crane’s cry echoed through the plum orchard as the blue light streaked across the sky like a shooting star.
The arrow flew incredibly fast. Caught between attackers, the Old Madam couldn’t fully evade it. The arrowhead pierced through her shoulder.
The Old Madam’s body swayed at the arrow’s impact, her walking stick plunging into the ground as she stood motionless.
Mr. Mo swept his sword horizontally, clearing the surrounding black-clad men, and swiftly retreated to where An Jiu and Mei Ru Yan stood.
“Master!”
“My Lord!”
Seeing this, the nearby Mei clan shadow guards rushed towards the Old Madam, while the black-clad men desperately tried to block them. The fighting instantly grew more ferocious.
With the Mei clan patriarch dead, the next clan leader fled with his people, and all the elders except Elder Qi had fallen in battle. Now, with the Old Madam injured, chaos erupted.
According to Mei clan rules, Elder Qi should have taken command. However, while he could revive the dead and heal wounds, he lacked any leadership skills.
Although continuing to fight was their only option, this desperate battle required a spiritual pillar.
Amidst the confusion, An Jiu sensed that a powerful force suddenly appeared behind her.
She turned to see the “Madman” nocking his second arrow, its blue light glowing eerily. Accompanied by a crane’s cry, it flew like lightning towards Chancellor Zhao.
An Jiu couldn’t warn him in time. Chancellor Zhao caught up in the bloodshed, only felt a powerful force whistling toward him. He plunged his sword into a nearby black-clad man’s abdomen and used the body as a shield.
The arrow pierced through the black-clad man and lodged in Chancellor Zhao’s chest. He violently coughed up blood.
“Haha, I’ve found you!” the Madman shouted gleefully, nocking another arrow and aiming at An Jiu!
Many people on the scene carried bows. Unable to find An Jiu, the Madman grew increasingly agitated and began killing indiscriminately. Cui Yi Chen had taught him to shoot in different directions; An Jiu would surely be the first to notice, and the person who reacted first must be the one he was looking for!
An Jiu frowned, turning to run towards the eaves while unslinging her bow.
She drew the empty bow with two fingers, her killing intent suddenly bursting forth. In the brief moment as she moved swiftly, the bowstring hummed softly. She immediately reached back to knock an arrow and released it.
The Madman didn’t hear a crane’s cry and was internally mocking when his mind suddenly went blank his body freezing. By the time he reacted, a very real arrow was approaching his face.
“Ha! Interesting!” The Madman laughed wildly, his internal energy surging around him. The arrow stopped an inch from his heart. With a slight movement, he shattered it to dust.
“Mei Fourteen! Come out and face me in an archery duel!” the Madman roared, remembering their confrontation at the ancient temple cliff. His blood boiled with excitement. “Otherwise, I’ll shoot one person at a time!”
An Jiu crouched on a corridor beam and was completely unaffected by the Madman’s threat, but Mei Jiu grew anxious.
The Madman’s voice was deafening; everyone heard him.
Mo Si Gui took advantage of the chaos to dart under the corridor. “Fourteen! Can you handle him?”
“Impossible,” An Jiu said bluntly. Last time, she relied on Chu Ding Jiang’s internal energy to successfully release the Spirit Arrow. Now, with her meridians destroyed, even if someone infused her with internal energy, it would be useless.
The so-called Spirit Arrow could perhaps only deal with those of slightly lower martial arts ranks. Facing the Madman would be suicide.
“We must leave now,” Mo Si Gui said. “It’s easy to enter this area but difficult to leave. The siege has lasted nearly half an hour, and I’ve noticed their people slowly gathering here, growing in number. We have less than sixty people left. Try to buy some time for them to escape.”
This task was arduous. An Jiu asked Mei Jiu, “Do you want to escape or follow his suggestion?”
After asking, An Jiu felt it was unnecessary. Mei Jiu would surely choose to stay; she couldn’t bear to ignore so many lives at stake.
Sure enough, Mei Jiu said, “How can we not care in such a situation?”
An Jiu had nothing to be attached to anyway. Since Mei Jiu chose to stay, she had no objections.
“You say you can release a Spirit Arrow?” An Jiu’s cold voice carried a hint of mockery. “But you still used an actual arrow. Is this what you call a Spirit Arrow? Utterly ridiculous!”
“If you don’t believe me, I’ll show you!” The Madman tossed aside his arrow and drew his empty bow.
Mo Si Gui shrank back to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
An Jiu gently pushed open the broken window behind her with her bow, preparing to leap into the room when he released his arrow. The room was on fire, and she might get burned, but it was better than being hit by a Spirit Arrow.
“Your spiritual energy is scattered. If you can shoot a true Spirit Arrow, I’ll come out and be your target!” An Jiu knew that spiritual energy was key to concentrating internal energy to a single point. She couldn’t sense internal energy, but her perception of spiritual energy was very acute.
“Shut up!” the Madman snapped irritably.