The stream of blood that had spurted out didn’t fall but instead hovered in place as if gravity had ceased to exist.
Could there be no gravity here? An Jiu remembered the stone fragments in her pocket and tossed one into the cage.
Plop! The stone fell to the bottom of the cage without floating.
Wei Yunshan frowned deeply, finally exhaling. The blood scattered on his shoulder. “Help me remove the other silver needles, and I’ll teach you how to control external objects with spiritual power.”
An Jiu’s heart skipped a beat as images of Wei Yuzi suddenly flooded her mind.
Recalling the previous scene, An Jiu understood that these silver needles were suppressing his spiritual power, not just inducing sleep.
“Wei Yuzi can also control external objects with spiritual power, right?” An Jiu asked.
Wei Yunshan turned his head with difficulty to look at her. “He was born intelligent, with exceptional insight in this area. Unfortunately, he was physically weak from birth. Each use of this power takes a toll on his body. If he hadn’t been practicing this skill since childhood, his congenital weakness would have been cured long ago, rather than worsening over time.”
When speaking of Wei Yuzi, Wei Yunshan showed little hatred, instead seeming rather proud.
Upon reflection, An Jiu realized that Wei Yuzi, lacking inner power, probably wasn’t involved in draining Wei Yunshan’s internal energy. None of this mattered much to her. What made her most wary was that in their few encounters, Wei Yuzi could escape, yet allowed her to manipulate him. In reality, she had been in his grasp all along.
An Jiu had never had a strong impression of this man before, but at this moment, the name Wei Yuzi was deeply etched in her mind. If they were to meet again, she would do everything in her power to kill him!
With this thought, An Jiu quickly removed six silver needles from Wei Yunshan’s head. She broke an arrow and placed it at his feet. “This arrowhead is extremely sharp, capable of penetrating iron armor. Since you can control external objects, cutting through the iron chains shouldn’t be difficult, right?”
An Jiu leaped down the pillar, tied the four explosive crossbows to her body, and squeezed into the narrow pillar.
The space was already small, and with the items An Jiu was carrying, it was impossible to go up.
Seeing her return, Wei Yunshan let out a dry laugh. “Can’t get out, can you? Little one, shall we negotiate?”
An Jiu ignored him, crouching down to quickly disassemble two explosive crossbows. She took out the arrows and stuffed them into her quiver. An Jiu had obtained a similar crossbow before and had studied it privately. The power of these crossbows lay in their arrows. An Jiu could disassemble complex firearms in just moments, let alone a mere powerful crossbow.
After finishing this, An Jiu glanced at Wei Yunshan. She had lit all the lamps in the room, allowing her to see his condition. Half of his face was speckled with dark red blood, but his eyes held a glimmer of vigor, unlike his earlier appearance of being at death’s door.
“I wish you the best of luck,” An Jiu said before squeezing into the pillar. This time, she could barely climb up.
An Jiu wasn’t uninterested in the skills Wei Yunshan mentioned, but the old man didn’t seem easy to deal with, much like Wei Yuzi—both were cunning. For her, just knowing that spiritual power could be used this way was already a significant gain. In this urgent moment, she was unwilling to waste time trying to fool a tiger. Her most traumatic mission memory was her first mercenary team operation. In that battle, she was immersed in a sea of blood, with her teammates’ dismembered bodies becoming a lifelong nightmare. This time, An Jiu didn’t want to witness such a scene again.
As she approached the exit, the zither music had stopped.
An Jiu heard Mei Ruyan say, “That black-robed person is a master of the highest level. With his protection, my zither music is ineffective.”
A man coughed a few times, then said slowly, “Have all hidden archers aim at him to break through his protective aura.”
After a pause, he sighed, “It’s snowing again…”
Wei Yuzi!
An Jiu concealed her breath and quietly moved a tile.
The wind was strong on the roof, causing clothes to flutter loudly.
An Jiu saw an archer lying on the eaves, but no sign of Wei Yuzi and Mei Ruyan. The protruding roof ridge blocked her view; those two must be on the opposite side.
An Jiu took out a small bottle, removed the stopper, and flicked it onto an archer’s body. As the bottle fell, the insects inside, smelling the scent of flesh and blood, rushed out frantically.
The man felt something on his body and reached to touch it, grasping the small bottle.
He looked at the bottle in confusion, thinking it was empty. Before he could react, he felt a sharp pain in his back and instantly lost consciousness.
An Jiu emerged from the pillar and flipped down from the eaves.
Below, only about ten of the Controlling Crane Army remained, each surrounded and fighting against ten opponents. Except for Chu Dingjiang, everyone else was injured and showing signs of fatigue. At this rate, seven or eight more would fall within half an hour.
An Jiu hung upside down from the second-floor eaves of the armory. She took out the Subduing Dragon Bow, using spiritual power to assist the bowstring. Seeing one person cornered, she suddenly drew the bowstring with four fingers. Three invisible spiritual power arrows cut through the wind and snow, heading straight for three Piaomiao Mountain Manor assassins. The Subduing Dragon Bow emitted a soft hum, like a long sigh after eons of silence.
The three invisible spiritual power arrows suddenly turned into black mist halfway through their flight. In an instant, the dense snow melted in a large patch where they passed, as if the entire snow curtain had been torn open with a long gash.
This all seemed to happen slowly, but it was merely the blink of an eye! The three Piaomiao Mountain Manor assassins were hit, their bodies freezing for a moment. When they could move again, they felt as if their internal organs were about to shatter, and they spat out mouthfuls of fresh blood.
Sui Yunzhu, on the brink of death and filled with despair, saw these three arrows as a ray of hope. This moment of respite suddenly ignited an astonishing will to live. His long sword stirred up the snow curtain, splashing out a dazzling white and cold snow light as he began to kill in all directions!
An Jiu’s arrows didn’t attract much attention amidst the fierce battle. Those around only saw Sui Yunzhu suddenly become incredibly strong, as if divinely aided. However, the soft hum of the Subduing Dragon Bow and An Jiu’s murderous spiritual power made Wei Yuzi, not far away, shudder.
He silently gazed at where An Jiu was, his fair and handsome face solemn, lost in thought.
After a while, he said, “Take me down.”
Mei Ruyan put away her zither and wrapped her arm around his waist. With a light step, they leaped down from the roof, their clothes fluttering like red plum blossoms falling in the snow.
An Jiu continuously released spiritual power arrows, giving Lou Mingyue and the others a chance to catch their breath. The fourteen people quickly gathered around Chu Dingjiang.
The situation became temporarily deadlocked. The Piaomiao Mountain Manor assassins now sensed someone shooting cold arrows from hiding. They hadn’t noticed the spiritual power arrows but could feel the increasingly distinct pressure.
The battlefield of about a hundred people seemed to freeze, quiet enough to hear a pin drop.
Suddenly, the sobbing melody of an ocarina rang out, growing louder and echoing through the snowy night.
Hearing this sound, the Piaomiao Mountain Manor assassins immediately retreated.
Chu Dingjiang, knowing this was their retreat signal, shouted, “Fight our way out!”
“Yes!” everyone responded, following him in pursuit.
From An Jiu’s perspective, the scene was bizarre, as if a dozen or so people were chasing a large group of Piaomiao Mountain Manor assassins.
Having been inside the armory, An Jiu had a deeper understanding of how Wei Yuzi excelled at setting up mechanical traps. She guessed that whether they retreated or stayed, there was little hope of survival. Chu Dingjiang surely understood this too, but their mission this time was to kill as many Piaomiao Mountain Manor assassins as possible. As for their survival… they could only fight their way out!
Perhaps because Chu Dingjiang had seemed so loyal, An Jiu had never considered one thing. Now she realized that neither Chu Dingjiang nor Gu Jinghou had truly valued these twenty-odd lives. What they were planning required sacrifices, and these twenty-some people were just the beginning.
That day, Chu Dingjiang had promised to protect her. She didn’t doubt this, but she couldn’t rely on others’ promises to move forward. This was something she had to constantly remind herself.
An Jiu gripped the Subduing Dragon Bow tightly, pondering her next move when the ocarina music suddenly stopped, and all the surrounding courtyard gates slammed shut.
Wei Yuzi slowly walked out from the corridor, standing alone in the courtyard. He looked up at where An Jiu was. “Long time no see.”
Amidst the corpses strewn about, he stood quietly wearing a black cloak, his expression peaceful. His fair face, lacking blood, appeared even more pristine, like a god or Buddha in hell.
An Jiu always felt that she and this man were absolutely at odds with each other.
“There’s only you and me here now. Why don’t we talk about what’s happened since we last met?” Wei Yuzi asked.