"To nearly wipe out the Crane Controlling Families, the perpetrators must be formidable, right? If a large number of experts suddenly poured in from another country, it would be hard not to attract attention," Sui Yunzhu remarked while feeling his way forward. "And within the Great Song, the only place with such capability is Misty Villa."
Lou Mingyue was shaken. Sui Yunzhu's analysis was spot on! Why hadn't she thought of it? Even if the mastermind behind this was indeed Yelü Huangwu from the Liao Kingdom, they must have a stronghold within the Great Song. Otherwise, their movements wouldn't be so elusive.
"So they're sending us in as the vanguard?" Tao Zhu said.
The realization that their opponents were truly from Misty Villa filled the group with both excitement and apprehension.
An Jiu, however, remained calm. No matter who the enemy was or how perilous the path ahead, nothing could instill fear in her. She was well aware that her strength was lacking within the Crane Control Army, but a life lived on the edge had always demanded risking everything—there was no safe way out.
An Jiu had once undertaken a mission to assassinate a high-ranking military official. When the assignment landed in her hands, everyone in the organization believed the best outcome would be her perishing alongside the target. Yet, under heavy guard, she flawlessly executed the target and survived. This very feat cemented her reputation as the unrivaled sniper.
Her short life was riddled with countless regrets, but in the act of killing, she had achieved one astonishing success after another.
In the eyes of the world, she was a top-tier assassin who struck terror into hearts—fearless and indomitable. Yet, she was also a psychiatric patient. Mental illness, at its core, stemmed from psychological fragility.
Standing at a height admired by many, An Jiu never harbored pride or looked down upon others. Her heart was that of a numb and insignificant mouse.
She was a paradox—a fusion of extreme strength and extreme vulnerability.
Heaven had granted her a chance to start anew. She could have chosen a life of ease, but Mei Yanran and Mei Jiu, the mother-daughter pair, unearthed the chains that had bound her soul. In her past life, she had stood by as her mother endured abuse, regretting that when her mother died suddenly, caught between hope and despair, she hadn't even uttered a single word of comfort.
In Mei Jiu, An Jiu saw herself. Mei Jiu's sudden demise convinced her that fate had offered a chance for redemption. Thus, she was determined to save Mei Yanran, as if doing so would absolve her guilt and grant her eternal peace.
"My skin is so itchy," Li Qingzhi muttered.
Sui Yunzhu suddenly halted. "Where does it itch?"
"The back of my neck."
Hearing their exchange, Lou Mingyue immediately fired an arrow. It embedded itself into a tree trunk and exploded, casting an eerie blue light.
The surroundings suddenly brightened. An Jiu snapped out of her thoughts and recognized it as the Light Crossbow crafted by Lou Xiaowu.
Sui Yunzhu dragged Li Qingzhi into the light. Under its glow, everyone saw the back of his neck covered in dense blisters, resembling scales. The translucent blisters were visibly filling with blood, a sight that sent shivers down their spines. Upon closer inspection, they noticed tiny legs beneath the blisters—it was some kind of insect.
Sui Yunzhu drew his dagger, preparing to scrape off the layer of blisters."Wait!" An Jiu immediately called out to stop them.
Sui Yunzhu gave her a puzzled look.
An Jiu reached out to test the blue light torch. Finding it had heat like a normal torch, she pulled it from the tree trunk and rolled it gently over Li Qingzhi's neck. The insects immediately fell off in droves.
"Will burning them clean work?" Sui Yunzhu asked. These bloodworms had sharp spines embedded in the flesh. If only the surface was burned, leaving the spines inside, the flesh would quickly rot.
"When the insects suddenly feel heat, they'll curl up rapidly. Nothing will be left behind," An Jiu replied.
Semi-convinced, Sui Yunzhu leaned in for a closer look. His knowledge of these things was limited, but seeing it was as An Jiu said, he relaxed. In such a damp place, even a minor skin injury could be fatal. He silently felt fortunate they'd heeded An Jiu's warning in time.
"The vegetation here is too dense. We need to hurry through this forest into the valley," Sui Yunzhu said. "Light the torches and use qinggong!"
Lou Mingyue glanced at An Jiu.
"You go ahead," An Jiu said. "I'm an External Cultivator. I don't know qinggong."
The others were surprised. Most martial artists nowadays practiced both internal and external cultivation, though with different emphases. Pure External Cultivators had become rare.
No one objected to leaving An Jiu behind. Their team was already stronger than Chu Dingjiang's group, so losing one member meant little. Moreover, there was no precedent for waiting for anyone during missions.
"Will you be alright alone?" Lou Mingyue asked.
"I'll be fine. Go ahead." An Jiu waved the blue light torch in her hand. "Leave this torch with me."
After a pause, Lou Mingyue took off her Blue Light Crossbow and Rope Crossbow, handing them to An Jiu. "These might help you. Take care."
In such a densely wooded forest, the Rope Crossbow would be extremely useful for An Jiu. She didn't refuse, accepting both crossbows and securing them to her arms.
Once decided, the others lit their torches and used qinggong to move ahead.
An Jiu had used the Rope Crossbow before—it was perfect for those without qinggong. Aiming at a thick tree branch ahead, she triggered the mechanism. With a whoosh, the arrow attached to an ultra-thin silk thread embedded itself firmly into the wood.
Using the silk's elasticity, she pushed off with her feet and launched forward, moving even faster than the others with qinggong.
Upon landing, An Jiu tried to retract the rope but was surprised to find Lou Xiaowu had modified this crossbow. It only held two arrows and couldn't be detached like before. After some fumbling, she pressed the trigger again, and the arrow swiftly retracted.
The recoil was so strong it sent her stumbling backward, her entire arm burning with pain.
Even so, the modified crossbow's capabilities were impressive.
An Jiu practiced a few more times nearby. With her sharp Mental Strength and the Rope Crossbow, she quickly caught up to Lou Mingyue and the others.
Then, she noticed something sticky where the crossbow was strapped to her arm. Touching it, she realized it was blood.
An open wound in this place was the last thing she needed!
An Jiu immediately stopped, removed the crossbow, and unrolled her sleeve. She applied Wound Medicine to the abrasion and wrapped it with clean cloth.After catching her breath in the distance, An Jiu took out the map and examined it carefully under the light of her crossbow, realizing that the direction Lou Mingyue and the others had taken seemed problematic.
That path was indeed the shortest route, but ahead lay nothing but dense forests, shrouded in perpetual darkness and teeming with hidden dangers.
Considering her current condition, An Jiu decided to leave the woods.
Following her own judgment, she hacked her way through the undergrowth, reaching the edge of the dense forest by dusk.
Gazing at the scattered orange light filtering through the trees, a sudden tranquility settled in her heart. The Crane Control Institute trials, the selection for the Dragon Martial Guard—none of it mattered to her now. She would use this time to focus on improving her own strength!
Just as she reached the forest's edge, a rain began to fall.
Gentle yet persistent, fine as ox hair, it blurred the boundary between heaven and earth into a misty haze.
An Jiu climbed onto an old tree with thick foliage, settling on a sturdy branch to eat her rations while waiting for the rain to stop.
From the distant valley came the faint, ethereal sound of a zither, ghostly and illusory, casting an air of deep mystery over the rain-drenched scene.
An Jiu remembered—that was the direction of Misty Villa’s hidden outpost.
Who could be playing the zither?
While White Cloud Mountain had many scenic spots, this area was surrounded by dense forests. No refined scholar or noble would waste their time in such a perilous place!
As she pondered, she spotted a figure in black slowly emerging from the woods, their movements eerily puppet-like, as if pulled by invisible strings.
Her instincts told her it was the zither’s doing!
The black-clad figure’s robes bore an embroidered white crane—likely a member of the Crane Control Army sent to monitor their trial.
Waiting until they had moved far enough away, An Jiu quietly leaped down from the tree, donned her mantle, and concealed her presence with her mental strength before following the sound of the zither.
The fine rain fell silently, but her footsteps rustled faintly through the grass.
"Oh? There are two of them!"
A girl’s clear, melodious voice mingled with the zither music, freezing An Jiu in her tracks. She frowned—she had masked her presence with mental strength, and she was still far away. No one should have detected her!
And that voice…
A broken cliff blocked her view of what lay ahead. Pressing close to the rock face, An Jiu crept forward cautiously.
"The Crane Control Army has sent quite a few people this time. It seems they’ve confirmed our backgrounds," a man’s voice replied.
(To be continued…)
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