"I'll help get all of you across here, but the Mei clan members must go first," said Mei Tingjun.
"Brother!" Mei Tingyuan, who typically sided with whoever treated her well, protested, "You can't be the last to cross! It was our idea and our rope—why should we do all the work?"
The woman leading the Lou clan calmly replied, "You make a fair point. If everyone trusts me, I'll assist in getting you all across. We only need to borrow your rope. The Mei clan's help will be remembered, and we'll repay this favor when the opportunity arises."
Mei Tingjun felt rather awkward—this exchange made it seem like they were bullying a group of vulnerable women.
"Choose one of your people to go first," Mei Tingzhu said.
Mei Tingzhu had her own calculations. Mei Shisi had already landed on the other side, proving that the remaining plank path could still bear some weight. The Lou clan had lost one member earlier and were hesitant to attempt the crossing again, but now that there was a safer method, they still wouldn't recklessly use their lightness skills to leap across. However, the break in the path was suspiciously convenient for an ambush. If they were indeed ambushed, they had to ensure the Lou clan didn't retreat.
She could only hope Mei Shisi was sharp enough to understand her intentions!
Mei Tingyuan didn't overthink it, but knowing Mei Tingzhu's usual scheming nature, she merely snorted in dissatisfaction and let it go.
After a brief silence, the Lou clan members chose the girl with the clear voice to go first.
An Jiu stood on the opposite side, weighing the pros and cons.
"Please don't leave," Mei Jiu whispered in plea.
"Ah!" The girl gasped as the rock beneath her feet crumbled and fell. She clung tightly to the cliff face, panting heavily as the mountain wind instantly dispersed the mist.
"This valley..." Mei Tingzhu lowered her gaze downward, waiting, but strangely, no echo of the falling rock reached them even after a long while.
The mountain wind suddenly picked up, and the faint moonlight that had just appeared was once again obscured by dark clouds. The wind carried icy flecks of snow.
An Jiu narrowed her eyes, watching the girl climbing the cliff. Suddenly, she sensed something amiss beneath the plank path. In the next moment, she noticed Mei Tingyuan and Mei Tingzhu staring intently in her direction.
"Behind you!"
"Someone's behind you!"
Just as the two shouted, An Jiu spun around, her fingers simultaneously pulling the trigger of her crossbow. A bolt shot out from beneath her mantle with a sharp whistle.
Without even a proper confrontation, the assailant behind her was already struck by the arrow, collapsing onto the railing. The plank path shuddered violently.
Everyone on this side of the path gaped in shock—even the Mei clan members were witnessing An Jiu in combat for the first time. There were no superfluous movements—just pure, lethal efficiency.
An Jiu raised her hand and delivered a finishing stab before kicking the barely alive man off the cliff into the valley.
The three Lou clan members were horrified—horrified by how effortlessly she killed, and stunned that she hadn't even used Inner Force. If she had, would she have been even faster?
This was a sharp bend in the path, forming a U-shape around the mountain. The break was right at the curve, obscuring visibility beyond ten zhang in either direction.
Sword in hand, An Jiu glanced up at the cliffs above before pressing her back against the rock face to check the other side. Once she confirmed there were no more ambushers, she quickly returned.
"The man had no identifying marks," An Jiu reported. "The break in the path here shows signs of being cut."
"Damn it!" one of the Lou clan members muttered under her breath.Everyone instantly realized that someone had set a trap here and immediately scanned their surroundings.
Mei Tingzhu said, "We must hurry across, or we'll have no retreat if anyone comes."
Little did she know her words would prove prophetic. Almost as soon as she spoke, two figures approached from behind.
Everyone except Mei Tingjun immediately went on alert.
The two newcomers stopped fearfully three zhang away, one asking, "What's going on?"
"The plank path is broken, can't you see?" Mei Tingyuan snapped impatiently.
As Mei Tingzhu considered whether to attack, two arrows whistled past her temples like lightning.
Distracted by Mei Tingyuan, the two men only reacted when the arrows were within a foot. But the sheer force of An Jiu's arrows took them by surprise. With the narrow path offering no room to dodge, they had no choice but to block.
Sparks flew as blades clashed with arrowheads. The two retreated hastily, but one took an arrow through the throat.
Though fired in quick succession, the slight delay between arrows gave the second man a sliver of hope. He managed to deflect his arrow, though it still struck his shoulder.
Just as he thought himself lucky, another arrow pierced his heart!
Staring in disbelief at the shaft protruding from his chest, he collapsed to his knees on the path.
Another tremor ran through the structure, rusted chains groaning under the strain.
"Why kill them?!" Mei Jiu's emotions erupted after witnessing three deaths in moments. Her voice turned shrill as she struggled for control of their shared body. "You're so heartless! Those two didn't even attack us! Why?!"
Having just watched someone die inches away—feeling as though her own hand had driven the blade—Mei Jiu had nearly broken then. Now An Jiu had made her kill two more innocent people. For someone who couldn't even bring herself to kill fish, this was unbearable.
An Jiu suppressed her ruthlessly. "Two strangers encountering two groups should fear we'd steal their maps. Yet they stood close asking questions? They were lying in wait!"
"That's just your assumption! What if you're wrong?"
"And what if I'm right?!" An Jiu snapped. In her previous life, from first kill to last breath, she'd never worried about killing the wrong people—only about leaving threats alive.
"Sister, please help me up," a girl's trembling voice interrupted.
An Jiu looked up into limpid almond eyes and paused momentarily before roughly hauling the girl from the cliff face onto the path.
"Thank you." The girl, sensing An Jiu's temper, quietly untied her rope without further comment.
Donning her mantle, she tested nearby planks. "Second Sister! This section's stable—you can cross directly!"
Her announcement ended abruptly as cold steel touched her neck—An Jiu's blade.
"Until all Meis cross, none of you move," An Jiu's voice cut through the snowstorm, freezing marrow.
After recent events, the remaining Lous dared not dismiss this threat lightly.Mei Jiu was unresponsive now, but An Jiu didn’t dare let her guard down. If Mei Jiu interfered at a critical moment, it could easily lead to disaster.
“You go first,” Mei Tingchun said to Mei Tingyuan.
Mei Tingyuan hesitated briefly before swiftly removing her mantle and twisting it together with the black silk rope, tying it around her waist.
This undoubtedly exposed her strength, but getting across was the priority now. There was no time to worry about the consequences!
Those with Inner Force could climb more easily. When she was still six or seven feet away, Mei Tingyuan pushed off the rock face and leaped gracefully to the other side.
“Someone’s coming!” Lou Erniang whispered urgently.
“Go, quickly,” Mei Tingzhu urged Mei Tingchun.
“Right!” Mei Tingchun didn’t dare delay. If a fight broke out later, everyone else could jump across—except him.
The bitterness of being manipulated as a pawn was unbearable! Lou Erniang thought of how Mei Tingzhu had voluntarily yielded earlier and couldn’t help glancing at her resentfully before drawing her soft sword to face the enemy.
Mei Tingzhu relaxed slightly and turned to Mei Tingjun. “Stay focused. I’ll cover you.”
Mei Tingchun tightened the rope and began scaling the cliff.
Six figures appeared on the mountain path.
Without the slightest hesitation, they raised their swords and charged straight at Mei Tingzhu and the others.
The path was barely half a zhang wide—plenty of space for a single traveler, but with eleven people crammed together, everyone was restricted, and the slightest misstep could send them tumbling down.
Out of the corner of her eye, Mei Tingzhu noticed that these attackers bore no insignia. She immediately realized—these were the ones who had set the trap.
“Which family are you from?” Lou Erniang had also sensed something amiss.
There were fewer than a hundred participants in this trial, all competing for the Heavenly Book Fragment. Yet these people seemed solely intent on killing them! Even if they were after the map, they should have hesitated upon seeing the Mei and Lou families together!
What was going on?
The realization sent a chill through them all.
Mei Tingyuan pressed her sword against the neck of the Lou family girl. “Shi Si, use your bow to help them!”
An Jiu sheathed her sword and drew her bow instead.
Her fingers brushed the quiver—only a dozen or so arrows remained. If only she could master Startling String now, it would be so convenient!
Mei Tingjun channeled half of his Inner Force into his palm. Seeing Mei Tingchun nearly reach the other side, he was about to call for Mei Tingzhu and the others to retreat when a cold glint flickered from the opposite cliff.
Squinting, he spotted a figure standing on an ancient pine, bow in hand.
“Shi Si! Someone’s on the opposite cliff!” Mei Tingjun roared. “On the pine tree to your right!”
An Jiu turned her head and indeed saw a figure standing motionless on the pine, bow drawn—aimed directly at her!
Suddenly, the words from her dying moments echoed in her ears: Enemy sniper spotted—Angel exposed!
Now, she had a choice.
An Jiu’s blood surged as if ignited, her eyes blazing like fire yet cold as a frozen pool. In an instant, her bow shifted direction.
The two stood in absolute stillness, locked in a silent standoff, neither daring to release their arrow.
Mei Tingyuan and the Lou girl suddenly felt an overwhelming pressure of Mental Strength and instinctively turned to look.
Cloaked in black, the figure radiated an aura of icy lethality, her face entirely hidden in the shadows of her wide hood. Though they couldn’t see her expression, the sheer purity and power of her Mental Strength bore down on them—far surpassing even a Ninth-Order Martial Master!Mei Tingchun was frozen on the cliff wall, unable to move a muscle. Sweat poured from his body in desperation, and even the movements of those engaged in battle nearby were forced to slow.
Mei Tingjun couldn't abandon Mei Tingchun, so he had to endure the pressure and continue using his Inner Force. The strain was unbearable—within moments, his entire face covering was nearly soaked through. He estimated the distance between the two cliff walls to be about forty zhang, well within the effective killing range of ordinary arrows. But with such strong winds now, even infusing arrows with Inner Force might not keep them steady, let alone hit the target.
He wanted to tell An Jiu to ignore that person for now, but under such overwhelming Mental strength pressure, he wasn't so sure anymore. (To be continued...)
PS: I wonder if everyone dislikes reading these kinds of battle scenes???
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