Cui Yichen and Lou Xiaowu's elder sister were deeply in love, but the Cui family valued Lou Xiaowu's talents and ultimately decided to arrange a marriage between Cui Yichen and Lou Xiaowu. After considering various factors, the Lou family agreed to this union.
It was a typical case of family alliances tearing lovers apart, but now both individuals had already passed away.
Lou Xiaowu's eyes brimmed with unshed tears as she stared straight ahead, afraid that blinking would cause them to fall.
The second floor of the pagoda was eerily empty. The reliefs on the surrounding walls were splattered with blood, yet no corpses were in sight. At the center, the Buddhist shrine stood vacant—no box, no Heavenly Book Fragment.
An Jiu headed directly for the third floor, with the others following closely behind.
The third floor was in chaos: rows of bookshelves toppled over, ancient scriptures scattered across the ground, mingling with corpses and blood.
Qiu Yunxiao glanced around and sighed, "The Crane Control Army must have a grudge against Buddhism."
Though Buddhism had declined, it still had many followers among the common people, and matters involving the supernatural were always murky. For the Crane Control Army to set their training grounds here, using Buddhist scriptures to incite conflict and drenching the ancient temple in blood and slaughter—wasn't that utterly immoral?
"With so many scriptures, which one is the Heavenly Book Fragment?" a lone wanderer muttered, kicking at a nearby scroll.
Lou Xiaowu fired four illuminating bolts into the corners, brightening the floor slightly and revealing the scene more clearly.
"Go back," An Jiu suddenly said.
"Huh?" Lou Mingyue thought she had misheard.
An Jiu repeated, "Go back."
"Why?" Lou Mingyue slowly extended her mental strength to sense their surroundings. When she realized what was lurking nearby, cold sweat broke out across her back.
There were at least thirty people hidden somewhere on this floor!
An Jiu drew her dagger and retreated cautiously.
The others also assumed defensive stances, forming a tight circle as they slowly backed toward the stairs to the third floor.
"What do we do?" Qiu Yunxiao was drenched in nervous sweat.
Lou Mingyue added, "Mei Shisi, you decide."
With no other choice, An Jiu voiced her thoughts. "The second floor has no exit. The third floor has at least four. We either break through here or retreat to the first floor."
No one questioned how An Jiu knew about the exits. With so many ambushers, attempting a breakthrough would be a near-suicidal gamble.
"If we go back to the first floor, there might already be people waiting at the exit," Mei Tingchun pointed out.
This was clearly a trap, but no one blamed Mei Tingzhu for their earlier decision. Those who knew the "inside story" understood they had walked into a snare the moment they entered the temple—whether inside the pagoda or outside made no difference. The lone wanderers, unaware of the truth, had chosen to enter of their own accord.
"What's your choice?" Lou Mingyue asked An Jiu.
"Fight our way out." That was An Jiu's way—when cornered, she would rather take down twenty or thirty enemies before dying than go down without a fight.
She raised her dagger and pointed to the third floor, signaling their path forward.
The group froze. Lou Mingyue asked, "Why?"
"I meant for myself. Do as you please." Having said this, An Jiu pressed herself against the bloodstained wall and fell silent.
She carried the powerful crossbow seized from their enemies, and its presence gave the others some reassurance. After much hesitation, they steeled themselves and prepared to charge toward the third floor.
Are these people blind?!An Jiu furrowed her brows slightly, focusing her mind to carefully sense the hiding positions of those on the third floor, silently calculating which route would be easier to break through.
After the bookshelves on the third floor collapsed, the entire space became clear at a glance, with no place left to hide. Moreover, if those people had been inside earlier, they would have already attacked! Therefore, those preparing to ambush must all be outside the tower.
From the distribution of numbers, An Jiu became even more certain of her guess. There were thirty targets in total, irregularly scattered around the four entrances, each located in a different direction and spaced far apart.
Lou Mingyue wanted to use her Inner Force to transmit a message to An Jiu, but after a brief attempt, she realized An Jiu's Mental strength was as solid as a fortress—not a shred of Inner Force could penetrate her consciousness.
An Jiu didn’t know Lou Mingyue’s intention, but sensing her call, she turned her head to glance at her.
Lou Mingyue immediately gestured, meaning: she wanted An Jiu to hand over the crossbow to her. She would divert the enemy’s attention from the north wall while the others broke out and escaped from the tower.
“No!” Lou Xiaowu objected, staring at An Jiu. “You’re the strongest in Martial Arts here.”
An Jiu didn’t want to argue with her and simply nodded in agreement.
In truth, being the bait wasn’t necessarily the most dangerous role. The ambushers would soon realize the others were escaping from the south. As long as she could withstand the initial fierce assault, things would become relatively easier afterward. It would also be a good opportunity to separate from this group of burdens.
Lou Xiaowu admired the strong precisely because they played crucial roles at critical moments. But now that An Jiu had agreed so readily, she felt a pang of guilt.
“This is a Rope Crossbow,” Lou Xiaowu said, unfastening a crossbow from her arm and strapping it onto An Jiu. Once secured, she pressed the trigger.
With two clicks, an arrow shot from the crossbow, its tail trailing a rope that embedded deeply into the rock wall.
Lou Xiaowu tugged at the rope, and An Jiu noticed that the seemingly thin and fragile cord was actually elastic and incredibly tough.
Pressing the trigger again, the rope detached from the crossbow.
“I only recently finished this Rope Crossbow. It has many flaws—for instance, the arrows can’t be retrieved, and there are only four arrows in the crossbow,” Lou Xiaowu explained. “But it can still be useful in critical moments. I don’t need to teach you how to use it, right?”
The weapon’s functions had been demonstrated, but how to use it ultimately depended on the wielder.
“Mm,” An Jiu acknowledged.
After waiting patiently for a while, Mei Tingzhu suddenly called out to An Jiu as she stood up. “Shi Si!”
An Jiu paused. Mei Tingzhu hesitated, as if she had much to say, but in the end, she only muttered awkwardly, “Be careful.”
“Nonsense,” An Jiu replied.
Taking the lead, the group rushed up to the third floor together. An Jiu swiftly darted north alone, chose an exit, and flipped out.
A loud explosion erupted, sending up a cloud of dust. At the same time, the others began breaking out from the south.
Eight people were lying in ambush on the southern side, while their group had over a dozen. Lou Mingyue alone could handle two or three enemies. Qiu Yunxiao seized the chance to administer the Antidote to Mei Tingyuan. Forced into a corner, all her hatred over Mei Tingjun’s death surged forth, and she joined the battle, wielding her sword with a determination to slaughter every last enemy.
The group escaped effortlessly with overwhelming strength.
In contrast, An Jiu’s situation was fraught with peril.Eight black-clad figures surrounded her, with more approaching from the east and west. The dust kicked up by crossbow bolts made the already dark night even less visible.
An Jiu used her dagger to cut off the plum blossom pattern from the corner of her garment, then raised her hand to fire the Rope Crossbow. (To be continued...)
PS: Ugh, I'm exhausted. Will continue tomorrow.
Note:
Sleeve Paper wasn't feeling well today and spent the whole day lying down. By evening, she felt slightly better and tried to type, but after struggling until past 2 AM, still couldn't finish a chapter. Really couldn't hold on any longer. Apologies for the delayed update and missing the notice earlier. (To be continued...)
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