Chapter 183 - 182: Endless Enemy Heads
Chapter 183: Chapter 182: Endless Enemy Heads
CRACK! CRACK!
A group of raiders approached to within about ten zhang of the manor. They threw grappling hooks, forged from refined iron to resemble a falcon’s talons, toward the top of the wall.
These contraptions weren’t for killing, but for scaling walls.
The ones using them were mostly at or below the Meridian Passage Realm. With their limited strength and skill, they were incapable of scaling the walls directly and had to rely on external tools.
The instant the sharp hooks bit into the top of the wall, the men yanked hard on the ropes. Using the momentum, they launched themselves into the air, leaping toward the wall and viciously swinging their blades at the figures on top.
Life and death are fated, wealth and honor are decided by the heavens.
They had lost count of how many times they’d committed robbery and plunder. If they were afraid of dying, they wouldn’t be here.
Besides, it had come to this. With several thousand men charging together, swept up in the momentum, the group became even more ferocious and fearless.
They knew there was no turning back. As long as they could create a single breach on the manor’s walls, Qingfeng Manor would be unable to reverse its slide into defeat.
And they would get to share in the gold and silver within the manor.
Even though Qingfeng Manor had been in decline for years, it surely still possessed a deep and rich foundation.
"Charge, brothers! Once we’re in, everything inside is ours!"
"Kill everyone inside the manor! Leave no one alive!"
"..."
The raiders swarmed the top of the wall with loud shouts. The moment they landed, the fierce clang of metal on metal rang out.
After just a few exchanges, the top of the wall was already slick with enough blood to float a pestle, and agonizing groans rose one after another.
And right where Wu Chen stood, five figures flew down to land.
"It’s just a little kid! Perfect, let me be the one to draw first blood!"
"Qingfeng Manor must have lost its mind, sending up a brat who still smells of his mother’s milk!"
"It just means this manor is at the end of its rope. It won’t take much effort to—"
"..."
The moment the five men landed on the wall and got a clear look at the figure before them, the tense atmosphere of a life-or-death battle instantly vanished.
’After all, how strong could a seventeen or eighteen-year-old possibly be?’
Forging the body was a time-consuming effort, and nourishing one’s Qi and Blood required a massive accumulation of silver coins.
For a young man to appear here, he was either under the manor’s death orders or had taken on this suicidal job because he was short on cash.
So in their eyes, the young man before them was, at best, at the Perfection level of the four preliminary stages!
BANG! BANG! BANG!—
But following a few muffled thuds, the smiles froze on their faces.
Wu Chen used no discernible technique. His figure just flickered, and he swung the arrow clutched in his hand like a spear, smashing it outwards horizontally.
The five men didn’t even see it coming. Their chests caved in, a coppery sweetness filled their throats, and they spewed clouds of blood mist. In a wretched state, their bodies flew uncontrollably off the wall, landing outside.
With just one simple exchange of moves, the space in front of Wu Chen was momentarily cleared.
’Killing these small fry is meaningless.’
Wu Chen couldn’t be bothered to draw his blade. With their meager strength, drawing the Blood Blade would do little to enhance it.
Besides, his main objective on this trip was to protect Qingfeng Manor and wait for the Old Manor Lord to achieve his breakthrough.
As for whether the Old Manor Lord would ultimately succeed in getting a new lease on life, that was beyond Wu Chen’s knowledge.
At least so far, he had already obtained three Blood Coagulation Realm Martial Arts manuals. Even if the manor ultimately fell, Wu Chen felt he hadn’t lost out.
One could even say this trip had already been a bountiful harvest.
As for repelling the raiders, protecting the manor, and receiving subsequent rewards like gold, silver, and treasure...
...in his eyes, those worldly possessions were no different from scrap metal.
After all, Martial Arts at his current realm were fundamentally about lineage. Without a bloodline inheritance or a master-disciple relationship, they were almost never taught.
They could hardly be bought with gold and silver.
Therefore, Wu Chen’s attention was currently focused more on the raiders outside the manor.
’I just wonder where the leaders of these disparate groups of raiders are?’
Wu Chen’s gaze swept over the pitch-black area outside the wall, searching for the figures of the leaders who were hiding in the darkness, waiting for an opportunity to strike.
In his view, the only things of value inside or outside the manor right now were the heads of these raider leaders.
These people were most likely famous names on the wanted list. After killing them, he could exchange their heads for Contribution Points at the Demon Suppression Bureau, which he could then use to get his next Blood Coagulation Realm Martial Arts manual.
’I see you!’
A sharp glint flashed in Wu Chen’s eyes as he locked onto a figure, partially hidden in the shadows but occasionally revealed by the flickering firelight.
Although he couldn’t make out the face and didn’t know if this person was on the wanted posters he had seen in Cangwu City...
...based on the aura of an Organ Refining Realm expert emanating from the other party, Wu Chen knew this was a big fish.
Without any superfluous movements, Wu Chen nocked the arrow in his hand onto the bowstring.
Qi Power surged through his arms and fingers. In just an instant, the iron bow—pitch-black and as thick as an adult’s forearm—was drawn to a full moon by Wu Chen.
After all, this was his first time using such a weapon.
Worried he might miss, Wu Chen could only keep his body taut.
He didn’t release the bowstring immediately. Instead, he waited for his target to make a move and cooperate with him, so to speak.
And just as Wu Chen expected, watching the desperate battle on the wall, the raider leader couldn’t hold back any longer. Seizing an opportunity, he leaped forward.
But this was the very moment Wu Chen had been waiting for.
As the man leaped up, about to use the wall as a foothold to ascend, Wu Chen watched the figure, now airborne and unable to evade, and silently released the fingers holding the iron arrow.
TWANG!
As Wu Chen let go, the bowstring, long held taut like a full moon, released with a sharp, resonant hum that jolted the hearts of those who heard it.
A streak of black light shot out from the wall, flashing past the distant figure in mid-air.
The airborne raider leader only felt his chest go empty as all the strength was rapidly drained from his body. Before he could even understand what had happened, he tumbled from the sky and collapsed limply on the ground.
"You all just keep fighting. Don’t mind me."
The sound of the bowstring, like a dragon’s roar, had caused the fighters around Wu Chen to pause their battle, all of them looking over with shock and uncertainty.
Wu Chen glanced left and right, spoke the calm words, then, under everyone’s gaze, leaped off the wall, cut off the raider leader’s head, and tucked it into the storage pouch at his waist.
After a quick search of the corpse, Wu Chen looked again toward the dark mountain forest, sighed inwardly, and grumbled to himself:
’Looks like it’s pretty necessary to have someone around to help pick up the trash.’
The direction he was looking was, naturally, where the arrow had disappeared after piercing through the corpse.
Based on his experience from his days at Refining Valley, Wu Chen estimated that a single arrow like that cost around one hundred taels of silver.
It was by no means cheap.
But looking at the fierce fighting on the wall, Wu Chen could only temporarily give up the idea of searching for the arrow.
If he delayed for even a moment, there was no telling what would happen to the manor.
He leaped back onto the wall and saw that the people fighting within a dozen or so zhang to his left and right were still staring at him, dumbfounded.
"What are you looking at me for? Get back to your fight!"
"Your heads aren’t valuable enough for me to bother with."
Wu Chen said irritably, then swiped a hand over his waist, pulled out another iron arrow, and nocked it. His gaze swept over the dim night outside the wall, searching for the next raider leader.
Wu Chen understood the principle of capturing the king to capture the bandits. As long as he systematically eliminated the leaders of these small groups of twenty to thirty men...
...this gathering of over three thousand raiders would naturally collapse without a fight and disperse on its own.
’Found another one!’
Soon, his eyes lit up as he locked onto another figure.
With the first shot as practice, Wu Chen now had a slight feel for the iron bow in his hands and understood its measure.
This time, he again waited for the raider to leap into the air before releasing the bowstring, which he had only drawn about twenty percent of the way.
After the resonant hum...
Just as Wu Chen had intended, this time the arrow didn’t pass completely through the body. Instead, it embedded itself in the raider leader’s torso, sinking in about halfway.
’This time I don’t have to worry about losing the arrow!’
Wu Chen leaped off the wall, took the raider’s head, and after a quick search of the corpse, he finally pulled the arrow from the man’s body.
Having done all this, Wu Chen leaped up again. With a single bound, his figure reappeared atop the wall.
This time, his fluid, seamless movements in slaying the raider leader were seen clearly by everyone nearby.
The defenders stationed on the wall were, beyond their shock, naturally overjoyed.
With someone like Wu Chen present, temporarily repelling the raiders would certainly be no great problem.
Even if they couldn’t fully drive back the numerous raiders, holding out until the Old Manor Lord broke through his seclusion now seemed to be no issue.
When that time came, with the appearance of a Leakless Realm master, all their problems would be solved with ease!
’Maybe... we should retreat?’
But the raiders besieging Qingfeng Manor, after seeing Wu Chen so effortlessly slay their own leader, had already begun to shuffle backward, the thought of retreat blooming in their minds.
’What the hell is the point of fighting this?!’
’The leader was killed with a single arrow and then beheaded. How could a bunch of us possibly be a match for him?’
But soon, these raiders breathed a sigh of relief.
They saw the young man’s figure turn and leave that section of the wall.
’That kid only kills the leaders?’
’Then what’s that got to do with me!’