Chapter 547: It Was You Who Used the Crossbow, Right?
Chapter 547: Chapter 547: It Was You Who Used the Crossbow, Right?
Shen Yanchuan tilted his head slightly, a half-smile on his face.
"If you’re trying to kill me, you might want to aim a little better."
The man’s face instantly turned livid with rage.
He looked disheveled, but the wounds on his body were fake—nothing more than a couple of superficial cuts from a dagger to keep up appearances. They didn’t affect him at all.
But just now, his arrow had actually missed!
Even a three-year-old could have made that shot from mere inches away!
The men beside him hadn’t expected such an accident either, and they all turned to look.
With a grim expression, the man drew the crossbow string again!
"Don’t be so arrogant! Just you wait—"
The man’s voice suddenly faltered.
He had suddenly found that the crossbow felt much heavier, to the point where he could no longer hold it steady!
He panicked for a moment.
’How could this be happening?’
He grit his teeth and struggled to aim the crossbow, trying to draw the string—but found he couldn’t pull it!
It was then he finally realized something was wrong: he had no strength in his hands!
No, it wasn’t just his hands. His entire body felt as if it had suddenly gone limp. No matter how hard he tried, his arms were like jelly, completely unable to draw the crossbow, let alone fire an arrow!
The more this happened, the more anxious and frantic he became, fumbling with the weapon for a good while.
The scene was utterly bizarre.
A prisoner holding a crossbow, just a few steps from his target, Shen Yanchuan, yet somehow completely unable to handle his own weapon!
Shen Yanchuan watched with leisurely amusement, and seeing the situation, he didn’t forget to offer a "helpful" reminder:
"If you really can’t manage, perhaps you should let someone else try. You can’t afford to waste my time."
Those words nearly made the man across from him spit up blood from rage.
"You!"
CLANG!
In his agitation, his hands lost their strength, and the arrow he had failed to nock clattered directly to the floor.
A deathly silence.
No one could have imagined things would turn out like this!
The men beside him were already exhausted from the fight and had thought this weapon would solve the problem once and for all, saving them any further trouble.
Who would have known—
"I’ll just kill him myself!"
Another, more hot-headed man rushed forward, but after just one step, his feet somehow tangled, and he fell flat on his face.
At this point, if they still hadn’t figured out something was wrong, they’d have wasted all their years in this line of work.
The man in the prisoner’s uniform finally understood, and a furious rage surged within him.
"We’ve all been poisoned!"
It would be one thing if only he had lost his strength, but now it was clear someone had sabotaged all of them!
His first suspect was Shen Yanchuan, but after running through the recent scene in his mind, he couldn’t make sense of it.
Shen Yanchuan had indeed fought them for a while, but he had only injured some of them.
’Even if he was the one who used poison, it should be the injured ones who are having problems. Why would all of us—’
Suddenly, the tall, thin man dressed as a prison guard took a deep breath and, with dawning horror, cried out, "It’s the smell of poison! Hold your breath!"
But it was too late.
They had been here for a long time and had no idea when it had started. By the time they realized, they had all fallen for it.
THUD!
The man could no longer hold on, and the crossbow in his hands finally fell, crashing heavily to the ground.
Seeing this, the others grew anxious. They drew their swords to charge forward, but one by one, their legs gave out, and they collapsed to the ground.
In just a moment, the tables had turned.
Now, Shen Yanchuan was the only one left standing.
Before him, a crowd of bodies lay strewn across the floor.
The sound of light footsteps approached from ahead.
Shen Yanchuan’s heart stirred, and he lifted his gaze.
The path ahead was dim, lit only by a single, flickering old candle.
A slender figure, cloaked in shadow and faint light, approached at a slow pace.
Her cloud-like black hair was loosely pinned by a single white jade hairpin. Her skin was as white as snow, her dark eyes gentle, and she even wore a faint, serene smile.
A small smile graced Ye Chutang’s red lips, and her voice was clear and pleasant.
"Princely Heir, it’s been a while."
Shen Yanchuan stared intently at her, then broke into a faint smile himself.
"Didn’t we just see each other?"
Ye Chutang walked forward, her gaze falling on the men lying on the ground.
Seeing their varied attire, she pieced together the general situation.
’This assassination must have been planned for a long time.’
"Princely Heir, you left something at my place. I came to return it," Ye Chutang said, stopping and smiling sweetly.
Shen Yanchuan just looked at her, as if for the first time, and yet like every time before.
"What is it? Is it that important?"
’Important enough to return at a time like this?’
’So important that you’d risk stepping into this dangerous place?’
Ye Chutang didn’t answer his question directly. She half-turned and pointed at the men on the ground.
"These men, are they skilled?"
Shen Yanchuan: "..."
’She says that as if she wasn’t the one who poisoned them.’
Ye Chutang probably realized her question sounded a bit sarcastic, so she rephrased, "I meant their fighting skills."
Shen Yanchuan grunted in affirmation.
"They’re all well-trained assassins."
Ye Chutang nodded.
’Setting up such a death trap would take considerable effort and time. Of course, the men they sent would be elites.’
She turned back to Shen Yanchuan and walked toward him.
The distance between them closed rapidly. She leaned forward slightly, almost pressing against Shen Yanchuan’s shoulder.
Their breaths mingled.
Shen Yanchuan lowered his gaze slightly, but in his peripheral vision, he could still see her snow-white cheek, smooth as cream, and her full, petal-like lips.
Now, if he just tilted his head slightly—
Shen Yanchuan’s entire body tensed, even more so than when he had been facing those assassins.
He silently tightened his grip on his sword’s hilt. His Adam’s apple bobbed, but his throat only felt drier.
Ye Chutang then raised her hand, the back of her slender, fair, and warm hand brushing past his ear.
TWANG.
She pulled the arrow out.
Then, she took a step back, casually weighing the arrow in her hand. A smile touched her lips, but her tone was cold.
"They certainly use fine equipment."
’If it had been off by just a little, if she had arrived a moment later, this arrow would have pierced Shen Yanchuan’s heart!’
A cold glint flashed in her eyes, and she turned around.
"Skilled men, a powerful crossbow. Not bad."
The men on the floor, already panicked and furious at this sudden turn of events, glared daggers at Ye Chutang.
"You... you... what vicious methods!"
’We thought we had a foolproof plan, but who knew something like this would happen!’
Ye Chutang gave him a cool, sidelong glance.
"I know my poisons are effective. I don’t need you to remind me."
With that, she walked up to the man and looked down at him condescendingly.
"A moment ago, you were the one using this crossbow, weren’t you?"
The man felt that her dark eyes were as cold as frost, and her entire being seemed to radiate a boundless, terrifying killing intent that struck fear into his heart!
He couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread.
"Wh-what are you going to d—AAAH!"
The snow-white blade drew a bright, silver arc.
The man let out a bloodcurdling scream, clutching his wrist as he curled up on the ground like a shrimp, trembling violently from the excruciating pain.
Blood dripped from his wrist.
His tendons had been severed!