An Arrow from the Shadows Is Hard to Guard Against
Black Wind Mountain!
It was a steep peak thirty li from Qingshui, easy to defend and difficult to attack, with a continuous range of mountains stretching out behind it.
Qin Yan brought his equipment and, following the information he had received, found a narrow, winding trail.
Looking at the clear hoofprints on the ground, Qin Yan was certain this was indeed the road into Black Wind Mountain.
Before he had gone much farther, however, Qin Yan noticed something and crouched down in front of a patch of grass.
His fingertip touched a blood-red liquid on it that had yet to cool completely.
"Something happened up ahead!"
Qin Yan was surprised. He had not gone much farther when he found a corpse lying in the grass.
He examined its clothing and saw that it was a Black Wind Mountain bandit. A huge wound ran diagonally down from the man's right shoulder, splitting his chest open and leaving his internal organs clearly visible.
"What tremendous strength!"
Qin Yan's expression grew a little grave. The wound did not look as though it had been inflicted by a sharp weapon such as a saber or sword, but more like the work of some heavy weapon.
Could some wandering hero of the jianghu have done this?
Puzzled, Qin Yan quickened his pace. There were more and more corpses along the road.
The fatal wounds were exceptionally gruesome. The worst victim's head had been split open.
His ears twitched. There were sounds of fighting up ahead!
Three men were attacking a young man with thick eyebrows and large eyes. The young man was tall, about the same height as Qin Yan, though considerably more muscular.
He held an axe in his hand!
His expression was fierce, like a wrathful guardian deity.
As the bladed axe swung, it nearly severed a tree as thick as a man's waist. The whole tree tilted and crashed down, crushing a swath of woodland.
At the sight, the Black Wind Mountain men's expressions changed. The three circled the thick-browed young man, darting in and out of the fight, not daring to meet him head-on.
"Born with divine strength?"
Qin Yan was startled by the thick-browed young man as well. Judging by his movements, he had never learned martial arts. He relied entirely on his terrifying brute strength, keeping three veterans from daring to approach.
"You beasts, all of you, die!"
The thick-browed young man's eyes were bloodshot, and his axe whistled through the air with every swing.
He already had several wounds on his body, yet even so, he acted as though he did not notice them.
"Where did this madman come from?!"
The bandits dodged frantically. The madman traded wounds for wounds and made no effort to evade.
Anyone who got close would surely be hacked apart alive.
That was why they did not dare approach rashly this time.
Watching from a distance, Qin Yan's eyes flashed.
The Tendonwood Bow appeared in his hand in an instant. He drew it into a full moon, his arrow already aimed at one of the more agile bandits.
As the man dodged an attack, Qin Yan struck without hesitation.
The arrow tore through the air, entering the man's eye socket and passing straight out the back of his head.
The sudden turn of events also drew the attention of the three.
"Kill them!"
Qin Yan nocked another arrow and drew his bow, shouting to the thick-browed young man in a low voice.
Though the latter was in a state of extreme rage, he understood that the newcomer was helping him.
He immediately began hacking frantically at a burly man with a full beard.
As the situation turned against them, another young bandit panicked and immediately turned to flee.
"Courting death!"
Even Qin Yan had not expected this fellow to be stupid enough to expose his back to him.
The arrow pierced the man's heart in an instant. He fell onto the rugged road, his body twitching.
The bearded brute panicked as well. His two companions had died one after another, and in a moment of distraction, he left an opening.
The axe came down on his head, splitting it open in an instant.
"Die! Die! Die!"
The thick-browed young man roared in fury and hacked wildly at the bearded brute like a man possessed.
Seeing that the man's head was about to be chopped into mincemeat,
Qin Yan finally spoke, slowly. "Are you planning to make dumplings?"
Only then did the thick-browed young man seem to come to his senses. He sat on the ground as though his soul had left him, his eyes vacant, his thoughts unknown.
After a moment in a daze, he looked at Qin Yan. "What are you doing here?"
Qin Yan immediately broke into a brilliant smile. "Killing people, of course!"
As he spoke, he began collecting his arrows. As for the bandits' weapons, aside from the most ordinary red-tasseled spears, only an iron mace was worth a look.
The thick-browed young man stared blankly at the youth before him as he kept picking up equipment and looting the corpses.
"My name is Zong Xiaoshan. Those beasts killed my older sister.
"What's your name?"
"My name is Qin Yan. Those Black Wind Mountain bandits came to my village and threw their weight around.
"I still couldn't let it go, so I decided to slaughter every last one of them."
Qin Yan stopped what he was doing and looked at the blood-soaked young man. His body was truly sturdy; blood was gushing out of him, yet he was fine.
"Just you alone?!"
Zong Xiaoshan froze. He had fought his way here to avenge a blood relative.
The tall youth before him was even fiercer than he was. Not only had he killed the bandits who went to his village, but did he also intend to take on all of Black Wind Mountain by himself?
Then his gaze grew resolute.
"Take me with you. I'll go with you and kill all those beasts!"
Zong Xiaoshan spoke through clenched teeth.
"Forget it! You'd better stop your bleeding first. In your current condition, whether you can even survive is a question."
Qin Yan shook his head slightly and tossed him a bottle of wound medicine to stop the bleeding. He had taken it from a bandit.
Having made a good connection, he continued toward Black Wind Mountain.
"Qin Yan!"
Zong Xiaoshan gazed at the departing figure with a complicated expression. As he was now, he really was a burden.
He sprinkled the medicinal powder on his wounds, glanced after Qin Yan a few times, then went down the mountain alone.
A small wooden stockade on Black Wind Mountain came into view. Two bandits stood guard in the watchtowers.
Every tree within thirty meters of it had been cut down.
Qin Yan did not rush to act. Instead, he roamed through the mountain woods.
By late at night, he had essentially familiarized himself with the surrounding terrain.
Under the moonlight, faint flames glimmered throughout the stockade.
"The long night stretches on, and it's terribly dull. Let me say hello to you all!"
Qin Yan took out his longbow. An arrow streaked through the darkness and struck a throat.
"Enemy attack!"
The alarm bell immediately rang from the watchtower on the other side.
Qin Yan remained expressionless as he drew his bow and nocked another arrow, shooting the other sentry through the throat.
[Target killed. Archery proficiency increased by 3%.]
[Target killed. Slaughter proficiency increased by 1%.]
[Target killed. Archery proficiency increased by 3%.]
[Target killed. Slaughter proficiency increased by 1%.]
Beneath the silent night sky, the whole mountain stronghold erupted into noise.
Torches soon lit up the walls of the wooden stockade.
The bandits looked tense as they peered one by one toward the pitch-black woods.
Pfft!
Like an indifferent god of death, Qin Yan loosed an arrow and reaped another life.
[Target killed. Archery proficiency increased by 3%.]
[Target killed. Slaughter proficiency increased by 1%.]
This time, none of them dared show their heads.
They all hid behind the stone battlements.
Cao Lian, the leader of the Black Wind Mountain bandits, was furious. Some hero of the jianghu must have set his sights on him.
If it had been the authorities, they would have sent a group of men creeping up just now to catch them off guard.
"What hero goes there? How have I, Cao Lian, offended you?"
The night remained deathly silent. No one answered him.
"Damn it!"
Cao Lian's expression was utterly grim. The other party had attacked without declaring war; this was a fight to the death with them.
"Tonight, all of you stay alert and watch out for sneak attacks!"
After a while, Cao Lian could only give the order helplessly.
The night grew darker, and everything seemed as though it had never happened. Two unlucky men stood guard there, trembling with fear!
Qin Yan, who had been resting in a tree, slowly opened his bright eyes.
His exceptionally strong physique allowed him to make out his surroundings clearly even at night.
In the darkness, an arrow brought the whistle of death, shooting one man dead and scaring the other sentry's face ashen.
He hurriedly dropped flat, not daring to show his head.
"Enemy attack!"
The heart-rending scream shattered the silence once again.
[Target killed. Archery proficiency increased by 3%.]
[Target killed. Slaughter proficiency increased by 1%.]