Divine Arrow

"Not good!"

Xie Daqian's pupils contracted. The whisk in his hand spun, its white tail hairs like startled little snakes, whirling and winding around one another.

Invisible Magic Power transformed into turbulent currents, like whirlpools in water, drawing in and swallowing all three arrows.

For a moment, the feathered arrows that could split steles and shatter rocks seemed to have flown into water, their power diminished layer by layer, until Xie Daqian finally seized them in one grasp.

The arrow feathers trembled slightly, as though unwilling to accept defeat.

Yet several strands of whisk hair drifted slowly down, turning to dust and scattering on the wind.

The hand gripping the arrows trembled faintly, and Xie Daqian's expression grew even graver.

What domineering archery!

His Dao cultivation surpassed this young man's, though not by much. Yet his opponent wielded a Divine Bow, his killing intent aflame, and stood a hundred paces away—he held every advantage.

If only those savage soldiers could have followed him here. Even if they had to withstand several Divine Arrows, they could have closed in and cut him down!

"Young man—"

His answer was one feathered arrow after another tearing through the air. Their shrieking flight sounded like wind and rain in a tempest; one man and one bow possessed the momentum of ten thousand arrows piercing the sky.

Xie Daqian desperately swung his precious whisk. It was a magical treasure he had nurtured for decades, something he was normally reluctant to use, yet now strands of its tail hairs drifted down one after another.

Arrows lay scattered haphazardly across the ground, while the whisk in his hand was nearly reduced to a bald tail.

His Magic Power was being drained at a terrifying pace. Xie Daqian's expression shifted constantly as he understood all too well that if this continued, he would be like Gao Chong in Tiao Huache, worn to death alive!

He had to find a way to get close!

But Zhou Sheng understood that as well and gave him no opportunity whatsoever.

"The Strategist's words were far too poor, and Huang Zhong's anger could not be contained. At thirteen, I learned bow and horse, my fame guarding Changsha. Since I submitted to Imperial Uncle's command, with one horse and one blade I passed through Wu Gorge..."

The singing rose again, a passage from Mount Dingjun. Zhuge Liang worried that Huang Zhong was too old to defeat Zhang He. Huang Zhong courageously volunteered himself, so Zhuge Liang said there was an Iron-Core Bow in the camp; if Huang Zhong could draw it, he could go forth.

How could Old Huang Zhong, invincible with the Divine Bow all his life, endure such provocation? He immediately declared boldly that he would draw the bow.

"Bring the bow!"

The operatic spoken line rang out, majestic and heroic, its lofty spirit soaring into the clouds, as though surging hot blood were crashing and echoing within an aged chest.

The next moment, Zhou Sheng drew the Treasure Carving Bow in his hands into a full moon. The pale gold in his pupils nearly solidified, so dazzling that none could look directly at it.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three more arrows flew forth, but they were not fired simultaneously. They came in rapid succession—the legendary Consecutive Arrows.

Consecutive Arrows were a technique of rapid fire, demanding arrows like a string of pearls, one after another without end.

Before the first arrow arrived, the second had already been loosed. Before the second arrived, the third had already flown, allowing not the slightest chance to catch one's breath.

Swift as a raging storm, mighty as thunder bearing the weight of ten thousand jun!

Xie Daqian's face changed drastically. His whisk successfully blocked the first arrow, but before he could regulate his breath, the second had already reached him.

With a sharp sizzle, like silk being torn apart.

His precious whisk was completely stripped bare. Every strand of tail hair had been shredded by the arrow's force, and even the whisk handle had cracked.

Yet the third arrow followed close behind, and it was also the most powerful one.

The first two arrows had merely cleared the way. This final arrow was the true killing blow!

Boom!

That feathered arrow blasted through two stone walls before burying itself deeply in the third, leaving only half its shaft exposed as it hummed and trembled.

Drops of blood mixed with brain matter dripped from the feathers at its tail.

Xie Daqian stood there blankly. His formerly bright, piercing eyes gradually dimmed, still carrying dense unwillingness.

A great hole had appeared between his brows. The arrow had pierced straight through his skull; there was not the slightest possibility of survival.

The third arrow had been too swift and too ruthless. Though he had opened the Aperture of the Eye and could clearly see its trajectory, his Magic Power had been depleted too heavily, and he had failed to regulate a breath of inner qi. Though he saw it clearly, his body could no longer evade it.

The Dao cultivation he had painstakingly attained could only let him die a few moments later than an ordinary person, dragging out a few breaths.

Thud!

Xie Daqian dropped to his knees and slowly fell over.

At that moment, intense unwillingness and regret filled his heart. After cultivating for decades, he had finally opened the Aperture of the Eye. Not only had he joined the Longhua Sect, but he had also earned the Incense Master's regard and been entrusted with important duties.

Once Magistrate Zhu's affair was settled, he could be promoted to Incense Protector within the sect and receive even more profound Mysterious Skill and Secret Techniques!

But all of it had been ruined by that brat who sang Yin Opera!

With overwhelming unwillingness, he summoned his final trace of Magic Power and formed one last Mudrā in the pool of blood.

The next instant, Zhou Sheng in the distance suddenly felt an intense sense of danger.

Then the roof beneath his feet abruptly exploded, and a savage, terrifying figure burst out.

It was a Giant Centipede with forty-nine pairs of purple-black legs!

Its dark-red shell seemed streaked with seeping blood. Its antennae forked, its mandibles were bluish-black, and the instant it appeared, a foul stench rushed into his face, making his head swim.

Zhou Sheng's scalp went numb at once. This centipede was enormous, nearly a demon—it had to be lethally venomous!

In that hair's-breadth moment, the Master's training, once so harsh it had bordered on cruelty, finally saved his life.

Countless sessions of bitter practice had become instinct engraved into his body. Before his mind had time to think, his body had already dodged automatically.

With a tap of his toes, he soared into the air and spun like the wind. This was the spinning dodge of opera movement.

At that moment, the ambushing centipede became, in Zhou Sheng's eyes, the pebbles the Master had fired at him while he practiced Blanket Skill.

Twin Swallows in Flight, Leaping the Tiger, Flying Kick...

In the flash between lightning and flint, his figure was graceful and his movements crisp and clean, carrying both a bird's nimbleness and a fierce tiger's swiftness.

Every one of the Giant Centipede's successive lunges struck empty air. Its venom splashed onto the roof tiles, even corroding the rubble until it cracked apart.

A series of sharp slapping sounds rang out. They came from Zhou Sheng's hands and feet striking together as he dodged, and from his sleeves snapping through the air.

Thirteen sounds in succession—also called Thirteen Sounds of Flying Heaven in opera, an exceedingly difficult and complex dodging movement.

The bitter practice and sweat of the past had forged this peerless stage technique.

At last, he finished in a bow stance, rooted to the ground, with a black feathered arrow already nocked on the great bow.

At that very moment, the Giant Centipede had just leapt into the air, exposing its relatively soft underbelly.

Whoosh!

The arrow was like a streak of black lightning, piercing the Giant Centipede in an instant and pinning it to the stone wall.

A centipede with a hundred feet did not stiffen even in death.

Seeing its legs still twitching, Zhou Sheng did not hesitate. He fired several more arrows, nearly shooting the centipede into a sieve.

Only when the Luo Shu in his mind bloomed with light did he finally let out a breath. At some point, cold sweat had already soaked his back.

That had truly been too dangerous!

So the Daoist had only appeared helpless against his Divine Arrows. In truth, he had been secretly stalling for time, allowing the demon creature he kept to burrow underground and launch a surprise attack!

The opponent's tactics had been brilliant. The earth-burrowing technique happened to counter his hawk eyes, and it had nearly succeeded.

Fortunately, Zhou Sheng had not wasted a single moment before this. With the ultimate technique of Consecutive Arrows, he had pierced the man's skull first!

One step faster meant the difference between life and death.

Had he been one step slower, while confronting that Daoist, he might not have been able to evade the centipede's ambush.

"Don't, don't kill me!!"

Seeing that even Daoist Priest Xie had died, Magistrate Zhu completely lost his head. He spun around and fled madly, his eyes filled with terror.

But the next instant, an arrow pierced through the kneecap of his left leg.

Thud!

His body crashed to the ground. Dragging one leg behind him, he crawled forward with difficulty, leaving a long trail of blood.

His eyes were filled with the desperate longing to live.

Zhou Sheng watched coldly, as if he saw that pitch-black night again: how Uncle Xu, his resentment impossible to quell beneath the freezing waters of Pear Blossom River, had crawled forward inch by inch.

Thanks to Chen Yixun of Jichuan Street for the three-thousand reward, and thanks to Fancheng Guowang for the hundred reward. Hearts!