Ambushed on the Way Home, Remnants of Alien Forces

The spiderweb-like cracks in the sand were still spreading. Before Chen Wuya had even lifted his foot, the wind changed.

He yanked hard on the reins. The horse reared up on its hind legs, and before its neigh had faded, he had already lunged sideways at Bai Zhi. As the two rolled into a hollow in the riverbed, three black-feathered arrows thudded into the spot where they had just stood, their fletching trembling without cease.

"An ambush." His voice was very low, while one hand had already settled on the hilt of his short sword.

Bai Zhi asked no questions. She flipped up and drew her sword, its flash knocking aside the curved blade chopping in from the left. Steel struck steel, sparks scattering over the grains of sand before vanishing in an instant. Two black-robed assassins were forced half a step back by the impact. A third leaped down from the slope, his blade aimed straight for her throat. She leaned back to evade, hooked up a spray of yellow sand with her toes and flung it out, then struck his wrist with the flat of her sword the moment he squinted.

Chen Wuya rose with his back against the rock wall, his short sword sweeping across the ground. He deliberately took the remnant volume of the Canglang Art's "reverse-meridian acupoint strike" method one step further astray, forcing his true qi to flow backward into the Hand Taiyin Lung Meridian. A faint tremor ran through his body, and the Misaligned Practice Connects to Spirit system instantly completed the force pathway—the sword edge swept over the sand, kicking up a ring of exploding grit and stones that spread outward like ripples.

The three attackers in front were driven back again and again, a gap opening in their formation.

"They aren't