Found the Wrong One

"Xia Ding, how could his strength be so great?"

Though Shi Qing was inwardly horrified, his reactions were not slow in the slightest. When he saw Xia Ding and the other twelve already spreading out and chasing them, he immediately ordered a counterattack.

"Shi Dong, find cover on the left! Wang Ming, lead the team and hold them back! Hurry!"

Xia Ding and the others were not slow in pursuit.

Besides, three people on their side had just died, leaving only ten.

If they kept fleeing blindly, they would only give the enemy a chance to pick them off one by one.

The camp members worked together with perfect understanding. Upon receiving the order, they immediately stopped fleeing. Wang Ming gripped his Great Saber and turned around with the seven people behind him, while Shi Qing and Shi Dong swiftly climbed a large tree on either side.

The saber wielder led the team in a feigned attack, while Shi Qing and Shi Dong hid in the shadows and fired arrows as the main assault.

This was the formation Big Stone Camp had always used against its enemies.

On the other side, Wang Ming had already turned around and was standing before Xia Ding and the other twelve with the seven men. He lowered his head and inadvertently glanced at the three corpses on the ground. His hands tightened slightly around his saber, as if that could bring him a little sense of security.

Even now, they still did not understand how the three people on the ground had died. Xia Ding had clearly not moved, and neither had the twelve people behind him.

Where had that sound, like a silver needle slicing through the air, come from?

The moment that sound rang out, the three men had died as suddenly as if they had been cursed.

And Xia Ding—when had he become so powerful?

The unknown bred fear in people's hearts.

"Attack!"

Of course, it could also stir up a powerful will to survive.

As if realizing that they were in dire straits, Wang Ming roared. The fear in his heart transformed into fury and madness, and he raised his saber and charged at Xia Ding first.

He was second only to Shi Qing and Shi Dong in strength within the camp.

Once Wang Ming fought for his life, his momentum was anything but weak.

Screech...

The blade tore through the night sky with a sharp, cutting shriek. The fierce force behind it whipped up a gale, sending the snow on the ground flying several meters high. In almost an instant, it reached Xia Ding.

Wang Ming's eyes were wide with rage as he brought the saber down with nearly all the strength he had in his life.

After this strike, even if you don't die, you'll still lose a layer of skin!

That was Wang Ming's first thought when he sensed the blade touch its target.

Unfortunately, the result was completely contrary to his expectation.

Xia Ding merely shifted to the side and dodged his strike.

Not only did he dodge it, he also circled around to Wang Ming's side, pressed down on the saber with one hand, and drove it straight into the snow, even several inches into the soil beneath.

"How can he be this fast? Xia Ding, could he have broken through into the Earth Excavation Realm?"

A fierce fist wind swept past his ear, interrupting the shock and doubt in Wang Ming's heart.

He knew Xia Ding had made his move.

He had used too much strength just now, and his momentum was too great. Even if he released the saber now, he could not dodge Xia Ding's punch, so he did not let go.

According to reason, Wang Ming should have been terrified in this certain-death situation.

Yet not only was he unafraid, a triumphant smile even appeared on his face.

Whoosh...

The sound of arrows splitting the air rang out. From the large tree where Shi Qing and Shi Dong had just taken cover, two waves of arrows shot forth in succession—four in total—and streaked toward them.

Their target was unmistakably Xia Ding.

The arrows came from extremely tricky angles. The first two aimed respectively at Xia Ding's left hand pressing down on the saber and his right fist striking at Wang Ming. The latter two flew straight toward his face.

After years of working with the Shi brothers, the understanding between the three of them had reached the point where they did not even need to exchange glances. Wang Ming's frontal charge with the saber had never been intended to injure Xia Ding. It was merely meant to create an opportunity for Shi Qing and Shi Dong.

They had never imagined that Xia Ding would be so fast—not only dodging Wang Ming's strike with such ease, but also swiftly countering his saber.

The counter had succeeded, but at the same time, it restricted Xia Ding's own movements.

The four arrows had practically sealed off every avenue of escape. Even if Xia Ding retreated now, at most he could dodge the two aimed at his hands. The two arrows aimed at his face were impossible to avoid.

However, what happened next left everyone utterly stunned.

Xia Ding did not dodge. The force of his punch grew even more violent.

Clang, clang, clang, clang...

All four iron-tipped arrows struck their targets. One of the two arrows in the second volley even hit Xia Ding's right eye, piercing more than ten centimeters into it.

Bang...

Yet even so, Xia Ding's ferocious right fist still landed.

Wang Ming did not even have time to turn his head before his body was blasted into the snow behind him like a cannonball, crashing down with a thunderous boom.

He was also at the Lumbering Realm, and his body was not weak. Though his head was not smashed apart by that punch, it still caved in by nearly half.

One strike. Instant death.

Wang Ming died just like that.

With four arrows stuck in his body, Xia Ding looked as if nothing had happened. He first stood up, then turned his head. His left eye—the one without an arrow through it—stared through the night at the two large trees behind him. The eerie smile on his face remained unchanged.

Whether it was the seven people entangled in battle with the enemy or Shi Qing and Shi Dong hiding in the trees behind them, all of them were now filled with terror and dread.

"Run! That's not Old Ding! It's the fiend from Redwood Ridge!"

By this point, if Shi Qing still could not see the truth, he would hardly deserve to be their leader.

He shouted in alarm, nocked his bow, and fired all eight arrows from the wooden tube on his back in one breath. His target was not Xia Ding, but the seven members of the Lumber Team who were locked in combat.

Shi Dong on the other side did the same.

The seven members of the Lumber Team had already been thrown into turmoil by Shi Qing's mention of the "fiend." Yet with people blocking their path, they could not withdraw for the moment.

Now, aided by more than a dozen sharp arrows, the seven thought they could retreat safely. Taking advantage of the moment when the arrows flew toward the enemy, they turned and fled.

However, just as with Wang Ming before them, not one of those Great Xia Lumber Team members dodged the arrows.

They let the arrows strike their bodies and continued the pursuit as if their lives meant nothing.

Several who were hit in the chest were knocked down by the arrows' tremendous impact. Those struck only in the limbs merely slowed somewhat.

The two slowest of the seven were caught instantly.

They did not even have time to resist—or even turn around—before several people behind them hacked them into bloody pulp with Stone Axes.

The five who had already escaped glanced back and saw the scene. They did not dare slow their feet in the slightest and quickly darted farther back, fleeing for their lives behind Shi Qing and Shi Dong.

However, that "Xia Ding" clearly had no intention of letting them go.

The thirteen people, arrows lodged in various parts of their bodies, charged after them with startling speed. At the head, the arrow embedded in "Xia Ding's" right eye bobbed up and down as he ran. No matter how one looked at it, the sight was chilling.

"We can't run toward the camp! If we lead them there, we'll all die!"

Though Shi Qing was fleeing in disarray, he had not completely lost his wits. He led Shi Dong and the other five deliberately away from the direction of their camp.

Whoosh...

A sharp sound entered Shi Qing's ears, and his expression tightened.

This was the second time. How could he fail to recognize it? The last time this sound had rung out, those three people had died for no apparent reason.

What exactly was it?

Shi Qing was frantic with worry. He hurriedly turned his head and looked around, forcing himself to calm down and find the source of the sound.

Suddenly, a fine, lingering glimmer entered his pupils from ahead. Shi Qing, fleeing wildly, abruptly ducked his head and did not forget to shout a warning to those behind him:

"Duck! There's something ahead!"

Shi Dong, who was closest to him, ducked first.

Of the five behind them, three also lowered their heads.

Only the last two, whether they had not heard clearly or had reacted too slowly, did not duck. They charged straight ahead.

Though nothing could be seen blocking their path, the last two suddenly stiffened just like the three before them. Then three strange red dots appeared between their brows.

Blood flowed from the red dots, and the two fell to the ground at the same time.

As Shi Qing fled madly, his heart was practically bleeding.

A few days ago, three had been lost while hunting that Snow Mane, including his own younger brother. Now eight more had died.

Of the sixteen members of the Big Stone Lumber Team, only five remained.

The crucial point was that even those five might not be able to keep their lives.

That fiend was still relentlessly chasing them.

Their strength was waning, and their speed was slowing more and more. Yet the monsters behind them showed no sign of slowing down.

Big Stone Camp was probably finished.

Just as this despairing thought arose in Shi Qing's heart,

a young voice, sharp as a drawn blade, suddenly came from the right.

"Finally found you. Let's see where you can run now!"