You Martial Artists

She was about to lift the carriage window curtain when the curtain at the entrance was yanked open. Shen Lantang instinctively grabbed hold of something beside her. Xie Jin, his eyes bright and alert, caught her hand and pulled her out of the carriage.

Shen Lantang stumbled after him. Only then did she get a clear look at the masked bandits. There were more than twenty of them, all tall and powerfully built, with good weapons. They had launched a surprise attack with bows in support, giving them the upper hand for the moment.

Shielding Shen Lantang, Xie Jin pulled her between two cargo carts. After unhitching the horses, he kicked the carts hard, sending one to either side of a large tree to form a triangular enclosure.

Xie Jin hoisted Shen Lantang up and dropped her into the gap inside it. He looked back. "Stay in there. Don't come out!"

"Mm!"

Shen Lantang did her best to curl up into a mushroom.

People kept falling. Their cries and the smell of fresh blood clung to Shen Lantang's heart like ghosts. Overwhelmed, she squeezed her eyes shut.

"Look out!"

Something hissed past her ear. Shen Lantang opened her eyes to see someone across from her firing a bow in her direction. She ducked sharply, and several arrows flew over her head and lodged in the tree trunk behind her.

Mom!!!

"Stay right there! Don't come out!"

Xie Jin shouted whenever he could spare a breath between fighting. He stopped anyone who approached them, while the carts blocked the arrows. Shen Lantang was relatively safe.

The bandits also realized they could not kill Xie Jin or the only woman there with arrows. One masked man turned and cracked his whip hard at a horse. It bolted toward the carts. Its left