Chapter 66: Rooting Out the Enemy

Only seven members of Wolf Map remained. They walked forward in a hurry, whispering to one another. This time they were very unlucky to have offended someone they absolutely could not afford to provoke. It would be difficult to explain this upon their return. Moreover, could they really just swallow this insult? Would their brothers have died for nothing? Of course, they had no right to make decisions; they would have to see what the boss said after they returned.

Just as they entered a mountain pass, a sharp, soul-shaking sound of breaking air shot down from above.

After firing an arrow, Su Tang shook his head. The Night Cry Bow was not very suitable for sneak attacks, and the whistling sound it produced could only affect ordinary martial artists on a mental level. Once it encountered an expert, it became useless.

However, where was there a perfect Spirit Tool? Xue Jiu had kept the Night Cry Bow for so long, so it must have unique value, though Su Tang had not discovered it yet. He had only practiced the Martial Formula that Xue Jiu gave him; he could not yet practice the Battle Formula to operate the Night Cry Bow, so he could only pin his hopes on the future.

“Watch out!” A large man noticed the rushing energy just in time. He stepped forward abruptly and raised a large shield.

Boom… The shield in the man’s hand was clearly dented inward. His feet were shaken off the ground, and he flew two or three meters back before landing hard on his backside.

At that moment, Fang Yizhe leaped out from behind a tree, wielding dual swords and pouncing toward the martial artists.

“They want to kill us all! Brothers, fight them to the death!”

“Fight! Charge!”

The Wolf Map martial artists immediately turned red with rage. They had plenty of wilderness survival experience, and in the style of Wolf Map, this was a common occurrence. Therefore, they did not all rush forward to surround Fang Yizhe. Instead, three of them split into three directions and pounced toward Su Tang’s hiding place.

Fang Yizhe’s dual swords were fast and ruthless, and his movements were light and agile. He could not be trapped or killed in a short time; if they tried, they would only be shot dead one by one by the archer hiding in the dark.

Su Tang drew the Night Cry Bow again, aimed at one of the martial artists, and fired an arrow.

Those martial artists were already on guard. Hearing the whistling sound, they ignored who Su Tang was actually shooting at and performed evasion maneuvers simultaneously.

However, they underestimated Su Tang too much. It was true that Su Tang was a rookie, but he knew how to think, explore, and dig out his own potential. He could change his combat patterns and habits because he strove to be the best.

Since the previous sneak attack had failed, he had already been thinking about how to improve. Just as the targeted martial artist changed direction, Su Tang’s second arrow was fired. The two whistling sounds merged together, making it impossible for anyone to tell that Su Tang had fired a second arrow.

The martial artist was still flying through the air, his toes not yet touching the ground, when blood suddenly erupted from his head. Although Su Tang’s calculation for this arrow was slightly off, the power was sufficient. The back of the martial artist’s head was completely blown open, and his stiff body collapsed forward.

The remaining two martial artists were terrified. They lay flat in the grass, not daring to move for a moment. Since they did not move, Su Tang did not move either, waiting quietly.

After about ten breaths, one of the martial artists could not take it anymore. He suddenly jumped out and rushed forward. He had learned his lesson and refused to move in a single direction. His figure darted left and right, jumping and rolling, with speed that varied between slow and fast, attempting to interfere with Su Tang’s aim.

Su Tang smiled. This was actually interesting; shooting stationary targets was inevitably boring.

Su Tang held the Night Cry Bow open, constantly fine-tuning his direction, but since he was not certain of a one-hit kill, he did not fire.

Soon, the martial artist was less than fifty meters from Su Tang. Su Tang suddenly noticed a large tree, several people wide, not far in front of the martial artist. He let out a soft breath and aimed the Night Cry Bow at that large tree.

Just as the martial artist was about to pass near the tree, Su Tang fired an arrow. If there had been no interference, the arrow would have grazed the tree trunk. From a psychological perspective, upon hearing the sound of breaking air, the opponent should immediately dodge, and that large tree was undoubtedly the most suitable cover.

Sure enough, the martial artist looked panicked. He abruptly changed direction and ran to hide behind the tree.

Puchi… The martial artist’s upper body successfully hid, but his lower body was torn apart and blown away by the invisible energy. Moreover, he did not die instantly and continued to let out piercing screams from behind the tree.

Only one remained. Su Tang pushed aside the leaves and looked over, discovering a piece of leather armor on a back exposed behind a giant rock. Although the distance was about a hundred meters, it was enough for Su Tang.

“You were too careless…” Su Tang said softly. He then drew the Night Cry Bow again and aimed at the exposed leather armor.

Invisible energy shot out, and the piece of leather armor was blasted to fragments. Then, a scream came from that direction, followed by silence.

Su Tang almost laughed out loud. The moment the leather armor was shattered, he saw sparks flying. Could it be… that guy’s body was made of stone? That was too funny.

Su Tang jumped down from the tree and walked slowly toward that area. When he reached the first slain martial artist, he picked up the corpse with one hand and the martial artist’s longsword with the other, then turned and walked toward the giant rock.

When he was still three or four meters away, Su Tang raised his hand and threw the corpse over first. After waiting a moment, he leaped up and jumped over the giant rock.

“Ah…” A roar came from behind the rock. The martial artist was pressing down hard on the corpse with one hand and holding a dagger in the other, stabbing the corpse desperately. His movements were very fast, and in an instant, he had stabbed it five or six times. Then, he realized something was wrong and looked up abruptly. Unfortunately, he was a bit too slow; a bright sword light was piercing into his forehead.

Su Tang strode toward Fang Yizhe. Things were almost finished on Fang Yizhe’s side as well. One martial artist holding a large shield and a battle-axe lay in a pool of blood, and another holding a spear had dropped his weapon, clutching his throat with both hands as he slowly collapsed. The remaining two female martial artists no longer had the courage to fight. They sat huddled on the ground, embracing each other and crying, “Don’t kill me… please… we can give you anything…”

Fang Yizhe frowned and slid his dual swords back into their sheaths.

“I can’t bring myself to do it,” Su Tang said with a smile. As he walked past a martial artist’s corpse, he used his toe to flick up the battle-axe and caught it lightly in his hand.

“They won’t fight me,” Fang Yizhe said somewhat helplessly. “I am a man of principle.”

“I like people with principles.” Su Tang raised the battle-axe and chopped down diagonally, hitting a female martial artist’s neck. This blow nearly severed the entire neck, and blood sprayed high. Then Su Tang added, “Although your principles are debatable.”

The remaining female martial artist screamed and pushed her companion away, trying to crawl away from Su Tang. In reality, she still had some combat ability—at least enough to handle one or two moves—but with her spirit broken, she completely forgot how to resist and only thought of escaping.

Su Tang stepped on the female martial artist’s lower back, and the axe fell, hitting the back of her head.

The female martial artist struggled weakly a few times and then stopped moving.

“You must have completed many missions in the past? You were probably very famous in your home place,” Fang Yizhe said softly. Su Tang’s ruthlessness also surprised him.

“Why do you say that?” Su Tang smiled and tossed away the battle-axe.

“Because you are definitely not a novice,” Fang Yizhe said. “However, this is certainly your first time in Yunshui Marsh?”

“How did you guess?” Su Tang asked.

“Do I even need to guess?” Fang Yizhe shook his head. “That was a Ghost-Faced Spider, and you actually dared to reach out…”

Fang Yizhe was referring to a small episode that happened while the two were chasing the Wolf Map martial artists. They were traveling through the dense forest when a spider web appeared ahead. Su Tang, who was walking in front, reached out to push the web away because he didn’t want it to get tangled on him. Fang Yizhe saw the Ghost-Faced Spider in the web at a glance and immediately drew his sword. The sword light grazed Su Tang’s body and knocked the Ghost-Faced Spider away.

Xi Xiaoru had let the Wolf Map martial artists leave, but both Su Tang and Fang Yizhe thought that was unwise. They both saw what the other was thinking, made an excuse to step aside and discuss it, and then agreed to chase them together.

Wolf Map had a great reputation in Eight-Sided City and was not easy to provoke. Even if they didn’t dare to cause trouble for the Xi Family, others might not be so lenient, so they had to root out the enemy.

At that time, Su Tang and Fang Yizhe simply felt that the other was likable and thought they could cooperate.

After that small episode, Fang Yizhe’s mentality changed significantly. He had suddenly drawn his sword; if Su Tang had felt even a hint of vigilance, he would have reacted immediately or even counterattacked. But Su Tang had frozen and remained motionless.

Fang Yizhe believed he had gained Su Tang’s trust because Su Tang had no defense against him. If he had really wanted to do something, that one sword strike would have been enough to kill Su Tang.

In fact, Su Tang had relied on a keen sense that surpassed ordinary people to judge that Fang Yizhe’s sword light would not hurt him. He didn’t know why, but to avoid a misunderstanding, he stayed still.

This was a lucky coincidence, and the relationship and trust between them were greatly improved.

“Let’s go back. They must be anxious waiting for us,” Su Tang said.

“Wait a moment, let me search their bodies,” Fang Yizhe said with an embarrassed smile, then added, “You follow the Chief, so you might not care about these things, but I…”

“I understand, I understand,” Su Tang nodded.

The trip there and back took Su Tang and Fang Yizhe about two hours. It was just past noon when they left, and the sun was already tilting west when they returned. Xi Xiaoru and the others were indeed impatient. Seeing them, Zhou Qian complained, “Where did you two run off to? Why did it take so long?!”

The look Xi Xiaoru gave them was a bit strange. She was simple-minded, but simple did not mean stupid. They had just driven away the Wolf Map martial artists, and then Su Tang and Fang Yizhe had vanished without a trace. The answer was obvious. However, she didn’t care to argue. “Little San, find a place to rest. Oh… by the way, can you find a cleaner spot?”

“Big sister, where is there a clean place in Yunshui Marsh? Let’s just make do,” Su Tang said.

“I actually know a place, and it’s not far from here,” Fang Yizhe suddenly said.

“Really?” Xi Xiaoru’s eyes lit up. “Lead the way.”