The arrow pierced the stone slab, its tail still trembling and emitting a buzzing sound.
Duan Tiande wiped his cheek, his fingertips covered in blood.
He stared at the white-clad figure swinging over from the river, his eyelid twitching.
Only a freak capable of drawing a hundred-stone strong bow could shoot a white-feathered arrow with the force of a siege crossbow from such a distance.
"Which path are you from, friend?" Duan Tiande took a step back, holding his water-parting daggers horizontally in front of his chest.
No one answered.
The flatboat crashed against the pile of jagged rocks on the shore along with the rushing currents.
The bow of the boat shattered.
Using the momentum, the white-clad figure leaped directly ashore.
But he didn't land steadily.
The rocks on the shore were covered in moss and mud, made exceptionally slippery by the torrential rain.
As soon as the white-clad man landed, his foot slipped, and he stumbled awkwardly forward, falling flat on his face.
The aura of a great hero descending from the sky was instantly ruined.
The several black-clad assassins were stunned for a moment, their hands holding their blades stopping in mid-air, almost laughing out loud.
A second later, they couldn't laugh anymore.
The man rolled on the ground, getting covered in mud, his movements incredibly fast.
He casually dug out a blue brick from the mud.
Rising too fiercely, he brought up a large splash of muddy water.
With a muffled thud, before the closest black-clad man could even see what happened, his entire face was smashed in by the blue brick.
His nose bridge collapsed, and broken teeth mixed with bloody foam sprayed all over the ground.
The black-clad man didn't even utter a groan before falling straight backward.
Xu Wuyou stood up from the muddy water.
His flashy white clothes could no longer be distinguished by color, covered entirely in black mud and blood splatters.
He wiped away the muddy water obscuring his vision, revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes.
"You dare touch my sister?"
He spat out a mouthful of muddy saliva and drew a horizontal sword from his waist.
The blade was very thick, ungrooved, designed purely for chopping.
"You're the foolish eldest young master of the Xu family in the martial world?" Duan Tiande narrowed his eyes, recognizing the newcomer.
Intelligence said the eldest young master of the Xu family was a dimwit good for nothing but brute strength.
"I'm your father!"
Xu Wuyou roared, holding the sword with both hands, the bluestone slab under his feet cracking under his weight.
There were no flashy moves.
Just a strike meant to split a mountain.
The blade tore through the curtain of rain, emitting a sharp whistle.
Duan Tiande sneered, raising his water-parting dagger to block, intending to use skillful force to deflect the blade.
With a loud clang, sparks exploded in the rainy night, blindingly bright.
Duan Tiande only felt an agonizing pain in his wrist, the webbing between his thumb and forefinger splitting instantly, both arms going numb and losing sensation.
That freakish strength transmitted through his arms to his entire body, shaking his internal organs.
The stone slab under his feet shattered into powder, and he was smashed sliding backward for three or four meters, his feet plowing two deep trenches in the mud.
"A tough one!" Duan Tiande's expression changed. "This is innate divine strength! Don't clash with him head-on! Attack together!"
The remaining dozen or so black-clad men reacted.
"Kill!"
A group of them roared and surrounded him, blades flashing wildly, specifically targeting his lower body.
"Sister! Hide behind me!"
Xu Wuyou grabbed Xu Qinghuan and forcefully shoved her into the corner of the dead-end alley.
Xu Qinghuan was trembling all over, her teeth chattering loudly.
She looked at the back in front of her.
Normally, her eldest brother was goofy and loved to roam the martial world with a sword, his eyes clear and foolish.
But now, his tall figure stubbornly blocked the only gap.
With a squelch, a steel blade pierced right next to Xu Wuyou's ribs.
Xu Wuyou let out a muffled groan, his body not swaying in the slightest, and struck back with a backhand slash.
The horizontal sword was too long, unable to be fully utilized in the narrow alleyway.
He simply let go with one hand and smashed directly with his fist.
With a thud, the sneaking assassin was punched in the temple, his eyeball bulging out on the spot, collapsing limply.
But there were too many people.
Those in front fell, and those behind filled in.
This was a messy fight with no technical skill involved, just filling it with lives.
Xu Wuyou soon had seven or eight more gashes on his body, the blood flowing out instantly diluted by the rain, dyeing the mud puddle under his feet pink.
"Ah—!!"
Xu Wuyou roared, his voice already hoarse.
He didn't defend at all.
Whoever slashed him, he had to return a punch or a slash.
This was a mutually assured destruction fighting style; at this moment, it was the only way.
The rain grew heavier, stinging his face more and more.
Blood loss and the severe cold were rapidly draining his body heat.
Xu Wuyou's movements began to slow down.
He felt his eyelids growing heavier, the horizontal sword in his hand too heavy to lift.
With every slash, his lungs burned with pain.
"I can't hold on..."
The thought had barely surfaced before he crushed it.
No.
His sister was still behind him.
If he fell, his sister behind him would be torn to pieces by these people.
"Die! All of you, die!!"
Xu Wuyou went mad.
He grabbed the long sword thrust by an assassin, the blade cutting his palm and lodging directly into the bone.
Ignoring it entirely, he yanked it back fiercely.
The assassin stumbled forward, crashing directly into Xu Wuyou's chest.
Xu Wuyou opened his mouth and bit fiercely into the man's neck.
"Ahhhhh—!"
The assassin let out a shrill scream, clutching his neck as he fell to the ground, blood spraying high.
The surrounding black-clad men were frightened by this maddened fighting style, forming a circle, unexpectedly no one dared to take another step forward.
Duan Tiande watched this scene, his face gloomy.
This kid didn't care about his life.
If they dragged this out any longer, if the city defense camp heard the commotion and rushed over, they would be in trouble.
"Make way!"
Duan Tiande squeezed out from behind, his water-parting dagger still dripping blood.
He locked onto the bloody hole on Xu Wuyou's right leg.
It had been stabbed just now, and was bleeding profusely, the leg already trembling.
"Go to hell!"
Duan Tiande crouched low, darting forward close to the ground.
He evaded Xu Wuyou's heavy horizontal sword, his water-parting dagger aiming straight for that wound.
Xu Wuyou tried to dodge, but that crippled leg completely refused to obey.
With a squelch, the water-parting dagger plunged into the base of his thigh, sinking to the hilt.
This strike caused Xu Wuyou's vision to go dark from the pain, almost bringing him to his knees.
Duan Tiande sneered, flicking his wrist, twisting the water-parting dagger in the flesh.
"Kneel down for me!"
The agonizing pain wrung a low growl from Xu Wuyou.
But he didn't kneel.
His good leg firmly planted on the ground, his knee almost shattering, but it stubbornly refused to bend.
He dropped his sword.
His hands shot out fiercely, tightly gripping Duan Tiande's shoulders.
"Caught... you..."
Xu Wuyou spat bloody foam from his mouth, his mud-covered face revealing a smile uglier than crying.
Duan Tiande's heart went cold.
This madman!
His leg is ruined, yet he can still exert force?
"Let go!"
Duan Tiande fiercely raised the other water-parting dagger in his hand, stabbing straight for Xu Wuyou's heart.
At such close range, there was nowhere to hide.
With a squelch, this stab didn't pierce his heart.
At the crucial moment, Xu Wuyou shifted his body slightly.
The water-parting dagger pierced through his left shoulder, protruding from his back.
But that was all.
This stab skewered him and Duan Tiande together.
Neither could escape.
"Brother—!!!"
From behind came Xu Qinghuan's heart-wrenching cry.
Xu Wuyou heard it.
But he had no strength left to look back.
He only felt cold, so cold.
He had to end this quickly.
"Argh!!!"
With a loud roar, Xu Wuyou used the last ounce of strength he had left in this life, shoving Duan Tiande backward.
The two men tangled together, rolling in the mud.
There were no martial arts techniques.
Just tearing, scratching, headbutting, and gouging with fingernails.
Duan Tiande panicked.
He was a master; he relied on one-hit kills and agile movements.
But now, held in Xu Wuyou's death grip, he couldn't use his skills at all.
He felt as if his ribs were going to be crushed.
"Lunatic! Let go! I'll spare your life!" Duan Tiande screamed, wildly smashing his fists into Xu Wuyou's head.
Xu Wuyou's face was battered and bloody, one eye swollen completely shut.
But his hands clung to Duan Tiande relentlessly.
Let go?
Letting go meant death.
Xu Wuyou's consciousness was already beginning to blur.
But he could still feel Duan Tiande's ear dangling right by his mouth.
A gold ring hung from that ear, swaying irritatingly.
Since his hands had no strength left, he would use his mouth.
Xu Wuyou opened his mouth.
He didn't care if it was covered in mud or blood, nor did he care if it was human flesh.
He bit down hard.
Crunch.
It was the sound of cartilage snapping.
"Ahhhhhh!!!"
Duan Tiande let out a bloodcurdling scream.
One of his ears, along with half the skin on his cheek, was brutally torn off by Xu Wuyou.
Blood sprayed all over Xu Wuyou's face.
Coppery and hot.
Xu Wuyou still didn't let go.
He held the chunk of flesh in his mouth, a guttural growl rumbling in his throat.
Duan Tiande went mad with pain.
He kicked Xu Wuyou in the stomach, fighting for his life to break free, and rolled in the muddy water clutching his half-missing head.
"Kill them! Kill them for me! Chop this fool to pieces and feed him to the dogs!!!"
Duan Tiande roared with all his might.
The surrounding men in black were so terrified by this scene that their legs turned to jelly.
Too ruthless; he was trying to eat a man alive.
But they dared not disobey their boss's orders.
Several men in black shakily raised their blades and surrounded the motionless Xu Wuyou lying in the mud.
Xu Wuyou gasped heavily for air.
Every breath he took felt like needles in his throat.
He wanted to stand up, but his legs had lost all sensation.
He spat out the flesh in his mouth, letting it fall into the muddy water.
"Pah."
"Tastes... fucking awful."
He struggled to roll over, wanting to glance toward the corner of the wall.
Is my sister alright?
Just then.
A hand reached out in front of him.
It was a beautiful hand, with slender fingers and pale skin.
Only now, it was covered in mud, with dirt wedged under the fingernails.
The hand tightly gripped a broken arrow shaft.
The arrowhead was polished bright, still stained with blood.
It was the arrow pulled from Li Sheng's body.
Xu Qinghuan.
She had crawled out from the corner at some unknown point.
Her white dress had turned a dusky black, and her hair stuck wildly to her cheeks.
But her eyes.
They no longer held that terrified look from before.
She didn't speak.
She merely used her other hand to grab Xu Wuyou's collar in a death grip, desperately trying to drag him backward.
Even though her meager strength couldn't possibly move a body weighing over two hundred pounds.
"Brother."
Her voice trembled, but every word was squeezed through her teeth.
"Don't die."
"If you die, who's going to buy me lychees to eat?"
Xu Qinghuan turned around.
She held the broken arrow across her chest, its tip pointing at the approaching men in black.
Her hands were shaking, and her legs were trembling.
But she didn't take a single step back.
"Come on."
Xu Qinghuan forced a hoarse roar from her throat; the sound was both laughable and heartbreaking.
"If you don't want to die, then come and get it!"
Duan Tiande clutched his still-bleeding half-head and scrambled up from the ground, his single eye filled with venomous hatred.
"Even if the King of Heaven himself came today, you're both still going to die!"
"Get them! Chop this brother and sister into mincemeat!"
The men in black exchanged glances, finally made up their minds, and charged forward with their blades raised.
The gleam of the blades flashed once more.
Xu Qinghuan closed her eyes, blindly thrusting the broken arrow forward.
Right at this moment.
