Chapter 404: Blood and Living Soul

Jiang Jue and Jiang Chi passed by, one after the other. This kid let Jiang Jue go past, then ambushed Jiang Chi from behind.

"Neither Jiang Jue nor Jiang Chi discovered him," someone said. "That's why I said he's a hunter."

The leader of the Yoshan hunters, a squad commander, surveyed all the traces on the battlefield. He followed the footsteps of his deceased comrades, retracing their path.

First, he glanced at the tree where Chen Ji had hidden, noting three arrow holes in its trunk. "Jiang Jue fired three arrows in succession, but he dodged them all. His skill is no worse than ours," he observed.

The commander followed Jiang Jue's footprints, mimicking his retreat step by step to an open space. "They were at a stalemate here, which means Jiang Jue couldn't pinpoint his location. In the end, it was a test of patience, and Jiang Jue lost!" he declared.

"Could it be from the Fengzi Camp?" someone whispered.

Underneath a bone mask, someone sneered, "Nonsense! The Fengzi Camp? Those treacherous, self-righteous people from the Fengzi Camp are long dead!"

Amidst the clamor, the Yoshan hunter commander raised his right fist, and the noise immediately ceased.

Beneath his bone mask, wild fires danced in his eyes, as if he were deep in thought. "He took twelve arrows when he left. But we only have eight men left! Be careful, we may not be able to defeat him!"

The Wuchang soldiers, always victorious in paired combat, now had to calculate the enemy's arrow count with their own lives at stake—a clear sign of weakness.

But in battle, only victory mattered, not pride.

"He hasn't escaped, has he?" someone quietly asked.

All eight Yoshan hunters looked into the distance. Twilight was descending, the sun had half set behind the distant mountains, painting their bone masks orange before fading into gloom.

Sunset.

The centurion's order was to take Chen Ji's head before sunset. The Yoshan hunters had never doubted it, even planning where to drink until dawn to celebrate their departure from the human world.

But now, thoughts of drinking were cast aside. It was a fight to the death.

The commander calmly stated, "He can't escape. While he was circling us, the centurion has already brought men to seal off the mountain. It's a fool's dream for him to think he can run!"

He continued, "Our advantage is that we are tireless and require no rest. This kid realized he can't shake us, so he intends to eliminate all the Yoshan hunters before leaving! One person go report this to the centurion and bring the main force here to encircle and annihilate him!"

As he finished giving orders, one Yoshan hunter immediately slung his bone bow onto his back and swiftly departed without hesitation. Another hunter's gaze fell on the footprints on the ground.

"There are two sets of tracks leading away on the ground. Which way do we pursue?"

The commander pondered briefly. "South with three, East with four. Split up and pursue! The moment you find him, fire a whistling arrow. Go!"

With that, the lead Yoshan hunter made a strange gesture, his palm like a knife, drawing a straight line from his throat down to his abdomen.

The others exchanged glances and nodded subtly.

The next moment, the seven Yoshan hunters immediately split into two teams, one heading south, the other east.

The sky grew darker.

The commander led three others, the four of them advancing in a diamond formation, keeping five paces apart.

The commander, leading the way, suddenly crouched down to carefully examine the bush in front of him. A branch was broken, its snap fresh and moist.

He gently rubbed the broken end of the branch with his thumb, assessing the degree of moisture loss, then stated with certainty: "It was broken just half an incense stick ago. He's nearby! He wouldn't be this careless; this is a trail he deliberately left."

*What exactly is this kid trying to do?*

A mountain hunt was like a game of chess; whoever's mind was read first would become the prey.

All four stopped in place simultaneously, slowly drawing their bone arrows onto their bowstrings. They cautiously scanned their surroundings, missing no rustle of wind or grass.

In the silence, a sudden movement came from the trees.

One Yoshan hunter raised his bow and fired instantly. Without needing to see the target, the bone arrow flew towards the sound.

In an instant, the bone arrow, having pierced a spotted dove, fell to the ground, startling a flock of birds that flapped their wings and flew into the air.

The commander coldly surveyed his surroundings. Nothing happened.

He had expected Chen Ji to launch a surprise attack during this opening, but Chen Ji did not appear.

The commander suddenly said, "He realized there were many of us here, so he deliberately broke the branch, using our suspicion to keep us here, giving him a chance to ambush the southern team. Let's go!"

In the dim mountain forest, all four moved simultaneously, quickly heading south.

However, as they moved quickly, the Yoshan hunter at the rear of the group passed a large tree. Suddenly, a hand seemed to 'grow' from the tree, holding a feathered arrow and striking at the flame in his eye.

The feathered arrow came head-on, impossible to dodge!

The Yoshan hunter could only watch as the feathered arrow pierced his eye socket, disintegrating into white ashes.

The commander whirled around. None of the three of them had noticed someone hidden by the tree as they passed. So that's how Jiang Jue and Jiang Chi fell into an ambush!

The earlier question flashed in his mind: *Fengzi Camp?*

The commander reacted incredibly fast, raising his hand to fire a whistling arrow to summon his comrades. The other two, meanwhile, barraged Chen Ji with arrows, bone arrows landing one after another in the dim forest, pursuing Chen Ji's figure.

There were many techniques for rapid archery. Some archers preferred to carry quivers on their backs, with arrow nocks resting behind their ears, allowing them to raise their elbows high when shooting and draw the next arrow smoothly from the quiver after each release.

Others preferred to hold the bow with one hand, while the drawing hand held three to five arrows, quickly nocking the next arrow after each release.

The Wuchang soldiers were different. They held nine arrows in their bow hand. Their thumb and forefinger formed a tiger's mouth grip on the bow's handle, while their middle, ring, and pinky fingers held a bundle of arrows resting on the bow, with nocks pointing down and arrowheads pointing up.

After each release, a slight flick of the bow hand was all it took for the next arrow to perfectly settle onto the rebounding bow, without a single misstep.

This rapid-fire technique, known as "Nine Breaths, Eighteen Arrows," was something even the master archers of the Ning Dynasty's Three Imperial Camps might not be able to achieve.

Yet, even at such speed, the arrows still missed, only forcing Chen Ji to take cover behind a large tree.

The three Yoshan hunters exchanged glances and slowly began to outflank Chen Ji's tree, moving to its left and right.

Their footsteps on the ground made only the slightest sounds.

The three slowly drew their bowstrings, ready to release the moment they saw Chen Ji.

The next moment, the three rounded the tree, only to find Chen Ji had vanished from behind it.

The commander suddenly raised his bow and aimed at the treetop, but it, too, was empty.

Alarmed, the three simultaneously turned outwards, searching for any trace of Chen Ji.

They retreated step by step, closing in on each other, but Chen Ji remained unseen.

"Where did he go?"

"He used a blind spot to escape."

"Don't let your guard down, he's very patient!"

The three held their breath, their bowstrings taut and still.

But they waited for a full incense stick's time, and Chen Ji never appeared.

"Did he really leave?" one Yoshan hunter whispered.

Before the words were out, a whistling arrow whizzed from the east, and the flames in the commander's eyes flared. "No! He went east!"

The commander realized that Chen Ji had attacked them simply to make them fire the whistling arrow, drawing others to their location!

His comrades to the east, hearing the whistling arrow, would rush full speed to where it was fired, never suspecting an ambush along the way.

The commander sprinted towards the sound of the whistling arrow. "Be careful! This man deeply understands the art of battlefield attrition."

His comrade's earlier words flashed in his mind: *Fengzi Camp*.

Just these few skirmishes—the skill in concealment and breath-holding, the tactics of battlefield attrition—made him feel as though he had truly encountered someone from the Fengzi Camp!

By the time the commander led his men to the sound of the whistling arrow, there was already a pile of white ashes on the ground. The other two hunters had left markers on the trees and were already far away, pursuing Chen Ji.

The commander set off in pursuit, with two Yoshan hunters calling out from behind, "Be careful of another ambush!"

But the commander paid no heed, as if he had been ignited by rage.

The moon ascended the treetops.

As the branches swayed, the dappled moonlight on the ground rippled like waves.

The commander chased on, and halfway there, he saw another pile of white ashes. This meant another comrade had fallen to Chen Ji.

As he continued his pursuit, he suddenly saw another pile of white ashes about ten *zhang* ahead!

Wild fires surged in the commander's eyes. There had only been three comrades to the east; now all three were dead. Where was Chen Ji?

Before he could think further, a whooshing sound came from above.

In the moonlight on the ground, the commander saw a dark silhouette crouching on a tree branch, almost perfectly merged with his own shadow.

"Go find the centurion!"

The commander roared, pushing off with extraordinary strength in his legs, soaring backward. Three feathered arrows descended from the sky, chasing his form, pinning themselves along his backward trajectory.

Had he been half a breath slower, the feathered arrows would have pierced his skull.

As his body flew backward in mid-air, the commander looked up to see Chen Ji covered in dense tree branches, his face smeared with dirt and stuck with tree bark.

The opponent held a bow in one hand, while that same hand also clutched a bundle of feathered arrows. After each shot, a slight flick of the wrist would perfectly nock a new arrow onto the bowstring.

This motion was so familiar, even more skilled than that of the Wuchang soldiers!

"You!"

In that instant, the world seemed to slow down.

Or perhaps Chen Ji's speed in nocking his bow was simply so fast that it made the world seem to slow.

Chen Ji's wrist flicked again; he nocked the bow, shot the arrow, all with incredible fluidity.

With a *thud*, the fourth arrow pierced the commander's chest.

Chen Ji's wrist flicked again, he nocked the bow, and fired the fifth arrow!

Mid-air, the commander used his bone bow to block in front of his bone mask. With a *clang*, he felt a massive jolt in his hand, deflecting the arrow aimed at his eye socket.

Five arrows in total, fired within two breaths. The commander had only just landed on his back.

He moved the bone bow from in front of his eyes, only to find that Chen Ji had seized the moment his vision was obscured by the bone mask and lunged forward.

While blocking with the bone bow in front of the bone mask was effective, in combat, whoever lost sight lost the initiative.

Only this instant was needed!

The two wild fires beneath the commander's bone mask suddenly became calm, as if he had prepared for this moment.

He discarded his bone bow, keeping only one bone arrow in his right hand.

Just as Chen Ji descended from above, plunging a feathered arrow into his eye socket, the commander forcefully swung his right hand, thrusting the bone arrow towards Chen Ji's left ribs.

The instant the feathered arrow pierced his eye socket, the bone arrow reached Chen Ji's left ribs. Chen Ji used his left hand to block it, but the commander, with his last ounce of strength, twisted the arrow, cutting Chen Ji's wrist!

The world fell silent.

The commander, along with his bone arrow, disintegrated into white ashes and dispersed, leaving only the blood from Chen Ji's wrist wound dripping onto the decaying leaves with a *plip-plop*.

Chen Ji rose, slowly regulating his breathing.

He glanced down at the wound on his wrist, then stepped backward into the moonlight before turning and sprinting towards Xianglu Peak.

Half an hour later.

Dozens of Wuchang soldiers had sealed off the area. Centurion Feng Dao, carrying a long saber, strode forward.

By the moonlight, he surveyed the battlefield. "Tell me, what happened!"

Three Yoshan hunters, having received their orders, meticulously examined the battlefield for clues—bent and broken grass stems, locations of white ashes, fragments of branches and bark—missing nothing.

One of them pointed to the path the commander had taken. "This person lured us into firing the whistling arrow, then ambushed reinforcements ahead! He hid in a tree and fired five arrows in quick succession; judging by the spacing, they must have been fired within two breaths!"

After the Yoshan hunter finished speaking, the wild fires in the centurion's eyes suddenly flared. He murmured, "Fengzi Camp!"

Immediately after, the centurion dismissed the idea. "No, that's not right. The Fengzi Camp doesn't have archery skills like this!"

He looked at the feathered arrows on the ground, then at the white ashes and blood.

Beside the centurion stood two Wuchang soldiers known as 'Soul Collectors and Taboo Enforcers,' each holding a severed head in one arm and raising a bone banner with the other.

One of the 'Soul Collectors and Taboo Enforcers' held a head by its hair, lifting it towards the direction Chen Ji had departed. The head greedily mumbled, "The scent of blood and living souls!"

The centurion looked up in the direction Chen Ji had gone. "The prey is formidable enough. Judge Jiang sacrificed his life to give us the scent of blood and living souls. He cannot escape now!"