Chapter 609
Obstacles
In just a breath or two, the entire second floor of Fengwan Restaurant transformed from a previously silent and oppressive place into a bloody and brutal battlefield!
"Ah! Murder!"
"Run!"
The diners in the lobby were terrified by the terrifying noise and collapse overhead. They screamed in panic and fled for their lives outside the restaurant like ants scattered from a nest. Pedestrians on the nearby streets were also startled by the sudden turn of events. Their faces changed drastically, and they kept their distance, not daring to approach.
However, no one noticed that on the rooftops of the houses and shops surrounding Fengwan Restaurant, ghost-like figures had quietly begun to lurk.
Each of them exuded a calm and focused aura, their eyes sharp. In their hands, they held either menacingly shaped short crossbows or powerful bows that gleamed with spiritual light. Without exception, the cold arrows and crossbow tips were all aimed at the second floor of the restaurant, the central area that had been transformed into a battlefield!
An invisible net of death has already been quietly spread, waiting for the moment when the prey is exhausted or forced out.
In the shadow of a nearby house rooftop, a middle-aged man with an ordinary face but sharp, hawk-like eyes was quietly crouching low, like a stone statue blending into the roof tiles.
He was Ma Ming, the person directly in charge of this operation.
He possesses the cultivation level of the Heavenly Gang Realm and unparalleled archery skills, reportedly capable of accurately sniping enemies from three thousand feet away. Years of battles have not only endowed him with formidable strength but have also honed his rich experience and wisdom, which is why he was entrusted with this important task.
He held in his hand an ancient-looking, dark blue, slender spirit bow called "Throat Seal." At this moment, his heart was calm, and he waited patiently. According to the plan, the mission of his twenty-seven companions in the restaurant was not to kill Jiang Xuan, but to entangle him at all costs, deplete his physical strength and spiritual energy, forcing him to reveal a weakness or be forced to break out of the restaurant.
Ma Ming, on the other hand, was in charge of commanding the forces deployed around the area, using a barrage of crossbows and spirit bows to completely block Jiang Xuan's escape routes and annihilate him in one fell swoop! To this end, he even went so far as to use his companions in the restaurant as bait and cannon fodder.
He had absolute confidence in the net of crossbow bolts he had set up, believing that under such dense and overwhelming fire, the target had no chance of survival.
Time passed slowly, and after about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the already battered Fengwan Restaurant finally succumbed to its wrath and collapsed in a loud, tooth-grinding groan, sending up clouds of dust!
Ma Ming's eyes narrowed, and he immediately made a hand signal to prepare to attack! On the rooftops behind him, the lurking crossbowmen and archers held their breath, their fingers on the triggers or bowstrings, ready to deliver a devastating blow the moment their target appeared!
However, as the smoke and dust gradually dissipated, the expected figure rushing out in a disheveled state did not appear, nor did any of his companions inside the restaurant! Only a deathly silence came from the ruins.
Ma Ming's heart skipped a beat, and a strong sense of unease suddenly rose within him. Something was wrong!
Just as alarm bells were ringing in his mind—
"call out--!"
A sharp, piercing whistling sound of a crossbow piercing the air suddenly rang out from the roof of a house dozens of feet behind him!
"puff!"
Ma Ming suddenly turned his head and was horrified to see that his companion, who was lurking there, had fallen off the roof without even being able to scream, with a still-trembling crossbow bolt stuck in his forehead!
The attack didn't come from the ruins! It's Jiang Xuan?! Where is he?!
Before Ma Ming could figure it out, another unexpected event occurred!
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!"
From the depths of the ruins of that restaurant, dozens of divine crossbow bolts, gleaming with a chilling light, suddenly burst forth! These bolts were not fired randomly, but rather followed various tricky and unpredictable trajectories, as if they had eyes, precisely targeting the hidden ambush points on the rooftops of the surrounding buildings!
"what!"
"puff!"
"careful!"
Screams and cries of alarm rose and fell!
Seven or eight crossbowmen, hidden in different locations, had no time to react and were instantly killed by this sudden and accurate strike, tumbling off the roof! The building where they were hiding was also pierced by the powerful crossbow bolts, leaving large holes!
Ma Ming panicked completely! He hadn't expected that instead of being forced out, the target was hiding in the ruins, using the captured crossbows to counter-snipe them, the ambush team! How had he found everyone's location?!
"Retreat! Quickly..."
Ma Ming was terrified and roared, wanting to order a retreat.
However, he hadn't even managed to utter the last word, "withdraw"—
"Buzz!"
A near-illusory yet deadly arrow seemed to pierce through space, striking his mouth with pinpoint accuracy the instant he uttered his voice, leaving a spray of blood and broken teeth, before its force still lingered, pinning him firmly to the roof behind him!
Ma Ming's eyes bulged out, filled with endless terror, confusion, and disbelief. He seemed unable to understand, even in death, how Jiang Xuan had managed to find him, the deeply hidden commander, so precisely amidst the chaotic ruins and kill him with a single blow!
……
Deep within the ruins of the restaurant, beneath a massive broken beam, a small, safe space has been created.
Jiang Xuan slowly put away the [Boundless Spirit Bow]. His aura was steady, as if the extremely precise sniping just now had not cost him much strength.
On the ground beside him lay dozens of short crossbows, either exhausted of bolts or damaged—his spoils of war.
It was no accident that he was able to see through the trap and pull off such a brilliant counterattack.
As early as when he reached the second floor of the restaurant, he keenly noticed that although the "diners" were well disguised, the unusually thick calluses on their hands and knuckles revealed that they had been using weapons for a long time. Later, when he conjured up Qiuqiu and dealt with Rui Qing and the other two, the "diners'" reactions were too calm and completely illogical.
Especially when he made a move to leave with Luo Luo, he could clearly feel the atmosphere on the entire second floor freeze instantly, and the bodies of those "diners" all made imperceptible preparations to exert force.
All of this led him to conclude that this was a trap set for him.
During the ensuing melee, he used his extraordinary intuition to vaguely sense a number of obscure auras lurking outside the restaurant.
When the restaurant collapsed and smoke filled the air, he did not rush out rashly, but immediately used the "Insightful Vision" ability of the Boundless Spirit Bow.
When he drew his bowstring and entered that state of absolute calm, his senses were magnified infinitely. His vision seemed to penetrate the obstacles of the ruins, and he could clearly "see" the conspicuous spiritual energy fluctuations on the rooftops of the surrounding buildings, as well as the killing intent condensed on the bowstrings of their crossbows!
So he turned the tables on them, using the large number of crossbows he had captured to fight fire with fire.
These crossbow bolts do not consume one's own spiritual energy, which is perfect for conserving stamina to deal with those rats hiding in the shadows.
With the precise positioning provided by his "Insight Vision," he sniped the ambushers on the perimeter one by one, as if calling out names, including the commander Ma Ming, who thought he was hiding well.
In this battle, the enemy deployed twenty-seven men inside the restaurant and thirty-three men outside, totaling sixty elite troops. Ultimately, only nine managed to escape, realizing the situation was dire; the remaining fifty-one, including their commander Ma Ming, were all killed by Jiang Xuan in a counterattack!
Jiang Xuan secretly rejoiced. If it weren't for the Wudi Spirit Bow's amazing "perspective" ability, which allowed him to discover the ambush ahead of time, he would have been trapped in the crossbow net and killed if he had rushed out of the ruins rashly.
……
Jiang Xuan carried Luo Luo, whose eyes were still tightly closed, and calmly walked out of the ruins that had been reduced to rubble.
The streets were deserted and desolate; the pedestrians had all fled. Only a few bloodied corpses lay on the eaves of nearby buildings, silently recounting the brutal assassination that had just taken place in the shadows. Jiang Xuan, unsure whether other enemies lurked in Qingliu Town, planned to leave this dangerous place immediately.
However, he had only taken a few steps when he saw a large group of people rushing menacingly towards him from a street corner in the distance! The leader was a middle-aged man dressed in fine clothes, with a dignified face and gloomy eyes.
Beside him, clutching her still swollen wrist, gesturing with an indignant and aggrieved expression, was Rui Qing, who had been thrown out of the restaurant by Jiang Xuan earlier!
"Father! You must do justice for your child!"
Rui Qing's voice was choked with sobs as she embellished her story.
"That wild brat who appeared out of nowhere is extremely arrogant! He not only injured my child, but also beat up Ajiao! He doesn't respect the Rui family at all! In Qingliu Town, who doesn't know that this is the Rui family's territory? How can we allow an outsider to run rampant like this!"
That imposing middle-aged man was none other than the head of the Rui family, the most powerful family in Qingliu Town.
As he listened to his son's tearful complaints, his face grew increasingly grim.
Just then, they saw the Fengwan Restaurant, which had been reduced to ruins, and a tall figure carrying a bamboo basket and dressed in a moon-white cloth robe on the open ground in front of the restaurant.
Rui Qing's gaze fell on Jiang Xuan in front of the ruins. He was stunned at first, seemingly not expecting the restaurant to become like this. But then, boundless anger and humiliation surged into his heart again. He suddenly pointed at Jiang Xuan and screamed like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
"Father! It's him! It's this arrogant brat! Not only did he hit me, but I bet he's the one who ruined this restaurant!"
Rui Qing's scream, filled with resentment and accusation, instantly drew everyone's attention to Jiang Xuan.
The imposing middle-aged man at the head of the Rui family, his gaze as sharp as a hawk's, instantly locked onto Jiang Xuan.
When he saw Jiang Xuan's appearance clearly, his heart couldn't help but stir slightly.
The young man before me was dressed in a faded, pale white cloth robe. He had a slender figure, a handsome face, and even a touch of gentle scholarly air.
However, when his gaze met Jiang Xuan's deep, unfathomable black eyes, an indescribable tremor and chill suddenly surged from the depths of his heart! This was definitely not an ordinary young man! The calmness hidden deep within those eyes and... something he couldn't see through made even this patriarch, who had dominated Qingliu Town for many years, feel a sense of unease.
He forcibly suppressed the strange feeling in his heart, and his sharp gaze swept over the surrounding environment—the ruins of the collapsed restaurant, the lingering smell of blood and the residual fluctuations of spiritual energy collision in the air, and the faint, motionless figures on the nearby eaves...
"This place... seems to have just been the site of a fierce battle."
The dignified middle-aged man spoke in a deep voice, with a hint of inquiry, as he looked at Jiang Xuan.
Jiang Xuan remained calm, nodded, and readily admitted it.
"good."
"Dad! Why are you wasting your breath on this brat! He's the one who hit me! Arrest him right now, I want to do it myself..."
Seeing that her father didn't seem to intend to act immediately, Rui Qing shouted impatiently again.
"Shut up!"
Jiang Xuan suddenly interrupted him coldly, his gaze sweeping over Rui Qing like a cold blade.
“If I hadn’t thrown you out of the restaurant earlier, you would be a corpse now, just like some of the other people in here.”
"You fart!"
Enraged by these words, Rui Qing felt deeply humiliated. Without thinking, she raised her uninjured hand, gathered a small amount of spiritual energy, and slapped Jiang Xuan across the face!
However, before his palm could touch Jiang Xuan, an even louder slap came from the side!
"Snapped!"
Rui Qing was slapped so hard by his father, the imposing middle-aged man, that he staggered and fell to the ground. Half of his face swelled up instantly, blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and he was completely stunned.
"Father...you...you hit me?"
Rui Qing covered her face, looking at her father in disbelief, her eyes filled with grievance and confusion.
The dignified middle-aged man completely ignored his son's grievances. He turned around, solemnly cupped his hands towards Jiang Xuan, and spoke with a hint of lingering fear and sincere gratitude.
“Young master, my son was ignorant and offended you. Not only did you not hold it against him, but you also stepped in at a critical moment and saved his life! I am deeply grateful for this act of repaying evil with kindness!”
"Dad! Why are you thanking him? He clearly hit me..."
Rui Qing struggled to get up, still shouting defiantly.
"You bastard! Shut up!"
The imposing middle-aged man suddenly turned around, shouting sternly. The authority and anger in his eyes silenced Rui Qing instantly, who shrank back in fear.
He turned to Jiang Xuan again, his face filled with sincere apology.
“Young master, I am truly sorry. I have failed in my duty to raise my son, which has led to this unfilial son being like a frog in a well, arrogant and ignorant, and offending you. I hope you will forgive him. If you do not mind, would you please come to my humble abode so that I may prepare a small feast to express my gratitude?”
Jiang Xuan looked at the Rui family patriarch, who was shrewd and insightful, and thought more highly of him.
He shook his head and politely declined.
"We appreciate the kindness of Patriarch Rui."
I have urgent business to attend to and cannot stay any longer.
He paused, then changed the subject, making a request that surprised the head of the Rui family.
"However, I do have a favor to ask of Patriarch Rui."
"Please speak, young master. As long as it is within my power, I will not refuse!" (End of Chapter)