Lou Mingyue swiftly grabbed Lou Xiaowu and leaped towards the door.
An Jiu glanced up quickly at the light source. Behind the intense glare, she could faintly see a black-clad figure clinging to the ceiling rocks.
While everyone rushed towards the exit, An Jiu climbed the wall, nimbly heading towards the archer.
Two lone cultivators were caught in the light beam. No one saw what happened, only a spray of blood mist, a hazy red filling their vision, and an intensified stench of blood.
The power rivaled guns and cannons. An Jiu stared at the crossbow in the black-clad figure’s hand, her killing intent suddenly erupting! The figure on the ceiling, abruptly hit by an immense pressure, froze in place, unable to move.
Boom!
A thunderous crash, the stone wall collapsed. Those who hadn’t avoided the light in time instantly turned to bloody pulp.
Mei Tingyuan, caught in the blast, fell into a pool of blood. She struggled a few times, feeling something hot fall on her head. She instinctively reached up to brush it off.
It was a piece of flesh.
She froze for a moment, then threw it away in horror. “Ah—”
“Brother, brother!” Mei Tingyuan cried out in panic.
A group of black-clad figures rushed in through the entrance, blocking the party’s path. Lou Mingyue, with her superior martial arts, could hold them off for a while, but these attackers were not weak either. Three of them could match her, an eighth-level martial artist, in strength.
The corridor was too narrow to allow many people to fight together. Lou Mingyue, sensing the situation was untenable, began to retreat while fighting.
The black-clad figures seemed intent only on trapping them inside, not pursuing them further.
Lou Mingyue thought of the arrow’s power—clearly from a transcendent realm expert! They absolutely couldn’t stay here, or they’d all end up like the Cui family, reduced to bloody pulp.
“Xiaowu, stay right behind me!” Lou Mingyue gritted her teeth and charged out with her sword.
Lou Xiaowu, having long since composed herself, followed closely behind Lou Mingyue, occasionally throwing hidden weapons to help fend off sneak attacks.
Qiu Yunran, at the rear, noticed An Jiu on the ceiling. She had approached within three feet of the black-clad figure. In an instant, her ice-cold short dagger severed the arm operating the crossbow, cutting through muscle and bone. Needing one hand to cling to the rock face, she swiftly bit down on the dagger, using her fingers to trigger the crossbow. With a squelch, the bolt pierced the black-clad figure’s throat, pinning them to the rock wall behind.
As the body fell, An Jiu pushed off forcefully, leaping forward to grab the corpse as a cushion.
With a tremendous crash, the body and person landed in the blood pool below, splashing blood everywhere.
Without pause, she rose, picked up the enemy’s crossbow, and fired a bolt toward a corner of the ceiling. A brilliant flash erupted, blood and stone rumbling down together.
These actions happened in a single breath. Qiu Yunran hadn’t even time to react before being splattered with blood.
He watched An Jiu standing in the blood pool, the bloodied dagger still dangling from her mouth, her head lowered as she fiddled with the crossbow. He shuddered involuntarily.
An Jiu finished examining the crossbow and removed the dagger from her mouth. She bent down to wipe the blood clean on the corpse at her feet before sheathing it.
Seeing her approach, Qiu Yunran hastily turned away, moving forward to help Lou Mingyue fight.
As the poison sword emerged, any black-clad attacker even slightly grazed began to smoke from their entire body.
When only two black-clad figures remained, fleeing, Lou Mingyue shot Qiu Yunran a fierce glare.
“Brother! Brother!” Mei Tingyuan rushed to the collapsed wall, crying while frantically moving debris.
Mei Tingzhu, eyes bloodshot, asked hoarsely, “He’s… buried here?”
Mei Tingyuan didn’t answer, just frantically digging through the stones.
Mei Tingzhu fell silent. Seeing it was temporarily safe, she sheathed her sword and knelt to help move the rubble.
After the sisters had been digging for a while, Mei Tingyuan cried, “He was behind me. Seeing the arrow approach, he used all his strength to push me away.”
Mei Tingzhu said nothing, just silently continuing to move stones.
Mei Tingyuan, tears blurring her vision, kept working. Mei Tinchun also came forward to help clear the debris.
An Jiu stood at a distance. The blood that had nearly boiled over from the gruesome scene gradually calmed, and deep in her heart, an almost imperceptible twinge of sorrow arose.
Lou Mingyue turned to find her family also short one person. The independent cultivators led by Qiu Yunran, being at the front, suffered the heaviest losses. Of the original ten, only five remained.
In just an instant! Seven lives were gone, as if in a dream.
Lou Mingyue wanted to say something, but thinking of her sister who had fallen from the plank road, she felt anything she could say would be superfluous, unable to ease the pain in her heart.
Her eighth-level spiritual power made her more resilient than most. After a brief moment to compose herself, she said softly, “There’s too much debris… we can’t stay here long.”
Mei Tingzhu paused. Reason told her to stand up, to leave, but looking at Mei Tingyuan’s tear-stained, blood-covered face, her feet seemed rooted to the spot, unable to move.
Mei Tingjun was their full brother, raised together since childhood. Mei Tingzhu sometimes despised his hypocrisy, but as a brother, he was very dutiful.
“If he hadn’t been injured, if it wasn’t for me…” Mei Tingyuan sobbed.
Mei Tingzhu clenched her back teeth, holding back tears.
Mei Tingjun was to be the next head of the Mei family. If he passed this trial, the Mei family could petition the Emperor to allow him to return and lead the clan. He shouldn’t have died here.
Qiu Yunran’s group began to believe more in what Mei Tingzhu had said earlier—that the Crane-Controlling Army was hunting down independent cultivators who formed private teams.
So they all began to hesitate, wondering whether to act alone and if so, whether to continue forward or retreat to save their lives.
“It’s not easy for us all to have survived this far,” Qiu Yunran waded through the blood to approach them. “Your brother sacrificed his life to protect you. You should cherish your own life in return.”
Mei Tingyuan stopped moving and looked up at Qiu Yunran, nodding dazedly, “Yes, I should value my life.”
“Ladies, let’s go quickly,” Qiu Yunran said.
Mei Tingzhu helped Mei Tingyuan up, saying coldly, “What did you do to her!”