“I’ll help you all cross over, but let the other Mei family members go first,” said Mei Tingjun.
“Brother!” Mei Tingyuan, who typically sided with whoever treated her well, protested, “You can’t be the last to cross! It’s our idea and our rope. Why should we do all the work?”
The woman leading the Lou family calmly responded, “You have a point. If you trust me, I can help you all cross over. We only need to use the rope you’ve made. The Mei family’s assistance won’t be forgotten, and we’ll repay this favor when the opportunity arises.”
Mei Tingjun felt quite embarrassed, as it now seemed they were taking advantage of a few weak women.
“Choose someone to go first,” Mei Tingzhu said.
Mei Tingzhu had her considerations. Mei Fourteen was already finding a foothold, indicating that the plank bridge still had some weight-bearing capacity. The Lou family had lost one person earlier and was hesitant to try again. Now, with a safer method, they wouldn’t rashly use qinggong to leap across. However, the way the bridge had broken was suspicious, and the location was too convenient for an ambush. If they were indeed ambushed, it was crucial to keep the Lou family engaged and prevent them from retreating.
She hoped Mei Fourteen would be clever enough to understand her intentions!
Mei Tingyuan hadn’t thought too deeply about it, but she knew Mei Tingzhu was always cunning. She just let out a dissatisfied grunt and let it go.
After a moment of silence, the Lou family chose the girl with the clear voice to go first.
Standing on the opposite side, An Jiu weighed the pros and cons.
“Let’s not leave,” Mei Jiu pleaded softly.
“Ah!” The girl let out a cry as the rock under her foot crumbled and fell. She clung tightly to the cliff, gasping for air. The mist was instantly dispersed by the mountain wind.
“This valley…” Mei Tingzhu looked down, waiting for a long time but never hearing the echo of the falling rocks!
The mountain wind suddenly picked up, and the bit of moonlight that had just appeared was covered by dark clouds again. The wind carried tiny, icy snow particles.
An Jiu narrowed her eyes, watching the girl climbing the cliff. Suddenly, she sensed something unusual beneath her feet on the plank bridge. In an instant, she noticed Mei Tingyuan and Mei Tingzhu staring in her direction.
“Watch out behind you!”
“There’s someone behind you!”
As the two shouted simultaneously, An Jiu spun around sharply, her fingers triggering the crossbow mechanism. An arrow shot out from under her cloak with a whoosh.
Before they could even see each other’s faces, the person behind her had already been hit and fallen against the railing. The plank bridge shook violently.
Everyone standing on this side of the bridge was dumbfounded. Even the Mei family members were seeing An Jiu in action for the first time—there were no superfluous movements, just direct and lethal action!
An Jiu raised her hand to deliver a finishing blow with her sword, then kicked the not-quite-dead person off the bridge and into the valley.
The three Lou family members were terrified. They were shocked by how effortlessly she killed, and amazed that she did so without using any internal energy! If she were to use internal energy, wouldn’t she be even faster?
This was a large curve in the path, with the plank bridge forming a U-shape around the mountain. The broken section was right at the bend, obscuring the view beyond ten zhang on either side.
An Jiu gripped her sword, looked up at the cliff walls above, and then pressed her back against the rock face as she rounded the bend to investigate the situation on the other side. After confirming there were no ambushers, she quickly returned.
“The person just now had no identifying marks,” An Jiu reported. “There are cut marks where the bridge is broken.”
“This is bad!” one of the Lou family members said softly.
Everyone immediately realized that someone had set a trap there, and they began to scan their surroundings.
Mei Tingzhu said, “We need to cross quickly, or we’ll have no escape route if anyone approaches.”
Her words proved prophetic. Soon after she finished speaking, two people appeared behind them.
Except for Mei Tingjun, everyone immediately went on high alert.
The two newcomers seemed frightened as they stood about three zhang away. One of them asked, “What’s going on?”
“Can’t you see the bridge is broken?” Mei Tingyuan snapped irritably.
As Mei Tingzhu was considering whether to attack, she heard two whooshing sounds. Two arrows grazed past her temples with lightning speed.
The two newcomers had been distracted by Mei Tingyuan, and only reacted when the arrows were within a foot of them. However, the force of An Jiu’s arrows was beyond their expectations. With the narrow bridge leaving no room to dodge, they could only try to deflect them.
The clash of weapons and arrowheads produced a series of sparks. The two men retreated several steps, with one of them being hit in the throat.
The arrows were fired in quick succession but with a slight delay. Although the time gap was short, the man facing the second arrow had a sliver of hope. He managed to deflect the arrow, which pierced his shoulder instead.
Just as he thought he had escaped danger, another arrow mercilessly pierced his heart!
He stared at the arrow in his chest in disbelief before collapsing onto the bridge.
Another violent shake ensued, and the rusty chains groaned under the strain.
“Why did you kill them?” Three people had died in an instant, and Mei Jiu suddenly lost control of her emotions. Her voice turned shrill as she struggled to control her body. “Are you really that cold-blooded? Those two didn’t even attack us. Why did you kill them?”
Mei Jiu had just witnessed the previous man’s blood splatter right before her eyes, and it felt as if someone had guided her hand to plunge the sword into him. She was nearly broken then, and now An Jiu had manipulated her into killing two seemingly innocent people. How could she, who couldn’t even bear to kill a fish, endure this?
An Jiu forcefully suppressed her, “When those two people suddenly encountered two groups, shouldn’t they have been afraid we’d try to steal the map? Yet they dared to stand so close and ask questions? They must have been planning this!”
“That’s just your speculation! What if you’re wrong?” Mei Jiu cried.
“What if I’m right?” An Jiu retorted. From the first person she killed in her previous life to her final death, she had never considered what to do if she killed the wrong person. She only thought about the endless troubles that would come if she didn’t eliminate all threats!
“Sister, could you please give me a hand?” the girl called out tremulously.
An Jiu looked up, meeting a pair of clear black and white almond-shaped eyes. She hesitated for a moment before yanking the girl off the rock face and tossing her onto the bridge.
“Thank you,” the girl said. Seeing An Jiu’s rough manner, she sensed her bad temper and dared not say more, silently untying the rope.
The girl put on her cloak and immediately tested the nearby planks. Excitedly, she called out, “Second Sister, the bridge is sturdy here. You can come right over!”
As soon as she finished speaking, she felt something cold against her neck. Turning her head, she saw An Jiu holding a sword to her throat.
“Until the other Mei family members cross, none of you are allowed to come over,” An Jiu’s voice, mixed with the wind and snow, came across bone-chillingly cold.