If not for what had just happened, the other three Lou family members might not have taken An Jiu’s threat seriously. But now, they didn’t dare to.
Mei Jiu wasn’t reacting now, but An Jiu remained cautious. If Mei Jiu influenced her at a critical moment, they could end up in trouble again.
“You go first,” Mei Tingchun said to Mei Tingyuan.
Mei Tingyuan hesitated for a moment but didn’t argue. She quickly took off her cloak and twisted it together with the silk rope, tying it around her waist.
This undoubtedly exposed her strength, but getting across was the priority now. There was no time to worry about such things!
People with internal energy found rock climbing easier. When Mei Tingyuan was still six or seven chi away, she pushed off with her feet and gracefully leaped across.
“Someone’s coming!” Lou Erniang said in a low voice.
“Hurry and go,” Mei Tingzhu urged Mei Tingchun.
“Alright!” Mei Tingchun didn’t dare delay. If a fight broke out later, others could jump across, but he couldn’t.
The feeling of being used as a pawn in someone else’s scheme was truly unpleasant! Lou Erniang thought of how Mei Tingzhu had offered to let them go first earlier, and couldn’t help but glance at her. She angrily drew her flexible sword, preparing for battle.
Mei Tingzhu felt slightly relieved and said to Mei Tingjun, “Don’t get distracted. I’ll protect you.”
Mei Tingchun tightened the rope and began climbing the rock face.
Six people appeared on the plank bridge.
These newcomers attacked Mei Tingzhu and the others without hesitation or pause.
The plank bridge was no more than half a zhang wide. While spacious enough for a single person, it became extremely cramped with eleven people crowded together. Everyone could only move with great restriction, and the slightest misstep could result in a fall.
Mei Tingzhu noticed from the corner of her eye that these people also bore no identifying marks. She immediately understood that these must be the ones who had set the trap.
“Which family are you from?” Lou Erniang asked, also sensing something was amiss.
There were fewer than a hundred participants in the trial, and everyone’s goal was to obtain the fragments of the celestial book. Yet these people seemed to have meticulously planned just to kill them! Even if they were after the map, they should have been more cautious upon seeing the Mei and Lou families together!
What was going on?
As these thoughts raced through everyone’s minds, they felt both shocked and frightened.
Mei Tingyuan drew her sword and held it to the Lou family girl’s throat. “Fourteen, quickly use your bow to help them!”
An Jiu sheathed her sword and drew her bow instead.
Feeling only about a dozen arrows in her quiver, she thought how convenient it would be if she could learn the Jingxian technique!
Mei Tingjun concentrated half of his internal energy into his palms. Seeing that Mei Tingchun was about to reach the other side, he was about to tell Mei Tingzhu and the others to retreat. Just as he turned his head, he caught a glimpse of a cold glint on the opposite cliff.
Mei Tingjun looked closely and saw what appeared to be an archer standing in an ancient pine tree!
“Fourteen! There’s someone on the opposite cliff!” Mei Tingjun shouted, “In the pine tree to your right!”
An Jiu turned her head and indeed saw a person with a drawn bow standing in the pine tree, the arrow aimed directly at her!
Suddenly, she heard her deputy’s words from her earpiece just before her death in her past life: “Enemy sniper spotted, Angel exposed!”
At this moment, she had a choice!
An Jiu’s blood instantly began to boil, her eyes seeming to contain both a flame and an icy pond. She abruptly redirected her bow.
Both sides stood as still as mountains, neither willing to loosen their bowstrings.
Mei Tingyuan and the Lou family girl suddenly felt an immense pressure of spiritual force and instinctively looked over.
They saw the figure wrapped in a dark cloak emanating a cold and solemn aura. The wide hood cast a shadow that hid her entire face in darkness. They couldn’t see her appearance, but they could increasingly feel that pure and powerful spiritual force, with a pressure far exceeding that of a ninth-rank warrior!
Mei Tingchun froze on the rock face, unable to move, sweating profusely in his anxiety. Even those engaged in combat on the other side found their movements slowed by the pressure.
Mei Tingjun couldn’t abandon Mei Tingchun, so he had to continue using his internal energy despite the strain, which was unbearable. In a short time, his entire face mask was almost soaked through. He estimated that the distance between the two cliff faces was about forty zhang, within the effective killing range of a normal bow. However, with the strong wind, even if internal energy was infused into the arrow, it would be difficult to maintain stability, let alone hit the target.
He wanted to tell An Jiu to ignore that person for now, but under such powerful spiritual pressure, he became uncertain.