Chapter 218 - Pursuit

Chapter 218: Pursuit
Translator: 
Myuu 
 Editor: 
Myuu

On a silent night like this, the sharp signal from the whistling arrow was piercing to the ears. Everyone in the Hui Clan Gathering was instantly startled awake.
Yan Liqiang, who was completely naked, fumbled for a new set of clothes from his bag with the quickest speed possible. He got dressed, picked up the Horned Python Bow, carried a quiver of arrows on his back, and took a longsword before he rushed out of his room.
A sea of burning torches had been lit outside the inn. All the guards had already been startled awake. Having just recently experienced a huge battle, it was inevitable that they’d feel a little anxious at a time like this. The inn was filled with clamor.

Liqiang, you just stay here and watch Ye Tiancheng. It’s dangerous outside…!
Liang Yijie rushed over, grabbed Yan Liqiang, and solemnly spoke to him.

Brother Liang, my strength does not lie in close quarter combat. If I stay here, I will really be a sitting duck when the Blackwind Bandits get here. With me on the frontlines, I can at least still eliminate a few more of them…
Yan Liqiang said while he patted the Horned Python Bow he was carrying.


Just then, the door to a nearby room swung open. Sun Bingchen came out with his robes draped over him. He frowned and looked in the direction of the whistling arrow, then turned his head around to look at Yan Liqiang and Liang Yijie.
Liqiang, you will be given the freedom of action now on. You may act accordingly to any situations that may arise. Yijie, bring the men with you. Just leave five of them here. I will stay here to watch over Ye Tiancheng…


But sir, it’s too little to leave only five men here…!


Enough. This is the Hui Clan Gathering, not the wilderness. If this place could be breached so easily by the Blackwind Bandits, the Hui Clan Gathering would have been eliminated since long ago. It’ll be sufficient to leave just a few men with me here…

Since Sun Bingchen had spoken, Liang Yijie stopped dwelling on it. He immediately turned around and yelled,
Zhao Dexin, stay with your men here to protect Lord Sun. Brothers who are injured will stay here. The rest will follow me…!

Zhao Dexin was a corporal to the guards around Sun Bingchen and he had five subordinates under him. With those five guards, the immobile injured people, and Sun Bingchen, it was probably enough.
……
Yan Liqiang didn’t expect Sun Bingchen to actually allow him the freedom of action. It came as quite a surprise to him. However, that was just great as it would save Yan Liqiang from a ton of headaches.
When Yan Liqiang and Liang Yijie led the other guards to the mud walls along the perimeter of the Hui Clan Gathering, half of the people there were already awake. They were different from those timid people from other places. As soon as everyone heard the whistling arrow in the middle of the night, they wore tough expressions on their faces. The lights in every home were lit. The men got dressed quickly and pushed open their doors. Every single one of them brought weapons like swords, sabers, and bows, charging toward the mud walls while cursing like sailors.

Goddammt, these bandits just won’t let people sleep in peace…!


How dare they target the Hui Clan Gathering! Let’s fck them up…!



…
When Yan Liqiang and Liang Yijie arrived below the mud wall of the Hui Clan Gathering with the guards they led, a guard on night duty rushed to them. He gulped and informed them with a rather nervous voice,
T-The Blackwind Bandits… The Blackwind Bandits have come…!

Liang Yijie and Yan Liqiang exchanged glances. Both of them then swiftly led the other guards to the top of the Hui Clan Gathering’s mud walls.
As expected, the Blackwind Bandits had come…
A thousand meters across the mudwall, just along the road where Yan Liqiang and the rest had traveled on a few hours ago, an intimidating sea of burning torches could be seen moving in the dark like a long dragon in the wilderness. The people holding the torches were all riding on their rhinodrake steeds, dressed in pitch-black attire. Even their faces were covered by black veils. Who could they possibly be if they were not the Blackwind Bandits? From afar, the size of the crowd was estimated to be no less than five or six hundred people.
The size of their opponent was at least twice the number they had encountered earlier. It was even more mentally stressful in the dark because it appeared as though there were still countless shadows lurking behind those Blackwind Bandits.
……

The Blackwind Bandits…!


The Blackwind Bandits…!


Good heavens, there are so many of them! Did someone goddamn destroy their ancestral shrine or snatch their wives?! Why does it seem like they are all here…?!



Apart from Yan Liqiang and the rest, the countenance of many Hui Clan Gathering citizens who had climbed onto the mud wall also slightly contorted at the sight of those Blackwind Bandits marching truculently toward their location. Naturally, they had heard of the infamous Blackwind Bandits. The Hui Clan Gathering was poor but strong, and the Blackwind Bandits had never assaulted them. So why would they suddenly do so today?
Almost everyone instantly thought of Yan Liqiang and the rest at the same time. Every single person from the Hui Clan Gathering standing on top of the mud walls quietly stared at Yan Liqiang and the rest.
……
As the Blackwind Bandits drew closer to them, the rumbling sounds of iron hooves gradually crept up to top of the Hui Clan Gathering’s mud walls.
Yan Liqiang watched the approaching large crowd of Blackwind Bandits without even the slightest trace of fear in his heart. His racing blood which had just settled down started boiling again. After the previous battle, Yan Liqiang had gained absolute confidence in his archery skill. He had not even an ounce of fear despite the fact they seemed to be outnumbered by these Blackwind Bandits.
Yan Liqiang only gently grasped the Horned Python Bow in his hand as a cold smile broke across his face. At this moment, he was just rejoicing over the fact that he had already recovered his strength. Otherwise, he wouldn’t know how to handle a situation like this in his previous condition.
Yan Liqiang initially thought he could go on a killing spree with the Horned Python Bow in his hands again among the rumbling sounds of the iron hooves. However, those Blackwind Bandits suddenly halted when they were about 1,500 meters away from the Hui Clan Gathering.

If you see me running out of arrows later, go get me a few more quivers of arrows!
Yan Liqiang reminded a guard beside him.
The guard nodded earnestly.
As soon as Yan Liqiang finished his sentence, he pulled out an arrow and gently nocked it on his bow. He squinted his eyes and looked at those Blackwind Bandits in the distance.


To most people, just being able to get a clear glimpse of the Blackwind Bandits’ attire and get headcount from more than a thousand meters away was quite a feat already. However, Yan Liqiang’s enhanced eyes were like night vision binoculars. At this hour, looking at those Blackwind Bandits standing more than a thousand meters away shrouded in the midst of the red light was as though he was looking at people just several tens of meters away. He could see everything extremely clearly, even the decorative designs on the saddles of those Blackwind Bandits’ steeds.
Yan Liqiang widened his eyes all of a sudden when he saw a figure among the Blackwind Bandits. That person was riding on a majestic rhinodrake steed in the middle of those Blackwind Bandits. From his attire, he looked no different than the others around him. However, his body build instantly reminded Yan Liqiang of a certain person — Aligujin from Pingxi City.
After overlapping the figure of that Blackwind Bandit he saw riding on the steed and the figure of Aligujin in his mind, Yan Liqiang was certain that person was indeed Aligujin…
Goddammit all, Yan Liqiang finally understood how Aligujin had obtained those things in the box he had hidden in the secret room and that ‘Five Elemental Poison King Divine Technique’ manual. No wonder that secret manual was stained with blood. It was probably looted by those people the Blackwind Bandits had killed…