Hidden Shadow – CH 063

Chapter Sixty-Three: Follow Me

The crossbow bolt embedded itself in the rock face. An Jiu lightly touched the ground with her feet and landed on the tower.

More than ten black-clad men gave chase.

Outside, snow was falling heavily, the dense snowflakes mixed with dust and gravel. Dozens of arrows pressed close to An Jiu.

The powerful crossbows, glowing with light, seemed to only unleash their full power upon impact. An Jiu raised her hand and fired a bolt at a rock two zhang away.

In an instant, a brilliant light shone. The surrounding arrows and the pursuing black-clad men were swept away by the immense impact. An Jiu fell onto the snow, rolling to avoid the falling pebbles.

Dust and snow swirled in the air. In the darkness, one could not see anything beyond two zhang, but for a martial artist, they could easily sense the opponent’s location using their spiritual power.

Unfortunately, An Jiu’s advantage lay in her immense mental strength. Those with fifth or sixth-tier mental power clashed directly with her, resulting in a brief mental blank. Some lower-tier martial artists even plummeted from the sky.

As soon as An Jiu landed, she released the arrow and quickly ran eastward. She, too, had suffered a tremendous impact; her chest was numb, and she could taste a metallic sweetness in her mouth.

Whoosh— Someone sounded a signal.

The ambushers positioned to the east immediately gave chase to An Jiu.

“Halt,” The cold, familiar voice.

An Jiu abruptly stopped, wary of the black-clad man not far in front of her. Her gaze fell on the white crane on the hem of his robe. “The Konghe Army.”

She remembered that voice! It was the officer in charge of this trial in the Konghe Army, the one who had explained the rules in the woods.

At first, An Jiu felt something was off about him, but upon closer inspection, she realized that the falling snow had stopped moving around him! She knew it was due to his pure and powerful inner strength, but she could also sense his exceptionally high martial arts skills.

“Are you with those attackers?” An Jiu asked.

“A member of the Konghe Army who was lurking in the temple was killed, so I came to investigate personally.” The man looked at the missing piece of her clothing. “Are you the Fourteenth Young Lady?”

Knowing her identity was not surprising. But how could he recognize her at a glance? Before An Jiu could think further, she sensed someone chasing after her.

“Come here,” the man said.

“I do not trust you.” An Jiu brandished her dagger. “Unless you stop them.”

“This is quite interesting.” The man’s figure blurred, brushing past An Jiu, and he swung his sword directly at the five black-clad men chasing after her.

Seeing him swiftly and decisively kill fifth and sixth-level martial artists as if cutting vegetables, An Jiu knew that this man was almost at the legendary Transcendent Realm.

It would be ideal if someone suddenly appeared to help, but An Jiu would not choose to go with them. The current situation was too complicated; who knew which side this Konghe Army commander belonged to?

Trusting yourself was better than trusting others. This was An Jiu’s life motto.

She headed south along the pagoda, preparing to retreat temporarily.

In the past, An Jiu would never easily change her mind once she set a goal. However, everything was different now. She did not need to execute orders at all costs. In this crisis, she now had the right to choose for herself.

She did not know what had gotten into her, but she suddenly changed her mind.

In the snow, the Konghe Army commander easily dealt with five people. Turning around, he found An Jiu had disappeared. He used his mental power to probe, but could not detect her presence!

With his mental power, he could even detect the recently deceased. There was only one possibility: the other party’s mental power surpassed his.

“Commander,” the Konghe Army soldiers who had converged from the north and south bowed in unison to him.

Mei, Lou, and others quickly arrived from the south.

“What’s the situation?” the commander of the Konghe Army asked.

A report came in: “Over 90% of those who were hiding in the temple have been killed. The pagoda is now a river of blood. Because the communication network was disrupted, we cannot yet determine how many of the trial participants have survived.”

“What is the enemy’s strength?” the commander asked.

“Currently, we estimate the enemy numbers to be around a hundred, with more than half being only fourth-tier martial artists. There are not many who have reached the sixth tier,” the man continued. “However, they have one expert at the Transcendent Realm and a powerful crossbow comparable to that of a Transcendent Realm expert.”

“Move out en masse to search for the survivors of the trial and bring them safely back to a nearby branch.” The commander finished speaking, then slightly turned his head to confirm with the Mei family members and the others, “Fourteenth Young Lady is skilled in archery?”

His cold, authoritative voice sent shivers down everyone’s spine, and coupled with the subtle yet palpable pressure, only Lou Mingyue remained unfazed. “Yes.”

“Excellent,” the commander said. “You will join the Konghe Army in searching for the remaining trial participants and then retreat together.”

“Yes!” the group replied, bowing.

The commander’s figure flickered and disappeared into the snow.

Lou Mingyue and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief. At least now they could confirm that the assassination attempt was not the work of the Konghe Army, and they felt somewhat at ease.

An Jiu had initially intended to escape, but considering the intervention of the Konghe Army, the tower was likely the safest place now. After some deliberation, she decided to turn back and enter the tower.

She gathered all her inner strength, moving as lightly as possible, and quickly crept up to the third floor alone.

A large hole had been breached in the north by a powerful crossbow bolt, and wind and snow swept in, howling loudly.

An Jiu used her spiritual power to sense that no one was around. She examined the scriptures on the ground and then climbed directly to the fourth floor.

The fourth floor resembled a Buddhist shrine. A Buddha statue faced south, and four rows of candles were lit on the east and west sides, illuminating the entire room. The altar beneath the Buddha statue was empty, but there was a square piece of dust on the surface. An Jiu guessed that a fragment of a celestial scripture might have been placed there previously.

Since the item was gone, there was no need to linger.

An Jiu stepped onto the stairs and suddenly noticed a barely perceptible flicker in the lamplight.

She sensed someone silently approaching from behind, and her dagger was subtly drawn.

“Follow me,” the man behind him said.

It was the commander of the Konghe Army! An Jiu turned around, staring at him warily.

“I am the Divine Martial Commander of the Konghe Army,” the man introduced himself to dispel An Jiu’s suspicions. “You fought against a master archer from the mysterious organization and held your own. The Konghe Army needs your abilities.”

The Konghe Army was divided into four branches: Imperial Guards, Divine Martial, Divine Strategy, and Dangerous Moon. The Divine Martial Commander was the highest-ranking officer of the Divine Martial branch, usually simply called “Commander.”

The Commander displayed an intricately patterned token.

“I believe you,” An Jiu said, glancing at it coldly, “but I am not interested.”

A hint of surprise flashed in the Commander’s dark eyes. In all his time in the Konghe Army, no one had ever dared to disobey orders upon seeing the token!

An Jiu sensed his anger and said, “First of all, I have not joined the Konghe Army yet. Secondly, why should I risk my life for you without any benefit?”

The commander’s serious voice held a strangely amusing undertone. “Your spiritual power is pure, but your internal energy is too weak. If you agree, I will immediately have an expert of at least the eighth rank transfer all their internal energy to you. Even with some loss, you will still have at least the seventh rank’s energy transferred to you.”

What a tempting offer! He believed no one could refuse!