Hidden Shadow – CH 340

Chapter Three-Hundred-Forty: Subduing the Dragon (2)

A faint aura swirled around the Dragon-Subduing Bow, resembling a burning flame from afar.

Chu Dingjiang’s face paled instantly, feeling as if his inner energy was being rapidly drained.

The power contained in this arrow was astonishing; even those engaged in battle clearly felt a threat, as if they would be burned to ashes if they did not escape!

This domineering aura swept across most of the palace, and Elder Zhi and Feng Shi, both experts at the Transcendent Realm, naturally noticed it as well.

Feng Shi’s gaze shifted slightly, looking at the two people in the distance. Seeing that their arrows were not aimed at the Crown Prince, he calmly withdrew his gaze. His responsibility was to protect the monarch, including the future monarch, so as long as the Crown Prince’s life was not threatened, he only needed to stay by his side; everything else was irrelevant to him.

Elder Zhi’s mind only wandered for a moment before quickly focusing again on the bow in his hand, the slightly scattered blue light recondensing. The stalemate did not last long, but it felt incredibly long for both sides.

A crane’s cry pierced the sky.

A brilliant blue light burst forth, shattering the pre-dawn haze and casting a ghastly blue hue upon everyone’s faces.

Immediately afterward, a clear phoenix cry rang out. An Jiu released her grip, and a fiery phoenix, glowing red, shot from her fingertip, swooping down with lightning speed towards the blue light.

Two powerful internal energies pressed down, slowing the movements of everyone fighting.

The Crown Prince squinted, watching the arrow hidden beneath the blue light rapidly approach the Second Prince. Three hundred paces, two hundred paces, one hundred paces, ninety paces…As the distance closed, his heart leaped. So close, so very close to success!

“Your Highness!” cried a guard beside the Second Prince, leaping into the air.

In a flash, everyone held their breath; everything seemed frozen, then erupted in an instant.

The arrow, imbued with Chu Dingjiang’s full cultivation, collided precisely in mid-air with the arrowhead beneath the blue light, instantly unleashing a raging inferno capable of swallowing a vast lake, like a colossal beast with its gaping maw, swallowing the icy water in an instant.

It felt like ten years, yet also like a blink of an eye.

The thunderous force seemed to shake the entire imperial city. The entire Bianjing, the entire land of the Song Dynasty, trembled.

Hundreds upon hundreds of screams were drowned out by the immense sound; even the Crown Prince, standing hundreds of paces away, felt his internal organs nearly shattered by a tremendous force.

The Dragon Palace was instantly illuminated as bright as midday, with white banners fluttering, all the ministers staring in shock at the crimson sky outside.

The battlefield was ravaged by two forces, flesh and blood flying everywhere, falling like rain as the light gradually faded.

The Crown Prince, pale-faced, stared intently at the center of the battlefield. “Did it succeed?”

Feng Shi slowly shook his head.

He had seen it clearly. Elder Zhi’s arrow was intercepted thirty paces away. Simultaneously, a ninth-level expert tackled the Second Prince to the ground, unleashing his entire cultivation level to form an invisible shield protecting him.

Perhaps the Second Prince’s current condition was even better than the Crown Prince’s.

Feng Shi was surprised and curious. Dispersing the cultivation level was self-destructive; at best, it would reduce one to an ordinary person. Yet, the Second Prince had managed to persuade a ninth-level expert, on the verge of reaching the Transcendent Realm, to sacrifice himself! However, he was even more curious about who had fired this astonishing arrow.

The aura emanating from the arrow was familiar. It belonged to the Transcendent Realm expert he had fought during his nighttime infiltration of the palace, but the archer was a petite woman.

Everyone seemed stunned by this turn of events, staring blankly at the carnage amidst the rain of blood.

The ninth-level martial artist, having exhausted his life’s cultivation, slowly rose from the Second Prince’s body. Blood soaked his face covering, and his voice was hoarse. “Your Highness, are you alright?”

The Second Prince was covered in blood but unharmed. A sixth-level martial artist, he naturally understood what had just happened. “Go back and rest. If today’s great undertaking succeeds, I will never forget this kindness!”

Great kindness needed no words of thanks; the Second Prince’s promise was undoubtedly very sincere.

The man did not waste any more words, cupped his hands, and staggered away.

“Kill!” The Second Prince’s words shattered the calm.

The Crown Prince stared at the blood-stained face, his face ashen, wishing he could personally step forward and fight him.

The events that had just occurred left Elder Zhi unable to recover for a long time.

Back in Mei Mansion, he knew that forcibly injecting internal energy into that child’s body would destroy her meridians, yet he still did it. Since Mei Yanran wanted her daughter to live like an ordinary person, he could grant that wish.

However, only he knew that this was just an excuse. He was willing to ruin a promising martial arts talent from the Mei family, merely to witness Startling the String’s power! In the two years that followed, he comprehended the power of “Starting the String,” but his mental state steadily declined, yet he felt it was all worthwhile. But today, he finally understood how ridiculous he had been.

“This is the true ‘Startling the String’…” Elder Zhi murmured, his weathered eyes growing brighter.

How could one bring a weapon to its peak power? The wielder’s strength was certainly a crucial factor, but how could one surpass their opponent when their strength was equal?

—It was fighting spirit!

The pinnacle of all weapons lay in fighting spirit!

From that “Startling the String” arrow just now, Elder Zhi did not pay much attention to the powerful internal energy wrapped around the arrow, but he sensed an extremely strong killing intent! As if being stared at by the Grim Reaper, the killing intent swept over him like Death slowly reaching out his hand, making even someone nearing the pinnacle of martial arts feel a chill run down his spine.

Chu Dingjiang caught his breath for a moment, feeling his internal energy rapidly recovering.

At this moment, he was no match for Feng Shi, but Elder Zhi was in a rare state of enlightenment, and this was an opportunity not to be missed. “I will distract Feng Shi. If Elder Zhi draws his bow again, just dodge.”

“Alright,” An Jiu replied.

Chu Dingjiang’s figure swept across the battlefield like lightning, his three-chi longsword aimed directly at the Crown Prince’s vitals without any fancy moves.

Feng Shi raised an eyebrow, stepped forward, and shielded the Crown Prince behind him.

Enlightenment sometimes happened in a flash of inspiration. Elder Zhi, disregarding everything else, immediately seized this fleeting insight, drew his bow, and aimed at the Second Prince again.

He did not want to fight to the death for the time being, but rather wanted to gain more insight through the contest.

An Jiu’s attention was mostly focused on Chu Dingjiang. He had just had much of his internal energy drained, and this battle would likely be extremely difficult. She felt a growing sense of worry.

The Second Prince and his guards also saw the flash of blue light, but as the leader of the attacking force, he could not retreat now. A single burst of energy could quickly wane. Once they retreated, the hope of victory was slim.

“Your Highness, we will fight our way through!” shouted a guard beside the Second Prince.

If they could not avoid it, their only hope was for a ninth-level martial artist to sacrifice all their cultivation to save their life.

An Jiu saw the Second Prince’s predicament, but she knew that Elder Zhi’s inner strength could not possibly recover to its previous fullness in such a short time, and the arrow’s power was unlikely to surpass the previous one. With so many experts fiercely protecting the Second Prince, moving left and right would not be difficult; he would most likely be alright. It was Chu Dingjiang’s situation that was more worrying.

An Jiu paused, then drew the Dragon-Subduing Bow again.

This time, she was not aiming to fight Elder Zhi, but rather directly at the Crown Prince.

Feng Shi was following the Crown Prince closely, undoubtedly to protect him. If she wanted to distract him, the simplest and most direct way was to attack the Crown Prince.

The Dragon-Subduing Bow was fitted with a specially made feathered arrow. When fired, the hexagonal arrowhead would spin at high speed, capable of piercing through a human body, leaving a bloody hole. This arrow, inspired by the Liao Kingdom’s blue-fire crossbow, was created by Lou Xiaowu. While not as powerful, it was highly practical.

An Jiu concentrated all her mental energy into the arrow. This way, as long as the arrow approached within ten zhang of the target, her mental energy could subdue the target, turning them into a stationary target and preventing anyone nearby from rushing to their aid, thus increasing her accuracy.

An Jiu believed that, apart from the three Transcendent Realm experts whose attention was completely elsewhere, no one here could withstand her mental energy.

“Archers! Protect His Highness!” a guard shouted.

Numerous archers lay prone on the rooftops and walls, all with only one target—the girl with the bow opposite them.

Chu Dingjiang successfully distracted Feng Shi, and the assassins lurking on the Crown Prince’s side tensed, preparing to strike.

They were the Dragon Martial Guards, and the closest to the Crown Prince were the Eastern Palace’s Dark Guards. They had to find a way to hit him with a single blow! They knew that Chu Dingjiang’s previous attack had exhausted much of his inner strength, and the time they were buying for him was running out. They exchanged glances, deciding on a strategy.

In the chaos, no one noticed the subtle movements of these people.

Being targeted by hundreds of crossbows forced An Jiu to confront the last task of her previous life: continue shooting her target or temporarily retreat?

Life and death hung in the balance. In her previous life, she had not needed to choose, but now she hesitated.

Once a person had hope in life, they were reluctant to die. An Jiu had just found meaning in life and was naturally unwilling to die immediately.

After a brief struggle, An Jiu decided to retreat.

She had just stopped when she caught sight of Feng Shi’s and Chu Dingjiang’s battle reaching a critical point.

The two were locked in a fierce fight, their figures obscured. Shooting Feng Shi was clearly not going to be easy.

She still needed to target the Crown Prince.

An Jiu frowned and scanned the area. If so many archers attacked simultaneously, a hail of arrows would be unavoidable unless she had protective qi.

Many thoughts raced through her mind, but her body acted before her consciousness.

Drawing the Dragon-Subduing Bow again, An Jiu’s mind was clear, yet her senses were clearer than ever before. She could clearly sense every aura targeting her and seemed to hear the taut bowstrings. The figures of her targets were exceptionally vivid, as if they were right before her eyes.

Feng Shi had maintained the upper hand since the start of his fight with Chu Dingjiang. However, being confined to the palace, most assassins were dealt with by other guards. He had not personally taken action in a long time, so his killing intent was far less than Chu Dingjiang’s. Although he had maintained firm control of the battle, he could not kill Chu Dingjiang immediately.

Now, noticing An Jiu aiming at the Crown Prince, he lost all will to fight and became even more ruthless.

An Jiu knew that if she continued the stalemate, it would be more disadvantageous for Chu Dingjiang. Her goal was to distract Feng Shi, not to ensure the death of the Crown Prince, so after roughly aiming, she immediately released the arrow.

However, before she could release it, hundreds of archers had already fired their arrows.

Arrows rained down like wasps.