If he had not been forced into a dead end, Fan Xian would never have thought of using the black chest. At the beginning, when he had followed the Emperor to Dong Mountain to worship heaven, he had always thought the Emperor was playing with him, so he had left the chest on the boat.
The chest had been on the boat the entire time, wrapped in the 130,000 liang of silver and exposed in the main hall of Suzhou Hua Garden, welcoming the gazes of the people coming and going. The Emperor and Chen Pingping had almost lost sleep thinking about this chest. No one had thought that Fan Xian would be so carefree as to choose such a place to store it.
The most dangerous place was the safest place. This was true for people, and it was also true for the chest.
He wanted to go up the mountain because he knew that in this unequal fight, his biggest advantage was that Yan Xiaoyi didn't know what kind of weapon he had. Yan Xiaoyi didn't have the slightest understanding of the terrifying firearms.
At a distance of 500 meters, Yan Xiaoyi could only be hit by him. Once Yan Xiaoyi broke into 300 meters, given the speed and power of Yan Xiaoyi's archery, Fan Xian would probably be shot until he couldn't even raise his head, let alone aim. Thus, he had to pull away from Yan Xiaoyi and wait for Yan Xiaoyi to appear in his field of vision.
The reason Fan Xian did not immediately look for an opportunity to counterattack after taking the chest on the boat was because he knew that Yan Xiaoyi did not need to aim and could fire 13 arrows in a second. He needed to aim for a long time before he could just barely fire one shot. If he randomly shot on the shore, presumably, he would become the most useless transmigrator to die in history.
The assault rifle was not so fun. This was something Uncle Wu Zhu had not forgotten to remind him when he taught him how to use a gun. The wind speed, the temperature, the refraction of light … the so-called error of a millimeter, the difference of a thousand li, referred to these things.
Fan Xian did not want to randomly aim and fire a shot, only to shoot through a tree 50 meters away from Yan Xiaoyi.
If he let a powerful warrior like Yan Xiaoyi experience the threat of a bullet and know that he had such a terrifying long-range weapon, he would certainly have a way to close in on him and greatly reduce the power of the assault rifle.
Thus, Fan Xian only allowed himself to fire one shot.
… …
Fan Xian had his reasons for being so careful and thinking so highly of Yan Xiaoyi. Ever since he was young, he had learned under Fei Jie's tutelage. Before he was 16, he had grasped the Overwatch Council's tracking, concealing, and assassination methods. Killing Xiao En on the shore of the North Sea was already proof of his strength.
After entering deep into the woods to the north of Danzhou, Fan Xian set down traps along the way and eliminated his traces. Using the help of the dense woods and the steep, leafy ground, he attempted to shake off Yan Xiaoyi's pursuit. However, he was unable to succeed. Yan Xiaoyi and his group always maintained a distance of about 300 meters from him.
Only in the end did Fan Xian understand that Yan Xiaoyi had once been a hunter in the mountains. It seemed that he was born with a sensitive sense of smell for his prey. Since he was his prey, it would be difficult for him to shake off his pursuit. As for those traps, they were probably nothing in Yan Xiaoyi's eyes.
Just as Fan Xian was quietly admiring Yan Xiaoyi on the high mountain, a few muffled groans and wretched cries came from the big tree below where he had temporarily rested earlier.
…
…
Yan Xiaoyi looked coldly at the soldier who had been pierced to death by the wooden nails. There was no sorrow in his eyes. On the contrary, a wild fire began to burn brightly. Ever since they had abandoned their horses to the north of Danzhou and entered the mountains, three of his five trusted soldiers had died to Fan Xian's tricks and traps. The person who had died in front of him was the fourth.
Having chased to this point, Yan Xiaoyi, who was a superior ninth-level ace and close to the realm of a Great Grandmaster, had the same thoughts as Fan Xian. He felt some admiration for him.
Yan Xiaoyi knew what kind of damage his arrow, particularly Sir Ye Liuyun's sword, had done to Fan Xian on the precipice. If Fan Xian's ability had fluctuated between the upper and lower ninth-level before, then, after being heavily injured and having experienced a night of running, Fan Xian could at most be considered an eighth-level ace.
He had thought that personally taking action to kill a heavily injured Fan Xian would be an easy matter. However, such a heavily injured person was still able to lay down so many traps in the mountains. Some of the traps and mechanisms were things that even Yan Xiaoyi himself had not been able to completely discover. Thus, he had killed his subordinates and prevented him from moving forward.
A rotting smell wafted through the mountain woods. No one had entered the primeval forest to the north of Danzhou for thousands of li. Swamps and rocky mountains bordered each other. Ferocious beasts fought vines. Near the sea, the moist wind blew, blowing out the world's densest flora. The denser the flora, the more dangers were hidden inside.
No one knew whether this rotting smell came from animal corpses or from the accumulation of old fallen leaves and the heat of the scorching sun. In any case, it smelled bad and piercing to the nose.
Yan Xiaoyi sniffed and slowly circulated the zhenqi in his body. With great difficulty, he sniffed out the scent that was well hidden by the rotting smell.
The traps and mechanisms all had this smell. The deaths of Yan Xiaoyi's four trusted soldiers originated from this. If he had not carefully investigated, he probably would not have smelled it.
Yan Xiaoyi did not forget that Fan Xian was Sir Fei Jie's student, one of the most vicious users of poisons in the world.
Who knew where else in the mountain woods Fan Xian had laid down poisons?
…
…
Yan Xiaoyi gazed at the mountain and narrowed his eyes. He didn't understand where Fan Xian's body had gotten so much energy and courage to support him for so long.
Thinking of this, the glimmer of a confident smile appeared at the corners of his lips. The more powerful the enemy, the happier it was to kill.
"Governor …" The only surviving soldier swallowed and said in a trembling voice, "Once you enter the dense forest, it will be difficult to walk out alive …" He lowered his voice and said, "After all, Fan Xian doesn't know about the secret passages in the mountains like you do."
Yan Xiaoyi glanced coldly at the soldier and didn't say anything. The mountains to the north of Danzhou and the primeval forest in the mountains were the key to cutting off the land transportation between Qing Kingdom and Dongyi. If it weren't for that secret passage, it would have been impossible for the siege of Dong Mountain to succeed. Since half a year ago, Yan Xiaoyi had placed all of his attention on the matter of transporting soldiers through the secret passage. He had a special understanding of the terror of the secret passage and the surrounding mountain woods.
It was precisely because of this that he felt a glimmer of respect for Fan Xian for being able to hold out until now.
"There are 5,000 brothers at the foot of Dong Mountain waiting for you to return. Are you at ease letting an outsider lead?" This soldier was clearly stunned by the deaths of his four brothers and Fan Xian's poison that would kill him instantly upon contact with blood. He didn't notice Yan Xiaoyi's gaze.
He lowered his head and said, "Even if Fan Xian can get out alive, Jingdou has the Eldest Princess holding down the fort. Why bother?"
Yan Xiaoyi was silent for a moment. He then waved his hand as if to indicate for the soldier to stop talking.
His hand just so happened to land on the soldier's face.
With a crisp crack, the soldier's head was like a flattened watermelon, twisted and deformed. His facial features were all squashed together by the palm. He didn't even make a muffled grunt as he fell stiffly to the ground.
Yan Xiaoyi glanced coldly at the body on the ground and walked to the back of the large tree. Crouching down, he pressed down on the wild grass that had been flattened by Fan Xian. He confirmed that Fan Xian hadn't left for too long and confirmed the direction Fan Xian had left in. He then silently chased after him.
… …
Looking at the figure that flickered in and out of the optical sight, Fan Xian sucked in a cold breath. It affected the injury on his back that had been caused by the arrow. He coughed in a low voice. He wasn't in the mood to admire the wonders of the black chest for being able to preserve this heavy sniper rifle so well and for the optical sight to remain so clear. He only cared about admiring Yan Xiaoyi's mobility and powerful sixth sense.
He had been hiding in the underbrush for a while and had been staring at the area up the mountain. A few times, he had almost locked onto Yan Xiaoyi's body. However, Yan Xiaoyi seemed to have an innate sense of danger. Every time he stopped for half a second, he would move again. Using the cover of the towering tree and the dense foliage, he approached the peak step by step.
Fan Xian sucked in a deep breath. He was worried that his earlier coughing would give Yan Xiaoyi a direction. Forcefully suppressing the sharp pain in his back, he wormed his way out of the underbrush and climbed upwards. He found a large tree that required at least five people to surround. Leaning against the tree trunk, he panted heavily.
Air quickly poured into his throat. The burning temperature and his body's greed for oxygen made each of his breaths incomparably fast. His throat felt waves of dryness and pain, and an unbearable tearing sensation began to rise from his chest.
Fan Xian loosened the tie at his collar and forcefully closed his mouth. He breathed through his nose and cursed a few times in his heart. He wondered why he still lacked confidence even though he had a heavy sniper rifle. The recoil wasn't that strong, so why didn't he dare to test it out in advance?
Before he could finish cursing in his heart, he felt a trace of strangeness, and his entire body immediately tensed up.
Then, he heard a light thud. The giant tree behind him seemed to tremble slightly.
It should have been an arrow.
Fan Xian didn't have much of a reaction at first, but he immediately remembered that his trusted soldiers had all died. This arrow … had been fired by Yan Xiaoyi. His pupils constricted abruptly.
He immediately bent his legs slightly and relaxed his knees. His body leaned forward slightly. This was the only change in posture he had the ability to do in this instant.
This posture could dissipate the force. Following the powerful force behind him, he allowed his entire body to fall forward and do his best to dissolve it.
If he forcefully blocked it at this moment, his end would certainly be wretched.
With a muffled hum, Fan Xian fell forward from the shock and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. His entire body fell into the thick grass and shrubs. There were countless thin cuts on his face and hands.
The bark of the giant tree behind him, about the size of a palm, had completely split open, revealing the white tree trunk inside. A delicate little arrow, like a venomous snake that had been lying in wait for a long time, stretched out the black tip of the arrow. With the tip of the arrow as the center, the white tree trunk was shattered inch by inch by the powerful zhenqi of the arrow.
…
…
Fan Xian didn't have time to look at the strange scene on the tree behind him. He also didn't have time to rejoice that he hadn't put down the box on his back. He didn't even have time to wipe away the blood at the corner of his lips. He had already begun another escape. Relying on his Tyrannical zhenqi to support his tired body, he ran wildly toward the top of the mountain.
Yan Xiaoyi had disappeared from the scope for less than five seconds, and he was already within 100 feet of him. This kind of movement and terrifying movement made Fan Xian's heart go cold.
A moment later, Yan Xiaoyi, dressed in light armor like a god, appeared behind this large tree. However, his body was covered in mud and he looked wretched.
Yan Xiaoyi coldly observed for a moment and then chased after him again. However, as his feet moved, he once again unconsciously lay down in the grass.
He could feel a heart-chilling danger that had almost locked onto him earlier.
Yan Xiaoyi had once felt this kind of aura in the fog-filled streets of Jingdou.
What confused him was that to be able to lock onto him from so far away, unless Fan Xian had already reached the realm of a Great Grandmaster or was like him and had the help of a godly bow.
But, he still carefully lay down in the grass.
Half kneeling on the ground, Fan Xian found that the target continued to hide in a blind spot. He couldn't help but curse silently. Putting away the heavy sniper rifle, he swallowed the fishy blood that surged into his mouth and charged toward the top of the mountain.
…
…
The north of Danzhou was filled with tall mountains. Probably no one knew that at the peak of the mountain where Yan Xiaoyi and Fan Xian were shooting at each other was a flat piece of mountainous terrain. The summit of the mountain was as flat as a grassland. Strangely, there wasn't a single large tree. There was only long grass that was knee-deep and spread out like a green carpet.
The strange meadow at the top of the mountain stretched all the way to the edge of the precipice.
In the grass beside the precipice, Fan Xian set up the frame and placed the black chest calmly by his side. The expression on his face had already calmed down. He knew he had no way out. Even if he carried the chest and climbed down the precipice, it was daytime. If Yan Xiaoyi raised his bow and shot down, he would only die.
Furthermore, he didn't want to run anymore. A person reborn with a heavy sniper rifle was being chased by a primitive man with a bow and arrow. Furthermore, he was being chased in such a wretched manner. He felt very ashamed. If he died like this, he would certainly be laughed at by his predecessors in the underworld, particularly the one surnamed Ye.
However, the optical scope still could not capture Yan Xiaoyi's figure. Cold sweat began to drip from Fan Xian's forehead. His figure was also hidden well, but the general area was already grasped by Yan Xiaoyi. There was only so much space near the precipice at the end of the meadow. Yan Xiaoyi would eventually close in on him.
The closer Yan Xiaoyi was, the smaller his chances of victory would be.
…
…
Yan Xiaoyi finally revealed his figure. Like an eagle, he moved along a strange path through the grass. It was clear that although he didn't know what Fan Xian had in his hands, he could clearly understand that he had something that could threaten him.
Fan Xian's muzzle extended into the grass and moved endlessly to the side. However, he was still unable to lock onto the quickly moving figure.
Although the other person sometimes moved forward and sometimes retreated as if he was drawing a spiral, Fan Xian knew better than anyone else in the world that the spiral would always rise. Yan Xiaoyi was gradually closing the distance between them.
Five hundred meters.
The sweat on Fan Xian's forehead dripped faster and faster until it gradually seeped into his eyes.
Four hundred meters.
Fan Xian gradually felt a glimmer of helplessness. It was a feeling of emptiness after realizing everything was in his hands was just an illusion. He had no way to kill Yan Xiaoyi with one shot. If Yan Xiaoyi came a little closer, he would certainly be able to use the arrow in his hand to turn him into a porcupine.
Three hundred and fifty meters.
If he actually allowed Yan Xiaoyi to get close, given Fan Xian's current state, he would not be able to escape from the hands of a ninth-level ace.
It was not until this moment that Fan Xian finally understood the meaning of the heavy sniper rifle in his hand. It was meaningless. No matter how powerful a weapon was, it still depended on who held it in their hands. Trying to rely on a heavy sniper rifle to sweep through the world was just the nonsense of an idiot.
He couldn't even kill Yan Xiaoyi, much less the strange creatures on the summit of Dong Mountain.
Sweat dripped down the small cut on his face made by the grass. There was a wave of piercing pain, but Fan Xian's heart gradually calmed. He knew he couldn't let Yan Xiaoyi continue to get close to him. However, he was unable to use the scope to lock onto that fast-moving figure. At this life and death juncture, it seemed he needed some luck.
Other than luck, he also needed courage and determination.
…
…
"Yan Xiaoyi!"
A loud cry came from the meadow at the top of the mountain. Fan Xian, dressed in black, suddenly stood up from the grass. He raised the sniper rifle in his hand and took aim at Yan Xiaoyi, who was not far away.
This loud cry startled the ignorant creatures in the meadow. A cunning mountain rabbit began to prepare to run toward the nearest cave. A field mouse chewing on grass stopped its movements underground. Its two front limbs hung slightly, ready to run at any moment. Countless birds hiding in the grass began to flap their wings, preparing to fly into this dangerous place.
Following this cry, in a flash, Yan Xiaoyi made a decision he would regret for the rest of his life. Perhaps it was a decision he didn't have time to regret.
He stopped his body and used the fastest speed to remove the gold-threaded longbow from his back. With his feet in front and one behind, he stood steadily on the meadow. With all his strength, he pulled the bowstring to a full moon. An icy arrow aimed straight at Fan Xian, who had revealed himself.
In this instant, Yan Xiaoyi saw clearly what Fan Xian held in his hand, but he didn't recognize it. Perhaps it was the Overwatch Council's most advanced crossbow?
Since Fan Xian had already revealed himself and was beginning to face him head-on with a courage he hadn't displayed for a day and night, Yan Xiaoyi gave Fan Xian this opportunity.
It wasn't that Governor Yan was arrogant. He knew that if he maintained a high speed and fired at the same time, he might not be able to hurt the pretty boy who was more cunning than a rabbit, more cowardly than a field mouse, and better at running than a bird.
At a distance of 300 feet, as long as he stood firm, he would be able to shoot Fan Xian to death. Even if he couldn't, he wouldn't give Fan Xian any chance to counterattack.
As for the strange object in Fan Xian's hand …
…
…
Human psychology was like this. When it came to mysterious and unknown things, there was always a fear of the unknown. That was why Yan Xiaoyi had been so cautious earlier. After he clearly saw the "thing" made of metal, he naturally thought it was a powerful weapon newly developed by the Third Bureau of the Overwatch Council.
Once he knew what it was, he was naturally no longer afraid. This was especially so for an arrogant and conceited peerless expert like Yan Xiaoyi. His decades of immersion in archery and his natural talent gave him sufficient capital to be confident. He always believed that no matter how fast the enemy's crossbow bolt was, it was impossible for it to be faster than his own reaction.
Even if he heard the sound of the arrow and dodged the sound of the spring, he would still be completely unharmed. Was there an arrow faster than sound in this world?
Yan Xiaoyi didn't believe it, so he coldly stood his ground. Pulling back the longbow, he aimed at Fan Xian and released his finger.
The arrow flew out.
…
…
All of this happened in a very short moment. From Fan Xian bravely standing up from the grass to Yan Xiaoyi steadying himself, to Yan Xiaoyi releasing his fingers, it was just the blink of an eye for a normal person.
Fan Xian's speed was clearly not as fast as Yan Xiaoyi's. Only when he clearly saw the arrow spin at high speed and come closer and closer to his body did he pull the trigger forcefully.
A spark burst out from the muzzle of the sniper rifle. It was very beautiful.
The longbow in Yan Xiaoyi's hand was humming. His posture was still as valiant as a god shooting the sun. Then, his pupils constricted because …
He saw the spark.
He also heard the very clear muffled sound.
However, he had no way of dodging it.
The other party's "arrow" was truly faster than sound.
…
…
With a pop, it was like a paper bag being smashed open by a naughty child. It was like the water bucket used for showering in the old Danzhou manor being smashed open by a rock.
Half of Yan Xiaoyi's body split open in an instant. His powerful body and powerful flesh, in this instant, became a flower. A flower dyed the color of blood bloomed on the green meadow.
Without surprise, he fell heavily. In this moment, he finally remembered the legend from back then.
At the same time, the arrow Yan Xiaoyi had shot pierced viciously into Fan Xian's body. A spray of blood sprayed out and nailed Fan Xian's body firmly to the slightly sloping meadow by the side of the cliff.
Time flowed again. The mountain hare burrowed into the narrow cave. The vole put down its front limbs and began to run wildly in the darkness. The birds in the grass also flew up and turned into a vast expanse of white feathers. They fluttered helplessly in the air above the meadow at the top of the mountain.
At the two ends of the meadow lay two people fighting to the death.
…
…
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