Nightfall

Sword Held across Knees, Sword Drifting among Blood

“Merely a scapegoat for the bigwigs… ”

As Ning Que thought about this in his mind, he sensed a cool gaze from beside him. He turned around to find Sangsang staring at him quietly.

Ning Que felt they had been looking at each other for a very long time, but it was really just a few seconds.

Ning Que felt frustrated in the face of his handmaiden again. He sighed in his mind and tightened his leg muscles. Then he pressed his feet against the pile of fallen leaves, sinking into the wet mud underneath, so that he was ready to sprint at any time.

In the depths of Northern Mountain Road, darkness expanded as the sun began to set. Suddenly, a ruthless wind hurled through the grayish tree branches. Some fresh sprouts hiding under the old bark were spared from it, though the pile of fallen leaves on the ground rustled and whirled around in the air before falling back on the ground helplessly.

Despite it being springtime, boundless forest leaves showered down.

A hulking man in dark armor appeared in the depths of Northern Mountain Road, and after a deafening roar, a subtle earth-colored light radiated briefly through his armor, like a glimpse of the gods above.

He raised his solid and broad arms as he lifted a massive boulder and hurled it briskly toward the luxurious carriage!

The force was so terrifying and inhuman, practically resembling that of a long-range boulder-sieging machine!

The massive boulder approached at such a high speed that it managed to crush all the tree branches in its way—hundreds of meters was no obstacle as it almost instantly hit the first carriage with acute precision and cruelty.

After an explosive sound, the seemingly well-structured luxurious carriage shattered into pieces, with blood and broken limbs scattered in a mess.

Those Tang bodyguards looked calm with swords in their hands, as if oblivious to the fact that the carriage behind them that just become a pile of trash and the princess whom they defended had died already. They did not even seem to be surprised and, even stranger, their faces even showed a hint of relief and calmness.

“First team, shoot!”

ordered the leader.

Three of the subordinates remained down on one knee and released their knives to pick up powerful military crossbows. Aiming toward the depths of the forest, they swiftly pulled the triggers.

Nine arrows hit the body of the god-like, hulking giant through flying leaves. But he just waved his hands to flick away the two arrows aimed at his face and completely ignored the ones that shot his chest.

His rock-hard hands were slightly numbed by the high-speed arrows, and the ones that stuck to the armor on his chest soon fell to the ground. Given the slight trace of blood on the arrowheads, he most likely just suffered minor injuries.

The arrows did not do much harm because of the long distance. The bodyguard leader had foreseen that already and kept his calm. Looking at the giant shadow far away up Northern Mountain Road, he raised his right hand and shouted, “Standby!”

The three bodyguards put down their crossbows and held their knives upright again.

…

…

Ning Que was trying to find an opportunity to save the poor scapegoat in the carriage since Sangsang wanted him to do that. However, things had changed too fast. The giant had appeared too soon for him to react, and the huge rock fell out of nowhere and crushed the carriage with no warning. The woman was killed instantly before Ning Que even got there.