Chapter 434: Bring Me My Spear!

No one answered him. No one would. There was only the silent attack. When the plot had been arranged, the men organizing it had already ordered their subordinates to avoid creating too great a commotion. There would be no tidal roar of men shouting for blood. The wheelchair's bulk did block many arrows, but one shaft still struck Luo An in the leg. His leg buckled again. He toppled with the wheelchair and fell across it. Yet he refused to submit.

Using the wheelchair's backrest as a shield, he sprawled over it and drove himself forward with his wounded leg, spinning the wheels as he charged madly toward the enemy. His saber was already drawn. Blood kept pouring from his mouth.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Arrows hammered densely into the backrest. Some struck with enough force to punch through the wooden board, their arrowheads protruding before Luo An's eyes like rows of savage fangs. He still drove the wheelchair fearlessly onward, leaving a trail of blood behind him. When his advance was obstructed, Luo An suddenly heaved the wheelchair aside and twisted out with it. A flash of saber light plunged directly into the crowd. His blade swept, chopped, and hacked with extraordinary ferocity. Screams erupted. Bowstrings snapped beneath his cuts.

The front ranks of archers were instantly thrown into chaos. A sword flashed toward him. With a wet sound, it stabbed into Luo An's abdomen before his failing body could react in time. Luo An actually seized the blade with one bare hand and refused to let the attacker pull it free. Following the motion, he swung his saber with the other hand and chopped off the man's head.

Though already grievously wounded, Luo An had gathered the last of his strength and was fighting with the reckless courage of a desperate man. For a moment, the soldiers surrounding him could do nothing. Anyone capable of serving as Meng Shanming's personal guard was unquestionably formidable. Faced with a man so utterly unafraid of death, the attacking soldiers felt their courage fail. Who did not value his own life? They instinctively began to retreat. Behind the crowd, a cold gleam flashed through Feng Ruoyi's eyes.

He reached one hand backward and seized the long spear a personal guard had been carrying for him. Spear in hand, Feng Ruoyi, armored from head to foot, shouldered through the crowd and charged forward. He split the formation before him like a wave parting around a ship. Finding the narrowest opening between bodies, he drove the spear through with vicious precision.

Whoosh!

The spear thrust out.

Puff!

There was nowhere to dodge. Nowhere to evade. The spear punched straight through Luo An's chest. The last breath of strength he had been holding immediately escaped him. His body went limp. Feng Ruoyi forced his way through the men in front and revealed himself. With one arm, he raised the spear and lifted Luo An into the air. The arm holding the weapon did not shake in the slightest. His strength was far beyond ordinary.

Feng Ruonan's spearwork and arm strength were already exceptional for a battlefield warrior, no weaker than a man's. But her two elder brothers were even stronger than she was. In a sense, all three children of the Feng family had inherited some of Peng Yulan's finest traits. They were tall, powerfully built, and naturally possessed great physical strength. All three had been born suited to become military commanders.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Hanging from the spear, Luo An weakly swung his saber, still unwilling to yield. Each blow struck the shaft with a metallic clang. But he truly had no strength left. His fingers could no longer grip the weapon. At last the saber fell from his hand with a clatter. Luo An's head sagged to one side. Even in death, his eyes remained open, glaring down from above at Feng Ruoyi. Blood ran down the spear shaft and over the hand gripping it. Feng Ruoyi's face remained cold and unmoved.

He stared toward Shang Chaozong, whose face had appeared behind the doors of the main hall, the display carrying the unmistakable meaning of a challenge. Things had already reached this point. He had no choice. They could only succeed. Failure was no longer permitted.

"Feng Ruoyi, I swear I will kill you!"

Seeing Luo An impaled and raised on the spear like that, Shang Chaozong's eyes went blood-red, almost blazing with fire. He thrust one hand out from behind the door, pointed at Feng Ruoyi, and roared the oath. This meeting between brother-in-law and elder brother-in-law finally tore away every last pretense between them. With things having reached this stage, Shang Chaozong would have to be an idiot not to know who wanted him dead. He was already under Tianyu Sect's control.

If Tianyu Sect wanted to kill him, there would have been no need for such a grand operation. Any cultivator could have done it. There was no reason to create this sort of commotion. It was his own father-in-law's family that wanted his life. Hatred surged through Shang Chaozong. He hated himself for having been softhearted in the past, for failing to eliminate the Feng family completely when they lost power. Even if he had exterminated them to the last man back then, what could Tianyu Sect have done?

No matter how displeased Peng Youzai might have been, for Tianyu Sect's own interests he would not have moved against Shang Chaozong lightly. It was his own mercy that had brewed the regret consuming him now. Meng Shanming had managed to prop himself upright on the floor. His eyes reddened as he stared at Luo An's motionless body hanging from the spear. The ordinarily calm Marshal Meng's beard and hair seemed to bristle with fury. His eyes nearly split from rage.

He reached one hand behind him and shouted sharply, "My spear! Bring me my spear!"

In that instant, he refused to admit his age. He thought himself back on the battlefields of years past, still the general who could mount a horse, level a spear, and charge into battle. For all these years, even his dreams had been filled with the clash of drums and horns. Again and again he woke from visions of endless army camps and thousands upon thousands of soldiers. He had never truly left them. But reality was merciless. This was no dream. No troops were gathered behind him.

No one came forward to place a spear in his hand. Inside the hall were only Meng Shanming, Shang Chaozong, and Lan Ruoting. Weapons racks lined both sides of the room, filled with arms. But neither Shang Chaozong nor Lan Ruoting would ever let an old marshal in his condition seize a spear and crawl outside to die. No one answered him. Meng Shanming, eyes blazing, abruptly turned his head as though about to rebuke them. Then the scene inside the hall came clearly into view.

It was like a basin of cold water poured over his head. He woke from the momentary trance. Boundless grief flooded his aged face. The sense of helplessness was impossible to describe. He had campaigned for most of his life. Was he truly going to fall to something this base? Was this truly how his curtain would come down? No matter how unwilling his heart might be, he knew clearly that the few of them could not change the situation. Feng Ruoyi would not waste time.

From the moment his men forced their way into the residence until now, scarcely any time had passed. He brought the spear down hard.

Bang!

Luo An's body was smashed from the weapon and struck the ground amid splashing blood. The spreading crimson looked almost like a flower opening. His corpse lay utterly still. Feng Ruoyi's bloodstained hand lifted the spear and pointed.

"Kill!"

Bowstrings rang again. Another rain of arrows flew toward Meng Shanming, who was sitting on the floor inside the hall.

"Marshal Meng!" Lan Ruoting cried out.

Shang Chaozong hurled himself from behind the door and lunged toward Meng Shanming. Several dark shapes suddenly crossed the entrance. Personal guards rushed in from beneath the eaves on both sides, each carrying a tabletop or some other broad object as a shield. They planted themselves across the doorway and blocked the volley. Arrows struck outside with a rapid clatter and a succession of heavy thuds. The four guards quickly retreated inside the hall. Two seized the doors from either side and slammed them shut.

Two others dropped the bar into place and braced their bodies against it, while the remaining men dragged furniture over and wedged it against the doors. The arrows outside stopped. In their place came the pounding footsteps of a large body of men charging forward... In the rear courtyard, Shang Shuqing stood beside a pond, worry clouding her face as she sank into thought.

The sudden shout of "Enemy attack!" jolted her awake.

She spun around and saw rows of heads appearing above the rear wall as men scaled it. Her expression changed. The first wave of attackers had just dropped into the courtyard when two personal guards rushed in from the side and placed themselves around her.

"Commandery Princess, quickly!"

Shang Shuqing gathered her skirts and ran with them. The men dropping from the wall immediately gave chase.

At the same time, they raised bows and began firing. Arrows hissed through the air. Hearing the strings behind them, one guard reached the moon gate, looked back, and instantly threw both arms wide. He used his entire body to shield Shang Shuqing from behind. Shang Shuqing escaped the volley and turned through the moon gate. The guard collapsed into a pool of blood.

"Brother Yang!"

Shang Shuqing cried out in grief. She turned back and tried to run toward the twitching guard on the ground. Feng Ruojie, standing atop the rear wall, suddenly moved. He snatched a bow and arrow from the man beside him. His hands were exceptionally fast. Between one volley and the next, before the archers below could raise another wave of fire, he drew and loosed. The arrow shot straight toward Shang Shuqing. The shaft hissed through the air. Feng Ruojie's battlefield archery was vicious, steady, and precise.

This time the Feng family did not intend to kill Shang Chaozong alone. Once they had chosen to act, there was no reason to leave survivors who might become future dangers. Everyone around Shang Chaozong had to die. Shang Shuqing least of all could be spared. She was Shang Chaozong's own younger sister. Would they leave her alive to seek revenge?

"Commandery Princess, go!"

The remaining personal guard shouted and seized Shang Shuqing by the arm, yanking her back by force. At the instant her body twisted under the pull, the arrow struck her from behind.

Puff!

It buried itself in the shoulder blade with an audible impact against bone. Pain twisted Shang Shuqing's face and made her stagger. The guard had reacted just in time. That was the sole fortune within the misfortune. His pull had caused the arrow to miss a fatal point. Still gripping her arm, the guard ran desperately. He had seen the shaft lodged in her back, but there was no time to treat her now. Feng Ruojie dropped down from the wall and waved one hand.

Four personal soldiers immediately broke away from the main force and sprinted after the pair at full speed. The four rushed through the moon gate. The instant they caught sight of the fleeing figures, they raised their bows and fired. The guard dragging Shang Shuqing immediately pulled her down into a crouch. They used a flowerbed as cover, then burst out the other side, rammed open a nearby side door, and slipped inside. The guard barred the door behind them and toppled a cabinet against it.

Then came a ripping sound from behind. He turned. The refined and dignified Shang Shuqing had seized her own skirt and torn it open, revealing the long trousers beneath. Before he could even understand what she was doing, Shang Shuqing sprang lightly onto a table.

Just before jumping again, she shouted, "Move! Out this way. We meet up with His Highness!"

Crash!

Using the table for height, Shang Shuqing hurled herself bodily through a wooden lattice ventilation panel high on the wall. Without the slightest hesitation, the precious daughter of a princely household smashed straight through it with her own body. Only then did the guard understand. Her skirt had hindered her legs and made running and jumping difficult. She had simply torn it apart to move more freely.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Heavy blows pounded against the barred door behind them. Fortunately the cabinet was bracing it. The attackers could not break through immediately. The guard jumped onto the table and followed Shang Shuqing through the broken opening in exactly the same way. He landed in the neighboring courtyard on the far side of the wall. From next door came the sound of many feet running.

"Go!"

Shang Shuqing, waiting below the wall, called to him. The two ran together toward the rear doors of the main hall ahead. The moment they entered, the guard shut the rear doors and began barricading them. Hearing Lan Ruoting and the others in the front hall, Shang Shuqing bit her lip. The arrow feathers still protruded from the back of her shoulder. Pain flashed across her face, and a broad patch of her back was already soaked red with blood.

She raised one hand and clutched the injured shoulder, then hurried into the front hall. She arrived just in time to see Shang Chaozong, who had thrown himself over Meng Shanming, being shoved aside by the old marshal.

[End of Chapter 434]