Chapter 20 The One Deciding Arrow (1)

“Damn, what sort of skill is this? Young Master, quickly leave now.” A row of fireballs rose up into the air on the opposite side of him. This time, there was a total of five fireballs; although they were individually smaller than the previous one, they were all still orange-red in colour.

This time, Zhou Weiqing did not try to shoot the fireballs, instead drawing the Overlord Bow to its maximum and rapidly firing out three arrows. These few days, whenever he was free, he had been learning the Rapid Fire Archery skill from Xiao Ru Se. Although he wasn't as accurate as she was yet, he had at least improved his firing rate, and coupled with the sheer power of the Overlord Bow and its explosive effect, he did not even need to be that accurate; as long as he managed to shoot an arrow within an acceptable range, it was sufficient.

As expected, once the three arrows were fired out, the enemies were thrown into a mess. All the fireballs started dropping out of place, but not a single one managed to fly and hit their proper target.

At this moment, just 50 yards from Zhou Weiqing, two youths were in a shabby, disorderly state.

One of them was dressed in an all-white outfit, without any armor, holding a shining golden short bow in his hands, and on his right wrist encircled four glowing Physical Jewels. His Physical Jewels were made out of 2 types of jade - the Agility Dragonstone Jade and the Flexibility Waxy Jade. This man was rather handsome; alas at the moment he was in quite a sorry state. His golden hair though was rather attention drawing, complementing his golden short bow's colour.

At his side was someone who looked like his subordinate, dressed in a rather plain cloth clothing. Just like his young master, he seemed to be around 20 years of age, and on his left wrist encircled three red ruby Elemental Jewels; it seemed like those fireballs were fired out by him.

Under Zhou Weiqing's angry suppressing fire using his Overlord Bow, this pair of Master and Subordinate were in a disorderly state, rolling and tumbling as they fled the scene.

Zhou Weiqing had successfully suppressed the 'Silent Arrow's from this side, but the other side of the battlefield was a totally different story.

Under Xiao Ru Se's direction, the Heavenly Bow Empire's troops were no longer in a mess and were organised in trying to fight back. Alas, the group of more than ten enemies were all Jewel Masters, and against their Heavenly Energy and Skills, it was rather difficult for ordinary soldiers to do anything in this short period of time.

"Battalion Commander, let's retreat" The threat of the Silent Arrows had suddenly vanished, and Shangguan Bing'er was finally able to relax a little. At this moment, Xiao Ru Se's voice sounded out.

Even though they liked to compete with each other, Xiao Ru Se knew how important Shangguan Bing'er was to Heavenly Bow Empire. Furthermore, she was Little Wei's girlfriend.

Despite Xiao Ru Se's warning coming at a relatively timely moment, Shangguan Bing'er had already fallen back into a predicament. It wasn't that she did not want to retreat, but even at that moment when the Silent Arrows stopped firing, 3 Physical Jewel Masters from the opposing team had charged forth to surround her instead. Two of them were mainly Agility-Type Physical Jewel Masters, and were also had four Jewels respectively.

Although Shangguan Bing'er was a rare dual-agility type Heavenly Jewel Master, she was after all still only with 2 sets of Heavenly Jewels, and was only a Mid Level Heavenly Shi Master; compared to that, her enemies had 4 Jewels each, winning her in both Heavenly Energy levels and number of Consolidated Equipment. The only things he could do was to swiftly shoot out Wind Blades, using her own speed coupled with the Wind Wielding Boot's boost in order to keep herself from falling. However, it was nigh impossible for her to escape their encirclement. At the same time, the other Jewel Masters were constantly getting closer. As soon as one or two more managed to join the fray, Shangguan Bing'er would likely be unable to continue defending herself successfully.

Xiao Ru Se was also very anxious. In their troops, there just weren't any other Jewel Masters at this moment. The enemy ambush had came too suddenly, and it had appeared jut as they reached their campsite, and at a point where their guard was at its lowest. If not for Zhou Weiqing's danger [1. Spidey] Senses and quick reactions, the first arrow would have probably already injured Shangguan Bing'er, and they would likely have all been wiped out by now.

*Peng* *Peng* sounds resounded unceasingly, as the Heavy Infantry units who were attempting to stop the enemy were constantly knocked back by a pair of large warhammers. That 5-Jewel Mid Level Zun Physical Jewel Master was just too strong, and his strength and defense were too shocking. Both his warhammers were covered in a white light as he focused his Heavenly Energy onto them - he had obviously broken through the Heavenly Jing Energy stage and was in the Heavenly Shen Energy stage, and he was just bulldozing his way through the Heavy Infantry Elite troops. Only Xiao Ru Se's Rapid Fire Arrows were able to give him a little trouble, but he was still slowly making his way towards Shangguan Bing'er's little fray. Once he actually reached her, one could definitely imagine the result.

Right at this moment, that Mid Level Zun Physical Jewel Master suddenly gave forth an explosive shout, as he swung both his warhammers rapidly, his whole body seemingly spinning in a whirlwind. The Heavy Infantry troops who were surrounding him were instantly smashed away, flying away from him, and he leapt up in a ferocious pounce, closing the distance in an unbelievable bound, both warhammers smashing down towards Shangguan Bing'er's head. Simultaneously, two other Physical Jewel Masters also charged forth, and together with the original three Physical Jewel Masters surrounding Shangguan Bing'er, they formed a perfect encirclement which blocked every possible retreat of hers. Their cooperation was unbelievably smooth, and their attacks, from the twin warhammers smashing down, or the mass of attacks from the others in all directions, seemed to spell doom for Shangguan Bing'er.

"No... it's over..." Xiao Ru Se closed her eyes in despair. Even though they were rivals, she certainly could not bear to watch Shangguan Bing'er be smashed into pulp.

Shangguan Bing'er herself was also in despair. She had tried every trick in her book, but there just wasn't anything she could do in this scenario. The opponent had clearly planned this ambush perfectly to target her, and her own combat experience was also rather lacking. It looked like this would the fragrance diminished and the jade perished [2. direct translation of 香消玉殞, an idiom meaning a beauty passing away]

At this critical moment, a loud cry resounded in the skies suddenly. An explosion blew up, as a black arrow slammed into the warhammers descending upon her, the strong explosive impact forcefully halting its descent. More amazingly, right at the centre of the explosion, 12 black tentacles shot forth like lightning, entwining all the enemies in the radius of 25 yards, including the Mid Level Zun Physical Jewel Master. All of the enemy Jewel Masters in the ambush were instantaneously held in place for a while.

It was still relatively okay for the Mid Level Zun Physical Jewel Master; he was after all in the centre of the pulling force. However, it was not so for the other six who were surrounding Shangguan Bing’er. Due to the sheer surprise of the attack, the four 3-Jewel Masters were instantly drawn in by the skill, and an unlucky one just happened to hit his head on the huge warhammer. Although the constitution of Physical Jewel Masters were strong, metal hitting head was still a tragedy in making and he instantly fainted, bleeding from the head. The other 2 remaining 4-Jewel Masters were strong enough to resist the pull, though their attacks were interrupted as a result, as they stumbled a few steps closer to the Mid Level Zun Physical Jewel Master.

How could Shangguan Bing’er not seize such a great chance. Like a volcano who had been dormant for too long, she erupted suddenly. [3. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ]