Hong Rong’s endless yells sounded strikingly forlorn and harsh among the chaos in the Hong Residence.
At this time, quite a number of guards and servants from the Hong Clan were busy drawing water to quell the fire. However, some of the guards who had heard Hong Rong’s yells ran towards the rear courtyard.
Yan Liqiang was running above the roof of one of the houses in the Hong Clan’s manor, his feet stepping over its tiles and eaves.
Hong Rong hid behind the flower terrace of the courtyard, where Yan Liqiang’s arrows couldn’t reach. Which is why he must charge into that courtyard in order to take care of Hong Rong too.
Four people from the Hong Clan had already been murdered. Naturally, this Hong Rong wouldn’t be spared too.
The murderous intention in Yan Liqiang’s heart was like a dragon.
He carried his quiver of arrows and held onto the Horned Python Bow wrapped in fabric. Like a scurrying cat on the roof, he hopped agilely over two courtyards and a wall. In a flash, he jumped off from a three-meter wall, landing in a courtyard.
One of the Hong Clan guards was the first to rush into the courtyard from another entrance. That guard had also spotted Yan Liqiang—the distance between them was ten meters. After a moment’s surprise, the guard yelled and charged towards Yan Liqiang with a saber in his hands.
Pulling out an arrow, drawing the bow and releasing the arrow—Yan Liqiang swiftly carried out these three actions in one go. In just the blink of an eye, Yan Liqiang’s arrow pierced the right shoulder of the Hong Clan guard before he could take more than three steps forward.
The guard was sent flying backwards from the bow’s great force before landing heavily on the ground, his fighting strength completely knocked away.
After his art of archery had advanced into the realm of Third Heavenly Layer—and showing no signs of entering the realm of Fourth Heavenly Layer anytime soon—the movements in the art of archery that Yan Liqiang practiced the most over this period of time were drawing the arrow and nocking the arrow. He was pursuing his goal of completing an attack in the shortest amount of time and he had finally reached a favorable point in skill after working hard these past few days. To an archer, the speed of loading an arrow, which was also equivalent to the shooting speed of their bow and arrow, became the most important factor in determining the outcome when fighting at close quarters.
"The assassin, the assassin is here…!" Steward Hong, who’d been scared out of his wits in the courtyard was acting like a chicken that was about to be slaughtered, yelling recklessly in a shrill voice.
Yan Liqiang released a shot. Steward Hong, who had once sized up Yan Liqiang from above his towering rhinodrake steed, was instantly pierced through the thigh by an arrow. Steward Hong fell down, his yell turning into an anguished wail while he rolled on the floor in agony, clutching his thigh.
Yan Liqiang quickly dashed into the courtyard.
Hong Tao was still standing in a daze, a silly smile on his face as he stared at the corpses of Hong Chengshou and Hong Ding, as though he’d gone insane.
Dashing forward, Yan Liqiang was already aiming an arrow at Hong Tao. However, the moment his eyes met with Hong Tao’s hollow eyes, Yan Liqiang changed the trajectory of his bow and arrow and shot at the courtyard entrance behind him.
The second guard who had just barged in from the entrance took an arrow to his thigh before he even managed to catch a glimpse of Yan Liqiang’s silhouette. He let out a blood-curdling scream and then collapsed onto the ground.
Yan Liqiang’s movements were as precise as an automatic rifle. Almost at the moment his arrow left the bowstring, his hand was already reaching backwards to pull out another arrow from the quiver on his back. The arrow was nocked on the bowstring in a flash and it took him only two strides to reach the side of the shrubs.
Hong Rong, who’d hidden behind the flower terrace, looked in shock at the sight of Yan Liqiang aiming his bow and arrow directly at him. His mouth was slightly ajar. The look of stunned surprise on his face seemed to ask the question: ‘How could it be you?’
Looking at Hong Rong’s expression, Yan Liqiang knew that he had also met King Cobra as well.
The distance between the two of them was less than ten meters. The moment Yan Liqiang’s hand loosened, the arrow left the bowstring. Hong Rong’s head was as though it had been shot at point-blank range. The arrow pierced his head from his eye socket, and his head exploded within an instant as blood spilled all over the floor. He died before he could even make a noise.
Another guard from the Hong Clan rushed in, but he proved to be of no use. Yan Liqiang drew his bow again. In the blink of an eye, the guard’s right shoulder was pierced through and he collapsed to the floor.
"Everyone, be careful! That assassin has a bow with him!" The courtyard outside was in chaos. By then, Yan Liqiang had already gotten rid of all the decision makers in the Hong Clan. And now the guards preparing to rush over to the courtyard knew of Yan Liqiang’s weapon.
The words ‘has a bow’ in this era was akin to hearing that someone ‘has a gun’ to modern people. It was a powerful deterrent.
A group of guards were huddling outside the courtyard, and they could hear the miserable wails of the remaining survivors from within. For a moment, no one actually dared to charge inside. The outside of the courtyard had fallen into chaos and someone was yelling loudly, "Hurry, go get the shields, go get the shields!"—"Hurry, go get the crossbow, get the crossbow!"
Of course, Yan Liqiang wasn’t going to wait for the guards to charge inside with their shields and crossbows. As soon as he’d disposed of Hong Rong, he was already running towards the courtyard walls. With just a few kicks of his feet, he quickly scaled up the wall more than two meters high. He then moved along the wall up to the roof, quickly making his way towards the back of the Hong Clan’s manor.
The manor of the Hong Clan was situated at the easternmost part of Liuhe Town. The Hong Clan had built a small garden surrounding the back of the Hong Residence. Beyond the garden were the outskirts of Liuhe Town.
"The assassin is on the roof! The assassin is on the roof…!" a Hong Clan guard shouted loudly after spotting Yan Liqiang running on the roof, chasing after him from the ground as he ran towards the back.
Another guard also jumped on top of the courtyard wall and tried to climb onto the roof. But Yan Liqiang easily released an arrow and shot that guard right on his thigh. That guard let out a blood-curdling scream before he fell off the wall.
He’d only made it past two houses before a sudden whooshing noise whistled past him. All Yan Liqiang felt was a strong gust of wind as something flew past him a meter away. He was taken aback by this and turned his head around, only to discover a few guards from the Hong Clan aiming a crossbow at him from a nearby courtyard. That last arrow had been shot at him by a guard with a crossbow.
Yan Liqiang turned around and released an arrow without a second thought. Before the guard could even finish loading the second bolt in the crossbow, Yan Liqiang’s arrow had already pierced his chest. The arrow went through his heart, killing that guard on the spot.
This was the first person Yan Liqiang killed apart from the people of the Hong Clan.
When one of the guards automatically tried to pick up the crossbow, Yan Liqiang immediately shot an arrow nailing the palm of that guard to the floor.
He released two more arrows, scaring off the other Hong Clan guards standing at the side. They fled in fright without even daring to expose their heads.
Yan Liqiang continued running towards the back of the manor. While he ran, he changed the tone of his voice and shouted huskily, "The Hong Clan has hired me to take care of the father and son from the Yan Clan. But after completing the work, they went back on their word and refused to pay up. They’ve gone too far, and now, I, King Cobra, have come to the Hong Clan today to seek justice. This is a grudge between the Hong Clan and I. Whoever dares to make me stay, don’t blame me for being vicious and merciless with my arrows…"
After hearing Yan Liqiang’s words, no one dared to pick up the crossbow that had been dropped to the floor. After all, there really weren’t many people who wanted to throw their lives away .
The group of guards and servants of the Hong Clan made a ruckus after one of the guards had been killed. They shouted and looked as though they were chasing after Yan Liqiang. However, quite a few of them had significantly slowed their pace in secret.
Yan Liqiang finally made it to the back garden of the Hong Residence. He leaped off from the garden’s wall and ran towards the countryside.
The Hong Clan’s guards and servants continued the chase outside with their fire torches. But before they could even make it to more than ten meters outside, an arrow suddenly shot towards them from the front. It struck the fire torch of the guard leading the group, and then knocked the hat off a guard standing at the very back. The torch’s burning flames exploded into a burst of fiery sparks in the darkness. The countless sparks sputtered onto the faces and hands of those who were holding the fire torches, scalding the guards and servants until they were crying out loud. The guard whose hat was knocked off from his head turned pale as he touched his head and the fluttering strands of hair. His legs suddenly felt weak and he found himself unable to stay standing…
Seeing the figure in front blend into the darkness in the end, the footsteps of all the guards and servants from the Hong Clan slowed down. Each and every one of them swallowed nervously and shot each other a look; none of them dared to continue chasing after the figure.
It was only at this point of time that the screams, the light from the fire at the Hong Clan’s manor, and the urgent beat of a gong ringing out gradually caused alarm among the people of Liuhe Town…
...
On the Yan Clan’s side, Steward Lu stood in the courtyard as he observed the light from the fire coming from the eastern side of Liuhe Town, and the noise from outside. His expression was somewhat anxious and uncertain, as he wondered if the people from the Hong Clan were up to no good.
...
He informed the two guards from the Lu Clan to stay alert, then sent Zhou Tiezhu outside to ask around and find out what had transpired.
Zhou Tiezhu returned half an hour later and told him that it seemed like the great manor of the Hong Clan was on fire and that there had been casualties. Upon hearing that, an excited expression appeared on Steward Lu’s face...
"Steward Lu, you mentioned that Yan Liqiang had yet to return. I hope he’s alright!" Without warning, Yan Dechang slowly walked out of his bedroom all by himself. He came to the courtyard and watched the light of the flames coming from the direction of the Hong Residence with a worried look on his face.
"Yes, Young Master Yan has just gone out shopping. Perhaps he was held up by something else? Master Yan, you need not be worried…" Steward Lu could only try his best to speak calmly, and assure Yan Dechang as much as he could.
After the group finished talking, they waited in the courtyard. They waited for more than an hour, each with an unsettled state of mind. Upon hearing a knock on the door, a guard from the Lu Clan opened it to find Yan Liqiang standing outside empty-handed.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief upon seeing Yan Liqiang’s return.
The look on Yan Liqiang’s face didn’t seem out of the ordinary. On the contrary, he appeared to be quite relaxed. As soon as he saw Yan Dechang was also waiting for him in the courtyard, he took the initiative to apologize to him. "I was thinking of going up the mountain to pick some mushrooms for you, father. But I didn’t expect to get lost after the sky turned dark. I took a detour and even lost the back-carried basket and hoe that I had brought along with me…"
Yan Dechang instantly breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Yan Liqiang. He wasn’t going to be bothered about losing things worth so little in value…
"Oh right, on my way back here, someone from town told me that something seemed to have happened at the Hong Clan…" Sitting at the stone table in the courtyard, Yan Liqiang ate the still warm meal Mother Wu had served him, all while looking at Steward Lu who was quietly scrutinizing him. "That King Cobra turned out to be an outlaw. Despite the arrest warrants issued for him, he’d never left the Qinghe County. Tonight, he suddenly barged into the Hong Clan and just slaughtered people out of the blue…"
"What? King Cobra?" Steward Lu had a shocked expression on his face. When he received news that something had happened at the Hong Clan, and that Yan Liqiang hadn’t returned, Steward Lu wondered if Yan Liqiang had boldly enacted his revenge on them. Now after being told that the culprit was King Cobra, the surprise in his heart was plainly written all over his face.
"What is it? Could it be that Steward Lu thought it was someone else?" Yan Liqiang looked at Steward Lu with a faint smile on his face.
"Cough… cough…" Steward Lu coughed a couple of times and hurriedly waved his hands. "No, not at all. Only an outlaw like King Cobra is capable of such a deed. The Yan Clan should also be more cautious tonight..."