"Ah, the archers among the soldiers are truly formidable! Even Zhao Tujia has been hit by an arrow!"
"Ah! Hurry and save me, my knee has been shot!"
"No good... there may be more than one archer among the soldiers in the forest, otherwise how could one shoot so quickly?"
"Oh no! Thirty or more people have already fallen!"
"Where is the person sneaking in the shadows? Can he be uncovered?"
"I've been shot! Ahh!"
The robbers' originally well-organized offensive formation fell into chaos, and their high-ranking individuals were all shot in the knees by Jiang Liu, with no one left to command them.
A robber shivered with fear and couldn't help but retreat, and with his step back, others followed suit.
This only made the already chaotic formation even more chaotic.
The Tang soldiers, who were fighting tooth and nail to defend, saw this as a perfect opportunity. They immediately rallied their spirits.
The leading soldier roared, "Change formation! Attack!!!"
"Attack!!!" The soldiers led by the officer roared and charged forward. After just a few exchanges, they had killed another ten bandits with their long spears.
The old prisoner in the cell saw this and shouted urgently, "Don't retreat! The imperial dogs are down to just these few people. Kill them all! Save me and the others!"
However, his voice was so faint that it was like a mosquito's whisper amidst the raging battle. The bandits couldn't hear him at all.
A supernatural archer hides in the dark, firing an arrow every two breaths.
And he hits his target every time.
Like a god.
The Tang soldiers, filled with momentum, were switching from defense to offense.
After several exchanges of blows, another dozen bandits fell.
"Retreat!"
Finally, someone couldn't hold back anymore and ran, even feeling that the knife and shield in their hands were too heavy, hindering their escape speed, and dropped their weapons.
The remaining bandits scattered in a panic, like birds and beasts, for they knew that falling into the hands of the soldiers would mean their lives were at risk, and falling into the hands of that archer would mean losing their knees.
If both parties want to keep their lives...
They can only run away.
Jiang Liu continued to nock an arrow and pull the bowstring, the sharp, icy tip of the arrow gleaming as it aimed at a panic-stricken bandit who was fleeing in disarray.
But he didn't move.
Seeing the other person flee far away until disappearing from view, Jiang Liu only then shot the arrow on the string casually onto the ground.
"Phew..."
He panted slightly, and then shot dozens of arrows in quick succession, still using that exaggerated bow with stones as ammunition. Even his considerable strength was now almost depleted.
Luckily, they won.
All the thieves who could run had fled, and the remaining ones, having basically lost one leg each, had no more fighting power left.
With the archery bow that was even taller than his height, Jiang Liu jumped down from the tree branch.
He emerged from the forest.
He reached the outside.
"Elder Official!" A red fox scampered over to Jiang Liu, staring at him with big eyes and examining him repeatedly. Finding that his elderly official had no wounds on his body, Hu Yuju finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Hu Yuju looked up to and admired him, saying, "I knew it was the elder official who shot arrows from the shadows. The elder official's archery skills are indeed sharp. Even without those soldiers, the elder official alone could have driven them away!"
Jiang Liu blushed and said, "Actually, I just learned to shoot arrows today. My first arrow was off target and hit someone in the buttocks."
Hu Yuju looked at him with admiration and his eyes shone, saying, "Elder Official, you have exceptional talent!"
……
"Captain, the fox is talking..." One of the soldiers' underlings covered his wounded waist in shock, staring at the red fox in the distance. For a moment, he forgot about the pain in his body.
The leading soldier spat out a mouthful of blood, as he fell on his back during the fierce battle, two of his teeth had shattered.
He said without any expression, "Isn't it normal for a fox to speak?"
"Ah?" The underling was confused, is this considered normal?
The leading soldier took a deep breath and took a few steps towards Jiang Liu.
"Little... Jiang friend!" The man, drenched in blood, bowed, "Thank you for your help, young friend. Without your intervention, we might have been slaughtered by the bandits today."
As he spoke, he kneeled down with a bow. "Although a man's knee has gold, the saving of life's debt is worth more than a million gold! Please, allow me to pay my respects to you, young friend!"
Jiang Liu quickly went up to help Yin Zhao get up: "You are much older than me, yet you kneel to me, which will shorten my life!"
It was only now that Jiang Liu realized that the man's name was Yin Zhao.
Indeed! The same pronunciation as his mother's surname!
"May I ask which Yin the soldier official is?" Jiang Liu tried to ask.
Yin Zhao opened his mouth to speak, but after thinking for a while, he couldn't figure out how to phrase his surname.
He took out a military badge from his waist and said, "This is the Yin character."
Jiang Liu looked and was quite surprised: "My mother also has this surname."
Yin Zhao was also surprised and exclaimed, "Perhaps this is fate? Maybe we were relatives five hundred years ago!"
Later...
He looked around at the carnage, his eyes filled with sorrow. He gritted his teeth and spoke with a venomous hatred towards the bandits who had raided the prisoners, "We lost thirty-two of our brothers in this battle, leaving only thirteen of us. How can I explain this to their parents?"
Jiang Liu fell silent, also seeing the dead scattered all over the ground.
The Tang soldiers who had died in the battle numbered 32, while the remaining 13 were all slightly injured.
The bandits had also left many corpses behind.
Of course, there were also many bandits who were still alive, and those who were still alive had all been shot in the knees by Jiang Liu.
They couldn't get up to fight again.
Broken limbs and mangled corpses lay everywhere, while cries of agony filled the air. Even the scene of Hell itself might not be as gruesome.
Jiang Liu sighed and imitated the way that Elder Faming performed rituals for the departed, with his hands cupped in prayer. He whispered the verses from "The Buddha's Record of Original Vow of Ksitigarbha" in his mouth: "Thus have I heard. Once upon a time, the Buddha was in Trayastrimsa heaven, teaching his mother..."
As he read, he seemed to gain some enlightenment and couldn't help but turn to the "Great Sutra of the Great Vehicle for Killing Living Beings and Creating Demonic Realms."
The turbulent emotions resulting from shooting dozens of people were all purified, transformed into power that flowed into Jiang Liu's meridians.
He recited half of the "Sutra of Ksitigarbha" and then an entire chapter of the "Great Sutra of Killing Living Beings."
Jiang Liu could clearly feel that his cultivation had been greatly improved.
He also replenished the energy he had consumed.
"General Yin..." Jiang Liu was about to say something when he was interrupted by Yin Zhao.
Yin Zhao said, "There's no need to call me a big shot, I'm only in my twenties. How about you call me Yin Brother, and I'll call you Jiang Brother?"
Jiang Liu was taken aback. He had been solitary and withdrawn for too long.
He never thought that today someone would be willing to be called his brother.
Jiang Liu immediately changed his address and asked, "Brother Yin, can we help those who were injured? Among them, some are even Tang soldiers."
Yin Zhao's expression darkened, "This place is neither in front of a village nor behind a shop."
Jiang Liu opened his mouth, "Then aren't those shot by me in need of help?"
He looked at the bandits who were continuously bleeding from their knees.
He thought they might not survive more than an hour.
Moreover, he also felt that if he could injure more bandits quickly, fewer Tang soldiers would have to die.
Thinking about it...
Jiang Liu felt a strange taste in his heart.
[Jiang Liu]: "Elders, today it seems as though I have killed living beings."
[The Chanting Pot Carrier]: "Oh? Little master, are you by chance accidentally stepping on a few ants? Haha! It's not a problem. I am the Bodhisattva of the Chanting Pot, so it is not considered killing!"
[Jiang Liu]: "Brother Pigsy, the beings I killed were not ants, but dozens of living people..."
[The Chanting Pot Carrier]: "Living beings?!"
[The Chanting Pot Carrier]: "Ah???"
...
...
