Chapter 968: Chapter 706: Fierce Midnight Battle! (Part 2)

She could only bite her lower lip and stare unwillingly at the figure disappearing into the night ahead.

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The night was like ink, the cold wind like a blade.

Amid the wind, the pounding of hooves that made the very ground quiver wove into a single roar in their ears, like muffled thunder rolling endlessly across the heavens, yet no one was willing to slow their horse.

By now, everyone’s faces had already been whipped stiff by the cold wind.

Yu Wenye lifted his eyes to the front. In the darkness, those fleeing for their lives naturally didn’t dare light torches, and they themselves had no time to prepare any for illumination. The two groups of riders, one before and one behind, groped their way through the pitch-black night like this. From time to time came the screams of someone who, spurring his horse into a gallop, misjudged the path and fell heavily to the ground; compared to the people ahead, they had to spare even more attention for obstacles on the road.

As they rounded a bend, he saw several more people sprawled in the road ahead—thrown from their horses, writhing and screaming, unable to get up—blocking the way right in front of Yu Wenye!

His brows knitted tight. He suddenly clamped his legs hard into the horse’s belly and yanked the reins taut.

With a sharp, ringing whinny, the stallion beneath him reared and leaped, vaulting over those people’s heads in one bound and then slamming down heavily. The hooves made the ground shudder again, kicking up clouds of dust, but Yu Wenye didn’t pause even for a heartbeat; he immediately urged his horse on, charging forward at full speed.

Yu Wenqian at his side hadn’t had his way blocked, but he still turned his horse’s head, circling around those fallen men. Seeing Yu Wenye had already raced ahead, he didn’t dare delay either, and at once swung his whip, chasing close behind.

Yet just as the two of them rounded that bend, suddenly, a few sharp whooshes sounded from ahead!

"Careful!"

Yu Wenye shouted, and instantly flattened himself against the horse’s back.

With a hiss, a streak of cold light flashed past where he had just been, striking squarely into the shoulder of a soldier behind him. The man let out a scream and toppled from his saddle, rolling across the ground.

The others hastily yanked back their reins, barely managing not to trample him under.

But before they could react, a few more streaks of cold light tore through the air. The men fleeing ahead had turned and were loosing arrows at their pursuers. The shafts streaked through the night like meteors, flashing one after another. More sharp whooshes sliced through the air—some arrows flew wide, but several soldiers dropped with cries on the spot.

Yu Wenye gripped the reins tight, pressing his whole body flat onto the horse’s back. His head hugged close to the horse’s neck as he peered forward, and sure enough, he saw a few soldiers riding at the rear of the fleeing group. They clamped their knees to their horses’ bellies to keep sprinting ahead while twisting sideways, bows in hand loosing arrow after arrow. In an instant, several more streaks of cold light flashed over his men’s heads.

He turned his head, and saw Yu Wenqian galloping abreast with him, also pressed sideways against his horse’s back just as he was, having dodged a lethal arrow.

At that moment, Yu Wenye inexplicably let out a breath.

Fortunately, fortunately, he had just forbidden Shang Ruyi from coming after them.

That little woman may look slender and delicate, but her riding skills were not much worse than any of theirs. If she had come, she would definitely be at his side, and those arrows just now might well have hit her.

But that sense of relief only flashed through his mind.

The most important thing was still to deal with the trouble before him.

With that thought, Yu Wenye suddenly straightened up in his stirrups, sitting upright in the saddle. The men behind him, all pressed low to their horses’ backs, were startled to see him present such a large target; especially Shen Tu Tai, who was closest to him, couldn’t help but shout, "Your Highness!"

But in the next instant, Yu Wenye’s body flickered aside, dodging an arrow aimed straight at him, and he dropped down to the other side of the horse’s back.

He had only changed sides.

Because on the other side of his saddle hung a bow!

It wasn’t a Divine Arm Bow, but at a time like this, it was more than enough!

Yu Wenye reached back and snatched the bow into his hand, then pulled an arrow from his Arrow Tube. Pressed sideways tight against the horse’s flank, he drew the bow and set the string in one smooth motion.

With a sudden twang, a bolt of lightning flew from his hand!

From the writhing mass of shadowy figures ahead came a shrill, bloodcurdling scream. A man toppled from his saddle on the spot, but Yu Wenye’s stallion reacted in a flash, lifting its hooves to thunder over him. The soldiers behind showed no mercy, immediately spurring their mounts to follow; a few agonized cries later, the man had already been pounded into pulp beneath a storm of hooves.

And under cover of those screams, Yu Wenye had already drawn, nocked, and loosed again and again in swift succession!

His movements flowed as one, lithe and ferocious in the dark. Arrows streaked like light; screams burst one after another. The archers ahead dropped from their horses in a row. The few who were not yet hit were already cowed by that unerring marksmanship behind them; they no longer dared linger, clutching their reins and flogging their mounts, desperate to escape the man at their back who seemed like some terrifying Asura from a slaughterfield.

But how could they still have such a chance?

To shoot those behind, they had already slowed their pace. Now, Yu Wenye’s group was less than a hundred paces from them. Seeing his targets cease firing, Yu Wenye flung his bow aside, straightening up in the saddle. With a backward sweep of his arm, he drew the heavy Mo Blade hanging on the other side of his horse!

With a harsh, dragon-like clang, cold light blazed in the night!

Yu Wenye raised the blade high and bellowed to the men behind him, "With me!"

Shen Tu Tai had long since been itching to act. Hearing the order now, he cast aside all concern for anything else, driving his horse forward in a single bound, shooting out between the two Princes!

The long spear in his hands was already whirling into a halo of light in the pitch-black night. With his towering height and bulk, and that fierce aura like a Demon God incarnate, he frightened the men ahead so badly they no longer even had the courage to raise their bows.

They shrieked and wrenched their mounts around to flee.

But it was too late.

A wrathful roar cracked in their ears like a thunderclap, and then, with a chill across their necks, several heads were blasted skyward by the geysers of their own hot blood!