How to be a servant

The icy river water instantly filled his mouth, nose, and ears, and the immense pressure and roar assaulted his eardrums. Gu Jinghong struggled to find the key location of the giant rock in the murky water.

On the shore, everyone held their breath, staring intently at the taut rope and the churning water.

Underwater, Gu Jinghong finally found the blasting point that needed to be corrected and the ideal angle at which the wooden wedges should be driven in, by feeling around with his hands, thanks to his amazing sense of direction and thorough knowledge of the blueprints. He then marked it with a chisel.

She surfaced, coughing violently, her face pale, but her eyes were surprisingly bright.

"Wang Gongcheng!"

She wiped the water from her face and slapped the spot she had just identified. "Listen carefully! Immediately drill a shallow hole half a foot above this spot on the rock face, at a 45-degree angle downwards! Don't drill a deep one! Then... cough cough... then take the number three wooden wedge, align it with the angle I'm pointing to now, and drive it in with all your might using a heavy hammer! It must be done in one go; the water flow will help!"

Her instructions were precise and bold, completely breaking with convention.

Wang Gongcheng's eyes initially showed a hint of confusion, but he quickly seemed to have figured it out, and a glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes: "I understand!"

The craftsmen on the shore immediately followed the instructions to reposition and drill the hole.

Gu Jinghong took another deep breath, sank into the water, and personally held the top of the crucial No. 3 wooden wedge with his hand, using his body strength to fight against the raging undercurrent, firmly fixing it at that delicate and deadly angle.

"Attack!" she screamed the moment she surfaced.

The strongest craftsman on the shore swung his heavy iron hammer with tremendous force and brought it down!

A muffled thud came from underwater.

Gu Jinghong felt her arm go numb from the tremendous force, but she held on with all her might!

"Keep hitting! Don't stop!" she shouted.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Three blows in a row!

As the final hammer fell, Gu Jinghong felt the wooden wedge in his hand suddenly sink, accompanied by a strange, firm gripping sensation. Success!

The crucial wooden wedge, at the angle and depth she had calculated, finally pierced through the obstruction of the water flow and firmly embedded itself in the crevice of the giant rock, forming a stable fulcrum!

Cheers erupted from the shore, signaling the relief of survivors!

Gu Jinghong was pulled out of the water by Wang Gongcheng and the people on the shore. He was soaking wet and shivering from the cold. His moon-white clothes clung to his body, making him look extremely disheveled.

Her bodyguards immediately stepped forward and draped a dry, thin cloak over her shoulders.

Although Gu Jinghong was pale, a relieved smile appeared on her face.

Just then!

"Woo-woo-woo-woo-"

From the watchtowers on the distant high ground, a sharp and piercing alarm whistle suddenly rang out, one after another!

"Enemy attack! Northwest direction! An enemy armored scout squad is approaching! More than fifty men!" The terrified shouts were like ice water, instantly extinguishing the brief joy that had just ignited on the construction site.

Everyone's expression changed drastically!

The two guards reacted swiftly, drawing their swords with a "whoosh" and flanking Gu Jinghong from both sides, protecting her tightly.

Gu Jinghong peered through the gaps in the guards' ranks and saw a group of about fifty scouts, clad in iron armor and moving as swiftly as wolves, appear like ghosts on the rocky beach less than a hundred feet from the fortifications.

The leader was quickly scanning the dredging site and had clearly noticed that the defenses were weak – there were only a group of unarmed craftsmen and twenty or thirty laborers with only brute strength. The only ones with real fighting power were herself and her two personal guards!

Gu Jinghong's heart sank, and his fingertips subconsciously reached for the sword at his waist—only to find nothing!

She had taken off her sword just before going into the water!

In a flash, the lead scout seemed to have determined that the place was within easy reach, and suddenly waved his hand.

More than fifty armored scouts, like hungry wolves smelling blood, suddenly accelerated, split into several groups, and rushed towards the dredging site in a fan shape, especially towards the core position where Gu Jinghong was located. They attacked quickly and fiercely, intending to destroy this key fortification in an instant!

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—"

Without hesitation, Gu Jinghong flicked his wrist, and a series of exquisitely crafted hidden arrows shot out.

The three scouts at the forefront fell down with screams of pain.

But this did nothing to stop the enemy's offensive. More armored figures surged in like a tide, their blades flashing and their killing intent chilling!

Two guards roared and charged forward, their blades flashing, instantly clashing with the scouts who rushed up. The sound of metal clashing pierced the sky, and the once peaceful construction site was transformed into a battlefield of life and death in an instant!

While dodging stray arrows and oncoming enemies, Gu Jinghong quickly calculated—the enemy outnumbered them, the enemy was an elite scout, and the disparity in combat strength was too great; a direct confrontation would surely lead to certain death!

In desperation, her gaze flashed like lightning, sweeping across the packets of gunpowder piled up on the edge of the riverbank, meant to clear the last of the stubborn rocks. An extremely audacious, almost insane idea instantly seized her!

Let's give it our all!

Gu Jinghong exerted force with his feet and rushed towards the gunpowder pile. He quickly pulled out his tinderbox, blew on it, and then tore off a long strip of cloth from the hem of his soaked inner garment with a "rip" sound. He quickly tied it to a relatively dry bag of gunpowder as a fuse.

Gu Jinghong ran to the explosives, took out a tinderbox, and secretly took a strip of cloth from Engineer Li and tied a knot in the explosives to use as a fuse.

A fierce scout, seeing her intention, brazenly broke free from the pincer attack of two guards, risking injury, his eyes flashing with malice, and thrust his sword straight at Gu Jinghong's back.

As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Gu Jinghong suddenly spun around and fired another hidden arrow. With two "thuds," it accurately hit the opponent's throat, bringing the scout's forward momentum to an abrupt halt, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Without pausing, she turned back to focus on lighting the cloth fuse.

However, the fuse, being near the water, was severely damp. The flame licked at the strips of cloth but only left charred marks, failing to ignite properly for a long time.

At the same time, her dangerous move had already been exposed, attracting more fierce stares and encirclement from scouts.

Whoosh—!

A wolf-tooth arrow, gleaming with a chilling blue light, tore through the air with a sharp whistle, hurtling towards Gu Jinghong's heart with incredible speed and angle, leaving no room for evasion!

Gu Jinghong looked up at the arrow, her pupils suddenly contracting!

Just as the deadly arrow was about to pierce her body at the last second...

Ding—!

A crisp, piercing clang of metal suddenly rang out.

Another arrow, completely black and unremarkable, struck the arrowhead of the wolf-tooth arrow with deadly accuracy, like a ghost striking from behind!

The immense force sent the poisoned arrow flying sideways, embedding itself in a nearby rock with a "thud," its fletching still buzzing and vibrating.

Immediately afterwards, "whoosh whoosh whoosh—" several more black-feathered arrows pierced the air, each one accurately piercing the brows and throats of the scouts who rushed towards Gu Jinghong or tried to draw their bows. Every arrow hit its mark!

This miraculous assistance bought Gu Jinghong a precious moment.

finally!

Sizzle—

A burst of flame suddenly shot up from the damp tip of the fuse!

"Get out of the way!" Gu Jinghong shouted sharply, while forcefully throwing the lit gunpowder pack towards the area where the scouts were most concentrated.

Upon hearing the sound, the two guards, despite taking a blow themselves, also retreated violently!

Boom! ...

A deafening roar suddenly erupted, shaking the earth and mountains!

Flames and thick smoke shot into the sky, and violent shockwaves swept across the area, carrying debris and severed limbs.

Dozens of armored scouts, who had gathered in a group, were torn to shreds and sent flying like pieces of paper in the explosion!

Amidst the chaotic smoke and blood, no one noticed that behind a jagged pile of rocks, hidden extremely well across from Laoyatan, a dark figure lay motionless like a boulder.

Xiao Chengyan held a strong bow in his hand, the bowstring still humming.

His phoenix eyes held a terrifying glint as they were fixed on the smoke-filled scene.

When his gaze swept over the pale figure who had just escaped death's grasp and was now staggering, the knuckles of his fingers on the bowstring were slightly white from the lightning-fast, all-out arrow he had just fired, and the intense throbbing pain in his heart seemed to still linger from that terrifying moment.

He finally couldn't resist and took action himself.

The terrifying scene of her risking her life to throw herself at the explosives still haunts him.

The cold arrows shot towards Xiao Chengyan, who then fired several more arrows into the dense forest from which they had been fired, hitting several of his main forces.

Then, an elite force from the Southwest Army, which had been lying in ambush nearby, suddenly appeared near the fortifications, and the situation on both sides suddenly reversed.

Behind the pile of rocks, Xiao Chengyan slowly lowered the powerful bow in his hand.

He glanced deeply in her direction one last time, then silently retreated into the shadows of the rocks, disappearing into the deeper forest in a few leaps.

With the crisis at Laoyatan resolved, the key support point of the passage was finally secured.

The elite troops also captured a group of local scouts, making it a great victory.

...

Gu Jinghong was soaked to the bone, his lips were white from the cold, his fingertips still felt a slight tingling from the explosion, and his steps were unsteady.

Changfeng practically carried her halfway as they slowly made their way to her independent tent.

As they approached the tent entrance, Changfeng reached out to lift the tent flap: "Master Gu, be careful, we've arrived."

The moment the curtain was lifted, the two saw Xiao Chengyan sitting upright on the wooden chair, his posture tall and straight, his dark armor gleaming with a cold luster.

His angry phoenix eyes subconsciously locked onto the hand that Changfeng was using to support Gu Jinghong's arm!

Changfeng felt a chill run from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head. He immediately let go of Gu Jinghong's hand, subconsciously took a half step back, lowered his head and held his breath, his heart pounding wildly.

Gu Jinghong also staggered due to losing her support, barely managing to stand by holding onto the tent flap. She looked at the man inside the tent, who exuded a terrifyingly low pressure, with suspicion and uncertainty.

"Wang..." Changfeng was about to apologize and explain.

"Long Wind!"

Xiao Chengyan slowly stood up, his voice as cold as ice from the depths of hell, "Are you dead?!"

The sound wasn't loud, yet for some reason it lingered around Changfeng.

"What did I tell you?! Give her personal guards! How many did you give her?! How did those two protect her?! Watched her set off explosives?! Almost let her die at Laoyatan?! Is this how you do your job?!!"