Zheng Quchi possessed exceptional eyesight and made accurate estimations.
100 meters.
Fifty meters.
Thirty meters.
Ten meters...
At that moment, a sharp neighing sound came from the sky, and the large, brown-red horses with their manes flying were neighing incessantly towards the sky.
Zheng Quchi, who had already entered the hunting phase, had reached the peak of his murderous intent.
It's amazing. She has never killed anyone before, but now she shows no fear or hesitation. On the contrary, her mind is clear and she is completely focused.
It was as if... she had long been used to it, and once she got into the zone, her eyes, her heart, and all her focus were solely on the target being sniped.
Now!
Her target was clear: the person who held the dominant position in the cavalry, the one whom all the soldiers would instinctively risk their lives to protect.
The cavalrymen who were ambushed at the bottom of the slope were thrown into chaos, shouting and yelling, creating a cacophony of voices and shadowy figures.
But Zheng Quchi on the slope, her eyes were as calm as her heart, like a precise machine.
She had only met Yuwen Sheng once, and the scene was still vivid in her mind.
He wore a mask of a demon god and dark, bony armor. In her mind, he was just like the living Yama described by others—morbid, cruel, bloodthirsty, and vile.
This group consisted entirely of well-trained soldiers. When they realized they were ambushed, they guessed that there must be enemies trying to assassinate them. Therefore, they disregarded their own safety and used their bodies as shields to form a human wall for Yuwen Sheng.
it's useless.
Zheng Quchi secretly scoffed to himself.
Although she couldn't see Yuwen Sheng's figure clearly, she felt that if he revealed even the slightest flaw or vital point during his movements, she could take his life.
What if he doesn't move?
Don't move?
impossible.
Based on her familiarity with angles and human reflexes, she had already calculated a plan in her mind. She would need to fire two arrows in a very short time to successfully kill him.
The first arrow startled him, causing him to turn around and expose his vitals. The second arrow pierced his throat precisely, ensuring his death.
She calmly waited for the best opportunity; an assassin cannot be hasty.
Just as the other side was frantically searching around, and as the horse swayed uncontrollably, the opening finally appeared.
Right now.
Whoosh—she pulled the trigger, and an arrow pierced through the gaps between the many figures, striking Yuwen Sheng's mask with a clang.
Everything that followed went exactly as she had predicted.
Based on the trajectory of the arrows, Yuwen Sheng deduced the direction of the enemy's ambush and immediately turned around.
Just then, the mask, which had been deflected by the arrow, couldn't withstand the force of the impact and began to shatter from the ear, causing the mask on his face to fall off unexpectedly.
After the first arrow, Zheng Quchi's movements didn't pause for a moment. As if honed through countless trials, his hands flashed by, placing the arrow on the arrow path, pulling back the bowstring, hooking it onto the hook, aiming at the target, and pulling the trigger—
Just as she was about to pull the trigger without hesitation, she saw the mask on the other person's face shatter and fall off.
When the face behind the mask came into Zheng Quchi's view, her sniping action came to an abrupt halt.
The wind and sand blew across his blindfold, causing it to flutter. His robes billowed like layers of smoke. Under the pale green light, his skin was almost transparent, which made his lips appear even more vibrant.
Pupil earthquake.
grass!
Where is Yuwen Sheng? How come the commander has suddenly become her blind husband, who is suffering from an eye ailment and is pitifully waiting for her to fetch medicine to relieve his pain?!
The sharp, deadly arrows were aimed directly at Yuwen Sheng's vitals. The trajectory of the first deadly arrow, shot from the bushes on the slope, made it clear to Yuwen Sheng that someone was hiding there.
An assassin with exceptional archery skills, capable of taking lives from an army as easily as taking something out of a bag.
Seeing Zheng Quchi's murderous intent and confident demeanor, Qiu was certain that Yuwen Sheng would die this time. However, she never expected that she would stop at the most crucial moment.
"Shoot!"
His expression was stern, and he urged her urgently.
"What are you doing, spacing out at a time like this!"
But Zheng Quchi was in a state of utter confusion, and his finger, frozen on the trigger, simply couldn't pull it.
"I'll explain to you later. We've missed our chance, our location has been exposed, let's go!"
She understood that because of her momentary hesitation, the assassination mission had failed, but Qiu was unwilling to give up. His face was gloomy, and he reached out to snatch the crossbow from her hand, intending to shoot "Liu Fengmian" himself.
Seeing that he was so focused on the assassination that he had lost his usual composure, Zheng Quchi quickly changed direction. Without even aiming, she pulled the trigger, released the taut bowstring, and fired the crossbow bolt.
With a "thud," an arrow grazed Qiu's earlobe, leaving a bloody mark before embedding itself straight into the tree trunk.
Qiu froze, staring at her with a deathly pale face.
Although Zheng Quchi regretted her impulsive arrow earlier, she couldn't let him kill Liu Fengmian.
"We can't kill him."
Why can't we kill him?
This was the first time Qiu had ever been so angry with her, and she didn't even care about the huge crisis that Yuwen Sheng had overcome the iron caltrops and rushed at her.
Zheng Quchi knew that Qiu wouldn't let it go without an explanation, so she told him directly, "We've been tricked. The person down there isn't Yuwen Sheng. His name is Liu Fengmian. I suspect that Yuwen Sheng has been hiding in the shadows all along."
Qiu stared at her with an absurd expression.
But he had only seen Yuwen Sheng once from afar in the camp. At that time, Yuwen Sheng was wearing such a strange and terrifying mask. This man... although he was also wearing a mask, he was not wearing the general's armor and cloak.
Qiu still believed in Zheng Quchi.
"There's no time, let's go."
This time, Qiu glanced down, her eyes still filled with resentment and suspicion, but she no longer hesitated. She picked up Zheng Quchi on her back and cut the pre-designed mechanism. Round logs tumbled and crashed down the hillside.
He then quickly slipped away following the escape route he had planned long ago.
Once Yuwen Sheng had pinpointed the enemy's location, no one could escape his pursuit.
With a single sword stroke, he cleaved through the logs rolling down the slope, scattering wood chips everywhere. He leaped into the bushes and saw that the spot where the assassin had been trampled flat was now deserted.
He was somewhat puzzled. If he wasn't mistaken, his opponent was a skilled archer, using one arrow to lure and the other to kill. Since the killing arrow was already prepared, why did he choose to give up at the last moment?
——
As Qiu fled for his life, he kept babbling on the road: "You say he's not Yuwen Sheng, but why is he in the commanding position?"
Even if you ask Zheng Quchi about this, she can't figure it out either.
The two had just gotten engaged when one of them had an eye attack and the other went to buy medicine to relieve the pain. What should have been a loving and devoted marriage turned into a dramatic turn of events, with one becoming an assassin and the other becoming her target.
She just wanted to ask, is there anything more absurd than this in the world?
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