Vol 9 Chapter 105 (2/2)

… Un? Just then, while no one spoke, all I could hear were the sound of our horse hooves landing against the ground and the sound of our troops marching.

*Tatatata*…

But why do I feel like the forest on both sides of the road seem a bit too quiet? It feels like the silence is forced.

“…”

“Ah, Lord Guan Yu?”

“Mother?”

I immediately raised my hand and pulled on the reins lightly to make my horse come to a halt. Zhou Cang and Guan Ping were surprised but they too stopped.

“Could it be that we’re rest–”

“Keep quiet for now.” I interrupted Zhou Cang’s gleeful question as I kept my hand raised and concentrated on the background noise.

… *Shashasha*

It was very quiet still and there seemed to be only the sound of tree leaves rustling and the song of the odd bird here and there.

No…

*Sha*… *Shasha*…

It seems like… The sound of clinking and rubbing. Could it be that there are villagers from Fan city out here chopping wood? No, it feels strange somehow. I frowned and looked about but did not see anything out of turn.

“Zhou Cang, do you hear anything?”

“Hear anything?” Zhou Cang frowned. Looks like she does no understand why I am asking her this. She looked around just as I did before replying, “No, I don’t hear anything other than normal forest sounds.”

“That is a given. I know too that there are sounds from the forest but is there anything else?”

Zhou Cang shrugged.

Un… Could it be a misconception of mine? No, wait a moment… Wen Yuan once said that breath was very important. What if I try to get a feel of the breath in the area?

Hu… I decided to give it a try and took a deep breath as I closed my eyes and concentrated.

The flow of air was concentrated around the surrounding area but this was from the breath of the troops behind us. In particular, Zhou Cang’s heaving is really striking.

Ah… It seems like… Like there is a weak breath surrounding us.

… It’s also very chaotic which means there is more than 1 person–

Ah! Could this be!!

“Zhou Cang, Guan Ping!” I opened my eyes wide in an instant and pulled my reins as I unsheathed my weapon. I looked about frantically and roared, “We’ve been ambushed! Tell the troops to–”

*Pah* *Pah*!

Before I could finish, the sound of firecrackers from both sides of the forest interrupted me and the sound of bowstrings being loosed could be heard from every direction. I looked up and saw a dense cloud of arrows shoot out from the forest and come raining down where we were.

“Ambus.h.!.+ Evade now!” I roared as I turned my horse to Guan Ping, who was still in a daze as she looked at the skies, “Guan Ping! Dismount! Now!”

“Eh?” Guan Ping was frozen and still in a daze so I reached out and wrenched her reins out of her hands before yanking her after me into the forest.

— *Sou* *Sou* *Sou* *Sou* *Sou*

d.a.m.n it! Soon, arrows and bolts of various sorts landed in the surrounding area where we stood just seconds before and the anguished and pained cries of our troops filled my ears.

Thos b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! They actually had an ambush here! I thought as I raised my blade and began swinging away to cut down the arrows that were flying towards where Guan Ping and I were.

“Guan Ping! Move! It’s time to use what I taught you!”

“Ah… Ah! I got it!”

Guan Ping finally regained her senses from my roar and began to help me cut down the torrent of arrows that rained down on us. However, her moves were not perfect and some arrows slipped past her attacks. Luckily, her movements and eyes were good so she was able to dodge any arrow that slipped through.

“Zhou Cang! Where are they shooting from?,”

“From the forests on both sides! About 100 meters on!” Zhou Cang replied while keeping her eyes on the sky and moving her neck and blade swiftly about to cut down the arrows.

“Soldiers! Calm down!”

“Don’t panic! Don’t panic!”

At the same time, the thousand-man generals had begun yelling out orders to the troops. I turned back and saw that most had gotten to the ground. 1 of the 3,000-man generals were hit and her lieutenants had ran over to help her. Further back, it seems like our formation were completely messed up from this ambush.

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