"A sneaky coward!" sneered the lanky Silver-tier warrior, his frame tall and thin like a bamboo pole. He casually grabbed a long spear, his eyes gleaming with a cold light. With a flick of his arm, the spear shot out like a bolt of lightning, vanishing into the grass. A piercing sonic boom ripped through the vast prairie.
Just moments before, Liu Weian had unleashed a flurry of arrows, killing five soldiers with his Rapid-fire Archery Technique. The skill was nothing short of magical—arrows flowed like water, each shot following the last in a seamless stream. Whoever said archers lacked area-of-effect attacks had clearly never seen this. What used to be one-on-one killings had now become sweeping slaughters. His efficiency skyrocketed.
Suddenly, a powerful sense of danger struck. Seasoned warriors often develop a sixth sense on the battlefield—a heightened awareness of shifts in the air, minute changes that foretell death. It sounds mystical, but it's just hypersensitivity to killing intent. Liu Weian never doubted this instinct. Without hesitation, he dove to the side.
Whoosh—!A streak of silver light screamed past him, skimming his waist before slamming into the ground with terrifying force. The nearly two-meter-long spear buried itself deep into the earth, leaving only a ten-centimeter tail exposed. The sheer power of the throw was enough to make one's blood run cold.
A searing pain flared across his waist. Liu Weian looked down to find a deep graze—just a scratch, yet it felt like fire licking his skin. His clothes had been scorched. He shivered in hindsight. Had he hesitated even a fraction of a second, that spear would've torn through him and pulverized his organs.
This was the power of a Silver-tier expert—far beyond anything Bronze-level opponents could muster.
CLANG!
A thunderous clang echoed across the grassland like divine metal slicing through the air. The soundwave flattened the surrounding vegetation. Several members of the Silver Serpent Exploration Team near the blast coughed up blood and staggered. Tong Xiaoxiao let out an ear-piercing scream as she was flung over twenty meters. Her six-petal plum-blossom hammer, just recently bent back into shape, now twisted again into a crescent.
"What monstrous strength," muttered the bamboo-like Silver-tier warrior, forced three steps back by the impact. Each step left deep craters in the ground. His twin iron-forged spears now bent at ninety-degree angles.
Then the man in the crimson cloak shrieked in a strange, guttural language. With a flick of his wooden staff, a fist-sized fireball materialized mid-air and shot toward Tong Xiaoxiao.
The air sizzled with heat. The dry grass around them nearly burst into flames. Liu Weian's face turned pale. That fireball wasn't ordinary—it contained a terrifying, volcanic energy. As the spell closed in on the unaware Tong Xiaoxiao, Lu Yan acted.
She snatched up a nearby archer and hurled him forward with terrifying force.
Her explosive strength was truly shocking. Though petite, Lu Yan's body held hidden reserves of raw power. She was always calm and quiet, but in critical moments, her strength surfaced like a dormant beast. While not quite on par with Tong Xiaoxiao, she was not far behind—no wonder she had once slain a two-thousand-pound wild boar alone.
The flailing archer intercepted the fireball midair.
Boom!
In an instant, he was engulfed in flames. His hair vaporized, skin melted, and a grotesque blend of scorched flesh and roast meat filled the air. His screams lasted barely five seconds before he crumbled into ash. A breeze scattered his remains. Tong Xiaoxiao turned pale with horror.
A mage. So that's what he was! Liu Weian now understood that the wooden staff was no mere walking stick—it was a magic wand.
CLANG!
In a flash, Tian Daha blocked Lu Yan's sudden strike. While everyone else was still in shock from the mage's power, Lu Yan had already circled behind Tian Daha. Bold beyond reason, she showed no fear despite standing between a Silver-tier warrior and a mage.
A streak of arrows flew like lightning toward both the bamboo warrior and the mage.
The bamboo warrior straightened his twisted spear with a sharp twist of his hand and spun it into a blur, forming a wall of spear shadows. Arrows shattered midair, reduced to harmless fragments.
Then—BOOM!
One of the arrows exploded. A third of the spear vanished in the blast. Another arrow screamed toward his throat. In a split second, his left hand snapped up.
CLANG!
The force nearly broke his arm. The arrow struck like a hammer, sending a painful jolt up his bones. But this was no ordinary arrow—it was a Runic Arrow, imbued with the power of a Corpse-Breaking Curse.
A burst of blue-green light erupted from his palm, blocking the curse. But another Runic Arrow followed hot on its tail.
Boom!The arrow exploded against his glowing palm. The blue light flared like a miniature sun, neutralizing the curse. Then—
Liu Weian let out a piercing whistle, his voice rising over the battlefield like a warhorn.
Rapid-fire Archery Technique—again!
Nine arrows in rapid succession, the limit of his current stamina. The arrows formed a straight line in the air, streaking toward the bamboo warrior.
He had no time to breathe—he had to brace himself.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The third arrow forced him a step back. The fourth knocked him two steps further. By the sixth, he spat blood. After the seventh, his face turned ghostly pale. The eighth arrow struck—he screamed as his blood vessels ruptured and his left hand was blown apart.
The ninth arrow came crashing down.
BOOM!
It pierced through his throat, exploding on impact. Half his torso vanished in the blast.
The Silver-tier warrior was dead.
The mage, meanwhile, had erected a translucent defensive shield. It looked paper-thin, almost like glass, but it withstood three Runic Arrows without breaking. Liu Weian had only been suppressing him before. With the warrior dead, his full attention shifted.
The mage's face drained of color as Liu Weian's gaze locked onto him. He flung another fireball at Lu Yan and simultaneously pulled out a glowing scroll. He began chanting rapidly. The scroll burst with light. The space around him twisted—and he vanished.
A Teleportation Scroll!
Liu Weian's eyes narrowed. What a treasure... But there was no time to dwell. His gaze moved to Tian Daha, who was now pressing Lu Yan into a corner. Just then, the mage's fireball appeared. Tian Daha grinned cruelly and struck.
Thump!
He froze. An arrowhead protruded from his chest—blood-red against the silver tip. His sword had barely grazed Lu Yan's neck, leaving a long red mark, but he collapsed lifelessly, unable to finish the strike.
Lu Yan didn't flinch. She grabbed Tian Daha's body and used it as a shield. As the fireball struck, she rolled away, slashing a nearby Iron-tier warrior across the throat as she passed. A red arc sprayed into the air like a ruby fountain.
Fwoosh!
Tian Daha's corpse ignited. The fire consumed him in seconds, leaving only ash drifting in the wind.
Thud!A pursuing warrior was blown off his feet, impaled by another of Liu Weian's arrows.
Thud! Thud!
Two more enemies who had crept within ten meters of Liu Weian collapsed, arrows lodged between their brows. All ambitions died with them.
With the last Iron-tier warrior slain, the remaining fifty or so Silver Serpent team members lost all will to fight. Those on the outskirts tried to flee, but those trapped inside could only grit their teeth. There were traps everywhere—better to die fighting than to be torn apart.
The last three archers fell to Liu Weian's arrows.
The Silver Serpent Exploration Team became lambs for slaughter. They were no longer a threat to Liu Weian, who picked them off with ease. Tong Xiaoxiao, recovered from her injuries, and Lu Yan, who had returned, rejoined the fray.
Within fifteen minutes, it was over. Aside from the mage who escaped, fewer than eight survived. It was nearly a total wipeout.
But Liu Weian's team didn't get off easy either. All three were wounded.
Liu Weian's waist injury wasn't serious, but Tong Xiaoxiao had suffered internal damage from clashing head-on with a Silver-tier warrior. Lu Yan was the worst—at least five external wounds, an arrow lodged in her back, and her left shoulder exposed to the bone. Yet she hadn't flinched once.
In the end, the battle had been dangerously close. Despite hours of preparation and careful planning, one wrong move could've spelled disaster. If Liu Weian had been struck by that spear… if Tong Xiaoxiao hadn't stunned the spear-wielding warrior… if Lu Yan hadn't kept Tian Daha occupied…
Victory had been razor-thin.
After looting the battlefield, they made a swift retreat. Liu Weian sighed—what a pity the mage had escaped. He'd heard mages were always rich.