Chapter 92: Divine Archery

The mountain bandits’ hearts sank!

“Third Boss… should we retreat?”

Unfortunately, he never got the chance to shout it out.

The man yelling “Shoot! Shoot!” had just set up his stance. His vision wasn’t the best, and he wasn’t confident in his accuracy.

But so what? Just shoot!

Yan Lao’er’s iron crossbow was a lethal weapon!

The unrivaled king of bows and crossbows in this era!

Of course, it couldn’t compare to the massive city-defense crossbows, but among weapons of its size, it was absolutely the undisputed leader!

Shoot a pig, and the pig dies.

Shoot a man, and the man perishes!

Like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse—Yan Lao’er actually hit his target!

Though even he didn’t realize it.

He felt an overwhelming sense of urgency.

Because there were still several of them standing on the other side!

Could this work?

Of course not!

They had to shoot them all down to claim victory!

Yan Lao’er shouted again, his voice piercingly sharp, almost enough to tear the sky apart.

“Closer, closer! Follow my command.”

He steadied his breath, gathered all his strength, and roared, “Shoot him!”

Everyone in the village—every single one of them—had never fought bandits before.

They were all blindly going all in.

At this moment, only Yan Lao’er’s voice could be heard.

If they didn’t listen to him, then who would they listen to?

Even Yan Huaiwen and Yan Xiangheng, father and son, followed his rhythm.

This round, they fired in a coordinated fan-shaped formation.

Each one had found their position.

Some clever children even instinctively adopted a half-crouched shooting stance.

This was a completely one-sided massacre—double-digit attackers against a handful of bandits, using ranged lethal weapons.

It was outright bullying!

The mountain bandits were furious, their eyes red as they tried to rush forward. Even if they died, they wanted to take someone down with them!

But halfway through their charge, they were struck down by a hail of bamboo arrows.

Their screams echoed in agony.

The Third Boss was drenched in cold sweat.

Luckily, he was standing in the middle, with the people in front of him blocking most of the arrows.

But arrows were coming from all directions—he had already been hit several times.

Ignoring the pain, he yanked out the bamboo arrows in his way and turned to flee.

“Someone’s trying to run!”

Yan Lao’er panicked when he heard that and hastily loosed another arrow.

A clear sound rang out—

“Thud!”

Did it hit?

A body hit the ground.

Followed by the sound of labored, pained breathing.

From Yan Lao’er’s perspective, everyone had fallen.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

He really wanted to check where he had hit.

Couldn’t run anymore? Probably the leg?

He had aimed for the upper body, though.

But that didn’t matter—the important thing was that it hit!

The villagers were now both bewildered and tense.

The bandits were down, but were they dead? And now what?

Why wasn’t Yan Lao’er giving more orders?!

At this moment, Village Chief Luo spoke up.

“Surround them! Surround them!”

Almost at the same time, another urgent voice shouted, “Surround them! Don’t let them escape!”

Village Chief Luo was stunned. Who was that?

Uncle An was also confused. Who was that?

Soon, the two groups met and tightly encircled the fallen bandits.

The villagers saw the bandits riddled with arrows like porcupines and felt a chill.

Good thing they hadn’t fought at the canyon entrance—otherwise, they would have been the ones getting shot like this.

“Some are still alive.” Village Chief Luo’s expression turned solemn.

He glanced at Uncle An’s group of mountain folk, hesitating slightly.

As if reading his mind, Uncle An unexpectedly interpreted his meaning on his own.

Mountain bandits were rumored to eat blood-soaked mantou to prove their loyalty. Now that they were joining Yan Lao’er’s village, should they do something similar to reassure the villagers?

If it were him in their place, he’d constantly worry about someone exposing them one day.

They had killed mountain bandits. It was the right thing to do.

But outsiders wouldn’t care about the context—they’d only care that they had killed people…

Uncle An stepped forward, his expression earnest and sincere. “You all rest for now. We’ll handle the rest.”

Village Chief Luo, an old and shrewd man, squinted at them for a moment.

Then he nodded briskly. “Alright!”

The mountain folk surged forward to drag the bodies away.

Not far off, the sound of chaotic clubbing rang out…

Soon after, the mountain folk began digging graves.

No one on the other side moved.

They were still in a daze.

Was it over?

Had they… actually killed… the bandits?!

—

In the end, Uncle An’s decision proved to be correct.

Because of their shared experience, the villagers quickly accepted the mountain folk.

Village Chief Luo arranged for two donkey carts and three handcarts to be emptied.

Five carts, stacked high with sacks of grain, presented an impressive sight.

Village Chief Luo stared, wide-eyed. “With this much grain, why were you robbing people?!”

Uncle An scratched his head sheepishly. “We had to pay tribute to the mountain bandits. This might look like a lot, but it’s all we had. There are multiple mountain strongholds demanding their share. If even one came asking, we didn’t dare refuse. The little we had left wasn’t enough to survive, so… we took desperate measures.”

“That’s not right,” Village Chief Luo said sternly. “You can’t keep doing that.”

“Of course not!” Uncle An grinned. “Honestly, I felt uneasy about leaving the mountains. But now that we’ve taken this step, the thought of never having to live in fear or be at those bastards’ mercy again—what a relief!”

The mountain folk shared a sense of liberation.

“You see our cowardly villagers?” Village Chief Luo sighed.

Uncle An followed his gaze.

Those who had participated in the group shooting last night were all unusually quiet.

“They’re overthinking it. They don’t realize how evil those bastards were.” Uncle An immediately identified the issue.

His people had no such concerns.

Killing the bandits? Pure satisfaction!

“Look at him.” Village Chief Luo pointed at Yan Lao’er. “He was the loudest of them all. I thought, finally, we had someone with guts. But as soon as it ended, he was the first to break down…”

“Good thing we have our scholar. Look at him—calm and composed. Unlike those inexperienced brats—such a disgrace!” Village Chief Luo scoffed.

“That scholar really cares about his brother. He’s stayed by his side the whole time,” Uncle An remarked. “Yan Lao’er… he’s really shaken.”

Uncle An felt a bit guilty. “That’s on me. I shouldn’t have given him those arrows or praised his accuracy so much…”

He had been excitedly telling him how many he had hit and where.

“Think we’ll run into more bandits ahead?” Village Chief Luo suddenly asked.

Uncle An’s expression grew serious. “I’m not trying to scare you, but there are plenty of bandit dens in these mountains. They’re always on guard against each other and often patrol the area. With so many of us moving, they’ll definitely notice. The question is whether they’ll show themselves.”

Village Chief Luo nodded grimly. “Then it’s fine. These folks just lack experience. They’ll toughen up with time.”

—

Meanwhile, Yan Lao’er couldn’t shake his unease.

He knew he had done the right thing—absolutely the right thing—but he couldn’t get past it. His mind kept replaying the arrows he had shot…

By now, dawn was approaching.

They were just waiting for the last batch of mountain folk to descend.

Then, they could finally set off.

Normally, he would be the one organizing everything.

But this time, Village Chief Luo had taken over, managing it all.

Yan Lao’er just sat in his cart, doing nothing, staring blankly into space.