Chapter Nineteen: Unspeakable Terror

Xu You sat in the dark chamber, eyes closed and ears tilted, listening to the sound of rain outside. He knew nothing of the battle raging beyond, and after learning that Fei Yao had come alone, he had even distributed the twenty Thunderbolt Crossbows to Deng Tao for deployment.

In other words, at this moment, aside from the four guards at his side, he had nothing left to rely on.

At first, Zuo Wen and Deng Tao thought his arrangement unwise, but under his insistence, they said no more. For one thing, manpower was stretched too thin; for another, in their eyes, Xu You, a fifteen-year-old prodigy already ranked sixth, should have no trouble defending himself, even if he lacked experience and might fail to kill the enemy.

Who could have imagined that Xu You had lost all his martial arts and become a cripple?

Yet Xu You felt little worry. Since Fei Yao had appeared openly and honorably, unless he breached the layers of defense outside, he could do no harm to Xu You. Instead, it was the ever-unseen An Yao who left a thorn lodged in Xu You’s heart.

Zuo Wen was a man of broad experience; even he knew nothing of An Yao, which only showed how unpredictable and mysterious this figure truly was. Among the Four Arrow Demons, Yue Yao was cunning and favored ambush, but died in a treacherous sneak attack; Sha Yao was fierce and brave, bold enough to charge the enemy, but his valor proved his undoing, his life lost in the fray; Fei Yao, as soon as he received Sha Yao’s signal, rushed overnight to reinforce, so he likely was not one for schemes and stratagems; only An Yao—whether man or woman, elsewhere or already hidden on this ship, or perhaps never existed at all, merely smoke released by the Four Arrow Demons—about all this, Xu You knew nothing.

Sometimes, ignorance breeds courage. Yet sometimes, what terrifies most is precisely “ignorance.”

Xu You opened his palm and stared at it. He did not wish to know the secrets hidden in his palm; he only wished to hold his fate in his own hands, not to depend on others for his survival or doom.

Never before had he so desperately longed for martial arts!

Of course, martial prowess was never the sole reliance for a person’s survival in this world, nor even the main one. But at present, Xu You had no power, no wealth, no connections, no resources, no refuge, no safe house, and yet he must confront relentless enemies bent on his death.

Truly, he had no other choice!

But fate played a cruel joke, stripping even this last option from him.

“A Hundred Captain?”

Fei Yao could scarcely believe it, but seeing the color and style of Deng Tao’s armor, it was unmistakably that of a Hundred Captain from the Yuan clan’s forces. Doubt flickered in his heart, and his expression changed.

Could it be that the Yuan clan’s martial strength had grown so formidable, not inferior to great families like Shen and Xu, that even a mere Hundred Captain possessed such prowess? Even if he made it aboard, what then?

Fei Yao was steadfast of mind, rarely swayed by the world, but never could he have imagined someone like Deng Tao—a freak, hiding his strength, lowering his rank to serve as a minor captain among a rabble of guards.

Deng Tao, whose eyes never left Fei Yao for even a heartbeat, instantly caught the shift in his expression, knowing the moment must not be wasted. With a sweeping gesture, seven Thunderbolt Crossbows appeared on both sides of the bow; triggers pulled, twenty-one bolts shot toward Fei Yao’s head, throat, chest, and beneath the water toward his belly.