Chapter 139: Chapter 139: 139: What is a Sneak Attack (Second Update)

Overwhelming my ass, Lang Zhen thought dismissively with a snort, “Keep your cool, it’s just that they haven’t decided whether to turn hostile or not.”

Huh? Can there really be such an interpretation? Deng Lao Er’s eyes widened in astonishment upon hearing this.

“They’ve come with two or three hundred people… isn’t that already turning hostile?”

In the eyes of the youth, one should live a life full of quick retribution for kindness and enmity. Their side, with merely a few individuals, dared to act this way, yet the massive Zhao Family Fortress, if it didn’t seek revenge, that was fine, but once they took action, they should be resolutely decisive; otherwise, how could they protect the entire clan?

However, Deng Lao Da seemed to understand a bit. He nodded slightly, musing, “Is this the way for a clan to survive?”

It must be known that he was the eldest of the Deng Family, and if the clan were to develop and expand in the future, he was the most likely to become the Clan Leader. Therefore, long before his younger siblings were still carefree and playing, he had already taken on the responsibility of the eldest brother.

Upon observing him, Lang Zhen nodded approvingly, “There are many types of survival strategies for a clan. I’ve seen clans that live for swift justice, and those that can let go easily. But what I’ve seen the most are these overly cautious clans, always wavering…”

Having finished speaking, a scornful smile once again surfaced at the corner of his mouth.

However, regardless of whether he looked down on such clans, it was a fact that these kinds of clans had an easier time surviving and growing stronger.

Indecisiveness might sound cowardly, but it really doesn’t mean weakness, as they can switch to a tough stance at any moment—there’s just one condition, the opponent must be weaker.

“I’m really annoyed by these indecisive jerks,” Deng Lao Er scoffed disdainfully, “Even if they don’t come back for revenge, at least they can pick up and let go easily. I wouldn’t look down on them then.”

Lang Zhen glanced at him, intending to say something, then thought better of it: Who hasn’t been young before? When I was young, I was even less sensible than him.

So he cleared his throat and raised his voice authoritatively, “People of Zhao Family Fortress, listen well! Dare to come within two li of us, and you’ll be killed without mercy. Consider this your warning!”

The phrase “Consider this your warning” was something he heard from Feng Jun. He thought it was exceedingly cool at the time, so he borrowed it without hesitation.

In the open wilderness, Lone Wolf’s voice boomed like rolling thunder, carrying far into the distance.

“Tch,” Elder Zhao snorted with disdain upon hearing this, “Does he think he’s escorting a convoy or something?”

The custom of demanding a two-li clearance originated in the Escort Bureau industry. When they guarded a convoy or took a rest in the wild, they would require people within two li to disperse.

To ordinary people, two li was a considerable distance to walk, but for martial masters, it was but the blink of an eye.

At such a proximity, if a martial master suddenly attacked, the Escort Bureau would likely be caught off guard.

Therefore, during their missions, they would issue such demands, which made sense.

Of course, if the other party stubbornly refused to leave the two-li range, the Escort Bureau might not opt for a fight, but would likely choose a different spot to station—You won’t leave? Then we will!

If the Escort Bureau moved to another location and the opponent kept pestering, insisting on moving within the two-li range, the Bureau’s members had ample reason to take action.

—To punish without teaching is our fault, but if you continue to follow after being warned, then don’t blame us for being impolite.

Now, Lang Zhen’s warning might not have been fully justified, but by invoking the conventions of caravan protection, he was indicating a readiness for battle.

But where would Elder Zhao understand such a warning? This wasn’t Lone Wolf’s territory; the roads belonged to everyone, and everyone walked them!

Even establishing rules should be the Zhige People dictating to the outsiders! Outsiders trying to establish territory in Zhige? Sorry, but the Zhige People won’t indulge you in such habits.

So he jutted his chin upward, without a second thought he declared, “Don’t bother with them. I’ve walked this land for fifty years, and this is the first I’ve heard that I’m somehow not allowed to walk here… damn it, who does he think he is?”

However, he still arranged for some of the elderly and women to walk in front. Zhao Family Fortress had brought over a hundred able-bodied men today, but also a similar number of the elderly, women, and children, who were there to garner sympathy.

Elder Zhao didn’t believe that the other side would really dare to strike at these vulnerable individuals.

On this plane, there was no illogical reasoning of “the weak are in the right,” yet it wasn’t the naked survival of the fittest either. In broad terms, it was a kind of simple, naturally occurring moral logic, akin to “Respect the old and nurture the young.”

Certainly, this moral binding force wasn’t strong; otherwise, Feifei wouldn’t have suffered that kick.

But if Lone Wolf truly dared to raise a hand against Zhige County’s elderly and children, the local people would be up in arms—Where are the men of Zhige? Have they all died off, allowing outsiders to swagger around unchecked?

Sure enough, they clearly entered within the two-li range, and the other side didn’t react.

“Speed up!” Elder Zhao raised his chin, excitedly giving the command, “Don’t let them get away!”

Minister Luo was leisurely trailing behind with four martial masters, as if they were out enjoying a spring outing.

As the group of more than two hundred people began to accelerate, Lang Zhen’s expression soured, “Damn it, it’s just bullying us outsiders; I wonder whether Divine Doctor is willing to wipe them out completely.”

“Wipe them all out?” A voice rose from behind him, “It’s not out of the question… Do they have a death wish or something?”

It turned out that Feng Jun had also stepped out of the house, still holding a wooden butt-ended iron club in his left hand, and a thick iron cylinder in his right.

“A death wish?” Lang Zhen’s mouth twitched slightly, and he sighed to himself. It seemed that even the Divine Doctor could be quite naïve.

If it had been up to him back in the days when he was escorting shipments, there wouldn’t have been so much fuss—whenever his escort bureau faced the threat of encirclement, it simply became the assailants’ death wish—you don’t want to die, so you would have to!

Divine Doctor, you are a cultivator, after all. Just by virtue of your status, isn’t their aggressive approach tantamount to a death wish?

However, he understood that Feng Jun was out on a “trial” and didn’t wish to show off unnecessarily. Thus, he could only pick up his binoculars, “Hmm, let me take a look… Ah, that seems to be a war bow!”

Feng Jun also jumped in fright when he heard this. He was not unfamiliar with weapons of war. Back when he saved Lang Zhen’s elder sister, the middle-aged man he killed had carried a faux war weapon longsword, capable of blasting a large hole in a rock.

Regrettably, the technique attached to that imitation war weapon vanished after its use, rendering it no more than an ordinary longsword.

Gathering his sight, he spotted someone stopping more than a mile away, raising a longbow, and he couldn’t help but ask aloud, “Is it that bow there?”

“What else could shoot from such a distance besides a war bow?” Lang Zhen swayed, retreating backward, “Deng Lao Da, Deng Lao Er… Retreat quickly and find somewhere to hide!”

Upon hearing that the other side had a war bow, the Deng brothers leaped up like startled rabbits and then skittered away low to the ground.

Feng Jun watched the three men hastily retreating, swallowing his saliva reflexively: Lang Zhen, you just had to not let me pull back, damn… How much confidence must you have in me?

Nevertheless, since things had already reached this point, he felt too embarrassed to retreat and decided to set down his 82PAI anti-materiel rifle, picking up the Type 56 assault rifle instead.

The Type 56 he held had been maintained pretty well, with its rifling showing little wear. Just the other day, he had test-fired a dozen or so cartridges and found the rifle to be well adjusted—at least within three hundred meters, there was no significant error.

But the problem was that he was now five or six hundred meters away from the bow wielder.

During his military training at university, Feng Jun had shot targets before and he had been quite good—scoring forty-eight out of fifty for a half-sized target at one hundred and fifty meters. Moreover, his eyesight was now much stronger than the average person, and his body’s coordination was also quite exceptional.

However, despite this, using a Type 56 to hit a target five to six hundred meters away, to be honest, he had no confidence at all—even with a well-calibrated gun, he was not a professional marksman!

He was even less confident using a cannon.

He wetted his fingertip with some saliva to feel the wind direction and was pleased to discover that there seemed… to be no wind at all?

No matter! He chambered a round with the bolt, squatted down halfway, and began aiming in a kneeling position.

At such a long distance, aiming with a rifle was tough and it was even tougher with a war bow. Everything that Feng Jun had to do to gauge the windspeed, the other side had to do as well—no matter how powerful a war weapon was, it was useless if you couldn’t aim right, wasn’t it?

Finally, arrows were nocked and the bow drawn, slowly pulling back the bowstring. The person drawing the bow was a high-rank martial warrior, the number one sharpshooter from the Zhao family compound. Although it would be better to wield war weapons with a martial master, the problem was… Elder Zhao’s accuracy wasn’t up to the task.

And at the moment, the Zhao compound only had one martial master, who had to be reserved for welcoming guests and coordinating combat.

This warrior was slowly exerting force and had just begun to pull the war bow to its full arc when there was a soft “pfft” sound, and the bow instantly shattered into pieces.

Feng Jun’s shot, as luck would have it, struck the limb of the war bow, which snapped instantly.

As the war bow was about to be fully drawn, the broken limb snapped back in an instant with incredible speed.

The broken limb recoiled immediately, one end’s splinters embedding directly into the archer’s left eye socket.

The bowman hadn’t even realized what had happened before he screamed in agony, dropping the broken bow and rolling on the ground, clutching his eye.

“You bastard!” Elder Zhao raged with eyes that seemed about to burst, “How dare you ambush us like that!”

Anyway, the reasoning was on his side. If the Zhao family members pulling the war bow weren’t considered ambushing, then even after the other side had given a warning, declaring “don’t say I didn’t tell you beforehand,” and then making their move, it was still an ambush in his eyes.

Those around him were stunned, barely able to believe their eyes.

“The war bow… ruined just like that? But that’s a war weapon—how is that possible?”

“Indeed, war weapons are supposed to be exceedingly hard. What could the other side possibly be using?”

Elder Zhao didn’t bother comforting his clan members, and quickly approached the esteemed guests, raising his hand in salute and speaking with heartfelt pain.

“The scoundrel possesses an excellent war weapon, which has harmed our clan’s ancestral bow. I implore Minister Luo to speak for our Zhao family. All previous conditions remain the same, and the war weapon will also belong to the minister,” he proposed.

Minister Luo gave him a strange look, “An excellent war weapon… are you sure? If it isn’t, will you compensate me with an excellent war weapon?”