Surviving in the chaos of war begins in the wilderness.

Chapter 81 The Troublesome Ming Force

The night in the mountains and forests was pitch black. Apart from the occasional chirping of insects, the surroundings were completely silent.

Around a campfire, two men were taking turns keeping watch. Only when the first rays of sunlight appeared on the horizon did they finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Junior Brother Huang, are we just going to abandon Junior Brother Ma like this?"

"Hey? How are we going to bring it back? And there's such a heavy earth dragon! It's worth several hundred taels of silver. We'll give Junior Brother Ma's family a generous share as a token of our goodwill!"

"Yeah, yeah. It's just... I still don't know how to face Junior Brother Ma's family."

"What can we do? The path of martial arts is arduous; how many talented individuals have perished along the way? Including you and me, don't we share this awareness?"

"That's true. I was indeed a bit sentimental. If I had known it would turn out this way, I shouldn't have robbed that mountain traveler. Sigh!"

"Senior Brother Liu, this isn't your fault. The three of us agreed on it. We just didn't expect the mountain hermit to be so troublesome, and in the end, he actually managed to escape?"

"Uh-huh."

"Also, you've just entered the Ming Jin realm, which is when resources are most scarce. I'm also preparing to break through to the Ming Jin realm when I go back this time. With this money, the trip won't have been in vain. At least I won't be short of money for a while."

"Of course I understand what you mean. I just don't know who that mountain hermit is. Otherwise, I'll avenge Junior Brother Ma sooner or later."

"Of course. We'll ask a few of our fellow disciples to help us find out his whereabouts."

How can I find out?

"That's simple. Since he's a mountain hermit who frequently hunts demonic beasts, and he's even a hidden master of cultivation at the Enlightenment level, there aren't many people like him in the county town, are there?"

"Alright! We'll leave things in your care after we get back to the martial arts school."

"..."

The atmosphere was a bit somber. The two talked as they prepared water for breakfast.

However, just sixty or seventy paces away, "a clump of bushes" slowly opened its eyes.

Zhou Ye had been sitting there for most of the night and noticed that the two of them were completely unaware of his presence. So he slowly stood up, crouched down, and quietly approached them.

After walking more than ten steps forward, Zhou Ye found a spot with good visibility and hid behind a large tree.

I first added 1 point to my constitution, and then I was fully recovered.

Then he drew the bow, held his breath, and aimed at the target...

Just as Senior Brother Liu, who possessed the Ming Jin skill, reached the backpack and was about to take out the dry rations from it, he said, "Junior Brother Huang, in the future... enemy attack—!"

Meanwhile, Junior Brother Huang, the swift swordsman, was adding firewood to the campfire. Hearing the shouts, he looked up, slightly startled, and then felt a tremendous force slam into his neck. He was thrown into the air, his neck snapped in mid-air; an iron arrow had pierced right through it.

Without pausing, Zhou Ye fired a second arrow at Senior Brother Liu, who possessed the Ming Jin skill. Sure enough, Senior Brother Liu reacted much faster. He had already drawn his heavy sword from beside his backpack and directly slapped the iron arrow away.

This situation was actually not unexpected for Zhou Ye. Therefore, his first arrow was aimed at Senior Brother Huang, who wielded the swift sword, instead of Senior Brother Liu, who possessed the strength of the Ming Jin, which indeed caught them off guard.

However, we now need to develop the next operational plan.

This time, Zhou Ye only drew the bow to six-tenths of its full length. Instead of an iron arrow, the bowstring held a small round ball.

"Clap clap clap clap..."

In a rapid-fire barrage of arrows, Zhou Ye fired over a dozen small spheres in one go. These spheres were either knocked away or struck trees and rocks nearby, shattering and releasing plumes of smoke.

He held the antidote for the muscle-relaxing powder under his tongue. Zhou Ye's face was also completely covered by a veil. He put away his bow and arrows, drew his javelin from behind him, and then quickly approached.

"call--!"

The first javelin grazed past Senior Brother Liu Mingjin's ear, breaking a lock of his hair.

Ming Jin, the senior brother, finally recognized Zhou Ye. He roared furiously, "You scoundrel, you dare come here again? Prepare to die—!"

"call--!"

The second javelin, then the third...

When all five javelins were thrown, even Zhou Ye was greatly shocked.

To be on the safe side, that's several times the dosage of muscle-relaxing powder? How come this Ming Jin senior brother Liu hasn't been paralyzed yet? His movements and reactions haven't been affected much either; the biggest result is just a minor scratch?

However, upon spotting Zhou Ye, Senior Brother Liu of Mingjin had already pounced on him with lightning speed.

But when he lunged forward and was less than twenty paces away, he suddenly saw Zhou Ye's crossbow already aimed at him? Ming Jin, the senior brother, stopped in his tracks, shouting in fear, "You have a crossbow? Who are you?"

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..."

Zhou Ye completely ignored Ming Jin Liu's nonsense and emptied all five crossbow bolts in the box.

Crossbows were expensive to manufacture, and replacing bolts was quite troublesome. Their only advantages were their high rate of fire and great power. Furthermore, Zhou Ye had coated these bolts with a layer of poison.

At such close range, even Senior Brother Liu, with his formidable strength, couldn't dodge in time. Fortunately, his heavy sword was quite broad, like a long shield, and he managed to block three of them, but the other two struck his target accurately. One pierced his thigh, and the other tore off a large chunk of flesh from his right arm.

However, proximity is a two-way street. Therefore, facing the frenzied attack of Senior Brother Liu Mingjin, Zhou Ye was also unable to escape.

So Zhou Ye put away his crossbow, gripped his shield, drew his thick-backed sword, and the two instantly engaged in fierce combat. Having become familiar with Senior Brother Ming Jin Liu's fighting style yesterday, he avoided direct confrontation and instead used his superior agility to harass and wear him down.

With so much muscle relaxant and poison, even an elephant couldn't last long... right?

A quarter of an hour later, Zhou Ye was once again utterly shocked. Although Senior Brother Ming Jin's movements had slowed considerably, he still maintained a high level of combat power, showing no signs of the poison taking effect anytime soon?

At this moment, even Zhou Ye was nearing his limit. The prolonged depletion of his vital energy was pushing him to his limit.

Isn't this a joke? They wanted to wage a war of attrition, but ended up wearing themselves down?

However, he was now in a bind. Zhou Ye gritted his teeth and added another point to his Constitution, his last natural attribute point. He was back to full health.

This time, however, Zhou Ye was much more cautious. He had made up his mind that if he used up half of his strength again, he would turn around and run away without hesitation.

Without a doubt, Ming Jin martial artists are far more difficult to deal with than Ru Jin martial artists. Their basic stats are basically doubled, around +10. This includes not only explicit stats like strength and agility, but also implicit stats like health and constitution.

We can't judge them based on past experience at all. In fact, they have become something non-human!