Volume 3 – The Place Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 59: Danger (1)
In their eyes, Qianye was just a commoner who relied on a bit of military and hunter skills to earn a living in the lower continent, and by chance climbed on the big tree called the Yin Family while he was out on a mission. This was supposed to be a story about an extremely average person being lucky enough to be recognized by an aristocratic family.
However, when Qianye snatched half of the Zhao household’s prey with Eagleshot’s super long firing range on his lonesome and was still able to survive to this day, the angle of discussion took a different turn. Now, the people were talking how insightful Qiqi was to be able to unveil such talent from a place like the Evernight Continent.
To be frank, the discovery of Qianye was more luck than skill from anyone’s part. However, the Empire had always cared for the result and not the process, so luck was considered a part of strength as well.
When the crowd learned of the conflict between Qianye and Zhao Junhong, they couldn’t help but smile in amusement. Most of them were laughing at Zhao Junhong’s mismatched team composition and his lack of a member with long firing range. However, this wasn’t really a mistake. After all, who would’ve thought that the Yin Family would bring a sniper who could shoot from a kilometer’s range away with them? A super long range sniper could only display their full abilities on a battlefield. It was not that the aristocratic families didn’t have such talents; most of them just weren’t used as bodyguards.
Although the spring hunt imitated real warfare, it ultimately wasn’t a real battlefield. They only had nine people in a hunting team. Even if there was a hunting team good enough to enter into the final free-for-all stage without a scratch, they still wouldn’t fit a super long range sniper into their team for the sake of extraordinary results. After all, snipers would always be the first target of focus fire due to the incredible threat they presented no matter where the battlefield was.
The aristocratic hunting teams deep within Profound Heaven Mountain Range received the latest news as their supply personnel showed up. Suddenly, every team made a move except the Zhao household.
By now, Zhao Junhong was no longer mad as he looked at Qianye standing faraway on top of a mountain.
He only had three bodyguards left now. Three of his men were disqualified due to severe injuries, and another two were still recuperating inside the temporary campsite and unusable for a day or two. Zhao Junhong had never given any weapon beneath grade five any proper attention until the day a staple army weapon had forced into the embarrassing state he was in. There was no way he was going to admit that Eagleshot’s wielder was the reason why it was so powerful.
Zhao Junhong no longer chased after Qianye, and Qianye no longer attacked his bodyguards either. Both parties seemed to have come to a tacit understanding. However, Zhao Junhong was the only one who understood just how helpless and bitter this “tacit understanding” tasted. Qianye was openly snatching their prey.
Zhao Junhong thought that Qianye wouldn’t be able to snatch too many points since they were a four-man team while Qianye was alone, but that was yet another mistake he made. When it came to prey snatching, four guns with less than 200 meters of firing range were incomparable to one Eagleshot with 1200 meters firing range. Qianye’s shooting ability also exceeded his imagination: Eagleshot’s timber kept resonating within the mountains from time to time.
Tonight, many teams including the lone walkers of landowning households were talking about the same topic.
“What? We’re the number one team already?” Nangong Wanyun couldn’t quite believe her ears. While the First Miss of Yishui Nangong Family appeared sweet and gentle on the outside—she had even purposely wear a skirt while she was resting—the fact that she carried her team to where they were was a testament that her abilities were in no way inferior to men.
Nangong Wanyun pondered for a moment before saying resolutely, “We will slow down our pace. From tomorrow onward, we will put emphasis to our defenses and lay traps around our camp. Make sure that our supply lines are guarded as well!”
A stalwart young man standing beside her said thoughtfully, “Sis, you mean… the Kong Family?”
“Yes! There’s no way that Kong Yanian is satisfied with being second to us. However, he doesn’t have the courage to declare war against us directly either. This person loves stabbing people behind the back the most, so he is most likely planning to attack our supply team.”
The young man frowned, “Doesn’t that mean that we’ll have to watch out for him everyday? What if he doesn’t show up? Isn’t it the same as surrendering the first place?”
Nangong Wanyun was also a little troubled by this. She said, “Do you have a better way then?”
The young man suddenly said, “We should attack his supply first whether or not he attacks ours! At the very least we would be even, wouldn’t we?”
Nangong Wanyun’s eyes lit up as she praised him, “Very well! There’s no time to lose. Let’s follow them closely and attack them the second we find out where their supply base is! Mm, the Yin Family is also not far away from us. Maybe we can consider taking out their base as well.”
“This might work! Right now, Yin Family’s sniper is holding down the Zhao household with all he got—”
Nangong Wanyun was abruptly startled at his words, and she said hastily, “No, forget it, let’s not provoke the Yin Family for now!”
“Why?” the young man was puzzled.
Nangong Wanyun shot him a glare and said, “It’s simple! If that Qian guy could hold down the Zhao household alone, wouldn’t he be able to do the same to us with greater ease? What if Qiqi tells him to attack us? What should we do then?
The young man abruptly understood her meaning. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration passed his mind as he said, “What if we push him to another family? For example the Wei— oh, they’re too far away. The Song household is next to the Zhao household, correct?”
Nangong Wanyun frowned, “This is a good idea, but how are we going to execute this? That Qiqi never plays by the rules; maybe we can use this somehow…”
Somewhere else in the forest, there was another temporary campsite made up of several tents. A gloomy-faced young man was holding a map and looking at it closely beneath a camp.
This young man was Kong Family’s Kong Yanian. Kong Yanian had always been a well known figure among the younger generation of the Kong Family. He was resourceful and decisive, and he only had one flaw compared to someone like Wei Potian, and that was the fact that his cultivation talent was average.
Due to this one flaw, he had to participate in the spring hunt at the Profound Heaven Mountain Range while his second elder brother participated in the spring hunt at Imperial Garden. His brother was a guy who was all brawn and no brain just like Wei Potian, but although his talent was slightly weaker than the son of Wei, it was a lot greater than Kong Yanian’s.
The map before Kong Yanian was labeled with the latest activity area of every aristocratic family. There were also a few arrows marking the landowning household descendants that were subordinate to the Kong Family.
Beside him, a person made a suggestion and said, “Young master, this is a great opportunity. Should we attack Nangong Wanyun’s rear? Let’s see how she’s going to endure the last few days without any supplies!”
Kong Yanian shook his head and said slowly, “Do you think the likes of Nangong Family could hold onto the first spot? We don’t need to act; there are plenty of people who would do our work for us. But don’t you think this Qian Xiaoye is pretty interesting?”
The subordinate asked in confusion, “Are you thinking of recruiting him, young master? He is a part of the Yin Family, though. It may not be an easy task.”
Kong Yanian snorted and said, “Do you seriously think a mere rank five small fry is worthy of our attention? I mean that we should kill him!”
“Kill him? But why?”
“Considering how badly the Zhao household is screwed over by him, I’m sure that Zhao Junhong must hate his guts. If we take him out, wouldn’t we be able to make Second Young Master Zhao owe us a favor?”
The subordinate was still a little puzzled, “But wouldn’t the Zhao household grab the number one spot once more?”
“Let them. There’s no way we, the Kong Family possibly obtain the number one spot under normal circumstances anyway. What’s the point of being greedy over something that isn’t ours to begin with?”
The subordinate came to sudden realization.
Kong Yanian waved his hands and said, “You are well versed in long range sniping too, so take two men with you and drop some hints to those landowning household descendants. Find a way to kill that kid; at the very least you should chase him away from the Zhao household. The rest of you will stay with me. Our own points are pretty important as well. There’s no reason to let go of a top three spot if we can get it.”
“The young master is wise!” the subordinate immediately chose two bodyguards who were good at tracking and ambushing before making his way towards the Zhao household’s hunting area.
There were plenty of people within the aristocratic family’s camps who were thinking about the same thing as Kong Yanian, and that was to take out that lone super long ranged sniper. Of course, not all of them were looking to curry favor with Zhao Junhong. They simply thought that Qianye would stop considering that the Zhao household had already been humiliated pretty badly. Any further actions might affect the two families’ relationship.
However, that sniper wouldn’t stay idle after he left the Zhao household, would he? What if he set his eyes on another target? While his profile stated that he was only at rank five, his sniping and mountain hunting skills was obviously extraordinary. Otherwise, the Zhao household would’ve dealt with him already.
The aristocratic family hadn’t brought many snipers with them, and no one had a firing range of one kilometer. The moment their snipers were sniped on the battlefield, the Zhao household’s conundrum would repeat itself on them. Furthermore, the late stage of the spring hunt was a battle between hunting teams. Every family would use all kinds of methods to strike at the enemy members who represented a high threat level. They were simply acting in advance now because he was alone.
Zhao Junhong tidied his equipment as he sat inside the temporary camp. He was also listening to his bodyguard reporting about the latest news from all parties at the same time.
Zhao Junhong was cold and expressionless when the bodyguard reported about finding other hunting teams acting strangely, crossing their own hunting zones and heading towards their direction. When he heard that some landowning household lone walkers were gathering towards their direction as well, he finally spoke with an extremely disdainful tone, “Shameless vultures.”
The bodyguard didn’t dare to speak any longer when he saw that Zhao Junhong wasn’t brightened up by the news. He retreated from the camp.
Inside the Song household’s camp, Ye Mulan couldn’t restrain the anger burning in her eyes as she watched the intel placed on top of the table. How could she not know who this Qian Xiaoye was? When she saw the Yin Family hunting teams’ data a few days ago, she immediately understood what Yin Qiqi was playing at. That man had attempted to kill her back then, causing her to wake up in cold sweat for the next few days after that incident!
Unfortunately, she knew very well that she could never reveal this from her own mouth be it for the sake of the Gu Family, or the relationship between the Yin and Song household. Besides that, she never did figure out how to break the truth about that evildoer to Song Zining properly. However, Qianye’s foolish provocation of the Zhao household had given her the perfect opportunity.
Ye Mulan arranged her expression outside the maintain before walking inside softly and quietly. She spread out the Yin Family’s hunting team’s profiles and the relevant intel before Song Zining.
Song Zining stared at Ye Mulan’s difficult expression in astonishment. When he took the data and gave it a look, his expression slowly changed over time. His normally gentle expression had turned into one of great fury. No man could withstand being made a fool like this.
Ye Mulan gently hugged Song Zining from behind and spoke with her best calm but slightly indignant voice, “Zining, this is a good opportunity to take out this Yin Family sniper.”
She could feel Song Zining’s body freezing suddenly at her suggestion. Therefore, she softened her voice even more and said, “Look, this is a good opportunity to gain several things in one go. A super long range sniper is too big of a threat towards our point accumulation, so this is the best timing to eliminate this threat while he hasn’t regrouped with the Yin Family’s hunting team just yet. Otherwise, it would cost us more during the late stage of the spring hunt.”
Ye Mulan continued when she saw that Song Zining was silent, “Also, we can take him out as a gesture of goodwill towards Zhao’s second young master.”
It was only now Song Zining seemed to react a little and asked, “Why?”