He turned his head towards the mysterious figure and his eyes squinted for a moment, before his heart shook with trepidation. He could not sense this person's cultivation, and that only meant one thing. The mysterious figure seemed to be far stronger than him.
Even Lan Xue rose to her feet only to stare at Qinxuan who was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable with all the glaring and probing.
"Another wave of the beast horde is slowly approaching this clearing. We need to leave here now.."
Qingxuan turned to Long Feng, who thankfully, came back to his senses and nodded in agreement. He first picked up his battle axe, rushed to the unconscious Lu Chang, slung him over his shoulder and rushed towards the caravan.
"I'll need to treat him. Xue'er you ride." They didn't even take out anything from their tents and simply jumped on the caravan. Long Feng placed Lu Chang within and began to feed him healing pellets while Lan Xue took the wheels. The horses that pulled the caravan were demonic horses hence their speed was naturally faster than ordinary horses.
Qingxuan hopped onto the side, bow in hand. His glance swept through the entire vicinity, scanning and structuring a way out of the beast horde attack. His gaze was unimpaired even in the darkness.
"Head West.." His voice came out as a deep whisper. Lan Xue saddled. "And no matter what happens, keep going, don't stop.." He warned.
The horses neighed. Their hooves dug into the soil and sped off through the night. A small lantern was lit by the rails of the caravan, allowing Lan Xue to see and direct her path.
Qingxuan exhaled slowly. He palm tightened around the bow. His heart beat rapidly within his chest, but he kept his composure, and a small nonchalant look on his face. He loosed the blindfolds around his eyes and let them shine to the outside world.
His perception sped up tens of times. He didn't expand his vision to the full range he could. Instead he focused on the escape route he had mapped out and restricted his gaze to about a 200m radius around them.
He took out the first arrow, knocked it onto the bowstring and stretched it taut.
SOU!
As the arrow screamed through the air, a gigantic vulture that was soaring towards them met it right in the eye with a sickening welch.
The second arrow screamed through the night, and caught another tiger like beast right down the throat before it could get close.
Qingxuan knocked the third arrow onto the bowstring and exhaled, then he turned towards Lan Xue who was busily steering the caravan.
"You!!!"
Her heart screamed within her chest, and she nearly left the reins in shock, but she remembered what he had told her before the caravan took off.
The straw hat covered the upper part of his face so unless he raised his head, she wasn't really going to see his eyes. He took in a deep breath and released the arrow.
SOU!
The moment the arrow left the bowstring, time seemed to slow down. The arrow tore through folded layers of air, and whizzed over Lan Xue's ear. Just a little bit lower and it would've taken her whole ear off. A white demonic wolf that had pounced towards her got shot right in the skull. Its body crashed to the ground and rolled to a stop several meters away.
"I told you.. to keep your eyes on the road.." Qingxuan spoke calmly, slowly even, as he knocked two arrows onto the bowstring. His voice had some sort of whispery tone to it that made it sound dreamy to her ears.
Two twin rhino demonic beasts crashed into the caravan from both sides causing it to shake dangerously.
Qingxuan's eyes turned cold. If the caravan was destroyed here in the middle of nowhere, the situation would become worse.
He took a deep breath, used the side rails of the caravan as a footstool and flipped into mid air, with an acrobatic spin.
SOU!!
The two arrows tore through the air at breakneck speeds. The moment they left the bowstring, one diverted to the left side of the caravan, while the other whizzed to the right side. Both struck the rhinos right in their eyeballs, causing both to drop dead in a gory mess.
Lan Xue's eyes shone for a moment as she watched Qingxuan. Being an archer herself she knew just how impossible the feat Qingxuan had just achieved casually us. If she was in his shoes, she'd have shot both arrows separately, but maybe he wasn't human after all.
He landed and rested his back against the caravan. A large iron spiked bear crawled from the shadows. It pounced towards the caravan. An arrow cracked into its skull.
A large reptile like lizard tried to attack the two demonic horses. Two arrows ripped into its gut and its throat, finishing it off instantly.
In the blink of an eye, more than 20 minutes had passed. The dead corpses of demonic beasts littered the ground where the caravan had passed, all killed with having either one or two arrows rip into the vital spots.
Qingxuan's fingers bled, his muscles ached, and his breathing felt uneven. He was slowly running out of strength. He took a deep breath and rested his head against body of the caravan, taking in deep breaths as he closed his eyes.
However, a moment later , his eyes snapped open and he let out another sigh. "That's not good.." The moment his voice sounded, a large figure crashed into the caravan, causing it to shake violently nearly toppling the entire vehicle.
"What the hell is that?!" Lan Xue asked, terrified. Even Long Feng popped out his head in shock. He sensed it. A bonafide Grade 3 beast. And at the moment, none of them were in any condition to fight it, maybe except Qingxuan.
A humongous mammoth like creature with long iron tusks chased after the caravan and crashed its body into it once more.
BANG!
The caravan nearly skid off path and toppled down. Lan Xue's arms shivered holding the reins. "Is this it? Are we going to die here?" A tear streamed down her face. Long Feng sighed and patted her shoulder, before came out and sat beside them.
Qingxuan took one look at Lan Xue and rolled his eyes. Wasn't she some kind of hardcore mercenary? How come he was having to save their asses and babysit on top of it.
"Keep your eyes…. on the road." His voice sounded in a commandeering tone. She watched him intently. There was not a single iota of panic on his face, and it calmed her down. He had saved them more than once just tonight, but if he could once again pull off a miracle.
BANG!
The mammoth like beast smashed its body into the caravan once more, causing it to shake violently. One of the demonic horses nearly lost its balance.
"There's something I wanna try, but I'll need to distract it.. Have anything I could use? Explosives?" Qingxuan asked, while knocking another arrow onto the bowstring.
"I know what you need." Long Feng rushed into the caravan once and pulled out a bag filled with dynamites and exploding ores.
And then he sent a glance to Lan Xue. "In about half a mile, turn and make a detour.."
Long Feng took the reins. Lan Xue beside him, her heart beating like drums within her chest.
The mammoth like demonic beast, charged up, about to crash into the caravan once more but, by the time it moved…
"Now!"
With a loud cry, Long Feng pulled on the reins with all his might. The demonic horses neighed and make a sharp turn to the left.
CRASH!!
The mammoth like beast banged its body into nothing but air and crashed into the ground heavily. As the caravan made the detour, an arrow screamed through the air and stabbed into the ground before the mammoth like creature. But it wasn't a normal arrow. Its end was connected to a string that held about a dozen dynamites and exploding ores.
BOOOOOM!!!!
The explosions set off like a chain reaction, repelling and even killing the waves of demonic beasts that were still chasing after the caravan.
"Did we do it?!" Lan Xue could finally breathe again. But, she saw the graveness on Qingxuan's face and deflated like a balloon.
Right on cue, large stomping noise sounded out behind them. Long Feng stretched his neck to see, and his face fell. The mammoth like beast was gravely injured. The hair and patches of skin on its body had been burnt to cinders, and one of its tusks had broken off, dealing it incredible pain. But its eyes held nothing more than a feral murderous glare as it chased after the caravan.
"I guess I'd have to use it after all.." Qingxuan sounded depressed. He touched his forehead, pulled out his blindfold and wrapped it around his eyes, the turned to Long Feng and co.
"I'd probably go unconscious after I use this move. I trust you can take care of things from here.." He didn't wait for answer, fixed one arrow in between his teeth and climbed to the top of the caravan.
Long Feng's eyes glowed with resolve. His grip tightened around the reins. Qingxuan climbed to his feet, knocked the arrow onto the bowstring and pulled it taut, towards the incoming mammoth like creature.
He had not gotten to the point where his mental energy could affect the physical, but he could still do this. He allowed his eyes to pull out strands of mental energy, and wrapped them around the tip of his arrow. Not just wrapping it around, he did it with intent.
For this attack, once it struck, the mental energy coating the arrow would detonate, causing permanent damage to the soul.
No other cultivator in his place would've been able to do such a thing.
But Qingxuan could, all thanks to his right eye of Heavenly Essence.
He took a deep breath and felt a cold ripple envelope the tip of his arrow. "Hm?!" Long Feng who was steering the caravan felt it, the invisible ripple of energy that caused him to feel an inward pressure, as if something was pressing down on his heart.
The mammoth seemed to see through what Qinxuan was going to do, roared and crashed its body's weight into the caravan once more. This time, the whole caravan shook, and steered off direction, but Long Feng was experienced. He pulled on the reins with all his strength, forcing the demonic horses back on track.
Qingxuan's feet were however anchored on the caravan as such he did not move. The moment the move was ready, the arrow left the bowstring and time began to slow.
Blood dripped from Qingxuan's nose as his consciousness slowly faded. The silent Gale Bow fell from his grip, forever lost in the mountain range.
A beast as huge as the mammoth like creature was rarely agile, therefore it could only face Qingxuan's arrow head on.
It ripped into the flesh between its brows and a boom resounded within its core.
BANG!
Its body shut down almost instantly and dropped to the ground with a resounding bang.
"Lan Xue!" Meanwhile Long Feng called out, and she wasted no time and grabbed Qingxuan's falling figure, before dragging him into the caravan.