Chapter 47: Chapter 47: The Divine Archer The scene was utter chaos at this moment. Screams and shouts of killing filled the air, corpses scattered everywhere—both of the mountain bandits and the manor’s villagers and porters. Gu Sheng looked at the familiar faces on the ground, his heart heavy with sorrow. He occasionally bent his bow and released an arrow to help these ordinary people flee for their lives, but he was far from invincible and had to prioritize his own survival. Gu Erniu’s eyes blazed with anger; his straightforward temperament made him feel a desperate urge to charge back into the fray. But Gu Sheng held onto him firmly. Suddenly, Gu Erniu let out a low cry of alarm, pointing into the distance. "Asheng, look over there—Gu Renxu, the manager!" Gu Sheng had just loosed an arrow that pierced through the throat of a mountain bandit when he heard Gu Erniu’s words and immediately turned to look. His pupils constricted sharply. He saw Gu Renxu being protected by several villagers as they fled toward the forest, but behind them, several mountain bandits with strong physiques were swiftly chasing after them. These bandits weren’t fools; they knew to target individuals who appeared to hold higher status. One by one, the villagers were cut down—at best, they managed to wound their attackers in their final moments, but the difference in combat skills between the two sides was evident. Although the disorganized fleeing forces weren’t seasoned warriors, their battle-hardened grit from surviving the battlegrounds far surpassed the average mountain bandit. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦 Gu Sheng watched as a mountain bandit behind Gu Renxu raised his chopper high with a cruel grin. Gu Sheng’s eyes narrowed, and he hesitated not even for a moment. Gu Renxu had shown the two of them much care, and since he had the ability to save him, it was his duty to act. In his vision. The movements of the mountain bandit suddenly seemed to slow down—the blood dripping from the chopper and the malicious grin on his face crystal clear. Gu Sheng bent his bow and nocked his arrow. The arrow shot forth like thunder! Whoosh!! Accompanied by an ear-piercing whistling sound, the mountain bandit’s savage grin instantly froze as the arrow pierced through his throat. It embedded so deeply that only a fraction of the shaft remained visible. Gu Renxu, who had been fearing for his life, suddenly found himself saved, and a surge of relief washed over him—a sense of narrowly escaping death. From afar, he cast a glance toward Gu Sheng, his eyes brimming with gratitude and a deep sense of fortune. Yet. Just as he prepared to flee deeper into the forest, his steps abruptly halted, his body stiffening as if rooted in place. The expression of relief on his face froze as he looked down in shock. Before his astonished eyes, the blade of a longsword emerged from his chest. Blood dripped from the sword’s tip. With a dull thud, Gu Renxu collapsed lifelessly to the ground. Gu Erniu’s eyes widened in rage and disbelief, while any trace of relief in Gu Sheng’s heart vanished instantly. His gaze turned steely and cold as he looked toward the source of the attack. Not far from Gu Renxu lay a mountain bandit who gazed at them defiantly and viciously. The longsword—it was the one tossed by this man just now. Such power and precision were beyond the capabilities of common bandits. "Let’s go!" Gu Sheng wasted no time, suppressing the fury and killing intent in his heart as he dragged Gu Erniu and darted into the forest. Facing a martial artist directly, he had no confidence of prevailing. The mountain bandit martial artist sneered coldly, glancing in the direction Gu Sheng and Gu Erniu fled before giving up pursuit. Instead, he turned to attack others. In his eyes, once the larger threats were dealt with, no small fry would be able to escape. Gu Sheng and Gu Erniu ducked into the forest. Although their safety improved slightly, desperate cries of combat could still be heard sporadically. Even within the forest, mountain bandits were tirelessly hunting the fleeing villagers. The scene of Gu Renxu being impaled by a sword replayed in Gu Sheng’s mind. He remained silent, his expression icy. Gu Erniu’s eyes were bloodshot as well. Although the two of them hadn’t interacted deeply with Gu Renxu, the manager had been kind to them throughout this journey. Witnessing his death before their eyes left them both filled with hatred toward the mountain bandits. "Asheng, what do we do now?" It was Gu Erniu’s first time facing such a situation, and panic gripped him. Unable to compose himself, he blurted the question. Gu Sheng took a deep breath, his mind racing for solutions. "We can’t place all our hopes on reinforcements. Here in the forest, we can use our archery skills to kill as many mountain bandits as possible, alleviating the pressure on our people and buying time." "These bandits are familiar with the terrain here. If they manage to eliminate the manor’s martial artists, we won’t stand a chance of escaping either." Gu Sheng had never planned to run. Diving into the forest was merely to improve their chances of survival and better leverage his archery skills. There was one thought he hadn’t voiced aloud. If they fled in cowardice now, even if they safely returned to Gu’s Manor, their outcome wouldn’t be favorable unless they sought another path—a considerably difficult venture. The manor’s procurement team had waived hunters’ entry fees because of their archery skills. To some degree, they held a shared responsibility for protection. "Alright, I’ll do whatever you say." Gu Erniu, reassured by Gu Sheng’s calm and methodical demeanor, nodded hurriedly. "You keep watch and warn me if someone sneaks up. I’ll focus on killing bandits!" Gu Sheng spoke firmly before starting to scan the battlefield below. The fighting raged on between the two sides, with more bodies littering the ground. Severed limbs and the overwhelming stench of blood painted a grim sight. His eyes, sharp as a hawk’s, were utterly focused. Soon. He locked onto a target. The mountain bandit wasn’t a martial artist but was lithe and fierce-looking. Wielding a longblade, he swung it repeatedly, forcing a young man from Gu’s Manor to retreat further and further. Gu Sheng’s gaze turned razor-sharp, his bowstring vibrating as he unleashed an arrow like a shooting star! The two-stone strong bow amplified the power of his shots, and with no need for restraint, his perfect archery skills could finally shine. Under Gu Erniu’s astonished gaze, the arrow bridged a distance of 200 meters in an instant, striking precisely into the mountain bandit’s throat. "Move—find another spot!" After firing, Gu Sheng crouched low and barked the command without sparing the slightest glance at the outcome. His confidence in his archery was absolute. Gu Erniu quickly responded in agreement. His eyes burned with admiration. "Asheng’s archery... seems to have gotten even stronger!" Being able to pierce a throat from 200 meters away, and still not reaching his limits—this level of skill was terrifying. The rescued young man from Gu’s Manor cast a glance toward the forest with gratitude and curiosity. The figure responsible for the miraculous shot vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving him unable to see clearly. "When did the manor gain such a powerful archer?" But now wasn’t the time for idle thoughts. He grabbed his weapon and quickly ran to another corner of the battlefield. Gu Sheng’s cold eyes continued to scan for suitable targets. He avoided martial artists entirely, focusing only on those he was confident he could eliminate with a single shot. One arrow after another soared from the forest like death’s scythes, harvesting the lives of mountain bandits. Many fell to the ground, throats pierced, their deaths gruesome. The pressure on Gu’s Manor’s people was significantly alleviated. Gu Erniu, awestruck, had reached a point of numb amazement, even harboring strands of worship in his heart. This level of archery was simply extraordinary! With Gu Sheng’s aid. Gu’s Manor’s fighters gained strength and confidence, while the mountain bandits were overwhelmed by fury and fear. Gu Sheng moved like a slippery eel, firing an arrow and relocating immediately, making himself impossible to catch—an unpredictable phantom. This hidden archer cast an ominous shadow over the mountain bandits’ hearts, hindering their actions with fear and uncertainty. The bandits gritted their teeth, many enraged beyond measure. Wang Chong’s bloodthirsty gaze turned even fiercer, regretting deeply the moment he had let such a formidable prey escape into the forest. Now, it was too late. Without deploying martial artists to hunt down this elusive archer, merely approaching him would result in death. As Gu Sheng reached behind him to retrieve another arrow, his fingers brushed against an empty quiver on the left side—only three arrows coated with black blood remained on the right. Gu Erniu’s stock of arrows had also been handed over. Gu Sheng let out a deep breath and decided to cease shooting temporarily. "What needed to be done has been done. Now, we can only wait for reinforcements." His lack of action instead instilled greater dread in the hearts of the mountain bandits. The numerical advantage of the bandits had utterly collapsed; the remaining fighters from Gu’s Manor were now holding their ground without issue.