Seeking good fortune and avoiding misfortune: Starting with death row inmates

Zhang Xiaolong and Shen Chen killed two more black bears. After confirming that there was no more movement in the forest, the two prepared to leave.

"Xiaolong, your archery is excellent. Were you a hunter before you became an outlaw?" Shen Chen asked Zhang Xiaolong.

Zhang Xiaolong said, "My parents used to be hunters. When I was nine years old, the government conscripted them to do forced labor, leaving only me and Xiaohu at home. I survived by hunting."

"Once, I was selling furs outside when I was spotted by government officials," Zhang Xiaolong said. "Those officials wouldn't allow me to do business on the street, saying it was bad for the appearance of the street, and they even wanted to confiscate my things... Haha, I still don't understand, is the so-called appearance of the street more important than people's livelihoods?"

"That's when Boss Qin came out and killed that constable, then took me and Xiao Hu up the mountain," Zhang Xiaolong said. "He's a tough guy, and I've always wanted to be like him."

Shen Chen laughed and said, "No wonder you kept trying to fight him."

Zhang Xiaolong sighed, "It's a pity that after practicing for so long, I still can't withstand one of his strikes."

[Bad omen: You have entered an ambush; you are surrounded by assassins who want to kill you. Ominous.]

In an instant, a line of blood-red text appeared before Shen Chen's eyes.

"Get down!" Shen Chen's pupils contracted, and he immediately roared.

"Whoosh!" At the same time, the sound of an arrow cutting through the wind suddenly rang out, and an arrow shot out without warning.

"Shen, watch out!" Zhang Xiaolong immediately stepped in front of Shen Chen, and the arrow pierced through Zhang Xiaolong's left lung in an instant.

"Damn it!" Zhang Xiaolong's face turned deathly pale instantly.

Shen Chen immediately pulled Zhang Xiaolong behind a tree, but in the blink of an eye, another arrow whistled and stuck into the tree trunk.

Shen Chen lowered his head to listen for the sounds and pinpoint their location. He heard rustling footsteps coming from the bushes not far away, indicating that two people were walking side by side. In addition, he could hear the sound of bows being drawn and strung from the east and west sides.

"Four...no, five people at the Internal Organs Realm, and one of them seems to have reached the threshold of the True Qi Realm. What a formidable force!" Shen Chen exclaimed in shock and anger. "Who wants to kill me?"

Without time to think, Shen Chen took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

Zhang Xiaolong had already fallen to the ground, the arrow in his chest rising and falling with each breath, the amplitude of which grew weaker and weaker, clearly indicating that there was no hope of recovery.

Faced with a sudden ambush, you decide—

[Good fortune: First, use arrows to kill the archers to the east to reduce the pressure. Auspicious]

[Bad Luck: You and Zhang Xiaolong will fight your way out together, but you will both die in the encirclement. Extremely unlucky]

Shen Chen didn't pay much attention to Zhang Xiaolong's situation. He hooked the bow and arrow next to Zhang Xiaolong with his toe, pulled it into his hand, and immediately focused his attention on the east.

The winter sun shone through the gaps in the trees, casting its rays, and a glint of cold light flashed by in the thicket.

"I see you!"

Shen Chen fired an arrow, and a muffled groan came from the bushes, followed by silence.

"Whoosh!" Another arrow shot towards Shen Chen's back, but Shen Chen was already prepared. Upon hearing the sound, he immediately crouched down, rolled away, and rushed towards the two masked men opposite him.

The two burly men were initially puzzled when they saw Shen Chen not dodging or avoiding them, but instead charging towards them. Then they were overjoyed.

"Slash!" Shen Chen swung his knife sharply, the blade slashing out at an odd angle, passing through the gap between the two burly men's blades, and almost keeping in a straight line with the height of their necks!

"Not good!" The two burly men's expressions changed drastically, and they hurriedly drew their swords to defend themselves.

"Clang!" The blades collided in the air, sparks flying everywhere!

"We've defended against it!" The two burly men felt relieved upon hearing the voice.

But they immediately felt a sharp pain, and their vision was turned upside down. In their rapidly darkening vision were two headless corpses gushing blood.

"Such a fast knife..." the two couldn't help but think, before their vision was completely plunged into darkness.

Shen Chen exhaled a breath of white air, fully activating the Extreme Yang Breathing Technique to heal the hidden injuries caused by the previous strike.

Among Qin Pi's five sword techniques—"stab, shave, slice, chop, and gouge"—"slice" is the most accurate and explosive. Shen Chen had to exert all his strength to use this move, and the results were the most remarkable—he killed two Visceral Realm warriors with a single strike, and the two didn't even have a chance to react.

The masked man behind him clearly saw the fighting power Shen Chen had just unleashed and immediately exclaimed, "This guy's got real strength! He might be a True Qi martial artist!"

Several more arrows came flying, and Shen Chen quickly used the two corpses on the ground to block them. He threw the bodies aside and rushed into the forest path beside him.

"We can't let him get away!" the leader of the archers roared. He put down his bow and charged at Shen Chen like a cheetah. His companions in front also rushed towards Shen Chen.

The burly man who was leading the group took a few steps, but when he saw Shen Chen lower his stance and grip his knife, he immediately stopped in shock: "He can actually draw his knife?"

Taking advantage of the moment he stopped, Shen Chen took a step forward, suddenly changed his move, and rushed towards the burly man closest to him.

"Come on!" the big man roared. His weapon was a tiger-headed broadsword, heavy enough to weigh a hundred pounds. It could break skin and fracture bones with a single blow!

He was strong and powerful. With a single slash, the blade's energy swept up the surrounding fallen leaves, instantly leaving a foot-deep gash on the ground.

Shen Chen sidestepped, narrowly avoiding the attack by an extremely tight distance. He calmed himself down, the sound of his heart pounding in his ears.

In the darkness, a surge of energy arose from within his abdomen, flickering like a candle flame.

"True Qi." Shen Chen caught the wisp of Qi, but at that moment, the burly man's broadsword came crashing down on him, and the leading burly man in front of him had also come to his senses and was attacking him with his sword.

In such a perilous situation, Shen Chen has only one way to survive.

He seized the wisp of energy to recover his strength, then used the "Thrust" technique to quickly assassinate the burly man wielding the tiger-head broadsword, while simultaneously defending against the remaining man's killing move!

It must be done! Failure to do so means death!

Shen Chen's gaze was resolute. The faint wisp of energy in his dantian was suddenly seized and channeled into his internal organs.

At the same time, the long sword was drawn, and the body shot out like a long-compressed spring in an instant!

prick!

The thrust was incredibly fast, like an osprey plunging into the water and seizing a flying fish. In an instant, it pierced the throat of the burly man wielding the knife. At that moment, his eyes were wide open in anger, his muscles were hard, and he was frozen in a fighting stance, seemingly still unable to accept the fact that he was dead.

The tiger-headed broadsword in his hand fell through the air and crashed into the ground with a resounding "Bang!"

At the same time, Shen Chen pulled the burly man's corpse to his side with one hand. The next second, a long knife severed the corpse's shoulder and head, and a large amount of blood splattered all over Shen Chen's face.

He abruptly dropped the corpse, kicked the last martial artist away, and said in an icy voice, "Your turn."