Han Yueren hurried to the palace and found the Third Prince safe and sound. Only then did he realize that he had fallen into a trap.
This couldn’t be blamed on his lack of caution. With the current situation in the palace, it was no secret at all that he and the Third Prince were allies. He never imagined that the other party was actually trying to extract this piece of information.
“Master Han, Master Han! This isn’t good…”
“What’s the matter now?”
Han Yueren was in a very bad mood. He had encountered an assassin for no cause and no reason. The other party even tricked him into entering the palace before he had a chance to interrogate the other assassin… He still didn’t know what exactly his enemy’s objective was.
One of his family’s servants ran to report to him in a frightful panic, “Master Han, Youngest Master, he… he was hit by an arrow through his solar plexus(1) and is currently unconscious. Master, please hurry home!”
“What?!”
“Damned assassin!” Han Yueren was instantly shocked and infuriated. He could guarantee that it was the same assassin from before as it would be too much of a coincidence otherwise!
As the saying goes: “Family is off limits and free from retaliation,” but these assassins with no heart actually laid hands on his youngest son!
Han Yueren rushed home as fast as he could, but what he saw was a scene that almost tore him apart — his seventy-year-old mother was holding his six-year-old son Han Hao in her arms as she cried bitterly.
“Hao’er!”
Han Yueren cried out in grief and hurriedly rushed to the front. Indeed, he saw a crossbow arrow that pierced straight through Han Hao’s solar plexus[1], nearly completely sinking into his chest.
The two doctors beside him who rushed here could only give a light sigh and said, “Master Han… our condolences!”
In fact, there was no need for the doctors to say anything. It was also clear from Han Yueren’s years of combat experience that nine times out of ten, not even adults would be able to survive this type of arrow wound, let alone a six-year-old child.
But…
“Just who could do such a vicious thing? I, Han Yueren, will definitely tear you into ten thousand pieces!”
As Han Yueren knelt down in the hall and roared in rage, a bland voice rang out—
“Don’t you know who did it, Master Han?”
Han Yueren suddenly turned and saw the assassin who had previously escaped standing cheerfully in the courtyard outside the hall, with a crossbow in his left hand and a boy’s neck in his right hand.
That boy happened to be Han Yueren’s other son, Han Bang, Han Hao’s older brother, who was only eight years old!
“You! Despicable! Scumbag!” Han Yueren gnashed his teeth so hard he almost shattered them. If looks could kill… Well, the scene would probably be quite terrifying.
It’s a pity that Gu Nan was completely unmoved. With his arm around Han Bang’s neck, he looked at the people in the hall with a sneer.
With Han Yueren’s eyes fixed on Gu Nan with a death glare, he walked out of the hall and coldly said, “Let my son go. Whatever objective you have, you can come at me. Why do you want to hurt innocent people?!”
“Hurt innocent people?” Gu Nan couldn’t help laughing heartily, but then his expression quickly turned cold. “I want to kill your entire family, so how can this be considered hurting innocent people?”
“Don’t!” Upon hearing these words, Han Yueren seemed to understand something and hurriedly screamed aloud.
However, Gu Nan moved even faster. He lifted little Han Bang’s collar with one hand and threw him into the air while raising his left hand, aiming the Four Element Crossbow[2] at the young body.
“Fire!”
The four colors around the Four Element Crossbow flashed red. A fiery red arrow shot out, hitting little Han Bang in midair!
Boom!
A violent explosion rang out. It was accompanied by flying pieces of flesh and mutilated body parts, which fell all over the yard and immediately flooded the nice mansion with the smell of blood.
There was silence in the courtyard. No one made a sound until the bloody mist slowly fell to the ground.
Two faces could be seen.
Gu Nan’s smiling face, which was still calm and indifferent, and Han Yueren’s completely twisted face.
“I’ll kill you!!!”
Han Yueren roared with rage, crossing the courtyard at the fastest speed in his entire life, and rushed towards Gu Nan. If the latter paused for even an instant, he would be torn to pieces immediately.
But Gu Nan was already prepared. He had aimed the Four Element Crossbow at the ground early on and shot another arrow.
“Wind!”
A teal light shone, and the wind arrow hit the ground. The huge recoil directly pushed Gu Nan off the ground, which allowed him to just barely avoid Han Yueren’s fatal blow.
Han Yueren had just looked back when six consecutive teal arrows flew over, but Han Yueren, whose head had been overwhelmed with fury, no longer had any rationality left, so he rushed forward without hesitation.
The arrows tore through Han Yueren’s skin, but they couldn’t penetrate deeply and were stuck inside his muscles.
“Ahhhhhhhh!!!” The pain made him roar in anger, becoming more and more like a madman.
Gu Nan was currently in a strange state — he was on the roof!
After firing six consecutive arrows, he had used the recoil to push himself to the top of the three-story Han residence nearly 20 meters high and looked down with a cold smile.
The reason he chose the Four Element Crossbow instead of other weapons finally became clear.
As a powerful weapon that could provide arrows made of the four elements: earth, water, wind, and fire, the Four Element Crossbow had some shortcomings, but a true veteran player could bring out previously unimagined results!
The recoil, which was originally a shortcoming of the wind arrow, had formed a unique skill after being developed by the players: scaling walls with wind arrows!
Using the wind arrow’s reverse thrust, players could send themselves into the air and even climb up the roof, breaking through some otherwise-unscalable terrains.
As a top player, this skill was naturally a walk in the park for Gu Nan.
But this didn’t mean that Gu Nan was safe now. Although Innate Realm martial artists couldn’t fly, it wasn’t difficult to jump 20 meters. Han Yueren could still attack him.
“You have nowhere to run!” Han Yueren leaped up, propelling his body straight up dozens of meters and slamming down heavily onto the roof.
If the site of the battle wasn’t in his home, in his present mood, he probably would’ve directly smashed everything in the way.
“Earth!”
Gu Nan’s calm voice rang through the courtyard. The dirt-yellow bolt shot into the earth. A massive stone pillar drilled out of the ground and just happened to hit Han Yueren.
Even with Han Yueren’s physique, this kind of “stone column smashing his face” almost made him cry out in pain, but hatred still dominated him and made him ignore the pain.
A calm smile still hung on Gu Nan’s face. He slowly retreated and once again used the wind arrow to reach another roof, widening the distance between himself and Han Yueren yet again.
It was hard for ordinary people to imagine the extent to which a top player could bring out the power of the Four Element Crossbow.
The three characteristics of long-range attack, flight, and changing terrain constituted the strongest kite[3] weapon in the novice period. This was also the reason Gu Nan dared to challenge Han Yueren like this.
“Fire!”
Another explosive arrow shot out with precision, which perfectly hit the other side of Student Han Yueren’s face, blowing up his hair into a charcoal mess.
This wasn’t a fatal injury, but it was particularly irritating. Han Yueren, who was already in a state of extreme rage, went mad and crazily rushed towards Gu Nan.
These events were perfectly captured by the small room’s screen.
“Has this boy gone crazy? Even if he can last for a while with the crossbow, it’s still impossible for him to be a match for the target!”
Notes
[1]: a complex system of radiating nerves and ganglia
[2]: “Four-Yuan Hand Crossbow” has been changed to “Four Element Crossbow”
[3]: Kite: game strategy where the player continuously backs away from enemies, keeping at a safe distance, while simultaneously using ranged attacks
