Chapter Fifteen: The Strange Pursuers

  Thanks to "Haha ￡ Love You" and "Zhao Wu Xu 2014" for the rewards, especially the latter, if I'm not mistaken, this should be the second time, thank you for your support!

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  The sky is faintly bright, the original field misty and hazy, the mountain slope grassland dew drops shining brightly, in the distance a dense forest, even shrouded in a group of white fog. People enter the forest, within ten steps, it's hard to distinguish between reality and shadow.

  At this moment, there are seven or eight Wuwan people wearing conical fur hats and tattered fur coats, holding bows and arrows, pointing at something in the dense forest. After a while, a sudden horseshoe sound came from afar, and five or six Wuwan people rushed over on horseback.

  The first one, with a shaved head and a thick beard, had a rugged face and a sturdy body. A large golden earring hung from his left ear. As soon as he arrived, the surrounding Wuhuan people all gathered around him, prostrating themselves under his horse.

  Wu Wan's head stared at the dense forest, his eyes gleaming with a fierce light, and he said in a loud voice: "Is it confirmed? Are they all inside?"

  "Yes, Uhma head. We found a herd of horse hoof prints nearby and they disappeared into the forest ahead." A kneeling Uwan person on the grass replied loudly.

  Another person added: "The hoof prints have been camouflaged. If we hadn't searched carefully, I'm afraid it would be hard to find."

  Wu Ma took out a mulberry bow from beside the saddle, then drew an arrow. A sinister smile spread across his dark face: "Drive them out one by one, today I will make their men shed blood and their women shed tears."

  With the leader's order, eleven Wuhuan people quickly tied up their horses, drew out their bows and arrows, and stepped closer to the dense forest, their figures gradually being swallowed by the thick fog.

  Wuma and his two subordinates rode back and forth, shooting arrows to the left and right, waiting leisurely for a chance to start killing. Unexpectedly, this wait was only half an hour, until the sky brightened, the sun shone brightly, the mist in the forest dispersed, and there wasn't even a slight movement. The eleven Wuman people with bows and knives seemed to have disappeared along with the mist.

  The black-haired man's scalp felt a bit numb, and his two hands also felt unwell. The three men on horseback slowly approached each other, their bows and arrows slightly raised, their minds uncertain as they aimed at the dark and dense forest.

  After a while, Wu Ma nodded and gestured to his subordinate on the left: "You, go take a look."

  "...is." His subordinates were uneasy in their hearts, but they did not dare disobey and dismount, so they slowly proceeded on horseback.

  Whoosh!

  A cold arrow suddenly shot out from the dark forest, piercing through the head of Wumengren's man. The corpse fell heavily to the ground, and the startled horse let out a long whinny and ran far away.

  With two swooshing sounds, Wuma and his subordinates almost simultaneously shot two arrows towards the direction where the cold arrow flew out from the forest. Then they quickly drew their bows and aimed at the front, but except for the dull thudding of two arrows hitting trees, no cries of pain came from the dense forest as they had expected.

  "Guo Sang, you go left..."

  Wuma had just ordered his last subordinate to split up and surround them, when two arrows shot out of the forest with extremely high speed and great force. One arrow knocked Guosang off his horse and he fell to the ground, while the other arrow pierced through his heart, and it was clear that he wouldn't survive.

  The second arrow pierced through Wuma's thigh and into the horse's abdomen, tying the man and horse together. The horse let out a mournful cry as it fell to the ground, and Wuma was also pinned down by the fallen horse, unable to move or struggle free, his bow and arrows flying several feet away.

  At this time, a person slowly walked out of the forest, with short hair, a green belt on his forehead, wearing tight-fitting soft armor, and camouflage pants. He held a large bow that was almost as tall as a person, with two quivers of arrows on his back, over eight feet tall, strong and agile, with a face that had sharp angles in the sunlight, giving it a very three-dimensional look.

  Horse!

  Ma Xun walked slowly to Wu Ma's side, using the tip of his bow to gently brush away the dirt and grass stuck to his face, and asked faintly: "Can you speak the language of Youyan?"

  Wu Ma struggled constantly, the intense pain twisting his face, one hand slowly reaching for the short blade at his waist, saying in a low voice: "You... you are a Han slave..."

  Bang! The bowstring heavily slapped against Wuma's cheek, two large teeth and a mouthful of bloody foam spewed out, dyeing the green grass red.

  "I'm a Han person! Be careful what you say." Ma Hong said coldly, "This is a warning. If you do it again, four teeth will be gone. If you do it once more, eight teeth will be gone. If you don't plan on chewing with your teeth anymore, go ahead and speak."

  Wuma glared at the devil-like face in front of him with a pair of resentful eyes, no longer daring to fire wildly.

  "I'm asking you, I was sleeping peacefully in the woods, why did you bastards wake me up? And what's with the bunch of broken bows and rotten arrows, who sent you to bother me?"

  Wu Ma's eyes widened in an instant, her face incredulous: "There is only you in this forest?"

  "Right, just me alone..." Ma Xun stared gloomily at Wu Ma, "You wouldn't be thinking of saying you've got the wrong person, would you?"

  Wuma's expression turned hateful and regretful: "We were searching for escaped slaves, thinking they might be hiding in the woods... Wait a minute, you're alone. What about my eleven tribesmen..."

  "Not at all, I've slaughtered them all. What kind of warriors! They're just untrained herdsmen, using short bows and bone arrows..." Ma Xun's tone was extremely disdainful. Finally figured it out, turns out they were chasing escaped slaves, no wonder their equipment and combat strength were so low, in less than half a stick of incense time, they were all killed like chickens and sheep. It was also because of the opponent's low combat strength and crude bows and arrows that Ma Xun finally confirmed that these people were not the several groups of Wuhuan elite cavalry who had been pursuing him for an entire month. If it weren't for this, would he have slowly walked out of the dense forest and messed with these half-dead Wuhuan people?

  "Damn it... Ah!"

  Wuma took advantage of Ma Yan's distraction and suddenly pulled out a meat-cutting knife. As soon as his hand moved, he was shot by Ma Yan, who had been prepared in advance, with an arrow from his backpack, which nailed Wuma's arm and hip bone together, and fresh blood stained the lower half of his body.

  "I'm going to kill you, I'm going to eat your flesh raw, I'm going to... Ah!"

  In the midst of Wu Ma's frantic curses, Ma Huan lifted his large leather boots and heavily trampled on the arrow tail.

  His eyes bulged out of their sockets, his whole body convulsed, his mouth wide open, and he gasped: "You think... there's only me... chasing after them? Wait... wait... they'll avenge me..."

  "Wuwan people! I'll kill one whenever I see one!" Ma Hong hooked his finger around Wu Ma's golden earring and yanked it off, ignoring the blood gushing out, his eyes icy cold. "The property of the Wuwan people, take as much as you can grab!"

  Ma Xian's deep resentment towards the Wuhuan people was entirely due to being pursued and counterattacked for a month, fleeing thousands of miles.

  After shooting and killing Lü Xiang by the side of Majia Creek, Ma Chao fell into the siege of the Jizhou army from all sides.

  Kuo T'u flew back to Hsin-tu on horseback, laid out a layered interception net at the same time, and issued a huge reward: those who obtained Ma Heng's head would be rewarded with 100 taels of silver and 100 bolts of cloth; those who returned the white horse would be doubly rewarded.

  Ma Feng originally planned to go east and join Kong Rong in Beihai, where he could rise to power under the weak ruler. Unexpectedly, he was squeezed by the Tianluo net of the Ji Zhou army, constantly being pushed north, running farther and farther, until he exited the Great Wall and arrived at the foot of Mount Yan.

  This journey north, how many pursuers were killed? At first, Ma Hu still made some statistics, but after breaking through the value of 200, he lost interest in counting. All the way north, constantly killing enemies and replenishing, also unknown how many shields, helmets, knives, and spears were exchanged, even more unknown how many arrows were shot out, the only thing that remained unchanged by his side was his white horse silver arrow and the leopard bow in his hand.

  A month of life and death struggle, made Ma Huai a master archer on horseback, and in dozens of times of mortal danger, he mastered the ultimate skill of mounted archery - the "turning back arrow"!

  After entering Dai Commandery, the Ji Province army had given up pursuing Ma Chun because that was Liu Yu's territory. However, Ma Chun did not get off easy because of this, as the Wuhuan people who were stirred up by the bounty and had red eyes swarmed in, causing him even more trouble. In the end, even Xianlu King Wu Yan, one of the "Three Districts Wuhuan" who was entrenched in Youbeiping, sent out over a hundred elite cavalrymen from his tent to search for and kill him everywhere. This Xianlu King was not greedy for that small reward but had coveted the famous horse.

  Ma Xian was surrounded by a group of Wuhuan elite cavalry north of Guyang County, near the Gu River. After killing all his enemies, he himself was hit by two arrows coated with Wudou poison... If it weren't for his body having been injected with various antitoxin sera, producing some antibodies to unknown toxins, it's estimated that he wouldn't even have had the strength to escape... It's no wonder Ma Xian would be furious. His feud with the Wuhuan was set.

  Ma Xun hastily tidied up the scene, re-entered the dense forest, led out Bao Ju Silver Arrow, and behind him were three pack horses carrying a large number of arrows, knives, axes, armor shields, supplies, and valuables.

  Wuma and his tribesmen's horses, Ma Jian didn't take them seriously. These few packhorses of his were actually the fine warhorses of Wujian's elite cavalry, although they couldn't compare to Silver Arrows, they were still much better than ordinary horses.

  Just galloping out of two miles, a glimpse of someone flashing on the left slope. Ma Huo didn't hesitate, immediately loosened the reins of the pack horse, clamped his feet, and Silver Arrow shot out like an arrow, rushing up the slope at high speed.

  Looking down from the mountain slope, more than 50 steps away, a thin figure is running desperately. Judging from his clothes, he should be an Ulan person, and judging from his back, he is a young man, or even a child.

  Recalling the vicious words uttered by Wuma before his death, Ma Xun resolutely raised the leopard bow in his hand, with the arrowhead reflecting the sun and its cold light dazzling the eyes.

  "Do you want to avenge your tribe by gathering people? I'm not afraid, but I also don't want to be entangled endlessly. Sorry, you will be the first minor to die under my arrow!"