Chapter 168: You Are Not In Exile You Are Clearly Traveling!
Chapter 168: Counterattack
"Something's wrong! Something's happened!"
On the shore, people saw Chen Xue’s boat catch fire and begin to sink. The guards and other servants immediately panicked. Those who could swim jumped into the river to reach Chen Xue and the others, while those who couldn’t swim shouted to guide others in rescuing them. Some guards ran to other boats on the shore to get them to row over and help.
"Ha ha, retribution!" Zhang Yiquan on the shore couldn’t help but gloat at the sight.
On the small boat, Shen Dan tried to stand with his knife braced against the boat, but he couldn’t muster the strength.
"Master Chen, I'm sorry. It's our fault!" Shen Dan said with a face full of regret. They had been too careless and fell into the enemy’s trap. Now not only could they not save their own lives, but they had also failed the general’s trust by not protecting Master Chen properly.
"I'll get into the water to support them. Shen Qing, you protect Master Chen and the others," Shen Dan decided. Even if he couldn’t save everyone, he would do his best to protect Master Chen as long as he had breath left.
Just as he was about to stand up, he collapsed with a thud.
Desperate, he took his knife and cut his own flesh, instantly feeling a sharp pain that gave him a bit more strength, though only a little.
"Master Chen!" Shen Qing saw this and wanted to help but stopped himself. Instead, he began tearing apart the wooden planks in the boat’s cabin and instructed Chen Xue and the others, "Master Chen, we need to lie on the planks and avoid making sudden movements."
Though Shen Qing had also inhaled the sleeping powder, he managed to stay awake by biting his tongue and using sheer willpower to resist the drug’s effects.
"What do we do?" Madam Chen looked at her husband and daughter, shocked by the situation. Neither Chen Xue nor her father could swim, and with the distance to the shore being at least twenty to thirty meters, combined with the effects of the sleeping powder, swimming to safety was impossible.
The only way to survive was a drastic measure. But there were other people here as well.
However, with Shen Dan and his brother still trying to help them, how could they bear to be so heartless?
"Master Chen, I will say 'jump' later…"
Before Shen Qing could finish, he was interrupted by Chen Xue.
"No need!"
"What?!" Shen Qing was confused.
"Before we leave, we need to get revenge!" Chen Xue said coldly, looking at the boatman hiding in the water. She retrieved several crossbows from her spatial storage and handed them to her parents and Xiao Die, then gave one to each of the Shen brothers.
The Shen brothers were stunned by the sudden appearance of crossbows but said nothing. They were already familiar with Chen Xue’s extraordinary abilities.
Each of the six chose a position and began attacking.
"Whoosh!"
The boatman hiding underwater was startled when crossbow bolts suddenly appeared around him. Where did these come from?
Panicked, he dived deeper into the water, but still got hit by a bolt, bleeding from his arm.
Despite the pain, he pushed deeper into the river, relieved that someone had lessened the attack’s force.
Seeing the blood in the water, Chen Xue and the others felt a significant reduction in their anger.
The boat was now half-submerged. Though they had extinguished the fire, there was no longer any place to stand.
Chen Xue told the Shen brothers, "Close your eyes."
Chen Yuan added, "No one is to open their eyes until I give the command, understood?"
Even without his official position, his authority still held weight.
Though puzzled, the Shen brothers complied and closed their eyes. Once they did, Chen Xue used her spatial ability to transport everyone to safety.
The boatman saw the boat sinking further and surfaced, sneering to himself that the Chen family was doomed.
But before he could finish his thought, he stared in disbelief at the now empty boat.
"Where are they?"
The boat’s bow was empty; the Chen family had vanished.
"This is impossible!"
He couldn’t believe the Chen family had perished in the fire. With six or seven people on board, even if the boat caught fire, it was unlikely they would all have died. Besides, if the boat caught fire, they would have jumped into the water.
Moreover, he had not seen anyone leave the boat.
What was going on?
Could it be they had somehow escaped?
But he hadn't seen any other boats nearby.
"There! Over there!"
The Chen family’s other guards had arrived in boats.
The boatman’s heart sank. He wanted to swim away but was almost pulled under by the pain in his arm.
Seeing no escape, he decided to plead for help.
When the Chen family’s guards arrived and saw him, they immediately rescued him.
The boatman felt a surge of hope, thinking he could escape once on shore.
But just as he had this thought, he felt a sharp pain in his arm.
Looking up, he saw the guards binding his arm behind him.
"What are you doing?" the boatman asked, wincing in pain.
"Where is Master Chen and the others?" one of the guards demanded sternly. The small boat made it easy to see that the Chen family was missing.
"I don’t know, I don’t know anything!" the boatman feigned ignorance.
"You’re lying. The crossbow bolts in your arm were fired by Master Chen’s people. You are clearly an enemy."
Even though the boatman had broken some of the crossbow bolts, a part of them remained in his arm. The guards recognized these as Chen family’s crossbows.
Realizing he had been exposed, the boatman despaired. It seemed fate was not on his side.
With a cold smile, he bit down on a hidden poison capsule, preparing for the end.
Seeing the boatman spew black blood, the Chen family’s guards understood he was a die-hard assassin.
"Damn it!"
"Those who can swim, search the river for Chen Daren and the others!"
---
On the other side.
The Shen brothers felt their surroundings shift, but they didn’t think much of it due to the boat’s instability and the effects of the sleeping powder.
Yet, they sensed that the environment felt different—less damp and eerily quiet, except for some animal noises.
Without Chen Daren’s command, they couldn’t open their eyes.
Eventually, the effects of the sleeping powder took their toll, and they fell into unconsciousness.
Before passing out, Shen Dan caught a glimpse of his surroundings.
It was pitch dark, and he couldn’t see anything.
This only deepened his confusion about where they were and how they ended up here.
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