Zou Yi gritted his teeth as he swung his fist, however, he saw the axe swerve to his left the moment it was about to hit him.
Has he missed
A clashing sound and force hit Zou Yi just as this thought hit his mind. The force made him trip to his left. Luckily Zou Yi still had some control of his body, so the moment he tripped to the side, he performed a sideway roll which gave him the chance to see the source of the explosive sound.
He saw a long narrow trench had been created from where he stood, up to the direction the scarlet blur had disappeared to. Within that trench was a green object that looked like a plant's root, but from the smoothness of the object, it looked more like a branch.
Zou Yi saw the green object move. It rapidly retracted back leaving a 30 cm whip lash trench behind that seemed to producing smoke. He Shan's axe was buried in the ground of that trench with faint cracks and smoke being produced from it.
Zou Yi gulped when he saw the scene. Had the attack hit him, his leg would have likely been blown clean off.
"Are you going to lay there dazed or are you going to prepare for the next attack? I won't save you for the next one."
He Shan's cold voice pulled Zou Yi from his confused state.
"You two can get up now," added He Shan.
The whole event had not taken more than ten seconds, but every person present including He Shan was breathing heavily.
The two girls got up warily as they put up defensive positions relatively behind Zou Yi and He Shan. Zou Liqin stood in front of Yu Mei holding a few black pebbles in her hands. Zou Yi had the same pebbles in his hands too.
Those pebbles were century iron pebbles and they had gotten them from Yang Qing's nephews when they had visited. The pebbles were hardy enough to punch a hole through a regular wall, which made them effective blunt-force weapons.
From what the nephews told them, with the right throw, heavily injuring someone in the qi refinement realm wasn't an impossibility. They each had four of those pebbles with them. They couldn't carry more because each stone despite being two inches in size weighed 5 kilograms each. Even with their bronze body stage cultivation, carrying more than 5 would hinder their movement.
At the moment, they each had four of them while they gave, He Shan the extra one. Yu Mei wasn't given since even with no luggage she was still struggling to keep up with them.
Everyone except He Shan was visibly on edge at the moment, especially the two ladies. Zou Yi used the corner of his eyes and saw a smooth line at the top of their heads, as if their hair had been parted.
Whatever that orange blur was, it would have penetrated their scalps had they been even a second late in dodging. He could even see small blood stains on their scalps.
Forget elimination, at this moment both girls felt how close to death they were. Both their hands were trembling; however, they forcefully endured their fear as they stared to their right, the source of both attacks.
In that direction was a bunch of fothergilla shrubs clustered together with sweet-scented white flowers growing within them. However there was one thing that seemed to fit and not fit within that area, and that was an old unassuming willow tree.
Its leaves were greying almost pale white and it stood there silently, gently swaying with the wing so peacefully, but Zou Yi knew it wasn't as peaceful and unassuming as it seemed to be.
The vine that almost took his leg had it not been for He Shan's intervention, he saw it retract back into that tree.
However, Zou Yi didn't seem to see anything remotely scarlet within the willow tree.
'What was that orange blur'
He couldn't help but look at the fothergilla with some suspicion. They were the only things that had scarlet colors in the area. He couldn't help but feel whatever attacked them, likely originated from within those shrubs.
"Just our luck to stumble onto a snapping willow," He Shan murmured with a sigh of resignation. His gaze faintly lingered on Yu Mei as he said this, who couldn't help but smile in defeat at the implied meaning of He Shan's look.
"He Shan, the orange blur…"
Of the things Zou Yi was most wary of, it was that thing. He couldn't even track it with his eyes. He may have been caught unaware, but its speed was still valid. Even alert, he had doubts he could defend against something with such speed.
"It's a scarlet crown hummingbird, and it's one of the inhabitants of that willow tree, which is why I can't help but lament our current circumstance.
We might potentially be facing four opponents, though if I count the willow tree, it would make it five…." Said He Shan with a grim expression.
He knocked three more arrows as he said while the rest readied their pebbles.
They had narrowly evaded death from two attackers, and the thought of facing three more opponents of the same caliber, made seeds of despair take root in their hearts.
He Shan didn't seem to read the mood as he continued with his explanation.
"It's not always a guarantee that they would be here but a snapping willow tree is usually inhabited by the scarlet-tipped hummingbird, a grey fog tree fog, a black verdant porcupine, and a withering weevil..."
Silence ensued when He Shan took a sudden pause cautiously eyeing the willow tree for any strange movements. He only resumed the explanation when he confirmed something wasn't brewing from the willow tree.
However, before he did, Zou Liqin interrupted with a question of her own,
"If you know that is a snapping willow, how come you didn't warn us before we stepped into the area, we could already notice it when we were back there," said Zou Liqin as she pointed a couple of meters behind them.
Even though she was still grateful for He Shan's timely warning, it was a little bit too close for comfort.
"Before we came in here, I already warned you to be alert about everything and anything, down to the blade of grass," He Shan coldly said.
"Besides when it comes to the snapping willow tree, you can never differentiate it from a normal one up until it attacks you. When dormant, it's no different from a normal willow tree, and as far as I know or what my grandfather taught me, there is no other way to differentiate it.
It was why I struck it with an arrow when we were close, to see its response…"
The trio was dumbstruck at He Shan's response.
