If you die, I will be able to inherit your cultivation.

The arrowhead was three-tenths of an inch deep in the ground, and its tail feathers were still trembling slightly in the air, emitting a buzzing sound as faint as a mosquito's buzz.

Then, the sound of horses' hooves came.

It wasn't just one or two sounds, but a dense, muffled clatter of hooves coming from all directions simultaneously.

The ground began to shake, and fine ripples appeared on the surface of the water in the teacup on the table.

Immediately afterwards, a group of masked men rode out of the woods on horseback.

His face was covered by a black cloth, revealing only his eyes. The sword in his hand gleamed with a cold, sharp light in the dim light of the day.

They outnumbered us far more than we had imagined, and in just a few breaths, they had completely surrounded the area.

"Guards!"

"Protect the young lady!"

"Protect the young master!"

The guards reacted the instant the arrows appeared.

These were, after all, the elites selected from each household, so their reaction was remarkably swift.

The clanging of swords being drawn echoed throughout the room. The guards from each household quickly formed small formations, protecting their masters behind them and creating a human wall with their bodies.

The guards who were originally standing on the perimeter drew their swords and rushed forward, engaging the masked man in black in a fierce battle.

The glint of swords and the clash of blades were particularly dazzling under the sunlight. In an instant, shouts of battle, the clash of weapons, and the neighing of horses mingled together, turning the once poetic and carefree Xishan into a battlefield.

The young masters and ladies of the various families had never seen such a scene before, and they were immediately thrown into chaos.

The young masters and ladies screamed, clutching the sleeves of their attendants and maids tightly, their faces as white as sheets of paper.

Some had even collapsed to the ground, with water stains appearing beneath them.

Zhou Ming was originally standing at the back of the shed, but the moment the arrow appeared, his pupils suddenly contracted.

His first reaction, almost ingrained in his very being, was not to rush forward to protect the young lady.

It wasn't about finding weapons, nor was it about checking where the arrow came from.

Instead, his neck suddenly shrank, his whole body lowered, and his back arched like a shrimp.

He practically scrambled to hide behind Su Mingyue and the guards.

He lacked the understanding of people in this era that life is one's own, and the prerequisite for being a hero is to survive.

He's so thin he can't even scrape off a pound of flesh; he's as skinny as a stick.

Let alone fighting this group of energetic and superhumanly strong men, he might not even be able to defeat a wild dog now.

Rushing in would only result in another corpse; it would be pointless.

So he shrank back with a clear conscience and without hesitation, squeezing himself into the deepest part of the defense line formed by the guards, right next to the young lady.

Just as everyone was in a panic, Su Mingyue stood up.

She didn't stand up slowly.

He pushed aside the four maids surrounding him and stood up abruptly.

The moon-white jacket fluttered in the mountain wind. She ripped off the tangled ornaments from the hem of her skirt, including the jade ring, and threw them to the ground with a thud.

"Everyone, shut up."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it was like a bucket of cold water poured over everyone's heads.

There was no panic, no trembling in that voice, only an almost chilling calmness.

The young masters and ladies in the room seemed to be suddenly held down by something, their screams abruptly stopped, and even several young ladies who had already started to cry were forced to swallow their sobs back.

"All guards, listen to my command!" Su Mingyue's gaze swept across the entire area, her phoenix eyes revealing not fear, but an almost sharp scrutiny.

"Don't fight individually. Each family should have its own guards. Young masters and ladies, move closer to the center."

Her words were concise, direct, and without a single superfluous word.

The guards moved almost reflexively at her command.

It wasn't because the order came from the eldest daughter of the Yongning Marquis's mansion.

It was because, in the moment when everyone else was panicking, she was the only one who could still think clearly.

"The wounded should retreat to the center, while those who can still move should remain on the perimeter. Ladies, don't stand still, crouch down and avoid becoming targets for the archers."

Her gaze swept over the young ladies who were crouching on the ground, trembling, without offering any words of comfort or extra sympathy.

He quickly confirmed their location, then turned to the captain of the guards beside him:

"Send a message to the person on the mountain."

The guard commander hesitated for a moment, then immediately took out a bamboo tube from his sleeve, lit a tinderbox, and pointed the fuse of the tube toward the sky.

The fuse ignited instantly, hissing and emitting white smoke, with sparks flying everywhere.

A moment later, with a soft "bang," a plume of crimson smoke shot straight into the sky.

It exploded in mid-air, turning into clusters of red sparks that hung prominently above the mountaintop.

Just then, Su Mingli appeared out of nowhere, his green robe crumpled up, and he was still clutching his folding fan in his hand.

The peony flower on her head had fallen off sometime ago, her hair was half crooked, and she looked as disheveled as could be.

But his mouth didn't stop; he yelled at Su Mingyue, "Mingyue, are you crazy? Why are you standing up? Get down right now! Swords don't have eyes..."

Su Mingyue turned her head and glanced at him.

With just one glance, Su Mingli shut his mouth.

Zhou Ming peeked at this scene through the gap in the guard's shoulder and secretly made a mental note of it:

This flamboyant young master fears nothing but his sister's stern face.

Su Mingyue withdrew her gaze and began issuing instructions methodically.

She ordered her men to stand up several thick tabletops to serve as makeshift shields.

Although the effect may be minimal, having something blocking the way naturally gives people a sense of security.

At this critical moment, Su Mingyue even noticed that a young lady was so frightened that she was about to faint.

They had someone hand over a pot of cold tea, probably not out of concern, but to prevent someone from collapsing at this moment and affecting everyone's movement.

Zhou Ming crouched behind the layers of guards, minimizing his presence.

He shrank his body to a tiny size, covered his head with his hands, and only his eyes were visible as he nervously observed the battle through the gaps in the crowd.

His heart was pounding, his breathing was shallow and rapid, his lips were dry, and his palms were covered in cold sweat.

But even though he was hunched over, his eyes were not idle, taking in every word and action of Su Mingyue.

This young lady, who usually keeps a low profile, is like a sword drawn from its sheath at this moment—sharp, calm, and aimed straight at the heart of the matter.

Every command she gave was clear and precise, and every judgment she made was astonishingly swift, as if fear was simply not a word in her vocabulary.

The masked men charged towards the crowd. Amidst the flashing blades, some guards fell, and some masked men were cut down to the ground.

After observing for a while, Zhou Ming noticed something amiss: these two groups were definitely not human.

What normal person could cut down a tree that one person could hug with a single blow?

With a single stroke, it can shatter a stone weighing over a hundred pounds into pieces, sending rocks flying everywhere.

Even so, Su Mingyue did not retreat a single step, standing at the very center of the defensive line, her gaze fixed on every corner of the battlefield.

As Zhou Ming watched her retreating figure, he suddenly realized that this young lady was a hundred times better than any of the "foundation-covered generals" he had seen in movies and TV dramas in his previous life.