Power Up Artist Yang - Chapter 335

As soon as one of the drivers yelled that, Yujia felt the carriage suddenly lurch forward as the horses pulling it were forced from their slow pace to break out into a sprint. She flinched, turning to look at Yufeng.

Yufeng was stiffly sitting, eyes alert. She shifted herself closer to the window on Yujia’s side, pushing the fabric flap aside to look out for her own. At the sight of the bandits approaching, she cursed under her breath.

Heart rate speeding up, Yujia’s fingers dug into her palm. “How are there bandits?” she exclaimed.

Yufeng didn’t reply. Her hand slipped into a pocket fold in her robes, pulling out a dagger about the length of Yujia’s forearm. At the sight of the knife, Yujia’s eyes widened. Yufeng kept something like that on her all this time? Did she have this knife the entire time, from the moment Yujia met her? If not, then where did it come from?

But now was not the time to be wondering why Yufeng had a knife. Yujia’s hands clenched tighter. She lifted the flap of the curtain again. The horses were pulling the carriage faster than ever, but the bandits were swarming in from the front and from the back. Could they make it?

Although Yujia had that question in mind, by the way things looked, she already had close to an answer in her heart.

There was the sound of something suddenly whistling in the air. Then, a thud. Before Yujia could even process it fully, an arrow had ripped through the curtain fabric and embedded itself into the opposite wall of the carriage.

Yufeng reacted the fastest. She quickly shot an arm out, pulling Yujia down and ducking herself as well. Yujia caught on, dropping to the floor of the carriage and holding her hands over her head. There was the sound of more arrows striking the outer walls of the carriage. Thankfully, the wooden material was thick enough to stop them from breaking through.

Yujia felt her hands trembling.

Everything was happening so fast. So, so fast. And it was an absolutely dreadful feeling, knowing that there was nothing that she could do to save her life except to pray.

As more arrows sailed through the air, they struck the horses and drivers, out in the open. Screams ripped through the air. Yujia’s carriage lurched forward in yet another violent, jerking motion. Then, it lost balance, toppling over to the side.

She let out a cry. Out of instinct, Yujia’s hands flew forward, grabbing the first thing that she could see: the edge of a seat. Yet that was not enough. Her body was flung over by the motion, crashing along with the carriage to the ground. Her head was thrown in one harsh movement against the carriage wall.

There was a blank moment. The tremendous noise died away in a flash, and Yujia’s vision turned white.

But then, she blinked, and it all faded in: the splintered wooden walls. Her body, twisted at an uncomfortable angle. Yufeng, who had fallen on top of her. The yelling and sounds of metal slashing through the air.

Yufeng pushed herself up. Yujia gathered her wits and moved herself as well, pushing herself up. There was a pressuring pain in her head, and she lifted her hand, groaning.

She had to get out. Yujia dragged herself to the curtain flap door, only a short distance away from her. Pushing it aside, the first thing her eyes saw was the body of a man, arrows impaled in his face and c.h.e.s.t. Blood was oozing over his skin, his eyes frozen open and glazed over.

Yujia fell backwards. Her hands had changed from trembling to shaking. She shook her head, voice coming out hoarse as she whispered, “No.”

A wave of nausea overcame her. She could not get that image of that dead man over her mind, the image of his broken skin and bleeding face and eyes lifelessly wide in his last minutes of terror searing into her brain. She wanted to throw up. One of her hands flew up to her mouth, holding herself back as she gagged.

Yufeng moved in front of her. She, too, pushed the flap open, just enough so that she could see what was happening outside. She took a good, long look.

After that, Yufeng turned back to Yujia. Looking Yujia in the eyes, Yufeng said in a low voice, “We need to get out of here. There are bandits at the front and back of the group, but since we are in the middle, if we are careful enough, we can escape.”

Yujia felt her eyes watering. How could this happen? How? It was just supposed to be a calm trip back. The traveling had been going well. How did this suddenly just… happen?

Yufeng gripped a hand on Yujia’s shoulder. “Get yourself together,” she ordered. “If you want to live, follow me. Now.”

With that, Yufeng pushed open the flap and slipped out, not waiting for Yujia’s response.

Seeing this, Yujia gripped a hand on top of the other one to stop them from shaking. She squeezed her eyes shut, took a deep breath, and opened her eyes again. Yufeng was right. Staying in this carriage could only mean death. Now was not the time to cry. They had to escape.

Yufeng was crouching down, using their bodies to hide herself from the view of the bandits and the rain of arrows, which had mostly ceased by now. Yujia followed suit, dropping to the ground. She took a tentative look at her surroundings. Yufeng was right: the carriages in front and behind hers were being pillaged by the bandits. She caught a flash of white as a bandit yanked one of her senior brothers out of the carriage, and her breath caught. She turned back to Yufeng.

Giving a gesture of her hand, Yufeng began to crawl away. Yujia did the same. A mixture of mud and blood stained the palms of her hands and the ends of her robes. The pungent, metallic scent of blood had completely permeated the air. She could hardly breathe.

They crawled like that, knees and hands on the ground, until they reached the edges of the last carriage. At this place, Yufeng tentatively glanced over the edge of the carriage. Yujia wasn’t sure what she saw, but she heard Yufeng curse.

Yufeng turned to face Yujia, saying, “From here, we have to run. There are too many of them. They’ll see us as soon as we move out from behind this carriage. But there’s no other choice.”

“I can run,” Yujia answered, finding as she spoke that her voice sounded oddly detached from her body for some reason.

“Good.”

They stayed behind the carriage for just another second. Yujia’s heart felt as if it was about to leap out of her throat.

And then, Yufeng waved her hand, leaping up and breaking out into a sprint. Yujia went after her, running faster than she had ever before. Her mind had cleared, leaving nothing to focus on except for the knowledge that she had to get away, as far as possible. Her legs moved mechanically, one after the other, pushing herself forward. Yufeng was only a few steps away from her. The two of them tore through the grass and trees, barreling into the forest.

The sound of bandits hollering and slashing into the carriages faded into the background.

But then, Yujia heard footsteps outside of hers and Yufeng’s, crunching in the grass and fallen leaves. She looked behind, seeing bandits— five— no, ten of them— running after them.

Her hopes fell.