Fu Shen rode his horse slowly through the forest, occasionally drawing his bow and aiming. This archery skill was honed in the Northern Yan army and was somewhat overkill for small animals. Just as he was feeling bored, a rustling sound suddenly came from the dense forest on the right, followed by horse hooves. Yi Siming and Fu Shen exchanged a distant glance and simultaneously drew their bows, aiming at the black shadow in the bushes.
Fu Shen’s fingers tightened on the bowstring, squinting as he gradually made out the silhouette, his heart stirring.
“Wait!”
He immediately called out, but it was too late. Yi Siming’s arrow had already left the bow.
Fu Shen couldn’t stop him, and without even aiming, he raised his hand and shot an arrow that flew in an almost straight trajectory, striking Yi Siming’s arrow and deflecting it by several feet!
A rider on a white horse emerged from the crowd, and the horseman courteously nodded and said: “The Flying Dragon Guard is here on imperial orders to arrest a court criminal. May I ask if anyone on the mountain has seen any suspicious individuals?”
The noble young masters all looked down their noses at him, with someone mockingly saying, “Oh, what a grand display. What serious criminal has escaped to warrant the Flying Dragon Guard’s intervention?”
The man was not offended, and replied with a mix of softness and firmness: “I don’t dare to accept such praise. I’m simply carrying out my orders.”
The questioning young master was momentarily stunned, his expression turning unpleasant. Fu Shen, afraid they might start fighting, immediately spoke to mediate: “We are merely passing through and have not seen the criminal you mentioned.”
The man glanced at Fu Shen, and his originally cold and indifferent eyes suddenly softened with a hint of a smile: “Oh, it’s Young Master Fu. Long time no see.”
Fu Shen stared at him intently and remembered – this was the forbidden guard who had thrown a paired lotus at him that day on the street.
“Master Yan…”
“Fu Shen said with complex emotions, ‘Long time no see.’
