He looked ahead. Beneath the vast sky, the night wind blew. Thomas Reed felt very cold, but seeing the motionless youth in front of him, he suppressed his impatience. Just as he was about to speak, Henry Clark slowly raised his hand...

　　Shut up!

　　Thomas Reed understood this gesture, gritting his teeth as he prepared to deal with the youth.

　　Henry Clark felt as if a group of demons and monsters were squatting ahead, their bloody mouths wide open, waiting to devour something.

　　He took off his bow and arrow. Thomas Reed stifled a laugh and whispered, "You want to shoot the moon?"

　　Henry Clark shook his head and said softly, "How many enemies does the Wang family actually have?"

　　He knew that the five great families were almost like deities, but just how formidable they were, he did not know.

　　Thomas Reed was taken aback. "What did you see?"

　　Henry Clark knelt on one knee, tying a strip of cloth to the tip of the arrow. A strong smell of kerosene wafted over.

　　"What are you trying to do?"

　　Thomas Reed finally changed expression. "If you wake up Erlang-jun and the young lady, both you and I will..."

　　Henry Clark took out a fire striker, lowered his head and blew on it, then brought it close to the cloth strip.

　　Puff!

　　The cloth strip caught fire. Henry Clark stood up, tilted his head slightly, and aimed his bow and arrow toward the front.

　　Thomas Reed suppressed his voice and roared angrily, "Stop!"

　　The camp was surrounded, but a gap was left, behind which five guards were crouched. They turned around in astonishment.

　　The youth stood at the front of the camp, the firelight illuminating his face.

　　Whoosh!

　　The arrow shot out of the camp.

　　As the arrow fell, everyone's gaze followed it.

　　The arrow, trailing fire, landed and illuminated a dark figure.

　　The shadow squatted there, looking up in shock. Clearly, he hadn't expected anyone in the camp to notice his presence.

　　Thomas Reed was utterly shocked. He didn't know how Henry Clark had realized someone was preparing to ambush the camp from outside, but he knew one thing... Without Henry Clark, they would have been in serious trouble tonight.

　　Behind the shadow, a dense mass of figures stood up.

　　Clang!

　　Clang...

　　The sound of long blades being drawn was as dense as the hoofbeats of cavalry charging.

　　Those shadows bowed their heads slightly, and the leader pointed his long blade forward.

　　The guards didn't have time to give Henry Clark a grateful, tearful look; they began to howl madly, their voices piercingly shrill.

　　"Enemy attack..."

Chapter 8: The Downside of Talking Too Much

　　Lily Thompson was fast asleep.

　　Her tent was spacious, divided into two areas. The inner room was her bedroom, while the outer room housed maids ready to serve at any time.

　　Her long eyelashes trembled, her hands tightly clenched...

　　Those bandits were frantically shouting at her, some waving broadswords, others drawing bows and nocking arrows.

　　Second Uncle was anxiously moving toward her, but then he vanished without a trace.

　　"Save me!"

　　Lily Thompson cried out in her dream.

　　The guards were all but wiped out, and the bandits closed in with sinister grins.

　　Lily Thompson looked around in despair.

　　Then her body suddenly rose into the air, and those not-so-large eyes appeared before her again.

　　"Wild brat!"

　　Lily Thompson was overjoyed.

　　"Enemy attack!"

　　Awakened with a start, Lily Thompson opened her eyes wide and asked, "Who is it?"

　　A maid, clothes in disarray, rushed in. "Young lady, there are bandits."

　　Outside came the sound of hurried footsteps, and someone shouted, "Young lady, come out quickly."

　　Lily Thompson quickly put on her outer garment and was escorted outside. She looked up and saw Helen Thompson standing with his advisors, his expression calm.

　　A gust of wind blew by. Having just left her warm bed, Lily Thompson shivered and saw Henry Clark.

　　Henry Clark stood at the front of the camp, with the guards arrayed in formation ahead of him.

　　He looked carefully. "Over two hundred people, with bows and arrows."

　　As he spoke, he inconspicuously took a few steps back, just out of bow range.

　　"Xian'er!"

　　Hearing the call, Henry Clark turned around and saw Lily Thompson lifting her skirt and hurrying toward Helen Thompson.

　　The girl's eyes were startled like a fawn's, but when she noticed Henry Clark watching her as she ran, her gaze instantly turned proud.

　　Helen Thompson also noticed Henry Clark's gaze. He frowned slightly and said, "An assassination attempt by day, a night raid—clearly, these people want me dead. Interesting. Who discovered the bandits? Heavy reward!"

　　Lily Thompson saw the mass of bandits surging forward and couldn't help but nod, fully agreeing with her second uncle's words.

　　Thomas Reed lowered his head. "It was Henry Clark."

　　Helen Thompson let out a soft "oh" and glanced at Henry Clark. Lily Thompson, however, was a bit surprised. "Doesn't he sleep?"

　　Thomas Reed felt even more ashamed, thinking that he and the guards were all useless. "He was awakened."

　　Lily Thompson instinctively asked, "And what about you all?"

　　Thomas Reed's head was almost down to his chest, his shame deepening.

　　He said urgently, "Erlang-jun, quickly take the young lady and leave this place."

　　Helen Thompson said calmly, "Tea!"

　　"Yes."

　　Someone brought over a small table and cushions, and a maid set up a small stove to boil water.

　　Helen Thompson sat down, and Lily Thompson sat beside him, just in time to see the bandits approaching the camp.

　　"Fire arrows!"

　　George Foster's voice was especially loud at this moment.

　　Arrows shot out from the camp, and more than ten bandits outside fell. Lily Thompson clapped her hands. "Good!"

　　An advisor smiled gently. "Excellent insight, young lady."