Chen Dayong's vision went black, and with a muffled groan, he fell to the ground.
Then, the Jueding Daoist reached out to grab Chen Xiaobei's collar.
Chen Xiaobei had noticed this out of the corner of his eye and was waiting for this moment.
Just as the Jueding Daoist's hand was about to touch Chen Xiaobei.
Chen Xiaobei ducked down, raised his hand, and shot a short arrow from his right hand towards the Jueding Daoist's face.
Seeing Chen Xiaobei's sneak attack, the Jueding Daoist was greatly angered. With a wave of his sleeve, he knocked away the short arrow. After all, Chen Xiaobei knew no martial arts, and the short arrow he shot did not carry much force.
At this moment, Chen Xiaobei performed a diving leap.
He lunged forward, and as he soared, he shot another short arrow from his left hand.
Then he shouted, "Get him."
The Jueding Daoist was caught off guard by Chen Xiaobei's actions.
Normally, if Chen Xiaobei turned and ran, he could catch up with a single stride. However, Chen Xiaobei leaped forward and fell to the ground. For the Jueding Daoist to grab him, he would have to run over first and then crouch down. Meanwhile, Chen Dayong had already been knocked unconscious by him.
To take Chen Dayong hostage, he would have to crouch down, grab him, and then stand up.
Just as Chen Xiaobei uttered the words "Get him."
Chen Daqiang and the others impatiently activated their repeating crossbows.
The Jueding Daoist had not expected Chen Xiaobei to treat him this way.
As the saying goes, one fears not a long spear, but a short blade. Repeating crossbows are short-ranged and powerful. Even if your martial arts are superior, you cannot be certain of avoiding them entirely. With no other choice, the Jueding Daoist let out a clear cry and retreated backward.
As he retreated, he created distance from everyone, making it easier for the village defense team to use the repeating crossbows.
Chen Xiaobei picked up a discarded repeating crossbow from the ground and unleashed a barrage of shots at the Jueding Daoist.
At this moment, the Jueding Daoist felt like crying but had no tears. In the past, dodging such attacks would have been as easy as pie.
However, he had been hit in the abdomen by shrapnel from a landmine in the woods earlier.
Ultimately, he had underestimated the damage caused by these firearms.
He had not expected the shrapnel from the landmine to embed so deeply into his abdomen, which was why so much blood had been lost when he treated the wound.
Therefore, his movements were not as swift before taking action. After dodging left and right, he was caught off guard and struck in the leg.
Being hit in the leg made his movements even slower.
Soon, he was hit in the shoulder again.
After being hit twice, the Jueding Daoist already sensed that something was seriously wrong.
However, the village defense team members were still more than ten feet away. Even if he wanted to rush forward and take a hostage, he had no opportunity.
At this moment, Chen Xiaobei was also panicking. He hadn't expected the Jueding Daoist, who had been hit by two arrows, to still be running so fast. They had to exert all their strength to keep up.
However, the village defense team members were all spendthrifts. They shot their repeating crossbows rapidly, but they did not have many arrows. If this continued, they might only be able to watch the Jueding Daoist escape.
Chen Xiaobei suddenly remembered his experience of shooting sparrows with a slingshot in his hometown.
When shooting sparrows with a slingshot, he wouldn't aim directly at the sparrows on the branches. Instead, he would aim slightly ahead of their bodies. That way, when the startled sparrows flew forward, they would be hit.
With this thought, Chen Xiaobei once again feigned a threat and shouted, "Shoot him in the head."
Following his shout, Chen Xiaobei took two steps diagonally to the right, creating an angle with the Jueding Daoist, and fired several arrows towards the direction the latter was running.
Upon hearing Chen Xiaobei's shout to aim for the head, the Jueding Daoist instinctively ducked his head. But he had not expected Chen Xiaobei to aim at his lower body.
In a moment of misjudgment, the Jueding Daoist was hit in the thigh by another arrow.
With both legs hit by arrows, he could no longer run fast.
Seeing that the Jueding Daoist's speed had slowed down, Chen Xiaobei shouted again, "Old Daoist, stop now, and I'll spare your life. Otherwise, don't blame me for being ruthless."
A thought flashed through the Jueding Daoist's mind. If he continued to run like this, he would likely bleed to death. It would be better to play along, stop for a moment to catch his breath, and find an opportunity to take a hostage.
With this thought, the Jueding Daoist gradually slowed down, and as he decelerated, he shouted, "Chen Xiaobei, you are a man. Do you stand by your word?"
"As long as you don't play any tricks, I guarantee I won't kill you," Chen Xiaobei immediately replied.
Before his words had even fallen, the Jueding Daoist braked and stood still.
Seeing this, Chen Xiaobei waved his hand, and the village defense team members surrounded the Jueding Daoist from all directions.
However, to the Jueding Daoist's surprise, they surrounded him from a distance of twenty to thirty feet and not a single person stepped forward.
He found it a bit strange. "Chen Xiaobei, what do you mean by this?"
Chen Xiaobei chuckled. "Don't rush, Daoist. Some of my old friends are coming, and we can all chat together."
Saying this, he beckoned to a village defense team member and whispered a few words in his ear. The team member immediately ran off.
Chen Xiaobei asked him to quickly go and call Liu Rumei and the others back. He absolutely would not take a step forward until these experts arrived.
At this moment, the Jueding Daoist realized that Chen Xiaobei was more troublesome than he had imagined. He was more than ten feet away from the village defense team members. At this distance, even the dullest ordinary person would have enough time to pull the trigger before he could launch an attack.
Now, the only thing he could do was adjust his breathing, try to regain some strength, and wait for an opportunity to escape.
However, as he waited, after about the time it takes for two sticks of incense to burn, urgent footsteps could be heard from a distance, and seven or eight figures appeared vaguely.
Seeing more people arriving, the Jueding Daoist felt a chill in his heart. He seemed to have fallen for Chen Xiaobei's trick.
"Chen Xiaobei, you are untrustworthy."
Chen Xiaobei spread his hands innocently. "How am I untrustworthy? I said I would spare your life, and I haven't killed you yet."
"You!" The Jueding Daoist wanted to retort but found no ground to stand on. What Chen Xiaobei said was also true; he hadn't attacked, he had only surrounded him.
As they spoke, Liu Rumei and the others had already arrived.
Seeing a group of village defense team members surrounding the Jueding Daoist, Liu Rumei was both surprised and delighted.
Huang Ying quickly flew to Chen Xiaobei's side and asked with concern, "Brother Xiaobei, are you alright?"
Chen Xiaobei smiled and nodded, remaining silent at the sudden concern.
Liu Rumei, standing nearby, saw through the pretense and a hint of an unnatural smile appeared on her face.
But she quickly turned her face to look at the Jueding Daoist. "Jueding, you should surrender."
The Jueding Daoist cast a cold glance at her and pretended to be calm. "If you want me to surrender, then come and try."
Liu Ce, standing beside her, smiled slightly. "We know you are skilled in martial arts, but now you have been hit by at least three arrows, and it seems your abdomen is also injured. If all of us were to attack you at once, how many moves do you think you could last?"
Hearing Liu Ce's words, the Jueding Daoist sighed deeply, glared fiercely at Chen Xiaobei, and said, "I never imagined that I, Jueding, who has roamed the martial world for a lifetime, would ultimately be defeated by you, an unknown little Daoist. What a pity, what a pity."