Chapter 159: Cultivator Troops
A rainy night in the capital city.
Water splashed as horses galloped through the streets of the capital city. The sound of splas.h.i.+ng water, which was like qin being played, echoed all over the Imperial City.
The loud metallic sound of armors. .h.i.tting another, the sound of knives and swords being unsheathed, and war cries…
This ancient city was shrouded in these noises.
On the city tower, one by one, a soldier well-trained by Jiang Li pulled their bows. With their thumbs pressed tightly against the feather fletching of the arrows, their finger pads turned blue. Raindrops splattered all over after hitting the feather fletching. The aggressive energy seemed to be spreading from the arrowheads into the air.
Before the city tower…
A horse neighed loudly.
Tang Yimo, wearing a bamboo hat and a straw raincoat, was steering the carriage.
It was raining cats and dogs. A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky. The rain was falling hard on the ground and flowing along the long street of the capital city.
In the carriage…
An old man coughed.
It was eerily quiet. Only Tang Xiansheng’s cough lingered in the air.
The old eunuch was holding the umbrella in one hand and the fly-whisk in the other. The obedience in his eyes, which he usually showed before the emperor, was gone. Instead, he looked shrewd and ferocious.
“Tang Xiansheng… His Majesty commanded you to go to the court right away! Otherwise… I’ll take your head to His Majesty!”
The old eunuch’s high-pitched voice broke the silence of the rainy, cold night. It echoed in the alleyways around the city tower.
On the rooftops around him, one after another, black-armored Black Dragon Guards activated their Spirit Qi. Slowly flowing out of their bodies, their powerful energy even slowed down the fall of the raindrops.
These Black Dragon Guards were stronger and more orderly than the guards on the long street.
They were the fruit of Jiang Li’s excellent work as well as Yuwen Xiu’s trump card.
Even Tang Xiansheng had to admit these Black Dragon Guards trained by Jiang Li were stronger than the South Manor Army.
Jiang Li was not a cultivator, but he did not train Black Dragon Guards in cultivators’ ways. Instead, he trained these cultivators who were determined to sacrifice their lives in the way an army was trained.
These people had Spirit Qi. Each of them could be compared to martial arts Grandmasters in the Jianghu. Their neat attacks were fatal and exceptionally powerful and dreadful.
That was precisely why Jiang Li was such a big concern for Tang Xiansheng that the latter had to kill him.
“Ahem. Ahem… I’ve caught a bad cold. I’m too sick to walk. Eunuch, please tell His Majesty I’m afraid I can’t go.”
Tang Xiansheng’s voice came from the carriage, on which rain was pattering.
His voice was not loud, but the old eunuch heard everything he said.
Cultivators from South Manor Army have also surrounded the carriage.
All of them were wearing a bamboo hat. They were planted in the capital city by Tang Xiansheng to protect him during his escape.
Seeing these cultivators from South Manor Army, the old eunuch put on a colder face.
“Great, Tang Xiansheng. You schemed against General Jiang Li early on, you traitor! Today I must catch you and make you kneel down to beg for His Majesty’s mercy!”
“You are not Young Master Lu from Beiluo. Do you really think the capital city is a place where you can come and go whenever you want?!”
“Attention, 300 Black Dragon Guards! Kill them all!”
“You won’t get away in any way today!”
The old eunuch’s high-pitched scream echoed all over the Imperial City, tearing the clouds apart.
As soon as he finished speaking…
On the city tower, the archers let go of the bowstrings, and the arrows heavily rained down.
The sound of bowstrings being released was like a movement that urged people to die.
Countless arrows flew from the city tower, covering the entire sky. With the arrowheads giving off a cold ray of light, one by one, it through rach raindrop.
Boom!
Tang Yimo, sitting at the front of the carried, squinted his eyes.
“I could lose my life,” he said slowly in a hoa.r.s.e voice.
He said that to Tang Xiansheng, who was inside the carriage.
“See this as a deal.”
Tang Xiansheng’s voice came through the curtain of the carriage.
“I don’t want to die. If I die, my sister and my mother will live a difficult life. I have to stay alive.”
Tang Yimo got to his feet from the seat, water dripping off the edge of his bamboo hat. Drops of rain flew all over from his straw raincoat.
“Of course, you have to stay alive. You will see your sister get married. Your mother and I also need you to take care of us when we get old.”
Tang Xiansheng’s voice came again.
“You fight hard at the cost of your life so that your mother and your sister could live a good life from now on.”
It was extremely quiet.
Thunder roared in the sky. The weather was as bleak as the atmosphere in the capital city at this moment.
Tang Yimo untied his straw raincoat slowly.
“This is the last time,” Tang Yimo said.
A hoa.r.s.e voice came from the carriage after some silent moment.
“Okay.”
When the reply came…
The arrows had fallen, almost directly on the carriage. One arrow flew right at Tang Yimo, yet when he saw it, the arrowhead seemed to be growing bigger and bigger as it got closer.
Buzz…
Tang Yimo’s straw raincoat exploded. The water on it also flew all over.
His Spirit Qi fluctuated around him, repelling all the arrows and sending them flying back.
Around the carriage…
South Manor Army’s cultivators unsheathed their knives one by one. The clanging sound of metal against metal never stopped.
Some Spirit Qi, as sharp as knife energy, cut open the water on the ground as it flew across, resulting in a rip that took a long time to disappear.
“Kill!” Tang Yimo howled.
South Manor Army’s cultivators all snarled in a low voice to respond.
“Yes!”
Tang Yimo trained South Manor Army. Although he did not know how to train an army, he trained South Manor Army based on an improved low-end version of Eight Meridians Escaping Demonic Technique, and it was quite effective.
When the old eunuch had seen Tang Xiansheng fight back…
He waved his fly-whisk.
The Black Dragon Guard acted as well.
Besides the Black Dragon Guard, the armored hors.e.m.e.n and soldiers in the capital city also acted.
Horses galloped through the long street to charge. The awe-inspiring darkness of the cold, rainy night was reflected on the sharp spears in their hands.
South Manor Army charged forward.
They unsheathed the knives they had been carrying at the waist. The knife energy was integrated into their Spirit Qi, further piercing through the air.
While running extremely fast, they suddenly knelt down on the ground on both knees, sliding through the flagstone-paved long street full of water.
They threw their knives over.
The knife energy struck the charging armored hors.e.m.e.n before they could get close to the carriage.
The horses’ flanks were cut open, blood gus.h.i.+ng out and their guts spilling on the ground.
Their front legs were also cut off and fell to the ground.
The armored hors.e.m.e.n fell off their horses and tumbled on the ground. Water splattered around. Then the knife energy from the South Manor Army cut their heads off.
The old eunuch narrowed his eyes.
“Just like the Black Dragon Guard, South Manor Army from South County are also composed of cultivators who took adventures in the Dragon Gate… Tang Xiansheng really has a wild ambition.”
The old eunuch waved his sleeve to send more soldiers to charge forward.
South Manor Army were not those freaky cultivators from White Jade City.
An enemy with more soldiers could defeat them.
The Black Dragon Guard could kill all of them when they had been exhausted.
On the rooftops, the Black Dragon Guards in black armors looked like sculptures. They were staring at the South Manor Army fighting on the street with eagle eyes.
They grasped the knives they were carrying at the waist.
Jiang Li asked the blacksmiths in the capital city to forge these knives, especially for the Black Dragon Guard. He named them Li Knife.
The blades were two fingers thick and completely black. They did not have tips, so they looked like broken knives.
The edges were very sharp. If you put a hair close to the edge and blew it, the hair would be cut in half when it touched the tip. The knives were hefty. If ordinary elite soldiers were equipped with this knife, then they would not even be able to brandish it.
However, the Black Dragon Guards, equipped with Li Knife, could launch extremely powerful attacks.
Soon enough, the water on the long street was stained crimson. The rain could hardly wash the blood away because as soon as it was washed away, new blood fell on the ground again.
Tang Yimo’s straw raincoat exploded. He jumped from the carriage.
When he landed on the ground, the muddy, crimson water rose five feet high.
He swept his leg out, hitting the splashed water and turning it into sharp water arrows that were shot straight at the guards of the capital city.
Thud!
A m.u.f.fled sound like that of an arrow piercing through human flesh came.
The guard was sent flying. He hit the guards who were behind him, and then they all fell.
The South Manor Army, wearing bamboo hats, gathered around the carriage.
“Retreat.”
Tang Yimo gave a simple order.
Their goal was to leave the capital city…
Instead of getting entangled with the guards on the long street. The longer they lingered there, the worse the situation would be for them.
South Manor Army’s cultivators were humans too. They were, after all, not freaks from White Jade City.
Their Spirit Qi would be used up.
Therefore, Tang Yimo was going to force his way out of the city.
He could only leave when there was a way out.
The guards of the capital city rushed at him. Their blades were s.h.i.+ning coldly in the rainy night.
However, what Tang Yimo minded was the Black Dragon Guards on the rooftops instead of these people. Those Black Dragon Guards were waiting for their chance like vipers about to attack humans.
Horses were neighing loudly.
A soldier of South Manor Army shook the reins up and down to tell his horse to charge.
Tang Yimo remained there to confront the guards rus.h.i.+ng at him.
“Kill!”
The old eunuch screamed in a high-pitched voice.
He threw the umbrella away. Brandis.h.i.+ng the fly-whisk, he jumped out.
The old eunuch’s strength had soared since he had got Spirit Qi.
Together with the Black Dragon Guards around him, they were going to stop Tang Yimo.
Tang Yimo fixed his eyes on the old eunuch.
The Black Dragon Guards on the rooftop also acted. They jumped off the rooftop immediately, all carrying a Li Knife at their waists.
This was the first fight between South Manor Army and Black Dragon Guard. It was also the first fight between two cultivator armies in the world.
Cling-clang!
The Black Dragon Guard unsheathed their knives all at once.
Spirit Qi burst forth after fermenting for a long time.
The breakout drowned out the thunders in the sky. The s.h.i.+ning blades were brilliant and eye-catching.
******
Lake Island, Beiluo.
Lu Fan went back to the second floor of White Jade City Pavilion.
Lines were jumping in his eyes, as he watched with interest.
He fixed his eyes on something happening far away. The critical fight on the long street of the capital city in this rainy night emerged in his sight.
What intrigued Lu Fan was the fact that this was the first fight between two cultivator armies…
The Black Dragon Guard versus South Manor Army.
The Black Dragon Guard was trained by Jiang Li, with Kong Nanfei’s aided. The Guard was trained the way an army was trained. To Lu Fan’s knowledge, it was like a special troop.
South Manor Army was also an army, but Tang Yimo’s way of cultivation was more like that of a freelance cultivator. However, since it was made up of soldiers, it also had features of an army.
At first, Lu Fan was not very interested in this battle…
Because it was for Tang Xiansheng’s escape.
Tang Xiansheng wanted to flee after framing Jiang Li.
But it was hard to say whether he really could flee.
However, this battle between two cultivator armies was a pleasant surprise for Lu Fan.
“Interesting. They are only cultivators in First and Second Stage Qi Core Realm, but… Since they are armies, they are fighting with great vigor.”
The battle in the rainy night was extremely b.l.o.o.d.y.
Leaning on the back of the wheelchair, Lu Fan cupped one hand around his chin and held the bronze liquor cup with the other.
He was watching the battle.
“If their vigor could merge into one, a pressure similar to Spirit Pressure cancould burst forth to impact the enemy’s consciousness…”
A smile tugged at the corners of Lu Fan’s lips.
“Interesting. A regular army would need at least 8,000 or 10,000 troops to kill a Ninth Stage Qi Core Realm cultivator.”
“But if it’s South Manor Army, then they’ll only need 20 or 30 men to kill a Ninth Stage Qi Core Realm cultivator.”
“The Black Dragon Guard is even stronger. Once they are approached, the Li Knife that Jiang Li ordered to be made could kill a person simply with one strike, so they’ll need fewer people to achieve that.”
“No wonder it’s said the appearance of Dragon Gates had changed the situation of the world. For armies like the Black Dragon Guard and South Manor Army, if they fight against regular armies instead of confronting cultivators, then they are really a sharp knife that could open a breach,” Lu Fan said after taking a sip of the green plum wine.
Jiang Li was sieged by South County’s 100,000 troops and the North County Army. If he wanted to break through the siege in such a desperate situation, then he must rely on the Black Dragon Guard.
******
North County.
In some unknown valley…
Out of the valley, densely packed soldiers and horses a.s.sembled. Tang Baiyun, donning a silver armor, was staring at the valley on his white horse.
That was where Jiang Li and some 5,000 remnant troops of his were hiding.
However, they had tried a few times to enter the valley, yet all of their attempts failed.
“Jiang Li has a black-armored team called Black Dragon Guard. They are all cultivators, very good at fighting. With them guarding the entrance of the valley, our army can’t break in at all,” a general said, cupping his hands.
“The North County Army is on the other side of the valley… There is no way Jiang Li could run. However, Tantai Xuan is really cautious. He hasn’t acted yet. Does he want to see Jiang Li and us end up in a lose–lose situation and take advantage of that?”
Tang Baiyun squinted.
“Or he is afraid that Jiang Li is just our bait and that we are scheming against him?”
“Huh… It must be the old man Mo Beike’s idea.”
Tang Baiyun’s white horse kept neighing. He pulled the reins back, squinting.
“First Young Master, shall we send South Manor Army?” a general asked, cupping his hand.
“South Manor Army? No, it’s our trump card—specifically for Tantai Xuan. There is no way Jiang Li could survive. It’s not worth exposing South Manor Army’s way of fighting for his sake,” Tang Baiyun said.
Then, he exclaimed with admiration, “Cultivators… They really can create miracles.”
Without the Black Dragon Army, Jiang Li and his remaining troops would not have been unable to keep them out of the valley.
“We shouldn’t be stalled here for too long, in case Tantai Xuan goes to inspect the Dragon Gate in the dark. Why don’t we send a soldier to North County’s camp to ask Mayor Tantai Xuan what he plans to do?”
“If he attacks from the north side of the valley, Jiang Li won’t be able to flee. However, he has done nothing. This really doesn’t make any sense.”
All of a sudden…
A general came at a fast pace.
Cupping his hands, he said to Tang Baiyun, “First Young Master, Chili’s Young Priest wants to see you.”
Tang Baiyun frowned with disgust. Waving his hand, he said, “I don’t want to see him.”
However, his eyes suddenly lit up.
“No… Let him in. The valley is full of trees and bushes. Barbarians are the best at handling such an environment. They must have many countermeasures. Let’s see whether they can force Jiang Li out of the valley!”
However, that general hesitated.
But in the end, he accepted the order.
“Yes.”
******
Tantai Xuan was standing on a giant rock. Banners and flags were blowing in the wind of the night.
“The Black Dragon Guard trained by Jiang Li is an army composed of cultivators. It almost broke all rules of wars. The Black Dragon Guard could resist thousands of troops alone,” Tantai Xuan exclaimed.
Mo Ju was waving his feather fan. His clothes were billowing in the wind of the night.
“Lord, Jiang Li has the Black Dragon Guard, but Tang Baiyun also has South Manor Army… They are both cultivator armies. South Manor Army hasn’t acted yet. Tang Baiyun obviously doesn’t want us to see how they fight. He has this ace up his sleeve to deal with us.”
“Jiang Li will absolutely die. So he wants to leave some room for maneuver.”
“To scheme against us,” Mo Ju said.
Tantai Xuan nodded.
“South County has South Manor Army. Jiang Li has the Black Dragon Guard, and West County has a Dragon Gate too. Judging from the Overlord’s temper, it’s impossible he wouldn’t form a cultivator army… What do we North County have? Cultivator army… We North County must have one too. Otherwise, what a.s.sets do we have to scramble for the world?”
In the distance…
An armored horseman came on his horse.
“Report.”
“South County has sent a troop to invade the valley…” the scout said.
“Oh? Again? Is that South Manor Army?” asked Tantai Xuan. His big red cape billowed out behind him.
However, the scout shook his head. He could not tell what that troop was.
Tantai Xuan’s eyes narrowed.
If it was not South Manor Army, did Tang Baiyun send a regular army to court death?
Was this guy stupid?
“If it isn’t South Manor Army, what can it be?”