Woo~~
Woohoo—
The desolate sound of horns continued to resound through the sky. The ninety-seven people who gathered in formation were already exhausted. Qu Yuanfeng covered the burst armor on his shoulder, and the blood that flowed out had already coagulated into a layer of blood stains.
Whoosh…
He was breathing heavily. He had heard about how his master trapped 30,000 soldiers of the Southern Chen Army with an illusion array, and he thought he could do it too.
But when I really started doing it, especially facing the overwhelming sea of soldiers, I finally felt what it meant to be powerless.
"Mountain!"
The encircled Turkic infantry came forward with their shields raised, and densely packed spears pierced through the gaps between the shields, fiercely attacking the small formation of ninety-seven people under his command. In the formation empowered by magic, the ochre light of magic flashed wildly, dissolving the shields of Qu Yuanfeng's soldiers to offset the impact of the stabs again and again, like a crumbling reef in the vast ocean tide.
The Turkic cavalry surrounding on both sides drew their bows and shot a few arrows to harass them from time to time. Some people fell into the small formation, covering their necks and crying out in pain. The long spears they used to attack them fell to the ground. Behind them, their comrades hurriedly replaced the soldiers who had been shot dead, roaring hysterically and swinging wildly against the forest of spears stabbing from the opposite side.
Qu Yuanfeng deflected the flying arrow with a bang, dragged his spear and looked at the Turkic infantry who were charging and wielding swords. He looked towards the distant hillside and faintly felt the fluctuation of magic power.
"They also have people practicing Taoism?"
The moment my thoughts drifted away, on the hillside, the shaman riding a black horse turned over and took the small drum inlaid with animal bones handed to him by someone else. There was a human skull decoration in the middle of the drum. He seemed to be looking at Qu Yuanfeng, his big beard spread out, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth, and he smiled.
"The ascetics from the Central Plains... hehe..."
He chuckled twice, then suddenly looked up at the blue sky. Above the sky, white clouds were like cotton wool. Soon, a few dark clouds floated over, and the vision of countless people below gradually became gloomy. Then he heard a hoarse voice shouting on the hillside.
"Gerire—"
Boom!
The dull big hand slapped the big drum, the wind in the sky and the earth roared, the dust between the horses' hooves and people's feet flew up to the sky, and then came down again, directly covering the ninety-seven people below.
Gravel whimpered and roared along with the wind, and gravel flew into the mouths, noses, eye sockets, and ears of many soldiers. Even breathing became extremely difficult, and they waved their hands to wipe away the blockage in their mouths and noses.
"It's terrible."
With his vision blocked, Qu Yuanfeng knew that it was the Turkic ascetic over there who was casting a spell, but he only knew the Wind, Forest, Fire and Mountain spell, and it was only effective when used on his own soldiers. The sudden change made him feel a little flustered, and in the chaos, he turned around and shot a Turk who was trying to launch a sneak attack to death.
He tilted his head and yelled, "Get out!"
He waved the command flag in his left hand, and the fading magic light on it flashed. With the word "wind", the magic attached to the soldiers' legs and feet. The ninety-seven people heard Qu Yuanfeng's voice and hurriedly ran south again, rushing through the middle of the two Turkic phalanxes that were about to encircle them at an extremely fast speed.
However, the encirclement was complete. The Turkic infantry phalanxes on both sides slashed wildly at the ninety-odd people in the middle with swords and spears. Amid the blood, Qu Yuanfeng was half covered in blood. He dodged a spear tip, his iron helmet flew away to who knows where. He waved the command flag with messy hair, and blessed the little remaining magic power to the subordinates around him.
"We must get out. We have delayed long enough. General Da Xi, the other five hundred comrades should have returned safely. You must leave too..."
In the chaos of fighting, a Sui soldier rushed forward, knocked away the Turkic man who was stabbing Qu Yuanfeng with a spear, and looked at his commander with blood on his face.
"Captain, you go too!"
The ground under the sky was dotted with chaotic figures. Qu Yuanfeng watched the soldiers who were screaming at him being pulled into the Turkic infantry. The blades rose and fell, and their figures disappeared.
"Uhhh—"
Qu Yuanfeng shouted hoarsely. With his tall stature, he knocked away two Turkic soldiers who were blocking the way, tore open a gap, and led his subordinates to rush out. However, there were only more than fifty soldiers following closely behind. He kept shouting and fighting, commanding these fifty people to rush south. He slowed down and stayed behind to wait for the subordinates who had not come out yet. Even though some soldiers rushed out covered in blood, there were not many of them. Some of them rushed out a few steps, staggered and fell down forever due to excessive blood loss.
Seeing that more than ten of the fleeing soldiers stopped to wait for him, Qu Yuanfeng yelled at them with red eyes: "Go! Don't look back, go—"
A dozen soldiers hesitated for a moment, gritted their teeth, turned around, and ran after their companions in front.
Qu Yuanfeng turned around and looked at the approaching Turkic infantry phalanx, his bloodstained arm trembling slightly as he held the command flag.
… I can’t go… I can’t go.
… I can’t bring shame to my master… Let people say that my master has a… escaped disciple…
hiss!
He sucked in a breath through clenched teeth, and with his other hand he thrust the spear into the soil, tightening the cloth belt around his waist. Scarlet liquid was slowly flowing out, following the thread and flowing among the grass leaves on the ground, soaking the soil.
'Besides... I can't leave...'
Tightening the wound in the torn leather armor, Qu Yuanfeng drew his spear and held it horizontally, his eyes sweeping around the countless enemies, his blood-stained hair fluttering in the wind, his leather armor and robe were full of torn gaps. Looking at the infantry surrounding him and the Turkic cavalry spreading southward, his eyes became slightly moist and his mouth stretched to reveal his blood-stained teeth.
“Hehe… Hahahaha—”
The broken flag emitted a faint light of Dharma, and the fiery red light covered his whole body. The next moment, he stepped on his boots, pressed down the grass, and ran wildly, like a fiery red meteor, rushing towards the countless moving figures in front of him.
The hoarse voice shook the world like thunder.
"Qixia Mountain, Qu Yuanfeng is here!!!"
In an instant, he crashed into the crowd, attacking like fire.
…
In the south, at the foot of the mountain, bluish-white lightning flashed across the woods and fields, and in an instant, it had reached the foot of another mountain. At a speed that was difficult for the naked eye to follow, a donkey with its tongue hanging out of its mouth was running wildly with arcs of electricity on its limbs. On the clanging bookshelf, the Toad Taoist's short body was pressed against the wall of books, and his white belly was shaking.
"Liangsheng, slow down... slow down... your master... your master can't stand it anymore... I want to... I want to vomit..."
On the back of the old donkey that was running at lightning speed, Lu Liangsheng suddenly tapped the donkey's neck, and the donkey's rapidly running body stopped immediately. The toad that covered its mouth in the bookshelf lost its balance due to inertia, and crashed from one side of the book wall to the other side. With a burp, the food residue in its mouth was forced back into its stomach, and it slowly slid along the book wall and lay down on the small bed.
'That woman's... quack.'
Outside, Lu Liangsheng stopped the old donkey. In front of his sight, flames shot up into the sky. Countless screams were mixed in the chaos, and a faint smell of burning could be smelled in the air.
The Turkic cavalry, which was heading south, began to plunder the villages along the way. With a rough roar, they threw torches and set houses on fire. When they rolled up the black dragon and rose into the sky, a man with flames all over his body ran out of the house, ran around wildly, and screamed in pain. A Turkic cavalryman who passed by leaned over, extended his blade, and chopped off his head.
Not far from the galloping warhorse, a naked woman rushed out of the house. Several Turks, laughing wildly, chased after her from behind and picked her up by the waist. The woman kicked her legs and cried out in fear, and was thrown to the ground. The surrounding Turks grinned, untied their belts, and moved the woman's legs in front of the villagers who were tied up nearby.
"Please, let her go, please, she is pregnant, she has a child, please let her go!"
Among the villagers who were tied up and kneeling, someone struggled and shouted, and was then kicked to the ground. At that moment, a Turkic soldier on guard swung his sword and chopped him.
The frightened old man who begged for mercy closed his eyes, and for a moment, he felt no more pain from flesh being torn. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the Turks in the village remained motionless in the same position they had just been in. Even the few Turkic cavalrymen who were about to bully the woman were all frozen in place.
The woman cried and grabbed the torn clothes on the ground to cover her body, then she moved carefully along the ground among the motionless people. In the distance, a scholar holding a scroll and leading an old donkey walked past the entrance of the village. He stopped and looked at the scene in the village. He waved his sleeves, and the ropes on the bound villagers instantly loosened and slid to the ground.
"Go hide in the mountains and don't come out until the imperial reinforcements arrive."
Over there, dozens of villagers cried and bowed to the scholar, dragging their surviving relatives, bypassing the burning houses, and hurriedly ran up the mountain.
When the war broke out, the Turkic cavalry who arrived earlier would clear the way along the way. Such tragedies kept happening in this land.
At this time, the man who was determined to die, dressed in red, charged into the Turkic battle formation and kept rushing forward. In the chaos, he knocked down a man and cut a gash on his thigh, bleeding profusely.
Qu Yuanfeng held the command flag in his left hand and danced wildly with his spear in his right hand. He continued to rush forward with staggering steps, leaving a bloody path of more than ten feet in the densely packed crowd.
On the hillside, the high shaman priest looked at the figures with fiery red light still fighting in the crowd. He stretched out his hand and asked the waiter to hand over a small jar. He removed the seal on it, and his lips in his beard moved rapidly as he muttered something.
As the spell was chanted, a stream of black smoke flew out of the Wengkou, causing the Great Khan to subconsciously take two steps back and lean against Bu Li. The latter also had a look of fear in his eyes and murmured, "Black Wind Curse."
The wisp of black smoke that flew into the sky suddenly turned into a black hurricane visible to the naked eye, whistling and roaring, like a black cloud passing over the heads of the densely packed soldiers below, and crashing into the fiery red figure.
Qu Yuanfeng tilted his head and instinctively raised the command flag and spear, only to feel a foul odor and tingling sensation all over his body. His whole body froze in place, shaking violently.
Something warm seemed to be flowing out between his nose, mouth and ear holes. He slowly raised his hand and touched it. In his field of vision, he saw a pool of black blood on his fingers.
When Qu Yuanfeng raised his head, his standing body could no longer support itself and he fell backwards with a bang, landing heavily on the ground.
"Master... Disciple... No..."
The corners of his mouth, stained with black blood, moved and a whispering voice sounded.
"…No…I didn't embarrass you…"
The fist that was holding the command flag loosened, and the magic power on it dissipated.
…
In the distant south, the scholar staying in the mountain village seemed to feel something. His hands holding the scroll dropped to his sides, and all the human emotions that had existed seemed to be stripped away suddenly.
'… Yuan Feng.'
He looked at the motionless Turks with a calm face. The moment the scroll in his hand rolled up by itself, blood oozed out of the pores of dozens of soldiers and flowed all over the ground.
Lu Liangsheng walked to the bookshelf with an expressionless face, called out Yue Long, and tied a scroll to the bookshelf.
"kill."
Only a voice that was so flat and emotionless squeezed out from between his thin lips. Through the small door of the bookshelf, the Toad Taoist was also anxious. He dragged the rope and climbed onto the donkey's back, wanting to persuade his disciple to go north.
"Liangsheng, if you run into that white-haired..."
On the bookshelf, Yue Long's sword was unsheathed with a clang, and the blade of the sword cut through the air, unintentionally cutting the rope as well. The Toad Taoist was still talking.
"... That white wolf demon is not a good person and is not easy to deal with..."
He held his flippers and spoke, his vision getting higher and higher, and when he said: "... if the master is afraid of the past, the master can't come back... come... eh?!"
When he reacted, he found that his feet were more than ten feet above the ground. The figures of his disciple and the old donkey became tiny. The Toad Taoist widened his eyes and looked up.
The taut rope around his waist was entangled in the hilt of his sword, dangling him as he flew north.
The Toad Taoist priest was hanging under the Yuelong Sword, looking at the mountain foothills below, which were filled with clouds, and he shouted with his hands and feet dancing.
"Pudu Cihang, damn it, let me go-"
…
Outside the burning village, the old donkey seemed to sense his master's emotions. He shook his neck, and his mane grew out in large patches like a lion's mane. His long snout was open, revealing fangs, and he let out a roar. With a roar, antlers broke out from his head, his body grew taller and longer, and was covered with dark blue scales.
"Hoo-ang-"
The unicorn stretched its neck and roared, its back sank, and Lu Liangsheng sat on it, slowly closing his eyes. In an instant, the man and the beast turned into a streak of lightning and disappeared at the entrance of the village.