Chapter 1578 – Fleeing Within Calamity
When the rebel army saw how well-equipped the troops in the valley were, all of their eyes turned red. As a rebel army, they were always trying to make ends meet. Everything they had was obtained through stealing. That was why their clothing and armor were all of different colors, tattered and full of patches in many places. Their equipment had all been taken from dead officials or bought from the black market after changing hands several times.
In contrast, the small, hundred-man army before them was made up of soldiers riding tall horses and dressed in shining armor. Their weapons looked extremely sharp too.
If there were a thousand of such troops—no, just five hundred of them—they would immediately lower their heads and run. Fighting against an army like that would just result in too many losses. However, there were only a hundred of them. In the rebels’ eyes, the troops were nothing more than a hundred fat sheep. If they completely looted the soldiers, they would be able to fully upgrade their equipment. With such gear, invading some local cities in the future would become countless times easier.
The rebel army had a rule of ‘finders keepers’, in order to give them incentive to fully display their strength. Several rebels roared, charging at the Armed Escort Division’s hundred-man army.
Upon seeing such ravenous men charge at them, seemingly intent on stripping them of everything they had, many of the Armed Escort Division members shivered inwardly. However, no matter what, the Armed Escort Division was the emperor’s personal army. Even though they usually remained in the capital, they were still elites. Wang Bolin and Zhang Zijiang were skilled individuals too. After their initial alarm, they quickly leaned against the mountain behind them and prepared to face their enemy.
As cavalry, their greatest advantage was their mobility. However, now that they were completely surrounded and the terrain wasn’t in their favor, they could end up being annihilated by ten times their number before they could even break out of the enemy encirclement. As such, the best plan they had was to hold their ground.
Armies all had formations. Even small groups of three to five could maintain a formation, while medium groups numbered from dozens to a hundred. Larger formations could encompass several thousand to ten thousand people.
The Armed Escort Division was one of the emperor’s five armies. What they trained in normally was more defensive formations, which just happened to be in line with what they needed right now. As such, even though the rebel army was attacking them from all sides, Wang Bolin and Zhang Zijiang still did their best to maintain their formation, struggling bitterly under the crazy barrage of attacks.
Xie Daoyun didn’t hold back either. She had finally recovered a bit of energy, and used all kinds of support formations to help the Armed Escort Division. However, she had fought against this rebel army before and understood their strength well. The difference in numbers was just too high. They could perhaps hold on for a short while, but they would definitely collapse in time.
“Sirs, are there any other friendly armies nearby? We should issue a signal to call for assistance,” she asked. She had already spent a long time in the capital and knew that the Armed Escort Division didn’t normally leave, and if they did, it wouldn’t be with such a small force
Wang Bolin and Zhang Zijiang both remained silent, feeling a bit ashamed. After all, Zu An had even warned them that they didn’t have enough intelligence about the enemy and to be careful of an ambush, but they hadn’t listened. They had even bragged and looked down on him. If they now asked him for help, perhaps they would just die of embarrassment. They both thought that they had to hold on for a bit longer, and if the rebel army decided to back out because of the difficulty, that would be the best-case scenario. After all, the two of them were quite skilled.
Their formation was like a steel shell, and with Xie Daoyun’s help, they forced back many waves of the rebel army. After several rounds of attacks only resulted in a pile of corpses, the rebel army also began to stir restlessly. Their morale began to fall visibly, raising Wang Bolin and Zhang Zijiang’s spirits. As expected, every cloud had a silver lining, and things would work out eventually.
Xie Daoyun quickly told them, “The two of you have to be careful of two leaders from the rebel army. One has a knife wound scar across his face, while the other looks like a crooked buddhist monk. Both of them are strong cultivators.”
“Knife face, buddhist monk?” Zhang Zijiang repeated, his expression changing. “Could it be the Twin Dragon Mountains’ Scarface Yang Shen and Monk Lu Zhi?”
The strongest individual among the rebel armies was naturally Lu Sanyuan. It was rumored that he was backed by the Devil Sect. Apart from him, however, several other armies were quite notorious, and the Twin Dragon Mountains were one such army. The duo of Scarface Yang Shen and Monk Lu Zhi was especially ferocious and they had high cultivations. Local officials had sent out armies to destroy them several times, but they had always failed. However, the Twin Dragon Mountains weren’t nearby! Why was this army here, so far from home?
They didn’t even have time to argue, because a tremendous roar filled the air. A fierce-looking monk slowly walked out from among the rebel army’s ranks; each step carried a world-shaking air. He was like a giant, more than twice the size of a normal person. His body bulged with muscles, and draped across his chest was a necklace made of human skulls. In his hands was a boulder the size of a small mountain, which was why his footsteps were so heavy. The monk roared, then flung the massive boulder at the Armed Escort Division Army.
“Defense!” Wang Bolin and Zhang Zijiang quickly commanded, feeling horrified. A streak of blue light rippled around them.
However, they knew that once the massive boulder descended, their Armed Escort Division’s formation would be a huge mess. The two of them both rushed forth with their blades, unleashing a flurry of sword ki at the boulder.
Even though their cultivation ranks weren’t low, they were still apprehensive about the boulder. They didn’t know if their attacks would be enough to stop it. However, to their surprise, as soon as the sword energy approached the boulder, it exploded on the spot like tofu. They were stunned, not having expected their sword ki to be so powerful.
However, the next second, they saw rock fragments fall toward the soldiers below. Every single one was like an artillery shell, causing earthquakes to ripple across the ground. They finally realized that there was actually a hidden attack inside the boulder! It was meant to explode on its own once it reached the Armed Escort Division, sending endless rubble down on its defensive formation.
Xie Daoyun, who was quite adept at formations, was left in admiration. As the emperor’s personal guards, the formation was naturally top-tier, because anyone who had the ability to threaten the safety of the emperor would likely be at the highest ranks of cultivation. As such, these formations normally focused on blocking the most powerful attacks. However, in all things, with strengths came weaknesses. Even though the formation’s defensive ability was extremely high, its energy consumption was huge.
The monk looked very rough, but he was actually quite a meticulous thinker, having recognized the weakness of their formation. That was why he had launched such a targeted attack.
Sure enough, as the shower of rocks rained down on the Armed Escort Division’s defensive formation, the soldiers’ expressions became pale. The rate of energy consumption was too much!
Wang Bolin and Zhang Zijiang were shocked and angry. They had tried to stop the boulder, but they could only weaken it by a little. How could that be enough? They could only watch as their formation crumbled. If the defenses were broken through, the hundred soldiers would likely be divided up quickly and completely slaughtered.
The two acted decisively, charging directly at the monk. This guy had just flung a mountainous boulder after adding so many tricks, so he had to be in his weakest state. As long as they took down the leader first, the rebel army would likely just break down on the spot.
Unexpectedly, however, the monk stood in place without any intention of running away. There wasn’t the slightest trace of fear visible in his eyes. Both of the deputy generals were suspicious, but a drawn arrow had to be released. They continued to charge at their opponent, although they held back a bit just in case.
Suddenly, a scar-faced man flashed forward from behind the monk. There was a cruel smirk on the corner of his lips. Then, a trace of cold light appeared. The two deputy generals suddenly felt as if all of their fine hairs were standing on end.
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Fortunately, they had held back a bit and were able to block with their weapons. With a brittle crack, their weapons broke into pieces. Blood erupted from their chests as well, as the two of them were blown backward. However, Xie Daoyun quickly formed a seal, creating a gentle force behind them and neutralizing a considerable portion of their momentum.
The two barely managed to stand up again. When they saw their shattered chest plates and the broken mirror armor inside, they were horrified. After all, they were the Armed Escort Division’s deputy generals, and their armors were naturally of the highest grade. In theory, the inner mirror armor especially should have been able to block a ninth rank expert’s full-strength strike, and yet both of their mirror armors were shattered by a single slash of their opponent’s weapon!
“You’re a master rank?” they both exclaimed, alarm and puzzlement in their eyes. Any master could become a noble in the court, so why would they choose to live as rebels?
Xie Daoyun’s face turned even paler. It was precisely because she had faced the monk that she had ended up in such a difficult situation. Now, another master rank had actually joined the fray; didn’t that mean they were even more doomed?