Chapter 38: Sorrow
“Fire!”
A clear female voice sounded.
The speaker was Nangong Caishu. Her expression was grave, but because of the first time she was facing such a battle formation and sending this kind of order, her sharp voice trembled minutely.
But the dozens of soldiers who had gathered under orders behind her did not hesitate at all. These soldiers were all old hands, their usual duty in the army was to target the flying sword of cultivators.
The flying swords of cultivators were the fastest weapons on the battlefield at harvesting lives. So while these soldiers were not cultivators, they had experienced many tragic battles and their resolve had been tempered like steel.
They had filtered out all unnecessary noise from the battlefield, including from Nangong Caishu’s voice. When the military order sounded, these soldiers expressionlessly raised their crossbows, and steadily pressed their copper triggers.
Dozens of howls sounded through the air. This kind of sound was not unfamiliar to cultivators who had experienced battle formations before. Dozens of copper-colored metal flowers bloomed in the air. These were the edges of metal nets weighted down and falling.
The slightly azure flying sword struggled like a fish caught in a net. But the more it struggled, the more the net twisted together until it turned into a copper-colored iron battle that fell heavily to the ground.
This was the Sword Binding Net of the Qin Dynasty. Large amounts of copper nets with lead added could restrain flying swords, and could block off the flow of primal energies of the universe and vital energy to the greatest degree. But if not for that momentary chance where this flying sword was flicked up by the other flying sword, how could this Sword Binding Net easily catch this flying sword?
Cheers and roars rose among the army.
These soldiers naturally knew what price they usually had to pay to deal with a cultivator. Yet in this instant, three cultivators had been killed, one flying sword trapped. This was akin to the powerful army ahead losing its arms.
All of this came from the military orders Ding Ning had issued before the advance.
“Trap sword!”
Only now did some of the cultivators who had appeared from grass react. The wild sword sword that had appeared the earliest had not been from their side, but was Ding Ning’s own flying sword!
Plop!
A spray of blood burst from the throat of a yellow robed cultivator standing in the grass.
The flying sword that had flicked up the slightly azure sword came from the same area but it managed to escape the Sword Binding Nets in time. It was now silently passing through the grass until it passed through the throat of the cultivator who just lost his flying sword!
The white sword light only appeared for an instant on the cultivator before disappearing to somewhere unknown. The threat of the flying sword, and the speed at which this army erupted to harvest the lives of cultivators caused this region of the world to pause for a moment.
Of the seven cultivators who appeared out of the grass, only three were stopped in the grass now.
No new orders were issued. But all the soldiers were now in awe of the abilities Ding Ning’s multiple military orders evinced. So this army appeared even steadier and colder as a mountain than usual. This kind of presence made the cultivators in the grass seem sadder.
One cultivator took a step forward. He moved while others did not, so he naturally attracted everyone’s attention. This was a middle-aged man with white hair at his temples.
Ding Ning looked quietly at him.
This middle-aged man bowed from a distance at Ding Ning. Then he said, “You used a trapped sword to lure us to attack. This is just a problem of strategy. But why were you certain that we will appear behind your army?”
“This has any meaning?” Ding Ning looked at the middle-aged man and said disdainfully, “Even if I answer your question, will you retreat?”
“No one wants to die on purpose. Maybe we have other choices,” the middle-aged man said after a moment of silence.
Ding Ning looked at this man and suddenly laughed. “People who see may have other thoughts, but those unseen will not change their original intentions and still want me to die. So unless those unseen people are dead.”
Ding Ning’s words were incomprehensible to most soldiers, yet the middle-aged man, and the other cultivators, all knew the meaning behind his words.
The middle-aged man grimaced slightly and said, “Can there not be a slight compromise?”
Ding Ning looked at him and the other two cultivators. “How can I trust you?”
The middle-aged man bowed his head slightly. He did not seem to respond but as he hung his head, two furious screams sounded from the cold grass.
Two figures charged out of the soil, the grass and soil above turning into thick mist. Below the two figures, there was a sword light flashing with quiet light.
Seeing the sword light chasing the two figures, Ding Ning’s arm suddenly rose. His hand was held straight making a slashing motion ahead.
Seeing where Ding Ning’s gesture fell, the messengers around him, and even Guo Feng and Nangong Caishu wore shocked gazes.
Yet the military order was the military order.
Multiple messengers saw Ding Ning’s raised hand and swung their order flags!
“Wind!”
“Gale!”
The cold and murderous army erupted like a volcano and gave off a roar. All the ballistas and seal weapons erupted at this moment. The heavy metal covered the sky like a twister and then fell down like a mountain.
The middle-aged man looked up, extremely pale.
The metal weapons covering the sky did not fall towards the two cultivators, but him and the other two cultivators. Behind him, the two cultivators screamed and dashed towards the middle-aged man’s side. Two sword lights flashed as they tried to shield the middle-aged man.
Yet this middle-aged man knew the outcome could not be changed.
The flying sword that had seemed to be chasing the two cultivators who erupted out of the soil urgently retreated to his body. At the same time, he shook his head and said, “If you can leave, then leave quickly.”
Bam!
A heavy hammering sound resounded. When the heavy items flying in the sky hit the ground hard in unison, the ground rippled.
The two cultivators next to him gave off sad cries but had no plans of escape. Their sword-wielding arms were already bloodied and unable to be lifted up. To their great sorrow, multiple flying swords were flying up from the army ahead, but among these flying swords, there was not that initial flying sword.
That flying sword blooming with fine flowers had already appeared in front of the middle-aged man’s retreating sword.
