“Only around five hundred or so people, we can eat it!” Yan Liqiang took his gaze back from afar and spoke to Shi Changfeng on the side.
Shi Changfeng just nodded and the hood of his black veil over his face, only leaving a visible pair of eyes. Then, he took the bow from the horse reins. His rhinodrake steed was ready to jump.
Shi Changfeng had failed his long solitary cultivation and didn’t reach the stage of Martial Grandmaster. Many things that were normal to Yan Liqiang became dangerous cultivation barriers for other cultivators. They were like a steep cliff that led into the deep abyss. It wasn’t something one could easily pass. After channeling Qi into the bones and becoming a Martial Master, one had to set up a powerful energy circulation in one’s body to become a Martial Grandmaster. One must fuse vital Qi, bone Qi, and blood Qi together using the vital Qi to nourish the bone Qi, then use the bone Qi to strengthen the blood Qi to finally use blood Qi to circulate vital Qi. Yan Liqiang completely bulldozed through this stage like it was a plain field but Shi Changfeng was stuck on circulating blood Qi with vital Qi. In his solitary cultivation, he didn’t break through to the Martial Grandmaster stage and ended this solitary cultivation early.
Afterwards, Shi Changfeng’s entire temperament became deeper and steadier. In his words, experiencing failure and realizing one’s shortcomings was a necessary part of cultivation. Cultivation, especially martial arts cultivation, wasn’t something as simple as locking oneself in a small room and then becoming invincible. The reason why he failed in becoming a Martial Grandmaster was mainly because as a seated master of the martial arts academy, he experienced too few battles and hardship. The conversion between vital Qi, bone Qi, and blood Qi were too stiff. It lacked the sharpness of a martial practitioner. The easy environment from the past would be a huge barrier to cultivation in the later stages.
So this time, Yan Liqiang originally wanted Shi Changfeng to stay at archery academy but Shi Changfeng insisted on coming. He wanted to make up for the class he missed on the battlefield and brawling.
“In my opinion, since we’re going to kill them all, we don’t need to pretend to be bandits!” Zhou Yong murmured, but after seeing Yan Liqiang look over, he quickly shut his mouth and pulled over his black veil too.
“Remember, when we wear these clothes, we’re a pack of wolves. I will lead you guys and tear our prey apart completely. Many of you have never killed before nor seen what a real battlefield is like. Today, I will show you guys. The Shatu Seven Tribes are ungrateful and ambitious. You guys are all from Pingxi Prefecture, so of course you know what grace the Great Han Empire bestowed upon them. Of course, you know what sort of things they did in Pingxi Prefecture and Gan Province. The people of the Shatu Seven Tribes robbed and pillaged in Gan Province and they even disguised themselves as the Blackwind Bandits to slaughter our Han merchant convoys, doing all the treacherous things in the world. In these few decades, countless Han people have died to the Shatu Seven tribes. Such a race does not deserve to exist. All those from the Shatu Seven Tribes deserved to be killed. What did we learn our powers for? It’s to protect the country and to bring justice to the world in the name of the heavens!” Yan Liqiang said with murderous intent. Then, he turned his horse and looked at the students from the archery academy participating in this operation. “On the battlefield, the swords are merciless, injuries and death are unavoidable. Now, I will ask you one last time. Who doesn’t dare to go? You can get off your horse now and stand on the side!”
“Kill, kill, kill…” No one left their horses. Everyone looked at Yan Liqiang with firm eyes from their rhinodrake steeds. Each and every one of them clutched their battle bow and roared.
Yan Liqiang turned and looked at Shatu’s merchant convoy which had just entered the mouth of the valley about two kilometers away. He pulled his veil and raised his Horned Python Bow before roaring, “Kill…” Then, he kicked the steed’s belly, and Snowstorm Cloud let out a long whine. Yan Liqiang took the lead and charged down the hill…
Shi Changfeng, Shen Teng, Zhou Yong, Shi Dafeng and the rest also followed Yan Liqiang down. Behind them there was a black mass of cavalry that also charged down the hill like a tide towards the distant Shatu merchant convoy.
…
When dust suddenly rose up from the hill, Adebei looked over. The black mass of cavalry that charged out from behind the hill dazed him a little. The first thing that came to mind the Blackwind Bandits, but they were their own people. Who were these people….
Just when that thought arose in his head, an arrow that flew over from two kilometers away pierced Adebei’s head. As the leader of the convoy, Adebei’s head was like a smashed watermelon. It exploded immediately, splashing white and red everywhere. The body that lost its head wobbled on the rhinodrake steed before falling down.
Only now did the howls of the arrows begin tearing through the air reach everyone’s ears.
Those arrows were even faster than sound but most of the Shatu people didn’t notice this. Only the manager sent by the Dark Razor Tribe aristocrat reacted. He grimaced and beat his horse to run before even wiping the blood and brains from his face.
“There are bandits…” the other Shatu people finally reacted and someone called out loud. The merchant convoy was frantic but it didn’t last long. Seeing the bandits charge down from the hill, the Shatu people didn’t run and instead were aggravated. They pulled out their scimitars and took out their bows yelling and waving about their swords before charging at the ‘bandits’…
Yan Liqiang led the team and charged down from the hill. The organized team split into two. One group followed Shi Changfeng and the other group followed Yan Liqiang. These two squads were like huge pincers attacking the sides of the Shatu merchant convoy.
Leading the charge, Yan Liqiang scanned the charging Shatu people and raised his 100-picul bow….
Four arrows flew out. Three of the Shatu people who held war bows fell off their horses. Another arrow passed through the charging Shatu people and flew a few hundred more meters, shooting down a Shatu who was running away on the rhinodrake steed.
The two teams instantly reached a distance that ordinary war bows could reach. Before the Shatu people could draw their bows, nearly 800 densely clustered arrows shot out from Yan Liqiang’s squad and flew towards the Shatu people like locusts…
The Shatu people had some numbers but there was less than 30 cavalry carrying war bows. After Yan Liqiang drew his bow a few times, there was less than ten people who could draw their bows.
From a numbers perspective, it was Yan Liqiang’s 800 to Shatu’s 500 people. Yan Liqiang only had 50% more people than the Shatu, so the Shatu people dared to charge at them.
But in terms of war bows, it was 800 to 10….
The Shatu people didn’t expect that they would be encountering a force of ‘bandits’ armed with high-quality war bows. Due to the production costs of these bows, they could only be equipped on a small scale even within the military. A force all armed with these war bows was unheard of.
When the first batch of arrows fell, the Shatu people fell off their horses. Instantly, a third of the people were gone and the Shatu team formation became dispersed…
Yan Liqiang and the rest didn’t charge up directly but instead drew an arc, going around to the side of the charging Shatu people. The students of the archery academy raised their bows and fired at the same time. In that instant, more than 100 Shatu people fell off their horses.
