Many men sneaked out of the military camp at dusk.
They would unquestionably be courting death if they did this during a war, but Yan Chengcai had obviously made well-thought-out arrangements tonight. Even if the patrols noticed them, they would just walk past without looking at them, and would leave them alone.
The night battle’s location had to be very particular. It could not be too close to the military camp, or the noise would surely draw attention. However, it could not be too far either, or it would be troublesome for them to return to the camp before sunrise.
Yan Chengcai and the others were very experienced, thus they traveled roughly 2.5 kilometers out of the military camp without making a sound.
With a bit of moonlight, they made their way to a spot.
After checking each other’s equipment, they sat down to rejuvenate themselves. They were passionate and full of spirit earlier at the barracks, but they became extremely calm when the battle was happening soon, by which none of them made noise.
Ou Yangming watched them quietly. Although he had seen soldiers training on the training ground, it was his first time seeing actual combat like this.
Soon enough, some figures were seen approaching from another direction.
Yan Chengcai mentioned softly, “Master Ou, you can watch from here, but don’t show yourself.”
“Okay.” Ou Yangming quickly nodded. Honestly, he had the impulse to give this a go, but he quickly suppressed the thought.
After all, this was a fight between two camps, and the most he could do was to provide them with equipment. If he were to get involved, he would likely be in trouble.
Once Yan Chengcai waved his hand, he and his men stood up together. They covered their faces with scarves, and covered their arm guards and greaves with their sleeves before heading toward their opponents.
The moon was not that bright at that moment. Though they were on empty ground, they could only see blurred figures if they were too far away.
Seeing as both parties were almost within each other’s reach, one of them retrieved a fire igniter to light a torch and then threw it. The moment the torch landed, it stuck to a hole in the ground firmly.
It was then that the men from both sides could roughly see each other.
Ou Yangming initially thought that they would communicate before fighting, but the instant the flames on the torch stabilized, both sides roared at the same time, “Charge!”
With that, twenty men charged at each other.
Though each party only had ten men, they were all soldiers, hence they did not fight messily. The men from each side advanced and retreated orderly as though they were one person as a whole.
“Bam, bam, bam…”
The first two people to clash were Yan Chengcai and Huang Jingtian. Even with their faces covered, they identified each other right away.
They first launched multiple hits at each other, and they either dodged or defended. When their arms clashed, ear-splitting sounds of metal clashing were heard.
Arm guards. Both of them were wearing arm guards.
Huang Jingtian was not surprised at all. He knew that Yan Chengcai’s father was a squad leader, so it would not be hard for him to acquire arm guards. Nevertheless, it was not easy to gather ten pairs of arm guards in a day.
Furthermore, Huang Jingtian was wearing Good Grade arm guards!
In spite of that, he noticed after a few exchanges of blows that something was off.
What a mighty force!
It was evident from their arm powers that Yan Chengcai was more powerful than Huang Jingtian, so the latter’s arms were numbed.
What was happening? It was not Huang Jingtian and Yan Chengcai’s first encounter as they exchanged blows a few times on different occasions other than the previous night battle. The men from Huang Jingtian’s side recalled Yan Chengcai’s power to be on a par with Huang Jingtian’s. How did he have the upper hand this time?
Fortunately, Huang Jingtian’s face was covered, or the other would see that he was grimacing in pain.
After confronting his opponent heedlessly for a few times, Huang Jingtian dared not just go head-on. He shifted his body to retreat, but Yan Chengcai suddenly took a leap forward and moved as fast as lightning without giving him a chance to respond.
A punch was aimed at Huang Jingtian’s chest, the force was swift and violent.
Huang Jingtian lowered his body. He fell to the ground at that crucial moment, then rolled backward like a rubber ball.
Despite that, he sensed a strong wind brushing past his scalp. After managing a narrow escape, he was traumatized as Yan Chengcai had somehow changed into another person. Someone who was not an easy opponent at all due to his mighty power and fast speed.
Perhaps Huang Jingtian and his men would have to gang up against Yan Chengcai after the other opponents were taken down.
That being said, a shrieking cry pierced the silent night sky at the next moment. Huang Jingtian was terrified as the cry was not from their opponent.
Instead of shouting, both parties were fighting quietly under the night sky.
It was supposedly hard for both sides to break each other’s formation as they adopted their military formation, but moments after they began fighting, Ou Yangming noticed a huge change.
Big Bull advanced forward behind Yan Chengcai, and was soon faced with a big man who was about his size.
Needless to say, the burliest and most valiant man was usually at the front in a night battle like this. Big Bull was familiar with the big man, so they attacked at the same time as soon as they met. They had equal shares of power after hitting each other with their arms a few times.
Later, Big Bull did a side kick with his leg.
The big man on the opposite smiled sinisterly, and kicked sideways too without showing any sign of weakness.
He put a lot of effort into practicing martial arts skills in the military camp, especially his legs that were as tough as steel from kicking timber piles every day. While the big man could not defeat Big Bull with his punches, he was confident about kicking Big Bull away with one kick.
As such, two legs danced in the air like two whips, then clashed with each other hard under the flickering flames.
Big Bull’s body froze for a moment as he wondered, ‘This fella’s quite strong!’
Subsequently, he heard a loud “pop”, and the big man’s face immediately twisted beneath the cloth.
The big man tried his best to find his footing, but fell to the ground instead, and when he grabbed his leg with both hands, his body was already drenched in a cold sweat due to the immense pain.
During a battle in the dark, clashes between fists and legs were inevitable since no weapons were allowed. It would be fine if they only fought with punches, but whenever someone from Yan Chengcai’s side attacked with their legs, gasps or groans were definitely heard from their opponents.
Upon hearing the sound, Ou Yangming thought about his greaves.
‘Mm, the collision between one’s bare leg and a greave at the peak of Good Grade Rank Five…’ Ou Yangming felt chills on his back when he thought about it, and his legs seemed to hurt too.
At the spur of a moment, a painful scream was heard. “They have greaves, they’re cheating. Ah—”
The person who spoke was the big man whose leg had broken after fighting Big Bull recklessly. He was also a tough man, so he did not make a sound at all even after experiencing sharp pain. Only after the pain slowly disappeared did he warn his partners.
However, his warning was too late.
More than half of the men from their side had already been defeated, but they were not as good as the strong man in terms of martial arts skills with the legs. Therefore, they defended with their legs instead of making active attacks, and they did not meet force with force. In that case, they were only racked with pain when they were kicked by greaves, and their legs were not broken.
Upon hearing the big man’s shriek, the others could not help but have teary eyes.
‘You were the first who suffered, why didn’t you tell us earlier…’
Yan Chengcai and Big Bull were unstoppable when they charged forward together. They broke their opponents’ formation very quickly since their opponents lacked Huang Jingtian and the big man.
Once Yan Chengcai’s side gained the advantage in numbers, they ganged up on their opponents; multiple people against one. The attacks from their arm guards and greaves were like downpours of rain that instantly hurt their opponents such that they lost their ability to resist.
Before long, half of Huang Jingtian’s men were down. They were so badly beaten that they could not get up anymore.
Nevertheless, Yan Chengcai and his brothers had a sense of propriety even though they sounded fierce and ruthless, thus they did not injure their opponents seriously. Other than the big man who broke his leg, the others were only mildly injured.
Following that, Yan Chengcai and Big Bull sandwiched Huang Jingtian, then smiled hideously before pouncing on him together.
Huang Jingtian knew that it would be pointless for him to beg for mercy, hence he braced himself for the attacks, and was soon beaten to the ground.
Yan Chengcai laughed out loud. “Huang Jingtian, do you surrender?”
Nobody had spoken before the fight started, but now that Yan Chengcai’s side won, they became unrestrained.
“You… You actually used greaves, you cheated!” Huang Jingtian spat to the ground.
“Is that so? Who were the ones who used arm guards when they first challenged us?” Yan Chengcai sneered disdainfully.
Huang Jingtian and his men were instantly speechless. Normally, equipment was not involved during night battles like this, but they were the ones who had first used arm guards first. Since that was the case, how could Huang Jingtian reprimand Yan Chengcai?
Just as they were feeling extremely ashamed, a sound was heard coming from a silhouette that came out of nowhere.
“There’s actually a night battle here too. Hehe, how about you count me in?”
Yan Chengcai and his brothers were shocked. They quickly made a circle, and stood in front of Huang Jingtian and his men.
Although they had fought mercilessly during the night battle, if an outsider was present, they became comrade-in-arms.
“You, who are you?” Yan Chengcai asked with a heavy voice.
When the figure slowly walked into the light, a handsome and tall man came into view. He had his hands behind his back, his eyes were sharp, and he carried a threatening aura.
“You don’t deserve to know my name. All of you, come at once!”
