Chapter 98 - Predicament

Chapter 98 - Predicament

When he saw that he was less than 2 meters away from the top of the city wall, Pei Xiao drew his sword and cut the rope!

Meng Changan felt the rope in his right hand loosened and he started to fall. Immediately, he tossed the black cord sword in his right hand upwards. After that he used both hands to grab the slit between the bricks. His legs exerted force, allowing him to leap up. Even if he stayed near the wall and scale up, the nearer he was to the top, the greater the distance he would have to cover, as the angle at which he was exerting force from caused him to swing backwards a little.

The sword that Meng Changan tossed up starting falling back down. He grabbed the black cord sword and stabbed it into the gap within the wall. Meng Changan exerted more force and continued to scale up.

Before he landed onto the ground, someone swung a hengdao towards his neck.

Meng Changan forcefully tilted backwards in midair, keeping his body parallel to the ground. He pressed his hand against the gap in the wall, before kicking with both legs.

Bam bam bam bam…

Meng Changan kicked Pei Xiao in the chest continuously, causing him to retreat a couple of steps. His chest felt suffocated. Something gushed up his throat.

Nobody could withstand five or six consecutive kicks from Meng Changan.

Blood flowed out of Pei Xiao’s mouth. He never expected that under such circumstances, he was still unable to kill Meng Changan.

Meng Changan landed onto the ground. Sounds were heard coming from the top of the city wall. Arrows were fired at the position he was previously hanging at.

He turned around and looked; he saw that the Heiwu man named Liao Shalang had already stopped. He sat on his horse in a slanted position. He started clapping for Meng Changan.

Pei Xiao pressed his hand against his chest for quite a while before he caught his breath. He looked coldly at Meng Changan. “You actually attacked me? How dare you.”

“I couldn’t tell you were a Great Ning soldier.”

“Impudent!”

Pei Xiao bellowed, “Didn’t you see me coming to save your people with hundreds of cavalry?”

“I did see it, but I wasn’t sure. Because I don’t believe that my comrades would shut the city gate.”

Earlier on, Liao Sharan was the only light cavalry - he was the fastest in catching up to Meng Changan. Regardless of whether it was Xiong cavalry or Da Wei Tian Lang, they were still a distance away. It was absolutely possible for the people behind the city gate to allow Meng Changan to enter. Firing one round of arrows would be enough to force Liao Shalang to retreat.

Pei Xiao took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. After all, everything was under his control. He had more than 300 elite troops with him, and the Heiwu troops who were right outside the city gate did not have the equipment to besiege the city. The cavalry alone could not do it. He had already locked up Meng Changan’s men. There was nothing else for him to worry about.

“Are you unable to see the current situation clearly?”

As Pei Xiao spoke, he continued to move back. His soldiers scaled up the city wall and separated Meng Changan and Pei Xiao.

Pei Xiao leaned against the city gate and spoke, while gasping for air, “Even though you keep going against me, along with the fact that I really don’t like you, I will give you a chance since your ten years in Yanta academy was not easy…if you are willing to follow me, when I become the great general of the eastern border, I will naturally give you a high post within the eastern border.”

Meng Changan glared coldly at him. The more he did that, the more it made Pei Xiao furious.

“Hand over the map the you personally drew and cooperate with me. Let me claim the credit for the Lang Jue people you saved. This matter is very significant - it concerns Great Ning’s prestige. His Majesty will definitely summon me. Tell me everything from start to end. In the future, I will make you a general in the eastern border. You will be second only to me in the eastern border.”

Meng Changan continued to glare coldly at him.

“Do you think that I won’t be able to find out if you don’t say anything?”

Pei Xiao walked to the place he climbed up the wall from and stood there. He pointed to a few dilapidated houses at a distance away. “Your subordinates are locked up in there. Do you think I can’t force a confession out of them? I always get what I want. Meng Changan, a wise man submits to circumstances…take it as I borrowed everything from you today. In the future, I will pay you back double.”

Meng Changan looked into Pei Xiao’s eyes. “You did not bring enough people with you.”

“What do you mean?”

Meng Changan said plainly, “Before you kill me, I must kill you first.”

“Hahahaha…”

Pei Xiao laughed as hard as he could. “I have seen several insolent young people before. But compared to you, they are nothing…Meng Changan, I’d sure like to know how you are going to kill me. I have 300 elites with me, you think you can kill them all?”

Meng Changan pulled his black cord sword out of the wall. “As long as I have a sword in my hand, nothing is impossible.”

“What a pity.”

Pei Xiao looked disdainfully at Meng Changan, “I am a valiant general of Great Ning. I would very much want to use a person like you as well. Moreover, I was kind enough to give you a huge offer. Yet you refuse to take it…let me say one last time - if you are willing to follow me, I will let bygones be bygones.”

Meng Changan replied, “Ning fights against the ruthless, and will not collude with villains.”

“Kill him!” commanded Pei Xiao, with a cold look on his face.

The row of soldiers at the front immediately lifted their repeating crossbows. In a split second, Meng Changan suddenly charged forward. The city wall was not wide and both parties were at a rather close distance. Meng Changan pounced towards them like a panther!

He kicked the closest soldier to him, causing him to fly upon impact, knocking down another two to three soldiers. After that, he pulled out the long lance that was pierced into the pillar. He swung his long lance; the point of the lance slashed open their necks, one after another…the heads of the row of soldiers flew up. With just one swing, he cut off the heads of a whole row of soldiers.

Meng Changan held the long lance with both hands and charged forward. He pushed the corpses, hitting the soldiers at the back. He forced ten odd men to retreat all by himself. He pushed them all the way to the flight of stairs of the city wall. The group of men fell down the stairs thereafter. Pei Xiao repeatedly dodged.

Meng Changan held his long lance horizontally and stood there as he looked down at the bunch of monsters.

The wall was barely three meters wide. He stood at the corner of the flight of steps and hence, the arrows were unable to reach him. All they could do was charge up to him once again.

If it was a flat spacious ground, even if Meng Changan was stronger, he would not be able to fight them. Amongst the 300 elites, there were quite a number of experts who were from the Pei family. They were a lot stronger than ordinary combat soldiers and could easily kill Meng Changan together.

Meng Changan’s current position was ingenious - it was right next to the flight of steps that people needed to take in order to go up to the wall. He did not have to worry about getting shot down by arrows because the steps were very narrow - only three to five people can go up at the same time.

Anybody who went up would die.

The moment the first soldier appeared, Meng Changan used his long lance to stab him in the neck, piercing through it. When he pulled out his long lance, blood started gushing out like a waterfall. His neck was only attached to his body at both sides. The force from the gushing blood made his head sway back and forth…

The second soldier held a circular shield and went up. He lowered his body, hiding behind it. Meng Changan snorted. He smashed it with his long lance…with a loud crash, the circular shield struck his helmet. The huge impact made his eyes roll upwards and blood started flowing out of his ears and nose. He collapsed and rolled back down the steps.

Below the city wall, Pei Xiao was bellowing. A group of soldiers started charging up the steps again. Feng Yan Tai was not a huge city in the first place. The height of the city wall was limited. Furthermore, the wall looked even shorter from inside the city. Those well-trained soldiers charged up at a relatively fast speed.

However, the rate at which Meng Changan killed was even faster.

The long lance was heavy, but Meng Changan used it with complete ease. One by one, he stabbed them. The point of the lance was like a poisonous snake, wandering within the crowd. Every attack was aimed at their throats. It was so accurate that it made people tremble in fear.

One by one, the corpses started rolling down the steps. After a few minutes, the corpses piled up. In order for the people at the back to head up, they had to step on the corpses and jump over.

After Meng Changan felt his both arms aching, he placed his long lance against the wall. He took down his repeating crossbow on his waist. The people who went up the steps were shot in the throat; some of them were shot in the eye. In a blink of an eye, quite a number of them fell to the ground.

Meng Changan used the short break from all the killing to move his arms about. He tossed the repeating crossbow to one side and picked up the long lance again.

After killing for a period of time, there was a layer of corpses on the steps. Thirty odd people laid there and were unable to get up again. The entrance became more narrow and congested. The people at the back started to drag the corpses aside to clear the path.

Meng Changan knew that if this continued, he would not be able to hold on much longer. There were hundreds of them - people were bound to charge up. Furthermore, there were some people we ran out, planning to head up from another entrance.

After he swung his long lance, killing two people, he started to retreat. He fought as he retreated. When he got to a spacious area, he suddenly jumped down from the wall. He had observed earlier on that there was a row of houses below.

Sparks flew as he dragged his black cord sword along the wall. Meng Changan landed on one the roof of one of the houses, rolled and jumped down. Thereafter, he ran with all his might to the inner part of the city.

“Chase him!”

Pei Xiao’s eyes were red with anger. “Bunch of useless trash!”

He reached out his hand and grabbed a bow before firing three arrows. However, Meng Changan was too fast, hence all three arrows missed.

Meng Changan passed through the alley and saw that he had already shaken off the soldiers. He turned a corner and climbed up a wall before jumping into a courtyard. He leaned against the wall and gasped for air.

First, it was the intense battle against the Heiwu troops. After that, he continuously killed several people on top of the city wall. Even if he was iron man he would still be tired.

The great general said that there would be reinforcements but where were they?

Meng Changan continued to take deep breaths. He ran into one of the rooms and shut the door. It was loud and noisy outside the courtyard. He could hear footsteps and people yelling. His pursuers did not realize he was in that courtyard, and hence they continued running forward.

He leaned against the door and sat down. He felt as though his arms had been crippled - they felt extremely sore. He did not have the time to take his long lance; all he had was his black cord sword. Meng Changan leaned against the door and shut his eyes, forcing himself to breathe steadily and relieve his fatigue.

After a while, he opened his eyes. He reached into his leather armor and groped about. He took out a small hunting knife and looked at it before heaving a sigh of relief.

It was a very, very short hunting knife. However, when he held it, it seemed as though the knife replenished his physical strength. His face looked more at ease.

He wiped the small hunting knife with his sleeve. When he lowered his head and looked at it, he could not help but smile.

“I guess I might lose to you.”

He lifted his head and stayed silent for a while, before keeping the small hunting knife. “However, I do not intend to admit defeat that easily.”

The noises outside started to become more and more distant. However, Meng Changan knew that very soon, those people would search each and every house. Feng Yan Tai was not a big city to begin with. It would not take them long before they found him.

He looked through the leather bag on his waist and took out a piece of dried meat before stuffing it into his mouth.

After he rested for a while, he heard someone yelling outside. When he heard everything clearly, there was a cold look in his eyes. A murderous aura was unleashed.

“Listen up, Meng Changan. If you don’t come out, I will burn all your men to death. I heard that you treat your subordinates very well. I know that you will not be willing to watch them die because of you.”

Meng Changan supported himself up. He struggled to swallow the piece of dried meat. He thought about how nasty it was, and longed for Deng Ji restaurant’s food in Changan city.

Thereafter, he turned around and opened the door. With a sword in each hand, he walked out.