Chapter 44: City Walls

Chapter 44: City Walls

In the heat of combat, there was no time for an emotional reaction. Bao called upon a move that Sunan had taught her during one of their sparring matches, Dragon Cleaves the Clouds. She flipped backward, kicking the Bone General’s knife, which spun off to the side and stabbed into the table.

Even as she flew through the air, she heard a muffled shout from Yuwen Huo, and out of the corner of her eye, could just barely see him staggering backward as a knife hit him in the shoulder.

Then she landed. As she did, Yang Ziqiong toppled backward to land face up on the ground, blood pooling out beneath her head.

On the other side of the room, Lin Qingxia lurched to her feet and flung herself toward the young man in gold jewelry, joined by Mao Yun.

Bao looked over at Yuwen Huo and saw him pulling a knife out of his shoulder and tossing it to the ground. Without even the slightest pause, and apparently completely ignoring the pain from the knife wound, he launched toward the Love General with a spinning kick that Bao recognized as Slash of the Dragon’s Tail.

Bao had been hit with Slash of the Dragon’s Tail before, and knew the incredible power it could unleash. However, it was to her shock that the Love General simply blocked the kick with her forearm as if she were blocking a blow from a child.

The momentum of Yuwen Huo’s leap was completely thrown off, and he fell awkwardly to the ground.

Bao gritted her teeth. Now is not the time for shock. I have to be confident.

Without any further hesitation, she leaped forward and shoved her hand out toward the Love General.

“Phoenix Palm!” she shouted, striking with such speed that the startled Love General was incapable of blocking her. Bao had been working on the Phoenix Palm for quite some time, and although it was not yet completed, was already devastatingly powerful. It was a vicious technique, so dangerous that she had never even tested it out on a person. It was designed to permanently alter the flow of Qi through the target’s meridian points, doing almost irreversible harm to their vital energies. Hitting the Love General with this technique would most likely leave her so stunned and hurt that the flow of battle would instantly change.

Bao’s mouth turned up into a grin as her fingers jabbed into a series of acupoints, and then she slapped her hand down onto the Love General’s shoulder.

That was when… nothing happened!

Bao felt Qi flowing out of her in what should have been a devastating blow to the Love General’s meridians. Instead, she felt like she was pouring a bucket of water over a cliff.

The Love General snarled and then leveled a kick at Bao’s waist. Bao was too shocked to even react, and took the kick without even trying to defend herself. The next thing she knew, she was tumbling backward head over heels. It took only a few seconds for her to lurch to a halt and then struggle to her feet next to Liu Jiahui, who was so stunned that he hadn’t even moved yet.

The sight that met Bao’s eyes when she looked up sent coldness stabbing into her heart.

The Bone General was on top of Yuwen Huo, foot planted in his chest, leveling a knife at his throat.

“How many more of you are there?!” the Bone General growled.

On the other side of the table, Lin Qingxia and Mao Yun were barely holding their own against the young man in gold, who had been joined by the old man with the eyepatch.

Meanwhile, the Fire General was staring right at Bao, his face completely expressionless.

“How many!?” shouted the Bone General.

Yuwen Huo spit in his face, and the Bone General slashed his knife across his throat.

“NOOOO!” Bao screamed. But she could do nothing to prevent the blood from spurting out of Yuwen Huo’s throat and across the Bone General’s Face.

The Bone General licked the blood off of his lips and slowly rose to his feet.

Simultaneously, the old man with the eyepatch growled, “Smash of the Ogre God!” and shoved out with both of his hands. A blast of green energy surged out from his palms, smashing into Mao Yun and knocking him backward several paces.

The fight had only just begun, and two people out of their group of six were already dead. Not a single enemy had even been wounded. Three of their opponents were Ogres, who somehow seemed impervious to all of their attacks.

How is this possible? I killed an Ogre before! They’re not invincible!

Now was not the time for contemplation. Bao was no fool, and had the sickly premonition that if they kept fighting, they would be slaughtered. The only option now was to flee.

But how? They won’t hesitate to cut us down from behind….

Her eyes flickered back and forth, and suddenly she realized that their only hope was to rely on a trick that had already saved her once in the past.

Even as the Bone General took a step forward, Bao’s hand snaked out and grabbed the oil lamp that hung from the tent wall.

“Retreat!” she yelled as she hurled the lamp toward the table with all the power she could muster.

The lamp shattered, sending oil splashing out in all directions, which instantly ignited. Bao’s frustration burned just as hot as she turned around, pushed Liu Jiahui out of the tent, and then followed.

Mao Yun came close behind, followed by Lin Qingxia, and the four of them began to run at top speed through the camp.

Dammit! DAMMIT! It wasn’t supposed to happen like this!

They were only a few seconds away from the command tent when Bao sensed footsteps behind them. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that they were being pursued by the Bone General and the young man from the tent. Further back, the flicker of flames could be seen inside the command tent, and smoke was already rising up into the night.

Hoarse shouts were ringing up, and the camp was beginning to stir.

Bao gritted her teeth and tried to pick up some speed. Now that they weren’t skulking in the shadows, they could move even faster than before. And yet, the walls of Daolu seemed very, very far away.

**

The Dragon Gate on the east wall of Dalu had a towering pagoda above the gate itself, which served as the watchtower.

For many centuries, the north had been a relatively peaceful place, and the guard towers of Daolu had been mostly for show. When the Demon Emperor invaded, all cities in Qi Xien changed. Walls were repaired. Guard towers reinforced.

But decades had passed in Daolu without the Demon Emperor so much as crossing the Chezou River. Things grew lax.

Then came the assassination of the magistrate and the sheriff, which sent the local soldiers and constables into chaos.

Thanks to the efforts of Sunan and Bao, all of the guard towers on the city walls were manned, which had been no simple task considering that there were nearly fifty of them altogether. As for the Dragon Gate, it held mostly members of the Golden Dragon Sect, as well as a few scattered city soldiers.

In the past, it had been commonplace for the soldiers to sleep during their night watch, but not now. The fact that encamped armies had surrounded the cities ensured that all of the guards were at the highest level of alert.

One of the guards happened to be looking out at the camp to the east when he suddenly noticed something flickering in the middle of the camp. Squinting, he leaned out to try to see things a bit more clearly. After a moment, his eyes widened.

“Sir!” he called out.

The officer in charge of the Dragon Gate was one of the four lieutenants in the Golden Dragon Sect, a man named Sima Zikang. Although he was a capable fighter, he had risen through the ranks more because of his quick wit and excellent command of strategy and tactics.

“What is it?” he asked, hurrying over.

“Sir, look. The command tent. It’s on fire!”

Sima Zikang peered out into the night. Sure enough, the command tent in the middle of the army appeared to be aflame. At first Sima Zikang was inclined to ignore the matter. A fire in a tent in the enemy forces was nothing unheard of. But then something toward the edge of the army camp caught his attention.

Four figures ran out from the camp, moving at incredible speed as they headed directly toward Daolu.

“Sir, do you see that!” cried one of the other Golden Dragons.

Sima Zikang nodded.

“Are they attacking us?!” another soldier blurted.

Sima Zikang chuckled. “Calm down, they’re not going to attack us with only four people. However, those people are clearly using Qinggong to speed up their movements. I wonder if they--”

Before he could finish his sentence, two more figures sped out from the tents. Apparently, two people were chasing four people, and all of them were heading in the direction of Daolu.

Who could it be? Sima Zikang thought to himself. Escaped prisoners? But they haven't taken any prisoners yet. Defectors?

As the figures drew closer, Sima Zikang took a deep breath. “Disciple Chen, Disciple Wang, Disciple Zhang. Ready your bows. We might need to loose arrows. Also, send word to Dragon Lord Yuwen about what’s happening.”

As his orders were carried out, Sima Zikang watched the group racing across the landscape. As they got closer, it remained impossible to determine who the group of four was, considering that they were wearing all black. However, of the two pursuing figures, it soon became obvious that one of them was a hulking figure wearing a suit of armor made from bones.

“The Bone General!” gasped Sima Zikang. “Send word to Sect Leader Sunan! Men, ready your arrows. Wait for my word to fire!” The group of four was now about a hundred meters away from the wall, which was about the limit of the range of the composite bows wielded by the three Golden Dragon Sect disciples that Sima Zikang had just called out.

It was at this point that the Bone General suddenly waved his arm. Sima Zikang couldn’t see what exactly he threw. Whether it was a knife, a needle, or something else, it didn’t matter. It hit its target, and one of the four fleeing figures tumbled to the ground.

Even as the black-garbed figure struggled to stand, the Bone General closed in. Reaching out, he ripped the black hood off of the figure, and long, wavy black hair spilled down.

“A woman!?” exclaimed Sima Zikang. Next, to his horror, he watched as the Bone General drew a long dagger from behind his back and stabbed it into the neck of the black-garbed woman. Then, he viciously ripped the blade through her neck, circling it around until the the body dropped to the ground. The Bone General then held the head up high for a moment, blood splattering down all over his arm, before tossing it off to the side.

“Loose arrows!” Sima Zikang said. “And where is Dragon Lord Yuwen?! He was here in the Dragon Gate earlier. Get him over here. And get Lord Sunan!”

--

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