Chapter 227: So Many Fools As People Often Say
Yun Ce had always felt that the Gui Fang people might have mastered some unknown evolution secrets, like that guy Yu Zhu’s illogical inner breath evolution—clearly at most a Hundred-man General’s strength level, yet able to instantly boost combat power to Thousand-man General level when necessary.
This was already a huge harm to those warriors who honestly practiced their martial arts. If Shen Tingyu’s method of getting stronger after dying once was real, Yun Ce felt that Great Han’s future would be bleak.
This time, Yun Ce disposed of Shen Tingyu’s corpse very cleanly. For this, he specially gathered a lot of coal to put in the fire to help it burn.
Watching Shen Tingyu’s corpse burn away with his own eyes, ultimately leaving only bones roasted red by the flames—in this situation, Yun Ce felt that no living cells could survive on Shen Tingyu’s body. Afterward, he crushed his bones and scattered them with the wind.
Doggy also infused Shen Tingyu’s inner breath into his body. Yun Ce tried it and found the enhancement effect not very obvious, even less so than Yu Zhu’s inner breath enhancement on him.
“At the beginning, your inner breath was like half a bowl of water. Adding another half bowl naturally felt like a big improvement. Now, your inner breath is a small river. Pouring in a few buckets of water naturally won’t feel like much.”
Doggy’s consoling words could not dispel the doubts in Yun Ce’s heart.
Fortunately, the next day when he was still planning to search for Gui Fang people on the wasteland, he encountered a team of knight-errants. These people had also just arrived at Iron Enclosure Pass—two days ago—and today they were already impatiently heading out to kill Gui Fang people.
They were hot-blooded and enthusiastic, their desire to kill Gui Fang people more urgent than entering the bridal chamber.
“Old Liu, you’ve been wandering the wasteland for five days already and still haven’t found any devils?”
1 The eight-man team leader Zhao Qi, after crossing a sand dune and still seeing no sign of devils, impatiently asked Yun Ce.
1 Yun Ce smiled and said, “Ran into one. I killed him, burned him to ashes, and even scattered the ashes.”
1 “Hahaha, well done! That’s exactly how it should be done. We must kill so many devils that they won’t dare spy on our Great Han Territory again.”
1 “Brother Zhao, Brother Liu, you two have more experience. Quickly find the devils so we can have a good big battle and bring back Gui Fang heads to open the eyes of those who look down on us.”
1 The speaker was a naive young girl of only seventeen or eighteen, said to have run away from an arranged marriage, single-mindedly wanting to kill one devil before going home to marry in peace.
1 The situations of the other five were mostly similar. They all came from Luoyang, all children of well-off families. Recently, a man named Wen Zhou in Luoyang wrote a Frontier Poem, and they were inspired by this poem. Plus, each feeling their martial art was decent, they boldly came to Iron Enclosure Pass.
1 “Desert beacons connected—solitary fortress pressing black clouds—horn sounding under Han moon—horse bones cracking autumn patterns—armor heavy with frost—general returns from killing enemy—no jesting of romance—sweeping Vast Sea dust…”
1 To be honest, Yun Ce felt this poem was really not that good. Compared to Tang Dynasty Frontier Poems, it probably didn’t even qualify as mainstream. But a scholar from prosperous Luoyang thinking of Iron Enclosure Pass was already pretty good. He hadn’t been here, writing this purely from imagination—Yun Ce felt it deserved praise, not disdain.
1 So, he happily joined the four men and three women in singing it.
1 “Brother Liu, what’s it feel like to kill a devil?”
2 “No particular feeling. It’s just hard to pull the knife out when it sinks into flesh. So, when chopping devils, remember to chop hard!”
2 “Mm-hmm, got it.”
2 “Also, you must remember not to fall behind alone here. Sometimes devils are cunning, burying themselves in the sand, waiting for you to get close, then suddenly jumping out…
2 Also, if enemy cavalry comes out, follow behind me. I’ll ride the Thunder Smoke Beast and withstand the charge. You form a goose formation behind me, just keep your knife edges outward, watch out for dodging Gui Fang cavalry weapons, and don’t try to clash blades with them on horseback—your arm will break.”
2 “How can we do that? Brother Liu is a guest. We can’t hide behind you like cowards.”
2 Yun Ce turned to look at the stubborn little girl, seeing her resolute face, and sincerely hoped she could live a bit longer. He really didn’t want to have to collect her corpse in the end.
2 They knew nothing, just coming to Iron Enclosure Pass to kill the enemy on a surge of hot blood. Though reckless, it was a country and nation’s most precious thing. Once no one dared take such risks, the country and nation would be done for.
2 So, this time Yun Ce brought out his main weapon, the scarred meteor hammer that had been chopped by Shen Tingyu, and his secondary weapon, bow and arrow. This way, if they encountered a large enemy force, he might still remotely save them.
2 Actually, Yun Ce more hoped to have such a weak team—it might lure out the hidden Gui Fang people, helping him collect more Gui Fang people’s inner breath.
2 After following the team for a day, Yun Ce still found nothing. Not only did they not spot any devils, even Doggy discovered nothing.
3 The young people were highly enthusiastic. Having just decided on a camp site, they gathered lots of deadwood and coal, burning the campfire bright and vigorous, shining like a star in the night.
3 Team leader Zhao Qi probably felt it wasn’t right and several times wanted to speak up. Seeing the other seven dancing and singing around the fire, he swallowed his warnings and alone took a horse spear up the sand dune to stand guard for everyone.
3 A girl wearing female leather armor followed him up. Yun Ce saw all this, seeing the two leaning on each other atop the mountain peak, their originally emotionless cold gazes gradually warming.
3 The runaway young girl seemed especially excited. She had just secretly drunk some of Yun Ce’s wine, her face red as she approached Yun Ce: “Brother Liu, did you know? The captain and Sister Swallow are childhood sweethearts. They were supposed to marry this Deep Winter Month, but Brother Zhao insisted on coming to Iron Enclosure Pass, saying he had to kill a devil and use its head as betrothal gift to be worthy of Sister Swallow.
3 Aren’t they just so enviable? My fiancé is the opposite—a total coward. Not only doesn’t he dare come, he tried to stop us.”
3 Yun Ce looked at the little girl with the red face and said, “After this adventure, go back and marry him quickly.”
3 “Why? He’s such a coward.”
3 Yun Ce smiled: “Because he’s the wisest person I’ve heard about from you seven. If he could hold you back from coming, I’d be even more satisfied with him.”
3 “He guarded my door for three days. I snuck out while he was asleep from exhaustion.”
3 “Mm, that’s right then. Go back and marry him quickly. He’s a smart man who really likes you.”
4 “No more of these annoying things. Brother Liu, why did you come to Iron Enclosure Pass?”
4 Yun Ce gazed at the dark horizon: “I came to Iron Enclosure Pass to gather medicine. This medicine is only on devils, and its effect is the best…”
4 “What kind of herb, Brother Liu? Tell us, we’ll help you find it…”
4 Yun Ce looked down to see a section of tentacle emerging from his bracer wildly spinning in circles. His heart tightened—these damned devils, either not coming at all or coming in a huge group.
4 He himself welcomed such a scene. No matter what, it was better than him raiding a devil barracks alone. But these seven vibrant young men and women in front of him…
4 “Prepare. Devils are coming.”
4 Yun Ce said in a low voice. The five men and women around the campfire immediately panicked. Seeing their flustered state, Yun Ce sighed and continued: “They’re not far from us, not attacking yet. Probably waiting for dawn.”
4 “We’re hidden well…”
4 Zhao Qi on the sand dune also hurried down to the hollow and said to everyone: “There’s firelight in the wilderness. It must be our fire that attracted them.”
4 “Brother Liu, how do you know devils are coming?”
5 “I can smell their stench from far away.”
5 “Do we charge and kill them now, catch them off guard?”
5 Yun Ce looked at the little girl trembling all over from tension: “Hold your knife steady. Don’t chop yourself or others.”
5 “Brother Liu, are devils that scary?”
5 This was Zhao Qi asking.
5 Yun Ce looked into Zhao Qi’s eyes: “Honestly, very scary. But when the knife chops them, they bleed too.”
5 “Brother Liu, once battle starts tomorrow, I’ll lead as vanguard. You protect them from behind. If possible, I’ll try to hold the devils. You take them and leave.”
5 Yun Ce smiled: “What, regretting it?”
5 Zhao Qi nodded: “I should have come alone.”
5 “I’ll follow you.” The leather armor woman stepped closer to Zhao Qi and grabbed his arm.
6 That bold little girl said: “Why all this hemming and hawing? We haven’t even seen the devils yet. Don’t forget, in Luoyang, we seven were renowned good fellows.”
6 Yun Ce’s gaze swept over the others’ faces, finding that aside from being overly excited, not one showed fear.
6 “Then rotate watches and rest. Tomorrow, go to war!”
6 “Go to war! Go to war!”
6 The seven’s shouts carried far in the night.
6 Doggy said in Yun Ce’s head: “This is just suicide.”
6 Yun Ce said: “After surviving this ordeal, they’ll become good people.”
6 “Good people? Good people only get bullied, like me. Used by you as a foot pedicure knife.”
6 “Shut up. You’re a tool yourself. Don’t think I don’t know—you’ve been doing human emotion training lately. If you dare mention pedicuring my wife again, I’ll lock you with a Gui Fang Slave and turn you into an intelligent AI with Gui Fang people thinking.”
6 Continue.
