Chapter 61: Heaven’s Mandate Is Unpredictable
The cavalryman’s horse spear finally pierced the Pig King, and two at once.
This horse spear was thrown by a cavalryman. It was the achievement of the two lead cavalrymen in the goose formation. After throwing their horse spears, they slowed their horses and fell to the rear of the goose formation.
Becoming the two lead cavalrymen in the goose formation again, they did the same, throwing their horse spears.
Having been stabbed by horse spears repeatedly, the Pig King immediately turned and galloped to its left, hoping to escape these cavalrymen through continuous turns.
However, even though the Pig King possessed sentience, it did not realize that it was now at the very center of this goose formation. No matter how it moved or turned, two rows of goose wings would follow behind it.
The Pig King took another seven or eight javelins. In a situation where it could not avoid them, the Pig King stopped. The horse spear shafts stuck in its buttocks made it look like a porcupine.
After taking two more javelins, the Pig King finally turned its heavy body to face the enemies who had cornered it, appearing ready to charge head-on.
The cavalrymen did not grant the Pig King the glory of dying in battle. They stubbornly believed that the Pig King was the eye of the goose formation, a target they had to follow closely.
Therefore, by the time the Pig King completed its turn, they had also completed theirs. It seemed they only wanted to face the Pig King’s scarred buttocks, not its piteous boar head.
The Pig King proudly lifted its thick legs and began to amble across the wasteland. It paid no mind to the horse spears that were continuously and deeply piercing its body from behind.
After the horse spears had truly sculpted it into a porcupine, the colossus could no longer support itself. Its front hooves buckled, and it knelt on the ground, its long snout respectfully resting on the soil, like the second of three sacrificial animals laid upon an altar.
A cavalryman jumped onto the Pig King’s massive body and, raising his horse spear again, leaped high. The horse spear, imbued with great strength, plunged into the thick flesh behind the Pig King’s neck until the entire three-meter-long shaft was swallowed by the Pig King’s body. Only then did the cavalryman kick the remaining grip, and without looking at his face, one could tell he was very pleased.
The Pig King was dead.
Yun Ce and E Ji looked at each other in shock.
The moment the Pig King appeared, Yun Ce thought it should be one of the top combat powers on this planet. He hadn’t expected the Pig King to not be that strong.
Wu Tong’s rank likely wasn’t too high, probably on par with that Colonel Zhou. On Earth, he would be a colonel.
On Earth, military officers of this rank generally did not go to the front lines to kill enemies personally. Here, they should be the same. That is to say, colonels are the highest-ranking officers the enemy on the front lines can encounter.
Generals on Earth are all old men. Their importance lies in command, not combat. After witnessing the combat power of Wu Tong and Colonel Zhou, Yun Ce guessed that the combat skill of generals here should be even more refined than that of Wu Tong and Colonel Zhou.
The cold weapon era respected powerful fighters far more than the hot weapon era.
“They’ve started butchering the pig,” E Ji said to Yun Ce, lowering her telescope.
Yun Ce glanced over there and saw that it was true. The Pig King’s massive body had already been split open along its spine and placed on the soil. Dozens of cavalrymen, armed with great axes, were dismembering the Pig King’s corpse. The remaining cavalrymen were meticulously searching the Pig King’s disassembled small pieces of flesh, as if looking for something.
Seeing this, Yun Ce let out a wry smile. What else could they be searching for but the Dragon Pearl, or as they called it, the Dragon Spirit.
“That bear was killed by a person, the kind of killing where its heart was ripped out. There were dozens of cubs hidden under the cliff, probably that bear’s sons or something. When that bear died, they scattered and ran. I directed one of the cubs to pretend to be scared and beg the person for mercy, but it was dismembered.”
Doggy also seemed troubled. These people were truly concerned about the Dragon Spirit.
“Where did the Dragon Pearl go?”
“It was inside a cub’s stomach.”
“Couldn’t it have abandoned those bears and hidden by itself, perhaps buried itself in the soil? I don’t believe they could have dug up the entire mountain.”
“Don’t speak carelessly if you don’t understand. The Dragon Pearl needs constant nourishment from energy. Without energy, it will only consume its own energy, and before long, this Dragon Pearl will die. Do you know what a seed is?
It’s something you plant, and then you have to water it, fertilize it, and loosen the soil. Only when you’ve tended to it well will it have a chance to bloom and bear fruit for you.”
Yun Ce looked at his wristband and said, “It seems very quiet.”
Doggy shook its head. “It’s full and in hibernation.”
“Can you get that cub over here?”
“I’ll see if there’s an opportunity…”
Under the moonlight, three giant birds took to the sky. They would occasionally contract their wings and dive. When they flew up again, they would inevitably have a cub in their claws.
The cavalrymen’s encirclement was constantly shrinking, and the giant birds’ circling diameter was also rapidly decreasing. The cavalrymen didn’t even spare shallow rivers and streams. There were always cavalrymen riding Thunder Smoke Beasts upstream.
This search method, advancing on land, water, and air, left the wild beasts in the mountains with nowhere to hide, forcing them to continuously converge towards the center and preventing their escape.
Doggy suddenly said, “There’s a way.”
Just as Yun Ce was about to ask, he saw that the silver on his wristband had completely disappeared.
Colonel Zhou’s chest armor bore three very obvious claw marks. The scratches not only breached the armor but also tore through the soft armor underneath. He coughed from time to time, and a little blood occasionally seeped from the corner of his mouth.
“Once this matter is concluded, I will go to Cong Prefecture. The barbarians there are unstable.”
Wu Tong examined Colonel Zhou’s injuries, then stood up and turned his face away, not looking at the blood seeping from the corner of Colonel Zhou’s mouth.
Colonel Zhou took out a cloth to wipe his mouth and said, “I hope we find the Dragon Spirit.”
Wu Tong sighed and said, “It is a great misfortune that the Dragon Spirit did not descend upon Chang’an. Now, rumors are spreading that the Divine Dragon no longer protects Great Han.
At such a time, we must eradicate all ill-intentioned sprouts.”
Colonel Zhou said, “As the only one who can communicate with the Divine Dragon, the Grandmaster has been in seclusion for a hundred days. Even His Majesty’s request for an audience was met with a closed door. Old Wu, what has the Grandmaster discovered?”
Wu Tong shook his head. “I don’t know either. The Grandmaster’s Mansion is tightly shut, and all contact is severed. I heard Senior Brother entered King Huo’s Tomb, but I don’t know what he’s doing there.
Since the situation is unclear, we who are lesser individuals should run errands more. The world’s stability is always a good thing.”
Colonel Zhou sighed. “I won’t be able to help you for much longer. Two days ago, I received an imperial edict to lead my troops to Iron Enclosure Pass for service next March, for three years.”
Wu Tong shook his head in pain. “If not for that man-eating Iron Enclosure Pass, how could Great Han’s foundation become so unstable?”
Colonel Zhou said, “Great Han is the leader of the world. If we don’t do some things, no one else can. The title of World Sovereign, these four words have caused countless sons of Great Han to die at Iron Enclosure Pass.”
Wu Tong was silent for a moment. “Once the Dragon Spirit is found and refined by the Grandmaster’s Mansion, it will surely be sent to Iron Enclosure Pass. I will visit you then.”
Colonel Zhou shook his head helplessly. “What is there to see? Although the Dragon Spirit is useful, there is only one. It cannot withstand the constant burning of the Light Candle day and night.”
While the two were chatting, a giant bird descended from the sky. Zhang Min, limping, got off it and said hurriedly to Wu Tong, “Senior Brother, we have searched over eighty percent of Cui Mountain, and still, there is no sign of the Dragon Spirit.”
Wu Tong knitted his eyebrows and said calmly, “Since the Dragon Spirit has already appeared under our noses, I don’t believe it can grow wings and fly… No, we mustn’t let the birds in the sky escape either.”
Just as Wu Tong finished speaking, a large cloud of black smoke suddenly erupted from a cave not far away. Upon contact with the bright moonlight, the black smoke dispersed into countless bat-like birds with fleshy wings. Perhaps they were unaccustomed to the bright moonlight, and after a period of entanglement, they scattered in different directions.
Zhang Min cried out and jumped onto the bird’s back, preparing to take flight, but Wu Tong stopped her.
“Dragon Spirit, Dragon Spirit. Those with spirit shall obtain it. Bat birds lack sufficient spiritual essence and cannot absorb the Dragon Spirit. Moreover, the Dragon Spirit dislikes creatures that are active at night and rest during the day. They cannot carry the Dragon Spirit; it must be a bear carrying the Dragon Spirit that has stumbled into the Bat Bird Cave.”
After Wu Tong spoke, he was the first to flicker past towards the direction of the Bat Bird Cave.
In a short while, the three of them arrived at the Bat Bird Cave. Bearing the stench, they walked step by step into the deep cave. Wu Tong was the first to see a white cub lying on the ground. He grabbed the cub’s head with one hand and lifted it, only to discover that the cub, which was originally quite beautiful, had its snout and mouth covered in mucus.
Colonel Zhou sliced open the cub’s belly with a single stroke. Its internal organs spilled out with a splat. Zhang Min, disregarding the filth, reached into the cub’s internal organs and rummaged through them. After a moment, she said to Wu Tong with a grim expression, “I can feel that the Dragon Spirit was once hidden in the cub’s abdomen, but it’s gone now. Judging by the withered state of its stomach, the Dragon Spirit left the cub’s abdomen less than an incense stick’s time ago.”
Wu Tong discarded the empty husk of the cub, inserted his hand into its stomach, and felt it for a moment before standing up. He looked at the filthy Bat Bird Cave, puzzled, and said, “Since when has the Dragon Spirit become so unpicky?”
Colonel Zhou covered his nose and said in a muffled voice, “Let’s go out first. It’s too smelly here. Since the beginning of this year, everything has been tinged with strangeness.
Just as the Grandmaster said before the New Year, the Heavenly Dao is changing!”
Wu Tong was the first to leave the Bat Bird Cave and, looking at the bat birds flying haphazardly, gritted his teeth and said, “Heaven’s Mandate is inconstant; it should not be feared, nor be terrifying. Our ancestors came riding dragons, and through arduous efforts, they forged today’s Great Han. Even if Heaven’s Mandate is inconstant, we must do our utmost and set Heaven’s Mandate right!
Zhang Min, disperse your men and search in all directions. Bat birds are blind. Tonight is a full moon, no different from daytime. They won’t fly far.
At the same time, bat birds are definitely not the Dragon Spirit’s final choice. It is merely a temporary host from which the Dragon Spirit has escaped. Anyone found suspicious will be killed without mercy!”
