Chapter 261: Full River Red
“The Chief Escort is mighty!”
Zhou Yan looked at the armored Zhang Wangyue and praised him sincerely.
Fu’an, the Chief Escort, was clad in fine armor. Zhou Yan suddenly felt the other man’s aura change drastically. The weathered look on his face was instantly replaced by an imposing presence, his facial muscles suddenly becoming rugged, and even the stubble on his lips and chin stood up like steel needles.
Zhou Yan, Zhang Wangyue, Lu Beihe, and Huyan Lei approached Yang Miaozhen and explained their intentions. Overjoyed to be able to fight alongside the four, Yang Miaozhen immediately found four riders of similar build to help them don armor.
The four were already seasoned veterans of the Jianghu, their refined auras allowing them to fully unleash their contained killing intent.
Zhou Yan praised Zhang Wangyue. Yang Miaozhen gazed at Zhou Yan for a moment in a daze and said, “Brother Zhou, you broke through your realm at Cuya Mountain, and you seemed quite ethereal and refined. But now, with this armor, your aura has changed instantly, truly majestic and full of killing intent.”
“Exactly,” Huyan Lei praised. “Riding a horse and wielding a spear, you have the bearing of Zhao Zilong.”
Zhou Yan looked at the armored “Night-Shining Jade Lion” and chuckled, “Then I shall charge through the Tongbai Mountain bandits seven times in and out.”
“Hearty!” Lu Beihe exclaimed loudly.
“Brothers, mount your horses,” Zhang Wangyue said, giving Zhou Yan an appreciative glance.
“Alright!”
The fifty to sixty jin of armor had no effect on Zhou Yan. He leaped onto the “Night-Shining Jade Lion” and took down the Profound Iron Heavy Spear from its hook.
Zhang Wangyue mounted the Tanlong Treasure Horse and put on his helmet. Zhou Yan followed suit. With this change, from the outside, only the cold, sharp glint of their eyes could be seen; how could they know I was an escort?
The “Night-Shining Jade Lion” was magnificent, and Zhou Yan’s cultivation was now unparalleled among them. Naturally, he was placed in the center. On his left and right were Zhang Wangyue, wielding an eight-cornered copper rod, and Yang Miaozhen, also armored. Lu Beihe, the young master of Zhenwei Escort Agency, held twin spears, and Fu’an’s Head Escort Huyan Lei carried the gold-inlaid tiger head spear, positioned on the outside respectively.
Five hundred armored cavalry followed slowly. The battle had not yet begun, but the killing intent had already thinned the daylight.
Zhang Wangyue had a thousand words to say, but felt that silence was better at this moment. The Tanlong Treasure Horse trotted forward, and for a time, the glorious years of his father’s generation seemed to enter a painting. He looked at Zhou Yan, Yang Miaozhen, Lu Beihe, and Huyan Lei on his sides, as if seeing Gao Chong, Lu Wenlong, Yang Zai Xing, and others.
“…I look up to the sky and roar, my heart filled with passion. Thirty years of merit and fame are but dust and soil, eight thousand li of road under clouds and moon…” Zhang Wangyue silently recited the poem 《Man Jiang Hong》 in his heart.
…
At the mouth of the Tongbai Mountain pass, fine soil particles on the ground among the bushes began to vibrate slightly. Suddenly, a warhorse leaped into the air, and more bandits from the Tongbai Mountain Stronghold roared out.
Under the bright daylight, the blades of swords gleamed with a chilling cold light.
Zhang Xiaoyue, who was leading the troops to rob the escort, had dispatched scouts before leaving the mountain pass to locate the escort team. Without any flashy probes, he led the cavalry and infantry directly out.
The sound of hooves was like thunder, and in the blink of an eye, hundreds of cavalry advanced towards the escort team’s camp.
“Bandits!” Liang Xiaowu, on guard duty, shouted and quickly took out a firework and lit it. With a “bang,” a red firework exploded in the air.
At the camp, Wang Kui, Qiu Qianchi, Yanbo Diaosou, Mu Nianci, and others were as if playing an interesting game, their faces showing no tension at all, relaxed and laughing as they led the escorts and runners to retreat quickly, roaring as they plunged into the mountain forest.
They didn’t even take the mules and horses.
There was no need; they would get it all back, with interest.
The escort team’s reaction was slightly beyond the expectations of Zhang Xiaoyue, Liu Qianfeng, and others, but it was within reason.
A team of over three hundred people was not a small scale, but which escort team could fight against thousands of cavalry and infantry combined? Unless the four most powerful escort bureaus in the world joined forces.
The bandits of Tongbai Mountain, overjoyed, were too lazy to search the mountain. Looking at the hundreds of escort carts, their eyes gleamed with excitement. They dismounted and swarmed towards the escort carts.
Liu Qianfeng said to Huo Du with some regret, “I thought a team of hundreds escorting goods would have some backbone and resist a little, but they turned out to be a cowardly mob. Later, we can go hunting with the Little Prince in the mountains and have fun killing tigers and leopards.”
“Good!” Huo Du smiled and nodded.
“Let’s go see the escort goods inside.”
Everyone stepped forward. Liu Qianfeng, Huo Du, Golden Wheel Dharma King, Qiu Qianzhang, and Xiaoxiangzi all leaped off their horses.
Liu Qianfeng walked up to an escort cart and said with a smile, “This cart’s wheels are bearing a heavy load; it’s probably gold and silver.”
Huo Du took a deep breath. Even if only half of the hundred escort carts were filled with gold and silver, what a staggering number it would be.
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Liu Qianfeng split the elm lock with a palm strike and opened the escort chest.
“Boss, is it gold or silver?” a stronghold leader from the periphery, who couldn’t get close, shouted.
The dazzling sunlight shone on Liu Qianfeng’s face. The muscles on the face of the man, who looked plump and prosperous, twitched with his increasingly heavy breathing.
Huo Du took a few steps forward and looked. His mouth opened silently, and inside was a chest full of cold, hard stones.
“How can this be?”
“Why are they stones? Open them all!” Liu Qianfeng roared.
A group of leaders drew their swords and chopped, breaking the elm locks and opening the escort chests.
“It’s stones.”
“The one I opened is also stones.”
“Why are they all stones?”
“Not good, there’s a problem. Let’s go!” Qiu Qianzhang broke out in a cold sweat and said this as he began to retreat.
It was already too late.
Behind the escort team’s camp, the “Night-Shining Jade Lion” burst out of the sunlight, followed closely by the Tanlong Treasure Horse and the Chestnut Horse. In just a moment, a thunderous roar approached as the galloping horses rapidly closed in.
“It’s the iron cavalry.”
Huo Du looked back, his hands and feet turning cold, his head buzzing, his throat dry. Zhou Yan, Zhang Wangyue, Lu Beihe, Huyan Lei, and others were charging over.
Dozens of Tongbai Mountain bandits who stood between Huo Du, Zhou Yan, and the others were lifted into the air by the forest of spears at the first encounter. A bandit leader who didn’t have time to mount his horse shouted “Ah!” and thrust his spear forward. Lu Beihe’s twin spears darted out like phantoms, piercing the opponent’s throat. The staggering bandit leader was then sent flying backward with a “bang.”
“Little Prince, go.” Ma Xiuping’s face was beaded with fine sweat. He and Xiaoxiangzi turned to protect Huo Du as they retreated rapidly. Liu Qianfeng’s seemingly plump body moved as lightly as a gust of wind. As he darted, he leaped onto a fine horse and whipped it into a gallop.
Darba roared and charged at Zhou Yan, holding his golden vajra.
Zhou Yan’s spear thrust forward without any fancy moves.
The power of this spear was immense. The thick internal force propelled the spear, along with the strength of his arm muscles and the momentum generated by the “Night-Shining Jade Lion,” giving the spear enough power to crack the earth and shatter stones.
With a “clang” that pierced the eardrums, Darba’s golden vajra was sent flying high. His burly body staggered backward as if drunk. The “Night-Shining Jade Lion,” Tanlong Treasure Horse, Chestnut Horse, and Wuzhui Horse charged forward like a wall.
Zhang Wangyue’s eight-cornered copper rod, as if carrying the momentum of heaven and earth collapsing, smashed down fiercely at Darba.
Golden Wheel Dharma King shouted, grabbed the rope used to tie the escort chests from the ground, and with a flick of his wrist, the rope became a whip, swinging in an arc and wrapping around Darba’s waist, pulling him into the air.
As the burly monk flew out, Golden Wheel Dharma King let go of the rope and, as if performing magic, produced five wheels of gold, silver, copper, iron, and lead from under his robe. The wheels spun rapidly, moving up and down, striking at Zhou Yan, Zhang Wangyue, and Yang Miaozhen.
Zhou Yan’s spear flashed with a cold glint. With a “clang,” he flicked the incoming golden wheel into the air. The spear then bent into a strange arc, striking the silver wheel with a move similar to “White Rainbow Across the Sky.” This strike was perfectly timed, embodying the martial arts principle of “using four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds.” The silver wheel’s direction was changed, flying back towards Golden Wheel Dharma King.
Following closely, with two sharp “zings,” Zhang Wangyue and Yang Miaozhen each struck away the iron and lead wheels.
Yang Miaozhen, on the Chestnut Horse, swayed slightly but quickly stabilized. Zhou Yan, advancing, thrust out eighteen spears during the moment Golden Wheel Dharma King dodged the golden wheel. In an instant, Yang Miaozhen’s “Storm of Pear Blossoms Spear” rained down, covering the Dharma King. Zhang Wangyue’s copper rod smashed down with earth-shattering force.
Golden Wheel Dharma King’s monk sleeves swung like two iron plates with a rumbling sound. Sparks of metal clashing erupted. Suddenly, his body sprang up. Blood and dust mingled in the air. He flew back several zhang, rolled continuously like a grinding wheel, then leaped up and sprinted with all his might.
The iron cavalry surged like a tide. Those Tongbai Mountain bandits who couldn’t get on their horses, or had no horses, were swept up in it. Amidst hysterical screams and wails, the blood on the ground spread out like a carpet.
