Chapter 199 — Shaking the Mountains
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 4
The scene in the city chilled the crowd on the mountain to the bone: before Sanqi Fort's insect army could even stir itself, it was drowned in a sea of fire and a sea of swords, routed utterly. Sanqi Fort's insect army was formidable enough in its own right, but it had been caught completely off guard; the men were burned alive, and the insects burned with them.
Liqing Palace's women's army was fierce beyond measure, yet in a single instant it too suffered a devastating blow: countless keen swords came flying out of the sky and pierced the women's bodies; they died still standing, their bodies riddled with holes. By the time the bodies fell, the swords that had killed them had already flown up again, each returning to the sword cases on the backs of the cavalry.
The rebel forces and the disciples of the various sects had no time to react at all before they were scattered by the elephant troops among the infantry, and were left to fight each man for himself. Yet no matter how high one's cultivation, against the encircling formations woven by the Jingping soldiers drawn up in ranks, one's head was struck from one's shoulders in an instant! A sect disciple might surpass a common soldier in single combat, but their cohesion was poor; one charge and they broke apart.
Even among the rebels there were troops that had once belonged to Jingping's own armies, well trained and regular soldiers to the bone, but they had been taken utterly by surprise, and once a formation was broken, all was already too late.
This was slaughter, pure and simple. Beneath the Youmo Cult's teleportation banners, a surprise attack could be achieved at will, and for any army facing such a strike there was only one end.
Annihilation. On the mountain, the man in the bronze mask trembled, and said in a shaking voice, "Two paths, two paths.
. . " Imperial Teacher Jingping had given them two paths. One was for the Jingping army to roll over them, driving them all the way to the Southern Sea and hunting them down to the last man; that was the court's rule.
The other was to follow the rules of the jianghu: they would challenge Imperial Teacher Jingping, and the commanders would fight to the death. They had always assumed they would choose one of the two paths; it had never occurred to them that both would be chosen at once, that Imperial Teacher Jingping meant to beat them to death and wipe out the rebel army besides.
"When did the Youmo Cult throw in with the court?
" The Palace Master of Liqing Palace said harshly, "The supreme holy ground of the demonic path, since when did it become the court's running dog?
" Liqing Palace's Lihentian Sword Art demanded a heart severed from love and grief, a heart free of affection and hatred, of passion and enmity, so as to attain the highest state of swordsmanship: only when the mind holds nothing can it reflect the world like a flawless mirror. But now, watching the disciples of Liqing Palace being slaughtered, Qiu Dieyi, Palace Master of Liqing Palace, still lost her composure.
The instant her mind wavered, it was no small matter: Imperial Teacher Jingping pointed a finger, and the vital essence at his fingertip became a blade of light that surged and in a flash arrived at her throat!
It was not only the Palace Master of Liqing Palace whose heart had wavered; the others' hearts wavered too. When Imperial Teacher Jingping struck at her, not one of them had time to move to stop him.
"We're going to die.
.
. " The same thought rose in the hearts of Shen Wanyun and the others.
The mountain was sealed by a Heavenly Prison Barrier eight hundred mu in extent; the shockwaves of battle could not pass out, only rebound back and forth within.