Chapter 337 — The Enemy Presses to Within Thirty Li
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 1 of 5
Ban Gongcuo was just about to lead Luandi Khan and the rest of the masters in pursuit of Shen Mu when he saw more than two hundred tower ships, banners streaming, their enormous hulls blotting out sun and sky, moving toward them like two hundred-odd dark clouds swallowing half the heavens. And below the tower ships, the first to pour out of the gate towers was the army of exotic beasts: huge creatures the size of small hills strode in the vanguard, archers standing on their backs; behind them came chariots and cavalry, chariots first, cavalry after; and behind them again the infantry phalanxes, divided into different corps according to their spirit-body attributes, an endless and mighty host. The sight was awe-inspiring, yet it left Luandi Khan somewhat puzzled and suspicious.
In the past, Jingping had always placed the beast army in front, with chariots and cavalry weaving among them, while the infantry charged into battle beneath the beasts' bodies; the tower ships had held the position of the central army. Though the tower ships could float in the air, their range was short and they could easily be shot down, and so they needed the protection of the central army. But now the tower ships were in front. Against tower ships, one need only send blade pellets streaking across the sky from thirty li away to wreck them and bring them down.
And if the pill furnace could be destroyed, the furnace would explode, and the officers and soldiers aboard would often be buried in the blast.
—Shen Mu had indeed improved the tower ships' pill furnaces, greatly boosting their firepower; but when they exploded, they were now several times, even ten times, more terrifying than before, and an ordinary divine-ability practitioner had no hope of surviving such a blast. Of course, this was not something to blame Shen Mu for.
He had improved the furnaces so the tower ships could attain greater speed; it was only that the ships' firepower had not kept pace, so the energy of the improved furnaces could not be brought fully into play.
"Has the Jingping Imperial Preceptor gone mad?
" As Luandi Khan thought this, Ban Gongcuo's voice suddenly reached him, shouting, "Luandi, shoot that Shen boy dead at once! " Luandi Khan stood there bare as a newborn: his trousers had been pulled down to his ankles by the Lame Elder, the golden saber and quiver at his waist had been lifted by the Lame Elder as well, and that magnificent raccoon-dog cloak had been gladly accepted by the Lame Elder too.
But he was, after all, the lord of a nation, and his cultivation remained. Hearing this, he at once pulled up his trousers and reached for his belt—only to grasp at empty air. His belt, inlaid with gold and jade, had been drawn away by the Lame Elder as well.
"That Lame Elder's skills are too high! If he had come to kill me instead of stealing my clothes, how could I have withstood him?
" Terror seized Luandi Khan's heart; cold sweat poured down him, soaking his back.
Yet he had overestimated the Lame Elder. Nimble as the old man's hands and feet were, all his skills lay in thieving and fleeing for his life; his movement arts were unfathomable and his handiwork unfathomable, but unfortunately in close combat he relied entirely on his legs, and his hands held few means of attack.
The Lame Elder's physical divine abilities were nothing remarkable and his techniques lacked striking power; had Luandi Khan truly attacked him, the old man would hardly have lasted many moves. What was most frightening about him was still his movement arts.
Though Luandi Khan had neither bow nor arrow in hand, his cultivation remained. His vital essence suddenly erupted, and a figure like a god and like a demon rose slowly behind him: four arms, a bird's head, flames blazing all about it, radiance streaming ten thousand zhang!
This god-demon was his primordial spirit, already manifested as though it were solid.