Chapter 337 — The Enemy Presses to Within Thirty Li
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 3 of 5
"The Khan of the Man-Di Kingdom lives up to his name—only a shade weaker than the Jingping Imperial Preceptor and His Majesty! " The arrow-light dispersed. The Champion Grand General reached out, and the long dragon flew to him, falling into his hand as a blood-red Fangtian halberd, the dragon claw become the halberd's side blade, humming and quivering.
In the Duck's Tongue region, the other khans and Witch Kings hurriedly pulled up their trousers, only to find no belts anywhere. Suddenly, the toot of war horns sounded from Helan Pass behind them, and the armies of the steppe tribes poured out of Helan Pass like a tide.
Steppe armies excelled chiefly in cavalry, and the first to step forth was the Sheep Corps. The Sheep Corps did not ride goats.
The beasts between the thighs of these barbarian divine-ability practitioners were two-legged savage sheep, hybrids of steppe sheep and wasteland exotic beasts—grass-eaters, but mighty and strong.
These savage sheep had only two legs, and when they ran they sped over the ground like great birds that could not fly. They were tall, too, standing as high as a small tower, and their greatest weapon was the pair of horns, curled into spirals.
Charging, they lowered their heads and rammed forward, plowing a road dozens of zhang long like a harrow, and everything in their path was sent flying. In the air were the steppe's flying cavalry, riding exotic beasts called eagle-vulture wolves—flesh-eating creatures shaped like giant wolves with wings. On the wolves' backs sat the steppe's finest archers and bladesmen: the archers loosing arrows, the bladesmen driving blade pellets.
It was because the steppe forces came and went like the wind that Jingping's armies could gain no advantage over them. The armies of the steppe tribes came charging, their momentum shaking heaven and earth, their numbers far surpassing Jingping's.
Luandi Khan and the others tied their trousers at the waist, knotting them hard. Luandi Khan laughed heartily: "So a petty thief stole our treasures and our clothes—what of it?
To fight bare-chested on the battlefield is what makes true heroes and stout-hearted men!
My lords! We may have had our grudges in the past, fighting over land and cattle for our own tribes, but broad as the steppe is, it has its end, while Jingping is rich and splendid, with women and land in abundance!
Today, on this field, let us slaughter to our hearts' content—break through Qingmen Pass, and Jingping shall be our pasture!
" The many khans of the steppe burned with hot blood, standing bare-chested together and roaring with laughter, their heroic spirit surging to the heavens, sweeping the white clouds from the sky and leaving it clear as washed silk! Their cultivation was by no means weak; not a few were experts of the Heaven-Human and Life-and-Death realms, and several khans had even cultivated to the Divine Bridge realm. Each of them erupted with vital essence, primordial spirits emerging, all manner of god-demon phantoms rising behind them, immensely powerful, as they waited for their tribes' armies to charge in.
When the steppe host arrived, they each employed their own means—some sprinting on foot, some soaring into the air—heading straight for Jingping's fleet. Ban Gongcuo hesitated a moment and did not follow.
He summoned a Witch King and said in a low voice, "Escort me into the pass. " That Witch King answered in assent, while the other Witch Kings charged straight at Jingping's fleet. "Reporting to the general, the enemy has entered the one-hundred-sixty-li range! " cried the flag officer who measured distances, standing high on the mast and gripping the ropes tightly.
Jian Tang's expression did not change. "Continue forward. Call me at eighty li.
" Yuyuan Chuyun's face was calm as well, but at the words "eighty li" his brows lifted slightly.
The flag officer waved his flag, passing the order for the ships to continue forward.
"General, the enemy has reached eighty li!