Just as in the ordinary world, where those in times of peril had seen figures emerge amidst raging infernos and roaring floods... after experiencing and witnessing all this, the children of these plateau dwellers suddenly said they wanted to join the army.
Most of the children here were thirteen or fourteen. Even the youngest, Jiayina, was nearly ten years old; the even younger children had not been brought out to herd.
They stayed low on their saddles, galloping with practiced ease, and raised their heads, their gazes fixed on the back of the figure ahead—the one who had just fought like a god.
Of course, by now the children almost all understood that the unit these three military uncles belonged to was probably somewhat different from what they had known before.
They seemed dedicated to fighting those terrifying monsters.
And between those monsters and their people lay a feud deep as a sea of blood.
"Sure. Once my Ciwang is a bit older, he can go."
"When Deji turns sixteen... seventeen."
"My Daba will definitely be a mighty warrior in the future."
"..."
The fathers responded in earnest from their horses.
Led by Han Qingyu, the riders continued galloping onward... Liu Shiheng suddenly felt Jiayina tug at his clothes from behind. He looked back and said sternly:
"Don't you dare say you want to go too. Not at any age."
Soft blonde strands fluttered messily by her temples. Jiayina's gaze flickered with timid hesitation, and she tilted her head to look at him.
"I... I wanted to ask, Uncle Liu, are you this amazing too?"
"Compared to him... just a little bit behind."
Liu Shiheng straightened up as he spoke and looked ahead.
Sure enough, the deeper they rode, the more perilous it became. Ahead, a squad of six black-armored Great Spikes came into view, clustered directly in the riders' path. At the same time, more than a dozen meters to their right, another Great Spike prowled alone.
Riding at the forefront, Han Qingyu raised his left arm to alert the herders, then shouted:
"Slow down slightly, maintain distance, split left and right to go around them, and regroup ahead."
This had all been explained beforehand. Upon receiving the command, the riders swiftly checked their speed. The herders and their children deftly tugged the reins to turn their horses' heads, dividing into two columns flanking left and right.
Liu Shiheng was in a bit of a fluster.
From behind him, Jiayina quietly reached out a small hand, took hold of the reins, and gave a gentle tug... The horse turned its head and galloped toward the front right.
"Plague Chicken, draw off the lone one on the right."
Han Qingyu shouted again. At the same time, he vaulted from his saddle, source energy erupting in midair with a loud thrum. His body shot straight toward the cluster of Great Spikes ahead, matching the flight of his column sword.
Bypassing them completely was impossible under these conditions; there was too great a gap between the speed of horses and Great Spikes. Circling around was merely to avoid a head-on collision. Han Qingyu still had to stop the pack of Great Spikes from subsequently pursuing the riders on both flanks.
*Bang!*
Wen Jifei fired. To keep the horses from spooking at gunfire, he had wasted plenty of ammunition back at the ruined house to desensitize them beforehand.
The lone Great Spike stumbled in mid-stride, whipping its head around with a roar to lunge at Wen Jifei, its massive body rising slightly into the air.
*Bang!* Another shot knocked the black-armored Great Spike off balance.
Wen Jifei kept firing steadily, drawing the Great Spike away and circling forward from a distance.
Almost simultaneously, under the gaze of all the herders and children, bathed in the golden beams of the setting sun over the grasslands, Han Qingyu's silhouette crashed down from the sky.
*Boom!*
The earth quaked.
Man and column sword slammed violently right into the pack of Great Spikes from the front.
Of the six Great Spikes, one was severely injured on the spot and unable to rise, while three were knocked flat on their backs.
The remaining two were still on their feet, swinging their swords in from left and right.
Yet Han Qingyu's forward momentum never slowed. Flowing seamlessly into his next movement, he ducked while drawing the twin blades from his back, sweeping forward like streaming light.
*Slash, slash!*
The knee joints of both Great Spikes were severed, and they collapsed to their knees almost simultaneously—kneeling behind Han Qingyu as he straightened and surged ahead.
On either side of the sprawled and tumbled Great Spikes, the herders' cavalcade thundered past.
Han Qingyu dashed forward a few strides and vaulted back onto his horse.
The herders converged toward him from both flanks, falling back behind him as they accelerated.
The columns merged, pressing onward.
"Holy shit, me... there's still me! Slow the fuck down! Give me a hand, you bastard Han Qingyu!" A flustered shout came from afar.
Wen Jifei was leading one Great Spike on his own. Kiting it was fine, but shaking it off by himself was out of the question.
Just as he started cursing, *whoosh whoosh whoosh—thunk!* An Azure battleblade pierced straight through the back of the neck of the black-armored Great Spike at his flank.
"Roar!" The Great Spike lowered its head with a howl of agony.
*Bang!* Wen Jifei fired.
Accompanied by a crisp *clang*, the battleblade tore free from the back of the Great Spike's neck and flew into the air, dragging out a surging fountain of foul, pungent blood.
Wen Jifei spurred his horse forward, catching the battleblade as it fell from the sky.
He accelerated to catch up with the group and threw it back to Han Qingyu.
The children finally recovered from their shock, leaning down and looking back toward Wen Jifei with low chuckles.
"Well? Impressive or what?" Wen Jifei asked with a grin.
"Impressive!" the children answered loudly in unison.
The laughter and chatter dispelled much of the fear, and the expressions on almost everyone's faces livened up considerably.
Yet the expression on Han Qingyu's face and in his eyes didn't change or soften in the slightest.
They were still far.
The road ahead was still long.
At the same time, though not yet visible, the tremors and faint howls indicated that many packs of Great Spikes alerted by the noise nearby—as well as those they had previously shaken off behind them—had not given up. The moment the column slowed, they would likely catch up.
Galloping on, the glow of the sunset beneath the hooves began to fade.
"Fuck, we still ran into them! No matter which way we went, we couldn't dodge them." Liu Shiheng's heart turned cold, and his body trembled slightly.
Far ahead across their path, at least seven or eight packs of Great Spikes appeared along the entire front line.
There was no way forward.
Even less was there a way back.
Nor was there any room left to detour.
The horses were still galloping at full speed.
Hoofbeats thundered.
The distance closed rapidly.
Everyone waited in silence for the command of the man in front.
"Don't slow down!"
Han Qingyu finally spoke, his voice resolute and dependable.
Don't slow down—now, their only option was to charge forward without looking back.
The grassland stretched vast and boundless. The final golden rays of the setting sun at the horizon bathed the grass, washing over everyone's faces and bodies, spilling into their eyes.
The wind of the wilderness roared in their faces.
Breathing began to grow heavy.
The rising and falling hooves seemed to tread upon gold.
*Clatter-clatter... thud-thump, thud-thump.* The distance continued to close.
Finally: "Get ready!"
Han Qingyu's voice drifted through the wind.
At the same time, his right hand drew out a heavy piece of black cloth that had been cut earlier by the elder herders, holding it aloft in the wind.
Everyone pulled out a black cloth from their breast and held it up, letting the wind pull it taut.
"Blindfold the horses!" Han Qingyu's voice came again.
*Whoosh!*
*Whoosh! Whoosh, whoosh...*
Cloth after black cloth covered the eyes of the steeds beneath them.
Many would assume that blindfolding horses during a charge was merely out of fear that they would panic at what they saw. That wasn't wrong, but it was actually secondary. More importantly, as the elder herders had told Han Qingyu, if a galloping horse's eyes were suddenly covered, the fright would cause it to... accelerate desperately, sprinting madly forward in a straight line without stopping. In this way, both the speed and impact of the herd would increase dramatically.
Beneath the vast twilight sky.
Horses neighed! Heads dipped, then jerked high.
With their remaining strength, the herd launched into an explosive, straight-line sprint.
The fierce thunder of hooves roared...
Controlling a horse's immediate reaction under such circumstances was difficult. Only with Jiayina's help did Liu Shiheng manage to keep his brown steed on course.
*Boom!*
Hurtling from afar, the starlight column sword shot straight into a massive boulder.
The boulder shattered, sending fragments flying everywhere and clattering loudly against the Great Spikes around it.
At once, the attention of at least four packs of Great Spikes was drawn, and they lunged toward Han Qingyu together, converging as they came.
Leaping off his mount, Han Qingyu darted laterally, breaking away from the straight path of the riders. At the same time, the twin blades from his back flew out spinning, striking toward two other packs of Great Spikes.
Once again, the battle began...
At this moment, in the eyes of everyone behind him:
Ahead lay the boundless grassland, strewn with the fading remnants of golden light.
In that vision, the figure stretched into a blur like streaming light, constantly shifting angles; two battleblades reflecting the sunset's afterglow whirled ceaselessly through the air; and the starlight column sword, like blue lightning, struck out and returned again and again.
"...!" Another shock, even greater, even more incomprehensible and unimaginable, left the herders collectively numb.
This was truly fighting like a god.
"Perhaps this is the shock that will be brought upon the world one day when everything about Azure is truly made public. There will be inevitable, immense panic and collapse, but there will also be Azure's gods of war to give them faith and support."
On horseback, Liu Shiheng's thoughts drifted dazed.
*Bang!* The sniper rifle cracked. Wen Jifei drew away a pack of Great Spikes.
*Neigh!*
Grandpa Suochi, as the children called him, tore the black cloth from his horse's eyes, wheeled his mount around, and drew off a squad of Great Spikes to the left.
*Neigh!*
Uncle Duoji, as the children called him, tore the black cloth from his horse's eyes, wheeled his mount around, and drew off a squad of Great Spikes to the right.
The children began weeping softly.
"As long as you've got a breath left in you, circle back! ...I'll wait for you here!"
Besieged and pursued by over twenty Great Spikes, Han Qingyu forced himself into the air, gesturing and shouting to them.
The two herders looked back from their horses, gave him a simple smile, and nodded firmly.
Then they turned and galloped madly away.
"The rest of you, go! Don't stop! Don't look back!" Han Qingyu waved and yelled.
The gap in front had been opened, and the straight charge continued unbroken.
Suddenly, two injured Great Spikes previously knocked down by Han Qingyu wobbled to their feet.
"There's no one else." Liu Shiheng glanced left and right, then fixed his gaze straight ahead.
"Jiayina, hold the reins tight!" he said.
Then—*clang!* Liu Shiheng drew the dead iron straight sword from his back.
"Everyone, get behind me."
There was no buffer, no time to prepare, and no chance for him to hesitate!
Leading the charge, the galloping horse carried Liu Shiheng swiftly toward one of the Great Spikes that had just risen.
"Kill!" Knowing the horse couldn't withstand such an impact and terrified that Jiayina might be hurt... Liu Shiheng leaped forward off the horse's back ahead of time. His source energy erupted—*thrum!*
"Ahhh..."
*Crash!*
One year after enlisting, the blade in the hands of Private Liu Shiheng—Azure Huaxia Front, Sole Witness Legion, Ninth Army, Regiment 425, Squad 1777—finally struck the body of a Great Spike for the very first time.
*Clash—bang!*
The already injured Great Spike, barely on its feet and lacking balance... was knocked back by his strike, staggering and crashing to the ground.
The horses thundered past.
"I... I did that?!" Looking down at the blade in his hands, Liu Shiheng stood there in a daze.
For about two seconds.
*Boom!* With a resounding blast, Han Qingyu's starlight column sword arrived at last, knocking down the other Great Spike not far away.
Close one! Coming back to his senses, Young Master Liu sucked in a sharp breath.
"Move! What are you standing there gaping for?!"
"Oh, right!"
Liu Shiheng sprinted with his sword, caught up with the column, and climbed back onto his horse.
...
Hoofbeats echoed crisply through the darkness. The sky was nearly pitch-black now, with only faint moonlight and starlight illuminating the road ahead.
The black cloths over the horses' eyes had all been removed.
There were almost no Great Spikes along this stretch, but Liu Shiheng kept a tight grip on his sword, feeling nervous the entire way without anyone to lean on.
Suddenly, sounds came from behind.
It was the sound of hoofbeats.
"Qingzi?! Plague Chicken?!" Liu Shiheng turned back and shouted excitedly.
"Yeah." Wen Jifei's voice sounded weary.
"Uncle Duoji!"
"Where is Grandpa Suochi?"
the children asked.
With bandages wrapped around his abdomen, Duoji answered in their native tongue.
"Keep moving. Don't stop," Han Qingyu said wearily, traces of blood at the corner of his mouth.
The group continued forward beneath the starlight.
There truly seemed to be no more Great Spikes ahead.
The party gradually began to relax.
"There are people," a child said, pointing ahead.
Ahead on their path, atop a grassy ridge bathed in moonlight, a person slowly stepped into view, then two, then three... until finally, twenty-two people stood lined up across that grassy ridge.
Their faces were indistinguishable. But among them was one burly figure bearing a medieval knight's longsword across his back.
"Qingzi..." Liu Shiheng turned and said.
"I know." Han Qingyu nodded and calmly dismounted.
Once on his feet, he looked back at the exhausted faces among the riders, then pointed to the flank. "Head that way. Keep running. Hang in there."
"Go!"
In silence, the column wheeled about and galloped off to the side, quickly vanishing into the night.
Through this entire process, Sean stood quietly, watching.
He made no move to stop them, nor did he order his subordinates to intervene.
The reason was simple: the person they truly wanted to keep—the man currently favored to become Azure's next Star of Azure, the one called Major The Qing in the Huaxia Front—had already chosen to stay behind.
After so many twists and unexpected turns in this plan, after losing the bait and the Great Spike packs, they had finally crossed paths at last... Tonight, anyone else could leave, but he could not walk away alive.
Chapter 329