Looking imposing and awe-inspiring, the Spear Saint of the Great Desolation cast his gaze over the several thousand rebel troops below, casually singled out three of his adoptive grandsons, and ordered, "You three, assist my colonel in escorting these little whelps back to the main camp. The remaining four, come with me—we're going to wipe out the tens of thousands of imperial troops trailing behind!"
Wei Yuan promptly detached a hundred soldiers under the command of a colonel to escort the thousands of rebel captives back to camp. Then, leading the remaining five thousand heavy cavalry, he wheeled around and charged downriver toward the imperial army advancing along the banks.
The troops Xiao Jingyuan had posted on the left bank were originally elites meant to guard against being swept away in a single rush by Lu Jiande. However, their commanding officer had anticipated light cavalry. When he felt the earth trembling and heard the thunder of hooves, he swiftly shifted formations, planting shields and bristling spears, stationing crossbowmen within the ranks to counter the threat.
This imperial general possessed genuine military talent and reacted with great speed. Yet the ground shook with ever-increasing violence, and the dull, heavy rumbling grew terrifyingly oppressive. As many veteran soldiers listened to the approach, their faces gradually drained of color.
Wei Yuan hovered in midair, flanked by his four adoptive grandsons. Below, officers led the heavy cavalry in three columns, charging into the imperial position from different directions!
The pounding hooves sounded like rolling thunder, bearing down upon the imperial battle lines. A hundred zhang away, their charge reached top speed. The riders then raised their guns, and an explosive roar of gunfire erupted, instantly blanketing the front in thick white smoke!
Massively destructive projectiles shattered shields, ripped through imperial leather armor, and punched effortlessly through chests, hurling bodies backward through the air.
In the blink of an eye, swaths of men and horses collapsed within the imperial ranks, leaving gaping breaches throughout the shield wall. The sudden chaos crashed into the crossbowmen behind. Even when sporadic arrows struck the charging riders, they failed to pierce the cavalry's plate armor.
The heavy cavalry pressed their charge straight through the rain of arrows. By the time they reached the enemy front, only two riders had fallen!
Wei Yuan instantly swept his divine sense over the fallen pair, recording the data to determine why they had been brought down.
At that moment, the heavy cavalry finally crashed into the battle lines. Tremendous collisions resounded one after another; the terrifying momentum frequently blasted a dozen men airborne in a single hit!
Charging into the enemy formation without the slightest fear, the riders raised their spray-guns and fired volley after volley, felling three to five foes with every blast.
As the first rider burst clean through the ranks, more and more heavy cavalry broke through behind him, followed by entire squadrons tearing through the formation!
The commanding Ji general stared with eyes full of horror and despair. From that single charge alone, he recognized that the first wave of over a thousand cavalrymen were all Dao Foundation cultivators!
Yet this was no time for shock. Standing amid the ranks, the general released a halo of light from his body, cloaking the entire battle line. He quickly issued orders, and the formation underwent a series of intricate shifts. In the brief window while the heavy cavalry broke through and regrouped, he actually reformed a tight, orderly shield wall.
*A talent!* Wei Yuan was momentarily startled. Pointing at him, he commanded the four adoptive grandsons behind him, "Bring him down for me. I want him alive!"
Their spirits immediately bolstered, the four adoptive grandsons surged forward with murderous aura. By now, the imperial army's military qi was already in disarray, offering limited enhancement to its commander. Backed by superior numbers, the grandsons felt not the slightest fear toward a full dharma idol opponent.
Moreover, even if they proved unable to win, Wei Yuan stood right behind them—the very man who had hurled Lu Jiande, a mid Scenery Command master, ten thousand zhang away with a single blow! Having their master backing them was the dogs' greatest source of courage.
Three of the adoptive grandsons plunged straight into the imperial military qi. Veterans of many battles, they immediately unleashed Dao arts to bombard the common foot soldiers, forcing the general to step in and intercept. They then hauled him out of the formation and engaged him in fierce combat. Just as the other officers attempted to rush to his rescue, the lone female adoptive grandson ambushed them, severely wounding every one of them in the blink of an eye.
By this point, the heavy cavalry had finished regrouping, fanning out into a long single-rank formation as they steadily closed in. This time, Wei Yuan ordered them not to hold back, so the cavalrymen did not charge. Instead, they maintained their distance and bombarded the imperial ranks incessantly, peeling back the formation layer by layer like an onion.
Over a dozen figures flew out from the main imperial army on the opposite bank, attempting to cross the river to offer relief. However, Wei Yuan suddenly appeared to bar their path, wearing a faint, mirthless smile. "If you don't wish to die, get back to the other side! This Saint's spear does not kill nobodies."
The figures on the opposite bank clustered around a white-haired veteran general. Staring intently at Wei Yuan, the old general abruptly barked, "Fall back!"
Perplexed, the officers had no choice but to follow him back. Only upon returning to the main army did they have the chance to ask, "Grand General, why not fight him?"
The old general's face darkened, and he said slowly, "Without the enhancement of military qi, I fear I am no match for him. Furthermore, their military qi..."
Only then did the officers realize. Looking back across the river, they finally caught sight of the distinct metallic luster of the opposing military qi, and every one of them was struck with shock! A single thought rose in all their minds: *Who under heaven could possess such military qi? Could it be—*
One general spoke up, "But General Chen..."
The old general's tone remained unmoved. "He can only fend for himself."
Having turned Xiao Jingyuan back, Wei Yuan returned to the battlefield and shouted at the struggling general, "Why haven't you surrendered yet? Do you intend to watch all the brothers under your command be slaughtered just to preserve your pitiful reputation?"
The general glanced down, his eyelid twitching. Seeing the men who had followed him for so long being cut down in rows, he felt as though a blade were twisting in his heart. Gritting his teeth, he said, "I, Chen Daolin, surrender! Do with me as you wish, whether to execute or tear to pieces—I only beg that you spare the brothers below!"
Wei Yuan said indifferently, "Letting them go is impossible, but they may live. Order them to lay down their weapons and surrender now, and their lives will be spared!"
Left with no other choice and unable to stall—every passing breath cost the lives of more soldiers—Chen Daolin ordered the entire army to cease resistance.
In this brief engagement, the imperial force of thirty thousand had suffered over ten thousand casualties, with another ten thousand wounded. Chen Daolin was well accustomed to the grim horrors of the battlefield, yet he had never imagined his troops could suffer such devastating losses in so short a time. This had not been a battle; it had been a massacre!
A short while later, Chen Daolin was brought before Wei Yuan. Only upon questioning did Wei Yuan learn that this thirty-thousand-strong force was actually the finest elite army under Xiao Jingyuan, and Chen Daolin was his right-hand man. His dharma idol was the Flying General of Iron Cavalry, capable of empowering military qi and significantly boosting the army's combat strength.
Xiao Jingyuan had originally planned to beat Lu Jiande at his own game by using this force to intercept the rebel vanguard. Lu Jiande would inevitably send his world-renowned light cavalry to break the formation, only to bite down on a steel plate and shatter all his teeth.
This unit was then to hold the riverbank while Xiao Jingyuan provided support from across the river and hastened the rest of his army across the crossing. Ordinary soldiers could not cross without boats, but dharma idol and Dao Foundation colonels could.
Xiao Jingyuan had bided his time for months, intending to use this elite force to deal a surprise, crushing blow to Lu Jiande's light cavalry and reverse the tide of the war in one stroke.
What he had never anticipated was that instead of Lu Jiande's light cavalry, he had encountered Wei Yuan's fully armored heavy cavalry—and over half of them were Dao Foundation cultivators!
Xiao Jingyuan had set an ambush for a vicious wolf, only to reel in a tyrannosaur.
Wei Yuan regarded Chen Daolin with genuine appreciation. "You're a capable man. What do you say—care to work for me from now on? Join me and your future will be bright; refuse, and I'll execute every one of your brothers!"
Chen Daolin did not know whether to laugh or cry. Who urged someone to surrender like that?
He offered a deep bow. "So long as you treat my brothers well and do not harm the common folk at will, Chen... is willing to serve to the death!"
He had hesitated, if only for an instant. Had that hesitation been absent, Wei Yuan would not have trusted him so easily.
As one of the imperial court's prominent fierce generals who had barely reached a hundred years of age, Chen Daolin had a promising future. Once he formed a mindscape world, he would be a prime candidate for Grand General, and even being made a duke would have been well within reach.
To suddenly be defeated, captured, and forced to turn rebel was a psychological drop very few could bear. It would have been abnormal had he not hesitated.
Having subdued Chen Daolin, Wei Yuan was quite pleased. Together with the seven adoptive grandsons who had sworn blood oaths, ingested lethal poisons, and had remotely triggered venomous bombs implanted within them, this sortie had netted eight potent dharma idol cultivators in one go—a bountiful harvest. Wei Yuan then ordered his men to treat the imperial wounded and transport all the corpses away.
Witnessing this, Chen Daolin's expression finally softened.
Several days later, the court of the State of Ji was discussing the latest rebel developments.
Naturally, all the King of Ji heard was a succession of grand victories, with only the occasional, accidental, unintentional loss of a few counties. After the Minister of War and Grand General Weiyuan finished presenting their reports, the King of Ji felt considerably better.
At that moment, Sun Chao'en stepped forward from the ranks of officials and reported in a clear voice, "Your Majesty, I have heard that a major upheaval recently occurred among the rebels. I wonder why neither Minister Yu of the Ministry of War nor Grand General Weiyuan made any mention of it."
The King of Ji paused in surprise. "What upheaval?"
Sun Chao'en said, "A new rebel faction has recently emerged. Its leader calls himself the 'Spear Saint of the Great Desolation' and has reportedly raised his banner to seize the title of Chief Commander from the rebel chief Lu Jiande. The two sides have already clashed in multiple battles, and Lu Jiande has suffered successive defeats. The battles I have heard of seem remarkably similar—exceedingly similar, in fact—to the grand victories reported by the Minister."
The words were so blunt that Minister Yu's expression immediately soured.
Another minister remarked, "Spear Saint of the Great Desolation? 'Great Desolation'... Does that title not sound like it originates from the lands of the Mountain Folk?"
Sun Chao'en replied, "Minister Wang is indeed knowledgeable. I hear that individual did indeed come from the western lands of the Mountain Folk."
Intrigued, the King of Ji remarked, "To beat Lu Jiande into such a sorry state, this man must have some real skill! How is it that We have never heard of such a figure before? Where did he get so many troops?"
With a solemn face, Sun Chao'en replied, "After leaving the Western Regions, the Spear Saint of the Great Desolation found eight thousand heavy cavalry lying about in the wilderness. He then found vast quantities of weapons and equipment across various places and assembled a rebel army."
Even the King of Ji, accustomed as he was to preposterous tales, was left dumbfounded. After a long pause, he managed to stammer, "He... found eight thousand heavy cavalry lying about?"
Sun Chao'en said solemnly, "Precisely so. Fully equipped and at full strength."
The King of Ji wanted to laugh, yet felt strangely unable to do so. Turning to the Director of the Directorate of Astronomy, he asked, "Beloved Minister Sun's words... could they be true?"
The King of Ji had intended it as a jest, but to his astonishment, the Director replied, "I have performed the divinations. The Spear Saint of the Great Desolation did indeed find eight thousand heavy cavalry lying about."
At once, the entire court was struck dumb with shock.
Chapter 1043