Beyond the vault of heaven, the towering will fell silent for a moment. The other towering wills withdrew their gazes, turning their attention elsewhere.
By this time, the Qingming forces had completed their assembly and marched directly southwest. Once Wei Yuan flew over to rendezvous with the army, the entire host accelerated, racing toward Mount E.
Mount E lay more than ten thousand li from Qingming, situated along the border between the Mountain Folk and the Shamans. Of the twenty thousand troops Wei Yuan had mustered, aside from five thousand Dragon Wing regular cavalry, the rest were mounted infantry. Further aided by the blessing of Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, the army marched at tremendous speed, covering thousands of li a day. Three days later, they reached the outskirts of Mount E.
Mount E was a small tract of rolling hills with gentle slopes. Li Zhi had been encircled atop one of the hills and had held out for several days. Fortunately, continuous drizzle fell over the region and dense timber grew in abundance, so there was no shortage of water or materials for fortifications. Li Zhi had built palisades to defend his position and managed to endure.
This was Wei Yuan's first battle against the Mountain Folk, so he had deployed all his elites and dared not act carelessly. A hundred li from Mount E, Wei Yuan slowed the army's advance. The troops spread out, dispatching scout riders from both flanks to reconnoiter as they moved forward.
Perhaps Wei Yuan had arrived too quickly, or perhaps the Mountain Folk were primarily guarding against reinforcements from the direction of Zhenshan Domain and Zhao; there were no ambushes deployed along Wei Yuan's route. Wei Yuan was able to march his grand army straight through, pushing right up to the Mountain Folk's main camp.
The sudden appearance of Wei Yuan's army threw the Mountain Folk into disarray. A succession of sharp whistles shrilled across their interconnected camps, and hordes of Mountain Folk surged out to form battle lines outside the camp.
Standing in the center of his formation, Wei Yuan gazed out into the distance. A faint mist drifted across the undulating slopes. Above the Mountain Folk encampment hung a canopy of greyish-green aura that enveloped the hill at the center, relentlessly wearing away the military qi atop it.
The hill was not high, topped with rudimentary barricades. Despite having been besieged for days, its military qi remained tightly gathered, towering dozens of zhang into the sky. Li Zhi's military qi was actually a brilliant golden yellow—the orthodox aura of a Sovereign of Man, remarkably distinguished at first glance.
Looking at Li Zhi's military qi, Wei Yuan was honestly a little envious, mainly because it appeared so resplendent and eye-catching. However, Li Zhi possessed the royal lineage of Southern Qi and had been groomed by the Four Sages Academy as a new generation's Sovereign of Man. In the future, he would be at least an ennobled prince ruling over his own fief—a paragon of pedigree and orthodoxy. Possessing the military qi of a Sovereign of Man was completely natural for him.
If Wei Yuan ever dared to flaunt such bright yellow aura of a Sovereign of Man, the King of Jin would probably be the first to send an army to crush him.
Having examined the military qi and confirmed that Li Zhi was in no immediate danger, Wei Yuan turned his gaze to the Mountain Folk before his battle lines.
The Mountain Folk were slightly shorter than humans, averaging only up to human shoulders, but they were powerfully built with remarkably long arms, scaling mountains and ridges as though treading flat ground. They commonly wore leather armor studded with iron and steel plates, wielded various refined steel weapons, and possessed numerous heavy crossbows; their equipment was not inferior to that of humanity in the least.
Wei Yuan had already reviewed records on the Mountain Folk before setting out. The Mountain Folk excelled in iron smelting and hunting, and they bred various spirit beasts. Furthermore, they had Mountain Folk giants; back then, an inferior version of a Mountain Folk giant had battered the Palace of Grand Beginning's new disciples so thoroughly that they lost all sense of direction.
At this moment, the Mountain Folk erupted in roaring, savage war cries, and several giant brown-furred bears clad in heavy armor appeared among their ranks.
Wei Yuan immediately ordered a formation change: the Dragon Gallop troops took the front with heavy shields raised, regular infantry took positions on both flanks, and the Dragon Wing cavalry seized the adjacent high slope.
Shrill shrieks rose from the Mountain Folk ranks as masses of warriors charged forward howling. The brown-furred war bears roared like thunder, swiftly surging to the very front of the charge. Behind them, Mountain Folk archers loosed continuous volleys, raining down arrows upon Wei Yuan's positions.
Fortunately, these elite infantry were equipped with large shields and breastplates. The Mountain Folk's bows and crossbows were inferior to those of the Liao Folk, making it difficult to penetrate the cast one-piece breastplates, and even if an arrow pierced through, it was rarely fatal. A volley of arrows passed without causing Wei Yuan significant casualties.
By now, the largest brown war bear leading the charge had closed to within a hundred zhang. A volley of gunfire abruptly erupted from Wei Yuan's ranks. The giant bear's momentum ground to a sudden halt as bursts of blood blossomed across its body. It reared up on its hind legs, only to take a barrage of bullets straight into its chest and belly, bathed in sheets of bloody light until it was almost completely drenched red.
The brown bear possessed extraordinary vitality, braving the rain of bullets to charge onward for several dozen more zhang before finally collapsing.
The other giant bears met much the same fate, with the farthest among them advancing merely sixty zhang through this corridor of death. Charging Mountain Folk warriors were sent flying backward from time to time, and some were even blown in half right down the middle!
At close range, the firearms of Qingming—loaded with newly formulated gunpowder—surpassed bows and crossbows in destructive power. A single hit would often tear away entire portions of a Mountain Folk warrior's body.
In the front line, the Dragon Gallop infantry locked their shields against the enemy while soldiers behind them fired continuously through the gaps between shields. Their reloading and firing speed had reached nearly one shot per second. Meanwhile, the Dao Foundation captains had all been re-equipped with new magazine-fed firearms, firing even faster with ferocious firepower.
Across a mere span of a hundred zhang, the ground was strewn with Mountain Folk corpses, their casualties catastrophic, while the war bears were wiped out entirely.
Only after paying a grievous price did the surviving Mountain Folk reach the front line to engage in close combat—only to find bayonets fixed to their opponents' firearms. The long gunstocks combined with two-foot blades possessed tremendous thrusting power. The Mountain Folk were naturally short and wielded scimitars; in their very first clash, they suffered devastating casualties once again.
As the melee ensued, Wei Yuan shifted his thought. Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains manifested, its blessing instantly elevating the soldiers' strength by a full notch. Casualties among the Mountain Folk mounted sharply as they were impaled row by row.
Wei Yuan's divine sense swept outward, immediately locating the Mountain Folk's center army. It was not hard to find: aside from the command banners, that was the only place where two dharma idol cultivators were stationed.
Wei Yuan pointed to the sky, and Jade Mountain plunged from the heavens, hurtling toward the two dharma idols with ferocious momentum!
The Mountain Folk dharma idols blasted several spells at Jade Mountain in rapid succession, yet failed to impede it in the slightest. At the final moment, they had no choice but to dive out of the way to either side. They watched helplessly as Jade Mountain crashed to earth, shaking the ground and smashing out a shallow crater a hundred zhang across, the shockwave jolting more than a thousand Mountain Folk within the crater to death.
Wei Yuan waved forward. The Dragon Wing cavalry launched their charge, their spearhead plunging straight through the central army—now turned into a zone of death—and barreling toward the Mountain Folk camp!
At that moment, the bright yellow military qi on the hill stirred. Seeing that reinforcements had arrived, Li Zhi led his troops out in an assault.
Empowered by Ten Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains, the five thousand Dragon Wing heavy cavalry were unstoppable. Pincer-attacked from within and without alongside Li Zhi, the Mountain Folk suffered a crushing defeat, abandoning their camp and fleeing into the mountains on either flank.
After overrunning one of the Mountain Folk camps, Wei Yuan joined forces with Li Zhi.
Looking ashamed, Li Zhi said, "I was careless this time and fell into an ambush. Fortunately, you arrived swiftly, Brother. Otherwise, who knows when Zhao's reinforcements would have arrived? The consequences would have been unthinkable."
Wei Yuan asked in curiosity, "With your capabilities, Brother Li, couldn't you even muster reinforcements in Zhao?"
Li Zhi sighed. "I carry the royal bloodline of Southern Qi. Even though I acquired this domain through an exchange, the King of Zhao naturally harbors suspicion toward me. Furthermore, Empress Dowager Xiao has no intention of letting me off easily—she bribed the border army commanders long ago. I can only thank the heavens if those generals don't actively sabotage me; how could I dare hope they'd dispatch troops to my rescue?"
Wei Yuan pointed ahead and said, "We can talk about that later. For now, the Mountain Folk haven't been completely routed. Let's finish them off first."
At that moment, the fleeing Mountain Folk were retreating toward another camp. Mountain Folk warriors emerged from it to form lines, bringing forth several dozen brown-furred war bears to steady their ranks. Advancing in formation, they gathered their routed comrades. The two dharma idols who had fled from Wei Yuan's strike with Jade Mountain reappeared and joined the dharma idols from this second camp, making five dharma idols in all.
Li Zhi was also accompanied and protected by two dharma idol cultivators. Although ordinary Mountain Folk dharma idols were weaker than human ones, the disparity in numbers had simply been too vast, which was why Li Zhi had been forced into holding his ground and awaiting rescue.
Wei Yuan examined the Mountain Folk's military qi carefully and took full measure of the situation.
Frowning slightly, Li Zhi said, "The Mountain Folk are numerous now, and we no longer possess the element of surprise. My soldiers are also thoroughly exhausted. Wouldn't it be better to withdraw for now?"
Only about four thousand warriors remained under Li Zhi's command, and nearly every one of them was wounded. Holding out for several consecutive days had left them utterly exhausted. Although their military qi still appeared bright, Wei Yuan could tell it was only because Li Zhi's Dao Foundation forcibly bolstered it by a grade; in truth, they lacked such combat strength.
When Li Zhi proposed withdrawing, the two dharma idols and several generals and colonels behind him let out sighs of relief, having no heart left for battle.
Wei Yuan, however, said, "They have no giants participating in this battle, which leaves an obvious flaw. I gave it some thought just now and don't believe defeating them will be particularly difficult. How about this: Brother Li, hold your ground here with your forces to back me up, and I will demonstrate how to handle the Mountain Folk. Your primary enemies in the future will still be the Mountain Folk, so this might be of some help to you."
Li Zhi said with a worried look, "Then allow my two guardians to lend you a hand."
The Mountain Folk across from them possessed a full five dharma idols, whereas Wei Yuan had not a single dharma idol in his army. Although Li Zhi knew Wei Yuan's personal strength was sufficient to defeat an ordinary dharma idol, there was not one enemy before them, but five. Therefore, Li Zhi intended to have his two dharma idol cultivators accompany Wei Yuan to protect him and counter the enemy's high-level cultivators.
Wei Yuan replied, "No matter! Mountain Folk dharma idols can't take a beating; a mere five can be ignored. Watch closely—they only have seventy or eighty thousand troops across the field, which is probably only enough for me to demonstrate once."
Chapter 388