Li Zhi ordered one squad to stay on guard and another to dismount and clear the battlefield, retrieving Wei Yuan's short spears in the process. The arrows his men had loosed were all magical artifacts as well, and any that could be recovered had to be salvaged.
A squad leader at the Dao Foundation stage pulled out a battle axe, chopped down all the tents, and then dumped poison into the water well, thoroughly destroying the encampment. Situated within the Liao domain, this outpost would be uninhabitable for humanity unless a feng shui formation was extended over it. Li Zhi and Wei Yuan had both chosen to ruin it completely; precious as the water source was, they could not leave it intact.
The personal guards were well-trained, going about their cleanup with methodical efficiency. In about the time it took an incense stick to burn, everything was cleared away. In the process, both men and warhorses took a brief rest.
Once the battlefield was cleared, Wei Yuan and Li Zhi rode out toward the second camp.
No smoke rose from the second campsite. Wei Yuan and Li Zhi picked up their pace twenty li out, surging toward the camp at full gallop. Ten li swept by in an instant, bringing the full layout of the camp into view. There were over forty Liao cavalrymen inside, every one of them scrambling onto their mounts at that very moment!
The enemy numbers exceeded their expectations. Normally, when humans and Northern Liao forces were evenly matched in numbers, the humans would be at an absolute disadvantage. But neither Wei Yuan nor Li Zhi was ordinary, and with the element of surprise on their side, they maintained their full-speed charge. Li Zhi even drew three long arrows shimmering with iridescent light, notching them all to his bow at once.
At the previous camp, seven Northern Liao riders had dared to charge Wei Yuan and Li Zhi. Now, with more than forty horsemen, they were naturally even less afraid, howling as they surged forward.
Still a hundred zhang apart, both sides unleashed a rain of arrows. The Liao barbarians had heavy bows and heavy arrows, and were born archers. Southern Qi's iron cavalry, on the other hand, was equipped entirely with artifact bows and arrows of tremendous power that could track their targets on their own. At the first exchange, each side saw three or four riders tumble from their mounts, fighting to an even draw. In an instant, over a hundred horsemen clashed in a swirling melee, with riders thrown from their saddles from time to time.
Wei Yuan's spear finally had its chance to shine. With a single thrust, he ran through a passing Liao barbarian and cast him from his mount. But several heavy arrows appeared out of nowhere, and before Wei Yuan could dodge, one struck him square in the shoulder.
The divine archery of the Liao barbarians lived up to its name. Many of their riders could loose a casual shot that would miraculously thread its way past countless galloping mounts and men across the battlefield, striking true. Most of the Liao riders possessed only a wisp of magical power, and the heavy arrows they shot carried no aura of Dao power, making it impossible to guard against for cultivators who relied on their divine senses to detect Dao power for defense.
Countless heavy arrows howled across the battlefield. Even Li Zhi could not tell who each arrow was aimed at, caught off guard every now and then by a sudden armor-piercing heavy arrow.
As the battle ground into a stalemate, Li Zhi grew increasingly flustered, and errors began to creep into his commands.
Within a hundred zhang, Northern Liao's armor-piercing heavy arrows could penetrate heavy armor. Li Zhi's armor was a top-grade magical artifact, so he naturally had nothing to fear on that front, but enduring an arrow still drained a great deal of his Dao power. Moreover, even if a heavy arrow could not pierce his armor, the kinetic force was very real. Taking a hit was equivalent to being struck full force by the hammer of a grand perfection Body Casting cultivator—far from pleasant.
Both sides traded blows back and forth. Wei Yuan and Li Zhi unhorsed several Liao riders in turn, gradually gaining the upper hand. One Northern Liao squad leader proved exceptionally fierce, trading several passes with Li Zhi. Another was rather unfortunate, swept off his horse by Wei Yuan's sudden Flying Sand Technique, then finished off with a spear thrust through the heart, barely lasting two exchanges.
In one-on-one combat, the Southern Qi elite guards were not inferior to the elite Liao barbarian cavalry, but their warhorses could not compare. The Northern Liao warriors charged recklessly, frequently slamming their mounts headlong into their opponents'. At a dead gallop, a Liao horse merely staggered from the collision, whereas a human warhorse would end up with fractured bones and snapped tendons. Not long into the fight, several of the guards' horses had already been rammed to death by Liao mounts.
Fortunately, Wei Yuan's short spears were overwhelmingly powerful, and Li Zhi's divine bow and sharp arrows swept all before them, allowing them to rescue most of their dismounted men.
Just as they were steadily seizing the upper hand, Wei Yuan suddenly felt the earth tremble. Far off in the distance, the yellow qi churned violently, and wave after wave of Liao cavalry burst out from the mist—a full two hundred riders!
The incoming Liao riders split into two columns. One charged straight for the battlefield, while the other swung around in a flanking maneuver, intending to cut off Wei Yuan and Li Zhi's retreat. In each column was a rider with a white feather pinned to his helmet, visibly taller and sturdier than the rest, mounted on a far more imposing warhorse. In Wei Yuan's eyes, both men radiated a dense, brilliant yellow magical light, comparable to Earth Tier cultivators.
Centurions! Every centurion of the Vast Sea Liao Clan possessed a Dao Foundation. With their naturally formidable physiques, their combat strength far surpassed that of ordinary human Dao Foundation cultivators.
The Liao reinforcements arrived with astonishing speed. The centurion charging straight toward the battlefield drew his bow while still five hundred zhang away, loosing seven or eight heavy arrows in such rapid succession that they formed an unbroken line, all aimed at Li Zhi.
There was no helping it—Li Zhi's armor was far too radiant and eye-catching, standing out instantly among the crowd. His immortal foundation gave him an aura distinct from ordinary people, making him far more conspicuous than his two squad leaders. In contrast, Wei Yuan was wearing standard-issue armor from the Palace of Grand Beginning, which looked less impressive than the kit of Li Zhi's personal guards. On top of that, Wei Yuan had not yet reached the Dao Foundation stage, so the centurion did not spare him a second glance, dismissing him as an ordinary soldier.
A gold shield bearing the head of a Nijun beast appeared in Li Zhi's left hand, blazing with radiant light, while his right held a long halberd crackling with lightning. This only made his presence even more grand and imposing, drawing the eyes of every single Liao barbarian.
He parried the first three arrows with his halberd, then raised his shield to block the remaining four. Heavy arrows detonated against the shield's surface one after another, the terrifying impact forcing Li Zhi and his horse back step by step.
The warhorse beneath him let out a sudden, prolonged neigh as its hind legs buckled, nearly throwing him from the saddle.
As a genius meticulously cultivated by the Four Sages Academy, fighting on a chaotic battlefield and leading a cavalry charge were not Li Zhi's forte, yet he was fully capable of holding his own in a direct clash against a Northern Liao centurion. But while the man could fight, his horse could not.
Li Zhi had traveled tens of thousands of li from Southern Qi to Western Jin. He could bring plenty of personal guards, but he could not bring their warhorses. These mounts had been arranged in advance by Western Jin, nowhere near the caliber of the mounts originally ridden by the guards of a Southern Qi duke. Now, in a head-on clash, that difference was painfully clear.
Though at a disadvantage, Li Zhi did not panic. He struck his warhorse with a Dao technique; the beast gave a long whinny, its eyes turning crimson in an instant, and forced itself back to its feet. However, this Dao technique drew upon the horse's vitality as its cost; once the effect faded, the beast would die of exhaustion.
The centurion closed in like wind and thunder. In the blink of an eye, he was within two hundred zhang, notching three heavy arrows shimmering with yellow light to his string. At this distance, Li Zhi could even see the ferocity in his eyes and the cruel sneer curling his lips!
Li Zhi gripped his shield with both hands, focusing entirely on defense. From the corner of his eye, he spotted Wei Yuan slipping silently across the battlefield toward the centurion, already within a hundred zhang. A thought flashed through Li Zhi's mind. Circulating his Dao power, he let out a thunderous roar. The gold shield in his hands erupted in blinding brilliance, drowning the vision of everyone looking toward him in stark, blinding white, rendering them momentarily blind.
Though the centurion was also blinded, he had long since locked onto Li Zhi with his divine sense. He released three arrows in rapid succession, every shot aimed straight for Li Zhi's heart!
The three heavy arrows detonated against the gold shield one after another, each blast driving Li Zhi and his mount back more than a zhang. Li Zhi's face grew paler with every hit. As he weathered the final arrow, his warhorse let out a mournful cry; its eyes burst, its legs gave out, and it collapsed limp to the ground.
Before the centurion's vision could recover, he suddenly felt several surging clusters of Dao power erupt around him. A Dao Foundation cultivator was launching a sneak attack!
Chapter 77