Six Yaglakar horsemen, noticing an opening and realizing Wang Chong was already exhausted, were overjoyed. Thrusting forward with spear, war hammer, scimitar, spiked club, and flanged mace, they struck with all their might, wanting nothing more than to smash the man who had killed their commander into mincemeat and wash away the disgrace of this battle.
Wang Chong let out a low whistle. An inexhaustible surge of strength welled up from his drained body. Sweeping his spear violently across, his strike produced an exquisite transformation where none should have been possible, not only batting aside all six weapons but killing the six Yaglakar horsemen in one fell swoop.
In an instant, an empty circle cleared around him, giving him his first chance to catch his breath since the battle began.
Wang Chong cast his gaze about. The enemies surrounding him were thick as crows, but back toward Pengshan County, the Yaglakar cavalry ranks were fraying slightly, being pursued and beaten by a ragtag rabble of common folk.
By now, the cavalry's commander had tumbled off his horse to parts unknown, and the elite fighters were all busy besieging Wang Chong, leaving the cavalry force leaderless. Under normal circumstances, even if fighting independently without formations, the Yaglakar warriors would hold the upper hand against ordinary soldiers. As fate would have it, however, this motley mob truly had a few formidable figures among them.
Yu Zao, the little maidservant, had not joined the fray herself; instead, she shouted continuously, directing the crowd with steady composure. In the eyes of masters, Wang Dong's martial arts were an eyesore, yet in a chaotic melee like this, he showed plenty of courage and vigor. Furthermore, there was the great monk Xuan Gang. Before taking monastic vows, he had been a renowned bandit of the jianghu who had reached the innate realm early on. Later, he had become a disciple of Kong Chan. Though this one of the Five Greats of the World did not pass Shaolin martial arts to him, he had given Xuan Gang no small amount of guidance. Now having also learned the Withered Chan of the Borobudur Great Buddha Temple and the Diamond Prajna Palm of the Western Regions' Qingshan Sect, his martial arts had advanced yet another leap forward. Even if Yaglakar Yehu were here in person, Xuan Gang would not necessarily fear him in a duel. Slaughtering ordinary Yaglakar warriors was like trouncing small children. Wielding the scimitar taken from Nalihai in one hand and the spear he had just snatched in the other, not a single enemy before him could withstand a single blow; he hacked through them with savage relish.
Though Tie Mingzhu and Nan Xinlan had practiced plenty of martial arts, at a time like this, they were practically useless. The two young women had bustled about for a good while without felling more than a couple of men. Tie Mingzhu suddenly spotted a bow and arrows on one of the riders; she sheathed her Qingfeng Sword, unslung the stiff bow and feathered arrows, drew the bowstring, and began to shoot.
After all, the eldest young lady of the Tie family possessed martial arts and cultivated internal force, so her strength fell no shorter than that of these Western Regions horsemen. Having practiced hidden weapons, handling a bow and arrow presented no difficulty at all; with the whistling whiz of arrows, she shot and killed five or six men in moments.
Seeing her dear friend do this, Nan Xinlan hurried to snatch a bow and arrows as well. Though her archery was inferior to Tie Mingzhu's, one out of two or three arrows struck its mark, finally sweeping away her dejection.
With the leaders performing so brilliantly, the hundred or so youths who had a foundation in martial arts and had brought their own weapons instinctively followed close behind, spontaneously falling into ranks. Many clever ones picked up weapons from the battlefield, and some naturally bold and daring fellows even seized ownerless warhorses in the fray and closed in around Xuan Gang. Behind them trailed the ordinary able-bodied townsfolk of Pengshan County. Whenever they saw a cavalryman critically wounded, they swarmed him like hornets, dozens pummeling one or two heavily injured dogs in the water. For a time, they seemed to grow braver with every strike.
The internal force coursing through Wang Chong burned like searing fire. With a roar, he channeled the Army-Breaking Bodhisattva Aspect and plunged back into battle against the Yaglakar cavalry. After slaying several more men, he was finally able to spare a sliver of attention to examine his own condition.
The Nine-Headed Dragon King Aspect developed nine streams of true qi that could be wielded at will, whereas the Army-Breaking Bodhisattva Aspect was a technique for unleashing hidden potential.
The energy stored in an ordinary person's body was sufficient to sustain days of activity, yet under normal circumstances, a few dozen minutes of strenuous exertion would leave them exhausted, since most of that stored energy could not be converted in time. Given a little food each day, a person could survive in extreme conditions for several dozen days, but without any sustenance at all, they would typically starve to death in seven or eight.
The profound art of the Army-Breaking Bodhisattva Aspect was wondrous: it could burn a human's stored fat in the most violent manner, unlocking all latent potential and even borrowing a portion of energy from the obscure, boundless heaven and earth. Consequently, upon the battlefield, one's stamina seemed inexhaustible, never tiring and capable of fighting on without end.
Wang Chong fought until the heavens spun and the earth darkened. Suddenly the pressure lightened. Looking up, he discovered no enemies remained before him—he had actually fought his way straight through the encirclement. If he spurred his horse and fled right now, he stood a seventy to eighty percent chance of escaping with his life.
Wang Chong looked back, only to see Monk Xuan Gang leading the young kin of constables who had come to join him, along with the able-bodied folk of Pengshan County, entangled in combat with the ferocious Yaglakar cavalry. If he fled now, he would draw away only a fraction of the enemy. The vast majority of the Yaglakar horsemen would not follow; they would surely slaughter every last person who had resisted. Perhaps Monk Xuan Gang could escape by virtue of his supreme martial arts, but the rest—including the fox-eyed little maidservant Yu Zao, his foolishly brave young book boy Wang Dong, the brash eldest young lady Tie Mingzhu, and the Lotus Immortal Nan Xinlan who had ruined her own life—would not survive, not a single one. Wang Chong sighed. Just as he was steeling his resolve to charge back into the fray, a shrill cry rang out: "Manager Wang, we've come to help!"
Wang Chong looked into the distance and saw that it was the old Qinghe Gang leader, Luo Dayong. Leading a band of fierce men, he had stormed into the battlefield.
This fresh force numbered around seventy or eighty men. Every one of them possessed strong martial arts, was exceptionally fierce, ruthless, and well-versed in battle formations. Divided into squads of ten-odd men, they formed five or six battle groups, cutting through the enemy like fish in water with immense arrogance.
In particular, the one leading them was tall with long arms, slender as a wasp with jade-pale limbs, and wore a look of cynical indifference. Clad in plain cloth without armor, wielding a long-hafted horse saber, their strikes were deadly and ferocious, carving through iron armor as if slicing soft clay. In an instant, they hacked down seven or eight men in a row, truly displaying the might to make ten thousand soldiers scatter.
Had they clashed head-on upon an open battlefield, this bunch could never have withstood the Yaglakar cavalry. But right now, the battlefield was a chaotic mess, and their momentum grew tremendously.
Wang Chong was greatly astonished, thinking, *Where did this old man find such a sharp band of helpers?* At the same time, he felt deeply grateful. Luo Dayong could easily have escaped, yet he insisted on returning to help. Facing death with such magnanimity, the old man was a true fellow!
Wang Chong regulated his breathing to recover his breath. Although the Army-Breaking Bodhisattva Aspect could unlock potential and draw upon the essence of heaven and earth, a human was ultimately made of flesh and blood. Seizing this brief lull, he allowed his power to recover by twenty to thirty percent. Then, abruptly channeling the Army-Breaking Bodhisattva Roar, he thundered like a burst of spring lightning: "Within half a shichen, the army of the current dynasty will arrive! Your chieftain has been executed, and you will all die without a burial place!"
Even with experts like himself and Monk Xuan Gang holding the field, trying to wipe out two thousand elite Yaglakar cavalry with a ragtag rabble was nothing short of a fool's dream; thus, Wang Chong chose psychological warfare.
He had already fought his way out of the encirclement, and standing there now with his spirit intact, energy brimming, and murderous intent towering to the heavens, he shattered the last shred of fighting will among these frontier horsemen. Without uttering a word, someone wheeled their horse aside, broke away from the battlefield, and fled with several dozen riders. Once someone led the way, more and more deserters joined in.
...Luo Dayong: Give me a chance, and I too can come out of this in one piece...
...Wang Chong: Please call me Wang "One-Seventh Zhao Yun" Chong...
Chapter 65