Li Banfeng led a swarm of shadows, bursting out of the alley beside the workshop.
Outside the alley, the east, west, and south were heavily surrounded; only to the north were the enemy lines slightly thinner.
To the north lay a hill laden with military ordnance and fortified positions, likely an area normally used for offensive and defensive drills.
Break out to the north?
Li Banfeng stared at the hill for a moment, sensing waves of cold dread. Weighing his options through Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity, he chose to break out toward the south.
The enemy's main force was in the south. Owing to the traits of a Dwelling Cultivator, the enemy could only make out the outlines of the shadows, leading them to believe that Li Banfeng had brought a great many men.
The lead commander—Song Zhu, Wu Ji, and Lan Jue—tilted their three heads, staring at Li Banfeng together.
He was no sergeant major, nor a myriad-man commander. He was a general of the Difeng Battalion, one who had truly commanded troops, fought wars, and earned military honors on the battlefields of the Tufang State.
Song Zhu was the head in the middle, normally the one in charge. Li Qi suddenly bringing out so many men had indeed caught Song Zhu somewhat by surprise.
Beside him, Wu Ji asked, "Does this man have some kind of mechanism on him? Where did all these people spring from?"
Lan Jue chuckled. "Heheh, mechanism or not, chop off his head and send it to Lord Qiao, and our noble rank will be bumped up another grade."
Wu Ji frowned. "You're still thinking about titles? Do you have any idea how many men we've lost? Do you know how valuable the lives of the Difeng Battalion are? You'd better think about how to account for this to Lord Qiao!"
Lan Jue was still smiling. "Isn't this how we account for it? This man's life is very valuable too. To hold out against the Difeng Battalion for this long, he must be a major figure in Puluo Province."
As they spoke, the two sides clashed, with Li Banfeng charging at the very front.
Banfeng Yi caught up from behind. "Old Jia, get behind us!"
Li Banfeng said, "No need to differentiate now—we're all brothers!"
He leapt forward, brandishing his Tang dao, and slashed toward the center skull of a colonel.
"Every strike claims a foe's head!" The enemy's skull was tough enough, and the Tang dao put everything into it, cleaving away half the colonel's head in a single stroke.
Yet the colonel did not die. His remaining two heads each controlled an arm, wrapping Li Banfeng in a bear hug.
Before Li Banfeng could break free, a chill ran down his spine.
A three-headed soldier swung a long saber, hacking straight toward Li Banfeng.
Li Banfeng neither parried nor dodged, swapping places directly with Banfeng Yi, who was sliced in half at the waist.
"You said 'no need to differentiate'—is this what you meant?" Banfeng Yi shot Li Banfeng a look before being tossed onto the ground by the colonel.
Spinning around, Li Banfeng delivered another slash, lopping off another of the colonel's heads.
For the third stroke, Li Banfeng did not even need to give the word; the Tang dao acted on its own, severing the colonel's third head.
With all three heads gone, the colonel tumbled from his horse.
Lowering its voice, the projector asked the wine gourd, "The Tang dao can only strike three times, and all three were spent on the same person. Analyzing this from an artistic perspective, isn't that a bit of a waste?"
The wine gourd replied, "I don't know what art is, but I don't think it was a loss. Judging by his clothes, this man had status."
The wine gourd had followed Yao Xin to war; although it hadn't engaged in much actual slaughter on the battlefield, it knew a fair bit about tactics.
She felt Li Banfeng had made the right choice. When Old Yao fought in the past, he had used similar tactics.
As expected, this colonel was the sergeant major over the hundreds of surrounding men. With his fall, the soldiers' attacks lost their coordination, and the surrounding shadows instantly gained the upper hand.
Yet despite their lack of coordination, the soldiers' positions remained unchanged and their array intact; their formidable combat strength was still fully present. Although the shadows held total dominance, they managed to kill few foes, and found no opening to break through.
On the general's left, Wu Ji frowned. "This man is cunning. He knows who to eliminate."
On the right, Lan Jue chuckled. "Just a colonel. It's not like we can't afford to lose one."
The middle head, Song Zhu, spoke: "That's true. We have nine vice generals and twenty-two colonels. Let's see how many he can kill."
Wu Ji turned his face toward a nearby vice general. "Go take his place."
This was the rule of the Bandit-Subduing Battalion: when an officer fell, another immediately stepped in to replace him. In the Difeng Battalion especially, the transition went exceedingly smoothly.
Everything Song Zhu's three heads said was picked up by the Qiansi earring.
Li Banfeng looked at Song Zhu, roughly deducing his identity.
He first summoned Banfeng Chou and Banfeng Yin to his side. The two aligned behind Li Banfeng, creating the appearance of three heads.
Now sporting three heads, Li Banfeng vaulted onto the colonel's iron horse. The projector slipped out from behind and refined the projection, making it appear to onlookers as if the fallen colonel had risen once more.
Li Banfeng murmured, "Old Master, open the door."
The companion dwelling opened its door, and the Lady shouted in a deep, booming voice: "Hear my command: advance with me!"
In the past, things would not have been so troublesome; Li Banfeng could have simply borrowed the Lady's voice through the Sprawling Compound technique.
But now that the Lady was no longer a dwelling spirit, borrowing her voice was no easy matter.
Even if he couldn't borrow it, that was fine. The companion dwelling opened a separate carriage window for the Lady to observe the situation outside, and she immediately knew what to do.
Li Banfeng wanted to impersonate the colonel, so the Lady promptly issued a military order.
Her shout was resonant and forceful, ringing clear in the ears of everyone around.
Li Banfeng charged out on the iron horse. Many surrounding soldiers couldn't fathom why he was charging.
Others couldn't figure out where they were supposed to charge.
Yet many soldiers didn't think at all, charging out right behind him.
There seemed to be no need to think.
That person was riding the colonel's horse.
That person had three heads.
That person looked exactly like the colonel.
Wasn't that the colonel?
Could obeying the colonel's command be wrong?
As for the discrepancies in voice, most people in the chaos of battle wouldn't notice in the slightest—to say nothing of the fact that they were under the sway of a Fool cultivator technique.
The moment these men charged after Li Banfeng, they broke formation.
The instant they deviated from their positions, the array in that section collapsed. Banfeng Bing shouted, "Chop them to pieces!"
Wu Ji grew anxious. "Send reinforcements immediately!"
Lan Jue was still laughing. "I have to admit, this fellow is quite clever. But right now we really do need to reinforce them."
"No rush!" Song Zhu shook his head. "If we send reinforcements now, the formations of all the divisions will be thrown into chaos—wouldn't that play right into his hands? Have a vice general make contact swiftly and reorganize the battle array."
It was too late to reorganize the array. Before the vice general could reach the designated area, the shadows plunged into the crowd, hacking through flesh and bone. In the blink of an eye, the hundreds of men under the colonel were virtually wiped out.
Yet the enemy commander had not fallen for the trick; the main army's formation remained unbroken, and Li Banfeng still could not break out.
Not falling for it was fine; Li Banfeng fixed his gaze on another colonel, biding his time to close the distance again.
Unfortunately, closing the distance within the Thousand-Man Strength Array was no easy feat. Having learned their lesson, the soldiers coordinated their defense, giving Li Banfeng no opportunity to approach the colonel.
Their hard-won progress vanished in an instant. Li Banfeng and his pack of shadows fell into heavy encirclement once more. Arrows flew thick and fast, and large swaths of shadows were shot down. Li Banfeng continually swapped positions among the shadows, struggling to hold the line.
Lan Jue laughed aloud. "Victory is ours! Better to take him alive!"
Wu Ji felt something was amiss. "Why are there more and more men around him the longer we fight?"
Though Song Zhu possessed extensive battlefield experience, he had never seen such a technique, making the situation before his eyes genuinely difficult to assess.
After a moment's thought, Song Zhu held out a hand and summoned a hawk.
The hawk landed upon Song Zhu's arm. Song Zhu whispered a few words into its ear, and the hawk took flight, swooping down at Li Banfeng.
Wu Ji nodded. "I knew this man was the most unusual one."
Lan Jue chuckled. "If you knew, why didn't you speak up earlier?"
The hawk extended its sharp talons to seize Li Banfeng's skull, striking with immense power and weight—by all appearances, a physical cultivator.
Li Banfeng couldn't be bothered to engage directly and simply had the scythe parry. The scythe held out for two clashes before crying out, "Old Seven, I can't beat it!"
Before the words had fully faded, the scythe was batted away by a blow from the hawk's wing.
The scythe had grazed the hawk's wing, dislodging feathers that shot out like sharp swords, striking Li Banfeng. Unable to dodge in time and with no chance to swap places, Li Banfeng braced himself and weathered the hit with Compassionate Dwelling.
Many feathers struck Li Banfeng, slicing through skin and flesh as blood seeped out.
That feathers alone could pierce Compassionate Dwelling proved this hawk was no ordinary creature; it was likely a first-tier weapon.
Striking so swiftly and brutally, this first-tier weapon was likely a blade cultivator.
Li Banfeng felt no pain, only waves of numbness spreading through his body.
"Poison!" The wine gourd leapt up, splashing liquor onto Li Banfeng's wounds. In that brief moment while detoxifying, the hawk suddenly vanished from sight. Li Banfeng was momentarily caught off guard when a sharp agony tore through his chest, blood seeping through his clothes.
Viewing Flowers from Horseback?
This hawk possessed Travel Cultivator techniques as well?
While Li Banfeng was still searching for traces of the hawk, Song Zhu waved a hand, and over a dozen giant hawks of diverse forms soared toward Li Banfeng.
Banfeng Yi cried out in astonishment, "Are all of these first-tier weapons? Qiao Yi invested this much capital?"
These hawks were indeed all first-tier weapons. When it came to the Bandit-Subduing Battalion, Qiao Yi had never spared any expense.
Surrounded on all sides by the Bandit-Subduing troops and assaulted from above by the flock of hawks, Li Banfeng and his shadows struggled to hold their ground below. Several holes were clawed into his fedora, and blood flowed down his forehead, covering his face.
"Look at him. His head is almost a rotten persimmon," Song Zhu said, craning his neck as he looked at Li Banfeng, laughing even more sinisterly than Lan Jue.
Lan Jue laughed along. "Brother, give the order to use Mind Techniques! Blow his brains out and turn him into a rotten persimmon inside and out!"
"Good! Mind Techniques!" Song Zhu commanded.
The surrounding soldiers unleashed their mind cultivator techniques in unison, and Li Banfeng felt a splitting headache.
Fortunately, he had an overwhelming number of thoughts swirling in his mind, making it hard for the enemy to seize hold of them; anyone else's brain truly would have burst.
Seeing Li Banfeng grow increasingly battered, Song Zhu doubled over with laughter.
Banfeng Zi pressed against the ground, looking up at Song Zhu.
*Lord Jia, hold out a little longer. Let him laugh a little more.*
Silently, he glided forward more than a dozen meters, arriving right beneath Song Zhu's horse. From beneath him, five shadows—Banfeng Mao, Banfeng Chen, Banfeng Wu, Banfeng Wei, and Banfeng Shen—emerged together.
From the moment he heard Song Zhu's voice through the Qiansi earring, Li Banfeng had set his sights on him.
The Earthly Branch shadows all possessed high Dwelling Cultivator talent, especially Banfeng Zi.
Banfeng Zi and three other shadows grabbed the iron horse's legs.
The four shadows exerted their strength in unison, braving the Thousand-Man Strength Array to tear the iron horse apart by main force.
Song Zhu, caught in the midst of raucous laughter, was utterly unprepared and slammed violently onto the ground.
His mouth had been wide open in laughter, and he hit face-first, getting a solid mouthful of dirt and gravel.
He raised his head, about to spit out the grit, when Banfeng Chen, waiting nearby, brought a foot slamming down onto Song Zhu's head—*squelch!*
Song Zhu's face sank into the dirt, his nasal bone shattering. Blood mingled with grit, pouring into his mouth and nostrils.
Banfeng Wu gripped Song Zhu's feet from behind to pin him down, while Banfeng Zi and the remaining shadows seized the two heads of Wu Ji and Lan Jue, tearing at them with all their might.
Surrounding soldiers surged forward to the rescue, but enduring the blades and axes, the six shadows ripped Song Zhu apart by brute force.
Banfeng Chen burst into loud laughter. Banfeng Chou thought to disengage quickly, and Banfeng Wu and Banfeng Shen had just burrowed into the ground when they heard Banfeng Wei say, "Wait, this isn't the commander!"
Banfeng Wei had torn off a head, but it wasn't Song Zhu's, nor Wu Ji's, nor Lan Jue's. It was a head he had never seen before.
Banfeng Zi cast his gaze across the battlefield and spotted Song Zhu's figure in the distance.
"Shift Position!" Little Train saw it as well.
The Thousand-Man Strength Array provided special protection for its commander. Song Zhu had originally been in the center of the formation, on the verge of being ripped to shreds by the shadows; at death's door, the array activated, swapping his position with a soldier on the edge of the formation.
The soldier swapped into his place died instantly, and Song Zhu had not escaped lightly either.
His nose was broken, several teeth had been knocked out, and both side necks were severely injured, unable to hold straight.
Yet he was alive, and the soldiers knew he was still alive.
Song Zhu looked at Li Banfeng and laughed even louder: "Kill me? You still want to kill me? A cornered beast's struggle!"
Wu Ji laughed too, and Lan Jue joined in.
Banfeng Zi led the cluster of shadows into the dirt, still looking for a chance to close in on Song Zhu.
Li Banfeng fought bitterly, the situation remaining desperate.
Song Zhu laughed so hard he could scarcely draw breath: "He... he wanted to kill me! The likes of him, wanting to kill me—"
Wu Ji stopped laughing.
The battle wasn't over yet; a couple of chuckles were enough. For the commander to laugh like this lacked dignity.
Lan Jue stopped laughing too; his neck felt nearly broken, and he had no laughter left in him.
Only Song Zhu couldn't stop, laughing until his face turned purple.
Wu Ji reminded him, "Brother, watch the battle first."
Lan Jue urged as well, "Laugh later—catch your breath first."
Song Zhu coughed and wheezed, speaking through his laughter: "He nearly killed us... I was quite scared."
Wu Ji froze. "What do you mean by that?"
Song Zhu smiled at the two of them. "How about we don't fight anymore?"
Lan Jue coughed twice. "Brother, that's a good joke!"
Song Zhu shook his head, laughing, "It's no joke. All troops, retreat!"
Both Wu Ji and Lan Jue were stunned, and the surrounding soldiers froze.
In the distance, A'yi laughed, "He said retreat! Didn't you hear him?!"
Several soldiers turned to look at A'yi, only to see Song Zhu raise the commander's banner and issue the order to retreat.
"Brother, you've gone mad!"
A'yi giggled, "You guessed right—he's mad! Why don't you all go mad along with him?!"
Song Zhu's shift from the center to the edge of the array had provided A'yi with the perfect opportunity to get close to him.
A'yi had used her technique; Song Zhu had gone insane.
Seeing Song Zhu's banner, the colonels of each division immediately began organizing a retreat.
As the army moved, A'yi shouted at the top of her lungs, "Brother, blow the bastards to hell!"
Li Banfeng was still under siege by the hawks. Two of them swooped toward him simultaneously, talons about to strike his face, when the air currents suddenly shifted, causing them to collide head-on.
One hawk snapped its neck, while the other broke its wing; unable to master the currents, the flock plummeted to the ground one after another.
Though they were first-tier weapons, their combat prowess dropped sharply once grounded. With a stomp of Tread Over Ten Thousand Rivers, Li Banfeng sent feathers fluttering and gore splattering.
Riding the Wind and Charioting the Clouds—this technique was truly delightful.
Li Banfeng was simply done playing with these hawks; had it not been to deceive Song Zhu, he would have sent them on their way long ago.
Having dispatched the flock of hawks, Li Banfeng grabbed his explosives and coordinated with A'yi inside and out, blasting several thousand Bandit-Subduing troops into a carpet of corpses.
Song Zhu was still raving, waving the banner and repeating the order to retreat. A group of soldiers rushed forward, attempting to subdue him, when Hong Ying suddenly materialized, slaying over a hundred soldiers in a flash to shield Song Zhu.
Under ordinary circumstances it was hard to say, but once on the battlefield, Hong Ying's mind was razor-sharp.
Song Zhu was the commanding general. By military convention, the entire army had to obey the commander's orders. So long as she kept this madman safe, the Bandit-Subduing troops would be unable to reform their battle array.
A Bandit-Subduing army unable to form an array was nothing more than sitting ducks. The logic was sound, yet Hong Ying had underestimated the caliber of the Difeng Battalion.
Seeing that Song Zhu was out of control, all the vice generals waved their banners together, ordering the Bandit-Subduing troops to reform their array.
At this sight, the colonels promptly organized their soldiers to return to their positions.
This was the rule of the Difeng Battalion: when the orders of all vice generals were in unanimous agreement, the army ignored the commander's command and obeyed the vice generals'.
This was a rule Qiao Yi had specifically instituted to guard against unexpected developments with the commander.
If a single vice general disobeyed the commander, he was guilty of insubordination; if all vice generals defied the commander, the problem had to lie with the commander.
Just as the Bandit-Subduing troops were about to finish reforming their formation, the companion dwelling suddenly appeared. With a howl, it barreled through the army's ranks, its wheels crushing everything in their path and leaving two rows of corpses in its wake. Taking advantage of the soldiers being yet unsettled, the companion dwelling carved out a bloody path, turning back to tell Li Banfeng, "Go!"
Indeed, it was time to leave.
The Qingrui Battalion was wiped out, and the Difeng Battalion had suffered thousands of casualties; this battle could already be counted as a resounding victory.
To be able to escape intact from what was originally a desperate impasse was an opportunity not to be missed.
Li Banfeng broke through the encirclement, called out to Hong Ying, and went to find A'yi.
Song Zhu was still raving mad, and after holding out for a long time, Wu Ji and Lan Jue succumbed to madness along with him.
The three heads laughed wildly together. Hong Ying's blade fell, and the laughter came to an abrupt halt.
Everything was handled, but Li Banfeng had yet to spot A'yi.
A burst of explosions sounded on the hillside beside the workshops. Li Banfeng looked in that direction—A'yi was surrounded.
When the companion dwelling was breaking out just now, A'yi had stepped up to help, only to find herself out of position. Pressed by the Bandit-Subduing troops toward the north of the workshops, she had been forced up onto the hillside.
Li Banfeng had checked this hill earlier with Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Calamity: it was extraordinarily perilous, hiding numerous ambushes and traps. By the time A'yi realized how bad the situation was, the Bandit-Subduing troops around her had already assumed formation.
A'yi pulled out all the weapons she carried and burst into loud laughter, trying to induce madness in the enemy.
Some enemy soldiers indeed went mad, breaking away from their positions.
The mad soldiers dragged down dozens around them, who were blown to pieces by explosives.
Yet most of the soldiers remained in place at a distance, collectively channeling their Mind Techniques and gradually steadying their minds.
With her explosives nearly depleted, A'yi's smile never wavered as she sang softly:
"Oh, elder brother~ the maying blossoms bloom on the mountain,
Elder brother, walk slowly,
Pick another blossom for your sister,
Standing upon the petals, your sister awaits your return,
Elder brother, return early, do not wait until the flowers wither—"
Li Banfeng had promised to return A'yu to Hulu Village; Li Banfeng would never break his word.
A'yi had promised to help Li Banfeng fight the Bandit-Subduing Battalion; A'yi was true to her word.
Cradling her final bundle of explosives, she looked at the surrounding Bandit-Subduing soldiers and chuckled softly as she sang her mountain folk song.
Ignoring Hong Ying's attempts to stop him, Li Banfeng charged back into the enemy ranks like a madman.
The companion dwelling had closed its window, so Zhao Xiaowan couldn't see what was happening outside, but she guessed things had taken a turn for the worse.
Zhao Xiaowan cried, "Old Master, let me out!"
Jiang Ling'er stood up. "I'll go with you."
The companion dwelling did not respond.
Red Lotus said, "What good is letting you out? Take me with you!"
Zhao Xiaowan asked, "What would you do out there?"
Red Lotus replied, "I have to rescue Li Qi! I don't want to be trapped here forever!"
"He doesn't need your rescue!" Zhao Xiaowan yanked hard at the doors of the companion dwelling, but couldn't budge them in the slightest.
Red Lotus shrieked, "Little Train, let me out! I have to save A'yi too! She's A'yu's daughter!"
"My girl!" A'yu burst from the entrance of Hulu Village, charging frantically toward the Bandit-Subduing camp.
Of her entire family, A'yi was the only one left alive.
Heavily wounded, Jiu'er couldn't stand and could only crawl forward.
She knew something had definitely happened to her sister. She dared not let her mind wander, hoping only that her sister was still alive.
A'yun was just about to stop Jiu'er when she saw A'long running over in a panic: "The husband is back!"
A'yun froze. "Which husband?"
A'long said, "The one our village chief dotes on the most!"
"Which one does she dote on most?" Before A'yun could recall who, Qiu Luoye roared and charged past.
"Where are they?!" Qiu Luoye bellowed.
A'yun was dazed for a moment. "Wh-who?"
Qiu Luoye yelled, "Where's my brother?!"
A'yun pointed into the distance. "Fighting in the military camp."
"Where's your village chief?!"
"Fighting in that military camp too."
Frantic and furious, Qiu Luoye rushed toward the enemy camp.
Once he was gone, A'yun felt another gust of wind sweep past her eyes.
A'yun asked A'long, "Why did the village chief's husband suddenly return?"
A'long said, "He said he brought two helpers."
"Where are the helpers?"
A'long pointed outside the cave. "One just went out."
That gust of wind just now?
Who was that? Running so fast?
A'yun looked toward the hillside; she couldn't see the helper's shape at all, only a churning trail of dust across the ground.
"Why can't I see him clearly?"
A'long said, "It's better that you can't. If you saw him clearly, I'm afraid you'd have nightmares."
"Weren't there two helpers? Where's the other one?"
A'long turned to look. An honest, plain-looking middle-aged man walked over, his hands tucked into his sleeves.
"Where's my brother?" the man asked.
Why was everyone asking that?
A'yun didn't recognize the man, but Jiu'er did.
Looking up, Jiu'er said, "Fighting in the Bandit-Subduing camp."
The man crouched down. "Child, how did you get hurt like this?"
Jiu'er shook her head. "Don't mind me. Mother and Eldest Sister are over there."
Sun Tiecheng stood and sighed. "What kind of nonsense is this? Fighting the Bandit-Subduing Battalion—why didn't you call me along?"
Li Banfeng charged up the hill with everything he had, but the enemy troops encircling A'yi were too numerous; he couldn't cut his way through. Just as he was trying to figure out a way, a colossal thing suddenly rolled up beside him.
Yes, it rolled over.
This colossal object frightened away quite a few enemy soldiers—its appearance was simply too bizarre.
Li Banfeng took a closer look. This massive thing—he seemed to have seen it before.
It was a human head roughly three meters in diameter. Hairless, it possessed a full set of facial features, which were actually quite regular and handsome.
His eyes were wide open, a pair of pupils staring right at Li Banfeng.
Li Banfeng remembered now: he truly had seen this head before.
Back when he had offended Feng Daiku, Li Banfeng had wandered into the Iron Wire River by mistake. After emerging from the river, he had gotten lost. On the way back, trying to find the path, Li Banfeng had passed through a briar patch, where he had seen this very head.
This head had put Li Banfeng through absolute misery back then, spinning circles in the briars and scaring Li Banfeng so badly that he had hidden inside the companion dwelling, not daring to step outside.
The head stared at Li Banfeng for a moment, then spoke: "Have we met before?"
Li Banfeng nodded. "I believe so."
The head continued, "Are we friends?"
Li Banfeng thought about it. "I suppose we are."
The head rocked up and down, as though nodding. "If we're friends, that makes things easy. I am someone who acts most fairly: you give me a hand, and I'll give you a hand."
Li Banfeng didn't understand what he meant, but found his manner of speaking very familiar.
The head spoke up again: "I'll help you fight the battle—you give me a push! Rolling up this mountain takes way too much effort!"
Li Banfeng looked at the creature's appearance, then thought about his rolling mode of locomotion, and couldn't help nodding. "Yeah. It really is too much effort."
Chapter 780