This effectively turned the carriage barricade into a makeshift small fortress.
Who would have thought that in a fit of fury, Meng Shan would seize one of the carriages stacked on top with both hands and hurl it away!
Of course, his chest was struck over a dozen times by Gale spears and halberds, but none could pierce his heavy armor. Immediately after, Meng Shan ripped aside the carriage in front of him and charged right in!
He Lingchuan, who had been raising his crossbow to shoot at that moment, had missed that crushing display of brute force. But since he happened to be right in Meng Shan's path, he bore the brunt of it and was knocked flying skyward.
What knocked him flying was a massive shield.
Most shields were no more than two or three feet high, but due to Meng Shan's massive stature, his custom-built greatshield stood over four feet tall and weighed more than a hundred and fifty jin. Forged from refined brass mixed with ebony, its face bore the painted likeness of a Baxia.
Laboriously crafted, this piece was not merely defensive; empowered by Meng Shan's colossal strength, it served as a full-fledged heavy weapon. Now, wielding a giant axe in one hand and this heavy shield in the other, he carved a terrifying swath through the ranks.
None dared face him head-on.
With such a warrior carving the way, the Baling soldiers quickly crowded in through the breach in the barricade.
"Before you try shooting Meng Shan, you'd better think twice," a soldier a few feet away suddenly said before He Lingchuan could act. "At least, not from here."
This man had taken a critical slash to the thigh, deep enough to reach an artery, though fortunately his jewels had been spared. A'luo had already tended to him, but as a result he could hardly move, forced to hide behind a carriage and shoot potshots up toward the riverbed.
A glance told He Lingchuan how cunning this fellow was. His hiding spot was shameless: entirely shielded behind the carriage, he was practically unreachable by the enemies above, yet he could loose arrows upward through a narrow gap between two wooden boards.
His marksmanship was far better than He Lingchuan's; at least one of every two arrows struck true, regularly sending an enemy tumbling down with a scream.
This significantly eased the combat pressure along the riverbed.
Such a person might not be exceptionally powerful in combat, but he clearly possessed unique wisdom when it came to survival. After all, once a battle ended, only the living had anything.
So He Lingchuan's eyes darted around, and he said to him, "I've thought it through. Help me load two more crossbow bolts!"
There was a hand crossbow resting by the man's feet as well. Hearing this, he loaded two bolts into it for him and tossed it over. "What's your name?"
"He Lingchuan."
He Lingchuan slung one crossbow over his back, gripped the other in hand, and forced himself to his feet. "Time to use our trump card."
Had he not taken the medicine, he doubted he could move at all. It truly was miraculous medicine; once he woke from this dream, he would have to find a way to get his hands on some.
"I am Hu Min." The man offered him a salute. "Brave warrior, if you fall, we shall follow in your wake."
He Lingchuan rolled his eyes and shuffled quickly toward the second carriage barricade, shouting as he moved, "Throw the money! What are you waiting for?!"
It was indeed time.
Several dozen men garrisoned behind the second carriage barricade had been using the carriages like sandbags, lying prone on the roofs to shoot arrows. At He Lingchuan's shout, several squads saw that the moment had arrived. Grabbing whatever was behind them, they hurled it forward.
Sure enough, what they threw was all gold, silver, and jewels.
With a noisy clatter, gold coins, silver coins, pearls, and agate beads went bounding and rolling across the ground.
Seeing this spectacle, He Lingchuan recalled a game he had played long ago. What was that skill called again?
Rain of Gold.
Wait—who threw out a golden chamber pot as well?!
The Baling troops had braced for incoming concealed weapons, only to look closely and see a dazzling expanse of glittering gold.
Wealth stirs the heart.
If gold lay scattered on the ground, how would you react?
Bend down and pick it up, of course!
The Baling soldiers who had breached the barricade instinctively scrambled to scoop up the money.
Even if the sky fell, someone else could hold it up; only money safely pocketed brought peace of mind.
These common grunts risking their lives in the Panlong Wasteland were, in the end, either criminals, conscripts, or desperate for coin.
Unlike the inhabitants of the Panlong Wasteland, they could still return to their homeland; this gold and silver would be extraordinarily useful to them.
With the Baling soldiers thrown into chaos, why would the Gale Army show any mercy? They swung their sabers and chopped away.
As for Meng Shan, everyone took care to steer clear of him.
A tough nut like that was well beyond what ordinary soldiers could handle, so naturally they left him to the leadership.
Thus, though Meng Shan rampaged back and forth, aside from unlucky bastards like He Lingchuan, he had hardly crippled anyone.
Of course, he had also successfully caught Commander Xiao's attention. The commander sheathed his saber, switched to a long spear, and bellowed, "Do not panic! The enemy's dynastic fortune has fallen—fight with all you've got!"
Alerted by his shout, the men looked closely. Sure enough, the glow enveloping the Baling soldiers had dimmed, nowhere near as bright as before.
There had already been a gap in morale between the two sides, and now the disparity became even more pronounced.
How could this happen? Why had the enemy's fortune dropped so abruptly? The puzzle became clear to He Lingchuan only when he studied Meng Shan closely:
The green light surrounding the hulking brute had suddenly intensified, blazing with vibrant brilliance.
In other words, he had used the State Token to redistribute the dynastic fortune, allocating a far larger share to himself!
With him taking more, the other soldiers naturally received less.
Such an allocation was beyond reproach. Tasked with smashing through the carriage barricade and piercing the Gale Army's defensive line, Meng Shan needed as much power as possible to concentrate his efforts toward a breakthrough. And indeed, he had succeeded.
His next target, then, was the second barricade.
Meng Shan was about to charge forward, but Commander Xiao had already arrived, pinning him in place with a long spear.
Shielding his vital points—his neck and eyes—Meng Shan unleashed a flurry of chops and slashes at Commander Xiao.
Even from that distance, He Lingchuan could hear the howling gusts whipped up by the blows.
Even Commander Xiao would hardly be able to stay on his feet if one of those connected.
Naturally, against a foe possessed of such monstrous strength, Commander Xiao had no intention of clashing head-on. Dodging, pivoting, and parrying to deflect the force, his spear tip erupted with cold glints, thrusting over a dozen times in a tempestuous flurry!
The martial skill was truly breathtaking. Even with unblinking eyes, He Lingchuan felt dazzled, unable to keep pace with the speed of Xiao's strikes.
The spear blurred into afterimages. Terrifyingly, every single thrust landed on the exact same spot—the back of Meng Shan's knee joint!
Heavy armor covered him from head to toe, yet the joints were inevitably weaker.
Meng Shan buckled with an outcry of pain, then abruptly raised his heavy shield and slammed it viciously into the ground.
With a deafening crash, the ground within a radius of a hundred feet around him shook as violently as a magnitude seven or eight earthquake. Caught completely off guard, both friend and foe locked in combat tumbled to the ground, while loose objects leaped into the air.
Commander Xiao bore the brunt of the shockwave, losing his footing and staggering back three full strides.
Seizing the opening, Meng Shan swung his axe. Clang! Clang! Clang! Commander Xiao reacted swiftly, catching all three blows on his spear shaft, yet the sheer force threw him over twenty feet back.
Despite his towering, massive build and full suit of heavy armor, Meng Shan was not clumsy in the slightest, and his axe strikes were shockingly fast. Spotting a faint, eerie sheen glinting on the weapon, He Lingchuan suspected the axe possessed some enchantment of lightness or swiftness.
A ferocious warrior and a formidable weapon complemented each other to perfection.
As Meng Shan moved to press his advantage, an arrow whistled through the air straight toward his eye.
The brute raised his axe, and the wide blade knocked the arrow aside.
Chapter 91