Beginning with the Ubume Bird - chapter 54

Chapter 54: Lady of Haengju Mountain
Metallic smelling blood splashed across the walls. Kobayakawa’s line of sight subconsciously drifted upwards to the ceiling and then suddenly down to the ground.

“Thud…”

His vision was filled with the red of blood. Countless wailing evil spirits who had died horrible deaths rushed at him. Kobayakawa did his best to move his eyelids, managing to at last cover his vision in darkness.

“The target is under a state of backlash. The chance of uncovering a weakness has increased by 500%.”

“You have discovered the target’s weakness! The next attack’s speed and damage will be increased by 100%.”

“The target is deceased.”

“You have activated Dipped in Blood, additional damage dealt is 0%. Hooked Star Status will temporarily be removed for a duration of one hour.”

There was no time to digest the information in the messages, and even less time to figure out who that woman’s voice belonged to. Li Yan twisted his sword Ring of Dragon around and clanged at his surroundings for a moment before rushing out in large strides.

“Kobayakawa-sama!”

One of the Red Armors with a sharp eye managed to notice Kobayakawa’s decapitated head. He was fuming with anger.

His heart clouded with rage, and he overcommitted to an attack, cutting off one of the Ming soldier’s hands but allowing the soldier to jump onto him.

“Crash!”

Deng Tianxiong gathered his strength in his legs and leapt upwards, twisting his body to avoid the slash coming straight towards him. His sword drew an arc in the air at the same time, and the sheer exertion caused the wound in his abdomen to reopen. The blood from his wound and the edge of his sword both landed on the Red Armor, who was grabbed by the other Ming soldier!

From the information provided by A Strong Impression, the red light given off by the Red Armor that had just been struck vanished. But the red glow given off by the remaining two Red Armors glowed even brighter!

Spirit of Kai (3): when the total is below five people, only basic status increase is provided.

Soul Sucking: Red Armors that perish in battle will increase the attack and defense of their remaining comrades. The increase will be dependent on the combat abilities of the deceased.

Without hesitation, the other Red Armor stabbed both the Chinese soldier and the dying Red Armor with his bloody katana, piercing through both of them in one go before jumping back to evade a pincer attack from the remaining Chinese soldiers.

The last Red Armor tried to take advantage of the window of opportunity right after Deng Tianxiong had unleashed his attack, stabbing towards his shoulder, but Ring of Dragon was already slashing down towards him!

Showing no fear, the Red Armor met the incoming attack, and the sharp clanging sound of weapons rang through the air. Suddenly, Ring of Dragon found its way past the Red Armor’s sword and towards his shoulder. The Red Armor kicked off from the ground and retreated backwards, ending up back to back with the other Red Armor. The two of them stared with cold eyes at the four Chinese soldiers surrounding them. They were covered in blood and fatigued, and they stared back silently.

Throughout the battle, all of their feet moved rapidly but with order. Weapons moved between two or three of them at any point in time, blades crossing. Blood and blades flew through the air in some sort of a dance.

Within the tiled hut, there were a total of five dead bodies. It wasn’t clear whether or not Blind Diao was still alive, and Wang Sheng was barely able to remain on his feet.

Li Yan looked at the two Ming soldiers standing in front of the dead Red Armors. They were almost out of breath. Li Yan said softly, “Stay back. Help me loot the bodies.”

Deng Tianxiong’s face twitched, but he took two steps back along with the others. He noticed Li Yan squinting at him…

Li Yan removed his headband, his toes shifting in his long brown boots. He pointed the broad blade of the Ring of Dragon at the remaining two Red Armors.

In Li Yan’s eyes, the threat level of one Red Armor was light red, whereas Kobayakawa’s was full red.

But in the eyes of the Red Armors, the threat level of Kobayakawa Masakazu was undoubtedly black!

While the Red Armors had impressive and consistent sword play, Kobayakawa had Nanako, who could appear out of thin air with hair that could rob one of the ability to resist if it wrapped around you. He also had a variety of devious spirit arts.

Unless five or more Red Armors were present to activate the Spirit of Kai and suppress most of Kobayakawa’s spirits, there was no way that the remaining few Red Armors would ever be a match for Kobayakawa.

This Red Armor had exchanged a few blows with the Ming General in front of him and acknowledged that his skills were above his own, but they were definitely not enough to defeat Kobayakawa-sama with the aid of his vicious ghosts and spirits.

“There’s no way that you managed to kill Kobayakawa-sama. You must have used some trick!”

Of the two remaining Red Armors standing side by side, the one on the left shouted.

Li Yan couldn’t understand what he said, but he thought for a moment and then retaliated with the few words of Japanese he had learned from the Ronin he met before they went up the mountain.

“Omae wa ahou ka? Are you an idiot?”

The two Red Armors looked at each other and then charged towards Li Yan.

“Throw your swords!” Li Yan suddenly shouted.

The rest of them were stunned for a moment, but Deng Tianxiong reacted the quickest, accurately throwing his Goose Feather Sword at the two Red Armors. As the sword whooshed through the air, the others came to their senses and threw their weapons as well.

Interpreter Song stared at the scene. This seemed like a good opportunity for him to finally vent some anger. He too threw the wooden board in his hands with all his might.

Such a ploy might not even work against a normal person with quick reflexes, much less two battle-hardened Red Armors.

The two warriors blocked left and right, knocking away the few weapons that came flying at them. The most laughable thing was the half-decayed piece of wood that came out of nowhere. One of the Red Armors laughed coldly and slashed at it, breaking it into tiny pieces.

But when the pieces of wood blocked their vision, their hearts finally sank.

“Such cunning Ming soldiers,” the two of them cursed silently as they prepared for Li Yan’s sneak attack once the scraps of wood fell from their sight.

But little did they guess that when the wood reached the ground, they would see that Li Yan had not moved from where he was standing.

What came into their vision was the dark hole of a gun barrel.

“Bang! Bang!”

…

Li Yan examined Blind Diao’s wounds and did not say a word.

The old soldier had two puncture wounds in his chest and a fifty centimeter gash on his right thigh. The most lethal wound was the gaping hole in his abdomen. It seemed as though a large length of his intestines were cut off and he had lost a frightening amount of blood. In this frozen weather, it would mean certain death.

“Sir.” Deng Tianxiong looked at Li Yan with eyes carrying a hint of hope, but he didn’t dare say anything more.

“He can be saved.”

Li Yan nodded slightly and then waved the elated Deng Tianxiong away. His gaze was already on the newly refreshed display of the Mo Tapir’s Gift.

Mo Tapir’s Gift 0/1

Category: Consumable, wipe

Quality: Rare

Wipe onto a cold weapon to grant the ability to break through part of Fortune of a Nation Royal Blessing or Daimyo Spirit Power protection. Not effective against Officials of the Ming Dynasty who are Third Grade and above.

This item costs 100 Yanfu Points per bottle. Limit of three bottles.

Poor Wonderblood (Forgery)

Category: Consumable

Quality: Normal

When fed to a war horse, it will temporarily increase the horse’s speed and stamina. Additionally, it will negate the influence of cannon fire, higher grade mythical creatures, and Yin creatures.

This item costs 10 Yanfu Points per serving, no limit. (Overdose will cause death of the war horse.)

Revival Herb Pill

Category: Consumable

Quality: Rare

Use on the brink of death to heal all wounds within five minutes! User will enter a state of extreme weakness for three days, losing the ability to move.

This item costs 200 Yanfu Points per pill. Limit of two pills.

After exchanging his points for hand grenades, Li Yan still had slightly over a thousand Yanfu Points left, enough to buy everything within his purchasing limit once over.

The Revival Herb Pill was a pale purple ginseng pill, roughly the size of a thumb nail. It was cold and smooth to the touch and dissolved in the mouth. In no time at all, it flowed down the throat of Old Diao and into his stomach.

The wounds on the old soldier’s body closed up visibly. Even the hole in his abdomen stopped bleeding.

The surrounding soldiers stared with their mouths agape, looking towards Li Yan as though they were looking at a divine being.

“When I was young, I met a wandering Taoist priest. I exchanged three large biscuits for a sword manual, a magical pill, and a magical skill. This is what you all have seen.”

Li Yan explained casually.

Such strange fairy tales had existed since ancient times.

Stories such as these where a young child has a chance encounter with a wandering priest were common, even in the modern day with no lack of entertainment, much less in the Ming Dynasty with no means of modern entertainment.

The soldiers’ eyes shone brightly as they looked at their commander with respect and admiration.

“That woman is gone!”

Interpreter Song came over with a look of panic and doubt on his face.

“Is that so…”

Li Yan fell silent for a while and then said, “Don’t think too much about it. Everyone, rest for the night. We shall bury our brothers’ bodies tomorrow morning.”

Interpreter Song nodded with a conflicted expression. But after he thought about it, it seemed probable that after two groups of men began killing each other in her home, the lady would have fled out of fear while none of them were noticing.

It was deep into the night. They took turns keeping guard while the rest continued in dreamland.

Li Yan rested his head on his wrist. His eyelids were twitching slightly. They still had to cover more ground the next morning, but the pain in his neck kept him up for half the night. It was late in the night when he finally managed to gradually fall asleep.

This itching pain might not have affected Li Yan’s combat capabilities, but regardless, it was no good for him in the long run.

As he faded out of consciousness, he smelled a fragrant aroma. He felt as though he was bathing in a sea of flowers, and next to him was the bright voice of a woman’s laughter.

Suddenly, there was a fragrant, ice-cold touch at the side of his lips. A warm sensation crept downwards until it reached his neck.

The warmth stayed on his neck for a long time. He could clearly feel the pain on his neck slowly reducing until it vanished completely, leaving behind a warm fluffy feeling.

“Ah…”

Li Yan gave a long sigh. The fatigue and pain that he felt between his brows eased greatly.

“Sweet dreams, general.”

…

“Damn, it must be a ghost.”

Deng Tianxiong drew in a sharp breath of cold air. The Ming soldiers were now all sleeping on the snowy ground. The roof, the pillars, the tiles, and the fences were all gone!

If not for the fact that the bodies of Kobayakawa and his men were still beside them, Deng Tianxiong would have sworn that he had dreamt everything.

The only thing left was a metal pot on a rack above a fire. The flames were licking at the bottom of the pot and the pieces of yam were still bobbing in the thick soup.

“Perhaps this is the work of some god…”

Wang Sheng was surprised as well.

“You were half-dead yesterday, you brat. Why are you so energetic now? Laughing so happily… did you have a wet dream?”

Wang Sheng blushed. He suddenly thought of his dream last night, the girl dressed in white with her long black hair apologizing to him bashfully. Wang Sheng stammered as he furiously denied it.

Li Yan opened his eyes feeling refreshed and wide awake. The pain and fatigue he had felt was all but gone.

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“How long was I asleep?”

“Just past three in the morning. Sir, there really are ghosts on Haengju Mountain.”

Deng Tianxiong waved his fingers about and spoke in an exaggerated manner as he described it to Li Yan.

Li Yan remained composed and listened quietly. Suddenly he called out to one of the soldiers and pointed to the pot of food.

“Scoop me a bowl of that. I want to have a taste.”