Changning’s Imperial Army - Chapter 100 – Tribulations Till Eighteen

Chapter 100 – Tribulations Till Eighteen

Shen Leng went there only with a ten-man squad. On their way there, someone was injured, resulting in Shen Leng having to get one of his men to send him back, thus losing two men in total, bringing their total strength to nine. And at this moment, the nine men were standing in front of the row of houses, shielding the scouts, facing more than two hundred northern border elites. They were overwhelmingly outnumbered, but it seemed as though two strong forces were facing each other.

Their dark blue Navy uniform looked similar to the black military uniform – it was the same design. Apart from the color difference, only the emblem on their chest was different.

“Attack!” bellowed Pei Xiao.

Three ten-man squad charged forward at the same time; they attacked the Navy soldiers in three different directions. They underwent the same training sessions, hence, both parties knew each other’s intentions were based on their actions.

A row of arrows fired over. EIght men retreated behind Wang Kuohai at the same time. The huge shield alone provided cover for all of them.

After the first round of arrows, the three ten-man squad had already appeared before them. They drew out their hengdao and cried as they charged at them.

Wang Kuohai smashed his shield downwards. A loud crash was heard; that was their battle drum signalling them to attack.

Defense?

That was impossible.

The eight people behind charged forward at the same time. Firstly, they fired their arrows. Within three breaths the eight of them fired nine arrows each into the air. The first row of combat soldiers who approached them fell to the ground.

Yang Qibao charged right in front of everyone; the hengdao in his hand was so swift that it gave people the chills. Just when the combat soldier on the opposite side raised his sword, his hengdao had already slashed across that soldier’s neck.

Yang Qibao dashed out in the rain of blood, beheading two combat soldiers in one attack. Two lightning-fast hengdaos swung towards him from the side. When the swords were still in mid air, a huge shield came from the back and struck the two people, causing them to fly upon impact.

Wang Kuohai’s was about 2 meters tall. He was muscular and stocky like a bull. He was only holding onto the huge shield with one hand, and an exceptionally heavy mace in the other – and not Great Ning’s standardized hengdao.

Bam!

The mace smashed the helmet of one combat soldier. His helmet was flattened immediately. A moment later, blood mixed with white brain matter flowed out from beneath the helmet.

At this moment, Shen Leng stood up on top of the city wall and started to fire his arrows. He fired four arrows consecutively; the two soldiers who charged in front were shot in the back, causing them to fall forward. Some people reacted immediately and started to attack in the direction of the city wall. However, firing range of the repeating crossbows was shorter than that of Shen Leng’s bow.

Shen Leng ran at top speed. As he ran, he continued firing his arrows. His arrows were akin to meteors, taking away the lives of the combat soldiers, one by one.

Pei Xiao felt that undoubtedly, he should be the one with the upper hand, and that undoubtedly, he had a lot more people on his side than his opponent – at least twenty times more. Lastly, undoubtedly, they were combat soldiers trained by Great Ning. But right from the start, why no initiatives could be taken?

The nine Navy soldiers relied on their sharp swords and the huge shield to not only block off the attacks, but also counter attacked. A third of the three ten-man squad in the first wave of attacks was killed off with hardly any effort. Everyone was very familiar with the rotation patterns of ten-man squads. It boiled down to speed – the faster party would win.

Amongst the men that Shen Leng brought with him, three of them were extremely strong.

Wang Kuohai, Yang Qibao and Gu Le.

When the three fellas coordinated with one another, they were akin to a meat grinder on high speed. Anybody who tried to approach them would be killed by their hengdaos. Either that, or their heads would be smashed by the mace.

One of the highly-skilled auxiliary soldiers finally approached them. He swung his sword towards Wang Kuohai’s neck. Wang Kuohai’s movement was slightly slower; just as he was looking at the sword approaching his throat, the tip of the sword suddenly moved backwards.

Yang Qibao kicked that soldier in the chest. He executed the kick at an angle that was impossible to guard against. When he dashed next to Wang Kuohai, he suddenly turned his body around – he was initially facing his opponents, but his back was facing them now. He pushed his body downwards, supporting himself with both hands against the ground, and kicked with his right leg.

That kick caused the auxiliary soldier’s chest to collapse immediately, breaking several ribs.

The squad leader of the auxiliary ten-man squad took the opportunity to charge towards him. He swung his sword directly towards Yang Qibao’s nape. This was Great Ning’s soldiers’ number one favorite method of killing – beheading the enemy with one attack.

Just as the sword was about to cut off Yang Qibao’s neck, the mace landed onto that person’s temple first…the impact on his skull was so hard that it created a thunder-like sound, changing its shape immediately.

His eye sockets split open and his eyeballs were blown out of them. Under such an incredible force, his head was entirely deformed beyond recognition.

In one wave of counter attacks, the nine Navy soldiers forced the three auxiliary ten-man squads to retreat. They even managed to leave approximately half of them on the ground.

One of the injured auxiliary soldiers struggled with all his might and tried to climb back to where he came from. He expended a lot of effort to lift his upper body, and waved to his comrades who had retreated, in the hopes that one of them would go over to help him up.

Great Ning’s auxiliary soldiers were akin to brothers. They could not possibly leave each other in the lurch, right?

Yang Qibao walked behind that person. He grabbed his helmet and tossed it to one side. “You do not deserve to wear this uniform, and you do not deserve to wear this helmet.”

He wrapped one arm around that soldier’s head and pulled it upwards. He used the hengdao in his right hand and started slicing his neck slowly. As he sliced into his neck, he continued pulling it upwards…After he finished cutting off his head, he pulled it out and blood spurted out like a waterfall, splashing all over his entire body.

Yang Qibao raised that person’s head and waved it in the air. “You are not as significant as our dead enemies. This head is not even qualified enough to be hung on my waist.”

He tossed the head to one side and returned to his squad. At this moment, Gu Le was in a daze, as he held onto a head with both hands. Suddenly, he came to a realization that their heads were worthless. Hence, he tossed it aside as well.

“Attack, everybody attack!”

Pei Xiao, who was extremely enraged, continued to rush his men. Most of his soldiers were brave warriors originally hired by his family; the rest were soldiers who he had forced into submission over the past few years. Naturally, these people knew what their fate would be if they failed. Every single one of them charged forward in a frenzy, as though they had gone insane.

If Wang Kuohai and the rest had two more huge shields, they would definitely be able to hold on for a lot longer. At this moment, their opponents had almost used up all their arrows. The hundred odd soldiers charged towards them like the tide.

The nine men formed a straight row and stood there, holding onto their weapons tightly as they waited for their opponents to attack.

In the split second when the auxiliary soldiers charged forth, Wang Kuohai suddenly yelled and threw his shield aside. Thereafter, he dodged to the side abruptly.

Meng Changan dashed out from behind him. When his legs exerted force, they almost broke the gray bricks on the ground!

Wang Kuohai flung his shield out extremely savagely. What was even more savage was that Meng Changan was not any slower than the shield. The shield immediately knocked down the two soldiers in front. Meng Changan’s black cord sword cut off the head of the person at the back.

“Kill!” roared Yang Qibao, akin to an insane tiger.

Behind their backs, dozens of scouts, who had been untied, charged out. During the fierce battle earlier, Meng Changan rushed into every single house to release his subordinates. They picked up the weapons of the dead soldiers from the ground and charged forward together with Meng Changan.

Meng Changan was as strong as a tiger, and so was Yang Qibao, as well as the group of people behind.

The sudden counter attack threw the auxiliary soldiers into chaos, ruining their formation. Meng Changan killed from one end to the other. After he finished passing through them, he charged towards Pei Xiao.

At this moment, Pei Xiao’s face was as pale as death.

However, Pei Xiao was not useless. He had once achieved second place in the all-military great competition.

Even though he had been kicked earlier on by Meng Changan, his current physical strength was a lot better than Meng Changan’s. Meng Changan had already been killing over an extended period of time. There was always a limit for all human beings.

The two black cord swords collided into one another. Meng Changan, whose hand was weak, could not grip his sword rightly. His black cord sword spun and flew before landing onto the ground a distance away. Immediately after, Pei Xiao’s leg was about to land on him.

Meng Changan lifted both hands to protect his chest. Pei Xiao kicked him in the arm. His feet brushed against the ground as he got pushed back by the force, only stopping after being pushed back over two meters.

Meng Changan panted heavily. His eyes were slightly red.

Physical strength…

He suddenly thought about the battle in the woods outside Yanta Academy in Changan city. At that time, he felt that Shen Leng’s technique was very good. In fact, it was extremely good. It was a technique that uses the least amount of physical strength. However, he did not like it. He preferred delivering his blows with all his strength, leaving him with no regrets.

As long as the enemy was before his eyes, he would swing his sword. If it was a mountain, he would still swing his sword.

“Die!”

Pei Xiao leapt over and swung his hengdao towards Meng Changan’s throat. At this moment, there was a loud thud behind him, as though something heavy landed onto the ground.

Immediately, Pei Xiao had a sudden realization – there was another frightening fella who had been hiding on top of the city wall all this while, using his bow and arrow to kill his men. Hence, he did not hesitate at all; he swung his sword to the back, while turning his body to the front at the same time.

His sword missed.

After Shen Leng landed onto the ground, he squatted immediately. The sword went over his head. After the sword was being swung to the end, Shen Leng abruptly stood up. He pounced onto the enemy, as powerful as a cheetah pouncing towards its prey.

Shen Leng’s elbowed upwards – this attack was extremely powerful that it nearly shattered Pei Xiao’s chin. Pei Xiao flew backwards as a result of the impact. He spat out a mouthful of blood and broken teeth into the air.

Shen Leng stabbed his sword into the ground and charged out. At the same time, Meng Changan, who was opposite him, did the same thing. Both of them were on the left and right respectively, but their movements were exactly the same!

Before Pei Xiao landed onto the ground, Shen Leng grabbed his right arm while he was in mid air. At the same time, Meng Changan grabbed his left arm. Both of them pulled his arms outwards with all their might, and kicked Pei Xiao in the armpit on each side!

Bam!

Crack!

They forcefully ripped out Pei Xiao’s arms. Such frightening amount of strength, such frightening murderous intent!

Pei Xiao’s body fell to the ground hard. After losing both arms, his body looked rather strange. He laid on the ground, making muffled sounds with his mouth. His chin was already smashed to pieces, and his larynx was also destroyed. He could not even make a proper sound.

“The victor should say something. Say something with character. I will do the same next time.”

Shen Leng drew his black cord sword and tossed it to Meng Changan. Meng Changan caught it and cut off his head. It was akin to chopping off a duck’s head, causing its head to roll. At least a duck’s head could be eaten in eight different ways, but a human’s head could not.

“I’m lazy. I can simply use the sword, so why do I have to use my mouth?”

Meng Changan lowered his head and looked at the black cord sword in his hand. “Why is it so heavy? What a nice weapon to hold!”

In the next second, Shen Leng had already snatched it back. With a resolute look on his face, he said, “I can’t give you!”

Meng Changan grunted. He went to pick up the small hunting knife that he previously tossed onto the ground in silence, before putting back into his armor. He turned around and looked at Shen Leng. “I want to try it for a bit.”

Shen Leng hugged his black cord sword. “I really cannot give this to you. Sir fought for it with his life.”

Meng Changan laughed. “Idiot.”

Shen Leng replied, “What the hell are you laughing at!”

Meng Changan sat down. He looked over to the other side, where the battle had already ended. “This does not mean that the Navy soldiers are stronger than the northern border’s soldiers.”

Shen Leng shrugged. “Idiot.”

Meng Changan was dumbfounded for a moment. Thereafter, he burst out laughing.

Shen Leng said, “Don’t laugh.”

Meng Changan replied, “I’m still going to laugh.”

Shen Leng responded, “It’s my first time seeing somebody laughing that happily after being called an idiot.”

Meng Changan grunted and looked at Shen Leng. “Going to be eighteen years old soon.”

Shen Leng replied, “Huh? Who isn’t?”

Meng Changan laid on the ground. He looked up into the sky and said, “The Daoist said that I would face a lot of tribulations until I’m eighteen. After eighteen years, I will be free…stupid Leng, in the future it’s my turn.”