"Kill!"
"Kill!"
"Ah!"
"Yu Pengcheng, I'll curse your ancestors to the eighteenth generation!"
On the grassland, at the Tiger Roar Slope camp, Tang Sipan, the second boss of Heavenly Axe Mountain, screamed in despair.
He never dreamed in his wildest dreams that the wine this old viper had offered him in respect would actually be poisoned!
Madness, this old viper was truly a mad dog.
At the Tiger Roar Slope camp, fewer than two hundred men of the "Yellow Sand Army" were chasing down and slaughtering nearly two thousand mountain bandits from the various strongholds.
The traps, tripwires, and tunnels that the various strongholds had set up earlier to divide up territory had now become the very graves of their own men.
Chaos, utter chaos, the entire Tiger Roar Slope had descended into despairing wails and screams.
"Yu Pengcheng, have you gone mad?! The Zhao family caravan hasn't even arrived yet, you, you... what the hell is this all for?"
Wei Zhuang, the Sun Shooting Sect Master, roared in furious shock while resisting Yu Pengcheng's fierce onslaught.
No one had expected that deep in the latter half of the night, right as dawn was about to break, and just as the vigilance that many had maintained against surprises had finally relaxed, the Yellow Sand Army of the Sand Sea Stronghold suddenly launched an attack, striking down the stronghold masters of numerous small and mid-sized strongholds in one stroke, leaving them leaderless.
As for the three great chieftains among the Thirteen Greats—the Sun Shooting Gate, Heavenly Axe Mountain, and Golden Bell Fortress—they were personally confronted by Yu Pengcheng and two other first-rate experts who had appeared from who knew where.
The wine that Tang Sipan, the second boss of Heavenly Axe Mountain, had drunk earlier was laced with a deadly poison, and now that it had taken effect, he was simply no match for the man before him.
After struggling desperately for a few moments, his head was chopped off with a single stroke, and he died with his eyes open, spitting out a curse against Yu Pengcheng.
Yu Pengcheng did not bother answering Wei Zhuang, focusing entirely on his fierce assault.
Wei Zhuang excelled at archery, but he was no match for Yu Pengcheng in close combat where swords were used, and he struggled to defend himself.
Seeing the man before him casually chop off Tang Sipan's head, the firelight illuminating the blade's glow like blood, Wei Zhuang's whole body shook, and he blurted out, "Blood saber?! You're Yan Ke, sect master of the Blood Saber Sect?! Ah..."
In his moment of shock, Yu Pengcheng found the opening, and before he could dodge in time, a blade struck his leg, drawing a scream from him.
Jin Tianle, Fortress Master of Golden Bell Fortress, roared over and over, wielding a heavy sword in an impenetrable whirl, yet he could barely hold his ground. The tall figure before him wielded a spear of unrivaled might instead.
"The black iron spear, the Primordial Spear intent... you, you're Luo Cheng, the Primordial Spear of Yulin City?"
In that moment, Wei Zhuang's mind raced sharply, recognizing the man's weapon and martial arts, and he cried out in shock.
He then turned to glare at Yu Pengcheng, who was closing in step by step, and snarled, "Yu Pengcheng, have you lost your mind? You want to be the Imperial Court's lackey? Have you forgotten all the things you've done? They won't let you off!"
Yu Pengcheng smiled darkly and said, "Old man here has no intention of being the Imperial Court's lackey. This is merely a mutually beneficial cooperation."
Wei Zhuang suddenly understood his scheme. "You want to dominate Canglan Mountain alone?"
Yu Pengcheng chuckled and shook his head. "Dominating Canglan Mountain alone isn't quite it, old man here doesn't have that big an appetite. It's just that too many people are sharing Yi Xian Tian. Rather than split it with a bunch of useless trash like you, old man here would rather split it with Yulin City."
Seeing that Golden Bell Fortress was finding it increasingly hard to hold Jin Tianle up, while Luo Cheng's spear remained unhurried, like a great net, its spear intent endlessly entangling and trapping Jin Tianle's heavy sword, letting him struggle like a cornered beast—while the headmen of the remaining small and mid-sized strongholds were nearly all dead or wounded, with only a handful left alive, unable to withstand the Yellow Sand Army's assault—the two thousand bandits were slaughtered like cattle and sheep, left to be butchered at will.
In despair yet unwilling to yield, Wei Zhuang said, "Qingyun Village still stands, don't think you'll succeed!"
Yu Pengcheng laughed heartily. "You're pinning your hopes on that yellow-haired girl? The direction of Yi Xian Tian has long since been sealed off. From now on, Yi Xian Tian will belong entirely to my Sand Sea Stronghold. Those two hundred people of Qingyun Village will, at best, drift about as horse bandits on the grassland, never to return to their mountain gate again, hmph! What's more, right now the mountain gate of Qingyun Village has likely already been breached. Even if they wanted to return, it would be but a dream. Brother Wei, rest assured—though the Sun Shooting Gate must be annihilated, aside from your direct disciples and family, I will spare the lives of the rest, so long as they're willing to serve me. As for your daughter, your daughter-in-law, and your granddaughter..."
"Dog thief!"
Wei Zhuang's eyes were about to split with fury, and disregarding his injuries, he struggled to take Yu Pengcheng down with him.
But this played right into Yu Pengcheng's plan. After all, Wei Zhuang was an old-time first-rate expert, his archery skills unmatched across Canglan.
If given the chance to put some distance between them and loose an arrow, the threat would be immense.
Even without that distance, if he fought steadily and carefully, Yu Pengcheng would have to pay a price to kill him.
But right now...
Just as Yu Pengcheng was seeking the chance to slay Wei Zhuang, a sudden burst of startled cries came from not far away:
"My sheep, my sheep, quick, catch my sheep, they're running off!"
"Aiya, you mustn't hurt my sheep!"
It was a typical grassland shepherd girl; a few routed soldiers had charged into her camp and spooked her flock, throwing the sheep into chaos.
The shepherd girl cried out as she and a group of others scrambled about trying to round up the sheep.
One little lamb, whether dazed or confused, ran straight toward where Luo Cheng and Jin Tianle were fighting.
The shepherd girl called out "baa, baa" several times to no avail, and though she glanced fearfully toward Luo Cheng and Jin Tianle, she ultimately worked up the courage to cautiously chase after it.
Had it been herdsmen from anywhere else, Luo Cheng and the others wouldn't have given it a second thought, and would have simply cut them down without a care.
But the tribe closest to this place, called the Mierqi tribe, was the birthplace of Huchal, the Great Shaman of the Great Cang Royal Court, and his mother still lived there to this day.
As for that grandmaster-peak-realm old grey wolf, both Canglan Mountain and Yulin City were extremely wary of him and had no wish to provoke him at all.
Last night, Yu Pengcheng had spent a fortune buying cattle and sheep from the Mierqi tribe, originally as a way of currying favor and paying tribute...
So even though the great battle had not ceased, Luo Cheng exerted a bit more force than usual, driving Jin Tianle out of that area.
But unexpectedly, just as Luo Cheng turned his back to the sheep and the pursuing shepherd girl, the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood on end.
An overwhelming sense of danger struck from behind, and Luo Cheng was about to swing his spear backward to defend himself, but Jin Tianle, the Fortress Master of Golden Bell Fortress across from him, was no mediocre person either.
As an old hand of many years in the jianghu, Jin Tianle spotted the change behind Luo Cheng a step before Luo Cheng himself did.
Even though he was nearly at the end of his strength, in that instant, he mustered every last bit of it, disregarding all defense, and raised his heavy sword for a strike to the death.
"Ah!!"
In that critical instant, Luo Cheng suddenly erupted, unleashing a strike of the Primordial Spear's Annihilation technique, slamming it against Jin Tianle's heavy sword, sending him flying backwards while coughing blood. It was clear that although both were first-rate experts, Luo Cheng's martial arts were in truth above Jin Tianle's.
Right after, Luo Cheng suddenly drew back his spear, spinning in midair to thrust behind himself.
There came a "clang," and Luo Cheng felt the black iron spear in his hand grow suddenly light, believing he had blocked this vicious and despicable sneak attack.
But then, from not far away, he heard Yu Pengcheng's horrified, furious roar: "Watch out!"
By the time he tried to react, it was already too late.
A sharp pain burst beneath his left shoulder blade, and Luo Cheng slowly lowered his head, only to see the tip of an ancient, unadorned precious sword protruding from his chest.
Luo Cheng felt an intense mix of disbelief and refusal to accept it—the spear in his hand was a divine weapon forged from black iron fallen from the heavens, yet it hadn't managed to block this sword?
"You... in the end, who are you?"
Suppressing the surging taste of blood rising in his throat, Luo Cheng asked, word by word.
From behind him came a cool, faintly rasping voice: "Tian Wuniang of Qingyun. Today, I avenge my former master and my father!"
With that, she suddenly drew out the Heavenly Punishment Divine Sword and swung it back in a single stroke, and the head of Luo Cheng—the Great Qi's Zhaowu General who had held Yulin City for over a decade with blazing arrogance—flew from his shoulders.
However, in his final moment before death, Luo Cheng used the last of his strength to hurl the broken-tipped Primordial Spear in his hand fiercely behind him.
There came a "thud," striking Tian Wuniang square in the ribs. She grunted and was sent flying backward, spitting out a mouthful of blood...
As he flew through midair, staring at that face that had not even changed expression, Luo Cheng's eyes were filled with resentment and fury, but in the end, he fell into the mud and died there.
"Damn it!"
Yu Pengcheng watched, his eyes about to split with rage; he had never dreamed that people from Qingyun Village would despicably and shamelessly infiltrate the Mierqi tribe.
Had he known this would happen, even if he'd gone mad with obsession, he never would have flattered that old hag of the Mierqi tribe, spending so much gold and silver to buy those whatsit cattle and sheep.
But now there was no time for regret—the "herdsmen" who had originally been chasing after the scattered cattle and sheep now, in the moment Tian Wuniang made her move, transformed one by one into reapers of death.
They struck out one after another from behind the Yellow Sand Army, and caught off guard, the Yellow Sand Army suffered devastating losses.
Meanwhile Hu Dashan, another first-rate expert of Qingyun Village, wielding a broadaxe, had already joined Wei Zhuang in a great battle against Yu Pengcheng.
The tide of the battle had turned sharply.
Tian Wuniang, holding Heaven Punisher, faced alone the Blood Saber Sect Master who had just slain Tang Sipan—Yan Ke.
This peerless master, ranked eighth on Qi State's Tiger Ranking, brought such pressure that it was originally thought several first-rate experts would need to team up together to deal with him.
Yet Tian Wuniang's expression remained indifferent, her phoenix eyes like a frozen lake, and as the morning breeze of dawn blew past, a strand of hair by her temple curled forward across her face, lending her an extra touch of grace.
Yan Ke, holding a dark red curved saber, carried himself with a majestic and imposing bearing; though they stood as enemies, the look in his eyes as he gazed at Tian Wuniang was full of admiration.
Seeing that Tian Wuniang's bearing did not yield to his in the slightest as she met his gaze directly, Yan Ke sheathed his blood saber and said in a deep voice, "The victor becomes king, the loser a bandit—Yu Pengcheng, cunning and treacherous as he is, still couldn't match you. Truly, the jianghu never lacks for talent. Chieftain Tian, would you be willing to cooperate with my Blood Saber Sect?"
This was the mark of a true old hand of the jianghu—there was no absolute friend or foe, only interest came first.
To the Zhao family of Yan Commandery and the Blood Saber Sect, whether they cooperated with the Sand Sea Stronghold or with Qingyun Village made no difference at all.
They had no old grudge with Qingyun Village to begin with.
More importantly, it was clear that this young girl before him had extremely deep ties to the grassland.
Hearing this, Tian Wuniang slowly lowered her eyelids.
On the other side, Yu Pengcheng was nearly bursting with rage, and he snarled sternly, "Sect Master Yan, old man here hasn't lost yet, why go back on your word?"
He then goaded Tian Wuniang further. "Your Qingyun Village's mountain gate has already been destroyed by me. Your younger sister, that useless fiancé of yours, and everyone else in Qingyun Village will die badly. Do you know who led the troops to strike Qingyun? Do you know who our inside contact was?! You little tramp, do you know who it was that got your father discovered and besieged by Luo Cheng, causing both Dragon and Tiger of Qingyun Village to perish?"
Without even raising her eyes, Tian Wuniang said softly, "The one you speak of—do you mean Eighth Uncle Zhou?"
Hearing this, Yu Pengcheng felt as though struck by lightning. While fending off the pincer attack from Wei Zhuang and Hu Dashan front and back, he stared at Tian Wuniang in horror, as if looking at a ghost.
This yellow-haired girl...
How could she possibly know?!
Even his deepest-buried hidden line had been discovered—he finally understood where he had gone wrong...
Watching this, Yan Ke, Sect Master of the Blood Saber Sect, couldn't help but clap his hands in admiration. "What exquisite methods, what a masterful scheme!" Then, with a serious expression, he said, "Stronghold Master Tian, the Yellow Sand Army here is in fact the elite forces of Yulin City under Luo Cheng's command. As for the ones attacking Qingyun Village, those are truly the men of Sand Sea Stronghold—though I imagine Stronghold Master Tian had already arranged for that. As for the other places, such as the Sun Shooting Gate and Golden Bell Fortress, those are being attacked by my Blood Saber Sect disciples. My Blood Saber Sect has made no move against Qingyun Village at all. These places shall all belong to Qingyun. My Blood Saber Sect only wants Sand Sea Stronghold—what do you say?"
Tian Wuniang raised her eyelids and, looking at Yan Ke, said slowly, "I have no wish to dominate Canglan alone. In this battle, Qingyun will take only Sand Sea Stronghold, and I will go claim it myself. Whoever stands in my way, I will kill."
With a ringing "shing," the Heavenly Punishment Divine Sword was drawn from its sheath once more.
Even ranked eighth on the Tiger Ranking—what of it?
.....
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