Chapter 50: Fighting (1)
Within Happiness Residing Fort, fighting had finally broken out.
Hundreds of black-clothed martial artists wielding shields in one hand and blades in the other howled as they charged toward the fort.
The villagers standing on the walls of the fort drew their bows, and arrow after arrow flew into the sky, landing on the shields and clattering off. Not many, however, were actually able to hit their targets, and because they weren't using reinforced bows, the targets they did hit were usually only lightly wounded.
However, the martial artists weren't experienced soldiers either. This measly shower of arrows was enough to slow them down and even stop them from advancing. There were even a few who turned around to retreat.
At this moment, those responsible for supervising the troops began to act. After killing some of those who had retreated and stabilizing the emotions of the troops, they once again resumed advancing.
"A bunch of trash!" Shi Zhongwei said coldly as he watched from behind the front lines.
As the commander of the extermination operation in West River, Shi Zhongwei naturally had to appear personally to oversee it.
Around ten people stood next to him, all of them official Origin Qi Scholars.
"That's right. If I'm being honest, sending them here is as useless as farting. We don't need that many people; it would be so much better if we went up ourselves and took over the fort. It would be much simpler," a yellow-haired Origin Qi Scholar said.
"What do you know?" a purple-haired, white-robed Origin Qi Scholar said. "A group of around a hundred trained, experienced martial artists can easily take down seven or eight Qi Drawing Realm cultivators. It wouldn't exactly be rare for them to take down a Blood Boiling Realm cultivator either. You should know that Origin Qi Scholars are still human too. We have control over powerful energy, but our base life force hasn't changed. We cannot take the place of countless martial artists."
"That's right!" someone else added. "Unless your cultivation base reaches the Light Shaking Realm, where your attacks can shake the heavens and the earth, you can go in and out of the void, and your life force increases to the point that you can regenerate your limbs and organs, having lower-leveled soldiers will always be useful."
"Even someone in the Light Shaking realm, if faced with a regiment of Yang Opening Realm soldiers, would probably need to give way to them. Unless your cultivation base is three times higher than your opponent's, you cannot ignore the power of sheer numbers."
"Because of this, the clan elders decided to use these villagers as training for our soldiers. Four hundred elite soldiers plus us might even be able to take on someone in the Light Shaking Realm," someone said confidently.
"Take on someone in the Light Shaking Realm? You're thinking way too far off in the future," someone else sneered disdainfully.
The Light Shaking Realm used to be the upper cultivation limit a human could reach. To most people, that was still a title that was too far away to achieve.
That was also the truth. If a person like Uncle Eleven or Shi Kaihuang were here, they could easily wipe out everyone present.
Unlike the other cultivation realms, the Light Shaking Realm was a major gateway, and the difference in strength was also colossal. Anyone who used the gaps between the Qi Drawing, Blood Boiling, and Yang Opening Realms to evaluate the Light Shaking Realm would be in for a rude surprise.
However, there was no point in saying these morale-damaging words at the moment.
On the battlefield, the fight was still going on.
The martial artists, under the coercion of their commanding officers, began to encroach upon the walls of the fort. At the same time, the villagers began to hurl short spears down at them.
The tips of these short spears had been covered in poison, and the spears themselves were quite sharp and heavy. In fact, the villagers were much more fearsome when using these spears. A few martial artists, struck by the spears, found that their wounds quickly began to rot and fester. They cried out piteously as they covered their wounds, but the commanding officers behind them continued to drive them forwards.
As long as they weren't dead, they were forced to continue charging. Either they would die in the charge or die to their commanding officers.
If a skilled general saw this scene, he would definitely shake his head and curse: What kind of training was this?
Force them to charge, seemingly unafraid of death? If this was what it took to train an army, then that was all too easy.
The reality was that not every person in a Bloodline Nobility Clan knew how to train soldiers. Origin Qi Scholars spent the majority of their time cultivating and didn't understand how to lead soldiers. As such, this battle was not only training the soldiers but also the officers.
Even so, the pressure from nearly four hundred martial artists was difficult for the villagers of Happiness Residing Fort to endure.
The forces attacking the city weren't strong, but those defending it were even weaker.
When faced with the tsunami-like charge of the hundreds of martial artists, many of the villagers were so scared that their souls seemed to leave their bodies. Many people regretted trying to resist the Bloodline Nobility Clans. If it weren't for the fact that they still had the trump card of the Beast Controlling Technique, they probably would have been wiped out already.
Even so, plumes of smoke began to rise from the walls of the fort.
When he saw this, Chalei felt an immense sense of regret.
He wasn't regretting resisting the Bloodline Nobility Clans but that he hadn't listened to Su Chen's suggestion.
Ten days earlier, Su Chen had already warned him that the Bloodline Nobility Clans would mount a full-on assault after making a few investigative forays. If the forts in West River Forest didn't band together, they would be broken down one by one.
However, combining all of the forts would make their lives incredibly inconvenient. The villagers, who were already cut off from their supplies by the Bloodline Nobility Clans, couldn't endure any more suffering, so Chalei had waited this entire time, unable to make a decision.
The truth was that he had held on to a trace of hope that the Bloodline Nobility Clans wouldn't take things to this extreme. They were only raising the price to three times of what it was before; the Bloodline Nobility Clans couldn't possibly want to take things that far for just a small amount of extra profit. The failures of the initial forays had demonstrated that they had the strength to justify this price increase.
This was the way many weak individuals thought. They always hoped to be lucky even in the face of adverse situations, a hope that they often extended to their opponents for some strange reason.
It wasn't until the last moment, when their hopes were shattered, that they came to their senses. However, it was too late.
As he gazed at the Bloodline Nobility troops bearing down on him, Chalei's only hope was that the people he had sent to ask for reinforcements would quickly come back to save them.
As long as he could save these people, Chalei would agree to any condition.
"Village Chief, the martial artists have broken through from the northwest corner!" a villager yelled as he charged over.
"You guys, go and stop that opening. Quickly!" Chalei yelled.
A few mobilized villagers ran over hurriedly, but by the time they had arrived, nearly ten martial artists had already scaled the walls and attacked.
The gaps in their defense along the walls of Happiness Residing Fort were growing larger. Enemies were spilling in from every which way.
"Village Chief, activate the Guardian Angel Beasts!" one of the villagers yelled. "We won't be able to hold on for much longer."
"But……" Chalei stared at the Origin Qi Scholars off in the distance.
As the Village Chief, he could still perform a basic analysis of the situation. He knew that as soon as the Guardian Angel Beasts appeared, those Origin Qi Scholars would move.
With the viciousness of those Origin Qi Scholars along with their numbers, the Vicious Beasts absolutely wouldn't be able to survive. The battle would probably only end even more quickly.
If things continued in this way, with only the common martial artists in the fray, they might be able to delay longer.
However, the correct thing to do wasn't always easy.
Flames began to rise in Happiness Residing Fort, and villager after villager was slaughtered.
Tragic cries began to echo everywhere, with someone falling seemingly at every second.
They were all people he was familiar with, and they stared at him as the light faded from their eyes, as if wondering why their village chief hadn't yet released the Guardian Angel Beasts.
The right things to do might not be easily understood either. The will of a single person can only be carried along by a group of people, and Chalei was forced to do it even though he knew it was wrong.
He closed his eyes, unable to continue watching. All he said was, "Release the Guardian Angel Beasts."
"AWOO!"
A chain of beast howls sounded out.
Two massive shadows covered the walls of the fort and the enemy formation.
Following the appearance of those two Vicious Beasts, the formation of soldiers was ripped apart, a thick stench of blood filling the air. The villagers atop the walls of the fort yelled excitedly as if victory was already within their reach.